A Life Worth Living - Chapter 4 - Brick Road of Broken Dreams
#4 of A Life Worth Living
A Life Worth Living - Chapter 4 - Brick Road of Broken Dreams
"Red, or green?"
"Wait, what was that?"
"Red or green?" She asked again, holding up two different shirts.
"Definitely the green one, it totally matches your eyes."
"Really?"
"Yep, completely. Brings out the deep brown color."
"Aww, your so sweet."
As we headed up to the register some time later, I realized it was one of my buddies from high school working the counter.
"Now what is a snow leopard like you doing working at a mall?"
"Alurx? Hey! What's it been like three, five years?"
"Too long my friend, too long. So what brings you here Cohulan?"
"Ehh not much. Just tryin to make ends meet, heard there was a job opening and affordable living around here, so now I'm here. What about with you, how's life going?"
"Ohh don't even get me started. If you wanna know, talk to me some other time ok?"
"Ahhh, my bad man." He said, seeing the hurt in my eyes.
"No it's nothing."
"All right. well, take it easy man."
"Yea you too."
"So, what was that about?" Kaynin asked as we left the store, heading down the street. Staring into her eyes I couldn't handle telling her yet, despite her pleading
"Nothing, don't worry about it.
"So, your names Alurx, that's an interesting name." She asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Yea, my whole family pretty much has strange names, mainly because of what some people would call our unique looks. Apparently there aren't all too many winged wolves around here."
"That's not true."
"Ohh yea, do you see any other winged wolves around here?"
"Yea, my brother, my dad, my uncle, my..." Her voice trailed off as she went silent.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing. Well, this is my house."
"Hmmm, pretty nice. And what is that I smell?"
"Ohhhh I've been slow cooking dinner all day. It's gonna be absolutely delicious. Care to join me?" Again, she tilted her head and widened her eyes.
"Well, it sure beats having pancakes for dinner again."
Giggling cutely, she got her keys out of her pocket and opened the door. As soon as I stepped in I was bombarded with the delicious smells of the kitchen.
"Oh gods that smells heavenly."
"Yep it's my specialty. The slower it's cooked the more flavors it brings out."
She disappeared into the kitchen as I explored the living room.
"There's an extra bedroom down the hall on the left, just in case you want to know." She called from the kitchen.
"Good to know." I called back. "By the way, I never got your name."
"It's Kaynin."
And I have an interesting name.
Again, the clock said it was three in the morning, yet that's still irrelevant to me. The story starts, as it has in previous times, a three way intersection leading to an alleyway. But this time, it's not as muffled, not as fuzzy. It's, it's clearer. Like viewing from above the water, not drowning underneath. But rather than demons, they are, well, I still couldn't see exactly what they were, but they are wearing formal clothes this time around. They began to approach me, but I'm not the one to suffer tonight. Screams pierced through my hellish imprisonment, yet they didn't come from me. Again it came, and I realize it was from...
"Kaynin!" I threw the covers off and sprinted out the door. Nearly crashing into the wall in the hallway I quickly found her room.
"Kaynin!" I saw her curled up on the ground, a trail of destruction between her and the bed.
"Kaynin what's wrong." I asked, drawing closer and going down on a knee. She saw me and grappled around me, and instinctively I wrapped my arms around her. For what seems like hours she stayed like that, shaking uncontrollably as I stroked her hair in attempt to calm her down. It wasn't until she retracted her claws I realize they dug into my skin. She took her head off my shoulder and looked up at my face before putting it back into my shoulder. Her whimpers quieted down and she looked back at me with an inquisitive look.
"What?" I said, confused. "Ohh, I see, I'm not wearing any pants." I realized I was only wearing my boxers. She chuckled lightly, and then realized that traces of blood were dripping from by back.
"I'm soo sorry."
"It's fine, happens all the time. So, wanna talk about it, or not right now?"
She shook her head. I stood up and started walking over to the door.
"Alurx?"
"Yea?"
"I know this is weird to ask, but, please don't go."
"Just give me one minute." I said, heading out of the room. I returned, wearing pj bottoms carrying the blankets from the guest room and saw her sitting on the bed, drying her tears from her eyes. When she saw me, she smiled and her deep brown eyes lit up, despite the time of night it was. I walked over to the bed and threw the blankets over us. Beneath the covers she held me tight like I was the only thing keeping her alive. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her until she drifted off to sleep.