limbo
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Post by limbo on Jul 31, 2008 22:48:40 GMT -5
Why was he nervous? His palms were sweaty and he tried to hide the moisture by continually wiping them on his jeans. He paced along a brick wall just outside the school grounds, waiting for some sign that his...companion would show. Stars above winked at him, pleased at his decision to spend his nighttime hours roaming beneath them. Dark brown eyes met the startling brightness of the moon. If he squinted, the moon would tilt back and forth ever so slightly, as though it was sniggering at him.
If Adam had seen himself, he probably would have been laughing too. Here was a young man who was supposed to be a risky business sort of guy, dangerous, and a loose cannon and he was nervous to meet... a girl.
Adam had never been this anxious about the opposite sex since he was fourteen and lying in his first girlfriend's bed. But his nervousness was hardly even about her. It had been the voyage into uncharted territory and namely the loss of his innocence.
Finally seating himself on the brick wall overlooking the school grounds, he allowed his eyes to wander through the crowds of people. Tonight was Monomonon's celebration of being an lively center of change and diversity. Within the next twenty minutes or so, fireworks would dazzle the sky with sparkling colors and resounding booms would rattle the earth. Alcohol would be flowing, cigarettes would be passed around, and children would be covering their ears. The whole shebang was namely an excuse to get drunk and blow things up, but it did sort of represent the city and its need to be alive even if several of the community members were technically dead.
The grounds of Cloud Nine High offered a spectacular view of the fireworks. Students were allowed to use the greens as a place to lay out blankets and admire the glittering skies. All around lips were attached to other lips while hands roamed. Freshmen milled around, not having considered bringing something to sit on in the dewy grass. Adam was aware that people were shooting him odd looks. He frowned and sank into a slouched position that better represented his 'dangerous' demeanor.
He tried to pretend that he didn't care Anna might not show up. She was weird, right? It wouldn't seem right if he developed any feelings for her, right? It wasn't right. If it was right, he wouldn't be thinking to himself 'right?' all the time, right?
No, no, no, no, no. No. This girl was crazy. Nuts! Off her rocker! She was a heron among geese! Wait...what? No, thought Adam, she's like you...you know? Misunderstood, I think. You remember when you talked to her - sometimes she spoke like a normal person. She doesn't have any real friends, something we have in common. But what Adam wanted to know, why wasn't she showing up? She seemed interested in a venture into the nightlife of the Monomonon citizen...and more importantly, Adam too. It could be possible that she was opposed to the fact of being friends with someone who was full of himself and could easily help her find herself in a load of trouble. Perhaps she didn't like vampires. Maybe she had been playing him during that study hall, just to see what it was like to screw with the screwer. Damn, it had worked. But the thing was, it didn't really bother him. He found her to be more than just interesting, for Adam knew that somewhere beneath the darkness that surrounded this tiny human being was a girl writhing and trying to claw her way out of an endless cave.
While he was waiting for Anna, the eccentric girl he was supposed to meet, a strange feeling washed over his spine. The tiny hairs at the back of his neck prickled. He knew that sensation. It was something only vampires had that somehow Adam had developed. Someone had passed through the sensitive atmosphere he surrounded himself with. Putting on a tense jaw, Adam whipped around to face the person standing very closely behind him.
A boom resonated across the sky. The fireworks had begun.
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Post by i n k on Aug 1, 2008 0:01:13 GMT -5
"I-I'M SORRY, did I scare you?"
Anna looked different, somehow- maybe it was the low lighting, or the sudden appearance- no, it was the dress. Instead of her usual placid gray mass of string, a bright orange garment clung to Anna's surprisingly attractive figure. Her hair had somehow been brushed- and it made a huge difference. "Ummmm, ummm, hmmm. Hello, Adam." She smiled, the average girl look fitting so well onto her new appearance it seemed the sanity would never leave- but in a blink, it was gone. A blanket was tucked under her arm and her feet were bare, grass-stained.
Anna stared at her waiting friend for a couple seconds, then jumped as another firework blasted overhead to the wonder of their fellow classmates. Hurriedly, she spread the blanket and crumpled onto it, sitting with her feet and legs hiding under her skirt and her body. Her hand instantly flew to her mouth and she attacked her nails, seemingly lost staring at the sky.
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limbo
Overlord
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Post by limbo on Aug 1, 2008 9:39:07 GMT -5
"You didn't scare me," said Adam. His eyes traveled from her eyes to her bare toes in the soft, glistening grass; he couldn't help it. She appeared...normal...kind of. The grip he had held in his jaw loosened suddenly as he realized with a jolt that Anna was not a little girl. She had an actual figure. This startled him.
Before he could swallow his surprise and greet her properly, Anna had already settled herself on the ground, watching the sky in amazement and chewing a nail. The corners of his lips tugged. All week he waited for this night, mainly just to see what would happen. He didn't expect in the slightest for her to be...cute. If this had been any other girl, his lips would probably already be exploring the area around her throat and jaw. But no - he had no desire to do this.
Oddly enough, all he wanted was to be close to her. He wanted to sit hip-to-hip with his arm around her waist and his face tilted toward the sky. He itched to squeeze her to him every time she jumped from the booms of the fireworks. His breath was almost erratic as he lowered himself to the blanket. Why? Why was he acting like this? It wasn't as if he'd never been with a girl before - he'd been with too many. Why was this any different from sitting with them? Maybe it was because he wasn't supposed to be lusting after this girl. They were friends. Perhaps he was thinking this way because - because...he had strictly prohibited himself from getting involved with her.
But...he couldn't deny her attractiveness. Did she know her eyes reflected everything in her line of sight? Had she any idea that he wanted to trail his fingers through her freshly untangled locks?
"Anna...?" he started softly. He dragged his eyes from the octopus-shaped sparks. "What do you see that other people don't?"
It was a stupid question, but he had been waiting the last 48 hours for the answer.
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Post by i n k on Aug 3, 2008 20:49:25 GMT -5
HIS QUESTION startled Anna on many levels; nobody had ever been near enough to her to even make polite conversation in ages, and now Adam had brashly rushed forth with a question only ignorant doctors and professors had asked her. Unlike them, though, she didn't entirely mind, though she did cringe and a tiny part of her brain began screaming, bringing the shadows back into the light and their voices slightly out of the static of fireworks' booms.
"Bad, bad, bad things. Dead things, sad things, things that could make even my dangerous Adam scared." She didn't realize her slip of the tongue, small to anyone else, but perhaps not to them, that she had called him HER Adam, HERs, and that she felt ownership over her actions with him, his actions with her. "I can see everything they did wrong, what they're doing now, knowing that they can never, never, escape," she was shaking the littlest bit, "and they tell me how bad it is, bad bad bad bad bad, and they tell me it's my fault and the most horrible horrible, terrible things, and that their fate is mine, mine, all mine, too." Her finger was bleeding again, torn to shreds by her teeth; it went unnoticed.
She wanted to say more, something like, 'But with Adam, none of these things are there, no, no, they stay away, like the light is turning them inside out.'
But she didn't express this through words; she tried to lock it away, but a tiny sliver slid into her eyes, shining like mirrors with the chinese fireballs in the sky.
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limbo
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Post by limbo on Aug 3, 2008 22:47:17 GMT -5
Adam forgot about his sensitivity to loud noises. Somehow in the back of his mind he realized that the fireworks were still exploding beyond the school grounds, though he was too focused on this troubled young woman to truly notice.
Something had come over Anna the moment he asked about her unfortunate abilities and immediately regretted the question. The murky depths of her eyes widened as if seeing something the rest of the world was blind to. She appeared just as she was on the day he had finally decided speak with her. Strings of hair fell into her face.
As a young man who was a risk-taker and had few responsibilities in life, Adam was unfamiliar with sensitivity. Sure, there were girlfriends when he practiced a tiny bit of feeling. But the most he was able to exercise these efforts were times when his girlfriend would ask, "Do these pants make my butt big?" with the automatic reply, "No." It wasn't exactly a positive experience because she would always retort and tell him he was lying just to crawl under the sheets with her, which was only half-true.
Despite having a number of female companions, Adam was unfamiliar to the ritual of having one as a friend. All the friends he ever had were male with an overdose of testosterone. If one of them upset him, Adam found that a good solid punch alongside the head dealt with matters efficiently. But hitting a girl... It felt wrong. He imagined that if he touched Anna in the wrong way, she would crumble into a thousand pieces...And he would proceed to find the closest knife and jam it through his own throat.
He blinked. Violence. It almost came down to pain. Adam stared at his hands. How many people had he hurt with them? He could make the excuse they were bastards, they deserved it, though it wouldn't wash away the shame of physically harming a fellow human being. People thought he was dangerous and he laughed at them. Adam, dangerous? But as his eyes traveled along the lines across his palm, he agreed. He was dangerous. He hurt people, even if they were asking for it.
His parents had no idea what sort of life he led. They knew he skipped classes and smoked, but that was it. They hadn't a clue he crawled out his bedroom window at night to participate in fights or to gamble, or that he carried around a knife in his pocket because he was afraid of being jumped. His mother was aware he was incredibly popular with his female classmates, though she didn't know about his nightly excursions often took place right under her nose in his bedroom down the hall.
Though why should they suspect anything? His older sister Ilsa just thought he was friends with everyone, which was true. He liked the thought of having allies and favors waiting at every corner. Ilsa recently, however, had discovered the knife he carried when they were fighting. Adam never begged, but he pleaded with Ilsa not to make a big deal out of it. He knew it would only make her more suspicious and he was prepared for that as long as she didn't tell their parents.
Among the secrecy and violence, Adam wasn't sure if he could touch something without breaking it. Hand shaking a little, he brought his thumb to the spot beneath Anna's wide eye and brushed the soft moisture into his hand.
"You're safe with me." His voice was gentle. He didn't want to frighten her any further. He managed a minuscule smile. "I'll protect you. Just stick with me and between the two of us, the bad guys won't stand a chance."
Adam swallowed. Her tears were still glistening on his thumb. Not long ago he had blinded another man with the same appendage. What terrible things she could see? The devil in him? The evil in every person she met?
Would she realize that the shadows who tortured her weren't the only bad guys? He smoothed a few locks of her hair in his treacherous hands.
"You're safe with me," he whispered.
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Post by i n k on Aug 10, 2008 2:24:56 GMT -5
HE MADE IT SOUND so simple. As easy as blinking, a reflex, that Anna could just curl up and that would be that. But Adam couldn't get into her head, couldn't fight through the shadows like her sight was a virtual reality game; and Anna knew this. Nobody could help her, the huge battle was hers. The light that Adam brought with him though, booming through the fireworks, did aid her the slightest bit. She smiled at him, surprised at her tears. It was as if her body didn't respond to her thoughts, or overreacted.
Anna didn't realize that she put her own, trembling hand over Adam's and removed it from her face. Her fingers were locked on his, though, the contact sending tiny electric shockwaves through her fingers' frazzled nerves. "Thank you for offering," Her voice was hardly audible over the crackles and fizzes of the pyrotechnics in the sky, the oohs and aahs of the fellow students surrounding them. Those people were in another world, lost in the sky. "But, but, but," the words danced over her tongue and she rocked in frustration, free hand tangling in her hair. "I can't explain, no no no, and I wish I could, Adam, I wish I could. Hmmmm, mmmm, mmmmn, grrrrrrrgh."
A patternless tune whispered over Anna's breath, her humming raising the hairs on the back of her neck. The shadows didn't like music, but this haunting, strange sound made them curious, and darkness swam on the edge of Anna's vision. "I wish you could possibly save me;" he could barely hear her, "but you just can't, l-love, you just can't."
Another slip, another slide, and Anna tumbled farther into the empty well that her mind had become.
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limbo
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Post by limbo on Aug 10, 2008 12:45:41 GMT -5
Maybe it was the boom of the fireworks. Or the light reflected into her broad, all-seeing eyes. Perhaps it was the fear that crawled under her skin. Something...something was drawing Adam closer and closer to this girl. Was it the way she continually referred to him as her Adam? Was it her tendency to quiver at his touch?
Adam had never been interested in valiant princes and shy princesses. But it was undeniable this feeling. He felt like he needed to be a savior or something. Her eyes were so desolate. He wanted to gather her up in his arms and carry her...just carry her. That was all. Except, it was an odd feeling because he knew he couldn't be a rescuer. This was her own burden. It made him ill. He could do nothing. He had never heard of any story where the princess was forced to save herself while the prince stood by, helpless to her internal battles.
An odd thought struck him. He couldn't help her fight off those wretched demons...though he could make her life on the outside a little brighter. It was a lucky thing he was sitting down because his knees buckled. She had called him love. Perhaps it was wishful thinking that he heard her affectionate labels. Still, would she mind if he put his hand behind her head?
And for that matter, would she mind if he leaned in a little closer? What if he stroked her cheek? What if he held her still at her slight jump at the latest crackle of fireworks? Adam found himself feeling unusual. His breath was growing shallow and the beating of his heart became louder in his ears than the bellows in the sky. He was pulling her nearer to his body. He felt blood pump from his chest to his fingertips.
"Anna," he whispered into her ear. "Tell me when to stop." But before he could give a chance for a reply, his hand had tightened on the back of her head. His lips were already searching for hers.
And then they met. His hands held the lithe body to his chest, preventing any escape she might attempt. He didn't know if she wanted to get away, but he couldn't tell by his tight grip. It was almost pure selfishness. He wanted to help her and this just felt...right to him, but he felt like he was enjoying this too much. Pleasure was coursing through him.
Suddenly, Adam broke away. Eyes all around were on them. And Adam realized that for the first time, he wasn't trying to prove anything. It was just him...and Anna.
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Post by i n k on Aug 10, 2008 16:17:16 GMT -5
IN THIS CLOSENESS, in his closeness, a blinding light burst behind Anna's eyes; the demons shrieked, the shadows fled, and all she could see was spots. Hundreds of bright, flashing pulses, keeping the bad bad things away, if only for the moment. She was paralyzed, amazed at the resounding silence echoing through her own head.
"Did you see that?" a voice whispered, feverish. Anna's ears seemed to be the only part of her that was working.
"What is he thinking?" another, just as close as the first.
"Is he drunk or something?" the first inquired, acid dripping from her tone. Anna blinked, the spots dying and disappearing slowly but surely; so far, though, the shadows hadn't returned. Her mind was her own.
"What other explination would there be for THAT?" the whispers were gaining volume. She wished that Adam couldn't hear them, wouldn't hear them, wouldn't realize what a mistake he'd made. Anna wasn't good enough for him, no, not in their eyes, and theirs were his, she understood. Was he intoxicated, drugged? Black creeped back into the edges of her vision, chittering. Lies, lies, lies, they hissed. He's leading you on, can't you see? All you've got is us, yes? He doesn't feel that way about you- you've heard what he's done. We've heard it to, heard the rumors, smelt them, know that they're truth. Will you let him do this to you?
She already knew the answer.
Yes.
"Um," Anna's lips weren't working. "Um... ah... wow...?"
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limbo
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Post by limbo on Aug 11, 2008 15:20:11 GMT -5
Adam couldn't stop the grin that was growing on his lips. She liked it. She was pleased with the affection he had been dying to give her since the night began. Ah ha. For once he had doubted himself in the "affection area" but her response was his inspiration to want to do it again. Before that, however, he wanted to stand up and take a victory lap around the school ground. However, such a gesture might ruin the moment and show her how cocky he was.
For the first time, he felt drunk without the assistance of alcohol. Breathing in her scent was inhaling an incense sent down by the grace of God. Maybe it was his intoxicated self that was making him think this way. His hand was still in her hair.
He was disappointed when her eyes went from amazed to worried. His ears perked up. Whispers and incredulous cruel words floated through the air suggesting that he was impaired or something that would explain his actions. He knew what he was doing. He was perfectly aware that other students would certainly have something to say...but he didn't care. It was only the concern for Anna that was left. Would she be able to ignore everyone around her?
Adam laughed at her reply to his behavior. "Wow?" he said. "You're telling me 'wow'? Half of me is ordering me to pick you up and carry you home and you're telling me wow. You're nuts, but God love you, I don't even care. You don't have a boyfriend, do you? I just want to know who'll I'll be fighting ahead of time. This is going to be fun, you know that? You and me, together and stuff? Yeah, this is going to be good. Really good. You know how I can tell? I'm rambling and I never ramble to anyone. What's your phone number? Give me your address later - I've got paper. God, this is going to be great."
Adam found that he was scaring himself. This Anna was truly a wonder to make him this excited. The most animated he ever got about anything was when he skipped a class that was particularly difficult to not get caught.
The whole thing sent shivers down his spine. It was enthralling. A new high. If he ended up coming out of the situation with all his arms and legs, it would end up being the best time of his life. He could see it .
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Post by i n k on Aug 11, 2008 17:28:06 GMT -5
THEEEEE EEEEEND.
Just kidding, just kidding. Post coming sooooon.
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Post by i n k on Aug 14, 2008 17:12:22 GMT -5
WELL, WHAT WAS she SUPPOSED to say? This was an entirely new social experience; the farthest she had ever gotten with anyone was a friendly wave back or a disturbed look. Or injections. Lots of needles. Lots of tests. But those all came from people who wanted to get in her head; Adam looked like he wanted to crawl into other places.
"F-fighting?" her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. "Why would you be fighting? No, no nonononono;" she blinked, trying to remember what else he had asked. "My phone number? I don't know it. The color of my house I can tell you. I don't know, I don't know, I-... I don't know." She said it with uncertainty, not annoyance. The whispers were growing, the shadows bitching. She wished everyone would leave her head- and this wasn't the first time. She shook her head, muttering things that sounded like 'no' and 'lost' and 'misunderstanding' that really didn't mean much at all.
She half expected him to disappear.
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limbo
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Post by limbo on Aug 14, 2008 18:54:17 GMT -5
He was beginning to dislike it when Anna disappeared, as he called it. Her eyes became unfocused and her lips moved almost on their own accord. It was as if her mind was slipping away during those moments. Adam knew it wasn't her fault, but he wanted it to stop. Besides, he was frightened about what she saw. If she thought that he himself would be terrified of her ghosts, he believed it.
How much did he really know about Anna? She didn't know her own phone number and probably not even her address. If she had been treated by so many doctors and nurses, did she have parents who cared or were they absentee foster parents? Anna could see things and she whispered words when she "disappeared." That meant she was hearing these ghosts or shadows or they were somehow talking to her. Pictures make people gasp, not whisper to themselves.
Adam snapped his fingers in front of Anna's vacant eyes. "Anna? Anna! Are you ok? Do you want me to take you home? You don't look so good..."
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Post by i n k on Aug 24, 2008 23:03:02 GMT -5
I promise to post soon.
I PROMISE. D:
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