The Sparks

CH. II

                 

(A/N: make sure to put both songs on. They give it an extra... Spark ;)

CH II

"The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light." – Matthew Arnold

Song: Bloodflood pt. II – Alt-J

I was not like she wasn't a sweet girl, not at all. Elliot did find her, well, nice. But she was exhausting. She talked the ears of his head about everything, but mostly books. At first it was fine because it was different and interesting. Now he couldn't wait until he had found the solution for his idea. At the moment she was talking about, well he did not pay attention so he had no idea.

Belle Barbot was pretty average. Other than reading her hobbies were not exciting. She watched movies, she worked at a bookstore, she hated going out and had a tightknit friend group. That is the only thing I could tell you about Belle, Elliot even less. But she did matter. You see, every person in some way or another does matter. Though people like Elliot Stone don't see that, and probably won't ever.

A peculiar thing Elliot had noticed was that after he met Belle, his first spark, he started to pay more attention to people. Something he had not done before, because he thought people were boring and not using their brain and talents to their full potential. He noticed special things about them, maybe the way they laughed or told stories. Not sparks, maybe little ones, but just things. Quirks. Little sparks. Hardly enough for his plan but they were there. And everybody, even the most average and uninteresting people, had them. The most peculiar thing of it all was that he saw colours around them. Some people had more colours than others around them. Some were red, blue, orange or a weird mix. He could not see his own colours when looking in the mirror but he saw their colours. Belle's colour was a combination of greens but the most dominant colour was yellow. Especially now she was talking about reading and books. Her hands moved energetically as she talked about a certain book. Her eyes started to twinkle and she looked more alive than anyone he ever met. The yellow colour in tensed. It was like a bright yellow streetlight in a foggy, dark night.
Then it hit him, like his big idea hit him. He was numb for a slight second. Yellow, he realized, was her spark! And it was gorgeous. So beautiful, in his grasp but also so far away. How was he going to get such a beautiful and important piece? Could he catch the colour?  But what would he do after he had caught the colour? He couldn't put it in a jar or something. It was not jam or peanut butter it was a spark. And where did all the sparks go? In shells. He needed a shell. The shell of his idea. He let her, and her beautiful yellow colour, go. He knew she would be back.

Elliot Stone had done a few things in his life he was not particularly proud of. In primary school he peed his pants in the lunch line, a very embarrassing experience as you can imagine. In secondary school he once got a C, for a group project. Because the kids he was working with told the teacher he was "bossy". Then he told them they were lazy pigs. It did not go down well. At work he once or twice broke the scanner, he just was not good with electric devices. But he had never committed a crime.

Elliot Stone walked the streets with confidence looking around. He did not look for sparks; he just looked merely for at the outside. After looking for hours he finally found her. She was beautiful, of course. Her eyes were bright and full of hope, her dark brown hair fell effortlessly down her back, she was ethereal, dreamy and perfect. So he did what someone like Elliot would do in a situation. He admired her, studied her and after that kidnapped her. She struggled, of course, but not for long. He drugged her so she would forget and induced her in a coma giving her food and water so she would survive. She wasn't ready, not yet.

It was like a puzzle, a crossword; she was a great mystery. And he put all the pieces together. All she needed now was the sparks.

                                                          ***

Now it was time to add the first spark. Adding the yellow spark, the reader spark. He had never been so excited. Yet, he felt a bit sorry for Belle. Without her spark Belle wouldn't be Belle. Her eyes would not light up while talking about her passion, her hands wouldn't move the same way to describe a character, years of her life would be just empty. But he quickly set those thoughts aside. To utilize the spark, he realized, he had to use it to it's full potential. Or else it was just useless. It had to shine as bright as it could. He needed Belle to use her spark as much as she could, he realized. Only that way it could reach it's full potential. He thought back at all the times her spark shined the brightest. It was when she was reading. Curled up with a book, a cup of coffee or tea and an endless imagination is where she, and her spark, was most at home.

(Song: I put a spell on you – Sceaming Jay Hawkins )

He invited her into his home and gave her a cup of tea. 'Let's read a book,' he offered. And of course she agreed. She did not realize that he had put a drug in her tea that made her body numb and her mind black out. She only realized a bit later. 'What did you do?' she asked, her eyes widened realizing that her whole perception of this was man was wrong. 'Read, darling,' he said calmly. 'I don't want to hurt you.' She looked around at her surroundings. The room was empty but cosy. 'I want to go home.' She stated, still looking at him with wide eyes. 'Read.' Was his answer.

She did as she was told after feeling the cold knife against her throat. Her yellow spark shining brighter and brighter as the words entered her brain. He could see it clearly now, it was like star above her skull intertwining into her head. From the top of her head to her toes the spark was connected. It was rooted into her very soul. Perfect. He took the knife and held it above her head, just a bit bellow her spark. Her body was already getting numb of the drug but her mind was wide awake. She would pass out in a few minutes. He waited until her spark grew brighter and then, with a sharp movement he cut the spark out of her body. Pulled all the roots away from her toes, her hands and her chest. She fell down to the ground, like a puppet. He held the spark in his hand, panting as if he had run a marathon. The spark felt warm, like coming home from a rainy day. He went into the other room, the room where she laid and connected the spark to her dots. From her toes to her head. From her right hand to her left hand. The spark shone bright for a second, situated above her head, but faded quickly away. His first spark was collected.

***

Belle was heavier than he expected, he stated when he dragged her to her couch. The medicine was almost gone and she could wake up any minute, not remembering anything about that night. He realized he couldn't let her go yet. He had to see for himself if she would lose her spark, what would happen to her. But for now he was content.