taking care of you { will }

[k!ah]

[attr="class","itsabox2"]

[ a helping hand ]

I lock the door behind me, swinging the keys into my small bag before slipping it over my shoulder easily, my eyes searching the dark skies as I begin my walk home. The late shifts at work are always the hardest but thats what I like about them, I like the fact that the challenge doesn't end until I get home, the walk home, also part of the my exciting shift. Stars blink down at me, dancing on and off in the distance. A lot of the patients often tell me different stories about the stars. Most seem to believe that there was something very spiritual behind them, others sticking to the facts that they were nothing but huge gathering of gas. I liked to think that they were more than just gas, that each one of them represented a fallen soul. I liked to think that my sister was up their, looking down n me, guiding me home, making sure that I was okay. I think thats what she would have been like had she had the chance to grow up. I think that she would have been the one to worry, me the one to fix. 

The thought makes me smile, my hand clutching the strap of my bag a little tighter as I tear my gaze from the stars and return them back to reality, to district six. It was not often that I felt the need to live somewhere else, to live in the more privileged district. I loved my home and I loved the that we specialised in helping people, helping in general. I think I would have liked district 10, helping animals rather than humans... it  would have been different, but nice, i think. But I didn't want to live there, because this was my home and even though it was just another piece in the game that the capitol play, it was a place that I could try to protect, a place that I was proud to fight for. 

The further away from the hospital I get, more rough the streets become. Houses become more scattered and the grim and litter become thicker and more obvious. Rats crawled in the shadows, their cries easily begin heard as they thought with each other, claiming the territory as their own. This part of town always made me slightly uneasy, the crime rate was higher because the people who lived here had nothing, they were the streets rats, the people who survived off crumbs and muggings. It was a detour, but I always made myself walk through these streets, I always made myself look around at these people with nothing, at their hollow cheeks, at their empty eyes, always telling myself that one day, when I was a better nurse, one of the best, I would be able to provide for these people. I would have enough money- because I would save it all- to build them a nice place, a place where they could sleep, sheltered from the weather, a place with mattresses and blankets...

That was my dream.

Closing my eyes for one last moment I turn around, this time, ready to head home, when I stop, my eyes drawn to something in the distance, just past the homeless, to a place where the streets become a little more civilised. It was a light, almost like a fire, and I was drawn to it, my steps quickening, not towards home, but towards the light.

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N I N A H A R T

Will

[Will]

The fire. It's so entrancing. I absolutely love fire. Especially around this time of year. It gives you warmth, but the warmth is almost unnecessary because the environment is already warming up. It feels like a luxury, when in reality, it's quite the opposite. But I think that's why I started the fire tonight. Not because it was going to be cold. Not because I was cold. But because I needed the luxury. I needed to feel like life was worth living. That life isn't a battle. And so I sit before the fire. Huddled up, arms wrapped around my knees which are pulled up as close to my chest as they can be. I want to adjust my coat, but this position is much too comfortable to risk the loss of it. So I look around, checking first to make sure nobody is watching. I don't see anyone. I start squirming around on the ground, trying to get my coat, if you can even call it that, to sit comfortably on my shoulders and hug my back. As I work this out, I continue to scan the surrounding area. It's the same as always. Dark, dank, and dreary. All the lights in all the houses are off because nobody can afford to even keep them on longer than an hour or two a day. But of course everyone is awake. You can't fall asleep here. Not in the poor sector. That's much too dangerous. Or at the very least, much too stupid. I've fallen asleep one too many times before here, and I've learned that when I get tired, I should just go home. Home. I don't have a home. Who am I kidding? My "home" is a small rickety shack on the outermost reaches of District Six. There are holes and cracks and splintery boards. In the winter, when too much snow piles in on the roof, the roof sinks. It's never caved though. Not yet. It's also not safe to stay out here too late. But of course, I have no way of telling the time, except for the position of the moon in the sky. I look up, to check and see how long I have. I still have a little while. It's not quite there yet. I check back around. Now there is someone headed for me. Or at least walking in my direction. I can't see who they are or what they're holding, but it's certainly a person and they definitely have something in their hand. And it's not small. I quickly jump up and turn to face the person who approaches. But what if they're in a gang? What if they're the person that is supposed to distract me? That's not uncommon. It almost happened to me one time. One time. I decide to slink into the shadows. I don't know if they saw me or not, but it's a better hiding spot than in front of a blazing fire in the middle of a road. And I wait.

credit to will

k!ah

[k!ah]

[attr="class","itsabox2"]

[ a helping hand ]

my feet carry me towards the light like I was addicted to it. There was no stopping them in their mission and in a matter of moments I am standing before it, the streets dark except for this burning heat. I was so sure that I had seen a shadow moving only moments before my arrival, but now as I stand before the heat and my limbs thaw I cant think of anything but the warmth that was spreading over my like someone was warping and extra toasty blanket around  my soul. I smile into the flames, my eyes watching the way the light danced off the shadows, the way the oranges and reds danced within each other, mingling and mixing as they moved through and around each other. 

But then I am so sure I feel like someone is watching me. Like two eyes a seeing into my soul, watching my every move. a frown replaces my smile and I look over my shoulder, looking into the darkness which surrounded me. I am so sure I see nothing, but then why? Why do I get the feeling that I am not alone here, that I was never alone. I shiver, the fires heat no longer reaching my body as I cling to my bag tighter, my eyes looking at the fire, but really they were elsewhere trying to pinpoint this sensation that was burning into my skin, like a branding. 

Suddenly I trun around again, my whole body moving in one swift movement, my back now pressed against the fire. My eyes examine the darkness carefully, they look from right to left (somewhere in a book I read that if you look the opposite way to how you read books, details become more obvious and you are less likely to miss things). I look intently until my eyes come across a show darker than the rest of the night. I freeze and suddenly fear runs its fingers down my spine making my whole body shudder. 

"Hello!? Is- Is someone out there?" My voice shakes slightly as I speak and I hide my shaking hands under my jacket, not wanting the person to know just how scared I was of their unknown presence. "Ple-please come out, i didn't mean to scare you away from your fire- loo-look I'll leave."  I stare at the darkness for only one last moment before I move to take off, my eyes lingering in the darkness as I take my first steps away from the fire.

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N I N A H A R T

Will

[Will]

[presto]

It's a girl. Well, more like a woman. A young woman. She does not look like she belongs here in the slightest bit. She has clothes that one could only achieve through choice, she has fair skin and hair which is not messy at all. She's even got the quake in her voice. I can tell she's trying to be brave though. Anyone who wanders into this part of the district always regrets it.

She's so vulnerable. I could just run up and mug her right now. She'd never know who I was, and would only get a glimpse of me. I've mugged before, but not many times. I don't like to mug because I have been mugged before. It's horrible. Absolutely horrible. It leaves you feeling like you're never safe, especially when you live on the streets. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

There are not desperate times.

Spring is coming. It's on its way and when spring comes everything becomes much easier. She doesn't need to start of the warm season with a blast of cold.

Then she says she's leaving. And she starts to. I feel mixed emotions about this. I should let her go, so that maybe she learns her lesson about coming into these parts of the district. It's always better to learn the easy way than the hard way. Why she approached the fire, though, is beyond me. But part of me wants to meet her. She looks harmless and she's in danger as long as she's within the boundaries of the sector. Maybe I could just show her out. That might work. Show her out, make sure she gets away safely, and then never see her again.

Yeah, that's what I'll do.

So I jump up, realizing that the sudden movement was probably incredibly startling. I quickly put my hands in the air, but not above my head, just by my shoulders, and I tell her,

"Hang on a second." I step out of the shadows. Or at least partially out. It's hard to tell when you're not the one trying to see. You might want someone to come with you."

credit to will

[/presto]