among the pits and welts of the muddied pathway, there’s a heavy stench. an unsteady wayward - slope towards abandoned lakefront, one could easily lose their way if they didn’t follow the trail. she stands with lone flashlight, weathered leaves entangled to onyx - mane, a tremble works from her very depths and her fingers tighten ‘round beacon. [ you shouldn’t be here, you should turn back now — ] ghoul - whispers croon in ears, her sneakers befoul ‘pon sullied graves that have been long forgotten with time.
each step weighs like a stone, faint but loaded all the same, as she grows closer to desired point. abra’s eyelashes are a moth wing’s flutter unto cheeks, desperate blinking to keep tearducts at bay as the smell grows, of blighted decay and — she can almost see the scene before her as clear as day : another gifted soul who shined brighter than others taken before their time. even in death their presence is still there in the soil, in the deadened grass, an invisible array of clues that haven’t been touched upon just yet.
[ there’s no body. find the body. keep looking. ]
footfalls across from her, that’s what causes fright in her throat. quivering hold of the flashlight veers to the left, it gleams unceremoniously on familiar features, and she blinks again, bewildered, a swift tuck ‘hind her back of the crumbled sheet of paper in opposite hand — MISSING PERSONS : JOSHUA BANKS, ANY INFORMATION CALL 855 - 0924. ❝ what - what’re you doing here? ❞
air damper than dry lands of home momentary subject of ecological fascination ( the SOLITUDE of the forest fascinated she who cannot immerse in anything but herself ) has since morphed into the STICKY thing that adheres thick bangs to forehead. a desire — bearing more semblance to the idea of desire, that she SHOULD desire than desire itself — to turn around fixates itself in the turn of her heel. recently shined shoes now muddied from excursion into the pale yellow and green - great. the simultaneous CRUNCH and SQUISH of the ground enough cause to make step back towards temporary shelter.
nothing to see in the woods of wherever the fuck we are, just the stench of some poor animal dying: what she’ll muse at the array of abandoned, now inquiring, company.
the silence of melancholy breaks with a shift in the shadows; did someone follow? BETRAYAL! INTRUSION the deepening of a frown; knives released, slide between fingers. languid motions now bristling with introverted violence. black locks whips into the nearest tree as mai’s gaze befalls her visitor. no avatar here. BUMMER. a sigh passes through pressed lips; she’s prepared for disappointment when a BLINDING light hits gilded eyes.
there’s a decided YOUTH to the voice across from her, one mai meets rarely. a pause for contemplation, for exhausted teenager to muster energy enough to respond. ❛ I WAS BORED ❜ the words grate against underused vocal cords as they pass through her mouth. ❛ WHY ? ❜ ZUKO the sole benefactor of a pass for unprovoked anxiety; there may yet be a cure in these woods for your eternal boredom ! red sweater sleeves cross to conceal previously deployed daggers: she’s curious, not dangerous. a long step towards the girl. they’re around the same age. she bends at the hip, cartoonishly peering into partnered personal space ——
❛ what is here, anyway?❜
