#zazu writes

[zazu75]

The classroom burns around her and she screams.

"Fire!" Her classmate shouts behind her. "There's a fire!!"

Other students scream. They start to run to the door.

"It's stuck!" One student cries.

"The windows!" Another one answers.

She stands there, staring at the fire, and thinks not again.

She remembers her home. Her sister. The fire.

She lost her sister that day.

Not again, she thinks as another student knocks her to the floor. There's a crash and the window shatters. Someone grabs her arm and pulls her to her feet.

"We need to get out of here!"

She moves her feet, but her eyes are on the fire.

Not again.

Not again.

[zazu75]

"Go"

"But I..."

"Just go."

"I--I didn't mean--"

"You didn't mean to say you wish you never met me?"

"I..."

"You're getting your wish. Get out of here. I never want to see you again!"

"I--I'm sorry--please--"

"Just go!"

"But--"

"GET OUT!!"

[zazu75]

"You okay?" He asks.

"I'm fine." is the reply.

A sigh. "You don't need to pretend you're alright," he says gently, "not around me."

"I'm fine." It sounds like a plea this time.

He sits down. "Okay."

Silence, then. "I'm scared."

A hug. "I know."

[zazu75]

He leans his head against the graveyard's fence.

Everything hurts. His hands, his feet, his head, his back. His back. It hurts so much that he would cry if he could. He has no more tears left. He spent them all over the last few days.

He didn't ask for this. He didn't ask for this pain. For this job. For these curses and ghosts. He was chosen. It was forced on him.

He didn't ask for this.

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and braces himself. He pushes himself off the ground and uses the fence to help him stand up. He has to rest now, because there was more work to be done tonight. He didn't ask for this, but he will do a great job anyways. Maybe then, if he dies-- or if he survives--he can say he did his best. He can say he has no regrets.

He takes the first shaky step, then another, then another.

He walks home.

[zazu75]

He watches the bubbles race to the surface. He watches them disappear. He reaches a hand out, wishing he could follow them, and kicks his feet. But the rope on his leg keeps him in place at the bottom of the lake. The motion does create more bubbles though, and they float past him and towards the surface.

He watches. He wishes he could join them, but he has to stay down here. He has to wait for someone to find him. He has to wait. To wait...

To wait.

[zazu75]

He stared across the market and his eyes snagged on the same figure as usual: the man in blue hawking his wares.

He remembered the first time he saw him, back when they were both much younger. The man in blue was a boy in blue back then, standing by his master, helping him and learning from him. He remembered thinking he was pretty back then with his bright, eager eyes.

He came into the market weekly and watched him grow up. He never came close to that stall--it wasn't food, so his parents didn't go near it. But he always looks at him, watched him as they shopped across the market.

And now they were both older and he still hadn't gone near him. The man in blue still had those bright, eager eyes. He was beautiful. He was handsome.

He wished he could go to him, say hello, ask his name.

But his mother had grown ornery with age, and he carried all of the groceries for her. She would be upset with him and he wouldn't hear the end of it, ever.

She held grudges.

So he forced himself to turn away, eyes back towards the vegetables she wished to buy.

[zazu75]

He wanders aimlessly, legs carrying him nowhere. He doesn't think about it, doesn't think where to put his foot. He just moves on instinct to get away from the pain.

The pain.

"I'm sorry."

Those were the doctor's last words. They ended his world. His family was gone. All of the people he loved. They were all gone.

He didn't even know what he did or said after. He knows that at one point, he turned around and walked. And walked. And walked.

He kept walking.

His legs hurt, but he kept walking.

He kept walking.

[zazu75]

He sits on the park bench and stares off into the scenic little lake in front of him. There are ducks here--so, so many ducks. But he doesn't see them. He doesn't see the sun glittering across the lake and leaving behind a sea of stars. He doesn't see the black dots of the birds flying across. Doesn't hear the calls of the ducks and birds and bugs. He doesn't even see the greenery around him.

All he can see is his wife cradled in another man's arms. All he can hear are her moans of pleasure.

Three years. They had been married for three years. But how long has this affair lasted? How much of his time had he lost?

He doesn't feel his tears stream down his face. He doesn't see the people giving him odd looks. He doesn't hear his own sniffles.

All he can hear and feel is heart breaking. All he can see is the betrayal.

And he has no idea what to do about it.