.:/bladed/:. things // bystanders

[Penny]

[atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(http://i49.tinypic.com/20zpa85.jpg); width: 475px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px;][atrb=border,0,true;] and I don't know where I stand faced with a cruel world i'd say everything points to the disappearance of the girl She was up before dawn, but that was nothing new. Most people rose with the sun - they liked to think they were people of the summer, people of the light, and hoped to burn away the darkness they hid within them - but Autumn enjoyed the stillness of the inky morning. She liked the colors, too. Her fingers played over the silver and cerulean and deep indigo that swirled into the seams of the gnarled tabletop before she drifted over to the window, a single glass pane clouded by dirt and grime set in splintering wood. A chill was woven into the air, a humid cold that Autumn had learned to cherish while she could. Soon, the sun would drift above the horizon and sear away the coolness of the night. Autumn glanced over toward the corner of their small one-room home, where her grandmother slept soundly. A small smile twitched up on her lips, and she gently moved over to adjust the older woman's blankets before sitting in the creaky kitchen chair and yanking on her workboots. She hated those boots, truthfully - they came up to almost her knees, and the laces had to be redone each time she put them back on, a tedious task. Autumn's careful hands could paint entire worlds upon a blank canvas, but in real life the smaller details frustrated her. Her eyebrows bunched together in concentration as she slipped the strings through the final holes and tied what remained into a simple knot. A sudden knock at the door startled her, making her miss one of the holes on the second shoe. Her head snapped up, eyes darting to the door. What insane person could possibly be out and about at such an early hour? She glanced at her grandmother, who was still sleeping soundly. It was probably one of the people the old woman gave charity too - it seemed that instead of recognizing the kindness, they were always greedy for more. Autumn sighed, giving up on the boot and throwing it to a corner of the room before hobbling over to the door. She rested her hand on the cool wood for a moment, closing her eyes in an attempt to blink away the sleep remaining there and dragging her other fingers through her tangled curls. She hadn't been expecting anyone, so she was a bit of wreck. There was hardly anything she could do about it, though, and Autumn shook her head slightly before heaving open the door. "Autumn Agresta?" Autumn froze, eyes widening as she recognized the crisp flash of a Peacekeeper uniform even in the darkness. One hand automatically flew to her stomach, hollow beneath prominant ribs. It was finally happening. They were coming to take her away to the orphanage, just like they had done to dozens of others. She swallowed thickly, trying desperately to keep from trembling. "Y-yes?" One of the Peacekeepers drew forward, studying her closely, and Autumn felt the strong urge to leap back and slam the door in his face. She didn't, though, instead standing perfectly still. The other addressed her cooly, either not noticing her fear or choosing to ignore it. "We were told that you were in the fields late last night. Do you confirm this?" That threw her. The fields? What does my starvation have to do with the fields? She scrambled to try and figure it out, frowning and nodding in a jerky fashion. "I was just - I mean, I wasn't - yes, I confirm it. M-might I ask why you wish to know, though? I d-don't remember there being a rule against it." "You seem awfully nervous," the one closer to her noted, and Autumn flinched. The other one remained stony faced. "Autumn Agresta, are you aware that a woman by the name of Emily Spinner was found dead in the fields early this morning?" Autumn blanched, her blood suddenly running cold. (It was nighttime, and the stars were so pretty. Autumn loved pretty things. She loved the way she could capture them, make them her own with just a paintbrush and some acrylics. The scream wasn't pretty, though, and neither was the blood, and then she was running running running and her heart slammed against her ribcage and her lungs burned but that didn't matter, none of it mattered, she just had to get away - ) "N-no," she lied. "I wasn't. Y-you... you don't think that I..." "Ms. Agresta, you'll have to come with us now," the one closer to her said, finally drawing back. "We have some questions we need to ask you down at the Justice Building." They didn't even let her put on her other boot or wake up her grandmother. They just marched her right out of her home and down the road, keeping a careful eye on her. One kept his hand on his gun the entire time. Breathing was steadily getting more difficult for Autumn, and she swore her heart must have thought she was running some kind of marathon. She wanted nothing more than to flee and never look back, to race through the fields and past to fence to whatever was beyond, but she was certain if she took even two steps out of line she would end up with a bullet in her back, so she kept on marching as the sun rose and stained the fields crimson, trying to keep her chin up despite the way people peered out their windows at her. When they finally arrived at the Justice Building, she was escourted into a large room with a few chairs scattered about, and the door was slammed behind her and locked. Autumn wanted to curl up on the floor and cry, to tremble and scream and wail until someone came to rescue her. But she couldn't, because she wasn't alone. Several others were in the room, all teenagers, and they were all staring at her (the new and probably last arrival, judging by the number of them). Other suspects, Autumn realized, faint surprise coursing through her. Mustering up every ounce of courage she had yet, she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, hoping they couldn't see her shoulders shaking. "Out with it, then. Which one of you killed her?" i need you to see there's not much innocence in the imposed darkness of imposed silence (OOC: I am so, so sorry it took this long. D: I'll make it up to you all somehow, I promise<3)

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[cass]

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Last night a woman screamed. It had echoed in the fields were I had stood. I had felt it within the soles of my feet, the high pitched ringing filled my mind and for a second I could forget what I was doing, for a second I had hesitated, my feet halting, my eyes flickering towards the source, towards the way my ears directed me. The day had been long and tiring, I was foot saw and angry. My temper was on an edge and I knew that my little sisters would have no fun when I got home. There would be arguing, I could feel it already, it was like a brewing storm in the air, one I knew that was going to be dangerous, one I knew that my sisters would hate me for. I had been tired and agitated; I had spent my entire day searching for a new pond on the outskirts of the districts. I loved my old one; I had been trying to breathe for ten years.

Every morning I would wake up, every morning I would slip out into the forests, the world wrapping itself around me and following me as I silently moved through the trees. My family had long since given up on society. We knew nothing of it, the few times I did ever venture into the crowded streets was to fetch my twin sister as she screamed and cried as her yells echoed against the streets as she cried for her home as she begged to be taken to district to, the place she believed she belonged to. It always annoyed me. It wasted the hours of the day that I had, there wasn’t many in a day and mine were being wasted.

I needed that time to slip into the folds of the cool water and I needed that time to go below the surface and breathe. I was waiting for it, I waited for it every single day as I felt the water wrap itself around my body and as I opened up my mouth to suck in lungful’s of the cool water I waited for it to do to me what the air did. But it never did. It always disappointed me and I would splatter to the surface, my eyes blazing, my head spinning, my chest stabbing painful as I desperately gulped down air, air that I could breathe. It was the same every single day, a continuous repeating cycle that never changed, that never once fucking changed. And it pissed me off. I just wanted to breathe, all I wanted was that one little thing and my body could not give that to me. I hated it for it; I hated it with such a passion. So in my anger I had fled the pond, I had ran as hard and as fast as I could, my hate urging me on until I could run no more, my bare feet ached, my ragged, dirt covered, torn dress messier than ever.

For a split second I had allowed myself to believe that maybe it was the pond, maybe it wasn’t my fault that I couldn’t do it. I had tried hard enough, oh god how hard I had tried, maybe, just maybe it was the pond. So I had spent that entire day searching and looking, vivid eyes taking in any little sign of a new source of water, but I had found none. I had seen nothing.

It had been an eerily familiar sound. It had been a scream that had rung clearly though the night air, like a cold cruel little joke, but jokes were always funny and that scream had made me laugh. The last time I had screamed I had laughed, the bitter twist of my lips echoing the gold grace of my burning lungs. I could barely remember the sound of a joy filled laugh. My ones rang harsh and as hard as steel, there was no love in them, there was always a frustration, the kind that I could not take out easily by hammering my fists against the surface of the water. The water never reacted to my anger, no matter how many times my dirt covered hands would slap at its surface it would ripple, sliver and remove itself from my touch, before calmly returning to its original position.

There had been no door for the peacekeepers to come knocking on. My family lived in a small cove of trees, where no one could find us. No one had. It had been one of those days where Hester had started her rampage, her cries, and her calls echoing in the early morning. I had run after her, my feet carrying me down the normal routes, sliding along the ground with the ease of practice. My dress flew behind me, tattered strips flung carelessly left and right, dirt making the once white dress a now permanent shade of brown. There was a joy in flying across the land, with no one there to stop you, with no hands there to grab you and hold you back, just the air and your own feet. But there was never that pure feeling as that I received when I felt the water fill my body, when I felt the blackness tumble across my vision, when I felt like I could not breathe, because there was that respite as my head broke the surface, but that boiling rage at my failure and that kept me alive. That kept me feeling so very alive.

"Excuse me, are you Arletta Elwyn?" The sharp comment intrudes into my thoughts and I stumble to a stop, my feet slapping the ground. I spin around, my eyes narrowing, my hair a frizzled mess of brown. What I saw in front of me made my heart stop for a second. There was two peacekeepers, their crisp, clean uniforms bright and glaring for such a nice time of the day. They looked down at me coldly, there eyes flickering over my stained, dirty body, over the leaves and twigs that had embedded themselves within my hair. Over the bare feet, the brown, sandy skin and the dirty, dirty girl that stood in front of them. They were not impressed.

"Yeah. Who wants to know?" I snap, my temper spiking. I was not a polite little girl. Angrily looking peacekeepers turns his steely gaze in me. A flicker of anger sparks within that cold gaze, I smirk. "You'll need to come with us, Miss Elywn."

I stare at him, "Woah, ugly, wait up." He steps closer to me, I step back. "I ain't going with you ugly. Now back off." The even uglier peacekeeper standing beside him snorts. "I don't even think we need to go looking for the other suspects, she looked fucking crazy enough." He spits, both if them jump at me and frantically I dance away from them, my feet shuffling against the cool ground. I but my hands in front of my in a "what the hell" kind of gesture. "Crazy? You calling me crazy?" I laugh, a bitter smirk plastered to my face. I sure as hell was not helping my case. I turn on my heel and run, but I don't get two steps before one of them lunges at me, wrapping his iron arms around my htin body.

"Let go of me I'll kill you, I'll hurt you, don't touch me!" I scream. I kick out, lashing at them with my feet, but they both avoid them and they drag me down the streets, pass the people who are watching. No one dares to laugh, why would they? Most of them knew who I was, most them could see who I was from a simple glance. Oh and the rumors, they all could guess, they all could fabricate some crazy story as to why I was being dragged around the district by two stupid peacekeepers and yet I had no clue.

After a minutes or so I give up and, with a grunt I'm unceremoniously dumped into a room. I scowl, rubbing my wrists, where their hands had held me. Turning my head I look around at my little prison. There were four chairs. All of the, but two had been filled. I don't make a move to sit on one, instead I stay where I am, eyes flickering dangerously to each of them.

Suddenly the door busts open once more, I spring to my feet, bristling with anger. But instead of seeing my captors all I see is a puny little girl. Hair frizzy and wild, one boot glued to her pale, clean little feet. "Out with it, then. Which one of you killed her?" She demands and I can't stop myself from laughing, a hysterical snort that makes me bend over, my shoulders shaking. "Wow, puny little you has a big demanding voice. Maybe you should keep those little comments to yourself unless you want to end up dead as well." I snap.

Away from the life that you always knew
We are calling to you
Come away little light
Come away to the darkness
In the shade of the night we’ll come looking for you

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