Nothing Gold Can Stay

It was a dark cold December night when I was stumbling home from the bar down the street. For the first time in months, I'd been turned down. The mark on my cheek stings and I reach up to rub it absentmindedly. The girl had slapped me before stomping off into the back of the bar, fuming. I had just grabbed another shot.

I struggled to open the door to my apartment building before it opened. My landlord stood glaring at me and I gave him a small smile, knowing what was coming.

"Cris, you're three months behind rent. I need it before next week." James says, a frown etching its way on his face.

"Calm down bro. I'll get it to you." I answered, waving my hand in an uncaring manner.

"I'm not gonna calm down. You keep saying that. Do I need to move you to weekly?"

"No. You don't. I'll get it to you, okay. Geez. Trust me." I was getting annoyed and it probably showed on my face.

James just scoffs and walks off. I shake my head and stumble to the elevator. Clicking the button forty-seven times, I climbed on and smiled at my appearance in the mirrored wall. Dang, I looked good. Twenty-seven years was looking good on me. So was ruffled black hair and a leather jacket. The girl didn't know what she was missing.

The elevator dinged and I walked out, my headache lifting as I saw a girl standing outside of the room. She seemed to glow with unearthly color. She slowly turned to face me and I saw her face clearly. The girl had red hair and bright green eyes. A hint of a tattoo peeked out from shirt, a scroll of words and flowers. She smiles at me and I walk up to her.

"Hey. I'm Cris. And your name is...?" I said, probably still slurring my words, but who cares. Her smile was doing weird things to me.

"You're Cristopher Masons, right?" She said and she laid a hand on my chest. When she did that a feeling went through my body and I gasped.

"Wha-" I start, but she's smiling at me still.

"You're a jerk. And you don't deserve me." She said, her face slowly morphing into something completely different, the tattoos on her shoulder spreading all over her face and arms. The flowers uncurled into scars and her face flickered back and forth between the monster and the girl from the bar. Her hair turned gray and her eyes black and cold. I shuddered as my body started to shrivel and my hands clutched at something I couldn't see around my neck.

"I've seen what you've done to girls. I've seen what you think of yourself. Your hamartia and your greed have killed you, Cris. It has turned you ugly. It has made you " Her voice was multi-leveled and all I could hear or see and eventually everything faded to black.

****

I woke up in the woods, covered in mud. My skin felt stretched beyond belief. I lifted my head as much as I could and saw people standing in a circle around me. In front of me was the woman who changed in the hall. Freaking out, I tried to sit up, to move my arms or anything, but I was restrained. The girl steps forward and raises a hand and wind starts to blow around us. She starts speaking. I can't hear her, but my body starts to burn and I start screaming. The pain is unbelievable and I can't speak. All of a sudden, lightning strikes through the trees and everything disappears.

"Hubris can kill you, Cristopher. Just like it killed your father."

FIN

I wrote this for English 2 class and decided to post it. Hope you enjoyed!!!!!!