It looks like they were holding off from chasing me.
For now.
Then…I suppose I’m alright. Yes, I’m safe.
I made my way, no, tried to hide my shaking legs as I went to the nearest bench. The park was swarmed with small children, unfortunately. I gave a gruff sigh, and my glare was enough to scare off any of the little things who dared look at me. Their parents kept herding them off away from me, anyway. I did not blame them. It was my eyelids, I knew; covered with little black designs permanently to tell them what I did. They should stay away.
I kept a watch out for any of the tall, intimidating men and women in the white garb and black masks. Soldiers of the Alliance – an organization I planned to end, one of these days.
I smirked when the families in the park started leaving. I cocked an eye-brow and enjoyed the hollow silence that had rapidly filled the park, but didn’t let myself relax. I never did.
“Hello? Is – is anyone here?”
I blinked upward sharply. The source of the voice was nowhere to be seen. I narrowed my eyes, but it wasn’t necessary. Moments later, a bright white sleeve came into my periphery and held onto the railing of the park’s fence.
A girl.
She had her other hand patted to the front of a torn, mud-stained man’s shirt that barely covered her at all. She was barefooted, too. When I looked up at her face, it was obvious she was completely blind, with a milky white film over her irises. Her pupils had the same dusky, silver cloud over them. I wait-ed until she had groped her way to the bench, and then landed face-down on the dirt in front of me. A shuddering gasp echoed from her throat as she sat up and struggled to push the wild auburn hair out of her face. A regular per-son would feel guilty and politely apologize if they had done similar actions to mine, but I didn’t have time for apologies – after all, I had stuck my foot out to slow her down.
She had her head turned in my direction now, her blind gaze unfocused. Her hands were trembling; she was frightened, perhaps?
I snorted lightly, and glanced up. “Find another bench to sit on. They’re all over the place, for god’s sake.”
At the sound of my voice, she started, her eyes widening. “Do you want me to go away?” She had a way of speaking that was a little unfamiliar to me, and it was as if she was tripping over her words, lilting and trailing off. I raised an eyebrow and put an unimpressed expression on again. Now, looking back, it seems foolish. She was blind, obviously.
“I don’t care.”
She was silent. She seemed to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, though she kept patting her chest and kicking at the legs of the bench like a small child. Her hair was very long, down to her knees, even. It was a tangled mess of red waves mixed with dirt.
“Are you looking at me?” Her words caught me off guard and I jumped a little, looking down quickly.
“No.” The annoyance seeped from my voice. She was blind, she wasn’t supposed to know things like that.
“You were.” She continued, a harsh edge in her previously cautious voice. “I can tell, you know. I’m not a baby.”
I sighed. Moving my hand from the bench arm to my lap felt more awk-ward than it should’ve. “Right, I’ll keep that in mind-” I flinched when I hap-pened to look over again; she had her eyes narrowed to slits, and they were aimed directly at my face. I didn’t bother to finish my sentence, instead trailing off until there was silence.
“So tell me…” That unnerving hiss was still in her voice. “What’s your name?”
I sidled over to the other side of the bench, and to my obvious relief, her eyes stayed put. She really was blind. “And why should I tell you that?”
She turned her head away now, fiddling more with the buttons on her shirt. She seemed oddly fascinated by the brown stain there. “I don’t know. I was just…asking…”
I rolled my eyes; did she expect me to be sympathetic towards her? Why on earth would I be?
I sighed when a few bits of my hair blew into my face. “It’s William.”
“William?” She repeated, blinking. “William...” She said my name again and again until her voice faltered like it often did, mulling over each letter in-tently and memorizing the syllables. She looked rather pleased with herself. When the sound stopped, her lips kept moving, pausing on the ‘L’ over and over again. It was as if I were talking to a toddler.
“And what about you?” I replied gruffly, turning. “I mean...I don’t care for names much, so you really don’t have to tell me.”
I could hear her draw in her breath at my words, and she was lost in thought for a moment. Finally, she started up again. This time it was surpris-ingly brisk. “Vohm.”
I looked down at her again. As if I expected her to look back at me.
“Vo – what?”
“Vohm!” She sounded indignant. “It’s Vohm.”
I smirked and lifted my hands up. “Alright, alright, Vohm. It’s an unusual name, that’s all.”
She tipped her head to the side again, a stray bit of hair falling to her face. “Un...usual?”
“Yeah.” I said, following her unseeing gaze. I knew she couldn’t see me, but I always felt like she knew what I was doing somehow. I couldn’t decide if it was unnerving or fascinating. “You know...weird, strange.”
She didn’t reply, but instead looked confused.
I groaned. “Never mind. You’re hopeless.”
The sun was almost set, and the sky was a dull indigo-orange in the horizon. Vohm was busy unravelling part of her shirt dully, her head still cocked. Almost as soon as I set my eyes on her again, she swiveled to face me, staring at my forehead. I cringed visibly. For once, I was glad she was blind.
“Uh…so, where do you live? Do you have a place to stay, and all that?”
“No.” Her voice was rather cheerful, despite the meaning of her short sentence.
I snorted, raising my eyebrow again. “Really? Then where do you sleep, anyway?”
“On the ground.” She answered bluntly.
I nodded, feeling somewhat awkward as the silence set in. It was then that I realized how dark it had become since I began to speak with this strange girl. I needed to be heading out of there, but she suddenly stretched out her hand out toward the horizon, blinking blankly and sniffing. “It’s...evening?” She guessed cautiously, and I hid my surprise.
“Yes. How – I mean, never mind.” I sighed in frustration. She looked pleased, and dropped her arm loosely.
Something strange happened in that instant; there was a sound that sliced through the silence, made the air feel tighter, and it didn’t reach me right away. When it did, I felt my heart skip slightly, and I pounced from the bench. My legs started up trembling again. It was sirens. The Alliance wasn’t far away, and I knew they’d found me again. One of the ever-concerned moth-ers from the park may’ve ratted me out. I didn’t have time to think. I darted off into the heavy tree-layer just as the sound of tires scraped over asphalt. I dared to glance back, and Vohm had stayed put. The noise seemed to be get-ting to her, as she kept whipping her head around in different directions be-fore curling into a fetal position on the ground.
I groaned loudly.
I grabbed the girl I met only minutes ago by the arm roughly, my gloved hand clenching her wrist. I heard her cry out in pain and shock as I dragged her up from her seat, but I paid no mind. We had to run.
“Come ON!” I snarled, my hair whipping across my face as I broke into a swift gait through the park. The trees were getting closer.