Chapter Two
"You're not scary."
***
Shane walked a tightrope in high heels and bell-bottom pants.
Who was she?
Clueless.
Why was she here?
Confused.
What was she doing?
Numb.
Hazy, looking through these eyes. The people below, clouds like puffs of perfume fresh from the spray. SCATTER.
Shane walked through a long hallway, naked from the neck-up, but that was enough. STARE.
Her insides churned, her words limp in her throat, vacant, like a hollow mouse. Silence beckoned her ears to flutter, and her eyes to wave at the passing delights, all agape. An eagerness surged within them, a glint beneath their eyelids, twinkling at their target. Waiting to strike the monster, waiting to conquer the beast, waiting to silence the laughter, waiting... for defeat. SMILE.
Shane knew what they wanted. She ignighted their need. She fanned their desire. She tempted their sanity. She ate their hesitations in a word. They wanted her to. They wanted to lose. They wanted to give in. They desired the harsh release only she could bring them.
Shane walked into a store. It was dark. She hungered for an escape. Scared, the wenches hid.
"Spare one," the shop-owner pled. "Just this one..." she murmured from behind a mask of red, silver, and blue. A blinding white spotlight suddenly lit the center of the store, revealing the cracks in the floorboards and the mess atop them. Then, a pale girl appeared from the light in the center of the room, a dribble of blood streaming down her cheek. "Please, she's already dead!"
Wandering eyes cannot recognize the glory that is directly before them.
Shane heard the cackling sounds of fear mixed with giggles like a symphony around her. Noisy wenches. All but this one. All but this one "dead" girl.
Wandering thoughts cannot focus into motive.
Shane approached the "dead" girl in the center of the room, inspecting her under the white light. Her skin was aglow, and her hair was knotted, and hung from her head like an old curtain.
Wandering fingers cannot grasp their destiny.
Shane reached out her hand, and the shop-keeper gasped. Shane's finger trailed down the "dead" girl's cheek, coating the tip of her finger in blood. From it's feel, it was fake. The girl did not flinch.
"Why do you stay?" Shane asked, her voice raspy from its silence. "Aren't you afraid?"
The girl stared at Shane, her blank stare suddenly filling with color. Her eyes met Shane's as she took her hand, interlacing their fingers.
"You're not scary."
JENNY.
***