^_^ Lack of disclaimer in the first chapter, and an unwillingness to be
divested of all my money in an already lost lawsuit has prompted me to tell
everyone who might have assumed otherwise... [*pulls out a megaphone*] I DO
NOT OWN THIS SERIES, OR ANYTHING PERTAINING TO IT. Except possibly my
Vashbroom. I own that. =D
Oh, and //-// are flashbacks. ^_^ Just so ya' know.
~8~
The silence in the air was overpowering, falling like a blanket over the small town. It seemed that even the very air had no room or place anymore in the town, or the dunes around it. There was no movement. Time seemed to have ground to a halt in its tracks; it would have been like a photograph, or painting, but the dust still shifted restlessly, lending an air of surreality to the entire situation.
It was to this that Eyre awoke, the double suns already risen over a horizon that seemed as far off as her own heartbeat, pounding in her ears. Wincing, the slip of a girl rose uncertainly to her feet, to survey the strange situation more closely. 'Certainly the town should be busting already,' she thought, raising a weathered and sand-encrusted hand to rake painfully through her tangled hair. It hurt, but she didn't seem to care a whit about it. Obviously confused as to the situation, she shook her head as if shaking it could bring her wits back about her, brown wisps falling messily about her face.
Shaking her head for a second time to clear it slightly, Eyre began to stumble clumsily through the sand towards the outskirts of Carcasses, her bare feet sinking into the warm sand with each laboured step.
When she finally made it to the compacted ground, she felt its solidity beneath her in a far off corner of her mind. A shiver ran quickly up and down along her spine, causing her shoulders to shake and her green-flecked eyes to narrow reflexively. Something was wrong, very wrong.
//'I...'//
Cautiously, Eyre took another step. When nothing appeared from the dust or from beneath the ground to devour her whole, and leave nothing but the silence behind, she took another. In this manner, she slowly picked her way towards her house, wondering exactly none of the pots and pans that normally were so loud in the kitchen were not being slammed to the floor in a cacophony of noise and screams.
//'I wish...'//
There was no noise, none at all. Not even the lazy thumping of Linda's feet against the crates just outside the front door as she dried her new- painted toes could be heard. Not even the constant grumbling and swearing of 'that man' could be heard. The girl's eyes widened slightly, helpless to understand what had happened. The double suns were high in the sky, and yet there was no commotion at all? Could they have gone already? But... to where?
//'I wish... that...'//
Wide eyes, soft tread, and all, Eyre moved slowly to her front door. She glanced furtively behind her before and after each step, as if expecting this to be all some sort of prank, expecting her sister and a new 'boyfriend' to pop out of nowhere, and howl in dischordant glee at the irrational, anamalistic fear they had instilled within the 'brat.' With her toe, she nudged the front door open. It creaked dauntingly, and she shrank back from the darkness within, before hesitantly peering inside.
//'I wish... that everyone...'//
Upon seeing none of her imaginary monsters and fiends pop up before her very eyes, she stepped within the walls. The faucet in the kitchen was running, the sound of rushing water a veritable symphony to her ears. The double suns shone through the window, illuminating patches on the floor, and Eyre smiled slightly. 'Mother must be in the kitchen,' she thought, ' 'cause we really don't have any double dollars to spend on water bills, and things like that. She wouldn't leave the faucet running.' Stepping more quickly now, the customary whisper-call of greeting bubbling up behind her lips, Eyre walked more springily to the kitchen, eyes shining.
//'I wish... that everyone would...'//
The cry died at her lips, crying up and blowing away in the stagnant air. The kitchen was empty, and water ran like a precious rivulet of diamond into the dish filled sink, and guzzled down the greedy drain. Wide-eyed again, she ran to the sink, peering in. This morning's dishes were still resting in the tub, the soap long gone. A sponge lay on one of the plates, as if it had just been set down and left in the middle of things.
//'I wish that everyone would just...'//
Now that she thought about it... It was as if everything had been put down in the middle of things. Rushing outside, her feet pounding against the wooden boards, Eyre spotted Linda's polish and brush on top of one of the customary crates. She sighed in frustration and puzzlement, casting her eyes up to the burning suns and clear blue sky. On her way back down from thought, she noticed the spider-web in her window, and walked curiously to look at it again.
The spider was gone.
//'disappear.'//
Her eyes shot open, hands flying to her mouth in shock. She had wished, she had wished everyone gone! What had she done? Not like this, she hadn't meant this! Eyre flopped to the ground, landing in a pile of tattered blue and dust, shivering again. Her green-flecked eyes darted from one side to the other, searching for any life, any movement. Once she thought she caught a hint of a dress; only a curtain. Once a person turning a corner in the street; just an old boot. Wildly, she turned her head from side to side, her vision beginning to blur as she realized she had wished herself alone in this horrible town. Nobody would ever find her, and she'd grow old and die. Alone.
What a grim visage it would have been- a diminuative, fourteen year-old figure shuffling through the dusty and deserted streets of her hometown, hot tears rubbed from her cheeks with sandy hands, eyes stinging with the self inflicted wounds as sand from her hands pushed unbidden into her eyes, starting the horrible circle again. At length, she found herself headed toward her haven, the town centre; however, something in her made her halt. It made her blink to clear her eyes and look up. At length, to pale, and hide behind a nearby building, peering around the edge. At the center of the square, a strange man stood before the monument, one finger raised to eye level; he appeared to be lazily watching something.
Eyre blinked the last of the sand away and crouched low to the ground like a dog when their master's boot is raised; knowing that any attention brought to them would cause great harm indeed. The man appeared to be wearing some sort of odd white suit, the likes of which she had never seen. Tubes ran at odd intervals from it, and to it, and around it, and her eyebrows furrowed, trying to take it all in. His hair was so very light blonde, it almost looked white, and though she could only see glimpses of them, his eyes looked to be a startling and piercing blue.
Suddenly, in a violent movement that made her flinch instinctively, he made his gloved hand into a vicious fist, before disdainfully throwing something onto the ground before the monument. He stared down for a moment, as if contemplating something, and then walked away purposefully, with great strides. Still shivering, Eyre looked after him for what seemed like forever, until she was sure he was gone. Then, painstakingly, she got to her feet again. Moving with less purpose, and smaller strides, she timidly made her way to the monument to see what he had thrown. Before she got there, however, a flash of colour amid the drab city caught her eye. She looked up to see a word painted in red in broad strokes across the stone... it read, 'Knives,' in large menacing letters.
"...Knives?" Eyre said, half to herself, and half to the monument. Her eyebrows lowered slightly in contemplation, before she gave up entirely on the subject. Scuffing her bare feet slightly in the dust, she looked down again to see what it was he had thrown.
Her breath caught painfully in her throat, as a gasp squeeked out between her now tightly clenched teeth.
There, lying pathetically and crushed on the ground, was the dust-spider.
~8~
A/N: ~*Ah ha! Someone we actually recognise makes his debut in the story! Will we ever find a plot? Will this little girl ever have relevance in the storyline? Tune in next time, to find out!
~*A big 'thank-you' to those who have already given me reviews, despite the absense of anything remotely Trigun-like in the story! 3
Love and Peace!
-Ivory
Oh, and //-// are flashbacks. ^_^ Just so ya' know.
~8~
The silence in the air was overpowering, falling like a blanket over the small town. It seemed that even the very air had no room or place anymore in the town, or the dunes around it. There was no movement. Time seemed to have ground to a halt in its tracks; it would have been like a photograph, or painting, but the dust still shifted restlessly, lending an air of surreality to the entire situation.
It was to this that Eyre awoke, the double suns already risen over a horizon that seemed as far off as her own heartbeat, pounding in her ears. Wincing, the slip of a girl rose uncertainly to her feet, to survey the strange situation more closely. 'Certainly the town should be busting already,' she thought, raising a weathered and sand-encrusted hand to rake painfully through her tangled hair. It hurt, but she didn't seem to care a whit about it. Obviously confused as to the situation, she shook her head as if shaking it could bring her wits back about her, brown wisps falling messily about her face.
Shaking her head for a second time to clear it slightly, Eyre began to stumble clumsily through the sand towards the outskirts of Carcasses, her bare feet sinking into the warm sand with each laboured step.
When she finally made it to the compacted ground, she felt its solidity beneath her in a far off corner of her mind. A shiver ran quickly up and down along her spine, causing her shoulders to shake and her green-flecked eyes to narrow reflexively. Something was wrong, very wrong.
//'I...'//
Cautiously, Eyre took another step. When nothing appeared from the dust or from beneath the ground to devour her whole, and leave nothing but the silence behind, she took another. In this manner, she slowly picked her way towards her house, wondering exactly none of the pots and pans that normally were so loud in the kitchen were not being slammed to the floor in a cacophony of noise and screams.
//'I wish...'//
There was no noise, none at all. Not even the lazy thumping of Linda's feet against the crates just outside the front door as she dried her new- painted toes could be heard. Not even the constant grumbling and swearing of 'that man' could be heard. The girl's eyes widened slightly, helpless to understand what had happened. The double suns were high in the sky, and yet there was no commotion at all? Could they have gone already? But... to where?
//'I wish... that...'//
Wide eyes, soft tread, and all, Eyre moved slowly to her front door. She glanced furtively behind her before and after each step, as if expecting this to be all some sort of prank, expecting her sister and a new 'boyfriend' to pop out of nowhere, and howl in dischordant glee at the irrational, anamalistic fear they had instilled within the 'brat.' With her toe, she nudged the front door open. It creaked dauntingly, and she shrank back from the darkness within, before hesitantly peering inside.
//'I wish... that everyone...'//
Upon seeing none of her imaginary monsters and fiends pop up before her very eyes, she stepped within the walls. The faucet in the kitchen was running, the sound of rushing water a veritable symphony to her ears. The double suns shone through the window, illuminating patches on the floor, and Eyre smiled slightly. 'Mother must be in the kitchen,' she thought, ' 'cause we really don't have any double dollars to spend on water bills, and things like that. She wouldn't leave the faucet running.' Stepping more quickly now, the customary whisper-call of greeting bubbling up behind her lips, Eyre walked more springily to the kitchen, eyes shining.
//'I wish... that everyone would...'//
The cry died at her lips, crying up and blowing away in the stagnant air. The kitchen was empty, and water ran like a precious rivulet of diamond into the dish filled sink, and guzzled down the greedy drain. Wide-eyed again, she ran to the sink, peering in. This morning's dishes were still resting in the tub, the soap long gone. A sponge lay on one of the plates, as if it had just been set down and left in the middle of things.
//'I wish that everyone would just...'//
Now that she thought about it... It was as if everything had been put down in the middle of things. Rushing outside, her feet pounding against the wooden boards, Eyre spotted Linda's polish and brush on top of one of the customary crates. She sighed in frustration and puzzlement, casting her eyes up to the burning suns and clear blue sky. On her way back down from thought, she noticed the spider-web in her window, and walked curiously to look at it again.
The spider was gone.
//'disappear.'//
Her eyes shot open, hands flying to her mouth in shock. She had wished, she had wished everyone gone! What had she done? Not like this, she hadn't meant this! Eyre flopped to the ground, landing in a pile of tattered blue and dust, shivering again. Her green-flecked eyes darted from one side to the other, searching for any life, any movement. Once she thought she caught a hint of a dress; only a curtain. Once a person turning a corner in the street; just an old boot. Wildly, she turned her head from side to side, her vision beginning to blur as she realized she had wished herself alone in this horrible town. Nobody would ever find her, and she'd grow old and die. Alone.
What a grim visage it would have been- a diminuative, fourteen year-old figure shuffling through the dusty and deserted streets of her hometown, hot tears rubbed from her cheeks with sandy hands, eyes stinging with the self inflicted wounds as sand from her hands pushed unbidden into her eyes, starting the horrible circle again. At length, she found herself headed toward her haven, the town centre; however, something in her made her halt. It made her blink to clear her eyes and look up. At length, to pale, and hide behind a nearby building, peering around the edge. At the center of the square, a strange man stood before the monument, one finger raised to eye level; he appeared to be lazily watching something.
Eyre blinked the last of the sand away and crouched low to the ground like a dog when their master's boot is raised; knowing that any attention brought to them would cause great harm indeed. The man appeared to be wearing some sort of odd white suit, the likes of which she had never seen. Tubes ran at odd intervals from it, and to it, and around it, and her eyebrows furrowed, trying to take it all in. His hair was so very light blonde, it almost looked white, and though she could only see glimpses of them, his eyes looked to be a startling and piercing blue.
Suddenly, in a violent movement that made her flinch instinctively, he made his gloved hand into a vicious fist, before disdainfully throwing something onto the ground before the monument. He stared down for a moment, as if contemplating something, and then walked away purposefully, with great strides. Still shivering, Eyre looked after him for what seemed like forever, until she was sure he was gone. Then, painstakingly, she got to her feet again. Moving with less purpose, and smaller strides, she timidly made her way to the monument to see what he had thrown. Before she got there, however, a flash of colour amid the drab city caught her eye. She looked up to see a word painted in red in broad strokes across the stone... it read, 'Knives,' in large menacing letters.
"...Knives?" Eyre said, half to herself, and half to the monument. Her eyebrows lowered slightly in contemplation, before she gave up entirely on the subject. Scuffing her bare feet slightly in the dust, she looked down again to see what it was he had thrown.
Her breath caught painfully in her throat, as a gasp squeeked out between her now tightly clenched teeth.
There, lying pathetically and crushed on the ground, was the dust-spider.
~8~
A/N: ~*Ah ha! Someone we actually recognise makes his debut in the story! Will we ever find a plot? Will this little girl ever have relevance in the storyline? Tune in next time, to find out!
~*A big 'thank-you' to those who have already given me reviews, despite the absense of anything remotely Trigun-like in the story! 3
Love and Peace!
-Ivory