wanderlust | aza

[umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars]]

R A V E N
B A R K E R

What was falling to those who could fly but a sick cruel joke?

What was flying to those who could only fall but a dream to never see the light of day?

Her steps were careful then, but it had taken practice. She remembered when she stumbled her way through life, and work had gotten her where she was. Her hand tightened around the handle of her brother's hatchet. Near the end of the handle, he had scratched the letter "G.B." into the rough wood. Directly above, were now the letter "R.B." She raised the hatchet in the air as she spun in a complete circle.

She was not the bird for which she was named, but in that moment, she flew. For once n her lifetime, Raven Barker was not falling. She was not a victim, not by circumstance or unhappy coincidence. She was free, at least in those fleeting moments, and she could have disappeared and gone anywhere she so pleased.

But the blade was her wings, and as it left her fingertips, her feet remarried the ground. She watched as it tumbled end over end through the air and buried itself deep within the trunk on an old oak.

It was getting dark, she realized as she squinted through the treetops. Beneath the canopy of forest leaves, it was almost always dark, and oh, how she had grown used to living in shadows, but her mother would not have been pleased if she was not back at a decent time to make dinner.

Like most days, she stopped at the square of black fencing that took up several acres and walked through a gate marked "CEMETERY," but this day was particularly special. She found herself standing in front of the headstone on row nine, column seven. Gavin Barker was laid to rest there many years ago. A friend to some, an enemy to others, but a brother to her. And he was gone.

She pulled the small yellow flower from behind her ear and dropped it on the grave.

"Happy birthday, Gav."

The anger within her was real, and it grew stronger on days like that. A corrupt system was a corrupt system, no matter what people said. It was no matter of opinion; What happened every year would go on happening. More people would lose their Gavins and their Rowans. And she was just one girl. One stupid, clueless girl from a lower district, where no winners resided, where death was a sure bet.

Her careful feet carried her further and further away from two people she had once called family, and eventually when she turned around to look, she couldn't see them anymore.

What she did see when she turned around was potentially just as bad. A girl, a beautiful girl with blonde hair and a willowy stature walked quick pace, with a boy close behind. "Come on, pretty girl! I just wanna have a quick chat!" The boy was older. Much older. In fact, he was not a boy at all, but a grown man praying on the girl. As they passed Raven, he reached to grab her forearm, and instead, Raven intercepted.

"Step off, Pig. She isn't interested. And I suggest you leave now before you have to do so with a limp."

[D6f Carmen Cantelou [aza]]

BLAIR ✶ TATE

Sue is far away tonight.

I haven't seen him for a while. Not on television, not in my dreams, not in imagination. I'd often ponder upon what would life be like if our families had been stitched up and repaired, but there was no way of bringing back a corpse. My name has become a climb, a battle against a never-ending hill which is impossible to scale.

Still, hopelessness encourages me to wait just one more day in the hope that something with click and autumn leaves will fall down like pieces into place. Time was never on our side, and days peel away from beneath my fingertips and there's nothing I can do to stop them.

The memories remain, brittle bones and fragments of what could have been.

Thoughts interrupted, I sense movement behind me and continue walking along the dirt path. The feeling stays prominent as I weave between homes and past buildings. The sun hits the figure on the back and a shadow spills out across the brown plains in front of me. I turn only to be greeted by sunken eyes.

There stands a man taller than I, looming over me like I am caught in his web. Perhaps this was a consequence of being destined for misfortune. If the worst could happen to Sue and he was my blood, there was nothing to stop it happening to me. Failure is in my bloodstream and it's inescapable.

"Stop following me." I say, voice cracking under the pressure of being heard. His reply is slurred words and a fractured smile. He staggers out from the shadows and mirrors my movement as I step backwards one pace at a time.

My hands dive into my coat pockets and my gaze remains firmly on my fast moving feet which carry me past an old oak tree and through to the gate of the cemetery. A place for carcasses, perhaps this is where I'd fit in after he's done with me. 

"Come on, pretty girl! I just wanna have a quick chat!" He murmurs as I worm between headstones and graves, flowers of every colour littering the shades of grey to create a dirty rainbow. I look towards a girl standing in a bed of grass, desperation sketched into my face with high detail. 

"Step off, Pig. She isn't interested. And I suggest you leave now before you have to do so with a limp." The wind dances with the husky words of the girl and manages to knock the man back. He stumbles, at the sight before fleeing slowly but surely back through the way he followed me in.

"Thanks." My heart pounds in my chests, trying to break free of it's restrictions. "You're a lifesaver." I breathe heavily, a slight pant in my breathing as I feel tired with my getaway escape.

I look at her and she looks at me.

Brown hair with brown eyes, she's pretty. It's like there is a force making me stay alongside her, part of me wanting to get to know her and but part of me wanting to duck for cover.

Running to hide is no way to thank an everyday hero. Not in my books, at least.