Queen of the Ashes

Chapter Two

Anemone:
sickness
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The rain was pouring down as Ethan walked down the pavement, and in contrast from all the other individuals around him who rushed to their known or unknown destination, fleeing the rain, he walked with ease.

Ethan was different, it was no secret, and one of the many reasons for that was that he, obviously, acted differently from the rest. Rather than worrying about the water weighing down and messing up his hair or how the cold rain chilled down his body, he walked slowly. Bathing in the bone-chilling sensation, basking in the emptiness of the sounds around him.

He didn't even care if his glasses fogged, he couldn't help but smile as the smell of wet grass mixed with the cold air hit his nose. He loved the calming sound the rain made as it hit a surface and how the sky turned into a soothing grey color. His smile widened by just thinking about it.

Yes, there was indeed so much to love about the rain, but one of the biggest reasons for it -according to Ethan- was how it brought peace to one's body and how it didn't pressure anyone into going outside or do something useful like sunny weather always did. Ethan especially loved how he could be inside all day and read without feeling without a purpose or lazy. No one was expected to do something, it was okay to just stay inside and rest. Or read. That was exactly all Ethan felt like doing.

Despite being a social being that loved surrounding himself in the presence of others, he still preferred to drown out the world with words and his own imagination in the safe frames of his home.

But lately the frames of his home had taken on the sensation of uncertainty, as the word safety could no longer be an adjective to describe his house. So Ethan preferred to read at the library instead. Even as a nagging sensation always called to him to get back home.

Ethan was soaked by the time he got to the library, but the librarian was used to stranger things and merely shrugged before going back to her book. Ethan being Ethan he called out a soft «M-morning».

The librarian only nodded, not even raising her gaze from the page, but Ethan just shrugged. He never got to first - or even last- name basic with her, even as they were practically the same age and he saw her here almost every day. But he figured it didn't cost him anything to be polite, even as he knew she never really responded to it.

Ethan hung his soaked jacket at a peg by the door and went to his usual spot by the window that was currently hosting a race between raindrops.

Ethan smiled contently as he saw his book still laying in the stool of the window where he'd left it. He was no fan of sharing and hadn't been able to finish it before the library closed, so to be sure he'd be able to read it out before someone else grabbed, he hid it. Its wooden pattern surface made it blend right in with the stool.

It wasn't that Ethan didn't want to bring the book home with him, it was more about the fact that he rarely could focus when he was at home, as he would be on edge the entire time.

Ethan seated himself in the stool by the square-shaped table, resting his elbows on each side of the book as he opened it. As if on cue, the second he got to read the first word of the page, the main entrance opened and a silhouette of a person walked in.

The first word he had read matched the sight that met him perfectly.

Red.

She wore a hood to escape the rain, but her red locks peeked out as it was merged into a thick braid going down her chest. She removed her hood and her face contrasted with her rather fierce hair as it was rather pale and contained splashes of random freckles.