Status
Not open for further replies.

MaryGold

terrified to be known, desperate to be understood
Original poster
STAFF MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. One post per week
  3. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Adaptable
Genres
romance. angst. drama. modern. fantasy. supernatural. adventure. crime. period pieces.

[Dash=white]
A N N A L I E S E

[bg=#ccffcc][/BG]
tumblr_nbz0fi0QuL1tj9lrro5_250.gif
tumblr_nhhahdVsOD1sim304o1_250.gif
tumblr_nbz0fi0QuL1tj9lrro6_250.gif

[bg=#ccffcc][/BG]
Anna was afraid. And Anna was never afraid. Never.

Yes, it was vibrant, fearless, adventurous Anna who loved to face danger. Who loved a good challenge or dare no matter how scary it may be. Who always spoke her mind regardless of her peer and stood out, refusing to hide in the shadows. Who always ran toward the battle than away from it.

It was that Anna. The very same Anna who was currently running away as fast as her legs would carry her through the rainy night in the streets of San Francisco with no real sense of direction. She just kept running, not bothering to look behind her, or who she bumped into.

The only thing she was aware of was how hard her heart was pounding against her chest, wanting to burst out.

She was running out of breath and had no idea how much longer she could keep it up. But she tried to push through. after all, they were gaining on her quick, very quick. And they wouldn't stop until they had her in their grubby hands.

They called her a monster. In reality, they were the monsters. Chasing after, hurting and more than on occasions hurting her kind. And, why? Because they were afraid because they didn't understand. They found them to be abominations.

Those who possessed strange powers unlike any other human beings were deemed abominations. A smear in the world that needed to be wiped away. Some believed that anyway. The people who were chasing her believed that. And they would do what they thought was right with her. There was no telling what it would be. The only certain thing she knew was that it wouldn't be pleasant.

So, Anna kept going despite the pain in her chest developing from losing her breath. When she rounded the corner down an alleyway, she paused. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" She cursed, gasping for air.

Dead end.

"I think she went this way!"

"Come on!"

God dammit. They were fast. And too close. They'd find her in no time.

Anna was shivering uncontrollably in her drenched clothing. The freezing weather wasn't helping at all either. But, her mind was elsewhere. She didn't care what condition she was in at the moment as long as she could find safety.

Her eyes searched frantically for a place to escape a hiding spot. There was none. Then her eyes found it. The fire escape.

Immediately, she ran in the direction of her way out. She only got three steps up before she was grabbed by the back of her shirt and thrown to the wet and dirty cement ground.

She groaned and tried to stand before she could get up, a foot slammed into her back, making her collapse back onto the ground. She cried out in pain, squeezing her eyes shut, waiting for her headache to subside.

The boy, Ricky, crouched down to look her in the face."Anna, Anna, Anna, I never would have guessed you were one of those freaks." He spat in disgust.

It was three of them, Ricky and his two friends. Or goons more like it. They followed his every command without a second thought. Ricky was the only one she truly knew out of them, they were neighbors. He hung around her father. But she never liked him. He was cruel and horrid.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" She denied, snapping open her eyes and glaring at him with as much hate and fury she could muster. Which was a lot. "Now let me go you bastard!"

"Stop lying!" He shouted, appearing genuine angered by her lies. "We saw you, you were making things - thing float! It's unnatural! You're unnatural!"

Anna stayed silent. There was nothing she could think to say. They had seen her. She really was caught.

"Come on, Anna. Show us, show us what you can do." One of the boys taunted, pressing his foot to her face, squishing her head not very hard, yet it was painful all the same.

"I can't!" Cried Anna, tears spilling from her eyes. It was an honest answer. She couldn't. She didn't know how, not all the way, not yet. Sometimes it worked when she wanted it too, others it didn't. If it worked now, she would already be using it on the jerks. "Let me go!"

"Fine," Ricky said bitterly as he drew his pocket knife. "Then we'll just make you."

[/dash]
 
  • Love
Reactions: CrystalTears













He couldn't breathe. Every movement risked him getting caught, his target escaping and then he'd have to search months in order to get the same shot. Carefully he took a breath, inhaling the fresh air, but then quickly held it in his lungs. His hands were slightly trembling, mainly because he was so scared that he was going to mess it up. All his hard work, all for absolutely nothing. He blinked. The movement of his eyelashes against the scope felt like an earthquake, movement that flowed across the camera that seemed to spread all over his entire body. It was only a blink. He peeked over the scope, making sure that his target was still in its place, before he had to let out the breath he had kept in. Once more, he took yet another breath and held it. One last blink.

Snap!

"I got it!" Chris exhaled as the lilac butterfly escaped him, but now it didn't matter. He checked the digital camera that hung loosely around his neck with its strap, instantly checking if the picture was good enough. It was perfect. The background of the soil brought out the abstract of the white flower where the butterfly had landed, the wings were spread and some buildings were barely visible in the blurry background.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"I think she went this way!"

"Come on!"

He dropped his camera and followed the people he had seen running into the little alleyway, watching as the abuse was performed in front of him. It was disgusting. They were made as outcasts because of what they were given, if they had wanted it then they would have done more with them, but instead they went into hiding. If someone were told many enough times that they were "monsters", then the mind would just naturally follow that thought process after a while. If they wanted to see a monster, then here they were to provide that demon underneath the bed. For a second he wondered if he was to avoid them, walk away and let her deal with it. Ignore her situation. Most "monsters" like himself would, keep themselves in hiding and sacrifice someone else, but Chris knew that he wasn't that kind of a person. If he was to walk away from one of his own being in trouble, then how could he call himself any better than them? Someone had to stand up for them, and it was only going to be themselves.

"We saw you, you were making things - thing float! It's unnatural! You're unnatural!"

"Come on, Anna. Show us, show us what you can do."

"I can't!"

She couldn't? Could it be that she was new to all of this? Shit. That meant he had to step in, and it was only punctuated when the man drew out a pocket knife.

"You want a show that badly?" Chris asked as he put his camera into his bag and onto the ground. The last thing he wanted was to damage his camera. He rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and made sure the headset was properly placed over his ears.

"Curtain's up,"

He focused solely on the knife the other man held and allowed it to float up in the air before he flung it into the wall, making the blade dent and become useless. In the shock of them all Chris snapped his fingers, making a small sound that bounced off the walls.

His powers allowed him to see it. The wave the sound created, he could see its every movement. In the beginning he had found it so fascinating, how far a snap could be carried, though luckily he didn't need to travel far.

For everyone else they would have seen Chris snap his fingers before he disappeared in a blur and then reappeared with his fist connecting to the guy's --who had previously held the knife-- face. The force sent the guy flying into the same wall Chris had flung the knife, most of the impact came from the speed that Chris was moving. It was the speed of sound, he broke through the sound barrier each time he did that, and honestly. . . his hand did kind of hurt from that. There was some blood trickling down his knuckles, most likely from the tooth that Chris could have swore chipped his hand when he hit him.

"F- Freak!"

"Monster!"

Chris sent them a look as he couldn't help, but smirk as he was sure if he breathed on them they might wet their pants. "If you want to see this "freak" and "monster" so badly. . ." he began and shook his hand a bit, watching as both men showed off their own pocket knives. ". . . Then why don't I show you?" Chris snapped his fingers again and once more "disappeared" from sight, reappearing only to kick the knife out of the first goon's hand to quickly dodge the way out of the second's swipe with his knife.

His eyes were searching. Searching for the right "waves" so to say, and when he was finally close enough to find them Chris smirked. He grabbed what no one else could see and slowed them to a crawl, making both of the men fall asleep. It was their brain waves, if they had been friends he would probably have been able to read them, but the only thing he could do was slow them down. There was this fear in the back of his mind that one day he'd be able to stop brain waves completely, rendering someone brain dead and killing them. If he killed, then Chris would be no better than these three guys, the second he took up violence as an aggression instead of defensive, he'd stop being the victim.

"Jeez," he sighed and dusted off his sweater nonchalantly before grabbing the pocket knives they had been brandishing so proudly. "And to think you were so eager to see what a "freak" could do too," he casually complained --as if he wasn't the one that put them to sleep-- and then threw the knives into a pile of trash, they were out of sight.

Calmly he approached the girl that had been attacked, reaching out with his non-bloodied hand, offering to help her off the ground. "You gonna lay there all day? Can't be that comfortable," he stated as his other hand traveled up to his headset to adjust them. They nearly fell off from that little fight, if only he could have glued them to his ears or something.

"Before you panic. They're not dead. They're unconscious. They'll probably wake up during the next hour, so unless you wanna stay here until they wake up to make sure I'm not lying, I think it's a good idea to leave,"
 
  • Love
Reactions: MaryGold

[Dash=white]
A N N A L I E S E

[bg=#ccffcc][/BG]
tumblr_nbz0fi0QuL1tj9lrro5_250.gif
tumblr_nhhahdVsOD1sim304o1_250.gif
tumblr_nbz0fi0QuL1tj9lrro6_250.gif

[bg=#ccffcc][/BG]
Everything had all happened faster than her yes, yet alone her brain, could possibly comprehend. What had happened? how did he do that? Well, that was a stupid question. There was only one way he could have done that. And that would have meant he was like her. A freak, a monster, a witch. Honestly, she wasn't sure what to call herself, her kind. It was too confusing.

"You gonna lay there all day? Can't be that comfortable."

It took her a moment to get over her shock of the events that had just transpired, but she picked herself up. Her gaze never left him once as she stood, though, she didn't look him in the face yet. And as she did so, she tried to process all that he had said to her.

They weren't dead? "I wouldn't care if they were dead." Anna frowned, coming back to earth in an instant once remembering those jerks. Of course, she didn't really mean that. She would never wish that on anyone. They had hurt her, so she was glad to see those despicable human beings laying unconscious. "Assholes." She scoffed at their bodies.

"Okay, let's go." Because if he said was true and they'd wake up in a few hours. Then she didn't want to be anywhere in their vicinity when they came to. She was not physically nor emotionally prepared to deal with that again. Though, she was sure it wouldn't be the last she'd see of them. Nor would it be the last she'd receive that type of treatment.

Anna was quick to walk out of that alleyway, wiping the dirt and gravel from her face. Her tears had already dried, beside the way she was acting, it would be impossible ti tell she had even cried. Fortunately, she hadn't been severely hurt at all. "Anyway, thank you. That could have gone really badly ... "

The brunette honestly had a lot of questions to ask o the tip of her tongue, waiting to be blurted out. But she wanted to make sure he received and understood her gratitude before anything else. She lifted her eyes to stare him in the face, moving her hair out of her face.

[/dash]
 













Chris frowned a bit. It was okay to get angry considering what she had just been through, but anger and their kind of power never blended well together. "You're no better than them if you kill. I'm sure you know that," he added, but let it rest there. Words were said in anger and spite, it was only reasonable for her to do the same. They may not be considered "humans" anymore, but that didn't give them new emotional discipline or anything amazing like that. It gave them a target on their heads for the indescribable new abilities they gained. He helped her off the ground and rolled down the sleeves to his sweater, making sure that no blood got on it since his hand was still bleeding. It wasn't anything bad, but he must have hit the tooth or two of that first guy he decided to hit, it did seem to have dug into his hand pretty good though. Nothing a bandage wouldn't fix, if not even bandaid depending on how deep the tooth managed to chip his hand.

He walked over to where he left his camera bag and put it over his shoulder again, giving his camera a quick lookover just to make sure it hadn't gotten damaged in the fight. The entire point in him going out was to work on his assignment, but in the end he saved a newbie. "Things did go badly. The best option is if you weren't discovered at all or they didn't care when they found out," Chris said as he turned around to take a look at her face. There was a small bruise on her cheek, it didn't seem to be bleeding too much, but at this rate it would get on her clothes. Gently he reached his hand out and used his clean hand to swipe his thumb over her bruise, catching any excess blood so it wouldn't drip on her shirt, and then shook his hand to get it off before repeating the action one more time.

"Don't mention it though. If we don't help each other, there's no one else that will," he gave her a quick smile before he retreated his hand and then peeked his head through the alleyway. It seemed as their little fight had gone unnoticed. That was the best case scenario. The last thing they needed was more people to discover what they could do, because that just meant more fights. Most people were extremists these days, they feared what would happen if "freaks" like them got to roam free and decided to exterminate them like bugs. They should be grateful that people with powers didn't just jump the gun before them and killed them all, most of the powers he had heard about and knew was really deadly if used "correctly".

"I'm guessing you're a newbie, new to whatever you were given. I overheard that guy talking to you a little bit. So you don't know how to control it then? Your power?" Chris asked, but kept his voice from being too loud since it would be a terrible idea to discuss it and have someone overhear their conversation. They also needed to get cleaned up, walking around all bloodied was sure to attract attention either way.

He lead the girl over to where he had parked his motorbike and grabbed the helmet before giving it to her. "I live close by, you can clean up at my place," the main reason he gave her the helmet was to hide the bruise on her cheek so few people would notice, but another reason just laid in his personality. He was a protective person by nature, protecting others over himself came to him as naturally as breathing. He mounted the bike and then got seated himself, starting the engine only after he had adjusted the camera bag to make sure it didn't go flying.

"By the way. The name's Christopher. Call me Chris," He introduced himself before he ignited the engine and drove into the town in order to get to the apartment building he was currently living in.

 

[Dash=white]
A N N A L I E S E

[bg=#ccffcc][/BG]
tumblr_nbz0fi0QuL1tj9lrro5_250.gif
tumblr_nhhahdVsOD1sim304o1_250.gif
tumblr_nbz0fi0QuL1tj9lrro6_250.gif

[bg=#ccffcc][/BG]

Anna winced slightly when he brushed his thumb against her bruise. He was gentle so it didn't hurt too much, but she hadn't realized it was there before he reached out and wiped away the blood. She had been so shocked and scared at the time that the fact she was injured never came to her mind.

But now that she was considerably more stable, she could feel all of the aches and sores in her bones, the weakness in her legs and, of course, the pain in her bruised cheek. She was exhausted, all that running had worn her down along with those extremist assholes knocking her around, she was a mess. And frankly, in no condition to reject his offer.

Why would she want to anyway? He was obviously not new to his abilities and she had lots of questions half of them which she was sure he wouldn't be able to answer. She was just happy to know someone like her. There wasn't much more she could ask for at this point. And that was okay. She had to look at the bright side of things.

Anna brushed her long fine hair off her shoulders and pulled the helmet over her head before joining him on the bike.

"I'm Anneliese. Everyone calls me Anna, though." She replied to him as he drove, holding on rather tight. Normally she may have had a loose grip, but her body was so weak at the moment she was sure she'd fall off if she didn't. "Can I ask how you were able to do that? I mean, I can't always get my powers to work when I want them too."

It was strange to be able to open up to someone about this, but also great. She needed to talk to someone. And it couldn't be anyone in her family. Oh no, they were the last people she could talk to. And though she was unable to open to even her closest friends, she could to him. He was like her after all.

[/dash]
 
  • Love
Reactions: CrystalTears
If I could dream myself away, I would do it.
















"Suppose I should say it's 'nice to meet you', but I'm sure the circumstances could have been better." Chris replied to her as he drove through the town. If a police officer happened to change his gaze over to him right now he might be in trouble for driving without a helmet, but hopefully in these dead streets were people or "freaks" or whatever they were labeled as was attacked out in the open, they wouldn't care too much about him illegally driving on his motorbike without a helmet. Maybe if he told the officer that he had powers he wouldn't care, because if Chris flew off his bike because he crashed into a tree or a car, then that would be one less to worry about for the officer. They were all just scared. Scaredy-cats that didn't know how to handle the "different" people that were "gifted" with some strange powers. They turned to violence as if they had turned into monsters when they discovered what God --or whatever-- had bestowed upon them. If they were the "monsters" then what the hell did it make them? They kicked people while they were down, and most people with powers refused to fight back.

But of course. . . They were the outcasts for being different. It was okay to abuse someone who didn't know why they were given something, because they were a "monster", while those who were kicking and hitting until blood ran were "humans". Honestly, Chris didn't know which one was worse. Being a "monster" or "human".

Fortunately the ride through the town had gone without any obstacles. Chris had also made sure to drive with the utmost caution and kept himself underneath the speed limit, he had a passenger, would be too rude to give her a heart attack, especially since he was basically a stranger and she was being almost too cooperative.

They pulled over into the garage of the apartment block. It was a spacious area with tons of other vehicles crowding the area, some parked within the lines and others not. It looked rather used and there was some litter tossed carelessly around the ground, obviously not newly built, but still somewhat well-maintained if one ignored the paint that was beginning to chip off the walls. "We'll talk inside the apartment." Chris told Anna so she didn't think he had ignored her earlier. It was hard talking without a helmet while going 37 miles per hour, and the garage had cameras and people could walk in on them. Talking about powers in the open was like writing a suicide note, though the time of death might not be until another hour or two.

Chris told Anna to just leave the helmet with his bike, before leading her over to the elevator. The garage was in the "basement" of the apartment block, so the elevator had been built to connect both the garage and the apartments. Chris pressed the button for the 13th of fifteen floors, watching the button light up before some dull old elevator music began playing. The walls of the elevator had its upper half made full of mirrors, the bottom was some metal that had a dent in the back, and bars separated the two. The floor was covered by some tasteless old red carpet, that had a couple of stains that seemed to be very old coffee or some other liquid that luckily didn't smell. "I take it that it hasn't happened often. That thing." Chris spoke up to break the silence between the two.

"Don't worry that they know and are still alive. They probably won't go telling off to people they got their asses handed to them by a "freak" proudly. You should be safe from them harassing you any more than they already have." Chris explained before the elevator dinged and he lead the way over to his apartment. 1327. The jingle of keys echoed down the hallway as Chris pulled them out of his pockets, opening the door and allowing Anna to enter first before closing and locking the door after them.

The apartment itself didn't look too bad. It held light grey wooden floors that had a couple of carpets underneath the living room and the dinner table. The living room was right in front of them, off to the left was the kitchen and to the right was two doors, presumably the bathroom and the bedroom. The interior was modern with minimum decorations, the only thing that kept the place from looking too expensive was the lack of a TV.

"I'll get the medkit. Sit down in the meantime." Chris offered as he practically flung off his black sneakers into the corner of the small hallway and stepped into the door closest to the wall that was basically made out of glass --the far wall in the living room-- and reappeared after a couple of minutes with said medkit. Before he began he put his camera bag on the table, and then he crouched down in front of her and grabbed a small tissue from the box before dipping it in some disinfectant, carefully dabbing it against her bruise knowing it would probably sting like hell. "It takes time to do what I did. It doesn't always work so flawlessly either. After some practice I'm sure you'd be able to do the same. Whatever you got, don't just go killing off people. I wouldn't have used my powers if I didn't think it was necessary. I probably could have helped you without if there weren't three of them." Chris said as he balled up the tissue and threw it over in the trash can in the corner, grabbing a new one and wiping carefully away at Anna's cheek to get the blood off.

Luckily nothing had gotten on her shirt, but there was some caught in her hair. His helmet probably needed a wash, but he could fix that later. "How long have you known? You can't have known for long considering your questions to me." Chris proceeded before using his free hand to let the headset rest on his shoulders. The only place he could really take them off, home. "Do you even know what you have? That's at least a starting point." He added before putting a waterproof band aid over her bruise. That should do nicely, and allow her to wash her face of any dirt that might still be left. He sat down in the couch next to her and let out a sigh. Today was meant to be the day he worked on his project for college, but it seemed as if he wouldn't have much time for that today. Maybe he should have walked away, save himself some trouble, but now he was stuck with a newbie.

At least the worst had already happened, so hopefully that would be the only highlight of the day.
 
  • Love
Reactions: MaryGold
Status
Not open for further replies.