Reflections of Light

Gravitate

Maddie felt confused.

Maddie almost always felt confused, recently.

Well, she'd spent the past year in a coma, it was only to be expected, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

She'd gone for a walk, getting out of the institute the first opportunity she had away from her stifling family; each of which seemed to have their own opinion on how she should be recovering; and now she was wandering down the road, not particularly sure where she was headed, but sorely enjoying the fresh air.

She felt a little bad for leaving Cody behind with her family again, after so long of not being able to be with him, but whilst she was enjoying catching up with all of her family, she just needed a little time to herself as well, just to get her head straight.

It all seemed like a lot, more than she was used to, everything seeming brighter and louder and stronger, and it all took some adjusting to.

It was nice being around people she didn't know, people whom she had no obligation to talk to, no pitying eyes and none of the badly concealed curiosity that made her feel like she was a freak in a fairground to be oogled at.

Picturesque couples and full-bodied families passed her on her way to nowhere, chattering and smiling in the pleasant sun in a way that couldn't not be contagious, Maddie's face pulling into an involuntary smile.

There seemed to be a small market or something in the street up ahead, from which the thin crowds were going to and fro, arriving with full purses and leaving with armfuls of trinkets and treats.

The loud buzz of chatter was actually soothing to Maddie, being that it was not directed at her it broke up what could have been a suffocatingly lonely silence.

Maddie wandered, browsing a little, not really planning to buy anything as she had no money, but hey, there was no sin in admiring.

A dream catchers on a nearby stall caught her eye, the blue and green beading shimmering like the ocean in the sun, with the unnaturally blue features fluttering in the breeze softly.

One of those things she knew was a cheap made, everyday, tourist-y trinket, yet still couldn't help find pretty, at least initially.

She felt restless, uneasy, like she was expecting something to happen, but she didn't know what.

Walking onwards, hands stuffed roughly in her pockets, she turned the corner and started suddenly when she saw a familiar face across the street, leaning casually against a wall and chatting with a good looking young man.

A familiar, stolen face.

Not knowing how to react to Alysha's sudden reappearance, Maddie took a couple steps back, watching warily and waiting to see what happened.

Alysha didn't appear to have noticed her.
She seemed pretty wrapped up in chatting up the young man, or rather, letting him chat at her, whilst she nodded and made noises of agreement in all the right places, all the while a superior smile plastered across her face.

Maddie could read that look. No simple, fun back-and-forth flirtation here, Alysha was puppet-mastering the whole situation, the man already unwittingly wrapped around her little finger, although for what reason, Maddie couldn't say.

There was a small part of her though that kept chiming in the answer was, at least partly, 'Because she can'.

Stepping a little closer, against some of her better judgement, she strained to listen in, capturing a snippet of conversation.

"What can I say?" Alysha said, giggling flirtatious and false. "Some people just gravitate towards me. Poor lost souls.

Speaking of which... Hey, stranger."

The cutesy little wave she shot Maddie made her want to bash her own head against the wall.