Ethereal

Chapter 14

(A few months later)

Ah, November. A noble season. The trees have lost most of their leaves, and they lay scattered on the ground like broken memories. A cold wind blows instead of a warm one, and I can just taste the snow that's about to burst free of the chains of heat. Jackets, skeletal trees, Halloween decorations that people have yet to take down, Christmas lights that have been hung since June. It's beautiful.

The sky is painted with vibrant ambers like the ether is on fire. It reflects off the icy creek waters at dusk, causing a display of color that coats everything that's not cast in shadow.

A certain feeling comes with the cold. Maybe it's anticipation; knowing deep down that in less than a month and a half, a new year is going to open up, filled with new opportunities. Maybe it's excitement; warm laughs as the whole family eats, giggles as children chase each other around the neighborhood with their older siblings or parents at their heels, shrieking in anger (but secretly enjoying it, too).

And it's fucking cold, so -10 points for that crap.

I hurry down the street, leaves crunching under my shoes. Frost coats everything, from the grass to the cars and even the outside of some houses. It's still dark, which doesn't help the whole 'Holy shit my face is going to fall off if I don't get somewhere warm, fast' thing.

The streetlights buzz above me like clouds of angry bees. They cast a dim amount of light onto the sidewalk, though not nearly enough for me to consider myself safe from whatever's lurking in the alleyways.

I mean, come on, I got attacked by a stray dog once and it stole my goddamn sandwich. I still have nightmares to this day.

Thankfully, though, that was a year ago, and I haven't seen it since.

                                    ~

I'm just going to stop describing my school days unless something interesting actually happens. Because, believe me, it never gets more thrilling than a teacher dropping their pen.

I step off the bus and onto the pavement, once again onto brittle leaves that separate the soles of my shoes from the concrete. A strangely satisfying crunch was made as I landed on them, and it left me wondering why it was so pleasing to hear as I walked off. It sounded like bones being crushed, which is rather gruesome, not satisfying.

Them again, we weren't always civilized creatures. We ate like rabid dogs at some point in our evolution, and I can almost guarantee at least 80% of it was meat. So, maybe it's a primordial thing.

Or maybe I'm overthinking this.

Yeah, probably the latter, I say to myself as I open the front door. The heat of the house welcomes me with open arms, and I let out a small huff of air as the warmth blasts my face.

In the summer, such heat is considered awful, torturous even, but when the chillier months come it leaves us yearning for the soft summer breezes and bright, crackling bonfires held in the dead of night. And then it comes back, and we could care less, as it's just too hot.

For now, I was thankful for it.

I threw my bag onto my bed and pulled my phone out of my pocket.

After a moment of annoyingly time consuming thinking, I shoved my phone back into its previous place and headed back downstairs. I had to at least try to act like I had a life.

                                     ~

Sorry for the little blip there. I actually had no set time period for this and it was starting to annoy me. That's why it says 'A few months later' instead of a specific amount of time after the previous chapter. I simply didn't know when exactly it was, though I knew I was aiming for August-y type stuffs.

Okay, bais.

[*turns into mist and sinks into the floor*]