Title: Anmon

Chapter 2: Solemn Silence

I know where I’m going; I’ve been there a thousand times before. The forest will keep me safe, in control over myself. My feet pounding hard against the grass on my way out of the school grounds, grass under my hard pounding feet release smoke as my anger starts to be replaced by fear, fear of what he did to me.

Could a touch be that powerful?

Over and over I ask myself continually, ‘why him?’

As I run towards the exit to school I can hear the Demons laughing at me, thinking it is them I ran away from. The Angels most likely trying not to laugh at my frantic escape, I see some covering their tormenting smiles with their hands trying to conceal their laughter until I’ve gone. Then they will laugh, they will all laugh, my suffering their only common quality.

Now outside the school the plush grass under my feet has quickly turned into the stone-mixed asphalt of the streets. I can hear my feet underneath me. No one tries to stop me, no one acknowledges me, and no one looks at me. Invisible. My mind is still reeling over Aizel. ‘Why him?’ I almost come to a stop when a voice inside my head shouts, ‘why me?’ My breath hitches and I blink too hard.

I don’t have time to stop; I need to get out of here. My feet pound harder on the asphalt as my pace increases and my breath returns somewhat to a steady pace. The glass buildings in the city are pristine and gleam like they’ve just been cleaned, yet they don’t ever need cleaning. All of Baevalia’s glass is from the other side of the mountains, near the gateway to the human world we cannot enter, and their after-death realm that the Guardians and Elders maintain control over. After the glass is cut and placed in the stream that runs from one end to the other of Baevalia, it comes out with a protective layer on top of the glass. I don’t know how the water does this to the glass but it is the only thing that becomes clean and indestructible through the waters caress. The stream connects us all to Baevalia, we are one. Except why doesn’t it feel that way?

I shake my head once to either side, in action to get rid of the thought and focus my attention on the tree-line that is just out of my reach. My features relax as I get closer, the earth’s fragrance lifting my dour spirit. I can smell the rain off the leaves, leaving a clean smell and the air crisp. All the pain, torment and suffering fading deep within myself, waiting for the chance to return. As I slow down and the asphalt fades under thick brown dirt I can feel myself starting to smile. Walking slowly I go deeper within the forest where I’m most comfortable. My hands go out from my sides to brush the bark and ivy along the trees, soft fragile leaves of ivy sway in the small breeze entering the forest. A new scent fills in my lungs, something dark and musky. The scent drives my desire to turn around a put a face to the smell that raised my heart-beat. There is nothing, just green and brown from the forest, the colours catch my attention, it has rained in here, making the colours pristine and brings them from dull to intense that they seem to be glowing. I forget about the desirable scent and continue deeper into the forest. After walking for a minute or two I look around me and see just two trees, no hint of a bustling city outside, its fortress of leaves, bark and fauna. I sit against a fallen tree and lean back to the support of a tree on my back, close my eyes and just sit quiet and still. The peacefulness of my surroundings fade, my worry except for the one lingering thought on my mind. It’s antagonising and starts making me seem paranoid and possessive.

“Why him?” I ask the trees.

“Why me?” I then whisper.

“Why not you?” a voice whispers. Not thinking I replied, “Because I’m a monster.”

“You’re a monster when I become an Angel,” sarcasm dripped from his lips and I realised that I was talking to someone, a boy...him. I heard leaves crunching on the ground under his feet, he was moving closer. Abruptly I stood and turned to face him, hoping I didn’t reflect a mask of fear.