Fearless?

Fearless? - Chapter Two

'The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time,'

 - Mark Twain

Chapter Two

Azelie unlocked the front door with difficulty, barely managing to, her teeth chattering from the freezing conditions. It was far too cold in Washington for her, and it was barely even Autumn. She slammed the heavy door shut, her insides melting at the warmth of the house. She ran over to the hallway radiator, practically hugging the hot metal as she wrapped her thin body around it, trying to extract as much heat as she possibly could from it. She had practically jogged home to get out of the cold weather, getting odd looks from her neighbours as her quick walk turned into a full sprint up the street as the house grew closer and closer.

Azelie looked around the hallway, feeling warmer and warmer with every passing second. The hallway walls were painted a neutral cream colour, with dark, varnished wood covering the floors. Different pictures filled the walls, some paintings that Ted had bought from different art exhibitions that artists had hosted in his gallery but mostly pictures of different people, some people she knew looked familiar. One caught her eye, a woman with bright red hair and an even brighter smile. She was looking lovingly to a man who was sat next to her, slightly leaning on him, their fingers intertwined. The man had brown hair, which was all messy making it look like he had just rolled out of bed. The woman was wearing a wedding dress, while the man wore a black tux, a bow tie around his neck. It was her parents at their wedding. she had heard the story almost hundred times when she was a child, Azelie wanting to hear it every night as she fell asleep. 

Her parents had run off and got hitched in Vegas - slightly drunk, her mother would add when she was telling the story. They both had sweetie rings instead of normal rings because when they arrived at Vegas, the jewellers were all shut. They had gotten married before they fell in love, getting married at the age of nineteen wasn't something her mother had planned, but by the time they finally got through all the paperwork to divorce, they had fallen in love and decided to just stay married. Her mother found out that she was pregnant with Azelie shortly after the wedding. Memories flooded her mind, memories of everything that had happened in her past and she pushed them down, putting her feelings back into the small box inside her head. She squeezed her eyes tight, trying to get rid of the images that had invaded her mind, the happy memories playing into the sad ones, each hitting Azelie like a bullet. 

Suddenly, she felt something soft rubbing her leg and her eyes opened wide to find Galileo rubbing his soft striped brown fur against her jeans. The sight of the cat pulled her out from her thoughts and a smile grew on Azelie's face as she turned around, sitting against the radiator while picking up her cat and stroking his fur on her lap, Galileo purring gently with every stroke. Her heart beat fell from its erratic beating and back down to its normal rate as she relaxed more and more. 

Eventually she stood up once again taking a deep breath as setting the cat free to roam around the house. Azelie picked up her school bag, followed by her walking up the stairs to her room, making a note in her head to avoid looking at any more of the photographs on the wall. She walked along the hallway on the second floor of the house, walking past her uncle's room and the bathroom until she got to her bedroom, instantly opening the door and throwing her bag to the side. 

Azelie had spent most of the summer decorating her room and working at the art gallery. She had painted one wall a light colour of sky blue, while the rest were painted a crisp white. There was a double bed sitting underneath a window which looked out on to the back garden which lead to a huge forest. A large oak tree grew to the side of her window, blocking most of  her view. Books and records were scattered around the floor of her room, piled up on shelves with clothes scattered all over the floor. The room was a mess, just the way Azelie liked it.