Flower, Flower Beneath The Sky

Close

The young man walked lone.

The wind howled too in his ears, an influence urging him on. Not that he was aware of.

Still he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going to go down, starting from right there. Something was going to be woven into reality. Life was really a big whole mess.

But unlike the girl hunched over the arranged sheets, he followed the dull lulling of the howling influence. It hung on him, thick and heavy. He thought he could hear his bones straining against each other.

What he was doing also felt so stupid, somehow like a back stab of betrayal. People like him didn't do this.

He wondered what the rest would think if they knew. He thought about the possible worst things they could say. Maybe their reactions would be different, who knew, but for now, he just thought the very worst.

He knew he could turn around and leave, let things be the way they were like he'd done everyday and the next. But today was a different day and on different days, he was going to be different. He was going to follow the impulse. This day, he was going to be him, even if it was only for this once.

Going to be him... Hell, who was him?

Regrets could come later, just not now. He had a lot of wrongs to right. Despite it all he had a feeling there wasn't going to be any. It seemed worth pursuing too, though everyone had gone and it was unlikely she'd be around.

But he had faith, he knew she never flocked out the school with the others, for some strange reason she always waited till the crowd dwindled before going to wherever. It was the way they'd noticed her in the first place. In the beginning, they'd thought it was because she felt too better than everyone to walk the same pace and halls. Now, he knew it wasn't that shit reason in the slightest. How or why, he had no clue.

And his patience was wearing thin, empty classroom after the other-

There you are. I found you at last...

She sat huddled in the desk, she was tense and he knew she was aware of his presence but he was worried too. He wasn't new to such reaction, yes. It was always that way, every other time they approached another and every prey, but not her.

Normally it made him feel better, gave him some sort of twisted power. He was that animal that fed on fear. The same animal that caused bleeding too. Unfortunately.

He should have been fueled to find she especially like that, meek and submissive. But not today, probably in the many bleak days behind them, but definitely not today nor ever. If she'd looked up at him that moment she'd have seen his brows furrowed in worry. He surprised himself.

He thought he should have gotten used to it but something about her that particular moment chipped away a part of his conscience.

Conscience...

It was still a new concept he was trying to recapture. So easy it was to lose himself in the numb.

Then it registered. She was afraid, scared. He'd never seen her like that before. Now, he immediately discovered that, secondly, he hated that look on her. Her fear ate at him, sapped away his strength. It weakened him in a way he thought was not possible.

She wasn't fighting. She'd stopped fighting, the only one who dared to defy them. Even when bones broke and muscles overstretched, she would stand brokenly strong and proud. She the defiant.

But not anymore, today she cowed and he didn't know how he was supposed to feel about that.

He just knew that he hated to see sunflowers broken and trampled. According to his meager gardening experiences, they were to stand proud, facing the sun in golden glory, despite the conditions. But maybe, this was a case of bad gardening too.