Burning Cities

I was driving blindly, because I didn't know where I was taking myself. Just driving through traffic like some lost little kid who was absolutely too frightened to just stay put and wait for its parents to come back and get it. But unfortunately, my parents wouldn't be coming. And plus, I didn't need them. I just needed to find peace and solitude in some public place. Any public place possible.

My knuckles were practically turning white as I gripped the steering wheel, because if I let go, I feared I'd fall into a million tiny and fragile pieces. My chest was rising up and down quickly as I heaved for air, and tears were streaming from my eyes. Did this mean that Alan and I were over? I ran from him and even though he'd run after me, his intentions were dark and completely evil. I don't want any part of that.

But now I'm all alone with no friends to turn to and no body I can just show up like a ninja and pour my heart out to them about what happened. I use to have that, but because I'm stupid enough to believe every word he's said, I gave that all away to be a slave. Still I can't turn back to him, even if the loneliness would surely kill me, it would be a lot safer then sticking around Alan any longer.

I realized I had pulled into the parking space of one of the many parks that were scattered around town. Washington Park was the biggest park, I believe, in the town because it had an open space that was surrounded by trees that blocked the view of the road. It had small hills and a little creek with a stone bridge that separated the space for the outside dome theater and the actual playground. I need a place like this.

The snow crunched underneath my black soft boots, with fake gray fur on the inside that peaked out at the top, making it warm and comfy. I loved these boots to death, and wore them with nearly everything during the winter. Speaking of winter, the air was cold and bit at my nose, but I enjoyed it. Even if I tried to shy away into my black coat (with the matching gray fur) I loved the feeling of the coldness against the sweat that was still cooling on my skin and underneath my clothes. And feeling the cold made me feel slightly more numb to Alan.

Alan. Now my blood just boils in completely disgust at the thought of him. Thinking about the way he touched me makes my skin crawl. I can't believe I had let him do that.

I sighed softly, watching my breath in the air and it disappear. I wonder what I would give to end up like a soft sigh in the cold air. The closer it is to the mouth, the more you can see it, and the farther it floats away, it vanishes. I want to vanish. Poof. Just like that.

I had walked all the way to the tall tower on the far west side of the park, surrounded by a platform of gravel underneath the snow. It was completely made out of rusting metal, and the one floor it had could only be reached by a tunnel with a latter inside running up the middle. The top of the tower had bars that surrounded it and a metal roof. I bet it was dry, and I coveted it for a place to sit. There were slides that branched off of it too, only on the south side of the tower, and a labyrinth of stairs to a little lower level that wasn't really all that exciting. But ducking into the tiny hole to get into the tunnel and climbing up it, the coldness of the latter numbing my fingers, made me feel like a little kid again.

When I had climbed out of the tunnel, crawling away from it and standing, I gasped when I realized somebody else was up here. And my breath caught in my throat when he looked at me, and I saw it was the kid who delivered the take out to my house last night. The kid with those blue eyes..

"Um...Hi." I said nervously, feeling heat rise up to my cheeks and my neck sweat.

"Your the girl who answered the door last night." His voice was a tenor tone and was unbelievably smooth. Rich with vibrations. I reached out to feel his emotions, and all I felt wash over me was calmness. His face tightened a bit, like he could feel I was doing it, so I pulled away quickly.

"Yeah, that'd be me."

"Why don't you come and join me, you seem rather frazzled." Indeed I was, I thought to myself as I hesitantly walked towards where he sat by the slides, sitting far enough away that our knees were twelve inches apart.

"Don't you think it's weird that your right here, and I'm right here after you delivered food to my house?" I asked him curiously, and he grinned and chuckled gently.

"It's a small world," he said while fiddling with his fingers, "plus I believe in fate. And maybe it's fate that brought us here."

I smiled at that, feeling my heart flutter and a new feeling fill my stomach. It wasn't his either. This was all me this time, and I felt a little scared at what it meant. I'm a little low on the boyfriend/girlfriend experience department, because the only experience I have is what I've been through with Alan, and from what I see with other couples who look genuinely happy with each other, that was an irrational relationship.

"Your very animated when you think." He pointed out, and my skeleton jumped a little at the way his voice startled me. I remembered in that instance how horrible Alan would make me feel for thinking around him.

"I'm so sorry." I whimpered, wrapping my arms around my waist. He placed his hand on my knee softly, almost like a feather had gone and landed there.

"Nothing to worry about. Thinking is good."

I almost wanted to make a snide comment about how Alan thought differently, but I bit my lip. That would be completely rude and unfair to the stranger boy before me.

"My names Devin." His hand lifted from my knee and was before me, and I shook it with reluctance. "Your a shy, fragile little thing aren't you?"

"Yeah...I suppose I am. My names Estella, but people mostly call me Ella" I looked up from the metal floor of the tower to his face, his eyes soft and his face gentle and handsome like an angel. I wanted to reach out and touch him, wondering if he felt cold like stone, or warm like the skin of a baby.

He then lifted himself slightly, taking out a duct tape wallet that was black on the outside and red on the inside, and pulled it open to reveal some green cash. I wondered what he was doing. Then he explained, "when I pick up random girls like this, well in your case, when they just happen to come to me, I take them out for ice cream. I have fifteen bucks. Care for a blizzard?"

No way. "Do you really pick up damsels in distress?"

He chuckled, "no, not really. I assume you have a car, because we're going to need one."

I nodded and stood up just as he did, and he took my hand. It was a perfect fit for mine, and was warm and completely welcoming. I felt warm and full as he led me to the slides and we slid down them to the snowy ground at the bottom. It didn't feel comically cliche the way Alan and I use to be before he had revealed to me his true form. It felt right.