Downfall [Punk Niall Horan]

18

Air flew past me in musty puffs and enveloped me in a weird calmness. As I walked, I calmed down a bit. The farther away I got from Niall, the better. If anyone were to see me now I do not think it would look like every piece of hope and my heart had gotten ripped and thrown into a dirty trash bin.

Even breathes came into my chest, and ripped out delightfully. These were the first good, calm breaths I had gotten in forever. Overthinking everything was killing me and drowning me into an abyss.

Wondering if Niall had actually meant what he said was the least of my problems right now. The city was going down, my father being a major part of it. This was just as much my problem, if not more, than anyone else down here.

He was my Dad after all, and I wasn't proud to even call him that anymore since he was truly the evil man everyone thinks he is. That I think he is.  My Dad really did experiment on those people, or mutants you could say. The things that almost killed me.

Twice.

Finally, I made it to the front of the food line after a few minutes. Ivanna stood behind the table barrier, too lost in her own thoughts to notice my calm demeanor. Her old eyes squeezed shut, almost as if she was in pain.

But yet, happiness emanated from her frail body. Even not knowing her for long, I could tell she was strong and stubborn. That she had seen lots of unspeakable things, but somehow she managed to make everyone around her feel happy.

Figuring that she was a stubborn was awful of me, but I had only been down here a month and well.. Things were not exactly too great right now. I wasn't myself at the moment.

Heaving a deep breath, I finally snapped out of it. "Ivanna," I called, worried I disrupted her. Memories broke away from her eyes, she blinked a few times, then focused her chocolate brown eyes on me.

She had just been somewhere far away in her mind, though I don't know where, but from the look on her face I'm glad I didn't know where she went. Regaining her normal composure, she lightly smiled at me, "Girl. Where have you been?"

Well there only one answer to that question, but too many reasons behind it to get it across safely. Dark thoughts threatened to grab me, but I pushed them far away. "Just coming to grips with things," I finally said, giving her a short version of the truth. "Can we have that talk now," I added quickly.

Black hair bobbed quickly up and down, signaling her understanding of what I meant. Somehow I think she knew what had actually happened to me while I was gone, almost as if she could sense it. Everyone seemed to know what I did and how I felt about it. Especially the way people were looking at me today proved it all.

"You haven't ate in days, I can tell. Let me get some food, and we'll talk. Yeah?" Ivanna questioned, though it wasn't even a question at all. Not even giving me a chance to answer, she hobbled around her kitchen to collect various things for me.

Ivanna was right, I haven't eaten in days. It felt like acids were dissolving my empty stomach inch by inch. When the smell of delicious food wafted my way, an angry snarl rumbled in my empty stomach. Embarrassed, I cradled my hands over my stomach, praying to God that no one heard the beast.

"Let's go," Ivanna insisted, nodded her head towards a fairly clean door close to her tiny frame. Navigating around the table, I caught up to her side easily. For an old woman she was pretty fast and in shape. She almost put me to shame.

Almost.

The only thing that marred her macho was a strong limp towards her right side, making her step shaky. Maybe I could've seen something if she wasn't wearing a skirt that touched the floor, but it looked very painful to walk on.