these walls; frankel

[kousei ♚]

k e m a l i .

"I can feel your reign when it cries
Gold lives inside of you"

Death followed him like a shadow. It clung to his heels, wrapped itself around his skin and he couldn't shake the feeling of steel against his throat. As he stepped through the streets, the gunshot rattled the inside of his skull. Io's attacker had screamed so much, collapsed to the ground holding his leg as they'd turned into nothing but shadows in an alleyway.

("They'd probably kill you though – rest in peace bro.")

He told himself he wasn't that scared. In the weeks that passed, he'd kept himself to himself. No loitering around street corners, no hanging out in public places where he'd be spotted, he only left to get from A to B. He'd kept his head down - nothing to worry about.

And they still found him.

He spun in his heels and sprinted with death personified on his heels. "Oi! Come here!" Like fuck was he doing that. His eye caught a glint of metal in one of their hands before he ran. The world became a blur and the sound of his death rattle ran through his mind as he ran through grey jungle he called his home. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead.

Somehow, it kept him sprinting for dear life. How Io looked, how he would look if they caught him. Everyone he'd lose, everything he'd cease to be. So kept running, nothing but pure panic forcing his mechanical joints to turn.

It was when one of the reapers stumbled and hit the ground did Kemali see hope - they'd all slowed down. The gap grew and Kemali suddenly turned and vaulted over a rusted metal fence. He kept running until he turned and he kept running then.

It was only when he stopped did the world stop spilling before his eyes. He was on a street, a street with houses on it that he'd never seen before. Some random street he didn't know. He wondered if they knew where he was.

"Ah shit."

elegant

[gamemaker ☢️ ivan korsch]

RUVIMBO

It is an eerily peaceful day. Slightly too peaceful for Ruvimbo on her first full day off in a month. Her Ma keeps telling her that they are ’walking all over her,’ at the factory and she should keep saying no to the extra shifts. Ruvimbo’s only response is extra shifts equal extra money. Extra food on the table. Extra warmth in all the rooms. Yeah, her fatigue is starting to stack up but at least she is putting in that effort, not like her sisters who do not even bother to come home most days.

There is not much to do to fill a day off work for Ruvimbo. Her Ma is insistent on keeping on top of the house chores herself. A lie in is out of the window, Ruvimbo was wide awake at five this morning and she has tried and failed to just sit with her feet up. The welder is insistent on not lighting the flame on a piece of metal either, her hobby is her work and today is a day off work.

Damn, maybe I am just better off going back to the factory…

Today is not a Saturday so she does not even have the faces at the school to fill her time with. All her friends are at work, maybe going for a wander around the District is her best bet. She has not ventured the market stalls in a long time.

Ruvimbo throws on her jacket that is at the door, buttoning it up before her Ma shouts a see you later and a sneaky can you pick this up for me?

She opens the door, and that eerie peace is confirmed to be fake. ”Kemali?” Ruvimbo shouts, one of her fellow classmates is sprinting down the street. He seems exhausted and there is a look about him that appears lost. ”What are you doing?”

[kousei ♚]

k e m a l i .

"I can feel your reign when it cries
Gold lives inside of you"

He stumbled at the sound of his name. He hardly kept his footing and it was a miracle that he didn't face plant into the concrete. He wobbled on one leg, his arms flailing as he came to a stop. When he looked to the side, he saw it was Ruvimbo who had called his name curiously. He managed a nervous wave. awkwardly bending over to catch his breath. Shit, I should be fitter than this. Gotta spend less time sitting on my ass making jewelry and shit.

He sighed, looking carefully at her sunlit confused face. She began to quiz him. "What are you doing?” She asked him. Kemal spun himself around slightly. No one was following him, no knives were in his back. He'd leapt over the fence into the arms of temporary safety

That made it harder to explain why he was running, out of breath and jumping over fences without looking stupid. He couldn't tell her the truth, he didn't want anyone else getting dragged into it. He didn't want anyone he cared about finding their end down the barrel of one of their guns.

So the best thing he could do was lie and pray he wouldn't get tangled in the webs of his tall tales. "Er, I was just erm," he was a shit liar. "Just a bit lost." He said finally, the best lies had some truth to them - he had no idea where the fuck he was.

"You live here?"

He tried not to sound so fucking terrified.

elegant