Alone together.

chapter 4: spectrum

Briella awoke with an icy coldness washing over her, she gasped and inhaled a mouthful of water, immediately choking on it, "Get up! Up and out!" Briella heard a shrill voice screaming at her, "come on! Up out of here! This is a public bus stop!" a stranger screamed.

Briella felt a thumping on her back as she coughed up water droplets. Amora stood, grabbing Briella's hand, she stared into an ugly face, some old lady, in her fifties was scowling evilly at them. Amora's eyes widened as she saw the old woman raising a now-empty bucket over her head, "there are children here you filthy-" Briella, with her knees aching horribly and Amora made a run for it, Briella yelped as she felt something hard hit her in the back. The bucket clattered to the ground as tears sprung to her eyes. Briella and Amora kept running, the screaming from the crazy lady becoming more distant as they bolted, "sleep in the alleyway like the other scum!"

Three blocks later they stopped running, both leaning over with their hands on their knees, panting harshly. Briella's throat burned and her back ached, on top of her stinging hands and bruised knees. Amora frowned at her, "Are you okay? I've had interactions like that with her before, she's...not nice" She said, concern clear in her voice. She moved closer examining the other's distraught face, "the bucket hit you?" she questioned. Briella nodded gritting her teeth in pain. Amora sighed and shivered softy, the iciness of the morning exaggerated by her soaking body and hair. Briella shivered as well, clamping the damp blanket to her body, "are all people like her? To people like you- ...like us?" Amora shook her head, "it's a spectrum" she murmured.

Briella became curious, "Amora?" she asked as they began walking, trying to keep her teeth from chattering, "hm?" she got in reply, "how did you get here? I mean- like how long have you been out here?" Amora frowned deeply, she walked a little faster, wanting to hide her expression, "a year" she answered quickly her voice as icy as the air, "there's a gas station a few blocks from here, we can change and dry off" she said. Briella quickly understood Amora did not want to talk about her life so she didn't press on.

Briella now couldn't keep her teeth from chattering, especially when the wind began to pick up. She lowered her head into the blanket, she pulled it tight so less air would get in and less air would get out. Briella began to breathe into the fabric, her breath beginning to warm her body. Briella stayed like this until she tripped, she hadn't seen the bump in the sidewalk. The girl just barely caught herself. Amora turned around, "you okay?" she asked, Briella nodded, "yeah- just cold" Briella watched in awe as the other girl took off her own jacket and offered it to her, her kindness had no end. Briella shook her head hard, "no, no, no, no- there is no way I'm taking your jacket, your blanket and your-" Briella remembered something with a cringe, "oh my god- I'm so terrible, I forgot- I actually did bring a pillow" she said, "I want you to have it" she added, deciding on that quite quickly. Her pillow was bigger, clean, fluffier, and newer. Amora shook her head but before she could get a word in Briella stopped her, "it's the very least I can do.... You're really nice, too nice" she said, biting at her lip, was Amora really that kind? What was the catch...

Amora led the way into a dirty looking gas station, on the outside, the walls were graffitied, the gas was unusually cheap, and there were a few old-looking vending machines on the left of the door. Amora opened the dusty door for Briella, by now she wasn't fazed by the disgusting looking floors nor the smell of cheap cigarettes. Briella however was raised by rich parents, the gas they got was always much more expensive and gas stations were always taken better care of, but things were different now this was the least of her problems. Briella walked in with a nod to Amora and a soft, "thank you" Briella felt warm air wash over her, she let out a sigh of relief without even realizing it. Amora chuckled, "this better?" she asked. Briella nodded quickly. "to the bathroom," said Amora as she began walking, "we'll have to buy something, they'll get pissed otherwise, how much money do you have?" Briella thought, "three hundred? -ish" she guessed. She had been saving up her money to buy a car for a while, she was grateful now she had done it. Amora's eyes widened just a bit, "that's really good" she commented. The two walked into the bathroom, it smelled horrible and Briella was sure she saw a cockroach scurry across the floor out of the corner of her eye. They both went in separate stalls. Briella undressed quickly happy to get out of her freezing clothes. She tossed them over the stall door, thinking it best to not set it on the floor. She searched through her bag, by now all the glass had settled to the bottom instead of being all over the place. She pulled out a black sweater that had been her brothers, it was huge on her but that was good, it would keep her warm. She pulled out some jeans and put them on quickly, having to hop around just a bit to get both legs in.