hotline anonymous

chapter 1 : of flashbacks

I hum softly to myself, as I paint my nails as dark as my mood.

The eternal cloud of grief seems impossible to get rid of, these days. It's darkened my mood to a pitch-black, yawning, void.

I should be grieving. Perhaps sobbing on the ground, or maniacally laughing. Maybe both. The grief of losing two people might do that to some.

But me? I'm numb. I can't afford the luxury of fleeting emotions if I want to figure out the mess going on in my life right now.

Satisfied with my nails, I cap the nail paint bottle and wait for them to dry. As I look them over, one by one, I realize, I haven't painted my nails in a long time. Not since...

"Remy!" I hear someone shout, the voice seemingly coming from far, far away. An echo from the past.

I'm still in my room, sitting at the dressing table, waiting for my nail paint to dry, but my mind has already swept me away to a different time.

"Remy!" The voice calls again.

I try to resist the memory, resist recalling it, but to no avail.

A loud laugh draws me, sinks me, back in.
Regal's laugh.

He moves towards me, a smile painted on his lips. Entwining my hand with his, he starts pulling me forward. "Don't look so lost, babe. We're just here to have some fun," he says.

"I was just enjoying the view," I reply.

He sighs and stops walking. Turning towards me, he delicately places his hands on my shoulders. "Sweetheart, don't worry. We'll be fine. If not now, then we will be in the near future. For now just...relax, okay?" He says in a soft voice, enveloping me in a hug.

"Okay." I find myself replying, hugging him back, holding on to him, one of my hands wrapping around his head and the other wrapping around his waist.

He sighs again and releases me from his hug, looking at me with sad eyes. But he quickly masks it with a happy smile, and starts pulling me forward again, towards a bouncy castle.

"You know how Aliaha gets if you make her wait right?" He asks, amusement lacing his voice.

Knowing that all too well, I shudder and start running towards the castle, practically dragging him, while he proceeds to laugh his ass off.

When we finally reach the castle, I'm panting, Regal's still giggling, and Aliaha is looking at us with a mixture of annoyance and amusement.

She shakes her head at us. "I'm not even going to ask what's got this idiot cracked up. C'mon, let's head up," she says, turning her back on us, and climbing the castle.

I give Regal one hard shove to shut him up and hurry to catch up with Aliaha.

"Hey! Wait up!" Regal's voice calls from behind me. I fasten my pace instead.

When I reach the top, Aliaha gives me a high five. We wait for Regal to reach the top and when he does, he's panting and his face looks like he can't decide whether to laugh or to frown.

"You know what the loser's punishment is Regal." I tease. He groans, and now it's our turn to laugh uncontrollably. Regal glares at us, before slowly starting to bob his head front and back, and then bending his arms at the elbows and waves them up and down.

This cracks up Aliaha and me, and soon Regal joins in, until we're all laughing too hard to even breathe properly.

When our laughter finally dies down, Aliaha sticks her hand out and says, "Red is."

Regal puts his hand on top of hers, continuing, "The colour of." They both turn to look at me.

Putting my hand on top of theirs, I finish, "Freedom," shooting them a small smile.

They both return my smile and turn to look down at our hands. I do too, and that's when I remember.

The last time I wore nail paint, at our last party, it was red.

I zone back in, my black nail paint returning into focus. I blink down at it rapidly, feeling disoriented.

I could remember the last time I wore nail paint, clear as day.

After all, it was the last time my confidant and confidante were not dead and missing.
___________________________________________________________

A/N:

Dammmmm Remy. Your life be HARD hard.

- Christina.