Twisted Nerve ⇨ Pietro Maximoff

0.5 ; preface

0.5 ; preface

Scratching along the bridge of her nose, Nora kicked at the piece of gravel which she had initially noticed when exiting the bar. She supposed it had been chipped off in some sort of erratic scuffle of feet, as someone had rushed from the entrance with such incredible haste that it knocked it free from the asphalt. A fact that she seemed unable to release from her pondering mind as she strode onward. Of all things there were to think of as she receded into the ever darkening night, she thought of this and the futility which life was.

How deep and dark mortality was, twisted and sadistic it thrived in the pain of humanity, willing humans on to violence in the name of supposed freedom and beliefs. It baffled her, as she ignored the hoots of perverted males who passed her in their cars while she walked, how it could be so easy for her- for humans, to become enthralled with the idea of life and living it to the fullest, only to have it snatched away in a nanosecond. Perhaps even less than that.

Or perhaps, that was just the philosophy minor in her that was pushing forward this thought.

A deep, fatigued sigh escaped her as she pressed her foot forward against the asphalt before catapulting the stone further in front, watching it skitter multiple paces ahead of her. There was an ever so dainty frown etched across her brow, as she ignored the guilt of abandoning Levi alone in the bar- well, not alone. He'd been rather too preoccupied with the girl who was hanging from his every word to notice Nora slip out and she doubted that he would need her for much more than a fall back plan in the morning when he needed her as escape to get out of sticky situation whose lipstick looked like it was made from the blood of her enemies. Which, traditionally was Levi's type, at least, the type he liked to have one-night stands with. Nora was his type of scapegoat, apparently, her "doe eyes" (his words) made her seem too adorable and innocent to get her into a fight, even if the woman had become a little too obsessed with him and his "dashing good looks" (also, his words). Although, if it ever came down to it, Nora was positive that Levi would revoke his vow to never hit a woman if one threatened to harm his best friend.

While Nora did agree that her friend, and roommate, was good looking, she didn't see what made him so irrevocably endearing for women to want to have sex with him the moment he opened his mouth. She supposed it was because of the freckles and the red hair, although that may have just been her; she was a sucker for freckles and Levi had a smorgasbord of them. Unlike Nick, their linguistically brilliant friend who had known both Nora and Levi since they were kids.

Nora's arms were crossed tightly over her chest as she headed down a back alley, listening to the midnight snoring of the city that never slept. She had been born and raised in the backstreets of Brooklyn, knew the darkened alleys better than most and for a city so bustling with life, it was oddly lonely in the night. A fact that she revelled in. Up until she noticed, as she moved down a small corner, that someone was tailing her.

Now, for a young woman of twenty five, whose entire life up until the last four years had been a struggle for survival, Nora had never once faced an occurrence such as this. She'd known people, men and women, who'd been confronted by strange people in back alleys, some mugged, some sexually assaulted, Levi's mom had been murdered in one when he was thirteen. Yet, despite this, it had never crossed the busy young woman's mind that such a thing could happen to her.

It seemed improbable that anyone would want to attack a poor, girl genius who was getting through college on a scholarship, and thus, she was horribly unprepared when the impossible happened. Because, in all honesty, if something impossible was going to happen to Nora Fitzgerald, and it would.

"What do you want?" she called, her voice withholding an almost unnoticeable a waver of fear within it. She'd spoken without meaning to, his big eyes as wide as they could open. Why had she not just stayed at the apartment with Nick and braved the awkwardness that loomed within their home? If she survive this she was certainly not going out alone with Levi again.