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?