I can feel his sweat on my back. We both lean back, the two orange blurs chasing each other just inches from my face. My hands are tightly grasped around the small of his back, my toes dug into the sand and the world slows to a stop. Just the two orange blurs, leaving scars in the air as they chase each other. I find my mind slipping from my body as the blurs come to a complete stop suspended in mid air, orange streaks bringing up their rear.
I have now completely detached from my body, my body has turned a transparent blue as I stand to the side taking in the surroundings. I catch the eye of the boy I hate, but also love. He stands in the back of the crowd watching the fire show. I can only see half of his face but I know it's him, the familiar trace of his jawline is undeniably cute, too bad I have to kill him. I step, left foot first, into my body and force my mind back into place suddenly the world kicks back to life, the crowd starts moving again and the buzz of distant conversations rises up and drifts to my ear. I find the boy in the crowd again. He stands patiently and stares, he knows that I'm looking for him and he knows exactly where I am.
Soon the two balls of fire slow to stop and the fire twirler steps back and takes a bow.
"Thank you" I mutter to him, keeping my eyes on the boy. I hear the sizzle of the flames being extinguished behind me. Another girl screams as the her twirler moves the balls in between her legs, the waves crash against the coarse sand, but above it all I can hear the boy talking, his eyes fixated on me but still talking to someone. Then he makes a mistake, and drops his gaze for just a second. It's enough for me to bound for the cover of the beach lounges. I drop my to my knees and seek him out in the crowd again, it's a lot easier this time, his frantic movements make him stand out ... he is looking for me, pushing people out of the way as he moves to the front of the crowd. I crawl through the sand hiding behind chairs and tables, positioning myself at the back the crowd. A small smirk crosses my face as I think about how such a small mistake has lead to his death. I reach into my back pocket and slide out my knife, the handle grows and moulds to my grip, extending vines of rubber down onto my wrist entangling themselves, they stop growing and harden to a cool metal.
I explode of the ground pushing with my right leg. I push through the dense crowd of people at full sprint ignoring their agitated yells. I focus my breathing and running on the boy who stands just one hundred metres from me, oblivious to my attack. The world turns to a blur, the only thing clear is the boy. His rough shaggy hair, broad shoulders and muscly arms. I push myself harder closing the gap fast, I have cleared the crowd now, it's just a straight 50m sprint from here.
I push off the ground and leap towards him, aiming the point of my knife at the slope of his neck, a vital artery rests there supplying him life, I wish to cut that supply and kill him.
I seem to stay suspended for ages and I feel my mind slipping from the present state, I use all my focus to draw it back in. In that same moment the boy turns and punches me hard in the side, sending my body flying through the air. I land with a thud in the sand, the tips of my hair being lapped at by the small waves. I look up to see the boy on his knees clutching his throat as blood pours out, I start to laugh but it hurts so instead I force my mind out of the present and gather myself before returning to my body and standing. I walk over to the boy,
"R .... uh .... runnn ..." he wheezes as he collapses into the sand, for the first time I notice the look of surprise on the crowds face. They have all shifted backwards, closer to the top of the beach, all except four men, wearing black shirts with a purple emblem that reads "Marieda".
"Shit." I whisper to myself"
