Shadow Color (NEW VERSION)

Chapter 6

The walk seemed to have dragged on with the silence, but eventually Macaria finally made it home. Simon stood by the bottom of the steps and stared off into the distance as Macaria shuffled through her bag for her keys. He was slightly jealous of the view she had. Actually, he was jealous that she lived in Maple Run. To the left of the apartment complexes was a small park with a swing set, two slides, and a tire swing that was tied to a sturdy thick branch of a maple tree. Starting from there and continuing left was a tunnel of maple trees that surrounded the road. The thick stretch of trees didn't go too far, but it was defiantly a nice spot to walk or drive through. Walking through here on a wet fall day with some wind didn't make a very enjoyable walk with the falling wet leaves and the cars that park on the side of the street during this time would be covered in wet, heavy leaves in about an hour.

She lived in the quiet part of Anecaster where the traffic wasn't very heavy and there was a gorgeous view of the lake. She could even see the other half of the city on the other side of the lake.

Mochi jumped off Simon's shoulder and ran to the road. She waited for a car to pass as she continuously looked both ways down the road before crossing the two-lane road and jumping on the sidewalk on the other side. Simon watched as Mochi fearlessly climbed the guard rail and looked out into the distance. One wrong move and Mochi could fall and seriously hurt herself. She looked down and spotted a small beach at the bottom, there were a few people getting ready to go into the water. Off to her left was a set of stairs that lead to the beach. While Mochi watched as a young couple walked down the stairs, Simon threw a stone past Mochi. Her attention shifted to the falling stone as she counted the seconds it took for it to reach the bottom. Six seconds.

"I've only been to this part of Anecaster a few times," Simon began as he looked behind him to see how Macaria was doing. She turned around at the sound of his voice. They stood in silence before Simon remembered that she couldn't speak. "Ah, I almost forgot," he began as he climbed up the few steps to reach her.

Macaria gave him a confused look. He gently placed a hand on the side of her face which caused her to blush, she didn't have a clue of what was happening. Simon closed his eyes as he moved closer. She froze up as her face turned bright red. She tightly shut her eyes as she felt mana flow to her hand. She then slammed her palm against his chest which then released a sudden burst of wind. The sudden gust blew Simon back causing him to land into a bush a few feet away from Macaria. The loud sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs caused Mochi to quickly look behind her. "Gah! Are you alright?! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean- "she began before suddenly stopping. She could talk again.

"Don't worry, I'm alright," Simon said slowly as he began to slowly lift himself from the bush. Mochi rushed over to check on him. He had some scratches on his face and hands from the twigs, but he seemed to be alright.

"So, w-were you," Macaria began as her face began to turn red as she remembered what happened moments ago.

"Haha, no." Simon answered as he brushed the leaves and twigs off his clothes and fixed his shirt collar. His black sweater vest had some snags in it and a few twigs were still woven into the fabric. Mochi jumped onto his shoulder and began to carefully remove some of the twigs without creating any new snags. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I only cursed you because people normally ask me questions about my ability, and it can be a bit of a sensitive topic."

Macaria raised her voice, "You could have said something instead of doing what you did! I would have changed the topic!"

With a blink of an eye, Simon suddenly vanished in front of Macaria and held his finger to her lips once more. Macaria remained silent as she processed what had happened. After a few moments, Simon pulled his hand away and took a step back. He smiled and raised his hand, "See you around," he said before walking down the sidewalk.

Macaria watched as he walked through the tunnel of trees. He was defiantly an odd one in her book. She unlocked the door and pushed it open; it was still dark in the apartment. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders and dropped her bag onto the floor next to a small wooden table. Then she made her way to the window on the right side of the door and pushed the curtains away from the window. The golden light from the rising sun filled the room giving everything a soft golden glow. It was nice to finally be home.

A droopy pale pink and purple flower sat in the window in a navy-blue pot with geometric shapes. Macaria noticed the plant and realized she had forgotten to water the plant for a few days. She normally didn't keep plants, but this one she bought the moment she saw it. She felt lonely and thought having something to take care of would make her feel better. It did, but it makes her feel terrible when she forgets to water it.

On the other side of the window was a small dark green metal watering can. She had kept it here as a reminder to water the plant. Macaria grabbed the handle of the watering can and began to slowly pour the water into the pot. Once she was finished, she slid the plant back into the sunlight. At least it got plenty of light.

Macaria fell onto a warm grey sofa and stared at the ceiling. After running around to find a girl, getting caught up in a fight, learning about her powers, being carried to the coffee shop, having an interesting walk home with a Lakeside coffee shop employee and his cat familiar, Macaria was exhausted. Yes, she had many questions about everything that had happened, but it was hard to relax with everything on her mind.

About five minutes later, she heard a voice. Rest now, you're going to need it. She had heard this voice before, but she was too tired to care. Maybe it was just part of her imagination due to lack of sleep. It had been a while since she had proper sleep. She then closed her eyes and dozed off.

.........

Macaria opened her eyes; she was back in the field of flowers. Everything looked the same just liked the last time she dreamed of this place. The sky was still dark and full of twinkling stars and the flowers glowed just as brightly as last time. She began looking around, it seemed a little strange to be dreaming of the exact same place as before.

A light breeze blew from behind her causing the small orbs of light coming from the flowers to fly higher into the sky. Watching the light orbs dance in the sky was mesmerizing and calming. A hand appeared on Macaria's shoulder, she looked behind her to see who it was, no one was there. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Macaria called out as she continued to look around. There was no sign of anyone anywhere.

She slowly made her way to a tree and stared at it. This was the tree where the mysterious figure was standing by. As she began to investigate the tree for any clues, a strong gust of wind blew from behind the tree causing the light orbs to scatter in every direction. Flower petals, blades of grass, and leaves from trees all began to dance in the air. Macaria tightly wrapped her arms around the tree, fearing the wind might blow her away. Next to her feet was a clear blue flower with petals made of crystals. It began to give a soft glow as she shut her eyes to prevent debris from getting into her eyes. A loud snapping sound caused her to quickly open her eyes. She peeked around the tree and saw a large branch flying towards her. The strong wind had ripped the branch off a nearby tree and slammed into her hands causing her to let go.

As the strong gust of wind began to lift her into the air, she desperately reached out and tried to grab anything to prevent her from being launched into the air. Her attempts to grab onto a few nearby thin branches failed. She tried one last time, but instead of grabbing onto the last branch she could reach, a hand reached out and grabbed hers, preventing her from being blown into the stary night sky by the wind. Standing in front of her was a person with medium length turquoise hair wearing a dark green cloak and white gloves. He was standing on the ground just fine as if the wind didn't exist. He held out his other hand for her to take. Macaria hesitated before taking his other hand. A few moments after, the wind began to die down as Macaria slowly floated to the ground. Once both of her feet were on the ground, the man released her hands and smiled, "I didn't think it would have taken this long for us to finally meet."