Five - Theo

The sky was black. As were my shoes. And the cracks in the road. And the shadows that clung to every shape, like a sticky black tar that refused to let go �" clinging to buildings, cars, people, trees.

I stared up into the black clouds, wondering when the heavens would grace us with the presence of rain. I felt empty and tired and found myself longing for the close embrace of falling water. But the sky merely rumbled with some distant lightning storm, and I turned my eyes back to the ground, disappointed.

I was walking down a near empty street in a part of town where I rarely went. A poorer part of town. I kept my eyes down, not looking at the few people I passed, scared of poverty, feeling guilty of my parents wealth. But when I walked accidentally into someone walking in the other direction, I had to look up.

She was slightly shorter than me, with very dark green eyes, and a half smile that turned up the right side of her mouth as we turned to look at each other. Her longish brown hair was tied with a fluorescent ribbon and in a style I recognized from TV and films though I had never seen anyone in real life with it �" my parents had very particular standards when it came to choosing their friends, or rather, buying them, and I knew few people who they had not chosen with the utmost care for me to be ‘friends’ with.

The girl’s hair was in Dreadlocks.

My parents abhorred dreadlocks.

I smiled in return.

“Sorry,” she murmured, her voice was low and appealing, her accent different from what I had expected.

“My fault,” I said in return, conscious of my own, slightly posh, accent.

She smiled again, before turning back around and continuing down the road. I stared after her for a moment as I stumbled along. She had looked to be about my age, and as I carried on down the road I felt myself wondering about her.

I realized with a start that she was the first person my own age that had ever smiled at me in such an easy, honest way. Normally every look had a double meaning, every word was a double-edged knife just waiting to cut you up; I had grown so used to the twisted, money-induced, money-obsessed world in which my parents had brought me up, that the thought of another way of life felt like both a punch in the face, and a much needed life line - in many ways similar to an airbag.

I turned quickly, staring down the road after her, but the street was empty. She had gone.

I felt something splash against my cheek, and looked up. The sky had finally decided to send rain.

I frowned; when you wanted something, it was scarce, but when you no longer needed or wanted it, or when you had forgotten of its existence, then and only then did it decide it was time to pay you a visit. Was it just me or was there something a little amiss with that equation?

Then again perhaps that was the answer, perhaps when I stopped wishing to be happy, when I stopped needing to feel loved and wanted I would get all the things my life was so lacking in now. Because even with all the wealth that my family possessed I could not remember one moment in my life, when I had ever felt one single drop of true happiness.

I turned away from the sky and from the direction of home; right now, all I wanted was to get lost.

And for once, I got my wish.

 

Reviews

[Beatrice Mars]

ah so they finaly meet...sort of....
love it, especially the first few lines!

[-Aurelia Mirella]

Oh yay!

Some of the characters finally interacted!! Ha.

Very good job! Can't wait for Noah's next chapter.

Always,
-Aurelia Mirella