The distance between us

4. Rainbow

MAYBELLE
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My head throbbed as if it had its own heartbeat, my brain banging to escape the prison of my scull.

I pulled myself up before I actually realised I was still outside on the pavement. It was dark and cold, no one nearby.

"Jesus, still outside huh?" Now i was talking to myself.

My sighs became heavy with annoyance knowing I could've been home watching my favourite show if I had just composed myself. Yet, at the same time, I couldn't help but think how no teachers managed to see me lying here in the fucking snow. They really are as oblivious as the police when investigating Harvey Weinstein.

I took a deep breath trying to fix my breathing before starting the short walk home, mentally preparing myself for a scolding, it was already 6pm.

I lifted my phone from my bag holding it up to my face, "ooo that's a good one"
My face was now accompanied with what looked like countless scratches from the graze of the concrete.

You know when you fall off your bike and graze your knee on the hard pebbled driveway? Yeah well that's what the side of my face looked like.

I had frozen blood smeared lightly on each graze, not much to any degree but enough the cause the colouring of my skin to become a darker shade of maroon.

I feel like I'm stuck in a endless loop on a ball spinning effortlessly in space, feeling oddly dirty in my own skinned form. It's quite bizarre when you think about it...

I mean we literally live on a ball in space with big puffy white things that float above our heads, with little rainbow flower looking things that fly around in a sky of stories, a place where the sun and moon take turns in nurturing the planet with their remedies, a place where the soul can be tamed, a place you either love with life or hate as much as deaths dominance.

GREY
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God I fucking hate this job. Sometimes I loved the fact that my say was the only one important enough to start a war between heaven and hell and other days I dreaded my part of this, a world that's came to be misconstrued and looked upon dangerously. Of course I won't deny the dangers of being involved with an underworld of criminal activity but like everyone, we can't help where our paths take us.

I stepped outside into the cool air from the compressing walls of my home. I need to go for a walk to clear my mind.

Although my security really protested against the idea, I went alone.

I hate to admit it, but apart of me enjoyed the feeling of killing, taking the life out of someone who deserves it, the idea of a new woman every week to play out the fantasies that laid within my deep dark soul, as painful as it sounds, they meant absolutely nothing to me but it was like ecstasy...such a high, but the low...making it almost not worth it at all.

I let my legs take me as far they could, until finally I realised I was already a few streets over under a light pole that flickered with uncertainty, did it want to light up the eerie street? Or keep it suspenseful?

I guess suspense wins...my shoulder budged what I first thought was a gate panel but upon further inspection the light from above cast a flickered shadow of a person.

They instantly apologised before continuing to head in the opposite direction of myself, but lord I'd be lying if I didn't recognise that voice, a voice ever so soft yet so full of strength.

"I saw you last week?" I asked as more of a statement rather than a question. Why did I find the need to approach her in a way that would certainly spark a conversation between us? I have no idea.

She seemed to relax slightly as she calmed from the fresh memory, yet she still wouldn't look up to me, her eyes glued to the floor beneath.

"What're you doing out here so late? Alone. In the cold?" I broke the silence feeling almost compelled to know her reasoning.

This town wasn't overly dangerous but any girl out past dark is chancing the risk of danger finding them. It sucks knowing that's the way the world is but unfortunately it is.

"I uh heading home from school" she whispered, each word coming out more trembled then the last, barely audible yet it caused a shiver to envelope my entire being.

"At 6:30?"

I expected my question to be silenced yet there I was looking down once again at those beautifully rich orbs, yet my body didn't relax this time, it only tensed, each muscle in my body spasmed around my bones making me feel like a steel pipe, her face painted the colour of crimson red, accompanied by wide grazes that charged there way across her rosed cheek bone.

My stomach churned, with what? That I can't answer.
Her eyes deepened at the realisation of my full awareness of what coated her skin.

"Who did that to you?"
She didn't answer me, she was afraid.

"who.did.that.to.you?" I asked again, much more force escaping this time.

She stuttered her words before finally getting it out in a hushed tone.

"I'm just clumsy, I fell at school, landed in the hard snow" she smiled, she seemed convincing although apart of me felt as if there was more to her story.

Out of nowhere I got hit in the head with a jolt of realisation, why the fuck am I still here? I need to get home.

I never let myself become distracted with the urgency of protecting unless it's the people I'm close with yet I find myself here, in the middle of this ill-lit road feeling as if my hardened front was visibly see through, but only for a certain set of painted eyes.
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