3An Introduction
The pink rain drifted on the air from the cherry trees and made a petaled carpet out of the ruptured pavement. Birdsong blended with the petals to make a stereotypical springtime.
Over the mossy wall was the town's local cemetery. Headstones of every kind, style and age filled the yard to its brim. Broken, weathered and deformed tablets scattered the older parts of the graveyard. The newer stones stood like Roman soldiers, side by side with their flower bouquets like swords and shields. Half were basking in the warm morning sun and the others were huddled together for warmth in the church's arctic shadow.
The church was late Victorian but didn't show its age. It stood close to the centre of the town, and no building within a few miles could measure up to it, so when the chimes sounded every quarter-hour, there was no urban interference at all. The deep bells pierced the afternoon frequently like a soothing, sentimental torture.
Distant footsteps echoed from one tree to the next, rendering them directionless. The hollow steps became louder and closer as the seconds passed. The wind died and the trees became as silent as a vacuum as two teenagers strolled in to the cemetery, hand-in-hand. Their shadows stretched unnaturally far for mid afternoon, they should have been cowering under their owner's legs but they spread in opposite ways to each other, stroking the graves as they passed by.
They didn't slow to inspect the names carved in to the pristine blocks or to mourn for any relatives that may have been watching in an eternal slumber. Instead, they walked happily side by side basking in the sun.
The boy was the taller of the two, but not enough to tower. He had an angel's features; big, multicoloured eyes, greeny hazel in the sun and deep blue in the dark. A defined nose with no tilt in its structure continued his face to meet with a narrow mouth. He raised a hand gracefully, to swipe his jet black hair out of his face. The girl got the same idea and forced him to stop.
The girl seemed to take no notice that her formal, grey skirt was showing off her underwear to any hypothetical passer-bys; she was irremovably focused on untangling her blond, highlighted, wavy hair. Her jacket collar made snapping motions as it collided with her brassy orange, blazer shoulder. She took no notice and gestured the boy to keep moving with her bottle, green eyes. He understood and proceeded a few more feet before he stopped her again.
He disappointed her as he unlaced his hand from hers and revealed a second light source that emanated intensely from their hands but gradually dimmed as the hands grew further apart. The dulled glows stayed alight and miniature flames danced across their palms and licked their blazer sleeves but scorched nothing except the air.
His features didn't waver from his omniscient smirk; he held out the flaming hand in front of him and caught skilfully, a single pink blossom from the shedding tree. As he brought back his hand, the flame turned the flower the same type of blue as his eyes, instead of burning it in to a charred, black pile of ash. He spun the flower quickly by its broken stem between his fingers and a blue pulse radiated through the petals, making them grow unnaturally fast. He slowed the rotating flower to a stop and held it out for the girl to take.
She smiled warmly at the flower and took it from him and was about to put in her newly tamed hair, when her eyes widened with a better use for the blue flower. She mirrored his smile and stealthily but expertly put it in his hair and stepped back to admire her work. The boy sighed and took the girl's hand again and they continued or their merry way.
By Kris/hogsy23