urban fairytales

the final rite

"C'mon Rue!"

Qhuai stood on a narrow path that cut between Rue's parents' rowhome and an abandoned rowhouse with plywood boards replacing the second floor windows. The path is a chipped and ruptured sidewalk that follows beneath a creek of litter that regurgitates onto another street of more tilted rowhouses that were either completely dilapidated or in a struggling disrepair. There were no street lights, which meant that Qhuai was totally submerged into darkness. Besides her familiar voice, Rue only recognized the silhouette of Qhuai's face by using the glow light from her bedroom window. Rue loudly shushed her friend before returning to the canvas bag perched on her thin and narrow twin bed.

Rue had packed just about all she could in there, but it still didn't feel like it was enough. She had spent a whole week packing for this night; but if she was really honest, the packing had actually started two months ago when the girls had decided to do this. It didn't quite feel like Rue was having cold feet. She believed herself to be just as determined to do this as Qhuai was. But Rue was leaving behind a lot of things that gave her comfort, and she worried if she would be able to live without her many things of luxury.

Another part of her was forming feelings of disgust at her pestering hesitance. Rue reminded herself about Qhuai's own plight and how this trip was more than running away from a home full of broken people and tarnished childhoods. Qhuai's ease to runaway made Rue feel guilty about her lack of a "real" reason. She reminded herself that there was nothing else for her in this ignored corner of a chaotic metropolis. Her parents, who slept in a bedroom only fifteen feet away from Rue's own, claimed that all Rue had to do was follow the rules in order to survive. Her parents saw rebellion--in any form of any kind--as a type of cheating that no one could really prosper from. But Rue couldn't agree with them. There were too many people who were leaving the planet every day with faith that they could find "real" opportunities in space.

Rue had turned off all her lights now. She pulled on a thin polyester jacket and then tugged her canvas bag strap over her left shoulder. She carefully climbed out of her window and onto the narrow ledge that barely protruded over the ground below.

"Throw your bag down!" Rue heard Qhuai making movements. But since she could not see her, she did not do as Qhuai ordered. Rue only shushed Qhuai again. The sound of someone sucking their teeth met her ears.

This was not the first time in Rue's seventeen years of existence that she had snuck out of her bedroom like this. Qhuai did it all the time, in reverse, when she'd sneak over for an impromptu sleepover. Yet, every time Rue suspended herself on the ledge like this, she felt a sickening vertigo quickly materialize. As usual, Rue took a deep breath and slowly descended her right foot until it met the rickety step of their makeshift stepladder. Once her foot settled into a firm position, Rue slowly reached down to grab that same step with her left hand. If there had been daylight, and Rue had been visible, she would've looked really crazy to anyone right now. She was posed like a floating dancer trying to do a hermit crab shuffle in midair. Even though Qhuai couldn't really see her, Rue still heard her snicker tauntingly.

"By the time you climb down, Tye would've already left us," she hissed. Rue didn't respond to her this time but continued focusing on getting down from the gate.

As soon as Rue's feet hit the ground, the sound of crushing aluminum filled the air like a sudden wailing blast of an emergency siren. Rue shrieked in surprise which was followed by another muffled squeal as Qhuai's hands wrapped around her face to cover her mouth. Suddenly a light from above illuminated another patch of ground, and Rue looked up to see the lights from another room of her home had flickered on.

"There's no turnin' back now," Qhuai whispered harshly into Rue's ear.

"Then let's go!" Rue snapped back, quickly shoving Qhuai down the path and away from the only home she had ever known. As she retreated from the light, Rue suddenly realized this was the last time that she'd ever do that again. The last time she'd ever live in her childhood.