say goodbye to innocence; [ open ]

I pull my pale coat tighter around my shoulders, trying to block out the freezing air. It had been a late night at the medical clinic, and I was in a bit of a rush. My father might not enjoy my company, but he needed me to feed him. He was about as much use in the kitchen as I would be in a fight. My blonde hair is out of it's usual bun and hangs loosely down my back, glowing slightly in the moonlight. I round a corner, turning onto the street my house sits on and crash into someone. I fall backwards, he is quite a bit larger than me, and let out an indignant cry. I stand up, about to yell at him, when I see his face. Just underneath the surface, this person is in pain. The emotion in his eyes cuts off my voice and I just stand there,watching him.
"Sorry..." I mumble.

I tense up as he brushes past me, anger flashing in his eyes just a second before he locks out all emotion.
"Forget it," His voice is almost a growl and stings my ears. "Just watch where you run in the future." I get a good look at him as he walks past me, tall, dark haired with stunning grey eyes. His limbs are long and he towers above me, but he is in complete control of his body. Wait, no he isn't at least not totally. He leans slightly with his weight favoring one leg and the other legs doesn't bend quite as far, or as neatly. I'm not sure why I do it, the logical thing to do would be to turn around and continue home without a wayward thought towards this boy, but something about him rubs me the wrong way. It might be in the way he stands, as though he is superior to everyone else, although it might just be the fact that he is in pain and seems to be refusing to tell anyone. Whatever the case, the words are out of my mouth and hanging in the air before I can stop them.
"What's wrong with your leg?" I stiffen when I realize what I truly said. Not only was I rude and unprofessional, but I sound like an idiot, something I am not comfortable with. I close my eyes briefly, cursing myself and then push my hair back behind my ear.
"What I meant was....erm, well...." I glance at the boy, although he is really more of a man than a boy. "Nope, no way to recover." I mutter shakily to myself, shaking my head.

"It's none of your business." Well, I can't say I wasn't expecting that. His lips curl upwards slightly and then he breaks into a brief and slightly frightening grin.

"You should go home, little girl. It's dangerous to talk to strangers in the middle of the night, in an empty street where he could easily hurt you."

Several emotions race through me as his words settle in the night, fear, shock, suspicion and finally anger. My hands close into fists at my sides and I stand a little straighter. I should turn around and walk home, that's what he is doing turning away and leaving without so much as a backwards glance. I stand there, dithering for a moment and then sigh, there is no way I could let this go, her mother may have had her downfalls, but she had not raised a pushover.
"Hey, pig." I say, my voice taking on a strange edge. I walk past him and turn around, blocking his path. "You know you are not nearly as scary as you think you are. In fact, to me all you seem like is a hurt teenager. You might think you have a sob story but trust me, you ain't got nothing a lot of other people around here haven't heard before." I say, letting my anger flow through my voice, as I talk my hands begin to loosen, the fists releasing into hands flat against my legs. "And whatever happened to you, it doesn't give you the right to go around threatening people...so stop it." My voice looses it's zeal near the end, my anger used up and now I'm just standing, staring at him. The silence rips through the night air and deafens me.

His voice is like cold metal when he talks, and I have to press the balls of my feet into the floor to keep from shying away.
"You don't know me. You don't know anything about me... or my 'sob story' as you so cleverly put it." He glances at me, shaking his head and his voice grows softer. Almost gentle but not quite. "Don't presume to know what my problems are." I stare at him, watching the way his eyes flick around my face, it takes me almost a minute to nod.
"Okay, I won't but don't act like you are the only one whose had it hard." I say and I feel a lump press against my throat. "You really aren't, I can tell you that much." My voice is quiet and pained, little more than a squeak.
I take a step backwards sucking in a breath of cool air. I run a hand over my blonde hair and stare up at the sky, long since dark.
"My name's Kellan."

ooc: haha I know exactly what you mean.

The boy turns around to face me and something changes in him. His face grows cold, and his body melts as if turning into a liquid. I wonder for a moment if he will collapse all together. He looks at the ground, his eyes tracing my shadow. His breathing grew uneven as the silence stretched between us. After a few moments he glanced up, and I heard his voice. It was real this time, a reflection of the person inside. Before it had been a guard, like a wall.

"I'm Lachlan." He says and I nod slightly. It feels awkward just to stand here staring at this boy who is so much older and bigger than me. I wonder who made him like this, shadowed and hidden, or if he was always like this. Burnt from the start. I see something out of the corner of my eye, on the tiny patch of grass in front of one of the houses.

"First green grass." I say, my voice quiet as I watch the emerald shoots quiver in the evening wind. I look at Lachlan, and give him the kindest smile I can manage. "My mother always told me, 'No matter how bad things get, we can always find hope in the coming of spring.'" I tell him, trying to smother the emotion tightening my throat. I've never told anybody this before, never let that piece of my mother touch anyone else. I feel my eyes begin to go wet and blink furiously. Don't cry dammit. You're being ridiculous. I snap at myself, running my skinny fingers over my blonde hair.

I glance at Lachlan, to see how my words are processing. His name suits him, From The Lake. His long limbs and lean muscles, the way his eyebrows slant into the defined bones of his cheeks remind me of the Games arena a few years ago. It had a cliff on one side, that dropped on into the sea. He looks like the rocks, the danger and resilience of stones in the water.

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ooc: S'all good.

"I like the winter better," Lachlan says, watching my face glazedly. "It's just kind of dark and slow. Like you can almost hear a melancholy note playing in the background."

For some reason, his words seem funny to me. They're so morose and over-dramatic. Maybe he is being genuine but it really doesn't seem like it. His voice is dark and edgy, matching his posture and looks perfectly. He's like a storybook charachter, the kind you hate at the beggining of the story but then end up loving because he saves everybodies lives and sacrificing himself. It's this that makes me giggle.

It's little laughter at first, just a sharp intake of breath but then my composure cracks and I am laughing hysterically. My lungs hurt and my abs feel weak from the laugher. Tears spring to my eyes and I double over slightly. Everytime I manage to get a little bit of breath back I think of his words and am sent off the egde again.

"I'm sorry, so-sorr-y." I gasp, reaching out and patting his arm lightly. I take a deep breath and straigten, trying to force the laughter out of my body. "'snot funny." I say. I snicker once more and then am fully in control. I take a few breaths and clasp my hands together.

"Sorry again. I uh...don't know what that was. I'm sure you've laughed for no reason before..." I say, watching Lachlan carefully. Suddenly it occurs to me that maybe he hasn't and I feel suddenly sorry for him.

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