Blood Lime #15, Guava #30, Peppermint #24
Rating: PG-13
Flavors: Blood Lime #15 (Behold their tears and hear their cries!), Guava #30 (you were lost and gone forever), Peppermint #24 (window)
Word Count:1,224
Project: From a Place Past Paradise
Notes: Mm, I kinda like the idea of trying to expand the story outwards and kinda develop a sort of world I guess for it?? Idk where I'm going with this really. But, I do wanna try and introduce more characters and switch POVs at times. Time doesn't stand still just because we're not at that place right at that moment, so I just wanna give it a go and add more/expand it a bit. Just having fun. XD
The soft tones of a piano traveled through the house, only to be dampened by the pitter-patter of the rain.
Annalise sat at the window seat, leaning her cheek against the windowpane. Rivulets of rain ran down on the outside of the glass barrier, while her own left streaks upon her cheeks.
“A million more have died today. A hundred have fallen.” She turned slightly and pressed her forehead against the cold glass. “Why must we fall, when we have already fallen so far…so low? Does despair know no depth, no end?”
“Crying over the past again?” asked a voice that held a deep tone, distinctly male. “Don’t you find it tiring to mourn every day?”
She turned to meet the hazel eyes that belonged to the man. “Ross,” Annalise whispered as she wiped a stray tear from her eye. “How can you not?”
He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. His eyes were blank.
“I see them crying each day!” She rose from her seat quickly. And as quickly as she had risen, the woman sat down once more as a pained look flashed across her face. “I watch them fall…I watch them die.”
“It is our duty to take lives. After over a hundred years of the job, I would think this would be routine,” he replied indifferently as he folded his hands behind his back.
“I’m not talking about my duty!” Raising her arms, she waved frantically, motioning to the space around her. “I’m at the end. I am with them as they take their last breath as a human, and a reaper. I know they can see me...for they turn and stare!”
Her eyes locked onto Ross’ own pair. Her gaze flitted quickly across his face, looking for any slight change in his features, for anything that would convince her that he was still capable of emotion.
Annalise held her breath, a breath that she didn’t realize held so much hope. Moments passed that felt like an eternity. Surely, surely, he is still there?
Ross stared back silently at her.
No words passed between them. Neither a frown nor a smile appeared on the man that she had called “friend” for over a hundred years.
A small, choked sob escaped her lips.
The sound itself was so quiet that Annalise herself had barely heard it. And, perhaps if she hadn’t known that the sound had been made and that the man hadn’t kept the same blank stare, then maybe, just maybe, she could have continued deluding herself into believing that her friend still stood before her.
But she had done, heard and seen all that she didn’t want to. There was no way she could lie to herself. He was lost. He always would be.
“What,” Annalise began. She closed her eyes, feeling the sting of salty tears welling up behind her eyelids.
Composing herself, she wiped away tears that had yet to be spilt. She began again, “What would you-” Annalise pursed her lips quickly. Her silver eyes stopped focusing on the man before her. The pair flitted to every corner of the room rapidly, as if searching for something lost.
Ross remained rooted in place. Again?
And, just as quickly as she had begun looking, Annalise’s eyes came to a halt and focused on the ground before her. Her small body went still, back rigid.
Yes. He let out a small huff. Again…
There was never any set amount of time that it took for the woman to come out of her little spell. Minutes this time? Hours, perhaps? He sure as hell hoped that it wouldn’t take up the next few days. Those were always disastrous when Annalise awoke. She was a true pain at those times, a mess of emotions that he didn’t want to have to listen to.
“Typical,” he muttered.
He sought out the comfort of a nearby chair. With a slight wave of his hand, the piano went silent. The constant drone of that sonata on repeat was injecting an unhealthy dose of insanity into him. There was no point in playing the damned thing when the requester of said music was practically not in the room. God knew where the woman was this time, who she was with this time.
A total of seventy-eight minutes, thirty-three seconds and ten milliseconds had passed before Annalise gasped and returned from her trance.
Clicking his pocket watch shut, Ross lifted his eyes from the last pages of his book to the seer. Only a few things in life required his full attention. This was one of those moments.
“A young reaper just fell.” Annalise paused, eyes welling up with tears once more. “Her hair was over her face. It was covering everything most of the time as she cried. But, but, before the end claimed her, she looked up. She looked up to me!”
Annalise stood from her seat. Running over to her seated male associate, she gripped onto his coat with trembling hands. “Ross, don’t you see! She looked to me with those eyes! Those dreadful eyes!”
Ross stared at the blonde woman weeping before him. Her hair was both perfect and astray at once, a fancy bun with several strands sticking up in different directions. An accurate portrayal of the woman’s own frazzled state.
The lapses of disappearing empathy were growing each day, all while Annalise seemed to gain more and more of that emotion. It annoyed him to no end, and confused him to no bound.
He had known the woman since the beginning of his new life, as he liked to call it. For that was when he had begun his occupation as a reaper.
As the years rolled on and he served his sentence, Ross found himself growing less sympathetic towards humans and the suffering that occurred in their lives. He cared not for how their lives would end. A trace of apathy had touched him; it didn’t let go.
In the years that followed, he also came to disregard the sorrow that accompanied the reapers’ own ends, as well. It was all a part of the job, something that was undeniable and, more importantly, inescapable.
Oh, she. Yes, she. She had been his opposite, his foil. Where he had turned into an apathetic recorder, she had transformed into an empathetic seer. She had despised humans well before her death; yet, now, she cried for them each time a new task was assigned to her.
And, worse yet, she mourned the loss of each reaper to the void. Perhaps, the way things had resolved themselves to be was merely the outcome defined by their payments for the reaper position.
Yet, they both knew that, regardless of how much they would hate their duties and abilities at times, there was no going back. There was no return. This was it.
He glanced down at his partner. Annalise had buried her face against his shoulder, wetting his jacket with her stream of tears.
She mourned for everything that had been lost in a day. Part of it was for a reaper that she had only seen for a second and part of it was for the reaper that she had known for her entire existence.
Ross raised his free hand and waved it slightly. The piano sonata resumed playing once more.
Flavors: Blood Lime #15 (Behold their tears and hear their cries!), Guava #30 (you were lost and gone forever), Peppermint #24 (window)
Word Count:1,224
Project: From a Place Past Paradise
Notes: Mm, I kinda like the idea of trying to expand the story outwards and kinda develop a sort of world I guess for it?? Idk where I'm going with this really. But, I do wanna try and introduce more characters and switch POVs at times. Time doesn't stand still just because we're not at that place right at that moment, so I just wanna give it a go and add more/expand it a bit. Just having fun. XD
The soft tones of a piano traveled through the house, only to be dampened by the pitter-patter of the rain.
Annalise sat at the window seat, leaning her cheek against the windowpane. Rivulets of rain ran down on the outside of the glass barrier, while her own left streaks upon her cheeks.
“A million more have died today. A hundred have fallen.” She turned slightly and pressed her forehead against the cold glass. “Why must we fall, when we have already fallen so far…so low? Does despair know no depth, no end?”
“Crying over the past again?” asked a voice that held a deep tone, distinctly male. “Don’t you find it tiring to mourn every day?”
She turned to meet the hazel eyes that belonged to the man. “Ross,” Annalise whispered as she wiped a stray tear from her eye. “How can you not?”
He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. His eyes were blank.
“I see them crying each day!” She rose from her seat quickly. And as quickly as she had risen, the woman sat down once more as a pained look flashed across her face. “I watch them fall…I watch them die.”
“It is our duty to take lives. After over a hundred years of the job, I would think this would be routine,” he replied indifferently as he folded his hands behind his back.
“I’m not talking about my duty!” Raising her arms, she waved frantically, motioning to the space around her. “I’m at the end. I am with them as they take their last breath as a human, and a reaper. I know they can see me...for they turn and stare!”
Her eyes locked onto Ross’ own pair. Her gaze flitted quickly across his face, looking for any slight change in his features, for anything that would convince her that he was still capable of emotion.
Annalise held her breath, a breath that she didn’t realize held so much hope. Moments passed that felt like an eternity. Surely, surely, he is still there?
Ross stared back silently at her.
No words passed between them. Neither a frown nor a smile appeared on the man that she had called “friend” for over a hundred years.
A small, choked sob escaped her lips.
The sound itself was so quiet that Annalise herself had barely heard it. And, perhaps if she hadn’t known that the sound had been made and that the man hadn’t kept the same blank stare, then maybe, just maybe, she could have continued deluding herself into believing that her friend still stood before her.
But she had done, heard and seen all that she didn’t want to. There was no way she could lie to herself. He was lost. He always would be.
“What,” Annalise began. She closed her eyes, feeling the sting of salty tears welling up behind her eyelids.
Composing herself, she wiped away tears that had yet to be spilt. She began again, “What would you-” Annalise pursed her lips quickly. Her silver eyes stopped focusing on the man before her. The pair flitted to every corner of the room rapidly, as if searching for something lost.
Ross remained rooted in place. Again?
And, just as quickly as she had begun looking, Annalise’s eyes came to a halt and focused on the ground before her. Her small body went still, back rigid.
Yes. He let out a small huff. Again…
There was never any set amount of time that it took for the woman to come out of her little spell. Minutes this time? Hours, perhaps? He sure as hell hoped that it wouldn’t take up the next few days. Those were always disastrous when Annalise awoke. She was a true pain at those times, a mess of emotions that he didn’t want to have to listen to.
“Typical,” he muttered.
He sought out the comfort of a nearby chair. With a slight wave of his hand, the piano went silent. The constant drone of that sonata on repeat was injecting an unhealthy dose of insanity into him. There was no point in playing the damned thing when the requester of said music was practically not in the room. God knew where the woman was this time, who she was with this time.
A total of seventy-eight minutes, thirty-three seconds and ten milliseconds had passed before Annalise gasped and returned from her trance.
Clicking his pocket watch shut, Ross lifted his eyes from the last pages of his book to the seer. Only a few things in life required his full attention. This was one of those moments.
“A young reaper just fell.” Annalise paused, eyes welling up with tears once more. “Her hair was over her face. It was covering everything most of the time as she cried. But, but, before the end claimed her, she looked up. She looked up to me!”
Annalise stood from her seat. Running over to her seated male associate, she gripped onto his coat with trembling hands. “Ross, don’t you see! She looked to me with those eyes! Those dreadful eyes!”
Ross stared at the blonde woman weeping before him. Her hair was both perfect and astray at once, a fancy bun with several strands sticking up in different directions. An accurate portrayal of the woman’s own frazzled state.
The lapses of disappearing empathy were growing each day, all while Annalise seemed to gain more and more of that emotion. It annoyed him to no end, and confused him to no bound.
He had known the woman since the beginning of his new life, as he liked to call it. For that was when he had begun his occupation as a reaper.
As the years rolled on and he served his sentence, Ross found himself growing less sympathetic towards humans and the suffering that occurred in their lives. He cared not for how their lives would end. A trace of apathy had touched him; it didn’t let go.
In the years that followed, he also came to disregard the sorrow that accompanied the reapers’ own ends, as well. It was all a part of the job, something that was undeniable and, more importantly, inescapable.
Oh, she. Yes, she. She had been his opposite, his foil. Where he had turned into an apathetic recorder, she had transformed into an empathetic seer. She had despised humans well before her death; yet, now, she cried for them each time a new task was assigned to her.
And, worse yet, she mourned the loss of each reaper to the void. Perhaps, the way things had resolved themselves to be was merely the outcome defined by their payments for the reaper position.
Yet, they both knew that, regardless of how much they would hate their duties and abilities at times, there was no going back. There was no return. This was it.
He glanced down at his partner. Annalise had buried her face against his shoulder, wetting his jacket with her stream of tears.
She mourned for everything that had been lost in a day. Part of it was for a reaper that she had only seen for a second and part of it was for the reaper that she had known for her entire existence.
Ross raised his free hand and waved it slightly. The piano sonata resumed playing once more.