Black and White: the Opposition of Red

[Fallenreaper]

Watching Eyes.

Flashing green eyes watched Eric and Chance arrive, keeping far better hidden behind grimy dumpster, the brownish green and dark shadows coated his skeleton from sight with only the glowing set of eyes to give him away. The two holes that were what remained of his ears rattled with the dying breath of the metal beast, though the man had killed the engine propping it into park moments before glimpsing into the side mirror that faced the alleyway. It was highly likely this cop had spotted the neon color that darted about the trash, fading like tail lights in the Hell Hound’s retreat. Faint snatches of conversation was spoken but the beast, as keen as his ears where, could catch a few sentences at best. Part of it had been concerning another one not there. Watching the pair, the woman handed off her helmet to the man whose attention seemed to linger on her mostly, hung on her words.

Then she pulled the man closer and kissed him. Worse yet, he returned the display of affection with a deeper hunger drinking both scent and taste, his eye shutting out the world around him it seemed. Hand roam along her figure pressing her farther against him, action likely driven on by his lust. A lower twitching growl emerged from the creature, threatening but soft while their lips locked. Chance had instigated making the facts all more unpleasant and the master would be make this human man suffer, his screams howl into the air feeling his flesh, muscle and bone rot from his face. He was warned. The kindness shoved away and ignored, clearly by his desire for her flesh with proof set before the creature’s seeing dead eyes. Concrete decayed and cracked from under paw, spreading like a trailing threads of a spider’s webbing with its digging claws as the pair vanished from sight into the apartment complex.

The creature’s head rose to the roof far above the alleyway and then followed a fire escape that zigzag along the apartment windows, finally ending in a sliding ladder just a few feet from the ground. The Hellhound skeleton grin matched his state of mind then. Pulling closer, the bald bones clicked and scraped across the pavement making his way to the overhung metal. Dangling over his head like a treat, a tease, his body moved passes the out of reach thing before pushing his paws upright on the wall beside it. A clever mind hatched a plan while his boney form pulled back to the opposite side.

Soft clacking bone pounded upon themselves as he sprinted towards the other side, paws hitting and scattering the puddles of water, the spray dampened the white porous surface. Evaporating and hanging a stale scent upon the air in the monster’s wake as impact shook his body kicking off the brick wall, his touch darkened the stone creating indention from the weakening structure while his body brushed by the steel ladder. The dark smoke whipped out wafted catching the bolts holding them in place, rusting and breaking them with a loud screech ending in a gaudier crash. Ladder’s fall straight down, the ends slamming into the ground and rested into the pavement, vibrated in the alley disturbing the peace. Reaching the other side in a wide leap, the Hell hound twisted about as soon as his claws hit solid floor under his feet to face the board side of the way up. The moment his paw touched the metal, its shiny and polished gleam grew dull, coopered then started to give away to the creature’s toxic ability. Neon green eye flickered like living embers at his predicament, the hellhound growled before shooting up the fire escape with each step leaving behind a weak spot in the beast’s wake. His image was nothing more than a streak of white to the top of the roof.

He would have melted into the shadows but that took time, even then their ability was limited to if there were no shadows on the roof top- an unlikely in the daylight. So in the end there had to be other methods that would make due.

Though the beast’s perch was a distance away, the hound’s eyes were sharp and far reaching to spot the faint silhouettes of the cop, Chance, the brother and lastly one other. With the wolf sleeping, something had to take up watching over this unique human and it fell to one of the ghostly pair. It allowed him free roam outside that dimension they were stuffed back in when out of use. To feel and affect the world around, causing mayhem and decay within the chains that bound it. Right now it was a waiting game to observe and watch the scene unfold.



William

William hated to intervene this way, with harsh words and aggression adding to the sibling bickering spiraling out of control. More fuel to the raging fire didn’t put it out, merely feed it yet it seemed like the only way. Chance’s ability was flooding the small apartment. It was suffocating and hot, filling likely everyone with some range of tension which she drew from the source, her brother, in the first place. That had impaired his judgment and lite his fuse, burning it to a blacken nub of his left patient into shouting at the fighting two with a loud roar. It didn’t help that Gage had called Chance a whore either, pushing the therapist pass his drawn line to snap at the jealous brother. The boy’s love on the outside seemed harmless mostly but deep inside, Will’s instinct told him otherwise. His eyes had followed the young teenager’s retreating back towards his room shrinking with the quick steps and raging attitude of most boys his age, inwardly cursing the complexity of youthful minds. The loud sound of the slamming door still echoed in his ear, ringing them and forced his jaw to tighten from the wood knocking the door frame. Pictures along the wall rattled but much to his relief, not a single one fell crashing into hallway floor making a mess of broken glass.

Returning his focus on the man standing in the doorway, the firm grip made William smile while he replied. Eric Cosswell. He made a mental note to research that name later on incase this fellow turned out to be some scam artist, a sad incident from Chance’s past nearly put her and Gage out on the streets so now William made a point to scan all fellows that came home with her. Inwardly he chuckled and mocked himself for acting like a father, something Chance made it very clear she would not allow. At Eric wasn’t disgruntled about Gage’s reaction and seemed to understand, a good mark with William on that note. His tone still light, words tried for a bit to pull away from the earlier scene replying to Eric.

“Quite a grip you have there. I think you tried to crush my hand for a moment there,” William chuckled though his face scrunched a bit, his fingers curled and unfurled to get feeling back into his hand. His head turned back to the direction that Gage had taken off, the man added,” Yeah, teenagers tend to think they know best but considering this morning, I think he might have jumped to conclusions. Again I’m sorry, honestly, for what. Good, this way to the kitchen. From the sound of Chance’s stomach, it seems she skipped breakfast and if this becomes a regular thing, she won’t have to worry about Gage being on her ass so let’s get that settled first. If her stomach keeps that going, it might just eat itself before the food arrives.”

The last parts were loud enough for her to hear him clearly hinting at who would be the one nipping at her ass.
His gesture being returned had easing the man’s anxiety for a moment. Will’s head turned back to paused and glance over Chance’s hunched form sitting on the couch, oblivious to the two standing near the doorway. Her figure curled up over the edge and looking helpless, inhaling exercise to release the foreign anger. Long black hair flowed over her hands holding the head, the fingers curled around peering through shifting strains while her heels began to bounce softly in her shaken state. There was pity in his gaze yet there was no move to comfort because he knew it would make it worse. What he might view as kindness, a simple touch to ease her emotions into more positive mood, to Chance was cruel and manipulative instead of helpful. At this moment William wouldn’t risk driving her away any more than had already happened. He was merely her friend and nothing more, a painful reality William had come to deal with and accepted the role just to be part of her life.

Early in knowing her, he realized she rather suffered though this alone or so he believed, at least part of him wanted to. It made it so much easier to see her this way with that tugging at the back of his mind. One of the bad things about being an empathy, she couldn’t be sure if the emotions being felt were really hers nor that the other’s was truly genuine and not merely reflections. It was a painful reminder of how alone she was in this and for now, this incident would set Chance back once more. After all that hard work it would take longer to get her to open up about what happened now. Not to mention Gage’s trust and pride injured when the older man took Chance’s side, putting Will on bad terms with both of them which scattered his hopes for a joint secession between the two. God help him, thought William.

His body shifted around to shut the door behind Eric before stalling out at once, his body frozen in mid action with his head lowered to the floor narrowing his eyes to zone on a spot where Eric once stood. His eyes had caught odd colored chucks on the floor near the wood frame, plaster bits, made his vision travel upwards rest on several indentions, freshly made. William’s green eyes stared at them with his right eyebrow rose before turning to Eric. Did he do that? His hand closed the door quiet, bring the other to twist the knob and bring the handle to click lock. The man’s gaze never left Eric’s looking at him with something of unease, the sudden stress in his figure was hard to ignore as much as the scent of fear wafting off his person. His expression turned a bit sour, remembering the bruising on Chance and merely guessing at how much of Eric’s strength was needed for such marks. Also all Chance had to do was lose her temper…like with Nick, like earlier.

William was smart enough, unlike Gage who was blunt and forward, to hold his suspicious until out of ear shoot of Chance bring his skinner form to lead Eric towards the kitchen. Brown dress shoes scuffed against the wood along the way, cautious and slight slow pace passing by Chance’s leaning over the coffee table. The slightly faded bruise’s edge peered from the exposed neck; still dark enough to stand out making his eyes soften for a moment at feeling helpless. He fought the urge to lean beside her, taking that slender shoulder and giving it a firm yet gentle squeeze. Instead his left hand found the fabric, the rough texture scratching his fingers, gripping the back tightly as he could before whispering what he hoped was comforting.

“It will be alright. We’ll work this out, trust me,” William’s eyes held a spark of love, pleading she would realize he was there. Her returning words made his blood freeze in his vein.

“I thought that…but now…I don’t know, William. I don’t know. I don’t know whose emotions are whose anymore or if any of them are even real… or mine,” Her voice sounded cracked, William heart seemed to rupture and drown in its own blood draining into his lungs. He couldn’t lose her now, not after all the hard work to get to her core, the healing she done. Now it all seemed pointless. His fingers wrapped harder about the couch corner only to release from the strain, his posture gave away to a slack defeated look even when his word put out what hope there was.

“Once we’re done eating, we’ll figure out a schedule for daily secessions.. I won’t have you crumbling, not after we worked so hard the first time. I won’t give up…” He didn’t expect her to answer as she sat there, staring into the ground silently,” We’ll figure this out…”

William’s smile, a wilted one, crossed his face as he turned to the kitchen in his leading Eric there. The counters were clean and spotless, clean dishes sat in one side of the sink and over all the room looked untarnished. As if it hadn’t been used even once in Chance’s absence. That much was true. William had got the pleasure of watching Gage pace the house, over and over like some mopping dog missing his buddy. In the end, the effort to get Gage to eat was taxing and William had come close to calling it quits more than once. The boy was like a pit bull dog when fighting and finally, pulling at the fact most of Chance’s life was about his well-being, the boy gave in at along last. Shifting his hand through his hair, the therapist leaned against the counter edge and looked at Eric.

“I have two questions, important and I want the truth. Have you seen the bruises on Chance? And do you know the cause?” It would be hard to deny the underlying tone hinting at what William believed the source, his earlier doubt casted away thanks to the crumble debris crushed by his foot.