Suri swallowed hard, lowering her head. She gripped the black strap on her shoulder and stepped to the side, passing her teacher to enter the hallway of chipped, grey lockers. The further she stepped from the classroom, the quicker her steps became.
Her brown eyes followed the lines in the linoleum floors as she made her way to the exit; her free hand shook as she opened the metal doors to face the crisp winter air.
The school grounds were winding and empty. There was no one to stop her from swiftly stomping down the damp gravel path leading back to the urban center that was hiding just beyond the tree line. The melted snow splattered over her sneakers as she stomped her feet towards the emerging cement sidewalks.
Lacuna had a way of swallowing people whole. The island used to be a vacation area but eventually the tourists just ended up staying. Seasonal weather and forest bound lakes drove them to build the condominiums that reached up through scattered market places.
Eventually those condos just pushed the suburban side streets further and further out. It was a bustling, commercialism driven island. However, as Suri pressed further and further into the congested sidewalks of Lacuna City, the epicenter of commerce and scumbags, she demonstrated precisely how easy it was to disappear into the aimless crowds.
That’s what she counted on. Invisibility. Being seen and noticed, to her, was exhausting.
Using her reddening fingers to tug her hood more tightly around her face, she continued to step around the flow of people like a rock parting a river—heavy and dull in the vibrancy of the sellers’ booths. Except the people taking pictures and spending money on artisan crafts weren’t what she was focused on as her eyes passed over them remotely.
Though her feet clung to the dirty cement beneath her, her mind was wandering away, fixated on reaching her intended destination.
Normally, she would have been on her way home by now, but today was different. Today she had finished the last of her missing school work. Today she had hugged her friends tightly on their way out of class, much to their surprise. Today she was going to fall into the abyss that life had carved out for her.
All that Suri needed to do was make it to the train station.
Her thoughts absorbed her, circled her into an engrossed frenzy that distracted her from the life bustling in the area she moved through.
Therefore, as she curved around the green rails of the train station stairway, she didn’t notice the lively individual rushing up the steps and moving straight towards her. He loosely dodged her, but his arm brushed against hers just enough that it made her stagger to escape the encounter. Unfortunately, she was too close to the edge to afford the luxury of space.
She slipped from the landing, trying to twist to catch herself by holding out her thin arms. Not as if it would help. The diamond texture of the stair grips readied themselves to tear into her palms and round face. Her body swung forward, splaying her hair out beneath her grey hood and her bookbag tried to flip over her head as her feet lost traction. The only thing she could do was squeeze her eyes shut and accept her fate.
Whatever, she thought. It wouldn’t be the first time something happened that she couldn’t change.
Then as quickly as she fell forward, she was pulled backwards. If she hadn’t been holding her breath, the firm arm being wrapped around her would have winded her as she was effortlessly tugged away from the stairs and whipped through the air. The ground broke her fall when she landed roughly on her hip, but the firm arm braced across her midsection kept her from hitting her head.
When the person behind her moved, her eyes peeked open over her round, blushing cheeks to follow the receding arm towards the boy it belonged to. He was leveled with her, having fallen to the ground in his attempt to correct the blunder he had caused. Beneath the messy bangs of his dark curls, his long lashes beat as he blinked at her in surprise, like she had been the one who had caught him off guard and not the other way around.
Before she could care to look at him more in depth, he moved to a stand. He was fairly tall, so after he brushed off his thick, black coat and donned an easy, apologetic smile, he had to bend at the waist to politely offer her a hand up. She took it reluctantly.
“Thanks,” she murmured beneath her increasing embarrassment. When her gratitude was met with silence, she stopped wiping the dirt from her uniform pants and looked at his curious expression through the frazzled strands of her hair.
Crap, she thought. Her hair.
Comments (18)
See all