Sinners | ✔

Chapter 13 : Golden Gore

Willow

The woods are cast in a golden hue as the sun light glints off of every surface. The October air kisses my face, sending a cascade of leaves swirling around me.

I find myself lifting my arms above my head, analyzing the wind as it whistles through my cold fingers. Nowadays, everything is one kind of cold or another.

A throat clears, I turn to find Ace watching me explore our heightened senses first hand.

Ace

Willow all but twirls through the leaf sprinkled air. Not a hint of an expression decorates her face, it's a Willow thing.

Looking at her now, she's glowing. Although her amber skin is now a dull milky marble, it stands out against her dark waves along with this season's colors.

Moments like these are what often fuel me the most. The moments where you find yourself suspended in a moment of such simplicity, its beautiful.

That's what subjecting yourself to Willow brings, until she starts talking of course. Pulling myself out of what can only be a happy haze, I clear my throat.

Turning to face me, it's as if she too remembers why we are here, what got us here.

Willow

The moment dissipates as does my almost decent mood.

Queen keeper sent us out using the buddy system. I expected nothing less of her. Yet I was surprised when she paired Ace and I together.

Surely she couldn't possibly know about the night in the woods, could she? Not letting anything else deter us from today's task, I take hold of Ace's sleeve and drag him along the well worn trail.

Drifting off the beaten path, I guide us toward a small clearing. The clearing where it all went down so very long ago.

Ace

Standing there in the place where it all happened, I mentally travel back to that night.

The sizzling crackle of rage works it's way up my spine and through my veins. Buring everything in its wake.

Again today, they tore her appart with their words. She took every word of it with the emotion of a brick wall.

Every time I close my eyes I see her, the girl in the back of the class.

Eyes open: The evening sun setting below the trees.

Eyes closed: Her fists clutching the folds of one of her many skirts.

Eyes opened: A small approaching clearing peppered with colored tents and plastic coolers.

Eyes closed: My red knuckles as they connect with skin again and again.

Eyes opened: Blurry faces now coming into focused, familiar faces.