BWAAAAAMP—!PSSSSSSHHHH—!grrrrmmm…
Blue.
Seats, color of the sky.
clack—THAK!… clack—THAK!
creak—BANG!… creak—BANG!
flap—CLACK! flap—CLACK!
ka-THAK… ka-THAK… ka-THAK…
Like the shutters of a camera, opening and closing.
…rrrrmmm…
The humming of an engine, like a bus.
Vividness.
Saturated.
Everything was colored to the point of exhaustion and sickness, crashing like the tides of a sea.
She closed her eyes, barely catching the clothes of the people sitting around her before everything disappeared, their faces covered in a mess of wiggly lines.
It came and went, over and over, pushing her closer to the edge of nervous collapse.
"I'm on the bus! What do you mean, where am I? I told you before I left, but apparently the game was more important!"
Then the rest of the city crashed into her.
Whatever drowsiness remained slowly peeled away like the layers of an onion.
"Hahh..."
So...loud...
"Hahh...."
thmp.
Cecilia turned her head.
Someone squeezed past her, raising a hand in apology, their face scrunched into an awkward little smile.
"Sorry."
"...Mhm."
She watched them walk down the aisle and out the bus, joining the world of grey and moving statues.
PSSSHHH—
Soon enough, the bus jolted forward.
PSSSHHH—
At the next stop, Cecilia turned in her seat and looked across the street, where small vendors loitered around with their customers.
The sun caressed her face, washing her in a soft glow.
A glow that reached the citizens around her—the ones walking, running, chatting, hiding and the unfortunate.
Damp.
Like her neck.
And the face of one full of hunger and longing, peeking from behind that cloud of scribbles, waddling against the current of grey.
"...Hmm."
The doors started to close again and her fingers twitched against her leg.
Cecilia shook her head and pushed herself up.
"Wait."
She slipped through just before the doors folded shut behind her.
"ah-choo!"
"Snff...great. I should probably pick up some medicine before this gets worse."
Cecilia rubbed her nose and start walking, her steps becoming one with the crowd.
Storefront after storefront stretched beneath the high-rises, their surfaces reflecting the dull street.
She lifted the phone in her hand, a small crack ran from one corner of the screen to the other.
'Didn't even last a day...they said it'd take a couple days to fix my bracelet.'
step...step...
step...
Her thumb dragged across the screen as the maps took a section of the page.
A little arrow shifted with every few steps, turning whenever she did.
"...Should be around here somewhere."
Cecilia slowed after a while, her eyes wandering toward a diner tucked into the corner of an intersection.
She looked back at the map.
Then at the diner.
"...Close enough."
ding—!
Cecilia lingered near the entrance for a second before slipping into the busy diner.
She wandered between the tables looking for somewhere to sit, glancing down at her phone along the way to type something out.
A corner table opened up near the windows.
Cecilia slid into the seat and placed her phone near the edge after it was wiped clean.
For a little while, she waited, flipping through the menu while her eyes occasionally wandered beyond the glass.
"Afternoon."
Cecilia looked up.
A waiter stood at the end of the table with a small pad in his hand.
"Can I get you something to drink while you look?"
"Uhh...water is fine."
"Sure. You ready to order too, or need another minute?"
Her eyes ran over the page once more.
"I'll take this...and whatever comes with it is fine."
"Alright. Anything else?"
"No, that's it."
"Gotcha."
He scribbled something down and slipped away between the tables, leaving her to whatever entertainment she could find.
Dissociation.
Cecilia reached into her purse and pulled out her earbuds, slipping them in before grabbing her phone and starting her playlist.
The diner's noise faded beneath the music.
shff.
shff. shff.
shff.
A picture rolled up from the bottom of the screen and disappeared past the top.
Another.
shff.
Cecilia rested her cheek against her palm, losing interest by the second.
"...Mhm."
clnk.
A plate slid right in front of her, radiating warmth.
Cecilia pulled an earbud loose and looked up.
"Here you go. Plate's hot."
"Thanks."
click.
She stared at the picture for a second, she then place her phone at the side and grabbed her fork and knife.
Her eyes wandered across the table, to the seat opposite her.
"..."
She dug in.
Her music continued playing through one ear while the diner rambled on through the other, clashing together until neither sounded like much of anything.
tap. tap.
Why...?
Cecilia stopped chewing.
'Get a job.'
Then what?
"..."
She took another bite.
Forget it...I'll think about it later.
tap. tap.
Her hand froze halfway as her gaze moved to the presence beside her.
For a moment, this person was no different from anyone else. A statue. Though there was something familiar about them—something like her kin.
The scribbles across their face barely hid the glare beneath.
Some lines stretched into flowing strands of hair. Skin like rock softened beneath them, gaining color.
A pair of reddened eyes emerged from underneath.
You look tired.
These eyes moved over her face, and she did the same.
Cecilia lowered her fork.
"...Hello, Sage."
"Cecilia."
Sage pulled out the chair opposite her and dropped into it.
No longer empty.
"Who rained on your parade? Another boy?"
Sage raised a hand, then her middle finger.
For a while, neither said anything.
Cecilia returned to her food while Sage looked through the window.
"So..." Sage murmured. "What've you been up too?"
"Nothing."
Sage looked back at her.
"Nothing?"
"I've been here a month and I've done nothing."
"Mm...hahh." Sage sank a little into her seat. "I've...been looking at schools."
Cecilia's brow lifted.
"You? What happened to wanting to be a model for some magazine? That's what you told me...I think."
"Who's going to want a cripple in a magazine?"
Sage twirled her hair between two fingers, attached to a hand of ill. Her face casted in a dull light before she looked at her.
"Have you asked?"
"Or even applied anywhere?" Cecilia continued. "You certainly have the face for it. Hmph...and you were right there with me in that pit."
"I'm missing a fucking hand and half my arm, Cecilia."
"I noticed."
"Then don't be an ass."
"I'm not." Cecilia set her knife against the plate. "You said nobody would want you. I'm asking if anybody's actually told you that."
"You were willing to get shot at for a bit. I think you can survive somebody telling you no."
Cecilia took another bite before offering a piece to Sage.
"Anyway, back to you."
"What about me?"
"You've been here a month doing nothing." Sage leaned back, speaking through her mouth full of food. "You planning on doing that forever?"
"Last we spoke, you weren't doing so well...you went dark for a whole so..."
"..."
The music continued faintly through the earbud still in Cecilia's ear.
She reached up and pulled it out.
"A month ago, I knew exactly what I was doing tomorrow."
"Now..."
She looked through the window, people passed one another beyond the glass.
"I'm not sure what to do."
"I don't know. I might go see where I'm from."
"I'm lost."
"Yeah. I can tell."
Cecilia rolled her eyes.
"Gee, thanks a lot."
A small smile tugged at Sage's mouth.
By the time the plate was nearly empty, Sage had already called the waiter over.
"Can we get the check?"
"Sure thing."
Cecilia wiped her mouth with a napkin and reached for her purse, only for Sage's hand to stop her.
"I've got it."
A little while later—
ding—!
The diner door swung shut behind them.
The street swallowed them almost immediately.
A sea flowed along the sidewalk in either direction, voices, footsteps and the sounds of the city becoming waves around them.
"Move, move!"
"We're gonna be late!"
"That's your fault!"
A group rushed past them.
Cecilia tightened her hold on her purse and pulled it closer.
Uniforms.
Bags bounced against their backs. One of them nearly stumbled trying to keep up, only to crash into another.
Cecilia's eyes followed them.
And kept following.
"...Why don't you go to school?"
"I'm a little old for secondary."
"...You can be such a dumbass sometimes."
Cecilia slowly turned her head.
"Excuse me?"
"College. University."
"Oh."
"You missed most of that. You were in this mess from the moment you could fend for yourself." Sage glanced toward the students disappearing into the crowd. "Might be good for you."
"How?"
"I don't know. Figure out what you like. What you don't. What you're good at. Waste a few years learning something."
"There's gotta be a university around here with something you'd like. You've always got your nose buried in that thing of yours. Hell, maybe you'd make a decent designer."
"Or something like that. Maybe you'd finally get rid of that look, too."
"...What look?"
Sage didn't answer.
"You're a Librei."
She glanced at Sage.
"But every time I look at you, it's like watching one in a cage."
"..."
"You've got this whole country to explore. Nobody's keeping you in that cage anymore."
Cecilia's eyes moved away from her.
"You can do whatever the hell you want."
"..."
"But you still look like you're waiting for somebody to open the door for you."
Cecilia breathed through her mouth.
"I think we should talk about something else, don't you?"
Sage looked her over before letting out a sigh of her own.
"Well, what did I expect? You're still a kid, after all."
They continued down the sidewalk, letting the crowd carry them along. Somewhere between one intersection and the next, their conversation became another among hundreds.
Eventually, even that tapered into footsteps.
Advertisements littered the fronts of high-rises, the streets blanketed beneath sheets of shimmering light.
From the mundane to the exotic, Cecilia's eyes captured it all, her irises changing color alongside them.
Though eventually, the buildings opened onto a bus stop farther down the pale street.
Sage glanced toward it.
"That's me."
"You're leaving already?"
"Yeah. Got some things to take care of first." Sage shoved her hand into her pocket. "Still don't have everything figured out, but...I think I know where I'm headed."
"Must be nice."
Cecilia said before lifting up her juice box and taking a sip.
"You'll figure something out."
They stopped a little ways from the bus.
Sage watched the buses for a moment, then she rubbed the back of her neck.
"You know...this is probably the last time we're gonna see each other for a while."
"For a while?"
"Mhm. I'm not staying here much longer. And if you actually take my advice, you probably won't either."
The bus idled behind Sage.
rrrrmmm...
"Well..." Sage glanced back at it. "Guess that's it."
"..."
"Come here."
Sage stepped forward before Cecilia could answer.
Her arm slipped around Cecilia, pulling her close.
Cecilia stiffened, yet only for a moment.
Then her arms came around Sage in return.
"...Take care of yourself, Cece."
Cecilia's fingers curled slightly into Sage's clothes.
"You too."
They stayed that way for another second before Sage finally pulled away.
"Oh—and who knows? Maybe you'll finally find yourself a boyfriend at school."
Sage turned before Cecilia could answer.
"Sage—"
Already speed-walking toward the bus, Sage looked back with a grin.
"See ya, Cece!"
"You little..."
The doors folded shut behind her.
PSSSHHH—
Through the windows, gray figures shuffled between the seats until one dropped into the seat beside the glass.
Even from out here, Cecilia could still make out the red beneath her eyes. The strands of hair resting against her face.
"..."
Cecilia raised her hand and the bus lurched forward.
Cecilia kept hers up.
Until there was nothing left to wave at.
bzzzt...tik.
zzzt—...flick.
The bus disappeared into the gray, losing texture like the city.
step...step...
She turned, disappearing into the crowd herself.
step...
step...
step...step...