~In Loving Memory Of Nancy Stone~
The Most Amazing, Loving, and Caring Women I Have Ever Had The Honor Of Knowing
Come Fourth of July Vivian was plain giddy at the return of her boyfriend Aiden I on the other was exhausted. With summer, bringing longer and shorter, yet hotter, nights that kept me from sleeping. I would get a few hours of sleep and then I would wake up soaked in sweat from a dream. Lately a lot of my dreams centered on The Ordeal and Gabriel, which frustrated me to no end. I hated him had since I was fifteen so why was it I dreamt about him? I will tell you why, because the world hates me and wants me to suffer by giving me cruel and unusual punishments.
"Hey Cyn, are you almost ready to go?" Vivian shouted from her room. Speaking of cruel and unusual punishments, I get to celebrate my Fourth of July with my cousin… and her boyfriend. Yeah I do not exactly like being third wheel.
"Uh yeah just let me feed Artemis!" I hollered back. Grabbed my purse and called Artemis to eat. After giving her a quick rub down I headed towards the door were Viv stood talking to Aiden.
"Oh hey Cyn, this is my cousin Michael. He's in town for a week." He informed me with a wave. Michael was a rather cute guy he looked tall or at least he looked taller than I did with shaggy black hair and hazel eyes with tan skin.
"Just call me Mikey." He said holding his hand out for me I shook it gently rather aware of the sweat on the tan hand. He must be nervous meeting two new girls for the first time, especially Viv and me. Viv with her killer looks and me and my supposed intimidating look it must be annoying.
"Right well I'm Cyn and although I would love to just stand here and talk at my doorstep we should probably head to the festival because if I miss my fireworks I going to have kill someone." I said stepping out the door between the two males dragging Viv with me.
"Okay okay little miss hyper active-"
"So help me god if you call me a midget I will kill you." I growled stopping in front of her.
"What, you love being short why would you have cared?" Aiden asked grabbing Viv's hand.
"Because our dear Vivian has caused my ever lovely 'cousins' to hang around more and they always call me that or pixie but same shit." I informed.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't me to." She said with a shrug. "Hey guys lets go around back next to the river." She suggested. We all agreed since all the good parking spots would already be taken.
I ran next to Mikey who could run rather fast, much faster than Aiden at least who was somewhere behind us with Viv. Viv is wearing heels though otherwise she would be up her with us.
When it came time to scale a fence into an alley I flew over it landing sloppily for show. Mikey vaulted over using one arm but landed rather easily stepping back into stride with my run as we continued our trek to the field. We arrived at the field before Viv and Aiden.
"Hey Cyn, looking good." Tyler said.
"Oh good Ty, I see you remember the rule." I smirked at him taking a seat on an empty blanket.
"I know no calling you by your first name I got that the first time you threatened me." He nudged me with his foot from above me.
"You're such a good boy." I mock cooed giving him a thumbs up.
"O like MG is that you Mikey! When did you move back?" Giggler number three screeched causing my ears to ring.
"Um hi…."
"Oh it's Trish; we used to go out when you still lived her!" Hm not only did giggler number three have a name, but Mikey used to live here wonder why he moved away.
"Right Trish. I'm sorry it has been a long time. You look really different." probably meaning she wasn't getting bad spray tans and awkwardly blonde hair dos. At least the kid had some sort of taste.
"Hey you two ran fast. It must run in the family or something." Aiden said sitting down with Viv. Yeah sort of, I laughed inwardly. Only if he knew the truth.
"If you think we run fast in flats and wedges you should see us in combat boots or converse." I joked with a smirk. Aiden simply chuckled as began nuzzle up into his neck. Normally I didn't mind Viv and Aiden's lovey-dovey crap, but at that moment, I felt a twist in my stomach as its acids began to churn. "Hey Ty, pass me a drink would you?" I asked faintly thankfully noticed the shake in my usually strong voice.
Then Bingo and Jem showed up, arguing loudly about which bands sucked. They soon got everyone involved.
"So what do you two think of The Purge?" Jem asked me and Viv with a raised brow.
"Bunch of whiners," Viv answered. "They should be drowned to put them out of their misery."
One of the gigglers shrieked indignantly and Quince roared with laughter. This started a completely new round of the argument. The rum made Vivian feel lazy and indulgent. She actually agreed with Kelly once.
"Oh hush already My Chemical Romance could kick all of there asses even if they were blind and deft." I pitched rather annoyed about one of the giggler's comments on their supposed "lame" attitude. She had a lame attitude little bitch.
"Um I'm just going to go grab a bite from a concession stand before the fireworks." I stood up stretching lightly with my drink in hand.
"Oh um I will come with you!" Mikey piped up prying Trish off his arm as he jolted to his feet.
"Okay. Hey Viv want anything?" I asked.
"Nah I'm good, but hurry wouldn't want you to kill anyone." Viv joked mocking my statement from earlier tonight. I muttered a whatever before running off to a booth for some food.
"So Aiden said you Viv are real close you guys like live together or something?" Mikey asked trying to make small talk I presume.
"Yep best cousin ever. We grew up together virtually inseparable since birth although I'm older by like months only." I wasn't sure why I was telling him so much, but I found that I didn't really care.
"That's cool. I and Aiden used to be like that before I moved."
"What changed?" I asked genuinely curious since I couldn't imagine Viv and me growing apart just because of distance.
"I don't know. My dad got transferred to a different job so we moved I started playing football and Aiden resent me for it I guess."
"Well that's stupid." I couldn't believe Aiden would be so petty.
"No it wasn't that I play a sport. It's just Aiden's dad always sort of liked me more and when I started football and all Aiden did was lay around and write his dad became a total dick always telling Aiden to be more like me. Which I guess should be a compliment but it strains our relationship a lot especially when I come and visit." He fiddled with his jacket obviously uncomfortable with the subject.
"Oh I think I get it now." I told him as we got in line.
"Oh Cynthia what a surprise." I groaned mentally face palming myself. Me and my bad luck I swear.
"Gabriel." I replied nonchalantly applying my I can kill you with multitude of ways face. I have very unique faces.
"Who is this?" Mikey asked.
"Uh no one. Hey why don't we head back?"
"What about your food?"
"Don't worry about it." I told Mikey quickly.
"Nonsense. Cynthia you look a little pale." Gabriel said looking worried. I moaned inwardly just great. I knew he was right though I had hardly eaten at all today. "Here Mikey I will take her off your hands you can go on back to your friends I will keep an eye on her."
"Okay is that alright Cyn?"
"Yeah go on tell Viv I will only be a second." He nodded his head before walking off in the direction we had come from. As soon as he was out of view I whirled around Back handed Gabriel in the back of the head sharply.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I shrieked hitting him in the chest.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You look like your going to pass out and since when did you have a boyfriend?"
"Excuse me? Mikey isn't my boyfriend!" The guy was cute and all but, he definitely wasn't my type.
"Oh." Gabriel sighed feeling rather stupid.
"Yeah you idiot," I hit him again "not that it's any of your business."
"Ow would stop that you hit really hard you know?" He smirked at me draping an over my shoulder I quickly shoved it off.
"Whatever." I huffed stepping up to order with Gabriel right next to me.
"Lovers quarrel?" The concession lady asked with a smile.
"We are so not lovers." I disagreed crossing my arms firmly.
"Oh be nice Love." Gabriel said putting his arm around my waist.
"Well what can I get you folks?"
"One nacho, a chili cheese fry and two large Dr. Peppers please." Gabriel asked ordering for me. I would have complained but I was to shocked that he knew what to order for me still.
"That will be $11.50." The woman said taking the twenty Gabriel offered before quickly handing him back his change. "Here's you drinks will have your food in a second."
"You memorized what I order? Creeper." I muttered.
"Oh hush." He squeezed my waist lightly sending a chill up my spine as my shirt rose up slightly. I wiggled out of his grip to grab my drink before he could comment on it.
"Here you are have a good night." The women smiled at us with a nod.
"You too." I waved at her as I began to walk away. "Thanks for the food but could you not do that again?" I asked Gabriel but instead of letting him answer, I blended into the crowd rushing to the group before he could make any further comment.
"There you are! What held you up?" Viv asked. Good Mikey hadn't mentioned Gabriel I didn't want Viv to worry.
"Long line." I told her sitting down to enjoy my fries not entirely lying since I wasn't the only one with the idea to go get food before the fireworks began.
"Well you're just in time." Viv said as men began a final check before starting. That's when I noticed Aiden's absence.
In the sudden quiet, a chorus of howls echoed like a distant song in the trees beyond the portable toilets. Bingo smirked. "Someone's having fun."
"Yeah," Vivian agreed, and the fine hair on her spine prickled. She stared grimly over the heads of the crowd. "I think I need to pee, too," she announced to no one in particular. She set her bottle down. "Come with me?" Viv asked and that's when I realized if Gabriel was here than so was everyone else including the Five and Aiden was missing.
"Yeah sure." I nodded looking at her with a secret look saying I realized what she meant. I scarped the last of my fries and stood up drink in hand.
They wove through the islands of families and friends stretched out with their coolers, hampers, and kids, and tried not to step on the fingers and drinks that spread into the paths that led through the mess and out the other side. I could smell the toilets before we even came close. They'd been used all day, and now the rank stench of chemicals mixed with urine and feces made a battlefield of the air. My nose pinched in distaste as Viv skirted the metal booths stenciled with the word Port-o-let in luminous orange, looking for signs of Aiden, or of the Five.
I calmed my self with deep breaths as I began to smell through the scents till I smelt the Five's familiar and distinct scent. I swiftly headed towards it Viv in tow.
The moon was only a sliver in the western sky. The woods were deep with shadows. Somewhere behind us was an eager crowd, waiting for the night to bloom with fire, but somehow their voices were muffled by the dark. Even the crickets held their breaths. A staccato crackle came from the river - firecrackers. A dog barked far away. We stalked on tiptoes, my feet remembering paws. There was a rustling off to the right. Someone was pushing between the rhododendron bushes.
He hummed cheerfully. Viv almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then I recognized the voice. "Rafe." I muttered causing Viv to freeze.
He froze in the shadows. Something almost as big as he was flung over his shoulder. He clutched it possessively. I then placed the tune he'd been humming. It was an Oingo Boingo song. The words went walking with a dead man over my shoulder.
"What have you got there?" Viv demanded, fear fluttering in her belly. Rafe's arms tightened around his load.
"Nothing." He backed away a step.
"You shithead." She advanced on him. Her heart thumped with dread. Oh, Viv remember your scences I thought easily recognizing the blood as a dogs.
"It's mine," Rafe growled. He slid his kill from his shoulder and let it crash into old, dead leaves. He crouched, ready for combat, in front of it. Great Moon, I'm right, I thought as Viv growled still in a passionate haze apparently since the air reeked of the blood.
"I'll share if you're nice to me," he added, a new note of cunning in his voice.
"Show me," Viv coaxed. "I want to see if it's worth my time." I groaned still annoyed with the whole situation I just wanted my fireworks like very fucking year.
"Ha, you're lying, Viv," Rafe spat. His eyes glittered and narrowed with malice. "Want to see if it's your meat-boy, Viv?" The asshole was toying with her, but she took another quick step forward but he blocked her, laughing. Viv darted to the right, but Rafe was in front of her again. "Does Vivie want her plaything?" he taunted, and I just wanted to shove his pointy teeth down his throat. Viv feinted to the left; then, before he could recover, hit him head-on and knocked him down. Distantly the crowd cheered with the first thunder of fireworks. She scrambled over Rafe as he thrashed, elbowing his neck, kneeing him in the stomach, and crawled into the bushes. In an orange burst of light, she saw brown eyes already glazed over with an opalescent sheen. Brown eyes in a furred face. A large dog with its throat torn open lay on the ground. Rafe scrambled to his feet, laughing. "Had you going, didn't I?" His laughter was echoed from the trees, and the rest of the Five slunk into the clearing: Finn, Willem, Gregory, and Ulf. Their faces flickered with multicolored light for a moment, etching them with ghoulish shadows. The gaping throat of the dog hung limp as it to was illuminated by the fireworks, my fireworks.
"Smell yummy, Viv?" Rafe mocked.
"Think you might like a little taste, since it's not your boyfriend?" Viv spat a curse at him as she stood up. It was punctuated by another crash in the sky. She walked right up and knocked him flying with a cuff to the side of the face that left claw marks. Willem gasped, and Ulf ran back to the bushes giggling hysterically. Finn helped Rafe up while Gregory glanced back and forth between Vivian and Rafe, nervously licking his lips. Rafe wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand.
"Rafe don't you dare take another step." I warned everyone looked at me apparently just now realizing I was here. Dear moon am I invisible. "You two think you're different from us," he snarled. "But you're not. We know who we are and we know what we want. We do not run away from it. You're sick you think you can play human." He snapped pointing at Viv at the last bit. "Ulf, get your ass back here and help Greg carry this." The Five fell in silently behind Rafe and followed him into the woods. Only Willem looked back.
"I'm so impressed," Viv yelled after them.
I ran after them needing to let out my own little speech. "I know who I am. How dare you say I don't? I love being loup-garoux. I adore the sweet change and the beauty it brings me in the night. When I hunt, I hunt wild prey by the laws of the Goddess. I don't kill pets for the fun of it maybe you should keep that in mind next time you dumbass and no I'm on some holier than thou crusade its bloody common since." I spoke calmly but with a dark shadow of authority and anger.
Therefore, the night went on I got my fireworks not exactly as planned, but I still got them and that is all that I cared about.
New banner and outfits on my profile. Sorry for delay
~Love Toxic