literature

Jace

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Beautiful



  “It’s raining.”
  She did not need to turn around to know that he was approaching her from behind, watching her and not the rain. Neither did she need to answer.
  “Listen to the drops,” he said, coming to a stop behind her, not touching her with anything but his breath. “But the rain clouds are passing. It won’t last for long.”
  He was such a simple man, she smiled to herself, listening to the constant tapping of water against the cold glass of the window. So very, very complicated, and yet so unimaginable simple. She never understood him. But she knew how he worked.
  “Where do you want to go?” he asked, and she felt the heat from his body, passing through untouchable air to softly land against her back. And she knew that it was not real, but she could not care less. “What do you want to do?”
  “Why do you ask me?” she wondered, turning around to face him. He stepped away. It was one of their unspoken rules that she would not turn around when he was standing behind her, not without her announcing it first in some way. It was one of the many strange patterns that had developed between them in the short time they had been together to compensate for their different cultures and personalities, and it said much about how uncanny a couple they were that they seemed to know each other so well when really they knew nothing.
  Breaking one of the rules, maybe for the first time, threw him off. He walked away a few steps, rounded her in a half circle to watch the rain again. The steady tapping was slowing down, signaling the unhurried death of the rain cloud.
  “Ray,” she said, not turning her head towards him. He did not mind if she dropped her human pretenses to be a seeing, normal person, so she had let go of her habits little by little. Other people became uneasy if she did not turn her head towards them when speaking, or if she knew what they were doing when she was in another room, but Ray did not mind. That was one of the things that she loved about being with him.
  “My family sent for me,” he said slowly.
  She knew what he wanted, just like he knew that she would know by only saying those few words. “And why not go?” she asked.
  “I’m guessing my brothers have begun suspecting where we are. They only want me to come home to make sure that I’m not here.”
  “Hell,” she said, tasting the word. “I thought it would feel worse to call it ‘home’…”
  “You can call it the Underworld, if the name gives you the chills” he said, but only because he always said it.
  Usually she did not mind if he made all the decisions, but this time she actually did have a request. “I don’t mind to end this trip now.”
  “Soon,” he answered, as if it had been her idea, and walked over to her again, stopping by her side. It was a strange habit of his, that he never touched her unless he actually wanted something with it. If he had been any other man she would have worried that it was because he did not want to put unnecessary focus on that she was unseeing by leading her physically. With Ray, though, everything had a reason, but most often one that was so new to her that she never came to think of it on her own. She had understood from their conversations, the few real ones they had, that he was considered a little eccentric even among his own kind. But maybe it was the ways of his kind and not only his own ideas, to always make sure she was aware of his presence but never touch her. It felt oddly appropriate.
  “And now?” she asked, since he seemed to have thought of other plans for the moment.
  “Let’s take a walk when the rain stops,” he suggested. “Why do you want to go back?”
  “I keep telling you I feel more at ease there, than here with human eyes on me.” He just waited for her to go on. “And I miss Cyril,” she added.
  He walked away again. It was a sensitive subject, she knew that, but she also liked pushing that one button since it was, in the end, harmless. “Cyril,” he spat out, not bothering to hide his irritation. “Always Cyril! You spend more time with that slave than you do with me!”
  “He teaches me to fight, to trust my senses. I’ve never been so confident without my eyes as I’ve become with him. You should be happy that I can defend myself.”
  “To the creatures in Hell you’ll never be able to defend yourself,” Ray protested. “And as far as the relationship between Cyril and my brother is concerned, you should stay out of it. Kamion is a sleeping dragon, and he has begun commenting on how loosely I hold my human pet, obviously only because you encourage Cyril.”
  “But I am yours,” she said calmly, having gone through this conversation before. “And Cyril is his. What I do is none of his business, and what Cyril does is none of yours.”
  He was silent for a while and she wondered what he was doing, if he was calmly thinking or fiercely staring at her, but there was no way to know. After a while he sighed and told her that the rain had stopped, which she already knew, but he always told her things she knew. He spun the muffler around her neck, something he insisted on since he hated caring for sick people, and they went on a walk. He loved being outside, just walking or resting, basking in the sunlight, and watching the blue sky. An odd thing for a demon to like, and since passage to the human world was so limited he got into trouble rather often for sneaking through.
  “Do I bore you to death?” he asked when they had walked down the familiar road to the seaside.
  “You don’t do anything to me to death,” she answered ambiguously.
  “Good,” he said.
  “You really can’t take a hint, can you?” she said, though that was very not true. Rather that the claim was the hint itself.
  “Hint?” he said, and sounded vaguely amused. “So what is it that I don’t do enough?”
  “I’m not sure that enough is the right word… but less than before.”
  “So that’s what this is about.” He sough words for a moment. “Kamion… gently… pointed out to me that humans aren’t built as… sturdily as demons. I wasn’t sure that you would say no if I was overexerting you.”
  It made her angry that someone else was intruding into their private business, because this was very private and very much business, and also that Ray was breaking much more than unspoken rules. “That is not how this game plays,” she stated firmly, unable to erase the traces of anger that leaked through into her voice. “Whatever you can throw at me, I can take. Those are the rules, no matter how reality looks!”
  He stopped. She walked on. For a few moments, a few seconds that were much more frightening than she expected them to be, she wondered if he would follow. But she also knew that he would.
  “Fine,” he said as he caught up to her.
  And that was that. The conversation was over, the argument settled. A breach, a missing part in the guidelines had been found, discussed, and overcome. Neither of them would speak of it again; neither of them would make the mistake again.
  “What was it that you thought would bore me?” she asked.
  “Walking,” he answered. “Looking at the sky.”
  “I may not be looking, but I never get tired of listening.”
  “Listening to the sky?”
  She smiled. “Listening to you watching the sky.”
  They walked the rest of the way in silence. She may not love him like he loved her, but she was getting more and more used to and dependant on his presence, and she was happy. What use was falling in love and getting all messed up, when she could love the moments with a man that loved her to death? She was happy. And it was because the rest of the world could not understand that kind of happiness that she had chosen this road to begin with. He could accept it, and that was how she loved him. By playing the game, being his lover, when in reality she was his voluntary slave.



  They remained on the beach for hours, until he became worried that she might catch a cold. He did not mind ripping up throats of animals bleeding acid, but he was terrified of human illness, even as it had no effect whatsoever on his demon body. Even demons had phobias, it appeared, and it was fine. She hated being ill anyway.
  On the way back his demon nose caught the smell of mushrooms and he took off searching for them. She waited for a while before she got bored and began walking. It was amazing how much she had changed since she had met Ray. A year ago she would never have dared to walk a deserted dirt road uphill from the ocean all alone, and if she had been forced to she would have crept along tapping the ground with her walking stick twenty times before daring to take a step forward. Ray, and Cyril for that matter, had made her so much stronger. How could anyone say that that was wrong?
  She shied away from the thoughts. It only made her depressed to think of other people’s opinions. They had driven her to the brink of suicide, so that when she met Ray and his vampire friend she had had nothing to lose. She had not intended to make Ray fall in love with her, but as it was, it was turning out a really good thing that he had.
  When she heard breaths she stopped. It wasn’t Ray, because he didn’t breathe audibly. It must be a human, one standing still on the road in front of her, because the breaths were calm and rhythmic and not the wheezing of someone walking, and besides they weren’t coming closer. She waited a few moments for whoever it was to greet her, like most people did, especially when they saw her eyes and walking stick, but nothing happened. The breaths did not sound like someone sleeping either, so she walked closer, focusing her senses like Cyril had taught her.
  As far as she knew, and anyone else could sense, every drop of her blood was purely human. Her new demon family kept pointing out, though, that Cyril’s training seemed to have an eerie effect on her, and her senses were beginning to creep beyond the point they had expected her to be able of. Cyril had never trained with a human before, though, so it could just be that they had nothing to compare with. As she now came closer to this stranger, her senses touched a new energy, something different that she had never felt before. Ray had told her that there were both magicians and mutants among humans, only a handful but steadily increasing in numbers, as if from some sort of answer to the increasing demon activity in their world. She had never met one, but she had no doubts that whoever this was, it was not just simply human.
  “Hello,” she said, pretending not to be surprised by the person’s presence.
  Whoever it was moved slightly, maybe to turn to look at her or to prepare in case of danger. Just as she realized that it was a woman, though she did not know how she knew, the person said; “Keep walking.” It was a woman’s voice, ignorant and spoilt, paying her as much respect as a cat did a dog. It came from slightly to the right, a bit down, so the woman was sitting by the side of the road.
  “As long as you’re not in my way,” she answered, drawing subtle attention to her handicap. Poking the woman with her walking stick in an attempt to pass her would probably not gain her trust.
  “You’re in mine,” the woman said. “So get moving.”
  Concepts and impressions flooded her mind as she took a few steps forward. They helped her pinpoint the woman’s location so that she could pass, but they came with such force that she became slightly unsteady on her feet. Frustration. Lies. Secrecy. Desperation. She stumbled and fell, not even managing to catch herself, and landing right on top of her walking stick.
  She had half expected the woman to ignore her, but then she felt strong hands pull her up. “That’s going to leave a bruise,” the woman pointed out, pulled her stick out from under her and handed it to her.
  “I collect them,” she answered, being very close to the truth.
  “What’s a blind girl doing alone out here? There’re no houses for miles, and what if you fell into the sea?”
  “There’s one house,” she answered. “And I’m not alone. What about you?”
  “What’s it to you?” the woman answered.
  She decided to not be thrown off by the rudeness. “I meant, why are you here?”
  “I am here…” the woman thought about it. “I am here because I’m not anywhere else.”
  “That… makes sense.” She decided not to push for an answer. This remote shore was an enclosed haven in the middle of the madness from humans and demons fighting each other and themselves, and whoever came here must had good reason, but might not want to share it that easily. “Are you staying? We have room.”
  The woman laughed, one of those high laughs that made her think of make-up and push-up, and said, “I’m never staying.”
  They were standing right in the middle of the road again, and seemed to have hit another wall. The woman acted as if she was as uninterested in keeping up a conversation as she was herself, so the only thing to do was to walk away and leave her to her own problems. Yet there was something about that strange aura that made her curious.
  Suddenly a voice thundered down to them from ahead. “Jace!”
  She smiled at Ray’s attempt at sounding like an authority, but he had to have made some sort of impact on the woman, because she jumped and took a few steps away from her as if to show that she was no threat.
  Ray walked down to them, but once there he did not seem to know what to say. “Why didn’t you meet me at the house?” was the question he settled for after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, during which he and the woman might have been evaluating each other like dogs before a fight.
  “So you’re here with a man,” the woman said, and Jace could not distinguish whether it was curiosity, or if she was being judgmental. Ray refrained from saying anything.
  “This is Ray,” Jace introduced him, ignoring the woman’s statement.
  “Ray?” the woman said slowly, and there was a moment when Jace was almost certain they would start a fight then and there, but the moment passed. “I’m Luka. Luka Fenrir.” From the sounds of it, she and Ray shook hands.
  “I’m going back to prepare dinner,” Ray told her. “Bring your friend.” And he walked away.
  She was left with nothing to say to Luka Fenrir, and she thought the woman would just say good-bye and leave, but they stayed where they were and the silence went stupid. “We’re having lamb,” she said. “With mushrooms and sauce. And… um. Well.”
  “Quite a man you have,” Luka said.
  Had she senses Ray’s demonic aura, or was she just generally impressed? Jace had gotten the impression that Ray’s human disguise did turn female heads. “All mine,” she answered, waiting for more clues before she said anything else.
  “And no one around for miles.” She made a scandalized sound. “God, am I intruding? Are you on a honeymoon or something?”
  “Uh… no. But we both dislike crowds.”
  “I haven’t seen a car or anything, though. What did he do, carry you here?”
  “It’s not like I could drive anyway,” Jace pointed out. “You don’t have a car either. Did you walk all the way here?”
  “I have a bike up by the other road. It’s red and brand new; it’s real pretty. It’s a good way to keep in shape, I think. I’m pretty fast. You could ride with me. Wanna go?”
  She was fishing for something, but Jace wasn’t sure what. “He picked those mushrooms all for me,” she said with a smile. “He doesn’t like them. So I shouldn’t be late.”
  “Oh, actually, I’m very hungry, not that you mention it,” Luka said happily. “If I’m not intruding, I’d love to join you.”
  She was definitely fishing for something, and it was not lamb. “Sure,” Jace answered.
  “Jace, that’s a pretty name,” Luka said while they walked back.
  “He chose it for me. It means beautiful,” Jace answered, before realizing that it might sound strange. Girlfriends usually did not have their boyfriends picking their names. But she might think it was just a nickname.
  They said nothing more until they reached the house, and Luka went bouncing around marveling at how cute and bohemian it was. She was dumbfounded at finding that Jace had no idea of how the place looked and wanted to know how a woman could live in a place without knowing if it was beautiful or not. Before Jace had a chance at saying anything, though, she began talking about the faltering garden and why they didn’t take proper care of the plants and bushes when the rest of the place was so beautiful. Jace decided to leave her to it and went inside.
  “So you brought her,” Ray said when she walked into the kitchen area.
  “I think she’s trying to figure out how we work,” Jace told him. She put the walking stick away by the door and leant against the table, closing her eyes and tasting the smell of food in the air. He was burning the lamb, but she wasn’t going to say anything.
  “She’ll probably realize what I am,” he said. “She’s a Dreamweaver.”
  “I sensed something about her.”
  “Dreamweavers are conjurers, mostly dealing with illusions and spirits. They have a born talent for it, but can as well become something else. Her kind is rare.”
  “Should we leave?”
  “Her kind is rare, but that doesn’t mean powerful.” Glass and metal and china chimed against each other as he set the table. “We’ll be fine. Though I’d prefer not to fight her.”
  Ray preferred not to fight anything. He was like the bull in that cartoon fairytale; born to rampage but content with sitting under a cork tree watching the sky and smelling the flowers. There were moments when he couldn’t resist his demon instincts and desires, which was the secret behind her collection of bruises, but he had learnt how far he could go before he had to care for a sick girlfriend and so she didn’t much mind the occasional outburst. It only happened in connection to sex, and then usually when she was so far gone that she never noticed until afterwards anyway. Like with everything else they found a natural pattern for each other concerning it, and surprisingly fast it had become another piece of everyday life. Not because it was okay for her to be physically damaged. These days she actually saw a reason to stay alive. It was okay because she knew he would never go too far.
  The door creaked as Luka came inside. “Are you planning on staying long?” she asked while her steps neared the table. “It’s a long way to nearest town, and I couldn’t help but notice you travel light.”
  More fishing. Jace sighed and waited to see what Ray would say.
  “We don’t need more than we have,” Ray said, fussing with the plates and pots.
  “Well, I would grow so bored living like this, but to each his own, I guess.”
  “So what do you do for excitement?” Jace asked politely.
  “Find a man, fuck him, spend all his money, and move on to the next,” Luka said, her tone of voice giving no clue to whether she was serious or not.
  “That’s more excitement than we could take,” Ray answered with that special voice that meant he was joking but didn’t want anyone to know. “Have a seat. Jace.” His hand landed perfectly in hers and with a soft motion he led her to the chair. She didn’t need his help, but with this human intruder on his territory she accepted his subconscious ways to lay claim to her. It was rare of him to touch her without reason, so Luka’s invasion must have ruffled his feathers more than he admitted.
  They ate mostly under silence, and Jace noted not without amusement that Luka waited until they had begun eating before she tasted her food. Ray had gotten a lot better at cooking after having to cook for her all the time, but he was hardly a five-star chef. Luka gave a small compliment on his mushrooms, but only to be polite. Ray didn’t bother to apologize for the lamb, and she wasn’t going to either.
  “So, where do you come from, really?” Luka asked when she couldn’t stay silent any longer.
  “Down under,” Ray told his plate, and Jace barely held back laughter. He hadn’t been able to resist that one, but the question remained; was Luka dangerous or not? She loved this house, and she would hate to have a curious human destroy their haven. Ray knew that.
  “What? Like, Australia? Do people still say that? You don’t sound Australian.”
  “Why don’t you clean up, Ray? We’ll wait in the sitting room.”
  Ray’s fingertips touched her gently as he pretended to guide her up from the chair, giving her permission to do as she wanted. Luka held the kitchen door for her. She left the stick where it was and sat in one of the chairs, gesturing for Luka to sit beside her.
  “So… He wears a ring, but you don’t. Is he cheating on someone?” Luka asked.
  “There is no one for him to cheat on,” she answered patiently.
  “Huh, then you shouldn’t have him wear that ring,” Luka said accusingly. “Or you should wear one too.”
  “We are not married.” Jace felt obligated to point out. The mere thought of trying to get Ray to enter a church was amusing. But he probably would eventually, if she persisted.
  “Couldn’t he wear it on some other finger then? Or, hey, maybe you didn’t know he wore it.” Luka sounded mostly as if she was talking to herself now.
  Even if it was only mindless chatter, it bothered her that someone would think she didn’t know every millimeter of Ray’s body, including everything he wore. It had taken so long before he had dared to take his original form in her presence that it felt like a physical attack for someone to insinuate that just because she couldn’t see, she didn’t know how he looked. It upset her enough to snap.
  “Why don’t you just ask what you want to ask?” she demanded.
  Luka was silent a little while, and then said, breathily, “down under.”
  “Hell,” Jace said coldly. “Do not pretend you did not know.”
  “I didn’t,” Luka said, and the thoughtless little girl was gone, and a woman’s voice shone through with wonder and amazement to her tone. “I thought maybe he had kidnapped you. That he was just some guy.”
  “He did,” Jace said, and then she felt her own eyes soften and her voice relaxed again. “And then he fell in love.”
  “Demons can’t love.”
  “Then I suppose he only fancies me for my body,” she joked.
  “I don’t think so,” Luka said, for a moment slipping back into her spoilt brat, before hurrying to apologize. “Or, I mean, a demon… he wouldn’t… only to eat you then. No, that’s not what I meant. I meant, well…”
  “So then you believe me?” she said, trying to stop Luka before she said something that actually hurt. She knew that she was skinny; growing up she hadn’t had much thought for boys, but when they eventually piqued her interest she realized she had too few curves to be able to make them dizzy.
  Luka thought hard before saying anything. “I’m a magician,” she said then. “I can help you out of here, if that’s what you want. But if that’s not what you want, then… then please explain to me. I thought demons were bloodthirsty beasts.”
  The request was oddly sincere, and she didn’t mind explaining, since she found the explanation nearly flawless. “Demons don’t bother about looks, all they bother about is what you can do. They’re not judgmental and hypocritical like humans. Humans are self-righteous cattle, who can’t think if separated from their flock, but gladly take advantage of each other. You’re not allowed to be better, nor to be worse. Demons are predators. Those who are better, take the better spots. Those who are worse perish. And among them, I am not worse because I have lost my eyes, I am better because I have qualities that one of them appreciates. Ray values me, so I am valued by his people. I moved from prey to predator by following a man who loves me. Would I have been seen as stronger if I had sacrificed myself and moved from predator to prey for someone who loved me? By a human, yes. But only because humans were born to die, so that is what they desire. Demons were born to live, and they understand and respect my choice. They find it harder to understand his.”
  “And they accept you? I mean, don’t they all want to eat you?”
  “There is not much of me to eat,” Jace joked softly. “But no, they know that I belong to Ray, and that if they approach me in harmful intent, they declare war on him and his family. Of course there are demons who are no more than animals, but they are different. Those I speak of are Middle and High demons, creatures of intelligence.”
  “But without someone to protect you?”
  “Then they would estimate how much of a threat I am to them, and then decide whether to defend themselves, leave me alone, or kill me. Since I am physically weak, they would either kill me for fun, or ignore me. There are creatures, magicians and angels but especially human mutants, who live in Hell, just as accepted as the natives. They may have to prove themselves in the beginning, but once everyone knows they can protect themselves, they are welcomed into the community. As much community as demons have.” She thought. “There are more ways. Other races live in Hell who are less likeable to kill for amusement only, and you could live with them. Or if you have abilities that someone would find useful, you can buy yourself protection with other means than with your body.”
  “Is that what you’re doing?” Luka asked. “You don’t love him back. So you’re buying protection with your body.”
  “I could have done that from a human,” Jace answered, trying to explain it simple enough for a human to understand. Oddly, even as demons seldom had emotions, they often understood right away. But she suspected that her and Ray’s arrangement was not the only of its kind, and that it happened between demons as well. “What I buy is a life. And I tend to see it more as an agreement. Ray knows I do not love him. I do not buy anything with false emotion. I am his. And in return, everything he has is mine.”
  “I guess I’m confirming your beliefs about humans by not understanding,” Luka said, and sounded sad about it.
  “No,” Jace said, and voiced the thoughts and suspicions she’d had since she’d met the talkative woman. “You do understand. That’s why you are afraid, is it not? But you asked, and you listened. You’re tired of it too, are you not? The way they all say the same thing, but they all mean another.”
  The woman stood. Her breathing had changed. She was very afraid, mostly of herself.
  Ray entered, for better or worse. Maybe he had heard their conversation through the door, but Jace was not sure, and it didn’t really matter. She had spoken with him about it before. “I made some tea,” he said. “Or are you leaving?”
  Luka took some indecisive steps towards the door, and then she turned back and sank down to sit in the chair next to Jace again. “I’d love some tea,” she said. “And I’d love to stay the night. On one condition.”
  Jace made a weak gesture for Ray to be nice.
  “Yes?” Ray said.
  “I would want you two to promise that you would behave in the way you behave when in the company of someone you trust. As you are when you are alone, or when with demons.”
  “We understand,” Jace nodded. “We will.”
  “If a fine lady like you can take the sofa, ‘cause you’re not pretty enough to drive neither me nor her out of bed,” Ray said, and in a short instant Jace loved him, but it passed.
  “I’m not sure whether to be impressed or disappointed,” Luka said as Ray placed out teacups.
  “With what?” Jace asked.
  “That even when I bat my eyelashes the best I can, your man won’t even look at me. If he chooses you over me, he must be either sexually confused or the only decent man on Earth, including the orbiting stations.”
  “What can I say to that?” Ray thought, pouring tea. “It was too inconvenient to be heartbroken by every woman I saw, so I stopped falling in love with breasts?”
  Jace picked up a teacup filled to the edge and delicately balanced it while sipping. “Are you both insinuating that I am flatchested?” she asked mockingly.
  “He’s the one who said it,” Luka defended herself.
  “I bet she did it on purpose,” Ray said, “to keep all the other men away until I came.”
  It was so ridiculously romantic and uncharacteristically simple that Jace had to smile. She felt Ray’s eyes burn into her skin as he watched her reaction. The hardest thing about being with him had been to learn not to be afraid of that gaze. She worried that that might be the reason to why she had subconsciously stopped smiling.



  They spent several days together in the cabin. Luka seemed to have changed into a different person; her verbal outbursts came more and more seldom and she showed a silent, thoughtful side of herself that Jace would never have guessed could exist. To not be in the way too much she began fixing their garden during the days, and sometimes during the night. She said the stars gave her inspiration and encouragement. Jace thought only a lonely person would say something like that. On the other hand, it could have been an excuse to give them some privacy during the nights too, since the cabin walls were everything but soundproof and they were, after all, a couple. Ray only took advantage of the opportunity once, and she had to admit she was a little disappointed by that.
  Finally Ray began talking about going back home before anyone found them. They said good-bye to Luka early in the morning, when the sun had barely gotten above the horizon so that she had plenty of time to find traces of civilization elsewhere. Ray was irritable all evening before, as if he was upset that she was going, and Jace had to admit that Luka had claimed a part in her memory, unforgettable as the first human she met who not only understood what she meant, but agreed.
  “I’m not sure yet,” Luka told her.
  “I know,” Jace answered. “If you ever make up your mind, look for us. Ray can open a way for you, introduce you to the right people.”
  “Sounds like I’m being scouted to the other team.” Luka grabbed her shoulders. “I’m sorry I never told you. I’m just not ready yet.”
  “I don’t need to know why you want to switch team,” Jace answered sincerely. “All I need to know is that I’m not the only one.”
  “You’re not, believe me,” Luka said. “But you’re the bravest of us. I still don’t understand all of this, but… Ray is a lot nicer than I thought a demon could be. Not like a human, but… well, at least he hasn’t eaten me.”
  “Only because I told him not to,” Jace assured her.
  “He treats you so well… is it because he doesn’t like me, or…”
  “I’m the only one. That’s how demons love.”
  “I guess I should find myself a demon, then, so I won’t get hurt again.” Luka let go of her shoulders, then leant in and gave her a hug. She was so surprised she didn’t have time to hug back before Luka had withdrawn, but she would have. “Take care of yourself.”
  “That’s covered. That is what Ray is for,” she answered.
  “Still,” Luka said and she sensed a shadow of worry in her. “Bye.”
  “Bye,” she said and heard Luka get up on the bike and the gravel under the wheels as she pedaled away. She was rather fast.
  Ray came walking up to her from wherever he had been hiding to avoid saying good-bye and stopped just so far away that her hair blowing in the wind couldn’t touch him.
  “She’s not going to do it,” he said.
  “How do you know?” she answered, feeling her heart hurt at his words. He was right, but she didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to be the only one to turn her back on her home. Was she wrong? Was she the one who was self-righteous and judgmental?
  “It’s not right for her,” he said, and his hand came to rest at the back of her neck, a reassuring, possessing weight of darkness. “Not like it was for you.”
  And then she knew that he knew.
Sort of a portrayal of these three characters that play minor parts in another story, which is more like a novel, but unfinished. I felt they needed their own space, because I love them like all my children ^_-

I'm no good with when I should warn or not (like violence, sexual stuff...) but I really don't think it's that controversive.
© 2008 - 2024 theiceye
Comments1
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oxkyliechanxo's avatar
at first, it almost struck me as incomplete
but yet, it had me quite captivated
there's just enough detail and backstory to ease any confusion
and it's fed to the reader slowly, rather than all at once

truly, i love it
bravo!
(^_^)