EXPLODE

Chapter 1

No one was sorry that he died. Well, everyone except her. Mara stood, brushing tears away from her face in the second story of a department store. She knew the owner pretty well, and the owner (Julia) let her sit up there in the storage area to watch the executions. The store was right on the corner of town square, so it was a perfectly horrible view of what happened.

The scene in front of her was of a crowd of people, no more than say 80, surrounding the chopping block. A black man, in his mid thirties, lay decapitated with blood splattered and pooling around him. She had gotten used to seeing the executions- as some she was required to attend by government- but this one was different.

The man was Jared Sworn, a 35 year old black man with two little daughters and a loving wife. Although no one in the crowd knew that. But I don't think they would have done anything if they did know.

Jared worked as a blacksmith slave in the East Blocks, and was extremely fortunate to have the position he did. He could actually almost support his family with the 'pay'.

He had been executed for supposedly sexually harassing one of the ladies he worked for. Yesterday, he had told Mara that he had been delivering a silver pen his Lady had requested to be made, and she was yelling at him because it didn't have her initials engraved on it. She slapped him, and as she was storming off, she tripped. He went to catch her, and she screamed rape.

Too put it lightly, Mara would love to have some specific words with this Lady.

Back at the square, a man stepped forward. He was in a sleeveless shirt, exposing the flame tattoo on his shoulder. He raised his hand up, toward Jared's motionless body, and fire shot out, burning the remains. People cheered and clapped, and Mara wanted nothing more than to scream at them to stop.

She quickly turned away, the smell of flesh burning stinging her nostrils. She wiped her tears away quickly, and trotted back down the rickety steps of the department store. She came out, and walked through the isle of candy before coming through to some little stuffed animals. She searched through them silently, fighting her stinging tears as she picked out an elephant with big green eyes and giraffe with sparkly purple ones. She walked quickly to the register, and was greeted by Julia. Her warm blue eyes were now monotone, and she looked at me with pity. Her wrinkles seemed a little more prominent today, creases appearing by her thin chapped lips.

As she check out my items, she said solemnly, "don't let them see you like that, dear. They'll get suspicious."

She nodded blinking rapidly. "Thank you, Julia. I really appreciate it."

She smiled, "any time, Mara. Please give the family my condolences." She whispered the last part, although there was no need. No one was on the store to hear. She nodded again, and took the two stuffed animals and left.

On the street, the horrid smell was even more pungent, and she put the sleeve of my jacket over her nose and mouth to block out the smoke. Luckily, she was walking the opposite direction of the fire. They would get a Waterbender to put it out soon, anyways, and she began her 30 minute walk to the Scrubs.

She walked quickly, making a few turns here and there, and passing by some of her fellow city dwellers. Soon enough, the store fronts turned shabbier and shabbier, cracked windows and rickety signs trying desperately to advertise their items as if they were as good as all the others. She tried desperately to keep her mind off of Jared the whole way, but she found berself tearing up as she passed his blacksmith store.

Soon, sidewalk turned to cold dirt, and she walked down a long road. She passed lots of collapsing shacks, with a few little black children scurrying around in the yellow grass with water bottles and cans, all bundled up in old cloth. They didn't even notice her, but their shouts and giggles were heard. It was as if you were walking into a completely different world.

She turned toward one of the two story, nicer, shacks and walked toward the screen door. She pulled it open with protest from the rusted hinges, before knocking on the wooden door.

After a few moments, it opened, and Mara was greeted by a broken Mrs. Aida, her eyes red rimmed and dropping features.

"It's done." I said softly, " I- I brought something for the girls, if you don't mind." She added, showing her the stuffed animals. Mrs. Aida smiled a bit, tears building up in her eyes, her head nodding away.

"Yes, of course honey. The girls will love them." She quivered, stepping aside to let Mara in. When Mara stepped in, there was little to no temperature change from the 40 degree weather. Once she closed the door, and they were in privacy, Mara went in to hug Mrs. Aida, who very soon after lost her control. She sobbed softly into Mara's shoulder, and Mara knew nothing more than to coo soothing words and embrace her with sympathy.

"Mommy?"

Aida pulled away at the tiny voice, and we both looked down to see her youngest, Avè, standing in her pajamas, her hair in disarray.

"Mara came to see you guys today." Aida said, sniffling and composing herself once more. I smiled, walking over and kneeling down to her level. The little girl was smiling, unaware of what had happened to her father.

She was two, still holding all her baby fat. "Hey girlie. I brought you a present- from your dad. You want it?." I greeted, pulling the elephant from behind my back and handing it to her. She let out a high pitched squeal her beautiful big eyes growing even bigger as she snatched the elephant from my hands. She smothered her face in it, giggling. A smile crossed my face, and then five year old Ani came wandering into the hall, stretching her arms out wide. She had a old cheetah print blanket wrapped around her slender frame, and her crooked glasses were almost off her nose.

Avè turned around, showing her new toy to her sister, giggling gibberish all the while. "And for you, Ani. It's from your dad." I said once again, handing Ani the Giraffe. Ani smiled and took the Giraffe with a sleepy grin. "Thank you, Ms. Mara." She said with a yawn, holding the Giraffe close. Ani had always been a bit more reserved and mature, for a five year old anyways so She wasn't surprised by her not-so-excited-as-Avè-ness.

"I see you guys got to sleep in today, eh?" Mara said, glancing back at Aida who was smiling at her children. She glanced at me and nodded. "Yeah. I thought today we could use some extra rest." She stated, while Avè came tumbling over to Aida to show off her little friend.

"Ah, I see. Well. I better be getting back, I have to get to work." Mara sighed out, "come here." And then the two girls ran into her, giving her a fierce hug. Mara chuckled a bit, before Aida told them to go get dressed.

Mara turned back to Aida after the girls scurried off, "so you haven't told them yet?" I whispered solemnly. She shook her head, "no. They think he went off to work this morning. I don't wanna try and explain to them what happened- I'll probably just tell em' it was a car crash or something." She replied, fiddling with her beige shawl, not meeting my gaze.

"I know he didn't do it. He told me on the way to work yesterday- it's horrible." Mara amended, placing a hand on her shoulder. She was such a frail women; Mara could feel her shoulder bone clearly. She nodded vigorously, a little flare filling her dead eyes, "of course he didn't. They find any excuse to kill us. Kill any innocent man they can." She spat, her voice rising a bit from the whisper. Mara bit her lip, nodding.

"He was a good man. I loved hearing his stories on the way to work every morning. I'll miss him."

Aida shook her head, looking at me like I was a cute little alien. "You're the craziest white girl ive ever met- risking your life just to talk with Jared. Crazy child." She mumbled, shaking her head. She turned to grab a stack of clothes off of the stairwell, handing them to me.

"Well, it was telepathy- no one else could hear us." She defended, knowing full well that talking to a black man was more dangerous than anything else She could do. So, She just used one of the perks of her weird ability to talk to him through their  minds.

"And here are your clothes, honey. Stay safe." Aida said kindly, sniffling a bit. Mara gave a forced smile, taking the clothes she had washed for her with a thank you. She gave her the payment for the clothes before heading back out.
-------------------------------------------------------
Aye chapter one! Like it? Let me know! Pleasew comment and like, in still learning, so excuse my mistakes. I'll try and go back and fix them :).
So this next chapter is gonna be a bit of an explanatory chapter, but towards the end it will spice up a bit, so bare with me! ;)