|
Post by nikki on Sept 15, 2007 12:25:37 GMT -5
The streets were loud at this time of day; late afternoon, when all the teenagers were just hurrying back from the torture that is school to indulge in a few hours of freedom before they have to worry about homework or the next morning or anything of the sort. Most kids weren't too concerned; they had friends and family and things to laugh at and not much to be sad about. But Carmen was quite the opposite.
As she trudged down the sidewalk, bag slung over one shoulder, she couldn't focus on the music that blared into her ears from her mp3 player. She didn't even want to look at the small device, which had been given to her by a boy she loved and missed very much.
Angela Gossow's familiar death growl was rolling through Carmen's eardrums, but she couldn't bring herself to summon her own to join her idol.
Lament of a Mortal Soul... what a fitting song.
I am forced to creep down the path Of my sad and senseless life Darkness surrounds me At the end of the tunnel, there is no light
A blackened void, nothingness
Lament of a mortal soul Who am I? Only dust in the blowing wind Am I dying?
My name dies slowly Echoes into eternal oblivion Replaced by others, easily forgotten I hate my empty existence
A blackened void, nothingness
Lament of a mortal soul Who am I? Only dust in the blowing wind Am I dying?
Lament of a mortal soul Who am I? Only dust in the blowing wind ...I am dying!
The song ended, and Carmen angrily wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve.
She yearned to see Riv again. She hadn't seen him in one long week, which was like torture. He was the only friendly face she had, the only one who truly seemed to care, who never ridiculed or chastised her.
Every day was terrible. Carmen got up and somehow managed to get through school. She was rarely spoken to, but when she was, she said little in return, never revealing the reason for her sorrow. The kids at school wouldn't understand - most of them disliked her anyway.
Who knew if she'd ever be permitted to find him?
Her parents knew. Her mom had sprung on her: "I saw you with that boy yesterday. What were you doing with him?" At least she hadn't seen them kissing. If she had... there'd be hell to pay.
Riv's older brother despised Carmen and she knew it. He'd probably do all he could to stop a reunion.
What was life without love?
Am I dying?
|
|
|
Post by Envy on Sept 15, 2007 12:40:37 GMT -5
"I feel like a dog," Riven mumbled in complaint as his brothers walked on either side of him. Mal had a cast around his hand where Riven had stabbed him before for threatening Carmen, and Konozen was on the other side prancing about merrily. Being the youngest of the brothers, Konozen was most protected by Mal, who favoured him over Riven for many reasons.
These reasons including that Konozen actually looked up to him and Riven didn't.
However, now Mal shot that infamous glare at the middle of the brothers. "Stop griping, if you weren't so stupid you'd have stayed away from that girl. She's not your type."
"Oh shut up Mal," Riven retorted, only to get shoved by his younger brother and earning a "Leave my big brother alone!" statement. At the moment, he wasn't accepted as anything, and miserably he stared at the ground.
One... two... three!
He dashed off in a sprint, hearing shouts of frustration behind him, but not caring. He ran on, turning a corner sharply and looking for somewhere to dart to next when he stopped dead in his tracks to stare.
Could it be?
|
|
|
Post by nikki on Sept 15, 2007 12:46:45 GMT -5
Even through the eardrum-bursting Arch Enemy, Carmen could hear some loud shouts coming from a little further down the street. She raised her head gloomily, stared, and stopped dead.
I must be hallucinating.
Must be.
I was just thinking about him, that's all.
My mind's dwelling on him, and now I'm seeing him.
Carmen couldn't help but remember, though, that she had thought that she was seeing things the first time she had met Riv, too. Through the Desert of Dark Illusions...
Angela continued to growl and as she proclaimed that she "is the heart of darkness", something in Carmen's recollection stirred. She had sang that song. In Riv's prescence.
That thought was like the icebreaker. Ripping out her earphones and hastily shoving them into her pocket where her mp3 player sat, she began to walk quickly - not running because, if truth be told, she really sucked at it - and swept her purple bangs to one side as if trying to perfect her image for Riv.
It had to be him.
Her fists were clenched now and she was preparing for the disappointment of finding out he was just thin air. Or... was he?
Only one way to find out.
|
|
|
Post by Envy on Sept 15, 2007 13:34:36 GMT -5
Glancing over his shoulder, his eye throbbing as it burned verdant from the excitement that rushed in his veins, he made quick notice of other things first. Seeing his brother had not yet turned the corner after him, he grinned and turned back to where he had seen Carmen.
He hoped it was Carmen, anyway.
And, hurrying in a jog toward her, the smile on his face lit his eyes with the same expression as he saw clearly her purple bangs and ebony hair. But this was not enough to satisfy him. "Carmen?" he inquired, not caring if it wasn't her. He'd rather seem like an idiot to a stranger than continue walking with his idiot brothers.
|
|
|
Post by nikki on Sept 15, 2007 13:37:37 GMT -5
"Oh, my God, it is you!" Carmen cried, and practically launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck without a trace of embarrassment or hesitation. "Riv..." she was smiling too much to continue making any sense if she spoke.
Instead she concentrated on the feel of the material of his shirt against her cheek, how lovely it felt being so near him, how much she had missed him.
A week can be an eternity.
|
|
|
Post by Envy on Sept 15, 2007 15:49:17 GMT -5
"Whoa!" he cried, laughing as he embraced her. "Hey, I haven't seen you in... was it a year? I can't remember how long, it was too long."
To his dismay, however, his brothers rounded the corner. This was very easy to tell, as Mal gave an irritated and raged growl.
Turning so he saw them, and they saw Carmen, a smirk rolled over his lips, and they found Carmen's. But, to keep from giving them time to catch them, their mouths only meet a few seconds before he whispered, "You up for escaping?"
|
|
|
Post by nikki on Sept 15, 2007 15:57:44 GMT -5
"No, I think it was much more than a year," she said with a slight giggle - a very unCarmenish noise to hear. "A decade or two, perhaps. Too long. Much too long."
A smile spread over her lips as they kissed, and her heart lifted up in her chest. It seemed to have been residing in her abdomen for the past week.
The words I love you were on the tip of Carmen's tongue, but Riv's brothers - or at least one of them, she didn't know who the other boy was - were just a bit further on, and there wasn't time. "Of course," she murmured, her eyes on his face as she grinned admiringly.
|
|
|
Post by Envy on Sept 15, 2007 16:19:02 GMT -5
Grinning at her, he took her hand and lead her down an alley he had used before to escape Mal, only not before sticking his tongue out at his brothers. Then, turning back to Carmen he lead her down the maze of alleys.
"What've you been doing for the past few decades? You probably noticed Mal had a cast from the wound, and the runt is my younger brother. Irritating, both of them, and basically be escorted everywhere by them is what's been happening for me."
|
|
|
Post by nikki on Sept 15, 2007 16:21:46 GMT -5
Carmen squeezed Riv's hand tightly, hardly daring to believe this was real. Perhaps she would blink only to find that she had dozed off on the sidewalk and was only dreaming. For this reason, she tried to keep her eyes open as long as possible, but they began to water and sting, so she blinked a couple of times.
But Riv was still there.
"Oh, not much, just been trying to get by," she replied cheerfully. "And yes, they didn't look exactly friendly. I've been looking around for you, but..."
|
|
|
Post by Envy on Sept 15, 2007 17:05:09 GMT -5
"Zen's a little tattle tale," Riven told her. "He'll run off to Mal the first moment I do something wrong, and he'll probably do the same when he sees you now, but he's a wimp and the most he can do to harm you is make you trip. Mal's the one you have to watch out for, he has a temper. But you know that already. I was surprised enough he didn't shoot off his mouth about you to our mother."
Looking back, he saw neither of his brothers had found them yet, and he gave a relieved sigh. He was so dead when they found him. Carmen was the last person Mal wanted him with, with the mere reason she wasn't as popular as the other girls or as "normal" as Mal had put it.
"Don't you ever talk to her again, don't you ever touch her or kiss her or even look at her!" The words were still very clear, but life was meant for you to take some risks here and there. "I'll make sure you're handicap, and then she won't want you because you won't be able to do much of anything!"
|
|
|
Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 1:20:40 GMT -5
Biting her lip, Carmen inquired, "Where are you going to go to get away from them? I don't want you to get into trouble with them just because of me." Her grip on his hand, though, betrayed her words. She did want that. Very, very much. There were many things Carmen wanted in life - a few of them had something to do with Riv, actually - and one of them was to stay with him. She didn't want him to go when they had just been reunited. Not now. Not yet. Not ever.
"We should be able to find somewhere to lay low for a bit. My mom and dad will wonder where I am, but..." Letting out a harsh laugh, Carmen concluded, "I've been a good girl for the past week. Done my homework, got to school on time, hurried home, performed to my mother's expectations, not bothered my father with my 'endless snarling', as he puts it. Hell, I haven't even cursed in front of them once." She threw Riv a lopsided smile. "Without you, I don't seem to have much of an ambition to keep up with even my own standards."
|
|
|
Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 11:13:17 GMT -5
Grinning at her, he told her, "This way heads off onto a main street, and if we cross there, there's a forest not far off. They'd be looking through the mazes of alleys before they ever got to us." Over confidence was one of Riven's greatest sins when it came to estimating the intelligence of his brothers. Their minds, however, worked much better than his predictions.
"Think I could hear some of your 'endless snarling' once we lose them? Since you're such a 'good girl' and all?" he inquired innocently, purposely using the words to be mocking of her parents. How long had it been since he had? A century? He couldn't remember anymore.
|
|
|
Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 11:17:33 GMT -5
"Alright, if you say so," Carmen responded, trying to keep the doubt out of her voice. She moved closer and draped her arm around him. "Oh, I'd be delighted to demonstrate some of my so-called endless snarling," she continued with a grin. "It's been a while since anyone's taken an interest. Okay, a week, but to me that's quite a while."
She resisted the increasingly powerful urge to stop, to take him by the shoulders, to spin him around to face her, to kiss him, to wrap her arms around him, to -
Now she really was getting ahead of herself. To what? What was the next 'to'?
|
|
|
Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 11:27:26 GMT -5
As the end finally revealed itself to them, out onto the lax streets of cement, he paused and took a few quick, deep inhales. "I don't remember to many times I could get your 'endless snarling' out of my head. It's much too calming," he insisted as he took this time to kiss her temple. By now, they were half way to the safety mark.
Well, in his mind they were. However, lurking within the shadows, the shaded figure whose eyes gleamed at the sound of the words had other plans. Ones that included unveiling things most dreadful.
|
|
|
Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 11:30:57 GMT -5
Carmen grinned. "You're alone on that one," she teased. "Most people I know find it too chaotic. You're the only exception." She allowed her eyes to close for a fleeting moment when his lips brushed against her temple. How she had missed that velvety, plush feeling that she could only find in him and his gentle touch.
"I hope you have a plan of what we're going to do after this," Carmen said, pulling herself back down to earth. "I don't."
|
|