sophie.

Chapter 21

AUGUST 28TH, 2011

There was no war paint, no battle gear. It was just the three of us, sitting around the living room table of Robert's house, hands on our knees. We'd prepared ourselves over the night, and sleep was a gift not granted to us. Robert looked to me, and I looked to Adrien, and Adrien did Robert.

"You ready?" I asked Adrien, and with a put-on smile he quickly nodded, anxiety riddled within him. I turned to Valentine, and he nodded as well.

"We can always do this another day, Sophie. You know that," Robert told me, and I shook my head with a small grin.

"No we can't, Robert." A small silence ensued before I spoke up again. "Enough with the grim parade. Let's do this shit," I commenced, and grabbed my truncane from off the coffee table. There was a moment of hesitation, but I was well aware if I stopped now, there was a chance I wouldn't be able to start again. Every motion was willed to happen because of the will of the last motion, and so on, and so forth. June 14th, 2011, the words were spoken in a careful cadence, and the rich colors of wall faded to gray, to a white. I stood up from my seat, and without thought, I held out my hand to Adrien. He took it, and stood up as well, Robert right behind us. 

And I guess I lost my mind a little bit, because I started laughing. The room had melted around us and I was just laughing, laughing, at the world that I was apart of. And it was a real laugh, none of those anxious smiles that we'd put on for one another. And in that moment Adrien smiled too, because it was contagious, and even Robert, who was always stone-faced, allowed for the corners of his lips to turn up. We were nowhere and everywhere at once, watching as dreamy landscapes and darkened passages sped through us and around us. They came for us, they left for us, and I knew in that moment that we were nothing more than just people. Human. We fell for this strange place and we became swept up in it. We were the disillusioned fantasies of the powerful, and we were so humble. Afraid. Unaware. We were blessed and cursed with a power that was meant to change us and make us bigger, and here we stood, the smallest people on earth.

My and Adrien's hands fell from one another, and colors became slower around us. They sharpened and relaxed. Smells of popcorn and fireworks surrounded us. A deep bass bellowed beneath guitar strums and sleepy choruses from the hired band above, and thereafter, we heard voices. Laughter and conversations and excitement. Children were pitter pattering around, and dogs on leashes were being pet by friendly hands. Wind chimes tinkled and temporary tents flapped like windbreakers through the breeze.

"Where do we go?" Adrien asked, his eyes peering over the many passing heads. I was too short to do the same, and relied solely on him. I told him I had no idea, that I literally had no recollection of the day. But out of the blue, Robert made a lead, so we followed without hesitation.

"He'll be somewhere quiet and without other people. Even Daemon doesn't want to make a scene," Robert explained, and this led to an implied brainstorm session where the two of us, familiar with Marco and Polo, thought of remote places around the Jubilee.

"The auction warehouse usually isn't as busy as this," I suggested, but Robert shook his head.

"Too big. Too many vendors inside." The place he was headed, which was a sandwich shop permanently fixated right in the middle of the Jubilee, was clearly empty, and he cursed to himself. "Not there."

"Don't these places have a lot of back tents? Places for storage?" Adrien asked, and I said yeah, because I worked in one my freshmen year. And then it occurred to me where I probably was.

"The freaking game booths!" I exclaimed, and they turned to look at me. "When I was a freshmen I worked for the balloon darts guy, and he has this massive back room. I must've visited him today," I said aloud, and Robert quickly turned and pushed me in that direction, urging me to head onward. With unexpected acceleration, I hopped forward and then turned it into a jog, looking at the different tents and navigating my way through the crowd. So many people crowded around me, and I didn't know if Adrien or Robert were following my path. All I knew was that I needed to get there, and fast. Vendors and food carts passed by until suddenly, it all switched over, and the carnival music slipped in like a rustic snake out of the nearby carousel.