A Dark Touch

ON THIS MOONLESS NIGHT, even the silhouettes are gone. The usual friendly smattering of stars is obscured utterly by dense cloud. Ordinarily, she would stay in underneath her old blankets on a night like this, but today it was different. These few hours that withered away so fast were her last.   So, she took every advantage she had, taking it all in basking in the sheer freedom of the quietness of the world at this time.   The coldness of the slate tiles and its dampness seeped through the thin polyester trousers Harlow had stolen from her mum. With knees pulled tight to my pronounced rib cage, she shivered at the late-night chill. In this poor light, the roof-tops spread in every direction like a great grey serpent with rectangles scales.   Only the red bricks chimneys ruined the illusion, but in this light, they were just as monochromatic as everything else, the slate, the swirling smog, the streets that were never de

THE BUS ROCKS HER FROM SIDE TO SIDE. As she travels these not so familiar roads, her brains afforded the time to daydream or rest. She hadn't slept well last night, something about this place that had her hairs crawling.   Everything seemed so normal, yet something felt so very off. It could've just been that she didn't particularly want to permanently live here, as horrible as the people were there...at least she was familiar with everything there. Here, she didn't even know where to go besides her nan's house.   Some chatter, their voices rising and blending in the sweet ritual of friends. Some absorb themselves in music; others drift into worries that will erase themselves on arrival when their body rejoins the world of moving and speaking to others. And so it goes on that way, all of us together and separate, feeling all the same turns and bumps.   The bus ride is her meditation. The same chill music in her earbuds,

THE FRONT DOOR CLICKED TO A CLOSE. "Harlow is that you hun." Her mom's voice boomed from the kitchen.   "Yeah." She responded instantly, dropping her backpack on the floor. Her mom was sat on the dinning table typing away on her laptop, papers scattered the surface of the table. "What's all of this?" She question, grasping one of the papers between her hands scanning it over.   "My résumé." She swiftly replied, to focus on what was on her laptop than to spend a moment to gain a look at Harlow, not that she minded  anyways.   "Oh." Was all she said, her mom was applying for a job this quickly.   "How was school?" Her mom asked. Still furiously typing away on those keyboards, it was like she was superhuman or something, multitasking. Something Harlow could never do, her attention spam was non-existence. Mostly everything distracted her, and sometimes it was frustrating and sometimes it was not.

HARLOW SLAMMED HER HAND ON HER BEEPING ALARM CLOCK. The alarm clock in platinum chrome sings each morning, signalling the transition from sleepy dreams to wakeful happenings.    After yesterday, she wanted today to be different. Typical, just like the rest of her days were. Throwing her legs over her baed, she sat up, rubbing her eyes for a good five minutes before she ever attempted moving. Early mornings weren't her thing, especially if the school was involved.   Standing up, she walked towards her bathroom. Harlow still felt the uneasy feeling in her gut that someone potentially might've been in her room. She'd even asked her mom and nan if they'd gone in her room to open the window, and they'd said no. Alarm bells went off at that point; it defiantly confirmed that someone had been in there. She was sure of it and knowing that it never eased the feeling she felt inside.   The water fell into her hands, and she s

SCHOOL HAD ENDED AN HOUR AGO; after having to pick herself up from whatever that was, her day went by pretty quickly. The moment she had come home, her feet had made her go into her room. Avoiding the two people she loved so much, but she felt drained.   Her mind raced with theories about where the burning pain came from, but initially, her mind constantly came up black. Maybe she was ill, had food poisoning or stress. Stress was the one number one on her list. For the past two days, that's all she's felt.   Stress and panic, fear consumed her entity. Everything felt so off, she felt off, and now her body was failing her.   What else was there for her to experience? From the unknown suspect of someone breaking into her room to finally finding out the actual name of her mysterious mate.   Her body collapsed on her mattress, her face smudged into the softness of her duvet cover. It constricted her brea