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 Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:17 am
Or was it Karma's doing this time around...part 1
The world was twinkling with auburn hushes and reclusive whispers, far off faded into the next twilight. The stars had just begun to shine, hanging low over usual continents and towns as they did every night.
It was a normal grungy city, the kind with vivid smog sunsets and old cracked sidewalks. Bland skyscrapers stood as huddled, dusty barriers, rows and rows of car coffins mechanically parading down main street. It was such a lifeless area, sucked short of dirt walkways where bushes reached out in friendly handshakes, and songs painted the path by every scurry of wing available.
Maybe it was the dented roadsigns and scattered parking meters that made a town grow to a city. Maybe it was the people.
Or maybe it was the millions of empty, flickering lights, creating the essence of forgotten dreams and empty promises.
Children were still outside in the coming dusk, jumpropes skipping with the beat of hide and go seek, hopscotch, and tag. It was a rhythmn of laughter that no sway of nature could afford.
Around the other side of the 6th avenue, there lay a particularly greying plot of land. It was nestled between two roach motels, where whitewashed weeds and puddles of murky clay (and other fluids) seemed to take up permanent residence.
On either side of both buildings was painted a few crooked bars with sloppy numbers, the white paint dried in a permanent oozing fashion. A fashionable branch that had gone smooth with use was resting against the number '15', a grimy baseball half submerged by it's side.
However, it wasn't the only thing that was submerged.
Fragments from the window that had been broken that day jutted from the watery gunk as well.
A young woman was standing off to the side, observing the damage done to the motel window with her hands on her hips. The kids had, of course, all scattered and ran for the hills, leaving the window repairs to come out of her pockets or not at all.
Dex, the current owner of 'Motel Tequila', was just that kind of guy.
And who the hell would get their window fixed when the same thing would happen again anyway?!
She sighed, walking to the edge of the sidewalk with little enthusiasm. With a push of her long black hair behind her ears, the woman tested the plot with her foot.
And her foot sunk three inches.
Now that was just disgusting. Call her a pansy a**, but if you saw what people do to that plot in the middle of the night, then you wouldn't wade into it either.
A plan B rose in her mind. Gently setting her worn denim purse down, the woman leaned against the building and tried desperately groping for the stick. If she could snag it, then maybe this wouldn't happen again so soon.
Unfortunately, the stick was more than a few feet away.
Pulling her hand back in frustration, the woman angrily glared down at the poor excuse for 'land'. It still angered her that all the hobos on her block seemed to use this particular plot of land as the community toilet and spitting arena.
Plus it was just wrong to see what happened when it rained there.
She picked up her purse and examined her shoe for a few moments, before letting her gold eyes wander to something that seemed too out of place to even exist.
Her breath caught in her throat. A single piece of glass seemed to float right to the edge of the sidewalk, glinting maliciously and yet softly with the tones of twilight. It's edges were jagged, yet smooth, and not a single smudge of dirt lined the sides. However, it seemed that there was more to this single fragile shard than to all of the mirrors in the world.
It was old and worn, a few scratches deeply engrained to the surface. Why such a balanced, beautiful symbol had such marks was simply unreal.
A singular drop of water rolled off the top in a vein, as if signaling a tear.
Intrigued, the woman picked the ragged looking piece of glass up, ignoring the sticky mixture of crap she got on the tips of her fingers. Her eyes remained focused on it the entire time, warily scrutinizing its every fibre and gleam.
Naturally, she expected to see a reflection of her own displacing eyes and pale skin furrowed into a narrow stare.
Curiously, what she saw was something completely different.
For every action, there is a reaction,
words spilled out like velvet lace, reflecting themselves like dreams caught in the mirage,
for all lives are caught within the watchers from god.
The woman almost dropped the small item in shock, double catching it and holding it to her breast. Her mind raced and spun with old memories that had begun to surface, old promises that she had dared not keep...
Turning the piece of reflective glass to the other side, she raised it in the exact same position before, hoping to get more out of the message.
Her hopes had started to fall when nothing came but the own sound of her pulse.
But then suddenly letter upon letter began to appear and vanish, falling into place to spell out one thing:
Those who bare their fangs at god, those who bite the hands that feed them.
I see you.
B-A-N-I-R-U.
With that, the woman dropped the shard of glass onto her shoes, trembling. Her eyes wavered while looking down at it, betrayed with distrust and anger that such an innocent, beautiful thing could surface so many unpleasant feelings.OrThiswas was crazy.
It wasit just a piecekarma's of glass!doing
Or...wasthis it a littletime bit of magic?
around?
...or was it karma's doing this time around...
end part 1
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 10:24 pm
Or was it Karma's doing this time around...part 2
Baniru snapped out of her daydream. She was still holding the shard gingerly in her palms, gaping at nothing. The sun had set and left small trails of fuschia and indigo whispers in the sky, clouds absorbing the colours like hungry marauders in the night.
Her mind was moving so sluggishly. What exactly had just gone on? Words popping out of the shard, images, memories...
A few more seconds and a small smile plastered itself on her face. It was obvious now what had happened.
Too much hallucinogen again.
This 'hallucinogen', as Baniru so dubbed it, was nothing more than an overly strong dosage of ibuprofen. She was really bad at taking medicine to stop pain, never reading the backs of bottles or labels. It usually took over 4 to take care of headaches and neck aches. Then again, it was hard to tell exactly how much to take without reading anything, but she thought she was starting to get the hang of it. Her mind had even worked out a system: Three pills for back pain, two pills for Sundays, maybe a little more if we were still in the year 2005.
With a sigh, she shook her head. Nothing had actually happened, of course. How could a small piece of glass talk- especially about the past so feverently? Baniru turned the little shard over and over, trying to pick out anything that might signal her chronic trips to be true.
Fifteen minutes later, something caught her eye. A small child, ragged in dirty white clothing and smudgy pale skin, was peeking curiously around the building side to the swampy plot of land. His eyes were fixed determinedly on the hole of a window, as if watching to see if the owner was home.
He wanted the stick and ball of course, the tricky little thing. He just didn't want the owner to know about it.
"Hey." Baniru heard her own voice call out, as she loosely held the shard of glass, "Are you the kid that broke the window up there?"
The child froze, his head jerkily turning around to stare at the woman that dare speak to him. His eyes were, curiously, two different colours of crimson and baby blue, wide with shock and fear.
"I...I...I..."
He was so startled that he couldn't even form words right.
Baniru stifled a laugh, a crooked smile playing on her features.
"Hey, don't worry about it, kid." she said faintly, running her hands through her hair, "I don't want it fixed. Just be more careful, okay?"
At that, a large sigh fluttered across the area.
"I don' have no money." the kid said with relief, plunking down against the building. "I cou'ent replace your window an'wae."
She looked down at him for a minute. Down at his long black hair and baggy clothing. She could see two bullseyes on each shoulder, like tattoos.
What was a kid his age, without money, doing with two tattoos?
She sat down next to him, leaning heavily against the building.
"What are those markings on your arms for, huh?"
"Huh?"
Baniru grinned at him, one eye open. Before she started to speak, she put the shard of glass she was holding gently on the ground.
She figured she would leave it there, anyway.
"The bullseyes on your shoulders. It's funny, kid. I once heard of a legend a long time ago that talked about a thing called Karma. You know what that is?"
The little boy shook his head, listening intently.
"Karma is like a kind of intangible spirit inside us all." she stretched, folding her arms, "It knows when you've done good, and it knows when you've done bad. It rewards you or punishes you for that."
"I don' unnestand."
"Like, say you were cheating on something. Well, sometime in the future, something bad will happen to you because of that."
For a while the boy looked at his own hands, half shocked into silence.
"Well..." Baniru continued hesitantly, watching the boy, "The legend talked about how Karma started out as a man. This man wanted to live forever, so he made a bargain with the Devil. However, the Devil tricked him. Because Karma was selfish enough to bargain with something supposedly so bad, he got what he wanted."
"He did?"
"Oh yes, but then again, it wasn't what he wanted. You see, Karma lived forever as a spirit. His body crumbled to dust just like all ours will someday."
"Tha's pretty cool. So what happened to 'im?"
"Ah." Baniru winked and stood, brushing herself off. "That's a story for another day. It's half past nine, shouldn't you be home?"
"I know what happened to 'im!" the boy said with burning interest, ignoring her question. "He lived on in people, right? And sent out punishments an' rewards, right?"
"Right." she smiled, helping the kid up.
"Lady?"
For a second that word seemed to hang in the air, before it registered with her. "Huh?"
"You're a good lady. I have something for you." the child looked up at her with wide, sad eyes. The gaze that flew from them could stare through a lead pipe, let alone make any person feel transparent.
"Wh-what do you mean?" she stared down at him, her words starting to fail her.
"Close your eyes for me."
"Okay...?" Baniru did so, more than just a little bit curious.
However, after more than five minutes and no evidence of anything happening, she opened her eyes. I mean, what was that kid doing? Probably taking the stick and ball and running for it, no doubt...
To her suprise, Baniru wasn't outside anymore. Her eyes traced the grungy midnight blue curtains, the burned out table lamp, worn wooden furniture and thin brown carpet-
She literally jumped out of her own bed, freaked out beyond belief. Morning sunlight came pouring through her window, some birds twittering on the other side-
Her window!
Baniru gaped at it, taking in the fact that there were particles of glass seperating her from the outside air. It was fully back to the way it was before, dirty glass panes and all!
However, there was a large piece missing out of the middle. A large, round piece, the side of a baseball.
Immediately she ran and bolted open the rusty hinges, staring outside for any sign of the kid the night before. There was no trace; not a hint of his scent nor a lock of his hair upon the wind.
Dejectedly she sighed, walking back to flop on her bed. What had that all been about, anyway?
However, underneathe the cushions and woodback bottom of the old motel sleeping area, lay something else. It glinted maliciously, twinging with what little light was given, as it waited patiently for something it could not describe to come.
A small shard of glass, the edges jagged, yet smooth. Not a smudge of dirt lined it's sides. It was old and worn, a few scratches deeply engrained to the surface. Why such a balanced, beautiful symbol had such marks was simply unreal.
Unreal for now, of course.
He giggled. The woman had closed her eyes, now it was time to get to work! She wouldn't be awake until morning, of course, and that was hours away. With another giggle, he picked up the small glass shard that she had set down.
This one was special. Special special special. The little boy could tell, he could feel it as his little fingers wrapped around the glass. This little shard had significance, and he knew what he wanted to do with it.
After all, they say that Angels lurk in the bodies of hobos and vagrants. Why couldn't Karma do the same?
With a twist of his wrist, the small boy peered deep into the shard's reflections, tainting it's innocence with his two toned eyes and inky black hair.
The shard didn't reflect just that, however. It saw in the boy ages of penalties for lies, and cheats, rewards for giving and love; how people come and go without a pleasure or maybe just a little too much pleasure.
A gold kind of aura rimmed around his reflection's outline, and the boy smiled with amusement. The particular memory of today was what he would like to see in this shard, the reflection of a girl giving kindness and her getting something special-
this shard, him-
in return.OrThiswas was crazy.
It wasit just a piecekarma's of glass!doing
Or...wasthis it a littletime bit of magic?
around?
...or was it karma's doing this time around...
Fin
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:39 pm
Baniru was sitting at her motel home, staring idly out her window into the boring evening commute. It's not like there was anything better to do then wonder about the previous day anyhow.
Plus she got to check out cars this way. She had almost memorized which brands seemed to start up and go faster.
Her head was resting tiredly on the dirt lined window sill, the calm afternoon breeze blowing in all the smog and more from Aekea. It was no wonder her walls were dingy yellow-
Oh no. There it was. Baniru could feel it coming on again.
The urge.
She needed some Ibuprofen. Had she forgotten to take some extra today?! It was Wednesday, and she was facing north east. Plus the temperature was around 80 or so.
She had definitely forgotten to take the needed 3 extra.
Immediately Baniru grabbed her coat, cardkey, and jogged out the door. She would be downstairs to the giftshop in a moment, where they sold the medicine in very large cartons.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:53 pm
Far from Aekea, far from anything Ibuprofen related, Asrafel was safely on his way home. He could almost see the small lined streets of shops in which the Benedict Center was nestled. It felt good to be going home, even if it hadn't really been that long. No more than a day, at the very most.
Of course, he wasn't meant to go home so soon. No, not just yet.
Asrafel grinned down at Gambino town, before looking up into the evening sky. It was such a beautiful day, and turning into such a beautiful night.
As he stared up at the clouds, he wouldn't notice the lights of Gambino slowly fading away. Nor would he notice, as he flew into it, the sudden cloud cover that enveloped him. He coughed as he found himself blinded by the clouds, losing track of which way was up or down, and certainly losing his sense of direction.
He quickly dropped down to get out of the cloud cover and once again see the comforting sight of Gambino..
..only to find himself shocked beyond words.
What lay below him now was a city, industrial and dusty, a far cry from the lively and beautiful town he was so used to. He had no idea how he had suddenly gotten so far, nor did he know how to get back.
He swiveled in mid-air to try and get a glimpse of the surge of clouds that had enveloped him, only to see a clear, if slightly smoggy, sky greet him. He narrowed his eyes and let out a little grumble of a whimper.
It was his doing.
Asrafel was quickly starting to fall under the impression that he wasn't liked. At all.
He hovered down toward the city, looking for the first friendly face. He found himself surrounded by many faces, none of them friendly. What's worse, the second his foot touched the ground.. his stomach rumbled painfully.
It was late, he was hungry, and he had no idea where he was, nor did he have any money on him. He was starting to regret not taking Elle up on her offer..
He walked into the nearest place, which happened to be a motel, and looked around. Why was he here? There was no doubt in his mind that Lexi had plans for him, once more.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:07 pm
Baniru smiled to herself as soon as she set foot downstairs. She was clutching a ten neatly in one hand, ready to indulge her recent cravings. All she had to do was wave to Dex at the counter, walk past the fake palm trees, nod to the tan, near nude fairy boy with ribbons wrapped strategically around certain areas-
...
She stopped short of where she was going. Something was out of place with that train of thought.
Wave to Dex at the counter, walk past the fake palm trees, nod to the tan, near nude fairy boy with ribbons wrapped strategically around certain areas-
A few tinny notes of 'Shout at the Devil' (Music box version) floated up from somewhere and through Baniru's ears. Her scale of weirdness had been tipped towards the high side recently, but this just took the cake.
The ten dollar bill in her hand wafted to the floor to emphasize the fact that she was mouthing every possible verse of: "What the hell?!"
So insted of gaping like an idiot forever, she raised a hand and kind of waved a little. You know, like a boneless fish.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:35 pm
Asrafel regretted walking into the place the moment he stepped foot in it. He'd never been in a place like this before.. he was.. perhaps.. for the first time.. embarrassed to be half naked.
The stares he was getting were the reason behind this embarrassment, for the most part. They weren't all necessarily shocked, as much as interested.
He shuddered and hovered near the counter. There was a woman staring at him, and flopping her hand at him. He cocked his head slightly as if trying to remember if he knew her from somewhere, before realizing that she had dropped her money. He took a step forward, bent over to pick it up (some of the patrons behind him gasped and looked away) and straightened up to hand it to her.
"Oh, excuse me miss! You dropped this, I think. Are you.. all right? You look a bit peakish."
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:45 pm
"I'm..I'm...I'm fine...?" Baniru said in a confused manner. People were not only staring at him, they were staring at her as well. Some of the elderly and less mannerly folk had began to whistle.
It took a moment before she could say anything else to him.
"T-thank you." her words came out in a sputter, as she looked the other direction to stop her eyes from wandering. "But why don't you keep it? Buy yourself something from the shop."
Baniru pointed a finger directly at the giftshop, which displayed candy and beanie babies of all shapes and sizes in the window. Her face was clearly red from all the attention- and then it crossed her mind if he was embarrassed as well.
Oh come on, you got all sorts in Aekea anyway, this kid wasn't so bad. He sounded intellegent and polite by the way he addressed her, anyhow.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:57 pm
Asrafel almost considered her offer. Almost. "Wh-what?! I could never take your money! No no please, it's yours! I.. I couldn't!"
His stomach rumbled in regret, and he quickly wrapped his arm around it, to try and muffle the sound. He felt like crying of embarrassment. He wasn't homeless, or a bum..
Just lost.
"I sh-should go.." A hiccup had interrupted his words, as he backed away, his eyes misting over on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry if I bothered you.. all of you.." His last words were directed at the other people around him, who quickly looked away when he turned in their direction.
He just wanted to go home.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 10:07 pm
She felt bad for the kid. I mean, after all, he was pretty nice. Just kind of lost looking. "Hey wait, Kid! Don't go. I'll take the money back."
With a second thought, she added: "Not from around here, are you?"
Baniru noticed that he had kind of wrapped his arm around his stomach to muffle Chewbacca noises. "Well, uh... are you hungry? I have some food up in my room that I could give you."
Leftover McDonalds and a few 100 Grand bars, but hey. No one complains about that kind of crap for dinner.
For a few moments, she thought just how wrong that whole sentence sounded. Right, invite him upstairs for some candy lolz. -_-
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 10:39 pm
Asrafel didn't think it sounded wrong at all. In fact, he was much more comfortable with being invited in for food than being given money for it. Why? Who knows. He's a kid, and kids don't think things through. He looked up at her with still-misted eyes, his lip quivering as he took a few cautious steps forward. "Really..? You would.. you would do that for me..?"He suddenly grinned and reached out, hopping up on his tiptoes to hug the woman around the neck. "Oh yes, thank you thank you thank you! You have no idea how much it means to me that someone here is as kind as you!"By now, the people around were certainly staring. The scene had gone from odd and quirky, to just downright ridiculous.--- There was one pair of eyes that did not stare at the two downstairs. It could not. It had no eyes yet. How rude! Not only that, but it had been left in the dark, under Baniru's bed, with no one to talk to, no one to watch, and nothing to do. Well, if anyone was going to change that, it would be him. The shard under Baniru's bed fizzled with an almost caffeinated pop, before vibrating violently and burning itself up into a fine mist. In a heartbeat, it was gone. And somewhere in Baniru's house, in the unlikeliest of places, a little pair of mismatched eyes blinked for the first time, and narrowed at their surroundings.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 11:01 pm
"Oh, It's quite alright." she grinned a little, trying to subtly push the boy away. "Come on and follow me."
Baniru patted Asrafel's head and turned around, walking toward the stairs. Why did she pat his head? Who knew. His hair just gave her the urge to.
She walked straight up without waiting for the kid, turning mechanically to the right and shuffling for her doorknob. With a twist of the wrist, her door flung open and-
*WHACK*
Baniru blinked to herself. She pulled the door forward, and then pushed it again. It gently bumped into whatever it had hit the first time.
And then came the crying. However, it wasn't loud at all. The only sounds that indicated sobbing were the increasing hiccups and sniffles.
She poked her head around to see what in the hell was happening. It sounded like a child, but since today...she expected anything.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:17 pm
Asrafel bent under the hand when it came to pet him, much like a domesticated animal would. When Baniru turned and walked away, he found himself startled and suddenly alone. He hovered briefly and zipped forward, intent on catching her once more. He zipped up the stairs, slowing once she'd reached her door and hovering with nothing but the gentle hum of his wings to signify his presence behind her.
*WHACK*
Asrafel didn't react to the first sound of the door hitting against something, but the gentle sounds of a child crying caught his attention quickly enough. His eyes widened as he put two and two together, and tried to peek over Baniru's left shoulder, only to zip over and try to peek over her right.
"Oh dear, is that your child crying~?" He asked innocently, not about to mention that perhaps it was because she had just slammed her door in his/her face.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:09 am
"My child?" Baniru replied with a disgruntled look, like that was the most absurd ideas she had ever heard. She gave another weird glace before sneaking in around the door to see exactly what all the fuss was about. Well, he was right. It was a child. A little toddler that looked exactly like the kid she had met the other day- ... Her eyes swept an accusing, angry look to Asrafel. "This is YOUR doing?!" But before she could harass him for any kind of response, however, something hit her straight in the back of the head. She had smacked against the wall before regaining her balance. ~ How rude! That ugly lady had hit him in the head with the door! Couldn't she tell he was on the other side, for crying out loud?! THAT HURT! Well, she'd get what was coming to her, he'd make sure of that. He did have a big clunky thing on his back that would do some damage.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 6:36 pm
Asra's eyes went wide when he saw the woman round on him, and he put his hands up, shaking them innocently. He couldn't get a word out before she was slammed into the wall, and he let out a high pitched cry, reaching for her in case she fell.
"Oh no, Miss are you all right?! Oh no, oh nooo.."
He looked down at the child behind the door now that he had stepped in far enough to do so, and pushed the door behind him closed with his foot. His eyes opened even wider as he caught sight of the child, and his heart sank.
Was this just some crazy dream?
"It's.. it's not my fault.." Asrafel managed to whisper out, to both of them, as if he suddenly felt the need to apologize.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 6:52 pm
"OW." She said immediately, holding her head like an injured animal. She was glaring daggers down at the toddler, who was returning the favour. "I'm fine, I'm fine." she growled, "And I sure don't know where this little hunk of mischief came from, but I take it back. I don't think anyone could make a little kid just appear." Baniru walked over and firmly picked up the angry toddler, only to be smacked in the face over and over with tiny little hands. "Egad, cut it out you little brat!" "No. >:[" "MY HAIR!" "No. >:[" "MY EYEBROWS!" "No. >:[" ~ Fifteen minutes later, despite all the commotion, Baniru had managed to restle the lump of 'no' onto the bed, and tuck him in so he couldn't move. "I'm..I'm sorry." she apologized to Asrafel instead, gasping for air. "I don't know who's kid that is, but if they haven't noticed that they're gone by now, then they must be crap for parents." Baniru nodded a little. "Back to your situation. You said you were hungry, yes? There's some food in the mini fridge over there."
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