Just a quick note to those who have been badgering me about updates and such.
I can't promise this will be finished.
If that bothers you, go find something else to read.
Chapters come out when they come out.
That is all.
This belongs to Disney. I think you've all figured that out by now.
The feeling of falling without going anywhere staring a tingling up my spine, prickling in my chest and a flutter in my stomach. I kept my face as stoic and as calm as I possibly could, but memories were battering up against the wall in my head. I shut my eyes, figuring it might help. It didn't of course, but a guy could hope right?
"Eugene?"
My other named echoed underneath what she actually said. The name tension was there, this time and the first time. The same girlish worry, though for different reasons. A set of recollections burst to the surface and I knew they'd swamp me if I didn't do anything. I opened by eyes, hoping the sight of Pascal sleeping on the side of the boat, the ripples of the lake or silhouette of the castle would help me beat back the things I couldn't forget.
Instead, Repunzel's eyes were all I could see. Normally, I'd be happy to stare at the beautiful green. But right now, they were they held the exact same expression as someone else, who I really didn't want to remember. Ever.
Too late of course: the thoughts hit me like a kick from Altivo's hooves, and I was thrown back into then with just was much force. It wasn't that much to change about the situation from now to then. The location was different of course. And I had been as high as a fucking kite.
Flynn, age 17
"Flynn?"
I turned around to see who was calling my name. My movements were was too damn slow. I hated that about this stuff some times. There was a reason it was called the 1-2 punch on the streets; you come up on it feeling like everything is impossibly slow and you feel so sluggish, but when you come down it's amazing. It's a bitch of a trade off, but at least you mostly stay sane, unlike some of the other stuff I've tried.
My eyes finally make it up to the face of the girl who's said my name. I know it's stupid, but the first think that I think when I see her gorgeous blue eyes is I love you. Maybe this stuff doesn't keep you as sane as I thought.
"Flynn?" She repeats.
I blink. I'm still thinking the same stupid thing. There's no way it's true. Love at third sight is an excuse for why a loser can't get laid. I'm in love with this other girl, so I'm not going to sleep with anyone else. Pfft, right. As if that can happen. Apparently it can, another voice in my head snaps back at me.
"What?" I get the word out of my mouth, but man did that take effort! Some people live for the 1 of a hit from the 1-2 punch, but I hate it. It has its uses, I guess, but both of those uses are stupid; you can eat a lot, which would be nice if I had food to be eating, and you can think about the same subject for more than like, two minutes. Which, to me, is boring as hell.
"What are you doing?" Cali asks. Her black hair is cut short, just passed her ears, the curls blowing in the wind. It's probably cold out, a wild idea but one that could be right- our breath comes out in clouds. I don't exactly feel temperature at the moment. She's not dressed to be outside if it's as cold as our breath fogs would indicate, and her arms are crossed across her chest.
"What are you doing?" I repeat back to her, sounding like a damn parrot when I really meant to deflect the question back at her.
"You have been here for a while." She shivers and even in my fogged up brain, I want to wrap her in my arms. "I came to check you were okay."
I give a bitter laugh. Okay? I haven't been "okay" since I was kicked out of the apprenticeship's Union. No, fuck that- since I saw those people in the doorway. I use to know the date, but small details like that have long slipped away.
"That question is pointless." I laugh again, brushing my hair off my face. The movement is clumsy and where my hands touch my hair, they tingle. The familiar buzz in my eyes, hardly there at this point, starts up and I can't keep the smile off my face.
"Yeah, a bit." She doesn't smile. "Come talk to me when you're sober again."
"That won't be for a while." I say, looking out to the horizon, where the stars and moon are firmly out. I have no idea what time it is, but I guess I've been out on the roof of this building, the club I had seen that night with Carlsworth and Brock, for almost an hour. Colours starts to bleed, the blues and blacks melting together. I take a deep breath of air- this hit is gonna be bitchin'.
"Stay safe." I hear. I turn, startled, back at Cali. I had forgotten she was there- no more concentrating on anything for a while.
That's when something strange happens.
She reaches out and touches my arm. As soon as her fingers make contact with the skin of my upper arm, the world splits. The colours go back to their proper positions, the buzzing stops and I become so aware of my body, where before it had been nothing more than a mass of tingles. Everything becomes so clear, so sharp; the cold of the air is like needles on my skin, but not the needles I'm use to. They're pin pricks, frozen shards of feeling. Why have I never...?
Then it fades. As quickly as it came, everything goes back to the way it way in a flash. I blink, wondering if it ever happened. From the corner of my eye, buzzing again, I see Cali shake her head and pull her arm back to her side. She walks away, back down stairs, the noise from the main rooms of the club exploding through the open door, then settling back into an unsettling quiet with a bang.
I stumble on the ledge, and sit there for the entire time. I have never done so little while been so high.
And for once, a single subject parades through my mind the entire hit.
Cali.
"Hey?" She asked.
I shook my head and tried to swallow. It didn't work. "Yeah? Sorry, I zoned out a bit there."
She smiled, brushing back her bangs. "I thought so. I do that a lot too."
"Yeah, I've noticed." I attempt a laugh, and I think it convinced her, it made her laugh too at least.
We sat in silence, with me trying to hide how much my hands were shaking. I hadn't thought about... Her... In so long, that the memory opens so many new doors in my head.
"Eugene?"
"Yeah?"
"You can stop, you know.." She yawned, and pulled the blanket she had been sitting on around her shoulders.
"Stop? Why would I stop?"
"Your hands are shaking." Repunzel reached out and grabbed my trembling hands in her. Both of her barley cover mine, but the shaking stops. "You don't have to finish it."
I didn't know what to do. On one hand, I was prepared to never speak of any of this again. But on the other hand, I had started- and I knew that it would be better for me if I kept going. I think it would be better any way.
"Do you want to hear the end of it?" I asked finally, looking her straight in the eyes.
"Yes. But that doesn't mean that you have to tell it!"
"Repunzel."
"Yes Eugene?"
"If you want me to, then I will."
She sighed, but settled close to me, her head on my shoulder again. "Okay." She paused. Then, in a voice almost too quiet for me to hear, said "You know I'd do anything for you too."
And when I open my mouth, it wasn't hard to speak at all.
Thoughts?
