CHAPTER 1.6
A STATEMENT.
In all her life, Rainbow Bennet never expected to miss the coddling and the safety net her family kept her in. And then one cold December night came along and it was either 'grow up' or die. Rainbow wanted to die.
//
They were returning from the SF Ballet when it happened. Ximena was at Rainbow's left and the two were signing furiously back and forth, arguing about the ending of the show they and just scene. The two women loved ballet for no other reason than the lack of words. It was calming.
'I don't know, Rain, I think I like Romeo and Juliet better when Romeo isn't in a leotard.' Ximena's hands worked fluidly and expertly, better than Rainbow's clumsy ones.
'He would have been in a leotard anyways if it was historically correct!' Rainbow exclaimed,something between a snort and a grunt escaping her lips, though it went unheard by both women.
Having parked by City Hall, but far enough so there were no meters, it was quite a walk but the lights of the city that was just settling in to sleep made it all worth it. When there were no words left to be said, Ximena took her friends hand and the two walked in the comfort of each other.
Being the trusting woman she was, Rainbow turned around with a smile when someone tapped her shoulder. What she didn't expect, was to get a face full of pepper spray. As her lungs filled with the putrid and stinging substance, the girl crumpled to the floor in tears.
While the remnants of her dinner rose up her throat and found themselves scattered across the pavement, Rainbow tried to open her eyes, but the searing pain in her eyes was too great. All she could do was lie there and cry, trying to scream when the hands removed her wallet from her pocket.
Rainbow had never felt as alone as she felt in those moments, weak, blind, and deaf. It was worse than the time she had gone scuba diving and felt the horrid pain in her ears that lasted for a week. This was far worse.
When the burning in her eyes finally stopped and she could see straight again, Rainbow pushed herself to her knees and sat up. The lights didn't seem so pretty now. And Ximena had put up a fight.
//
'—And then I saw her, and she was dead.' Dead. Those words were now Rainbow's doom. Her best friend, dead, because of the damned pepper spray that made Rainbow useless.
Or had she always been that way? Whatever it was, it was making her uncomfortable as she made her statement to the SFPD. The female cop was watching her with bored eyes, probably tired of getting read to by a translator. This is why Rainbow hadn't wanted to come down.
Because she meant nothing to people who had everything she didn't.
ah i love this book. how was this chapter?
