Author: RavenEcho
Summary: Ginny hurts. And no one knows. It's not easy being a number. Her number is zero, because that's how many people understand her…probably a Draco/Ginny waiting to happen. Some Ginny/Remus.
Disclaimer: If I owned this stuff, would I really be on this computer typing away right now? No… I would be eating some rich-people-food in my gigantic English manor…
Touch Me
Chapter 17: Shooting Stars of Blood
Ginny was out on the astronomy tower tonight, alone this time. Draco hadn't come looking for her for the past few days. The Gryffindor girl wasn't surprised: the potion had been his proverbial olive branch, forgiving the cliché. As of yet, it had not been accepted. For now, Ginny resigned herself to the traditional insomnia that came with the fear of nightmares, and Draco resigned himself to watching as Ginny diminished. He had overstepped his bounds, and he knew it.
Ginny straddled the wall of the tower in her favorite position, a leg on each side, with her back against one of the thick pillars. Her white skin was exposed, so she could feel the icy night air. It gave her a slight thrill, knowing that she was so close. So close to everything- to the stars, to the sky, to a long plunge of death. Ginny was scared of heights. That gave her a thrill too- the rush of adrenaline.
The girl dug her razor into the white skin before her. Deep, deep, deep, and so red and shiny. The blood beaded at the top of the cut before spilling over the edges of the skin in tiny droplets. Ginny watched, fascinated, not daring to break the silence of the night. Instead she turned her gaze to the stars.
They were just tiny pinpricks of light against the vast dark of the late hour. Tiny, helpless, yet they kept on shining. Ginny had always wondered at the centaurs' amazement with them, yet now she felt she had the beginnings of comprehension. They were always there, without fail. It was something so dependable, so reliable, so utterly perfect: the stars had a tone of the surreal that one didn't see in everyday life. Yet they were so normal that no one ever noticed.
Ginny smiled, almost. Then she raised her left hand and made a long cut across the arm. She stared as the blood dribbled slowly across her flesh before dripping from her arm and across the sky and down, down, down. They were shooting stars. Her shooting stars of blood.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have to apologize, first for the delay, and second for the shortness of a chapter hardly worth writing. My first reason for not posting would be my exam on Tuesday. My second would be the depression I've experienced lately. It happens often, you know, the depression, and this is just one of those times, I guess. So that's why this chapter is kind of toned down. Sorry if anyone was hoping for a happier chapter. I'll try to post more soon.
REVIEW RESPONSES: thanks to next (I don't know if she'll be happy. I think so, but we'll see.), dakangl (thanks, I just hope I did okay), EternalEcho, frozenfire791