Flawed [Ashton Irwin]
Chapter one
Luna
My tea is cold; that is the first thing that comes to my mind as I put my hands around the mug. It was really hot just a few minutes ago. Or was it a few minutes? I never really know, time flies by so quick, I don’t even notice anymore. Lately it seems as if minutes have turned into seconds and weeks into days. That may be from the beautiful skylines I like to look at every time I get a chance, the way different shades of blue swirl around with the fluffy white clouds and create different shapes I like to sometimes draw in the corners of my notebooks. Or maybe it’s just from the way too much sugar I put in my tea, but I guess I will never know the real answer.
Lately I have found myself in this little tea house very often. I like this place; it has beautiful designs on the walls and the decorations are nice. Also, the girl serving my tea is always surprisingly kind to me. She wears a pretty pastel pink kimono that I have wanted to get for myself for a while now, but never really had the chance to. All the tea herbs smell strongly and tingle my nose a bit when I first come here, but it’s a nice fruity smell you can easily get used to.
As I check my phone I realize that I have been sitting here writing down random words that come to my mind for about two hours. I like doing that, sometimes a weirdly pronounced word would pop in my head and I would have to write it down. I just like the idea of new; new things sometimes tend to scare people. Me, not so much. I like new. Newis different. And different is good.
I gather my things in my backpack and quickly sip the rest of the jasmine tea I got today. Leaving the money on the table, I get up and wave goodbye at the girl sitting behind the counter. She seems kind of bored, but waves back. She’s nice.
It is now eight and a half and I have to be home and nine sharp. Not that my mom would mind at what time I get home, but I set myself a curfew a few years ago and I do not like breaking it. If I don’t get enough sleep, my under eyes turn a really weird dark color and I tend to think it does not look extremely pleasing. So I guess nine hours of sleep are a must for me.
I don’t like wearing headphones on the street, it makes me a bit nervous and keeps me so cautious of my surroundings, I almost don’t even hear the music playing. The sound of the busy city slowly coming to a rest at night relaxes me a lot more than music. I am always thinking that a car might come from the side and I wouldn’t hear it; or someone would try to speak to me and I wouldn’t respond, that would just be really rude and I don’t like being rude to people. So I keep my mind busy just thinking about random stuff. Inventing people’s lives can be really fun.
Let’s see, that guy waiting with his phone in his hand? He’s probably looking around for this girl that he’s been dreading to ask out for so long. He will take her for a walk in the park, maybe because he knows she’s not the type of girl to like fancy dinners. He would then hold her hand, walk her back home and then kiss her on the doorstep. And a few years later they would be engaged, then married, with a kid on the way. But something horrible would happen and their relationship just wouldn’t work anymore, so they would get a divorce and their kid will never be the same anymore.
Or that old lady over there, walking her dog. Her husband probably died years ago from an ugly disease and now she’s all alone. Her kids and nephews visit once or twice a month, but not as often as they used to when their grandfather was still around. Now her loneliness is only eased by the comfort of her dog and maybe the other two cats she has at her house. She misses her husband, but would always stay strong in front of her kids, to also make them stronger.
There is always so much story behind someone’s life that you might not know about and I like to imagine that. It’s like seeing the blank canvas before all the beautiful color is added to it.
The weather is not so beautiful today,even though spring is finally coming to an end and summer is right around the corner. I don’t really know what I’m going to do this summer, I don’t exactly have a lot of people outside of school who would want to hang out with me in their free time, but maybe I will try asking that girl from the tea shop to go out sometimes for a walk. I think it would be fun.
Walking down a more quiet alley, I glance around and see an old bouquet of flowers on the ground. All the once colorful and fresh petals are now turning into a brownish color and are long dead. I go to pick it up and look at it. It must have fallen out of this dumpster. Such a shame, it looks like it once was a really beautiful decoration around the house. But I know that what is dead must not be kept between the living. So I throw it back where it belongs; next to the other trash.
Weird sounds of whispering and grunting are coming from a dark corner of the alley. Looking around I don’t see anyone, but I let my curiosity take the best of me, as always. I follow the voices and they take me about a few feet further and are slowly getting louder. Looking from behind a wall, I see two guys talking. Well, one of them is talking, the other one seems kind of scared and only stutters some words out.
“I told you to stay the fuck away, did you think I was kidding?” The guy says and pins the other younger boy to the wall.
“I’m s-sorry, look, I didn’t know it would upset you that much, I promise, I-I won’t do it again.” He says and lifts his arms up as a sign of peace, backing up as much as he can against the wall.
“Damn right you won’t do it again, kid. I warned you before and I do not play around.” He says between gritted teeth.
“I’m sor-“ But the boy doesn’t even get the chance to say another word before the other guy punches him right in the face.
“Hey!” I yell not even thinking about what I’m doing.
I run towards them as fast as my legs can take me and without any kind of judgement I jump onto the really mean guy’s back. He yells some bad words that I do not even want to repeat and tries grabbing my hands and pulling them away from his shoulders. The other boy seems really confused, his nose started bleeding and he looks like he is in a lot of pain, but it only takes him a couple seconds to react and punches the man right back in his face. He trips and almost falls back when I also start hitting him on his shoulders or any area my hands can reach, having no idea what on earth I am doing.
He blindly grabs my leg and tugs really hard, but I keep holding onto him tight and we both fall. On our way down he grabbed the other boy’s shirt and they fell on top of me. My back hurts and my clothes get really wet as we fall into a puddle. Only then did I realize it started pouring rain. With all the strength I have left I try sliding from underneath him and I grab onto his leg when he tries to get up. The younger boy punches him over and over again and I do not look because the sight is utterly disgusting; there is blood everywhere. I keep a tight grip onto his leg and we both hold him down as he tries to fight back, yelling random curse words.
Then suddenly I hear sirens coming from a distance. My eyes go wide for a moment and I keep holding tight onto the man, hitting him in the knee with my really weak hands. I only now realize how ridiculous this scene must look. As bright lights come over us, almost blinding me, I can hear the sound of someone yelling.
“Police! Do not move!”
My tea is cold; that is the first thing that comes to my mind as I put my hands around the mug. It was really hot just a few minutes ago. Or was it a few minutes? I never really know, time flies by so quick, I don’t even notice anymore. Lately it seems as if minutes have turned into seconds and weeks into days. That may be from the beautiful skylines I like to look at every time I get a chance, the way different shades of blue swirl around with the fluffy white clouds and create different shapes I like to sometimes draw in the corners of my notebooks. Or maybe it’s just from the way too much sugar I put in my tea, but I guess I will never know the real answer.
Lately I have found myself in this little tea house very often. I like this place; it has beautiful designs on the walls and the decorations are nice. Also, the girl serving my tea is always surprisingly kind to me. She wears a pretty pastel pink kimono that I have wanted to get for myself for a while now, but never really had the chance to. All the tea herbs smell strongly and tingle my nose a bit when I first come here, but it’s a nice fruity smell you can easily get used to.
As I check my phone I realize that I have been sitting here writing down random words that come to my mind for about two hours. I like doing that, sometimes a weirdly pronounced word would pop in my head and I would have to write it down. I just like the idea of new; new things sometimes tend to scare people. Me, not so much. I like new. Newis different. And different is good.
I gather my things in my backpack and quickly sip the rest of the jasmine tea I got today. Leaving the money on the table, I get up and wave goodbye at the girl sitting behind the counter. She seems kind of bored, but waves back. She’s nice.
It is now eight and a half and I have to be home and nine sharp. Not that my mom would mind at what time I get home, but I set myself a curfew a few years ago and I do not like breaking it. If I don’t get enough sleep, my under eyes turn a really weird dark color and I tend to think it does not look extremely pleasing. So I guess nine hours of sleep are a must for me.
I don’t like wearing headphones on the street, it makes me a bit nervous and keeps me so cautious of my surroundings, I almost don’t even hear the music playing. The sound of the busy city slowly coming to a rest at night relaxes me a lot more than music. I am always thinking that a car might come from the side and I wouldn’t hear it; or someone would try to speak to me and I wouldn’t respond, that would just be really rude and I don’t like being rude to people. So I keep my mind busy just thinking about random stuff. Inventing people’s lives can be really fun.
Let’s see, that guy waiting with his phone in his hand? He’s probably looking around for this girl that he’s been dreading to ask out for so long. He will take her for a walk in the park, maybe because he knows she’s not the type of girl to like fancy dinners. He would then hold her hand, walk her back home and then kiss her on the doorstep. And a few years later they would be engaged, then married, with a kid on the way. But something horrible would happen and their relationship just wouldn’t work anymore, so they would get a divorce and their kid will never be the same anymore.
Or that old lady over there, walking her dog. Her husband probably died years ago from an ugly disease and now she’s all alone. Her kids and nephews visit once or twice a month, but not as often as they used to when their grandfather was still around. Now her loneliness is only eased by the comfort of her dog and maybe the other two cats she has at her house. She misses her husband, but would always stay strong in front of her kids, to also make them stronger.
There is always so much story behind someone’s life that you might not know about and I like to imagine that. It’s like seeing the blank canvas before all the beautiful color is added to it.
The weather is not so beautiful today,even though spring is finally coming to an end and summer is right around the corner. I don’t really know what I’m going to do this summer, I don’t exactly have a lot of people outside of school who would want to hang out with me in their free time, but maybe I will try asking that girl from the tea shop to go out sometimes for a walk. I think it would be fun.
Walking down a more quiet alley, I glance around and see an old bouquet of flowers on the ground. All the once colorful and fresh petals are now turning into a brownish color and are long dead. I go to pick it up and look at it. It must have fallen out of this dumpster. Such a shame, it looks like it once was a really beautiful decoration around the house. But I know that what is dead must not be kept between the living. So I throw it back where it belongs; next to the other trash.
Weird sounds of whispering and grunting are coming from a dark corner of the alley. Looking around I don’t see anyone, but I let my curiosity take the best of me, as always. I follow the voices and they take me about a few feet further and are slowly getting louder. Looking from behind a wall, I see two guys talking. Well, one of them is talking, the other one seems kind of scared and only stutters some words out.
“I told you to stay the fuck away, did you think I was kidding?” The guy says and pins the other younger boy to the wall.
“I’m s-sorry, look, I didn’t know it would upset you that much, I promise, I-I won’t do it again.” He says and lifts his arms up as a sign of peace, backing up as much as he can against the wall.
“Damn right you won’t do it again, kid. I warned you before and I do not play around.” He says between gritted teeth.
“I’m sor-“ But the boy doesn’t even get the chance to say another word before the other guy punches him right in the face.
“Hey!” I yell not even thinking about what I’m doing.
I run towards them as fast as my legs can take me and without any kind of judgement I jump onto the really mean guy’s back. He yells some bad words that I do not even want to repeat and tries grabbing my hands and pulling them away from his shoulders. The other boy seems really confused, his nose started bleeding and he looks like he is in a lot of pain, but it only takes him a couple seconds to react and punches the man right back in his face. He trips and almost falls back when I also start hitting him on his shoulders or any area my hands can reach, having no idea what on earth I am doing.
He blindly grabs my leg and tugs really hard, but I keep holding onto him tight and we both fall. On our way down he grabbed the other boy’s shirt and they fell on top of me. My back hurts and my clothes get really wet as we fall into a puddle. Only then did I realize it started pouring rain. With all the strength I have left I try sliding from underneath him and I grab onto his leg when he tries to get up. The younger boy punches him over and over again and I do not look because the sight is utterly disgusting; there is blood everywhere. I keep a tight grip onto his leg and we both hold him down as he tries to fight back, yelling random curse words.
Then suddenly I hear sirens coming from a distance. My eyes go wide for a moment and I keep holding tight onto the man, hitting him in the knee with my really weak hands. I only now realize how ridiculous this scene must look. As bright lights come over us, almost blinding me, I can hear the sound of someone yelling.
“Police! Do not move!”
@FadingLogic
thank you so much!! x
4/24/17