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Default   #64   sylvanSpider sylvanSpider is offline
Weaver of Webs
[indent]Taka and Aren were shivering, rain soaking through their jackets and shirts, their skin protesting the clinging materials with a push back of goosebumps. Aren's hair was like a sponge and the knot that once sat on the crown of his head now sagged absorbing the weight of what felt like several bucketfuls of water. They passed the buildings by, regardless of the shelter they promised, knowing that in each of them a runner would have the benefit of hearing them first and they'd be trapped. The path was arduous, despite only being about a mile south of the city gates, and the rain helped them hide but little else.

Both trudged on, their arms crossed tightly across their chests and Taka abandoned the hood that offered shelter from the rain for all of about two seconds. Neither said much, both lost in their own worlds of thought. Taka on her dead family, and Aren on his newfound friend and his current predicament. Finally, Taka stopped under the shelter of an overhang that was somehow (miraculously) intact and unwrapped the map from the plastic she was now glad she thought to bring. She couldn't read, so the illustrations helped immensely and she nodded, now remembering where they were. “Everything good?” Aren asked, peering over her shoulder. He took Taka's silence as a sign that she knew what she was doing and her nod proved him correct.

“The safehouse is just this way, and the hospital only a bit further up. We should probably stop soon to update the kid; he's probably fuckin' worried sick. We're not exactly making good time,” Taka said, folding the map up once more and returning it to it's protective plastic casing.

“Well, at least we know where we are. And no Runners yet. I s'pose we have that to be grateful for. Shit, man. I just met the guy. I don't want him to die already. It's too soon, even in this world,” Aren murmured, finally giving voice to what he'd been thinking about the entire time.

Taka looked down at the rain pelting into one of the larger puddles, not blinking when there a crash of thunder above their heads, “At a certain point though? You start to get used to it. It's the price you pay by liking people. You lose them. Speaking of which, you gonna tell him after save his life or what?”

“Tell him?” Aren asked, cocking an eyebrow, “Tell him what?”

“Boy, don't try to play me. I saw the way you looked at him when he first stepped through the door. How you jumped up to save his life at the risk of your own with no thought...It's obvious. You're in love with the guy,” Taka said with a shrug.

“You jumped to save his life too, you know,” Aren muttered, his cheeks turning crimson.

“I jumped to see a way out of the fuckin' city. Saving his life is just a benefit of that. I know it sounds fucked up, but saving Ian was just an extra bonus,” Taka said, “I'm sure I'll be glad that I did once I get to know the guy a little better, but shit, I don't even know --” her voice trailed off and she placed her finger to her lips, creeping closer to one of the buildings, ducking between them. Aren followed suit.

Voices that Taka immediately recognized were muffled through the rain but were distinguishable. So that was the story behind the man they met.
All that is empty in the drawing should be filled in, the teacher said to us kids. First you sharpen the pencil to fill in the thin whiskers, then you use the thick crayon to fill in the wings with brown, meticulously and without letting the crayon leave the page. Six feet can be traced below the soft belly. Now, breathing is hard to detect on paper, the teacher said to me when I asked, but it is easier to feel it in real life.

Even insects breathe.

-Rawi Hage, Cockroach
Old Posted 07-19-2018, 09:48 PM Reply With Quote