Riverdale Renegades: Thirteen of Hearts

Division

I walk down the hall away from my last class. The building is beginning to smell like cleaner. Just the thought of the smell, stealing my attention, pokes at my supernatural senses. My nose crinkles as the smell intensifies and burns the insides of my nose. I'm always keeping my senses in check. It's been a few months, but I can't stop it. Still, even after the last few months, I can hardly turn them on and off either, let alone focus them. They come and go. I'm trying to work on feeling what it's like to use them. It's like hearing or smelling for the first time, as if anything I'd ever heard or smelt was only just a whisper or a whiff. As I leave the school my hearing turns on and picks up the chatter of some nearby students.

"Several people died last night in their beds. The police can't figure out what happened!" Some kid squeaks.

"It was probably natural deaths, old people just die in their sleep, chill," her friend shrugs it off.

"But these were like okay people. Totally healthy. They weren't like old," the girl squeaks.

"The Red Dragon will stop this,"

"Oh please, the Renegade is a myth," the girl shoots back, but I doubt she believes that. Her legs are shaking, and her heart is racing like a racehorse. I head out into the city to walk amongst the people. My senses keep flickering in and out. For a few minutes I'm helpless to my ears trying to hone in one dozens of conversations. I hear them talking about work, some teacher talking about her baby, the mystery deaths, and The Seven of Hearts Casino. Many people are talking about the mystery deaths, and about this supposed myth known as the red dragon. How odd this city is? If Eric was telling the truth, and he's never lied to me before, this town is filled with the supernatural. Still, the majority must be human. Surely, they must suspect that their neighbors are not all what they seem to be. They must be aware of the strangeness in the city. Then again, I can't even tell the difference. It looks like any other bustling, busy, crowded city. As I approach the street corner my sight falls on that girl from the Veterinary Clinic. Her name was Blaire.

"Hey, Blaire was it?" I call out casually. She and her friend look up. It's Blaire and that short petite girl I saw yesterday. Her big blue eyes look up at me.

"Oh, hey. Yes, and Derrick was it? This is Lilly," Blaire replies, introducing me to her friend.

"Lilly," she greets me with a friendly smile and a small little wave, "Well, I'll talk to you later Blaire. I have someone I'm supposed to meet up with soon. Nice to meet you- Derrick," and the girl walks across the street in the other direction. As soon as the light changes I move with the mass of people in the other direction along with Blaire. There's so many people that I am aware of. My vision focuses in. Blaire is of average height with misty light blue eyes. They're pretty, I'm just saying. I flick my eyes back to the pedestrian traffic ahead of me.

"So, what do you think of the city so far?" Blaire questions me, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Well, it's definitely busy. And loud," I state the obvious coolly. She cracks a smile. No duh it's busy and loud. She probably thinks I'm dull. "It's pretty cool. I lived out in a little suburban town before, so it's different," I tell her. My eyes drift off towards the sky, pointed at by tall sleek gray structures. The gray cityscape isn't quite so dull as I thought it would be. As my vision focuses in, beyond anything I'm sure Blaire can imagine, I see many different grays. There are grays closer to black, some to white, some in between, with hints of blue, and some flecked with other various colors. I can't count all the number of greys and mixes of greys, perhaps there are fifty different shades?

"Is that a good type of different, or a bad type different?" She asks me. I flash a friendly smile.

"A good different. The city is cool," I tell her, "So, what sort of work do you do at the clinic?" I question with a slight raise of the eyebrows.