immediately after an interaction: i have GOT to get more normal oh god i need to get more normal immediately i have to get more normal or they're going to hunt me down they're going to hunt me down and flay me for sport
during an interaction: and why not put a little spin on it? why not add some conversational zest?
Katelyn didnโt know how far she had run. She just knew it wasnโt far enough. She never felt like she was far enough away from the ache in her chest as it tightened down around her. The trees blurred in streaks of green as she ran, branches scratched at her arms, and the wind brought the tears she tried so hard to keep hidden to her eyes. Her breath came in short bursts, sharp and uneven, her ribs aching from the pressure she had held in for far too long.
When she finally broke through the treeline and stumbled into a clearing of grass, her legs gave out beneath her. She dropped to her knees without grace or hesitation, hands sinking into the cold, damp earth. Her blue hair a mess of tangles and knots, she was sure she had leaves and twigs tangled into it. The sky hung heavy overhead, the clouds were thick and unmoving, casting a grey haze over her already looming mood. The only sound was her raspy breathing... until it wasnโt.
The tremors, tremors she grew accustomed to, started beneath her palms.
She barely noticed at first, too wrapped in the storm rising inside her to realize that the earth beneath her started to shake and tremble. The ground seemed to sense her pain as it responded with cracks that split through the soil like veins. Stones shuddered and tore free from the earth, rising in jagged spirals around her. Vines snapped awake beneath the surface and clawed their way into the open, twisting like venomous serpents through the grass. Everything she had worked so hard to suppress surged outward in an instant, and the clearing became a mirror of the chaos she had tried to hide.
Her shoulders trembled as she folded forward, her elbows pressed to the dirt, her hands clenching into fists in her hair. She couldnโt breathe. Couldnโt think. She had spent so long pretending she had it under control, convincing herself she could carry it, that she didnโt need to tell anyone, that it wasnโt as bad as it felt. Now, with the forest shuddering around her and her powers rising against her, all of her carefully constructed lies started to tear apart at their seams. The worst part was how familiar it felt to break apart for her. Her mind spiraled with memories of when she was younger, when her anger had made rocks tumble and burst.
The earth shook harder, caverns splitting apart in large gouges. The rocks popped in loud explosions, the grass, once a shade of light green, now brown and dry under her hands. The trees shook with an unspeakable force, similar to that of her shoulders. Their roots ripping from the ground in ear-splitting crackles.
It was so loud around her that she didnโt hear the footsteps that trailed behind her. The earth was too loud, her heartbeat too fierce. It wasnโt until she heard her name, nearly inaudible over the deafening roar of the earth around her. The voice was low, yet familiar. Katelyn's eyes shot up towards the voice. Travis stood at the edge of the clearing, frozen and wide-eyed. His usual boyish grin was nowhere to be seen, replaced by something more serious. Worry was evident in his emerald eyes. The wind ruffled his white hair as he scanned the destruction, taking in the floating stones, the cracks and cannons that tore across the ground, the way the trees bent toward the chaos as if being pulled by an invisible current. Then his eyes found her, and something in his expression shifted.
She flinched as his eyes landed on her, shame filling up her chest. โTravis, donโt. Please. You have to get away from me.โ Her voice was strained and rough.
Despite her warnings, Travis refused to move.
โI mean it,โ she snapped, her voice rising with panic. โI canโt stop it. I donโt know what Iโll do.โ
His eyes scanned through the damage, then took a cautious step forward. He shifted his weight slightly as he carefully stepped over the large cracks.
Then the earth... shifted.
Where his foot touched the cracked earth, the tremors stopped. The dry brown grass started to turn green under his foot and spread calmly around him; it was brought back to life, vibrant and green, beneath him. The rocks began to drift back down, settling softly into the soil as if they had never risen at all. The vines that had wrapped tightly around her ankles calmed, curling loosely and slowly receding. With every step he took, the clearing seemed to breathe again. The destruction faded like it had only been waiting for him to appear.
Katelyn watched him approach, stunned. He didnโt look fearful like the people in her past had. There was no hesitation in his stride, no judgment in his face. When he reached her, he knelt slowly, giving her time to pull away if she wanted. But she didn't, she stayed there, knelt in the dirt, watching her white haired lover in awe.
He reached out carefully, his fingers brushing against her cheek, softly wiping away the tears she hadnโt realized were still falling. His hands were warm against her cold skin.
โI was looking for you,โ he said quietly. โI didnโt know where you went. But I knew something was wrong.โ
She tried to look away, but he gently turned her face back toward him. His expression was serious. His face was no longer adorned with the overconfident, cocky grin he always wore like armor. His green eyes held a genuine concern, small creases appearing between his eyebrows.
โYou didnโt hurt me,โ he whispered, like it was the simplest truth in the world. Her voice trembled as she spoke, โYou shouldโve been scared.โ โI was,โ he admitted. โBut not because of you. I was scared that you thought you had to go through this alone.โ
Her shoulders tensed again, the overwhelming weight of everything pressing down on her. She had been alone for so long in this. She hadnโt meant to be. She had justโฆ assumed. Assumed no one could understand her. Assumed her strength would always turn dangerous if she let anyone close enough to see the cracks. She had worked so hard to be composed, to stay in control. And even now, she wasnโt sure what frightened her more: that he had seen the full force of what she could doโฆ or that he hadnโt run from it.
Travis looked around the clearing. The vines had gone still, and there was the quiet chirp of birds at the edge of the clearing. The forest was peaceful again, the flowers near her blooming in soft blues and violets, their petals turned toward him like they recognized something in him that she hadnโt.
He looked back at her, his voice quieter now. โWhatever this isโฆ I think the earth knows Iโm not here to hurt you.โ
Her breath caught in her throat. She didnโt know what to say to that. There were so many things she had planned to keep buried, so many pieces of herself she had never wanted anyone to see. But somehow, he had found her in the middle of all of it, and the world had let him through.
She didnโt reply right away. Instead, she reached up and took hold of his hand as she stood, grounding herself in something solid. As their fingers intertwined together, the vines stirred awake from around her ankles. They swooped around the two carefully, like soft ocean waves. Her powers, once wild and sharp-edged, had quieted in his presence. They were not erased, no, they can never be, but they were no longer raging. For the first time in what felt like days, maybe even weeks, the ache in her chest had softened enough for her to breathe.
Travis didnโt pull away. He just stood there with her, in the heart of the forest, his thumb brushing slow circles over the back of her hand.
The forest had fallen quiet again, and for now, that was enough.
#public libraries are good because they let people access books they might never otherwise read#private book ownership is good because it's Yours#physical books are good because they last a long time and again it's Yours#ebooks are good because you can fit a whole library into the physical space of a single book and they're cheaper to produce#audiobooks are good because they're accessible to people with eyesight or visual reading issues and leave your hands free#in conclusion: all books are good and people should enjoy them however and whenever they can#(lest it be misunderstood I agree with you completely OP I just also really like books in general and it got away from me)
discoholicmusic
tangentwithtanner
kianamaiart
prguitarman
gracieabrams
vaporwave
