Paint My Soul
Chapter 1
Della remembers the moment right after the comet. Funny, she can’t remember much before it or what she was even doing but she remembers the moment after. She’s got this ache in her head and people are crying and screaming out for help and the part she remembers most is her best friend and lover, Rowan, taking her hand and heaving her from the ground. He holding her face and touching her so gently that Della wonders if she’d died. His hands are red and she thinks he’s hurt but he looks fine so why are his hands red?
“Thought I lost you,” he muttered as he ripped a sleeve from his shirt and held it to her head and she’s forcing his hand away because she’s fine, she’s alive and they have to get out of here before they’re caught. One step and she’s grabbing out for him and she’s looking up at him like she’s confused because why can’t she walk properly. He puts the fabric back to her head and she’s pushing it away again before she sees that it’s red and it’s hers and she’s bleeding. But of course, head wounds bleed a lot right?
The sirens are loud and they hurt and she’s looking around trying to find the source of the panic and she can’t see anything because her vision is red now and she’s swaying on her feet. Rowan begs her to sit down so he can see if she’s going to die and she laughs at him because if she was going to die it wasn’t going to be this way. She wasn’t going out with a stupid head wound that won’t stop bleeding. How pathetic. She’s pushing his shaking hands away and she’s trying to stand up and she’s watching as more and more sirens and lights appear on the scene and she is trying to remember what happened to her or what is going on. People are just as confused as she is, she can tell by the shouted questions and they way they’re looking around like she is.
He’s doing it again, trying to put that piece of his shirt on her head and she’s annoyed because she isn’t a broken or lost child, she doesn’t need to be taken care of. Her anger fuels her, she’s up on her feet and running away from the area and he’s following behind but she’s smaller and can run faster, get through areas he can’t. That’s why she’s better at what they do, that’s why she does the hard part and he get the credit but that’s fine because they share the reward equally because they love each other.
She’s down in the underground and it’s not much better and she’s feeling dizzy and her head really hurts so she sits down for a moment and the next thing she knows she’s in this place, this beautiful little garden full of roses and rabbits and children playing. She sees people she’s never met before and they’re speaking a language she doesn’t know but somehow understands and she’s trying to figure out where she is. She must have passed out and her brain is messing with her because that wound probably hit something important and now she’s probably going to die like this in the underground in a place her mind has made up because that’s just the cruel way Della should go.
But she’s not dead, because she wakes up and she’s in the hospital. She’s got this bandage on her head and this brace on her neck and Rowan is standing next to her and he’s crying. He’s holding her hand and he’s crying and she blinks at him and croaks out a stupid line of how he can’t get rid of her that easily and he just shakes his head because he isn’t crying over Della, he’s crying over his sister that he lost. She’s dead and Della wants to punch something but she can’t because she’s stuck in this bed and he’s holding on to her hand like she might leave him and she never would.
She’s been out for days and Rowan thought he was going to lose her too and he has been spending time between his sister’s room and Della’s room and never once has he gone home to change his clothes or bathe or anything because he’s a mess and he can’t lose them both. And when Della is released, he’s telling her about this guy and how he’s to blame because if he hadn’t convinced his sister to run away with him, to go anywhere then she would still be alive. Della vows then to help him avenge Laura and she promises that if they ever find out who the guy was, she would kill him and Rowan kisses her so softly that Della thinks she’s died again because he’s never done that before.
She learns days later that she’s inhuman, like some others and Rowan, because of that comet and it did funny things to everyone around the world. Della learned she could walk into people’s dreams but it evolved when she made Rowan go to sleep with a thought and then she could change his dream as she wanted. She still thought it was pretty awful, really, because he got levitation while she could play around in dreams. How lame, right?
It wasn’t until months, almost a year, that she met him– her dream boy. The music drew her in and she couldn’t find the source of it so she just watched him from afar time and time again until she started playing around in his dreams. Small things at first, a little color there, a few flowers there. Just something to make him happy because he had seemed to sad. But Della didn’t care if people were sad or lonely, right? Why should she care if this stranger has color in his dreams, maybe he likes it this way? And then one day, she’s talking to him and she’s coming back time and time again. She notices that she’s no longer having to put the color there, it’s growing it’s own. The music is no longer background playing but coming from his violin and there are always beautiful stars in the sky.
It takes them months for them to get past casual conversation and to talk about their dreams and their hopes and their desires– but never names or where they live, their life, their past. No, those are off-limits topics because she doesn’t want the real world in her perfect world, she doesn’t want it tainted. She doesn’t want her prince to change.
Rowan sees the difference in her slowly, how she no longer acts the same to him but instead treats him more of a friends than anything. The casual touches and brushes stop and she’s stopped kissing him all together. No longer does she tell him she loves him and so he stops too. It’s not that Della doesn’t love him or doesn’t care for him, but she just has greater feeling for this boy in his dreams. Foolish but at the same time not, because if it’s just in his dreams then they can’t hurt each other because there can’t be anything to go wrong. No envious people and no lies or manipulations– just the two of them in the garden. And Della never wants that to change.
“Thought I lost you,” he muttered as he ripped a sleeve from his shirt and held it to her head and she’s forcing his hand away because she’s fine, she’s alive and they have to get out of here before they’re caught. One step and she’s grabbing out for him and she’s looking up at him like she’s confused because why can’t she walk properly. He puts the fabric back to her head and she’s pushing it away again before she sees that it’s red and it’s hers and she’s bleeding. But of course, head wounds bleed a lot right?
The sirens are loud and they hurt and she’s looking around trying to find the source of the panic and she can’t see anything because her vision is red now and she’s swaying on her feet. Rowan begs her to sit down so he can see if she’s going to die and she laughs at him because if she was going to die it wasn’t going to be this way. She wasn’t going out with a stupid head wound that won’t stop bleeding. How pathetic. She’s pushing his shaking hands away and she’s trying to stand up and she’s watching as more and more sirens and lights appear on the scene and she is trying to remember what happened to her or what is going on. People are just as confused as she is, she can tell by the shouted questions and they way they’re looking around like she is.
He’s doing it again, trying to put that piece of his shirt on her head and she’s annoyed because she isn’t a broken or lost child, she doesn’t need to be taken care of. Her anger fuels her, she’s up on her feet and running away from the area and he’s following behind but she’s smaller and can run faster, get through areas he can’t. That’s why she’s better at what they do, that’s why she does the hard part and he get the credit but that’s fine because they share the reward equally because they love each other.
She’s down in the underground and it’s not much better and she’s feeling dizzy and her head really hurts so she sits down for a moment and the next thing she knows she’s in this place, this beautiful little garden full of roses and rabbits and children playing. She sees people she’s never met before and they’re speaking a language she doesn’t know but somehow understands and she’s trying to figure out where she is. She must have passed out and her brain is messing with her because that wound probably hit something important and now she’s probably going to die like this in the underground in a place her mind has made up because that’s just the cruel way Della should go.
But she’s not dead, because she wakes up and she’s in the hospital. She’s got this bandage on her head and this brace on her neck and Rowan is standing next to her and he’s crying. He’s holding her hand and he’s crying and she blinks at him and croaks out a stupid line of how he can’t get rid of her that easily and he just shakes his head because he isn’t crying over Della, he’s crying over his sister that he lost. She’s dead and Della wants to punch something but she can’t because she’s stuck in this bed and he’s holding on to her hand like she might leave him and she never would.
She’s been out for days and Rowan thought he was going to lose her too and he has been spending time between his sister’s room and Della’s room and never once has he gone home to change his clothes or bathe or anything because he’s a mess and he can’t lose them both. And when Della is released, he’s telling her about this guy and how he’s to blame because if he hadn’t convinced his sister to run away with him, to go anywhere then she would still be alive. Della vows then to help him avenge Laura and she promises that if they ever find out who the guy was, she would kill him and Rowan kisses her so softly that Della thinks she’s died again because he’s never done that before.
She learns days later that she’s inhuman, like some others and Rowan, because of that comet and it did funny things to everyone around the world. Della learned she could walk into people’s dreams but it evolved when she made Rowan go to sleep with a thought and then she could change his dream as she wanted. She still thought it was pretty awful, really, because he got levitation while she could play around in dreams. How lame, right?
It wasn’t until months, almost a year, that she met him– her dream boy. The music drew her in and she couldn’t find the source of it so she just watched him from afar time and time again until she started playing around in his dreams. Small things at first, a little color there, a few flowers there. Just something to make him happy because he had seemed to sad. But Della didn’t care if people were sad or lonely, right? Why should she care if this stranger has color in his dreams, maybe he likes it this way? And then one day, she’s talking to him and she’s coming back time and time again. She notices that she’s no longer having to put the color there, it’s growing it’s own. The music is no longer background playing but coming from his violin and there are always beautiful stars in the sky.
It takes them months for them to get past casual conversation and to talk about their dreams and their hopes and their desires– but never names or where they live, their life, their past. No, those are off-limits topics because she doesn’t want the real world in her perfect world, she doesn’t want it tainted. She doesn’t want her prince to change.
Rowan sees the difference in her slowly, how she no longer acts the same to him but instead treats him more of a friends than anything. The casual touches and brushes stop and she’s stopped kissing him all together. No longer does she tell him she loves him and so he stops too. It’s not that Della doesn’t love him or doesn’t care for him, but she just has greater feeling for this boy in his dreams. Foolish but at the same time not, because if it’s just in his dreams then they can’t hurt each other because there can’t be anything to go wrong. No envious people and no lies or manipulations– just the two of them in the garden. And Della never wants that to change.