The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage ~ Adriane

White Crow’s Crossing is the cemetery. Go figure.

Why can’t it ever be, “Follow the message above the sink to the tulip gardens!” or “Read the mysterious note at the ice cream parlor!”

I like ice cream. Especially with sprinkles. I guess I must have said this out loud, because Sparrow sighed and said, “With chocolate sauce. You also like squirrels, but not in your ice cream. We know. You’ve told us about a thousand times.”

I can’t help it. I’m walking above holes in the dirt filled with thousands of rotting, decaying bodies. I have to talk about sugar and small mammals. What else am I supposed to do?

It was empty. Totally deserted. Just like in the movies.

Okay, well, it was empty after I screamed at everyone to leave.

I was trying to explain to a nice graveyard patron the advantages of black squirrels over white ones, but he was too busy sobbing over a headstone. He was all “blah-blah-blah-wife-was-brutally-slaughtered-by-terrorist-sect- blah blah blah this and ‘I-will-never-rest-until-I-have-sought-revenge-blah’ that.”

“MOOOVE!” I hollered at him. “GO ERECT A MEMORIAL CEREMONY SOMEWHERE ELSE! WE’RE BUSY FOOLISHLY WALKING INTO A TRAP WHERE WE WILL MOST LIKELY MEET OUR ULTIMATE DOOOOM!”

Cleverly, I added DUN-DUN-DUN-DUUUUN!! Music at the end.

“Well...this sounds like it will be horrible,” he said apprehensively as I shooed him out of my three-mile radius personal bubble.

“YOUR FATHER SAID THE SAME THING TO YOUR MUM WHEN YOU WERE BORN!”

It was just then that Dune gently pointed over to the creepy abandoned factory on the other side of the street. There was a question mark in blood on the side of the dumpster.

Great! So I had used up all of the breath in my lungs for nothing. I could have used it for something more useful and less totally pointless, like breathing in helium from a balloon and talking in a squeaky voice at passing strangers.

Speaking of which, I hadn’t had any weird out-of-worldly incidents. (Actually, the two subjects are not even remotely related) Except for last night, when I woke up in a cold sweat and started spitting blood out into the sink. Also, my eyes had changed color. And dimension.

“Hum ho,” Dune sang. “You know what this reeks like?”

“Sky’s feet?”

“I was going with ‘holy-crap-this-is-a-trap-we’re-all-going-to-die’! But I’m sure they both have death at the end of the rainbow.”

I think that’s a metaphor for when ‘everything is over’, because Sky’s feet sure as heck don’t look like rainbows.

The sky was dark and slatted, roiling with distant thunderheads. The gray had washed everything dull, even the pavement was pale, like bloodless skin. (Or vanilla ice cream!) Sparrow shivered as Dune yanked open one of the industrial doors.

It opened in garage-door style, the door winding up like parting teeth. A low, keening sound whistled as it slid, sallow mist spilling from the rust lining its throat. Dune coughed violently into his fist, stepping back before the fog blurred his figure.

The door ground to a halt, leaving the tunnel gaping hollowly into the mist.

We stared for a moment in respectful silence, a warm, damp draft brushing our skin unseen. It was like staring into the mouth of a beast.

“You’ve called Sky?”

“Uh-huh.”

He turned his head to look at me, slowly.

“Why are we doing this, again?”
I shrugged. “I - …we…can’t run forever, can we?”

“WHY DOESN’T ANYONE LISTEN TO MEEE!” Sparrow wailed in the background, interrupting our drama. “I say we all go home and watch TV.”

“Good point. We have HBO at the hotel.”
I ignored them both and pulled out a flashlight, flicking the switch.

Funnily enough, it isn’t a warehouse. It’s a factory. There’s even an underground river rumbling through the center.

Now I can add drowning to my list. Cheers.

My New Car~Sky

Due to the accident involving my awesome car and Zane hood surfing, we were forced to search for a new form of transportation. Our group, excluding, Sparrow, A-drain and Dune, strolled down the street looking at the nice selection of vehicles parked on the street. Occasionally we made small talk with the strangers, climbing into thier vehicles. Just so we didn't look all that suspesious. I chuckled to myself as I saw how many people parked in the parking spaces. Almost of if they wanted their expensive vehicles to be high-jacked. Zane, ran up to each window and peeked inside. Sometimes drawing a picture of a "duck" on the extremely dusty windshields. Yet to me and the others his "duck" always looked like a demented rainbow. Azul was more interested with the emo guys walking down the street then the car though.

"Hi," she said flirtily to one of the strangers. His hair made him look kinda like a girl. I didn't get what she saw in him. Then I saw his arm. Cut marks etched all the way up and down. It was almost as if he was showing off his pain.

Quickly I walked up behind her, "Did you get in a fight with Edward Scissor Hands? Well it kinda looks like he won,"

Azul blushed as he walked away grumplily and pulling out his safety pin. "THIS IS GONNA CAUSE YOU TO GET AIDS!" I yelled after him. I didn't think he heard me till he lifted his hand over his head. Middle fingure high in the air.

Azul opened her mouth about to start yelling at me, when I saw him.

"HIPPIE!!!" I screeched running down the street, hurriedly chasing after the man wearing a tie die shirt. He had long gray hair, that looked rather greasy. From the color of his hair I guessed him to be in his late 40s or early 50s.

I followed him three blocks till he finally walked into a shop that was fully decorated in the 70s era. He went behind the desk, obviously an employee. Or maybe the boss, which I doughted considering the fact he looked utterly wasted. I confirmed that fact when he bent down and took out a pipe. (i think you can guess at what was in it)

"Hi," I said casually. Not in the creepy-crush way but more in the OMG-I-LOVE-YOUR- ERA way.

"Heyyyyy maaaaaaaaaaaan. Peaaaaaaaace and looooooove dude. Peace and love."

I looked around the store and carefully filled my pockets with all the nicknack's I could find. I must have been so caught up with hiding stolen merchandise in my pockets that I never noticed him walk up behind me.

"Whoa, man. You sure got soooooome bulky pockets dude," He said. Looking far away as he stared at me.

"Yeah, they must put extra feathers in them this time of year," I replied, hoping he'd fall for it.

He just smiled and took another drag on his pipe. I watched as the smoke puffed out in a perfect rings. "Yeah duuuuude. That's what this China craps all about. With theee waaaaars and alllllll. Communists is what they are. Are we still in the 70s maaaaaaaan? Yeah. These years will neveeeeeer end. Peaaaaaaaaaace," he stood behind me still. Adding some of the merchandise into his own pockets. Then he walked away, back towards the desk, muttering about how the aliens were gonna get us all. I watched as he opened the cash register and pulled out a hundred. He placed that in his pocket next to the item he had stolen from his own store.

For a moment I considered going back to find the others, but this store was packed with everything you could possibly want. Plus it wasn't everyday that an employee didn't mind you were five-figure discounting most of their small items. So I continued looking around, till I realized I needed a bag. So carefully I walked my way back up to the desk. It was cluttered with small buttons with slogans on it that would only fit the 70s. They ranged from saying "I just got layed," to "Save water-shower with a friend." I loved how dedicated they were towards the environment. Carefully I pinned one onto my shirt.

"Can I have a bag?" I asked. Realizing I was probably pushing my luck.

"Sure maaaaaan," he handed me a fabric bag with a peace sign stitched across the top.

"Thanks," I said, stuffing more into my bag as I continued deeper into the store. I continued walking up that way until I spotted it. The perfect car. A hippie van. I had to have it. HAD TO. It was a vibrant shade of aqua, with a huge peace sign painted a long the side. It was my perfect car. I loved it. The windows were covered with tie dyed blankets, so you couldn't see in. I couldn't live without this vehicle. Plus, I mean we were already looking for a vehicle right? YEAH!

So carefully, I left the store. Listening to the alarm go off, and the hippie look up and say "Why. Maaaaaaaaaan. EVERYDAYYYY. This thiiiiiiing goeeeeees off. God if that's you, I only smoked alittle todayyyyy. I'm trying dude really I am," then he took a swig from his beer and turned up his stereo. Blasting out the beeping noise of the alarm. I recognized the band as Greatful Dead, this man was also a dead head.

He didn't even look up as I hot wired his vehicle and drove away. The first thing I noticed how smokey it was. I highly doughted he only smoked a little today. "Gotta love the 70s survivors," I said. Turning on the radio and listening to another song from that era.

I found Zane, Ravan, and Azul on the sidewalk. Zane was splashing around at the fire hydrant, that was gushing out streams of water. It didn't take long for me to understand that he was responsible for that. Azul was making out with that same dude I thought I'd just scared away. I beeped the funky horn twice. Smiling at the noise it made. I was loving this.

Happily my family pulled him away from the fire hydrant and climbed into my new car. Even better then my last one.

Azul ran into the back, screaming, suddenly.

"SKY!"

"Yeeeeees?" I replied rummaging through my bag of free amazing stuff.

"There's kinda a hippie back here," she was shocked.

I peeked back to see that indeed there was a passed out hippie in the back. He was surrounded by beer cans and other uhm...things.

"Pssh. He'll wake up soon. Might as well let him come along for the ride," I said. After all this hippie seemed to be kinda new age and looked to be eighteen at most. Almost as if he two, were living the American dream that the others had.

Zane grabbed a beer can off the floor and chugged it. "Yeah, this dude's stayin with us..."

We drove away as the hippie from the store looked up to his car was gone. He laughed. And waved goodbye. Taking another drag on his pipe. From the distance I saw him make the peace sign and walk back into the store.

"Ravan, stop poking him," Azul said.

Her and Ravan were in the back with the hippie waiting for him to wake up and the party begin.

Our Roadtrip (is cooler...) ~ (Adriane)

(I have no snazzy picture for this blog. So look at the fluffy lion!)


“I’m just saying, ‘Dree. I’m talking Vegas. That’s our town, kiddies. You at the poker table, Raven on the slot machine, me charming the ladies."

I don’t bother to answer as we approach the restaurant. A lovely old couple is enjoying a nice platter of croissants. Dune grabs the lady’s water glass, takes a swig, puts it back on her table, and keeps walking.

“Vegas,” he says, extending his hands to aid his poor imagination. “We’d rule the place, baaaaby. You know you want it. You too, Sparrow. I'm talking C-A-S-I-N-O's."

I tune out and see a bug. I think it's a fly. If my fly doesn't have wings, would it be a walk? I'm not sure, but I scream and chase it into the cafe.

I was having a hard time focusing - my thoughts were all yellow and patchy, like my bamboo plant which I sometimes forget to water.

And my old goldfish, which I also forgot to water.

I knock into a waiter like a sexy tractor bowling over a redneck, and dirty plates cascade from his hands.

“TSNUMAI!” I scream, making swishing motions with my hands. I then try to imitate screaming Hawaiian people, running for cover.

He doesn’t get my finely-crafted wit, so I get down on my knees around the broken bits of plates, picking them up and singing a jaunty tune about the time I blew up my kitchen appliances when I tried to microwave my goldfish, hoping to turn it into Fish-Man (radioactive and dangerous, companion of Batman.)

“Do you have a broom? That would be good.” I tell the waiter. “If you have any ice-cream, that would be better.” Then I see my bug again and use the waiter's head as a vaulting board to send me catapulting over a table after it.

Actually, it might not have been a bug. It could have been a spider. Or a whale.

“Yes,” I said eagerly to our waitress when I sat down. She was smiling in that cute, puppy-dog way.

Like, “I’m not writing down your orders, I’m a night-club pole dancer practicing with this pen!” (insert: teehee! teehe!)

“Do you guys have pie? Cherry pie?” I wondered. “Cool. And….uhm, a salad. And some of that chocolate cake thing. And an Oreo sundae. And what is this? Vanilla..stampede? Whoah. Sweet, one of those. And a milkshake. And cancel that salad.”

I twirled my straw through my soda, watching the ice melt.

Dune and Sparrow take their seats across from me.

“Hi. You like pie, right?”

“Sure. Hey, Adriane? Smell my hand.”

“No.”

Dune leaned over and sniffed Sparrow’s outstretched fingers.

“Should I be smelling something?”

“Gee, I hope not. I haven’t taken a shower in five days.” That sort of killed the conversation.

I quietly excused myself. “Where are you going?” Dune called.

“NARNIA!! Well, no. The bathroom. Is that okay with you?”

“As long as you remember to wash your hands.”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Do you want me to draw you a map back to our table?”

“Nah. If I can’t find you, I’ll just sit with that old guy over there.”

I did end up sitting next to that old guy. I talked about how cool the foam-soap was in the bathroom. I folded up his napkin and made a floppy hat; told him if he didn’t wear it, the aliens would beam down and suck out his brains with a bendy straw.

Then I spun around the bar, hissing and spitting and doing my best imitation of a cat.

Dune calmly herded me back to the table. Sparrow was sighing.

“I should have gone with Sky.”

“Nah! Little Miss-Sunshine? Tell everyone you had the best time ever, and we’ll buy you candy.”

She pursed her lips thoughtfully.

“Hmm. It’s better than hanging around her whenever Zane gets close.”

“What?” Dune and I said simultaneously. (We’re just that good)

“Ugh. It’s bad enough being around all of you lot. I hope I never fall in love, or like guys, or whatever.”

Dune raised an eyebrow.

“Come on! You know. It’s like how Adriane is always happier when she’s around you.”

Dune looked at me. I looked at him.

“What? Too much emotion. It has a bad aftertaste.”

We could tell she was getting uncomfortable, so we let the subject drop. But something certainly wasn’t right. Whenever anyone’s happy, or angry, I’m certainly not tasting anything besides my cherry Kool-Aid, and that telephone pole I licked on the way over.

A while later, I go back to the bathroom, thinking. Either Sparrow’s a lot more perspective than we give her credit for, or something weird is happening with her, too.

I didn’t have to go or anything, but I checked myself out in the mirror, smoothing down my hair, etc. The mirror reflects the back wall, slightly distorted. Something red and foggy smearing the tile makes me lift my hands out of the sink and turn around.

ADRIANE

The letters are vicious, thick and dripping. It isn’t blood, but its thick - oil thick - and crimson, bleeding into the cracks. Okay. How did I not notice that?

I have to kick the trashcan out of the way to see what else is written.

WHITE CROW’S CROSSING

Well. Looks like I have some place to be.

Spriiiiiiiiing Breaaaaak~Sky

(Continued from road trip part 2)

I looked at my smoldering car. The front was completely smashed in. There were specks of red mixed in with the bent metal. We had all backed away quickly. Once Zane had recovered and peeled himself off the windshield. We had been afraid it would explode. It hadn't.

I stood grumpily watching Zane as he spun around in contineous circles looking up at the sky, smiling then glaring back down at the ground. I was seething with anger at my loss. I really did love my car. It was my baby.

Slowly I climbed into the vehicle containing the other members of our family. Zane laughed as he entered as if this was all some joke. Some sick joke. A-drain was laughing to, she seemed happy to know that something I had cherished had left me in a heap of broken metal.

Azul was still shock up after the whole thing. Making her impossible to look at. She hated feeling vulnrable. Ravan had a huge wet spot on his pants from where he had accidently urinated on the backseat of my car...guess it doesn't matter now.

Slowly we continued back onto our trip.

"Why are we goin to Utah anyway?" Dune asked looking at an exit sign with longing.

"Uhm. It had pretty rocks?" Sparrow answered while actaully pondering this matter herself.

"Screw it, lets just exit here," A-drain said as Dune carefully took the exit.



NOW!!!!!!!!!!! SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIING BREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK

Once we entered the town we saw a group of teenagers huddled around the beaches sand. A huge bonfire was burning like a flame of excitement.

"Barnfire?"Ravan asked stupidly.

"Do you see any barns around here. We're not in Kansas for Godsake's," Azul replied then added "Isn't it like Spring Break around here?"

"YEAH!!!" I said opening the car door and jumping out on the run.

The group of teenagers was quick to allow me into thier huddled group. In about ten minutes I had a beer in my hand and was dancing to music with an assortment of differant people. Zane was enjoying himself to. A crowd of hot guys surrounded him and chanted stupidly as he downed drink after drink. On about his twelfth drink I watched with horror as he took off his shirt followed by his pants and ran down the street completely nude.

"DUDE!!!!!!! He's streaking! Yeah. You go man. You go! Woooooot!" a person from the crowd said while laughing and spilling a budlight all over his white shirt.

I watched him run down the street straight into the police station. He actaully bumped into a cop chomping on his doughnut. He was laughing to. Taking pictures of the kid who was gonna have a huge headache tomorrow.

"Crap," I muttered picking his clothes up off the ground and stumbling after him. Everyone else from our group was right behind me.

Once we reached the station Zane was talking to the police who was questioning him while suppressing laughter.

"Whats your name son?"

"Zaaaaaaaaaaaanneeee. Uh. Uhm. AM i s'posed to remember myyyyyyyyy laaaaast naaaaame. Cauuuuse its a totaaaal blaank."

"You from around here?"

"Naw. I'm froooooom Llamaville. Its a small island off of Spain. You should visit some time,"

Thats when he saw us and began running again. Straight out of the station and right into my arms. Man was that awkward. Very very awkward...we all ran into our vehicle from there and sped out of town. From the distance we could hear the chanting of the teens we'd just hung out with. They were still laughing and having a good time....

Car Trip~Sky part ll

The pavement was starting to be littered with potholes as we continued our journey to a safer spot. After blowing the church up we decided a new state might be nice. Like Utah. Actually we only decided that state because we saw a uhaul and they kinda sounded a like. No one but me voted for Nebraska. I was very sad about that. Apperantly Children IN the Corn is to scary for them city folk.

"Sky?" Ravan asked grumpily in the back seat, he had gobbled down the hambuger we had stolen at the last Mikey D's. The milkshake was splattered across my backseat in little droplets of fake milk.

"What?" I grumbled. Annoyed that he had managed to trash my car on only the second day of the road trip.

"I gotta pee,"he complained. Crossing and uncrossing his legs to prove his point. Azul glared at him. She was probally sitting on a blob of chocolate milkshake thanks to him.

"Sky!" he yelped. This time much more panicked.

Zane laughed, as if this was all a huge joke. Then he carefully unrolled his passenger side window. I watched his muscular body as he heaved himself through the window. The next then I knew he was on top of the car, pretending to surf on a state highway.

"GET DOWN!"I yelled not quite seeing him, but noticing the reactions of the other vehicles as they drove bye. I was sure the wind had carried my voice away. No one responded as I thought of ways to fix this problem.

I was so panicked by all the comotion going on in the car that I never even noticed as the road curved to the left. I continued to step on the gas. I slammed right into a brick wall. The air bags punched my face. Azul was gasping as if she had choked on air.

"Sky?" Ravan asked, this time sounding ashamed.

"WHAT!?!?" I snapped. ALready climbing out of the car. Tryin to hold back the tears about my damaged joy.

"I peed my pants," he said. I balled up my fingures into fists but decided better of it. Ravan looked more ashamed then I had ever seen him.

"We'll buy you some diapers," I announced while running towards my stupid boyfriend. He was laying limp on the car windshield.

"Zane? You okay?" I asked bending down in front of him.

He loooked up at me with wonder. Then asked in a dreamy voice, "Isss it normal to see so many preeeetty looking staaars? Your preeeeetty," he sounded as if he had just smoked a bag of weed. Yet I knew he wasn't on drugs.

"You wrecked my car,"I said, kissing him gently on the lips. He smiled and muttered something about a purple llama.

"I loooooooove you, Sky. Your my u-p. Up. Whenever I look at the Sky it reminds me of you," with that he closed his eyes.

Unexpected ~ (Adriane)

I TRIED to take the twins shopping today, but Raven kept complaining, so I broke down and bought him a bag of skittles. My nerves started to twitch when he kept dropping them around the store.

The entire time I was listening to, “CLICK!” as one skittered to the ground, followed by a happy crunching sound as he scooped it up and ate it. I couldn’t help but cringe.

“CLUNK!” Munch, munch, munch.
“Don’t you know there’s germs all over those?” I snapped, shuddering.
“Yeah,” he said, somewhat thoughtfully. “But you can’t really taste ‘em.”

I dropped them back off at the house, where Zane was sitting on the porch, looking blearily at the clouds. (pigeon counting?)

I sighed oh-so dramatically and flung myself down on the front steps, rubbing the headache out of my temples. He was downing a beer, so I frowned at it.
“Rough day?” he yawned, sympathetically.

Sparrow padded up before I could answer. “Adriane?” she interrupted. “Have you seen my gloves? They’re pink and, well, shaped like my hand.”

Zane exploded into laughter, spewing beer across the grass.
“See what you get for drinking?” I scold with a polar-bear glare.
He looked genuinely surprised. “I’m not drinking,” he said seriously.

He looked down at the beer in his hand, stunned. “Oh. I - …,” he stood up, suddenly, frowning. He went into the house, annoyed, slamming the door behind him.
Sparrow and I watched him go.
“Well,” she said airily. “That was odd.”
Dune picked me up an hour later. I clambered into the passenger seat, sneezing.
“Where are we going?” I wondered as he started off down the road.
“Field trip.”
“Art Museum or Twinkie factory?”
“Better.”
“Better than dead guy’s furniture and processed pastries?”

He parked the car on the curb, leaping out. The place was alive and roiling with people and pigeons, store windows and bicycles.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the sidewalk, muttering and lifting his cellphone high above his head.
He was pointing it towards a church tower, the old kind with a bell.
“There’s a signal coming from there.”
“What? How? Why? Should I care? Is that a squirrel?”
“Ignore the furry mammal,” he said, looking distracted. He pulled off down the street at a lope, still staring at the cellphone, almost running into a parking meter. I had to jog to keep up with him.

And very suddenly, he turned to an apartment and whipped open the door, charging down the hall.
“What are you doing?”
He gave a half-smile. “Adriane, Adriane, Adriane. You would make a horrible detective. Think about it. There’s a signal, coming from the clock tower. That gay kid you had a crush on in Eden programmed my phone to pick up…what?”
“He was not gay! And I did not have a crush on him! I said he had nice abs.” But then it hit me, like that time Sky threw a cantaloupe at my head.

“He made it so your phone…. Would look for Eden technology," I said slowly, the cogs turning in my brain. “It’s a tracker! It’s searching for us!”
“And there’s hope for you yet,” he announced, stepping, unconcerned, into someone else’s apartment. People should really lock their doors.
There was some guy sitting on his bed, with a laptop open. “HEY!” He yelped, leaping off the bed, waving his arms like some dude in a commercial for adult diapers.

“Good afternoon!” Dune said cheerfully. He grabbed a glass of water off of the nightstand; jerked the cup behind him so the water flew out, then took the empty glass and yanked the laptop from the guy’s hands.
“WHAT?!” the guy howled.
Dune took a seat and stared at the screen. “Goodness, Jeff!” he cried, studying the open webpage. “Get a girlfriend!”

I leaned over Dune’s shoulder as he started to pound furiously on the keys.
“I’m not Jeff,” the kid gaped. “I’m Mark.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Dune said, waving his hand dismissively. He pounded some more on the keys, before bringing up a few pages on the church tower.

Dune tried to take a drink of water, realized the cup was empty, looked down on it in annoyance, then threw the entire cup behind him. The guy ducked as it went soaring over his head, before shattering into a nearby wall.

“Ah,” Dune purred. “Get this - it has a room at the top of the clock tower, where they keep the bell. Apparently, it is ‘not open to the public, due to private property right something-something,’ yeah.”
He leaped off of the bed, excited, and yanked a piece of paper off of a writing desk in the corner.
“Cut this,” he demanded, shoving it in my face.
“What width?”
He looked at me, confused. “Scissors?”

I laughed lightly, rolling my eyes. He flipped open his cellphone and held it to my ear.
“Call everyone. Right now. Tell them to bring the usual - fireworks, powder bombs, rope, bags of flour, walkie-talkies, wind-up toy mice, and snacks.”
Mark was starting to look a little green.
“The church isn’t open today,” I pointed out, rather helpfully.
Dune looked at me as if I was stupid.
“Oh,” I realized, a metaphorical light bulb lighting above my head. “I’ll tell them to bring the spray paint, too, then.”

My graffiti artistic skills are brilliant. I even have my own logo. Do YOU have your own logo? Ha. As if!
“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” the guy looked seriously enraged; more like an advertising rhinoceros. However, I didn’t think rhinos needed adult diapers. Maybe indigestion pills? He did look pretty red in the face.
“Saving the world, Jeff. Saving the world,” Dune winked.
“My. Name. Is. MARK!”

Whatever yah say, kid. And delete your history, why don’t you?

Car rides~Sky

"I know a song that gets on everybodies nerves, everybody nerves,"

"SHUT UP!!!" I screamed at Ravan. He had been singing that song for the last hour and his voice was nothing better then a high pitched sqeal that resembled fingure nails on a chalkboard.

"Imma be, imma be immma imma be. Imma be. Imma be. imma be..." he continued.

"You'll a be dead if you dont shut up," Azul snapped. She was trying to paint her fingure nails in the backseat of my car. I glared into the mirror as I kept an eye on her hot pink nail polish and the curving road.

It would have been crowded if A-drain, Dune, and Sparrow had drove to our new destination with us. Instead we had decided to split up. Dune had found an old car at a dump. Its engine still worked. In my opoinion it was a piece of crap but he had demanded to keep the stupid thing.

"You look agitated," Zane stated. His voice mellow.

"Are we there yet?" Ravan asked impatiently.

"Zane. Im gonna lose my mind before this trip is over," I replied grumpily. He chuckled, and put his ear phones back in his ear. Blocking out all the annoying noise.

"Huh, are we there yet?" Ravan asked again. More impatiently. Azul slapped him. Then moaned as her perfect nails color rubbed against his cheek. She hit him again just for what his face did to her hand. I banged my head against the steering wheel.

"Are we there yet?"

"NO WE ARE NOT THERE! And you will never get there if you don't shut the f--- up." I yelled. For a whole five minutes the car was silent. Then they continued to talk.


The end....

Lurking Things~Sky

I saw her again today. She had tried to blend in with her wooded surroundings but failed. I could see her face through the twigs, still striped from winters harsh conditions. From where I stood I could make out the hatred radiating off of her face. A face that should be scarred with burn marks but instead remained flawless, as if no flames had ever danced on the skin.

I was tempted to approach her. Call her name and see if this mysterious person really was the Jade I had known on Eden. Yet something about the harsh expression on her face told me that it was.

"Jade,"I called into the trees. The figure did not move. She stood like a statue, frozen in the grasps of times angry finguretips. "Jade, is that you?"I questioned. No answer. Just the same angry glaring face. The eyes didn't blink as I meet thier glance.

Slowly I walked closer. Carving away at the space between us. Making the distance just alittle bit smaller. She remained where she was. Dead leaves left over from fall rustled on the ground. Like a snake, warning the victum before the bite. Jade was back for revenge. Not friendship.

"Sky!!!!!!!!!!!!!"I heard Zane call in the distance. Coming over to me holding his skateboard in one hand and an egg in the other. I glanced at him for just a second. Then I looked back to where Jade had been standing. But she was gone. As if she had left with the wind that was now picking up.

"Look,"Zane said, holding out the egg with pride. I glanced at it for a moment. Frustrated.

"Do you want scrambled eggs or something?" I asked. Walking towards him slowly. He rolled his eyes. Azul rounded up from behind him. When she approached me, Zane walked away mummbling about an ostrich. Perhaps thats what the egg had been. Yet my mind didn't feel like processing anything other then seeing Jade. He had left the skateboard next to us on the grass.

Azul walked up to me, until she was merely inches away. Then she stopped abruptly. I could smell pepperming gum in her breath. Her jaw moved up and down as she chewed on it. "I saw a photo of me in your wallet. You know the one you stole from the guy with the convertable?" anger seeped into her face as she spoke. I was afraid she was gonna punch me, yet she kept her hands to herself as she continued speaking. "A photo of ME!"She repeated. Pausing then coming just alittle closer, half an inch at most. "You stopped him from finding me."

Once she said that she slapped me on the cheek and walked away. Tears streaming down her face and landing on the tip of her lime green flats. She left me standing all by myself. Walking towards where Jade was now watching us...

Every Day Screws Itself Up ~ (Adriane)

"To put your life in danger from time to time... breeds a saneness in dealing with day-to-day trivialities." -- Nevil Shute.

Apparently, Dune can sing. We heard 'Follow Me Down' from the new Alice and Wonderland soundtrack (what is up with that movie? it's like, stalking us) and apparently he can play the lead singer like, scarily well. My voice doesn't really match the girl in the background, but we worked out with it a bit so I didn't sound too much like an injured prairie dog. And you know that song, Good Girls Go Bad? By like, Cobra Starship? (Cobra Starship. What is that? An interstellar snake? What is that?) He can sing like that guy, too.

So, when he finished his hit-singles, I got to step up and sing as many Avril Lavigne songs as I knew (not all at the same time, obviously...) from Nobody's Home to Don't Tell Me to The Best Damn Thing.

Most people were in a hurry to get to, well, wherever, but we got a lot of smiles. Some people clapped, threw coins in the guitar case (like in the movies!) and a couple children dragged heavily-shopping-bag-loaded parents over to listen for a minute.

I'm kind of obsessed with music, so it was pretty much the coolest thing ever. All of those people in the shopping district, a swirl of colors and shapes and sizes and voices, and just us playing guitar surrounded by a bunch of aggressive pigeons who were trying to pull the sandwhich out of Dune's backpack. Dune thought he'd be clever and hold it on his lap so they wouldn't come near, but a squirrel eventually snagged it right out of his hands. Devious city animals, they are.

Well, apparently you need a permit to play music on a sidewalk like that, but no one bothered us. I thought eventually we'd get busted, but we were okay. I don't think anyone thought of us as a pair of heinous teenage criminals. (But we looked pretty snazzy.) BUT. All the weird stuff sort of started when I was thirsty, so I put down my guitar and ended up sneezing and trying to talk at the same time, so it came out as more of a, "Hungry! I mean, I am. Hungry."

"Talk like Yoda, do I so." Dune snickered.

"Pfft. You only wish you were that cool." I rose from my seat and said I'd be back in a moment, taking off down the road. There were some little vendors set up on the street, so I bought a soda and sat down on a bench for a minute, downing it in like, five seconds flat. Then some older guy sat down next to me, breathing heavy like he was about to give birth to a fifty-pound watermelon. He was talking nervously on his cellphone in like, Chinese or Spanish or Costa-Rican or Finlandish. Or English.

I stared at him for a minute, then announced, "Eww. There's something coming out of your ear!"

That got rid of him real fast.

So I enjoyed my Mountain Dew in silence; then stood up and started heading back, hoping Dune hadn't pissed someone off and gotten mugged. You know how in the movies, sketchy stuff always happens in dark alleys? Well, there weren't any dark alleys here. But there was a grimy street wedged between an office building and some high-rise apartments.

I came around the corner, humming some nameless song to myself - it was getting dark now - when I saw a guy, a flash of him - pinned against a wall. I did a complete double-take. The first guy was stuttering skittishly; I couldn't blame him. Another man had him by the throat, the muzzle of a gun pressed to the bottom of his chin.

He pulled the trigger.

There was a bang - not a rattling, throaty gunshot - it must have had some sort of sound suppresser on it. The gut-wrenching noise - that came a few milliseconds after; that was the sickening snick as his head exploded, the splatter as blood and brains pasted the wall.

The body fell - silently, like a tree falls - and folded to the stone, skin sliding delicately off a partially-exposed skull.

The man raised his head; saw me. He smiled. A wild, bloody, pointy-toothed grin. He raised his gun and fired.

If I had not moved a few seconds earlier, I would have been hit. His aim had been sure and would have struck me in the heart. But something was different. Something had changed.

In a single, blinding, instant. Light. It exploded in my eyes, slithered through my bones, fired through my veins and bloomed like a brilliant fire. Like passion and fury, it screamed and burrowed into my head, until everything slowed - everything was painfully clear, painfully easy. The man smelled hot, like adrenaline and ice. Like bone and blood and sweat.

He was inferior! Ridiculous! Standing there, such a tiny, tiny, soft shadow. Defenceless. Slow. Weak. My own arrogance struck me, the power I felt, the storm beating in my heart, the eager, sure-footed way that I bolted across the ground, the way I flew like a wild fire. I could feel and taste the panic that squealed in his eyes, could hear his scream cholking in his throat, could feel the blood pusling and throbbing and flooding beneath my hands.

BANG BANG! He fired, somewhere, but it felt far away. Like something happening to someone in a movie. Only a vague concern. What did he think he was going to do? Shoot me? Ha!

Someone must have whacked me with a cattle prodder; poured water over me and electrocuted my skin. Like someone had opened my eyes and my ears and my nose, flooded my senses with an overwhelming, powerful, exhilerating ocean....and then it was gone. I smelt the blood in my mouth; tasted it. The sun had set, leaving the sky the color of pennies and rose petals.

The man with the gun was on the ground, bleeding. Presumed dead. I did not look at home closely to see his injuries, but turned and ran.

He shot himself, I said. He shot himself with his own gun. I was shaking; something about post-accident shock. He was trying to shoot me, I say. He misfired and hit himself. It killed him. That's all.

I pause on the sidewalk - and look back - just for a second. There is sound from a nearby street, probably someone curious from the noise. And there, in the blood and the dirt, are a set of perfect, wide, pawprints.

I was walking through the city park. Gazing idly at all the flowers, still dead from the Winters fury. My mood was very shaky. I was angry that A-drain came back. I had been perfectly happy without her. I know that sounds awful but I felt more of a sense of relief. Not seeing her ugle face. Slutty eyeliner. Whore-able outfits and all. But nope she just HAD to stumble back to us. HAD TO...

Now all she does is sit there and mope, while making it very clear she wants a glass of coolaid. VERY CLEAR. LITERALLY. She robbed a convient store! Ghetto drink. But you gotta love that stuff. You can buy a packet and make a whole container of it for 99 cents. Yummy. Anyway....

Sooooooo i was walking through the park and I could have swore i saw a ninja. So i chased after him trying to get an autograph. Turns out his mom died and he was dressed in all black for her funeral. Oops.

Thouroughly dissopointed by that I ambled farther down the sidewalk. Glancing every now and then to make sure the man really wasn't a ninja in disguise. To keep my thoughts from wondering I absentminded started saying the abcs in my mind.

A,b,c,d,e,f,g...thats when another black figure caught my eye. She sat on a bench. A silver knife in her right hand. She was idly brushing it against her skin. Gently as if she was stroking a kitten. Her face held no emotion. I watched as blood trickled down her arm, but I could not see the cut that was producing them. I began to walk closer and thats when I reconized her. She resembled a girl I had seen on Eden. Except then her clothes had been alot lighter and her hair had been a honey blonde. Now it ws coal black and matched her jet black clothing choice.

Before I could approach her she left. Walking away quickly. Out of my view and into a croud of people. Jade. That had been her name. I had seen her from time to time. She had hated A-drain as much as me. I hoped desperately i would see her again. Be able to talk to her.

Then i decided to get some icecream and walked back to our new hideaway.

Blood & Monsters (Part Two) ~ Adriane

The wolf and the rabbit,
The fire,
The flood,
The nightmare inside her,
The monster; the blood,
The wolf, the wolf,
Dire and black,
Lock all your windows,
The hunter is back….
The rabbit, the rabbit,
Roguish and brave,
But a predator‘s lurking,
And guess who’s the prey?

I miss them.

Actually, that kind of surprises me. I mean, most days I want to stuff them all in a shoebox and ring some guy’s doorbell and drop them off on his front step. Then run away. (Far. FAR away.)

But I guess you never miss them until they’re gone and all that crap or whatever.

I even kind of miss Sky.

Even though she’s a crack head. Even though she’s a crack head who wears too much makeup. Even though she’s a crack head who wears too much makeup and often looks like a dead raccoon. Even though she’s a crack head who wears too much makeup and often looks like a dead raccoon and sometimes smells like one, too. Even though she’s a - oh, shut-up. Who am I kidding?! I feel fifty pounds lighter!

Well, actually, that would make me feel really dead…but you know. I feel like I can fly. And stuff. Like, I don’t have to worry about where she is. And stuff. So…yeah.

But I miss Dune. And Zane. And the twins.. And Azul. Even though she gnaws on her fingernails and then spits them out clear across the room with no regard whatsoever to who she’s aiming at.

It's funny losing them, though. Well, okay. Not ha-ha, Sky-just-woke-up-in-a-coma-funny. But weird-funny. If that makes sense.

I am alone. When did that happen?

My eyes are clouded; the air is thick. I feel like I’ve been buried alive. ‘You’re sleeping,’ someone says. No. Can’t be. You dream while you’re sleeping.

Yooooohoo, sleeping-girl? Are you awake?

Blah. I don't even know if I'm dead.

Yooohooo, crying-girl? Wake up! You've got to wake up.

I'm not crying. Am I?

Listen to me...

My eyes fly open.

In the dark they gleam; my pupil narrows to ebony fleck. I am majorly pissed.

I'm lying across a seat, my arms folded beneath my head. I don't sit up right away, but breath slowly - rhythmically - in the darkness. I can see my breath curling like smoke in the shadows.

Stupidly enough, the door is unlocked.

I pull out of the car, squinting in the sunlight.

The sky’s a bloody smear.

Red and orange and indigo round the clouds and streak the sky like broken chalk.
The car’s pulled over crooked in the breakdown lane; someone left the engine running. The highway rumbles like thunder and I wobble a bit from the drugs.

Car after car rockets by, the wind and the whoosh and the roar sounds like a railroad station. The air is clear and sharp, but exhaust ghosts across the ground; a truck honks in the distance.

There’s a strip of grass by the car; trees and brush growing between the lanes soaks in the sunlight. It spills over their branches, casting shadows at my feet. Drake is standing a ways away, shielding his eyes from the glare. There’s two other guys beside him. Both of them are talking quietly and staring at the sky. I feel like I can bolt down the highway and they won’t even notice. Or care. But knowing me, I’d probably get squashed by a tractor trailer or something.

I limp/saunter over to them, furious.

“Stargazing?” I snarl sarcastically.

He sees me out of the corner of his eye, but doesn’t look over, or move. Or do much of anything. They're still chatting.

So I stand there, tapping my foot on the ground, so mad I’m almost frothing at the mouth. And they just keep talking! Lalalaa. Lalala. Hello? Lalala. Done yet? No? Lalaa. UGH!

So I take the last few steps forward, spitting, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

And he STILL doesn’t do anything. Just completely ignoring me. “Dude,” I growl. “I’m talking to you.”
No reaction. I reach over and grab his arm as if I’m about to hit him. This triggers a response.

In the time it takes me to blink, there is suddenly a sickening CRACSNPAK!.

That would be my arm. Ow.

He twists around so fast my eyes can't follow the movement - a swift, but accurate strike like a leopard lunging from the underbrush. The storm settles and I look down, blinding pain firing in my arm. It's twisted around backward, his fingers curled around my wrist like the fangs of an adder sunk into the skin. His face is suddenly inches from mine.

"Yesss?" he hisses softly.

Our faces are inches apart. I want to shrink from his gaze but I will not let the fear conquer me. I glare back; eyes heavy with hatred.

"What do you think you're doing?" I repeat.

Looking faintly amused, he released my wrist and pushed me roughly away, smirking lightly. "Kidnapping you," he admitted calmly, turning back towards the sky.
(Well, duh.)
"Impatient little thing, aren't you?" he added, as more of an after-thought.

I opened my mouth to say something snarky, (isn't that a cool word? it reminds me of an elephant.) when he reached into his pocket and tossed me a box of jelly beans. I snagged it out of the air in utter disbelief. What?

BUT OH MY GOD. I was so hungry and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like jelly beans. I sniff them suspciously.

They were still staring at the sky. "That cloud looks like a bunny," I add helpfully, pointing towards the vague direction they are staring in.

One of the other guys sighed. "Why are you so annoying?"

"Why does your mother still dress you?" I snapped back.

His face started to look a bit purple. Drake snorted.

And that's when things started to get strange. My head began to pound even faster - my blood began to beat beneath my skin, like the sway of an ocean tide. The world became fuzzy and soft, colors swimming and fading beneath my gaze. I reached out to grab something as if to catch my balance, but I couldn't think....I...everything felt so...far away. I began to fall, vaguely aware of Drake catching me...vaguely aware of...

"She's going out..."

A russet-colored cat let out an excited squeal, drinking daintily from a tea cup. "Ooohooh!" said Sky eagerly. The garden was sparkling with tea lights, a ten-layer cake balancing precariously in the center of the tablecloth. Azul as usually, was stuffing her face. Zane and Dune had kicked up their feet and were resting them on the table, while the twins licked frosting from their fingers.

"What are you doing here?" scolded Sparrow. "You can't be here. Look at the sign - ," she says, pointing. "You can't show up without a friend."

"And where's your hat?" added Zane. "Everyone has to wear a hat!"

It was true. Everyone was, even the little brown cat had a baseball cap dripping over his ears. "Oh, ssssh!" the cat hissed. "Don't be rude. It's not her fault she hasn't got anybody."

What is going on? "I need to go," I manage to say. "Why?" laughed Sky. "You can't get out of here. You can't do anything right. Nothing to do but sit here and eat cake."

Raven sprinkled some salt into his tea; the cat giggled madly.

Maybe they're right. I head towards the garden, pushing through the bushes, until the teaparty is out of sight, but only end up right back at that stupid table. Everyone laughs at my attempts. "Do it again!" cheers Dune, clapping.

"See?" says Azul. "You're such a screw up. Pass the sugar, please."

The world fades again. There's a man standing over me, looking rather sick, kind of blue. (Hey! Get purple-faced guy back out here and we can start a rainbow!)

But this time it isn't a dream.

"She's losing a lot of blood...,"

I wake up, this time for real, on a street corner not far from the house we're staying at. It's in the middle of the night, and rain sprinkles the sidewalk. I pull myself shakily to my feet, rubbing my neck. In my wrist are a few small pricks where the noses of needles penetrated my skin. I barely have time to make it to a dumpster before I vomit a bucketfull of blood.

Drugs, I think as I sink to my knees, wiping the blood from my mouth. That's all I can think of. Drugs.

I remember almost nothing.

But what was it all for? Was it just Drake, or was the company involved, too? He did something to me. Something.

I don't know what.

But I have a horrible, horrible, feeling that I am going to find out.

Blood & Monsters ~ (Adriane)

The wolf and the rabbit,
The lion,
The doe,
The faster you run,
The farther you go,
The rabbit, the rabbit!
Stormy and spry,
Flighty of paw,
And glassy of eye.
The wolf, the wolf,
Follows her home,
Tears through her blood
And leaves nothing but bone.

Dune and I were talking.
Not about much. Not about anything important. Not about us.
Just talking.

“You feel very far away just now,” he had suddenly said. Said that - right out of the blue.
Before, we had been discussing the advantages of paper clips over staplers or something. And then suddenly - WHAM! And it hit me real hard, right in the face, because I had been thinking the same thing.

It’s like, wow. Where did that come from? Who did Dune borrow the perspective from?

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I tilted my head like a puppy raises an ear. Smiled a little bit.. Kind of sadly. “You’re pretty smart sometimes, you know that?” I told him.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh. Good. I was hoping that didn’t sound lame and sentimental.”

I laughed lightly. “Yeah. Just don’t do it too often. It’d ruin your reputation.” He feigned a miffed expression.

It - then - had been before dawn. You’d think - wow, you wake up before then? Well, no. But neither of us tend to sleep much these days.

Can’t imagine why.

The sky was lightening, yet the city had never slept. The darkness softened and the color from the shadows began to drain.

“I….don’t really know where I am right now,” I had admitted.

“Yeah. We need to get out more.” He smiled wryly.

We were perched above, near the second floor, on some old crossbeams. Like pigeons or rats. Except pigeons or rats don’t laugh nervously every time the beam shakes a bit.

I took a slow, deliberate bite of my apple; then twisted around so I was standing - like on a balance beam. (You know.) (The kind that float a few stories above the floor.)

Sunlight slid between the cracks in the roof, dappling the wood around us in watery, sallow fragments of light. I stood up straight, for a moment a shadowy silhouette, dust billowing like smoke around my jeans. I tossed the apple to Dune, who took a bite and looked thoughtfully into the distance. “You’ll be okay. We’ll all….be okay,” he said softly. Ah.

I may feel far away, but I do not feel alone.

We talked, again. But he left, after a bit. I guess he thought I might need some time to myself. I watched him go. Should’ve followed. Didn’t.

I scaled to the top of the warehouse - the windows had been blown out, the glass sprayed across the floor like ashes from a flame. Everything was rotting, everything was broken. Which means the windowsill was a perfect place for perching, and there, now five or six stories up, surrounded by broken bottles and graffiti, I watched the sunrise. I do not know how long I was there, staring at the cars rushing beneath me. I would guess an hour, although time had slowed and the world had faded to me.

Pigeons fluttered from beam to beam, their soft cooing stirring the air. The room was flushed with golden light.

Something creaked behind me.

I slid off of the windowsill, chinks in the ceiling streaming a hazy fog across the floor. I proceeded warily, not just because I was afraid that the floor would collapse beneath my feet. I chewed the rest of my apple, then threw the core aside, letting it roll and bounce into a pile of rubble. The room opened up, the eaves low and ragged, like gaping jaws and broken teeth.

I turned a corner - the air was noticeably cooler in the shadows. Stale papers blew across the floor, and the glass crunched underfoot. On one side of the open hall was a shelf, the hinges rusty. It had long been wrenched open and the bottles and contents had been strewn across the floor. I kicked one with my boot, and it rolled and listed away with a soft tinkle. Some were labeled, but most had been smashed to fragments. There were dark stains, showing where the liquid had once seeped through the floor.

I flipped a few over with my toe; tried to read the inscriptions. ROHYPNOL. SECOBARBITAL. BEMEGRIDE. ADRENALINE.
The adrenaline one was empty.

Click!

I whirled around so fast I barely had time to blink. Something sprung like a viper and grabbed my arm, pulling me close to it - breathing fast - can’t see- prick. I let out a hiss of rage as a tiny, burning, howling dot of pain slid into my neck like the stinger of a wasp.

It was him. Dune was long gone. No chance. No one with a crowbar. No one to save me. Ugh! I am so stupid! Stupid!Stupid! I was mentally banging my head into a desk.

I tried to fight, tried to move, but my head was getting foggy and the syringe…a syringe?? He had it…holding it over me, filled with clear liquid - the point of it had been pierced through the surface skin by my neck…. I hadn’t even…hadn’t even…
Terror surfaced through my veins, howling along my throat. Everything roared: RUN RUN RUN RUN. Blood screaming, my heart beating faster and faster and faster and….

And suddenly I could not feel it beating at all.

{Someone’s coming!! I’ll close the laptop now…more tomorrow! Promise!)

Corny~Sky

Zane stood in front of me his face looking rather nervous as if he had just "accidently" flushed someone's bra down the toilet...again. "What?" I snapped. He blushed looking like a tomatoe, I tried very hard not to laugh at his facial expression.

"You...uh...wanna go to the movies with me?" he stammered.

"No," I answered quickly then smilied and punched him playfully in the arm. His face relaxed. He knew me to well by know to be taken aback by my sarcasm. "Coming?" I asked walking towards the theatre. He trailed behind me like a lost puppy for awhile before he caught up and was able to stand beside me.

For a long while we walked in silence as we ambled down towards the theatre. I started watching the cracks in the cement and avoiding the tiny ant piles that lay around the broken sidewalk, each grain of sand had been carefully gathered by one tiny creature and I didn't wanna mess that up.

After a long pause of silence Zane finally started rambling again. "I want a pet ostrich," he said his voice even and very serious. I laughed to myself thinking of how much A-drain would flip if we brought one back to the abondoned house we had claimed for now.

"Do you see any ostrich farms around?" I asked him. He sighed and took my hand. It felt warm next to mine but not all sweaty and gross.

"Well then what about a...a...PANDA!" this time he was joking. I didn't bother answering because we were already downtown where the movie theatre was. It took little effort for us to sneak in through the guards. I felt like water slipping through someone's open fingures. I even managed to snag a huge container full of popcorn. I was to busy though to notice that same man as before, still wearing that yellow coat and smiling eerily into the distance.

Slowly we entered the showing room, picking a seat close to the back. There was an old man sitting directly in front of me. His shiny bold head blocking my view. I sighed with frustration as it began. The beggining of Alice In Wonderland bored me to tears and it didn't seem to get much bettter so I began people watching. Zane waited a whole half an hour before yawning and putting his arm around me. I hated that move even in the movies. It seemed like every single guy always tried it just like that. I was determined for the kiss to play out differantly though so right as he began to edge in closer I grabbed a handful of buttery popcorn and threw it right at the bald mans head. Hoping that at least alittle popcorn on his shiny skull would cause him to lean back in the chair alittle more. He didn't. I heard him mutter a curse word and seat up alittle straighter.

Giving up on the movie I leaned closer to Zane kissing him. I was satisfied that at least it didn't happen like that in most boring movies. "Wanna ditch this movie?"I wispered in his ear. It took him less then a second to stand up and off we went. Obvoius to the man in the mustard yellow jacket following us all the way back to the abondoned house. Now the creep had a reason to grin.....

Trapped~Sky (written by)

We stood on the side of the road, beside the stolen convertalbe that I had refused to ditch. Its red paint shimmering even against the dull gray sky. Rain was gushing out of the sky in sheets of falling tears. For once the water felt good against my nervous skin.

People walked past us in clusters, holding thier shopping bags alittle more tightly as they passed us. One man in a yellow rain coat stopped beside us and looked at Azul in a creepy way, curling up his lips in a smile. I was prepared to smack him without mercy if he took another step closer. Instead he pivited on his foot towards me. The smile remaining. I saw Zane reaching for the gun held in his pocket. Yet it wasn't needed because the man bent down on the ground and picked up a shining copper penny before my foot. I couldn't resist the urge to stomp on his hand. Instead of yelping he just stood up. Staring at me for a few minutes. "Good day,"he said in a sinister voice that sent a chill down my spine, and he walked away.

Zane had drapped his arm around me in a pertective way. I liked the feel of his limb against my back. Adraine and Dune stood in the corner, not touching but still fairly close. Behind us on the side of the street the twins were splashing in a puddle that had accumulated because of rain. They were laughing despite the danger that lurked ahead. I evied them as they splashed throught the piles of water, happy and somewhat clueless. Yet how could i not be happy for them? Zane turned his head towards me and whispered in his soft voice that it would be alright. I wasn't convinced, niether was he.

A huge building stood before us. It was gangly and its size made me shudder. The whole brick mass was tilted to the right like a huge tree about to fall. "Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked A-drain, she nodded her head calmly. None of us were sure what lurked inside this vast empty building but we had recieved notes demanding we meet someone in here. The threats to risky then the actaully thought of the person behind them. I wasn't sure but at the middle floor of the building I thought I saw a spark of light, almost as if the building was aflame. But of coarse that was crazy and my eyes were just playing tricks on me.

Adraine lead the way towards the structer. I gulped as she turned the knob opening the door. She slowly walked inside. Dune still close behind her. Zane let his arm fall but grabbed for my hand in exchange. Azul followed popping bubbles with her bubble gum and complaining about the dirt that caked parts of the walls. The twins just followed not saying to much about anything.

"This is sooooooooo lame," Azul said her voice annoyed. I looked back at her and rolled my eyes.

"Do you have a better idea?" Adraine snapped cursing under her breathe.

"Yup," Azul said letting a huge pink bubble pop and stick to her face in a sticky. mess. She couldn't say much else as she peeled the goo off her face.

The halls were empty and the front room looked to be an abondoned service desk. "Lets just leave," Sparrow said, her voice full of warning as if she could sense something we couldn't.

Thats when the explosion happened. Banging against the walls like a trillion guns shotting at the same time. Fire was started to smolder towards us as we began to sprint towards the exit. Yet the door we had entered in had been locked.

"SPIDER!!!" Azul screamed, jumping up and down trying to avoid it. If smoke wouldn't have been starting to enter the room I would have laughed. Azul had a tramatic fear of spiders due to an expirement that had happened to her. The scientists had used a trantala.

Zane tugged on my hand pulling me towards a window, there was nothing to break it with so I watched him use his spare elbow. The glass shattered into tiny fragments as he helped me out.

Sirens started to ring down the street as we could hear a fire department coming. By the time they approached the building we had all safely leapt into the stolen convertable and sped away from the scene...

This Sucks! ~ Adriane

Today was a total mess.

We really, really, need to stop stealing cars.

Azul found this really cute top hanging in a storefront window. And It's Azul we're talking about. And she just hadtohadto ABSOUTELY HAD TO - have it. and instead of waiting for someone to buy it for her, she went inside and everything was fine until she was about to leave and suddenly this nasaly little voice called...

"Miss? I'm going to need to go through your bag."

"Uhm. Uhm? Uhm! Why would you need to do that?" she blurted out, twisting the ring on her finger.

Raven had been outside, smooshing his nose against the glass until his breath fogged up the windowpane and...well, he looked pretty retarded. But he stiffened at the approaching danger and scurried away, leaving Azul gaping as if she was trying to swallow a bowling ball.

"I'm sorry miss," said the very clueless guy working there. "We have a strict policy here and I just want to make sure everything is okay, but I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

Azul's smile was shaking. "Oh! Oh, well yes. I can see that. Of course. But you know, you know...you really don't want to do that! YES! No. Because, you see, I have...ahm...personal things. Oh, yes! Personal things. GIRL things, in my bag here, things that you would know nothing, nothing, about. No, really. You have no idea. It would just be so awkward."

He didn't look like he was buying it. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I just have to double-check; real quick." And he leaned over to grab her bag, when she jumped back screaming, "PIGEON MITES!!"

"Uhm. What?"

"Oh, the pigeon mites! I have such horrible pigeon mites! When pigeons land on your windowsill, sometimes they shake off the mites, and they get caught up in your clothes and things and they ITCH so bad! And you don't want to come near me or you might get them too, and they can be dangerous... because....THEY MAKE YOUR DOG'S EYES BLEED!!"

"I don't have a dog."

"Oh."

There was silence. He stared at her. She looked at the floor.

"Did I say dogs?" she squeaked. "I meant children. And old people. And people with diabetes. And those kids with Up's syndrome."

"You mean Down's Syndrome?"

"Oh. Yeah."

Again, silence.

"I still need to look in your bag."

And that moment Azul howled, "OH, BUGGER!" (what?) And tossed the bag behind her and started making out with the guy.

Now let's get this straight. Azul's like, fifteen. The guy had to be maybe sixteen, or seventeen, although not very attractive. I doubt whether he had ever made out with a girl in his life. And Azul is far from ugly.

So in the mean time, Raven was following the usual "Team Plan" and trying to find a way to rescue her. Except, you know, the idea of a twelve year old boy who still likes flushing barbie dolls down the toilet and is petrified of clowns is to pretend to help an old lady unload her groceries and then jump in her running car and drive it through the store window. Well, he meant to park it outside the window. But I haven't taught him to drive yet.

Which allowed Azul to duck the raining glass, the guy jumping back and swearing and an alarm going off and the car's headlights flashing and an old lady screaming from the parking lot.... But she wasted no time, jumping into the car, spitting furiously and yuck, yuck, yucking all the way to the passenger's seat.

She still made it out of there with her stupid tank top.

I think that's ridiculous. If we're going to break the law, we should do something really cool, like vandalize the Hollywood Sign. Or, you know. Something.

Well, anyway. We changed hotels. We changed cities, actually. Still on the run. Still can't go to the police. Still too scared to fall asleep at night.

I saw him (again) on a street corner. He didn't say anything; just sort of smiled and tilted his head. I lost him for a moment in the crowd, but when the people cleared he was gone. I might have seen him disappearing, but a guy barrelled through the crowd, knocking a lady aside and almost trampling my toe to pulp. "Hey, mister!" I hollered after him. He stopped; disgruntled. "You forgot your wallet." He pushed back through the crowd like a trout swimming upstream, tie billowing in the wake. I thought of the way he had shoved that lady away. I hope he thinks about it, too. When he finds his wallet empty.

I feel like we should worry more about our morals. We'll work on it. So much else to deal with right now.

{(Alright guys. Heads-up! This post is speial. None of us are great experts on computers...I just signed up for some free blog site and hoped that people would read this. Hoped that people would believe us.

You probably don't. But still...if you are reading this, please let us know. Please comment. You don't have to say anything just be like, "'" or "hi" or whatever. We don't know what to do, we don't know where to go from here. If you know of a place we could be safe for a while.... We just don't know. We're confused and freaked out and very, very, alone.

If you're there, please say something.

We need you.)}

Adriane/ Signing out. (bye!)

Falling Even Faster ~ (written by Adriane)

I wrenched open a lower-story window; took a second to breath. It's bleak and damp, but the city is alive.

Its heartbeat swells through the concrete everytime a car rears past, the base and the rhythm of a song wild behind its skin. The air turns sour when an exhaust pipe pumps too close, but when I hit the sidewalk I take off running and don't stop.

It's beautiful. You can't see the stars here, so the city made its own. The rain and the slush muddle the moon and everything is sharp, is harsh, is vivid.

We crashed in a (paid for) hotel room last night. Thankfully Zane looks like he's over eighteen. We even got a stove and a microwave, which was cool. Not that we can cook or anything. But still.

Zane went to pop popcorn; Dune started to roast marshmallows over the oven. Nobody shows up for a meeting without snacks.

"Alright, guys. Now, who's seen something weird going on?" Dune began after everyone crashed on various soft surfaces.

Everyone raised a hand.

"I mean lately."

Everyone looked at me. I was saved from answering as Zane waltzed in hoisting a precariously balanced bowl of popcorn. "YEAH!" Azul cheered and threw herself at the bowl, submerging her face into the kernals. "That's disgusting," Dune complained. "Mfaw," Azul responded, followed by, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH MMM.

"I've never roasted a mashmallow before," Sky remarked as Zane offered her one. She speared it over a plastic fork and sat on the counter, holding it over the oven. Sparrow turned the burner on higher for her.

"Can we make s'mores?" Raven chirped hopefully. I threw a box of gramcrackers on him. It sort of hit his face and knocked him off the bed. Man, that kid is light!
"Uhm. Guys? I did something bad," Sparrow suddenly mewled pitifully.
"Already?" Dune groans.
"Well," she started to say. "I stood up - ,"

"THAT'S DISGUSTING!" I interrupted, looking genuinely ill. "Huh? Oh. Sorry. Carry on."

Sparrow blinked. "Uhm? Okay. Well, like I was saying, I stood up and- ,"
"You sicken me," I snarled. "That really is bad!"
"Adriane?"
"Yes, Zane?"
"Shut-up."
"Yes, miss."

"Well, uhm. I think I turned the oven on too high," Sparrow goes on, just as Sky starts screaming.

"IT'S ON FIRE!! IT'S ON FIRE!! WHADDO I DO?! WHADDO I DO?! HELP! HELP! OMG!"

It was in fact, on fire. But instead of blowing it out like a normal person, she leaped around the room screaming hysterically and waving the fork in the air. She waved it just a little too much, actually. It came flying off and WHUMPED! her in the face. "EIEIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Zane swore, Dune snickered, and Azul, Raven, Sparrow, and I dissolved onto the ground, laughing.
"Someone get Adriane a fire extinguisher!" Raven howled, writhing on the floor and cholking on his own laughter.
"I'll hit her with a crowbar!" Azul chimed in. It's safe to say Sky didn't think it was very funny. She spent the rest of the meeting in the bathroom with a wet tissue and a mirror. We heard furious hissing from behind the door every now and then.

"Can I light Raven on fire next?" Sparrow grinned, licking her own marshmallow off of her fingertips.

Anyway, the meeting went on. They all tried to interview me (Zane and Dune got in a long argument over who was the good cop and who was the bad one. Raven just wanted to hold the magnifying glass.) (No. I am serious. They took out a magnifying glass.)

The rest of them seemed just as stunned when I related the whole 'he wanted to give me a job-thing.'
"For what?" "An actual job?" "Where would you work?"
"Chihuahua's Incorporated?" Dune suggested. "Pickpockets United?" Azul added. The two high-fived each other.

"Chihuahua's Incorporated?" Sparrow questioned. I am just as confused. I did not know I looked like a chihuahua.

"Yeah!" Sky called from the bathroom. "Chihuahuas! Short and yappy and never shuts up and when someone looks at one they just want to squish it."
"They have bug-eyes, too," Raven added helpfully.



But the meeting moved on. We had to talk to Sky, too. No stealing cars. No getting drunk. If something else liked that happened again, they threatened to handcuff her and I together. (Which I thought was unfair. So far I've only punched a few people - otherwise I have been good. Oh, and now I say 'sorry' before I hit people. See? I am working on it.)

But we still had no answers. No solutions. But Zane pointed it out - We are alive. (Well duh, but we needed to be reminded.) Currently, we are safe. We are together. At this point, what more could we ask for?

But I am scared.

Back on Eden…. it was me. It had been me. Together we had made the decision. All of us. We had planned it, we had grown sick over it, we had known it would happen, but in the end, they all faltered. They all feel guilty, I know. They all had a part. But I was the one that ended it.

I didn’t cry, or scream, or panic. I was blank. And I think, right then and there, lighting the flare, setting our world on fire - they were afraid. Of me.

Dune’s eyes had been blazing into mine. I do not know what he felt. Anger? Disappointment? Grief? He looked like a lion watching a storm.

But I was not scared. Through all of that, I showed no fear. Maybe that is how I am taught to deal with things. Block it out.

But him? Seeing him on the subway reopened a vein. I am not sure what blood is spilling out, but I am fearful. I did not feel blank when I saw him. I felt terrified. I am not ready, I feel. But will I ever be?

Eden.

That is where we were brought. For whatever reasons we were kidnapped, that is where we ended up. That is where so many ended up. But only us seven survived. Because of us.

Because of me.

We'll tell you more. We will. Honestly. For now, I’ll go back to the hotel. I’ll pretend to sleep. But...

Can you help us? Is anyone out there?

Anyone?

Red Mustang~Sky

I woke up in the front seat of a vehicle I hadn't owned the night before. Morning light was shining through the car's dashboard hitting me square in the face. My head was pounding as if a sledge hammer had whacked my skull a few times. I felt nasaus. Empty beer bottles were scattered on the floor. Some were broken and the car reeked of it. Something told me those bottles had been full when I stole this vehicle.

No one from our group was with me. I would have liked that more if it wasn't for the throbbing in my head. My mind reeled trying to remember how I had gotten here. All I could recall was getting in a huge fight with Cruella De Vil and leaving. (stupid olive took the paint out)

For a few minutes I looked around the parking lot, glaring at all the cars. My crow bar was in the passengers seat, I really wanted to smash a few of those windows but I resisted the urge.

I grabbed the keys that were dangling on the side of the dashboard. Jamming them into the ignition. The radio started projecting an immensely annoying song. The singer continued to stutter. Someone should have taught Lady Gaga to pronounce poker a long time ago. As the voice on the radio continued rambling on singing "Pa pa poker..." My patience was being worn thin until finally I screamed "SHUT THE F-"

The car swerved alittle and I struggled to maintain control. Once I was back on my side of the road I slammed the controller changing the station and grabbing one of the remaining beers. Silently hoping that I wouldn't get pulled over.

I wasn't sure what town we were staying in, or even if I was in the right state. But I had a theory that it wasn't that far away. That I was close to where they were. Guiltily I realized I didn't nessicarly want to go back. I would prefer just to keep driving until I reached Nebraska, my homeland. That was to far away at the moment though so I toyed with the idea of not trying to find the others and joining a circus.

After a few minutes of considering that idea I sighed. I knew I needed to go back. My head was pounding more then it had before. With every tree that whooshed by I knew I'd have to pull over if it got any worse.

An exit ramp came up on the highway so I gratefully took the chance to stop and grab a bite to eat. Some old buildings soon came into view they looked to be abandoned. One was a beautiful mansion, with a light blue wrap around porch. I carefully parked near the house, slowly getting out of the car to manage a better look. The windows were plywooded shut and a no truspassing sign loomed on the door. This would be the perfect place to stay for awhile. I wrote down the street and address on my hand with a marker that had been in my pocket the night before for some reason I could not remember.

Once I was certain the number nor address would rub off I stumbled back into the car and drove on to a small cafe downtown. It looked to be the only place into to get breakfast by the amount of cars huddled outside around it. I glanced around the car I was driving for any money the other owner might had left. My luck was finally changing because not only was there some spare quarters and nickles but a whole leather wallet.

Greedily I opened it to see a huge wad of green. There was a picture of a small little brown headed girl glaring at me. She wore a sundress and was poised next to a peach tree. Her smile seemed to be fake, a glint in her eyes lead me to believe she would rather be climbing the tree then standing in front of it. That wasn't the only picture in the wallet, bit it was the only one I cared to waste my time looking at.

Quickly I took at the money and started to count it. The first few bills were ones, they were just hiding the twentys that lurked behind. But after about four twentys I started coming acrost the hundreds. All and all there was five hundred dollars in this persons wallot. This meant the owner would be frantic to find it. I decided not to stop and waste my time with some food and slammed onto the gas. Now I was in a rush to find my family again.

It didn't take to long. At the stop sign it was Dune that I almost ran into.

"What the heck?" he said as the car gently nudged him aside.

"Hey," I said a smile crossing my face.

"DUDE! You stole a red mustang. Ah man! Can I drive?"

Closer to hell ~ Adriane

My hair is no longer black and white. It's a gold blond with ashy highlights. I have a single pink streak near the front. We are also out of the hotel (thank God). Just thought I'd give you a heads-up. I think Azul suspects the blog. But we can’t stop now. We haven’t even told you who we are. We haven’t told you anything.

Well anyway, we figured out how to buy subway tickets (it's all automated - Sparrow distracted the security guards, Azul hacked into the machine) and split up into pairs, each of us ducking into a different subway car. There was nowhere to sit, so I leaned against the window, trying not to fall into some the lap of the guy whose newspaper I was reading over his shoulder.

Face after face swished and swashed behind the window, newspapers and earbuds ruffling in our wind. Out of all of those faces, there was only one I saw. Only one that made me sick.

"Raven," I said quietly as the doors slid open and people streamed onto the platform. Both the twins looked up simultaneously. Fear ignited my veins; my throat burned as if I was trying to swallow hot ashes. "Find the others. Get out of here."

I dissolved into the crowd before either could argue.

He was waiting.

"Adriane," he greeted, with a wry smile. "Let's take a walk."

Inside I wanted to balk and flee; but this rabbit was fearful. She turned and loped after the wolf, casting glance after glance behind her.
He was not the one that kidnapped me. He is not one of them. But he was involved. Very, very, closely involved. All of us have our own demons.

He were headed away from the platform, but not by far. I trailed warily after, eyes narrowed against the gloom.

Finally he stopped and pivoted; his hands buried thickly in the pockets of his pea coat. "Adriane...," he trailed. His voice ran like shallow water; cool and fluid, rasping a dark bottom. "We need to talk."

I blinked. "Yes. We do. In fact - I was just thinking about you, the other day. While at the zoo."

Vaguely by the leopard exhibit. While looking at the sick one having a seizure in the corner.

He smiled slightly, one hand behind his head. "Now, Adriane. Let's be civil? No? ...have it your way. You don't have to keep looking about; there's no one else. Just...me."
I chewed my gum louder. Sneered a bit. Didn’t say anything.

"Adriane," he said again. This annoys me. I know my own name, thanks. "I've come to offer you a job."

You've got to be kidding me.

"You and your friends are in an...undesirable position."

"Wow. I see your wheel is spinning, but the hamster looks dead," I countered.

Again, he didn't look mad. More amused than anything.
“Where do you intend to go?” he said after a moment. “Will you and your friends live like this for the rest of your lives? You will get tired. You will falter. They, however - they will not. If you tell anyone, do you think that we don't have actors ready to play distraught parents? Do you think we won't have fake records, fake stories? You are said to have ran away. Will they believe your kidnapped story? Will they take your word against ours?”

I was silent. No snappy comeback. He had voiced my own fears; the problems we have no solutions for.
“We will find a way,” I said shortly. But in truth, I was scared. I did not know where the others were - were they nearby? Had they been taken? And if he made a move, could I get away and find them?

“Hmm,” he said, nodding slightly, but obviously in disbelief. Despite the certainty in my voice, he knew I didn’t buy it either.

“I’m offering you a way out, Adriane.”

We were farther from the station, the tiles smeared with dirt; a loose candy bar wrapper flapping in the breeze.
He was steering me towards the end of the corridor - the only direction to go was either right past him, or down towards a few dingy out-of-order restrooms.

“Just you,” he breathed. I was frozen to the spot, a slow-burning storm blazing in my eyes. He reached out to brush his knuckles against my cheek.

Something metallic bled in my throat.
A snarl writhed across my face; yet I remained still. “It would be better,” he went on. I recoiled from his touch, spitting scathingly . “You would not be a prisoner…and I could offer you protection…”

His eyes were black, as if heavy with blood. They glittered like a leopard’s.

“How about never? Is never good for you?” I bayed.

“Why not?” he continued, taking a step closer. I’ve edged away so far my back is pressed against the wall. “What can you possibly do for your friends, now? One less person on the team will be a relief. It will make it easier for them to hide.”

“I’d try to explain it to you, but I don’t have any crayons with me.”

He sighed. “You don’t believe me.”

That didn't even deserve a ‘duh’ so I said nothing.

“If I was not alone, you would already be dead. Or taken. Do you think they would get this close to you and waste time talking to you?”

By then he had leaned so close I feel his breath rolling across my neck. What is wrong with me? I wondered. I was silent, strangely silent. My veins were heavy with ice; it took all of my strength to meet his eye, to stare back through him. He had a gun in his pocket. He had pulled it out somewhere along the conversation, and for a moment he ran the muzzle of it against my cheek. I let the silence settle.

“EUCK!” I spat, disgusted. My skin was burning where the gun rasped. “There’s something on your coat.”

He didn’t look down. “Shame. I like this one.”

He was still carrying the smallest of smiles. He pulled the gun away, just for a second; bemused. “If you’re thinking of - ,”

WHOOOOSOOOOOHH!!!

That moment was all I needed. A fire extinguisher was perched nearby and...well... I've used one before. Just pull the pin off, squeeze the lever and - FOOOOSHAHAH!!

It was kind of funny, but the force and the smell from the jet caused me to go reeling a few paces back. The huge, scummy froth streamed like rocket fuel; spewing him in the face. It isn’t just water, you know. It’s like cloudy chemical crap or something, and I guess it burns when it touches your skin, and literally sucks the oxygen right out of the air.

He didn’t shoot - I figured that. He didn't want to kill me, or any of us. I was enjoying myself so much I didn’t notice Sky racing up behind us, wielding a crowbar. She has a pretty good aim, come to think of it.

In a moment alarms were going off, security was rushing everywhere - Dune was wrenching the extinguisher from my grasp - Sky was having way too much fun with that crowbar - and we were gone. Through the confusion we escaped, the shouts of security fading behind us. We emerged into the sunlight, grabbed a taxi - and that is us. Vanished. Again. I wonder (rather hopefully) if we'll make the evening news.

I hate the subway - did I mention? Something about being underground. Makes you feel closer to hell.

My Burn Marks~Sky

I stood at the entrance to a busy cafe. Watching the custermers delicately sip on thier beverages as I stood outside in the evenings cruel air. Snow was starting to spew out from the sky, flaking my hair with the sparkiling crystal white beauty.

I was envious of the ones in there. They had a family, a life. Those careless people in there didn't have to worry about the things I did. I watched from the fogging window as they smiled and laughed with each other. I was just a stranger in the distance. The people in there didn't see me as any more then a person off the street. Perhaps this was good, considering the circumstances.

I was here to meet someone. To accept something I didn't think I had the courage to. I was here to meet someone. Someone I didn't yet know. I knew very little about the stranger I was looking for.

The others would have freaked if they knew I had been stupuid enough to leave our hiding by myself to meet a complete stranger. But he had promised he could help. That he could make it all stop. All I had to do was meet him, I had been talking to this man for awhile, on the phone, internet, anything but in person.

The person who gave me his number had been a very trustworthy person. Chelsea had been my very best friend. She had handed me this man's number through the scorching fires that had captured her. Her last words would ever be imprinted in my mind. "Save yourself, be the one to survive."

The very paper that I held in my hand had a black scorched mark on it from the fire. Flames from that time did more to me then burn down a building, it scorched a place in my heart I would never get back. I was marked as a murderer.

For a couple more minutes I waited outside, but the man never showed himself. I felt an arm around my shouldier. Instinctly I jumped and slammed my elbow against the stranger.

As the figure groaned and slithered to the ground I reconized it as Zane. "Oh. My. God. I'm so sorry!!!" I screeched, giving him a hand back up.

"S'okay. At least you didn't have a gun or something. Wanna get some hot cocca before we pretend we were never here?" he asked. As if he had known all along why I had come here.

I forced a smile. We walked into the cafe trying hard not to look out of place. There was only one person working behind the counter which meant that this would be easy...

Cruella De Vil~Sky

I looked over at the paint cans, sitting there all by themselves. Lonely perhaps. Everyone else was asleep and there was only dim lighting from outside projected by the moon and stars above.

I edged towards the paint cans on my tiptoes trying desperately not to make a sound. Quietly I picked up the paint brush, delicately dipping it in the eggshell colored paint and lurked towards A-drain. Her face was buried in her pillow as she muttered about Dune. Obvouisly she liked him, considering what she was whispering to the soggy pillow. Apperantly she also drooled in her sleep.

The paint brush was starting to drip droplets of paint on her. I quickly lathered it into her hair. I had painted exactly half of her head white when she sighed said a curse word in Spanish and continued in her dream.

Quietly I put the paint brush back and opened a black can. Repeating the process so she looked identicle to disney's Cruella De Vil. Satisfied, I crept back into bed and waited till morning for her reaction.

There was alot of screaming.

Trail of a Hero ~ Adriane

"I'm sooooo hungry!"

I can't help but shout, "AGAIN?!"

Sparrow blinked plaintively.

"YOU JUST ATE LIKE, SEVEN HOURS AGO!"

More blinking.
Azul was shaking her head in disgust, gesturing haplessly at the wall. When Sky tore her way out of the duct tape (which slightly resembled a hideous baby spider encrusted in snot gnawing its way out of its egg sac, by the way.), she sort of took some of the paint with her.
We're trying to paint over it.
Dune held up two different paint brushes, each with a different color lolling over the bristles of the brush, slavering drops of paint over the carpet.


"No, no," Azul tsked, exasperated. "It's amber-shift not cosmic latte."
Dune, totally unskilled in remodeling, threw a brush over his shoulder. It swished Ghost's nose on the way down, leaving her whiskers an attractive shade of Eggshell.
"I could use a cosmic latte," Zane pointed out lazily.
Raven was sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching some cable TV show for kids. Two pink cartoon elephants were making very un-elephant-like sound effects while spraying each other with water.
"Teehee!" Elephant no. 1 declared. "Teehee!" agreed elephant no. 2. A string of drool fell from Raven's open mouth.

"Paint is cool," Dune admitted while running the paint brush over Sky's duffel bag.

So only Zane, Sparrow, and I end up going out.
We go to Dunkin' Donuts.

"Hello," Zane says, giving his best I-am-totally-not-trying-to-rob-you-what-would-give-you-that-idea? grin. The teenager opposite of him glares mutely back.
"I'll have....ah...hmmm. A dozen donuts...nah, well. What about salads? No? Cake? Chocolate cake? Really? Wow. Do you sell kittens? Oh. Well, you should. I like kittens."
Zane continues pointing at random things on the menu, occasionally muttering in French. Sparrow sidles up deviously to the other cash register.

"Hello!" she says to the second cashier, holding out her hand. "I'm Harry. I'm Chinese!"

"You don't look Chinese," the man points out.

Sparrow frowns. "That's just racist."

By now I've already slipped under the counter, evaded a manager frantically wiping a grease stain off of his tie, and stuffed a plastic bag with as many donuts and bagels as I can. I stop to throw in some butter and a plastic knife.
Waiting until the coast is clear, I slide out of an emergency exit and meet the others back out in the parking lot.
Sparrow is munching on a donut. Totally miffed, I whine, "Where did you get that?"
She grins, gulping down the last of the crumbs. "He said he'd give me one if I shut up."
"She didn't," Zane adds as we head back towards the hotel.

I don't like the city - it makes me edgy. With so many people, it seems unlikely that they aren't watching us. Yeah. We're pretty paranoid like that.

I remember the ocean. It had many voices, not unlike the city. By the ocean the wind smoked the sand until the grains formed chalky ribbons against the sky, coiling and roiling across the coast. That had been so long ago. But I remembered - once, while standing there - I had felt Dune approach rather than hear him.

“That’s Jamie’s trail, you know,” he had nodded quietly at the sand. Again, it was so long ago. I'm surprised I remember it.

I had known. Jamie is a legend. But it was long ago - years back, even before I can remember. It must have driven her mad, they say, staring at the ocean.
Knowing there was a big wide world behind the water, but so very, very far away.
She jumped, one day. Right into the ocean. The water short-circuited her security bracelet, electrocuting her to death.
But she was brave. She was strong. She broke their ruels.

“We’re not going to let them get to us, you know?” Dune had said to me. I did not turn to look at him, but I agree. It must have sounded pretty pathetic, because he turned, looking to the sky, as if yelling at God.
“YOU HEAR THAT?!” he cried to the wind. His coat flowed in the breeze. “WE’RE GETTING OUT! WE‘RE DOING IT! YOU CAN NEVER STOP US!”

He turned back to me, grinning. “That felt good. Try it sometime.”
I did, later on. Lifting up my head, pretending I could see past the clouds to the stars.
“WE’LL NEVER SURRENDER! NOT EVER!" I yowled. "You fail! Epicly! HAHA! Losers!"
And we were off, flitting down by the waves, spraying sand in our wake and hollering up at the sky.
Following the trail of a hero.

Song of the Day: Me Against the World - Simple Plan