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