Falling faster than before [Open]

[Andrue Dimitri]

It wasn't his fault. The deaths, they just ... happened.

"Shut up and bleed, you -"

"Hello? Alice, are you there?"

Okay, maybe the deaths were his fault, but he had better things to do right now. Right now the body of a young woman who just died laid strewn on the ground, stripped of her skin. Some of her muscle had been chewed off and various bones had been broken. Right now her eyes stared blankly up into the sky, a haunting image to anyone who looked at it.

Except for him.

"Alice?"

Cursing, Andrue turned and ran out of the alley, pushing a man with a lantern out of the way. It was the one who was calling Alice's name. It took awhile for the man to realize the figure on the ground was Alice before he yelled out in anguish. The boy continued to run, his feet pounding on the asphalt as his heart raced. What just happened to him? Why had he done something so ... barbaric? He couldn't face Eve Siren now, the woman who took him in under her wing. And Syren would just stare at him with those empty eyes, making him feel worse. No, he couldn't - wouldn't!

You can't run forever, whispered a voice in the back of his head, causing him to run faster. Maybe he couldn't forever, but for now he would.

[Eloysia Grant]

"Oomph!"

Eloysia let out a sharp breath as a figure decked her quite accidently in the stomach and continued running through the dark. Now, she wasn't one to make a big deal out of something... If someone apologized. Besideds, she felt a little cranky tonight.

Putting her feet to the pavement, Eloy darted after the runby gut bumper and, stretching her arm out as far as she could, managed to grasp the back of his shirt. She was surprised to see it was a young boy, who'd been going mighty fast.

"Boy, what the hell you think you're doin', runnin' 'round like that, bumpin' inna people? Think you some kind of criminal or are you late for dinner?"

[Andrue Dimitri]

As the hand latched onto his shirt, he let out a surprised yell and spun around, ready to face some sort of phantom of the night. Instead, it was a woman who looked quite irritated.

"Boy, what the hell you think you're doin', runnin' 'round like that, bumpin' inna people? Think you some kind of criminal or are you late for dinner?"

Clearing his throat, Andrue was grateful for the dim, low light the streetlamp provided. His front and face was covered with blood - some of it already dried - but now it was hard to see.

Heh, he thought wryly. I commicted a crime to eat dinner.

But instead of speaking these thoughts, he replied in a small, timid voice:

"My ma's waiting for me and I have 'ta help her."

Keep speaking with the accent the people have. She'll never know.

"Sorry, ma'am."

[Eloysia Grant]

Eloysia let go of his shirt and frowned.

"Just watch it next time, I don't put up with uncivilized kids. Where's your mother at?"

[Andrue Dimitri]

"Just down tha' street," he replied, pointing to the right. Down there, a few dingy houses could be seen. Biting nervously on his lower lip, he could taste Alice's blood and winced slightly. Please believe me ...

[Eloysia Grant]

"Hmmph."

She squinted down the darkened street and started to walk along it's sidewalk, pulling Andrue beside her.

"I'd like to meet her, if you don't mind, boy."

[Andrue Dimitri]

"T-that's not a good idea," he stammered while she began to pull him down the sidewalk.

It didn't seem as if she was listening, though, so he groaned slightly. This wasn't going good at all. Suddenly he didn't feel so courteous.

"Can you let me go?"