Forbidden
Hi.....
....
.....
I thought you wanted to read the story! What are you still sticking around the top for? *nudges you down the page* Go on! Shoo!
A/N YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!! I got over my writer's block after re-writing this whole chapter five times! Didja miss me? :D
And to Crazy Rei Luva: I don't see any harm in letting you be in this story. That is, if no one else decides to ask me... and if my friends don't kill me first. ^^ I'm not sure about the "Tala's future girlfriend" thing... since azn_angel22, my good friend is completely obsessed with him and might assassinate me... *ahem* :3
~Key:
"................." talking
'.................' thinking
*** Beginning/End of Chapter
** Change of Scene
End of Key~
Chapter 6: Salima
***
It was an unusually dim afternoon; the lazy sun had retired behind the clouds long before its scheduled exit. Shadowy clouds rose instead to fill the empty spot whereupon the sun once hung over the darkened buildings. Soon, the city was veiled in a fog of semi-darkness. Four dark figures dashed through the darkened halls of the place known as school, as if trying to evade something, darting in and out of hallways, pausing ever now and then, to check if there was any sign of their pursuers.
"H-have... we... l-lost them?" choked out an aqua-haired boy, finally collapsing onto his knees, completely out of breath.
"It seems like it," muttered a golden-eyed teen, checking over his shoulder for something to prove him wrong. The four of them waited patiently for a few minutes, keeping their eyes and ears alert for any signs of danger. As soon as they were sure that the danger had passed, they cautiously stepped out of their hiding place.
"I don't see anyone... do you?" Tala kept his voice lowered... just in case.
"Shhhhh! Quiet!" Kai hissed.
The faint sounds of footsteps were heard traveling in the direction opposite to them.
"That's good," said Ray, wiping perspiration off of his brow, "They made the wrong turn. I guess we'll see them in a week, then."
"The building designer had a cracked sense of humor," agreed Kai, in a neutral tone.
"It sure got dark in a hurry," Zeo spoke up suddenly, glance out of a window, "I wonder if it's going to rain."
***
The redhead furrowed her eyebrows and gave an impatient glance down at her watch; 4:30 p.m. Tapping her foot against the pavement to past the time, the girl brushed a strand of stray hair from her eyes and leaned on the wall of the run-down restaurant behind her.
"I just can't believe I missed that bus!" she growled to herself. "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have taken the other turn back at school! I bet the building designers thought it was really amusing to create twenty different false passageways next to the real ones." She glanced dejectedly at the schedule taped on the bus stop and sighed, since the next bus would come half an hour later. "Great. Just, great. Guess I'll be here for a while."
Pushing herself off of the wall of the restaurant, she sat down on a nearby wooden bench (and winced due to the splinters) and pulled out a text book and began to read; Practical Algebra-- a self-teaching guide.
Just as she was trying to figure out how: 2a + 3a + 4ay - 4a + 7z - 4 equaled (2+3-4) a + 4ay + 7z - 4, a small drop of water fell down from the heavens and created small splotches on her page. Looking up wearily, Salima stifled a groan as mother natural decided to give the Earth a light shower.
"What else can go wrong?" she sighed, rubbing her temples with one hand and pushing her soaked Math book back into her book bag. Her question was soon answered when bolts of lightening flashed and danced through the stormy sky, followed by the loud booming crash that was thunder. It looked that bath Mother Nature had decided to give the Earth, is turning into a battle.
"I just had to ask... didn't I? Why do things have to always be so cliché?"
Shaking her damp head to rid herself of the thought, Salima tried to look for a place to get out of the rain. The once busy streets were empty except of the occasional little boy, running from his angry mother or sister with her umbrella in his hand. The drenched redhead wished that she too, had thought to bring an umbrella.
Shivering due to the rain, she couldn't help but wonder if things could get any worse. And as always, her question was answered when the bus came blindly pushing through the streets and drove on, completely overlooking her, oblivious to the fact that the poor, shaking girl standing next to the bus stop had just missed her last bus.
"Why does it feel like that someone out there really hates me?" asked Salima to no one in particular.
(A/N That would be my brother... -_-; *looks over at said brother doodling Xs on a pic of Salima* Um.... personally, I have nothing against Salima. I'm just torturing her because it's essential to the plot of this chapter.)
**
"Aw, looks that it IS raining..." sighed Hilary. She turned away from the window of the library and hugged her knees to her chest, sulking. Emily turned her head away from her Math book slightly to look at her.
"What's got you all down and depressed? It's been raining since the beginning of time, and I never heard you complain before," she inquired, lifting up an eyebrow from behind her glasses.
"Yeah... but I wanted to get a burger today."
"..."
"What? Was it something I said?"
"..."
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing. Just shut up about the burgers." Hilary gave the bespectacled girl a sheepish grin which reminded Emily forcefully of Tyson.
"Okay, okay. I'm just messin' with ya." She laughed. Emily gave her a playful glare before turning back to her studying.
Hilary stared back out of the window with a slightly worried look on her features, replaying her laughter.
"Do you think Mariah got caught out in the rain?"
"She's fine. She has her umbrella with her." Emily said, jotting down some notes into her notebook.
"Okay. I'll stop worrying."
**
Mariah walked rather quickly towards her new apartment, struggling to hold up her flimsy umbrella which seemed in danger of snapping in half against the annoying autumn wind.
"...seven dollars, what a rip-off! Heck, the only thing this piece of junk is useful for is kindling!" she scowled, trying to keep the piece of kindling open with her arm. "But, I *should* be grateful for things given to me, for there are others that are worse off then I am," Mariah remembered her parents' words.
Then, as she walked on, the familiar figure of a soaking girl, kneeling against the wall of an old run-down restaurant with her eyes closed swam into view. After brushing a couple droplets of water from her lashes Mariah recognized the redhead as Salima.
'What's she doing here, out in the rain?' she pondered, before rushing over. The girl opened a bleary ruby red eye in confusion as an umbrella slid over her head. Then, both of her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Mariah, bending over her with a concerned look on her face.
"Salima? What are you doing out here?" she asked softly.
"M-Mariah...?" Salima stuttered, half because of the cold and half in disbelief. "Is that r-really you?"
"You're going to catch a cold like that! Here, put this on," Mariah pulled off her jacket and draped it over Salima's bare shoulders.
"T-Thank you..." whispered Salima flashing Mariah a grateful smile, who grinned back.
"It's no problem," Mariah said kindly, her own mood lightening up, "but you still didn't tell me why you were out here." Salima blushed a bit from embarrassment at being found sitting in a little corner against an old deserted restaurant.
"I sort of missed the last bus home and I couldn't find anywhere else to go," she said quietly, then wincing at how pathetic that sounded. She suddenly realized that she could have gone elsewhere but was too distressed to remember.
"Where do you live?" Mariah asked out of curiosity, helping the other girl to her feet.
"I sort of live near the edge of the city. My parents encouraged me to come here, though. Said that the schools near our home were not... that great." Mariah raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Whoa, and you have to take a bus every day? It must be annoying." The fuchsia haired girl said empathically. "How are you going to get home?"
"I think I'll just have to find somewhere else to stay tonight. My parents don't have a car and I don't have enough money right now for a taxi, plus, my parents forbade me to ride in a taxi alone since the crime rates are kind of high. The problem is..." she trailed off, wanting to rephrase what she wanted to say.
"You don't have any place to stay, right?" Mariah finished for her. Salima gave a slight nod. "What about Ray?" she asked, ignoring the uncomfortable lump in her throat. Surprisingly, Salima shook her head.
"I'd rather not... intrude on his family at the moment..." Her words were honest enough, but something about the way she said it made Mariah think that there was something more to it, but she let it slide... for now.
"How about..." Mariah cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, "you stay at my house tonight!" Salima's eyes widened in surprise. (A/N She does that a lot now, doesn't she?)
"I couldn't possibly...! I... uh... I don't think your family..." she tried to think of an excuse. Mariah's eyes softened.
"C'mon, Salima. It's fine with me. And besides, my parents always encourage me to bring friends over. What do you say?"
"Um... I don't want to be rude or anything... I don't think..."
"Come on!"
"Oh... all right then... thank you..." Mariah smiled.
'I just feel like I can't hate her. She seems to be a very nice person. I shouldn't let my emotions judge someone, before I get to know them. Although... I still can't but help feel a little envious.' She thought.
***
*stretches and yawns* Finally! I'm sorry it took so long, but I suddenly got a huge urge to write... ^^; must be the stress of homework, or maybe it's a spur of the moment, thing. Anyway, I hope you're not too furious with me. And I do hope you'll review and tell me what you think! Maybe I'll get more motivation to write.
~Frontier of Darkness
Hi.....
....
.....
I thought you wanted to read the story! What are you still sticking around the top for? *nudges you down the page* Go on! Shoo!
A/N YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!! I got over my writer's block after re-writing this whole chapter five times! Didja miss me? :D
And to Crazy Rei Luva: I don't see any harm in letting you be in this story. That is, if no one else decides to ask me... and if my friends don't kill me first. ^^ I'm not sure about the "Tala's future girlfriend" thing... since azn_angel22, my good friend is completely obsessed with him and might assassinate me... *ahem* :3
~Key:
"................." talking
'.................' thinking
*** Beginning/End of Chapter
** Change of Scene
End of Key~
Chapter 6: Salima
***
It was an unusually dim afternoon; the lazy sun had retired behind the clouds long before its scheduled exit. Shadowy clouds rose instead to fill the empty spot whereupon the sun once hung over the darkened buildings. Soon, the city was veiled in a fog of semi-darkness. Four dark figures dashed through the darkened halls of the place known as school, as if trying to evade something, darting in and out of hallways, pausing ever now and then, to check if there was any sign of their pursuers.
"H-have... we... l-lost them?" choked out an aqua-haired boy, finally collapsing onto his knees, completely out of breath.
"It seems like it," muttered a golden-eyed teen, checking over his shoulder for something to prove him wrong. The four of them waited patiently for a few minutes, keeping their eyes and ears alert for any signs of danger. As soon as they were sure that the danger had passed, they cautiously stepped out of their hiding place.
"I don't see anyone... do you?" Tala kept his voice lowered... just in case.
"Shhhhh! Quiet!" Kai hissed.
The faint sounds of footsteps were heard traveling in the direction opposite to them.
"That's good," said Ray, wiping perspiration off of his brow, "They made the wrong turn. I guess we'll see them in a week, then."
"The building designer had a cracked sense of humor," agreed Kai, in a neutral tone.
"It sure got dark in a hurry," Zeo spoke up suddenly, glance out of a window, "I wonder if it's going to rain."
***
The redhead furrowed her eyebrows and gave an impatient glance down at her watch; 4:30 p.m. Tapping her foot against the pavement to past the time, the girl brushed a strand of stray hair from her eyes and leaned on the wall of the run-down restaurant behind her.
"I just can't believe I missed that bus!" she growled to herself. "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have taken the other turn back at school! I bet the building designers thought it was really amusing to create twenty different false passageways next to the real ones." She glanced dejectedly at the schedule taped on the bus stop and sighed, since the next bus would come half an hour later. "Great. Just, great. Guess I'll be here for a while."
Pushing herself off of the wall of the restaurant, she sat down on a nearby wooden bench (and winced due to the splinters) and pulled out a text book and began to read; Practical Algebra-- a self-teaching guide.
Just as she was trying to figure out how: 2a + 3a + 4ay - 4a + 7z - 4 equaled (2+3-4) a + 4ay + 7z - 4, a small drop of water fell down from the heavens and created small splotches on her page. Looking up wearily, Salima stifled a groan as mother natural decided to give the Earth a light shower.
"What else can go wrong?" she sighed, rubbing her temples with one hand and pushing her soaked Math book back into her book bag. Her question was soon answered when bolts of lightening flashed and danced through the stormy sky, followed by the loud booming crash that was thunder. It looked that bath Mother Nature had decided to give the Earth, is turning into a battle.
"I just had to ask... didn't I? Why do things have to always be so cliché?"
Shaking her damp head to rid herself of the thought, Salima tried to look for a place to get out of the rain. The once busy streets were empty except of the occasional little boy, running from his angry mother or sister with her umbrella in his hand. The drenched redhead wished that she too, had thought to bring an umbrella.
Shivering due to the rain, she couldn't help but wonder if things could get any worse. And as always, her question was answered when the bus came blindly pushing through the streets and drove on, completely overlooking her, oblivious to the fact that the poor, shaking girl standing next to the bus stop had just missed her last bus.
"Why does it feel like that someone out there really hates me?" asked Salima to no one in particular.
(A/N That would be my brother... -_-; *looks over at said brother doodling Xs on a pic of Salima* Um.... personally, I have nothing against Salima. I'm just torturing her because it's essential to the plot of this chapter.)
**
"Aw, looks that it IS raining..." sighed Hilary. She turned away from the window of the library and hugged her knees to her chest, sulking. Emily turned her head away from her Math book slightly to look at her.
"What's got you all down and depressed? It's been raining since the beginning of time, and I never heard you complain before," she inquired, lifting up an eyebrow from behind her glasses.
"Yeah... but I wanted to get a burger today."
"..."
"What? Was it something I said?"
"..."
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing. Just shut up about the burgers." Hilary gave the bespectacled girl a sheepish grin which reminded Emily forcefully of Tyson.
"Okay, okay. I'm just messin' with ya." She laughed. Emily gave her a playful glare before turning back to her studying.
Hilary stared back out of the window with a slightly worried look on her features, replaying her laughter.
"Do you think Mariah got caught out in the rain?"
"She's fine. She has her umbrella with her." Emily said, jotting down some notes into her notebook.
"Okay. I'll stop worrying."
**
Mariah walked rather quickly towards her new apartment, struggling to hold up her flimsy umbrella which seemed in danger of snapping in half against the annoying autumn wind.
"...seven dollars, what a rip-off! Heck, the only thing this piece of junk is useful for is kindling!" she scowled, trying to keep the piece of kindling open with her arm. "But, I *should* be grateful for things given to me, for there are others that are worse off then I am," Mariah remembered her parents' words.
Then, as she walked on, the familiar figure of a soaking girl, kneeling against the wall of an old run-down restaurant with her eyes closed swam into view. After brushing a couple droplets of water from her lashes Mariah recognized the redhead as Salima.
'What's she doing here, out in the rain?' she pondered, before rushing over. The girl opened a bleary ruby red eye in confusion as an umbrella slid over her head. Then, both of her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Mariah, bending over her with a concerned look on her face.
"Salima? What are you doing out here?" she asked softly.
"M-Mariah...?" Salima stuttered, half because of the cold and half in disbelief. "Is that r-really you?"
"You're going to catch a cold like that! Here, put this on," Mariah pulled off her jacket and draped it over Salima's bare shoulders.
"T-Thank you..." whispered Salima flashing Mariah a grateful smile, who grinned back.
"It's no problem," Mariah said kindly, her own mood lightening up, "but you still didn't tell me why you were out here." Salima blushed a bit from embarrassment at being found sitting in a little corner against an old deserted restaurant.
"I sort of missed the last bus home and I couldn't find anywhere else to go," she said quietly, then wincing at how pathetic that sounded. She suddenly realized that she could have gone elsewhere but was too distressed to remember.
"Where do you live?" Mariah asked out of curiosity, helping the other girl to her feet.
"I sort of live near the edge of the city. My parents encouraged me to come here, though. Said that the schools near our home were not... that great." Mariah raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Whoa, and you have to take a bus every day? It must be annoying." The fuchsia haired girl said empathically. "How are you going to get home?"
"I think I'll just have to find somewhere else to stay tonight. My parents don't have a car and I don't have enough money right now for a taxi, plus, my parents forbade me to ride in a taxi alone since the crime rates are kind of high. The problem is..." she trailed off, wanting to rephrase what she wanted to say.
"You don't have any place to stay, right?" Mariah finished for her. Salima gave a slight nod. "What about Ray?" she asked, ignoring the uncomfortable lump in her throat. Surprisingly, Salima shook her head.
"I'd rather not... intrude on his family at the moment..." Her words were honest enough, but something about the way she said it made Mariah think that there was something more to it, but she let it slide... for now.
"How about..." Mariah cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, "you stay at my house tonight!" Salima's eyes widened in surprise. (A/N She does that a lot now, doesn't she?)
"I couldn't possibly...! I... uh... I don't think your family..." she tried to think of an excuse. Mariah's eyes softened.
"C'mon, Salima. It's fine with me. And besides, my parents always encourage me to bring friends over. What do you say?"
"Um... I don't want to be rude or anything... I don't think..."
"Come on!"
"Oh... all right then... thank you..." Mariah smiled.
'I just feel like I can't hate her. She seems to be a very nice person. I shouldn't let my emotions judge someone, before I get to know them. Although... I still can't but help feel a little envious.' She thought.
***
*stretches and yawns* Finally! I'm sorry it took so long, but I suddenly got a huge urge to write... ^^; must be the stress of homework, or maybe it's a spur of the moment, thing. Anyway, I hope you're not too furious with me. And I do hope you'll review and tell me what you think! Maybe I'll get more motivation to write.
~Frontier of Darkness