Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

II; ii. superman iii

chapter two
superman iii

      THE SOUND OF rubber bike wheels slapping the concrete took over Raven's ears, the noises of the car engines and the whispering gossip voice of the people — she can hear it all from afar. But she only focused on one sound, the sound of Robin's silly rambling about this girl she came across with just the other day, she's been talking about this for the past seventy two hours, describing the girl with every detail she can remember, going from the color of her hair to the emotions behind her eyes, the older girl glowing with happiness and something else.

     ". . . She looked pretty, really pretty, the kind of pretty you'd never get tired of. And her voice — Oh, my god, her voice. It was really soothing, soft, it's like she's singing me a lullaby." She looked giddy, shaky at the seat of her bike. "She went to the shop, bought a mint chocolate ice cream, and then told me 'Uniform looks great, by the way.' and I swear to you that that made me feel less stupid in this silly" — she looked down at her clothes, gesturing to it with a scowl on her face — "thing, whatever the hell this is. She made my heart feel like it's gonna stop, my stomach doing this cute little flips, she makes me feel thing I've never felt before."

     The two of them parked their bikes in the rack, now walking side by side and entering the mall. The coolness of the air-condition took over her, her body automatically taking comfort with the sudden change of temperature. "Have you seen her after that?"

     "Yeah! I saw her last night after my shift ended." Robin looked dreamily at the glass ceiling, entering inside the world of her own, probably seeing the girl in her mind's eye. "I waved at her, she smiled at me, and it wasn't just a smile . . . it was a genuine one."

     "That's amazing!" Raven smiled, dodging a few people that came to her way, finally standing by the moving escalator. "What's her name again?"

     Robin fell into a quiet thought, looking up, trying to remember, and that's when her face fell. "I don't think I got to ask her name."

     "Oh." Raven wrapped her arms around Robin's shoulder as they went down the escalator, the motion being done with ease for she grew two inches taller than Robin. Usually, she'd have her fun, taunting about her being taller despite being the youngest, but Robin doesn't seem to be in the mood for this kind of things, she chose to comfort her instead, "Well, you mentioned her being your regular costumer, comes in every—"

     "—Day, at 1:55 in the afternoon," Robin continued.

     "Yes. Now, you can ask her name later. It's not like you'll never see her again."

     The two now stood in the middle of the mall where they were supposed to part. Robin gave her sister a side hug, stopping by the water fountains. "I don't think I can do that."

     "Oh, come on." Raven faced the elder Buckley, holding Robin on the shoulders, just soft enough to tell her that she can do it. "You're just gonna ask for her name, it's not like you're going to take her hand for marriage. Look—"

     "It's not that easy," Robin groaned.

     "You're just gonna say 'Hey, what's your name?' It's just three words — four if you count the hey."

     "I can't do it, because— I don't know . . . Whenever she's around, my ability to speak just disappears like a bubble, and if I do try to speak, I become this muttering, stuttering, rambling mess. I say things before my mind could even process it, my mouth is moving faster than the speed of light that my mind can't catch up and is left there hanging and not knowing if what I just said makes sense, or if I did say something that wasn't supposed to be said, that can be insulting, or can embarrass me in front of her — I don't want to embarrass myself, especially in front of her, and I don't—"