Decadence

by The Seelie Court Jester

A parent, who was willing to sacrifice his life for his family. Children, who risked everything they had just to remember a friend. Lovers, who did whatever it took just to bring the world down with them. And then there was that one, simple stranger, who watched the tales unfold before his very eyes.

10. Crimson

She saw him standing there, arms outstretched, the desperation clinging to his face. He was screaming something at them, though she didn't know what. Sounds of the GIW's helicopters were overhead, the roaring winds decimating every sound in sight. From the corner of her eyes, she could see them readying their guns. A warning shot, then another, then another, then one more…

She looked at him, with a sad smile on her face.

Dad paused for a moment, the sounds still reverberating through his skull. Before she knew it, he was behind them, trying to call the GIW off. He can convince them; they were only children, after all. But more importantly, they were his children, and he wasn't about to let them slip through his fingers.

He wanted them to give him more time, apparently.

No, she didn't necessarily want anymore time. If anything, she was running out of it. How ironic, to think that she could still laugh, even when she was cornered. She knew, because when she looked at Danny, it seemed he was laughing too.

She could feel her own core burning her flesh from the inside out. She could see herself degrading, her own, chaotic thoughts spinning out of control. Her own, primal instincts screamed at her to run, to slaughter everyone in sight, to annihilate the nightmarish seams that forced her into the hell called isolation. Her vision kept getting blurry, with the solace of her mind now crashing above her. Bloody spots kept appearing and disappearing, but she simply brushed them aside, as she walked to Danny's side. At the very least, she was here, the world looking on them, just before she left for good.

The dimly lit moonlight glared down at her. Though that same, burning sun was up there, in the heavens, she could see that moon, see the countless number of stars peering down at her. Shimmering, in their tiny, isolated lachrymose, she watched their meticulous forms, tracing the boundary where day and night met, her eyes taking in the solitude before coming back to reality.

She remembered how pretty they looked before, beneath that crimson, bloody sky.