Echoes of Eden (in works)

I | dead and the undying

—H A R L E Y    R O O S E V E L T—

I had felt the very first droplets on my face, and they burnt like acid. Looking at the clouds, I realized the sky was beginning to grieve, along with the rest of the city. Soft grey streaks of light filtered through the heavy clouds, a reflection of what had been occupying my mind, but I wasn't going to break, not until I was back under the safety of my blanket, not until my mind pulled out the "sad card." The darkness did all it could to lift my spirits heavenward, for I was already imagining the sound massage of rain upon the rooftop. What could have been better, amid the wintry wind that blew my hair into artistic swirls, spending the day I dreaded the most?

Themis' face was the last thing that flashed before my sight before I was off the ground. His strong hands snaked around my back, pulling me in and for a moment I simply did nothing. I stood there as my plain overcoat weighed me down. Then slowly, my fingers crept up behind his neck and I pulled myself into his embrace. People often spoke of the colour of their eyes, as if that was of important. No, from them should come a glimmer, an intensity, honesty, and gentleness. What he was, came from deep within his heart.

"Did something happen?" Eli's eyes narrowed when he looked at me, before shoving my pack into his brother's chest. He was another kind of a man. The type of man that would reach beyond the sky to provide the silliest thing if that would grab the tiniest of the tiniest amount of joy. The one that would hurt and nourish. He had the kind of face that stopped people in their tracks, he must be used to that. When they looked his way, followed by overcompensating with a nonchalant gaze and a shy smile but despite all the opportunities that came his way he was a one-woman-man who prized genuineness and thoughtful conversation above stitches and money.

I couldn't help but notice that Bri had started to skip ahead of them but my legs couldn't carry me much farther than the rest of them. The real reason for my eagerness to part from my was suddenly clear.

"I'm just tired." My voice rang in my ears. It wasn't as if the walls inside my head were slowly creeping in, or how it wasn't getting difficult to speak with the weight of a boulder inside my throat and it wasn't how my head was aching to the point that I would ratmy eat a bullet than endure that pain any longer.

The art of being ordinary had always been under-appreciated but I had honed it from a very young age, to protect myself from prying eyes and just as Eli had tried to question me more, I pointedly looked behind my and made an amused face at the distance Bri had created from them. From her.

I looked behind himself, sighing as he called out my name before he gave Themis a look and rushed after her.

"Now we're both lying to him." Themis' voice startled me as I had forgotten he was there. They had been standing completely still for so long that the sky had dimmed to a faint purple and the stars had emerged.

"I'm sorry." That was the first thing that left my mouth, but I didn't know what I was apologising for.

"Shut up." I wasn't as gentlemanly when Eli wasn't there to bust his head for it and the one thing that annoyed me the most were light-hearted apologies.

I had been a burden for so long that I had forgotten what it was like to have people interact with me without caring if they would shatter the imperfectly glued shards of a cracked vase. Themis had always been the stone pillar to lean on but he wasn't any kind towards her, not because of any underlying indifference but because they understood each other no amount of ignorance or plights was enough to tremble it.

To emphasise his comment, he threw my bag towards me before I could ask for it herself. Expecting a powerful knock on my face, my eyes shut and I braced for impact.