First of all, I would like to say, that I thoroughly enjoyed posting that chapter and thoroughly enjoyed the reviews ^_^ (I mean, what, no, pfft, I'm not evil, nooooOOOOOooooOOO)
To 8Ball3- See our Tumblr chat ^_^
To Shisui of the Body Flicker- Awww, thank you! That's so sweet! O:)
To An-Unnamed-Goose- Yes you did spell that correctly :P And if you think that's cruel, wait until you see what I've got planned! *evil clapping* I try to be consistent with my updates, so thank you :D
To Anonymous Person Lucky 13- Oooh, Leo doppleganger :3 I dare! XD
Sunlight dappled through the treetops, jumping through breaks in the leaves, ever-changing with the breeze. A river gurgled and splashed to the right. A bird chirped, its song carrying through the branches. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, fading with the last of the wintery blue.
Louisa exhaled, her breath rising on steam. She blinked, wiggling her fingers. She lay flat on her back on the riverbank. Her clothes were stuck to her, stiff with dried red-brown stains. Her hands itched, a jolt passing through her fingers.
A foul taste resided in her mouth, her throat scratchy and sore. She needed a drink. Rolling her aching body towards the river was a chore onto itself, complaints firing through her shoulder, her leg, her head. A shrill ringing ebbed and flowed in her ears.
Her reflection came into view and she froze. She remembered.
Arnie…
His blood matted in her hair, plastered dark strands to her face, where it had dried to her cheeks. She lifted a trembling hand to touch her face, startling when saw the blood there too. She was covered, splattered with what remained of her friend. Stomach broiling, she closed her eyes. She could still hear the crunching.
At some point, she recognised she was crying. She was dunking her hands into the river, scrubbing with her nails to clean her palms, her face, her hair. The naiad would not be happy, not with the crimson ribbons melting into the water's currents. Louisa couldn't think of the naiad now. All she saw was Arnie's face, white as a sheet, his eyes- one blue, one brown- pleading with her.
She was in the river now, tearing off her bloodied outer layers. It had even soaked through to her T-shirt. That came off to. The river steadily turned pinker, its chill pressing into her body numbingly. The water instantly began healing her shoulder, her ankle, the cut under her chin. She threw herself underneath, the cold crashing into her face, whisking through her hair.
The naiad appeared. Louisa wasn't sure when, focused on getting the blood out of her hair. She simply turned around and there she was, the spirit.
"What happened?" She asked. Louisa blinked at her.
What happened?
What happened?
The river churned around her. The naiad flustered, paling. She was buffeted by the change in currents, hair billowing around her, flapping in her face, pulled by the water. Louisa rubbed at her face. What happened?
"I lost Arnie." The words were wrenched from her, almost lost to the bubbling around her. The naiad's brow furrowed, staring at her in confusion. Louisa's hands curled into fists, hot tears washed away by the river. Claws ripped at her throat as she yelled- the poor naiad didn't deserve it, being shouted at like that, but everything was too loud, too painful, too much, too empty- Louisa couldn't help it. The river exploded, flooding its banks. Louisa crushed her hands to her head, sobbing. She and the naiad stood in ankle-deep water. The sky darkened above them. Thunder rumbled in the distance, long and low and looming closer.
When the first raindrops hit her face, Louisa flinched. To her, it wasn't rain. It wasn't cold and damp and from a storm- it was warm and sticky and from her best friend. The best friend she couldn't save.
Marsyas was right. She understood that now.
She didn't sleep that night. She spent all day putting as much space between herself and the river. Her supplies had been waiting for her, clean and restocked. She left the bloodied clothes behind, forging ahead in a T-shirt and shorts and her old muddied sneakers. At some point, she realised her watch had returned to her, neatly strapped around her wrist.
The rain followed her. The thunder too, creeping up on her from within the large bank of clouds. She clambered over an old log, pushed on through yet more trees. The long grass tickled her shins, adding green stains to her shoes.
Her stomach growled again. Louisa found a path, one made from lots of walking. She hobbled onto it, sipping from her water bottle. No-one else was on this path. Maybe the rain had deterred them. It was hard to tell what time of day it was, with the storm hanging so low above her, but it soon became dark enough to indicate night-time.
Fingers blue with cold, she stumbled and slipped up a hill, maintaining a rocky hold on the grass. At the top, she sat down. Slung her backpack off. She swallowed another mouthful of water, nibbled on a bit of ambrosia. Thunder banged away, she hardly batted an eye.
She lost days like this. Weeks. Hard to tell. She had no idea where she was, but she hardly cared or noticed. A fog had taken a hold of her brain, weaving itself into every crevice and leaking down into her body. She walked. Ate little. Refilled her bottle. Walked some more. Just motions, the basics. Her sneakers were starting to wear through. Looked up. There was the moon, having replaced the sun without her noticing. She was in a tree for the night, staring up at the night sky. The stars blinked at her, watching her. They knew.
"Lou-" She started awake, that crunching in her ears. She leaned over, was sick from up on her branch. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. Something warm speckled her face. Hot pins wriggled between her ribs and she frantically scrubbed her face with her T-shirt. Tears. Not blood, but tears. Tears were OK, tears were… tears were not OK, there shouldn't be tears, there should be an Arnie, maybe on the branch over, maybe snoring and muttering in his sleep, maybe rustling up a grand old breakfast of stolen candy bars and berries, maybe maybe maybe.
She climbed down. Began walking again, swigging at her water to rinse her mouth of bile. Daffodils were in full bloom now, partnered with snowdrops and irises. A sweet scent sprung from their dewy petals. Louisa's nose itched.
At some point, she found a town. Late March, according to a newspaper in the trash. She stared at that date until a man in an apron came out of a café, shooing her on with a broom. When had March come around? Why had March come around? It simply did not enter her head that the days had carried on, losing them to walking. Hot tears slid down her cheeks, gathering under her chin and falling onto her T-shirt. She curled her hands in the straps of her backpack. That newspaper, that date- told her it had been a month, give or take a few days. A month.
It didn't seem possible. It didn't seem fair.
See, we knew you'd be here. Knew ya friend would be too. Ma Gasket sneered at her, scarlet eye locked on her. Thing is, we don't need him. And then there was Arnie, looking at her. All colour drained from him, except for his eyes. One a deep, warm brown, the other a bright crystal blue.
Louisa woke herself up. Dragged the back of her hand over her face. Still just tears. It would only ever be just tears, but it would never feel like it.
I finished Tower of Nero. Won't lie, feeling a bit lost now- like, what am I supposed to read?- but I genuinely can't wait to start the rewrite *excited*
