The Lives of Adeline

The Day Adeline Died (The Second Time.)

 There she sat, top of a rooftop, thirteen years old. A girl like her should have been in school, though there she was, sitting in a parking lot, bookbag over her shoulder as she took out her recently shoplifted box of cigarettes. She ran her hand through her short black, yet curly hair, having a boyish quality to her. She took out her lighter, which was meant to be used for camping, something she found herself doing quite frequently lately.

She hesitated, before she lit the cigarette. She had never smoked before, but she had seen people do it all the time. She took a drawl, not letting the smoke go into her lungs, just having it sit in her mouth. It, strangely enough, felt like nothing. She let go of the smoke, before taking another drawl.

Nothing.

If anything, it felt almost boring. With people constantly talking about how bad it was for you, she assumed it would have a different effect. She had heard stories of people feeling sick from them, of people vomiting or coughing up a lung from them.

Maybe she wasn't doing it right. dn

She tried again, this time letting the smoke go into her lungs. Once again, nothing. It didn't have much of a taste either.

Disappointing really.

She dropped the cigarette, walking down the street, past one of the radios. She mimicked one of the broadcasters on the radio, his phony accent making her laugh. Down the streets, most people thankfully were at work, or busying themselves with something.

A man bolted out of an Alleyway, holding a box full of cigars— though they didn't look... normal. No, rather they looked almost like red glitter.

And, if there were any two things that Adeline liked, it was anything red.

She watched as the two men ran, and after realizing which direction they were heading, she looked for a way up onto the roof of what looked to be an abandoned building. She climbed up on a nearby ladder, old, abandoned, and creaky. She stood on top of it, pulled her hood to fully cover her face, wasted no time running.

Her feet were silent, stealthy as she ran, like a tiger chasing after its prey.

If you asked her, "why would you do this? It's dangerous," she would tell you one thing;

"I was curious."

It didn't take long for her to find the two men. The man with the briefcase was now cornered, in an alleyway, where the only way out was into the river bank below. The river bank was dangerous, no one could survive swimming in it, most who fell in never came back out in one piece.

"William, we— we can talk about this i–" The man seemed panicked, holding the briefcase of cigars that must have been worth a fortune, while William's hand was inching towards something in his pocket; a gun. Jason hadn't noticed this, but Adeline? She noticed, and she couldn't help but watch. It was the first time in a while that she felt her heart pumping like this, full of adrenaline, and selfishly enough she wanted to hold onto that feeling.

William laughed, "can we, jason? Can we? You were going to sell them, when the boss ordered them to be brought right to him."

"You know what? Yes! I was! Sue me, but I don't trust that guy." Jason scoffed, "don't tell me, you're sticking around with them because of his freak son, is that it?"

"He's not a freak," William growled, before taking a deep breath, "those are coated in stardust. Do you not know how dangerous those are?"

Jason glared, before holding the case out over the water. "Fine, guess ill just drop them."

That seemed to be the breaking point, as a gunshot went off. Right through the head, pew. William didn't even seem to care that the stardust coated cigars had fallen right into the water, hell, he just walked off. Adeline was horrified, shaking, unable to move or act.

Or, if the cops asked, that's what she was doing. But what she truly did was stare in awe, in fascination. She had seen people die before, but this was her chance to see it up close. She walked over, looking at the deadman closely. Death itself wasn't as quick as one would like to believe, even though he had been shot point blank, his body was still twitching, his lungs had stopped moving but there was something wheezy about them.

She couldn't help but look over the edge, seeing if she could see where the cigars fell.

They hadn't fallen in the water at all.

There, a boat sat, holding all the cigars. Was it a plan, an elaborate trick? She had no idea. Without thinking through it all properly, she jumped over, onto the boat, rolling to keep herself from hurting herself too much. There, right in front of her, were the cigars.

She opened the briefcase, and took one, before moving the others around to make it look like it was still full. She closed it, tip toeing away— before a gunshot went off in the air, flying right past her, though the untrained eye wouldn't be able to tell that. And Adeline was nothing but a quick thinker. She went limp, falling overboard, and all her attacker, who she realized later on was likely Vermon, had assumed she died due to the splash.

In reality, she had hung onto one of the boat's ropes, the splash being caused by the briefcase.

A disappointing death, really. If she had more time to plan, she'd go with something more... colorful. Bloody even.