Running in Silence {Ebony}

[Alexander Grey]

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Screaming, the sound of screaming echoed through the halls of the high school on that night. Gun shots, and even more screaming. Blood on the walls, on the ground, everywhere. The murdered, he walked now, you could hear his footsteps echoing through the halls, getting closer and closer to the locker in which your hiding in. The footsteps stop, and you sweat, trying to control your breathing, knowing that he found you. The locker opens. The youth sat up in the room and screamed shortly before he took in long deep breaths, and looked around at his dorm room, his roommate rolled over and looked at him. “You alright Alexander?” He other boy asked. Faintly the boy named Alexander nodded and then moved to slid himself out of his bed.

Slowly, he rose to his feet and walked out of the room, that small dorm. Walking down the hall into the large community bathroom, the boy looked at himself in the mirror and sighed, before turning on the hot water. Looking down at his hands, he shook his head. “Fucking nightmares…” He cursed under his breath and then went to splash the water onto his face. It had been 3 years since the Shooting at his high school in California, and still he remembered it like it was yesterday. The one reason why he moved away from there was to escape the nightmares, and yet they followed him.

Turning off the water, the boy grabbed his towel and moved to wipe the sweat off of his chest and push his hair away from his deep blue eyes. Turning away from the bathroom, he left it, walking back to his room. Once there, he smirked to himself, seeing that Justin, his roommate had gone back to sleep. As quietly as he could, Alexander pulled on a pair of tight blue jeans, and a back tank top. He was sure that it wouldn’t be too cold outside tonight. But just in case, he grabbed his hoodie as well, and headed out the door.

Looking down at his sidekick as he ran down the hall, trying to get out before anyone would really notice him, he growled slightly under his breath at the fact that it was nearly 3 in the morning. He didn’t care, he needed to get out. Walking out of the large building, he turned and started to walk down the street, one white headphone placed within his right ear as he listened to Shiny Toy Guns. Singing the words silently to himself, he walked for what seemed like hours until he reached a 24 hour coffee shop.

Looking inside, he figured, why not go inside and get something to warm him up a bit. As he entered he cursed the little bell in which only made his headache worse. Walking to the counter, he smiled at the woman working, she was old, fridge, but still slightly good-looking. Alexander ordered a hot coco, just to warm him, he probably wouldn’t drink it. Once she had made it, and given it to him, he moved to take a seat, only to feel the buzz of his sidekick, pulling it from his pocket, he looked down at the text message. It was Justin, making sure that he was alright and wasn’t going out to get high or drunk. Laughing to himself, Alexander shook his head and went to text him back, before placing the phone on the table and leaning himself over the steaming mug of coco, resting his head in his hands.

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[Ebony Wynter]

Insomnia. Such a wonderful thing to have. Ebony had refused to take his Lunesta before bed. There was only so much tossing and turning the thin youth could take before he swung his legs over the side of the bed and left. Ebony didn't suffer from nightmares. He didn't suffer from any sort of dream, mostly because the teenager refused to take those sleeping pills. Ebony hated his pills. Since he didn't have his mother to force the sleeping pills down his throat, Ebony didn't take them often. He'd go a few days without sleep until he was about crazy, and then he would finally ingest them.

Time had elluded the boy named Ebony. Staring at the night-covered ceiling and walls had taken all essence of time away from Ebony. He hadn't looked at his alarm clock before giving up hope on sleep, so now Ebony was blissfully ignorant to whatever time it was. Time was meaningless to Ebony. All he wanted right now was coffee. Coffee and a cigarette. Ebony knew smoking was bad, but he couldn't help it. Addictions were hard to break.

Zipping up the tight black hoodie he had grabbed before leaving the dorm, Ebony stuck a slender hand in the pocket of his tight jeans. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Pulling out one of the cancer sticks, Ebony placed it between his full and pierced lips. He stood under a streetlight for a moment, the tall youth bathed in the warm glow of the light, and lit up his death stick. Closing his brilliant sea-green eyes, Ebony took a puff of what would give him lung cancer later on in life. The noxious fumes were blown out of his mouth. A few more puffs of the doom stick and Ebony threw it on the ground, stomping on it with the bottom of his black and white Vans checkerboards.

Ebony was a striking teenager. Pale and delicate features, wide sea-green eyes, and full lips. He was tall and slender, clothed fully in black, and smelled of vanilla. The faint smell of cigarette smoke sometimes adorned Ebony, but the vanilla usually cancelled it out. His blue-black hair fell over his heart-shaped face, and he flicked it out of his eyes as he began walking again. As always, Ebony's gait was slow and graceful. Starbucks. Coffee. Life.

The bell jingled as he opened the door, and the bright flourescent lighting made Ebony's pupils cry in pain. He stood there for a moment trying to adjust to the lighting. The sole worker there cast him a slightly worried glance before shaking her head. It was as if to say, "teenagers these days. Men shouldn't wear eyeliner." Ebony ordered his coffee, black like his little emo heart, and turned from the cashier.

Alexander. Half-smiling, Ebony walked over to the boy. "Mind if I sit here? Ebony asked, his British accent covering each of the soft words. Steam rose from the cup of black coffee. God, that liquid smelled so wonderful!

[OoC: Sucky, sorry. lol]

[Alexander Grey]

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As the youth’s ears seemed to ring with the continuous sound in which the bell had placed within his ears. Opening his eyes, Alexander looked down at the coco, and then lifted it to his lips. Those full lips in which were tainted with piercing. The place was so silent, and even after another pardon came in, the world around little Alexander continued to fall quiet, as if the world had died, and his heartbeat was the only sound left in the world. As he took in a deep breath, and let it out a saddened sigh, the youth lifted the cup of hot liquid to his lips before taking a drink. Though his thoughts were soon interrupted by another.

A voice, sweet and smooth, with an accent only a boy like him would love. Looking up as he saw the other male standing there, He smiled, and nodded “Go ahead.” He motioned toward the seat before leaning himself back. Feeling the long strands of his dark hair, he took in a breath, and looked back over at Ebony with a smile. “How’ve you been?” He asked, before tilting his head a bit to the side.

His royal blue eyes shifting some, as the lights from outside only seemed to run. From cars passing by, and people on bikes who had those little lights in the front of them. Closing his eyes again, Alexander, or Otter, lifted his hand to the bridge of his nose rubbing it slightly between his index finger and thumb. He did have a headache, yes, but Alexander didn’t believe in Medication. He never took it, even if he was supposed to. He was one of those people who would rather take something made from organic and all natural things than something that has chemicals in them.

Another reason why he was a Vegetarian. No one knew what kind of things they put into meat to make it taste better, nearly just the thought of it made him sick. As Alexander took in another deep breath and shifted himself so that his right leg was tucked under him in that booth, he looked down at the table as his fingers started to draw little things on it. Something was obviously wrong with him. Then again, after remembering something so tragic, who wouldn’t feel a little depressed?

{No, it was actually really good. Hah, At least you gave me something to go off of.}

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[Ebony Wynter]

A soft smile spread over the delicate and pallid features of Ebony. It wasn't the smile he usually wore. It was a ghost of that smile, barely touching the green orbs of his eyes, and it crippled and fell away quickly. The corners of those impossibly full lips twitched slightly as Ebony sat down in a fluid motion. A shrug of his delicate shoulders answered Alexander's question. In the lighting of Starbucks, the dark circles under Ebony's eyes stood more pronounced. Insomnia. The word echoed and crashed around in Ebony's tired brain. It rang like a loud bell to hit the walls of Ebony's mind. Sleep was supposed to be grand, but yet Ebony couldn't catch any of it. Sleep was an illusion to the boy with the blue-black hair and feminine face. Sleep, to Ebony, was only brought on by pills.

"Tired. Other than that I've been fine," Ebony said quietly before taking another sip of his coffee. Most things about Ebony were quiet. Words never came easily for the teenager. They were always there, believe that they were always there, but the words often turned to ash on his tongue before they escaped that mouth. Ebony tended to think things through far too much, and therefore words lost their meaning. Or the words lost their life in the back of his throat. Sometimes the vowels would leave a feathery and dusty taste on the back of Ebony's tongue, but maybe Ebony was slowly going insane. Probably.

Concern flitted over the delicate features of Ebony. "Headache?" Ebony asked stupidly as he watched Alexander for a moment. He tilted his head, the layered locks falling into his wide and innocent eyes. Ebony was a very innocent looking teenager, despite the eyeliner and piercings, and people mistook him for childish.

A random car passed through the night. Its yellow lights flitting across the smooth and darkened glass of the little cafe. For a fleeting moment the room was illuminated and bathed in the golden light from the vehicle. But it was only a fleeting moment before the light fled from the room. Ebony looked at his pale arm, tinged with yellow from the above lighting, and he frowned slightly. "How have you been?" Ebony asked without raising his gaze from the impossibly pale arm. He looked like he had jaundice in the light, or maybe Ebony was seriously going crazy.

He opened his mouth to speak more. To make words form and fall out. But those words died, the vowels screaming silently, and Ebony closed his mouth. His tired brain forced Ebony to think that the faint taste of dust clung to his tastebuds. Ebony's mind was tired, and it must be going crazy. It must, it must, it must! Ebony sighed and offered Alexander a small smile. It was all he could do, what with the words having their meaningless death thanks to the slender boy called Ebony.

Again, Ebony's gaze flitted away from Alexander. He looked down at the murky depths of his coffee. Steam still rose off the black liquid, and it hit the alabaster flesh of Ebony. It warmed the ivory skin for a mere moment. Then coldness would rush back to cover that once warm spot. Ebony brought his slender fingers to his right cheekbone to feel the fleeting warmth. To feel the last tendrils of warm stolen away by the icy arms of coldness.

Ebony must be going crazy. What with words dying and coldness stealing the warmth. He must be going crazy, sitting there in his tight pants and hoodie. He must be going crazy. Or maybe he was completely sane, and the rest of the world didn't think like he did.

Maybe. Maybe not.

[Alexander Grey]

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Why everything around him seemed to be fading, the darkness seemingly consuming him within it’s belly filled with lullabies, and sweet dreams. Though the words of his friend brought him back to reality and caused him to open his eyes and nod, letting a faint groan leave his throat. They eyes of his friend seemed to drift away from him, just as his own eyes shifted to watch the silent world within the starbucks coffee shop. Granted it was silent, and yet the sound of the old woman sweeping behind the counter seemed louder to him, than it would to anyone else. His eyes fell closed once more, and his body nearly seemed weak, he needed rest, and more peace to his mind. No, the nightmares were there, they were waiting for him again. Shaking his head, his eyes flickered open once more.

“I’m fine, I suppose… The Nightmares are back.” He stated softly before letting out yet another ruthless sigh before lifting the cup of hot chocolate to his lips once again. There were times when Alexander feared the hot liquid, feared it would stain his lips, or melt them. Alexander’s mind was far different from any other, he always thought of things in which people his age wouldn’t think. He always looked at the ‘what ifs’, of everything. Life was a dream to Alexander, nothing was what it seemed to be in his mind.

As his lips parted to speak the words in which he could not find, he smiled to himself, and then laughed at the nothingness in which was going through his head. “I feel so out of it.” He sighed, nearly speaking to himself, having forgotten that he was in the presence of someone he had spoken too often. Though of course, they’re conversations had never been as strange and un-verbal as this one was. As the world seemed to crash around him, much like picture frames, and vases. Alexander yawned and looked at his friend. “Let me guess… You can’t sleep either?” He asked, seeing the black bags under his friends beautiful eyes. Then again, it was rare when Alexander didn’t notice them or see them.

Insomnia could be a bitch, and Alexander knew that, nearly as good as Ebony did. Though Insomnia wasn’t what stopped him from sleeping, it was more or less fear. The fear of the nightmares, or perhaps the fear of not waking up the next day… After all, no one is granted tomorrow.

{Ick, that was lame}

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[Ebony Wynter]

The scratchy sound of the lady sweeping was magnified by ten. It made Ebony's ears ring with the sound of it. Ebony was often like this at night, or whenver it was incredibly dark. For him, when it was night then all his raw emotions came out. It was almost as if his depression multiplied as his mind twisted and warped. This was why he usually stayed in at night. When darkness surrounds someone who already saw darkness, nothing good could come from it. His white teeth connected with the fleshy bottom lip as he bit hard, almost hard enough to break the skin. Indents were left behind, Ebony could feel them, and he frowned at the twinging pain left behind.

His palms were flat against the table. The long, slender fingers that were so ghostly white were spread out evenly. Ebony could feel the tips of his fingers touched by coldness. He stared at them. They seemed to belong to the hands of someone else. Ebony concentrated on them for a few minutes, letting silence envelope him in its warm embrace. Then Alexander spoke again. It was all a foreign language to Ebony, but the silence had been shattered. It took a moment for his tired brain to pick out the words of his friend.

Nightmares. Ebony's gaze broke from his hands. Concern flitted across the beautiful features of Ebony once again. That explained why Alexander was out and about. Ebony frowned again, his angelic lips tilted downward, and the expression was so odd on his features. The frown remained there for a few minutes. It even felt out of place for Ebony. He didn't frown much. He half-smiled, but most of the time his face was devoid of all expression. Just like it was devoid of all color except the stark whiteness that often gave off an eerie glow.

There as laughter from Alexander, and Ebony's eyes widened. "Hon, I so sympathize with that. I feel like a completely different person. Like--" Ebony stopped. He let his words drop and dry away. Again the sound of the vowels dying and suffocating echoed in his mind. It made his ears ring, and it made Ebony feel slightly sad for all the words that could be said but wouldn't be said. His conversations with Alexander were never like this. Maybe Alexander became a different person at night, too.

For Ebony it was as if a mask was falling off. It was as though the fine porcelain and painted mask of someone different had fallen off and shattered on the ground, the lovely pieces clinking on a cold and barren floor. At night all of Ebony's restraints came away. He was free to be who he was, to feel how he wanted to feel, and to have thoughts about vowels dying.

He lifted his right hand, the left hand still staying on the table, and felt the delicate skin under his eyes. "I haven't slept for the past couple days." Maybe Ebony was afraid to sleep. Maybe that was the reason behind his insomnia. There were reasons Ebony feared sleep, but those reasons he kept to himself. The white pads of his pale finger massaged the dark purple circle. He sighed. Ebony thought he looked completely hideous right now, nothing how he usually looked, and it made him want to vomit. Maybe not vomit, but it made him feel horrible.

"I think we're here for about the same reason, then." Ebony's words came out almost as a prolonged sigh. They were airy, light, and slightly sad. He knew he shouldn't have looked in the mirror before he left. Now the image of the person staring back from the grey glass was haunting him. The wide green eyes with the purple circles attacking the skin under them. The very pale skin with the high and smooth cheekbones, full lips, and a slightly hooked nose. Ebony knew his blue-black hair was likely to be messy. He knew he looked like hell, and it wanted to make him rip his hair out and scream.

But the scream died in his throat. Screams leave a different taste when they die. While vowels leave a dusty taste, the screams leave an acidic taste that burns your throat. Their death is more violent, mostly because screams themselves are move violent. So the death of them is likely to cause more pain. Ebony swallowed the acidic taste and placed his forehead on his palm. All he could see now was the table and the gentle crook of his pale arm.

{No, it was perfectly fine. My muse is so dead right now, so I'm sorry my posts suck}

[Alexander Grey]

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Once the world stopped spinning, Alexander only let out a faint yawn before he nodded in agreement with his friend. Letting those brilliant eyes trail over his own hands, before looking over at Ebony’s. Once he heard the other stop in his words, he had figured that they had died, must like roses in a fire, in which wither and turn to ash. As he arched a brow and took in another deep breath, his mind began to wonder, pulling him through dreams and nightmares he had over the past week. It was killing him, not being able to sleep, and then again, he now knew how the male sitting in front of him felt. Not being able to sleep was honestly starting to kill him.

The hunger for something unknown, the hunger for sleep, for everything. Shaking his head, trying to get the cravings to leave him be, he lifted his cup once more, only to swallow what remained of the drink within it. Oddly enough, that seemed to go by a lot fast then he figured it would. The lack of sleep could really mess up one’s mind, and already the insanity was leeching onto his brain, and suck every intelligent thing he could think and or say.

“I should really start taking medication.” He spoke, once more, almost to himself, the dim world around him, once more, everything looked black and white, so plain and boring to his eyes. The lights dead, and shining everything with a grey color. He honestly did hate the fact that he didn’t take meds, and that he never wanted to. Though part of him seemed to plead, and nearly beg with him to take some type of medication in which could help him sleep. Or hell to even go see a shrink.

Honestly, no one really knew about his nightmares, at least what they were about. When people hear nightmares, they think, monsters, or the possibility of dying. Not many think that it could be a memory, and in Alexander’s case it was. If he hadn’t closed himself in that locker, he would have been dead.. There was still a chance after that, he could have died. The shooter did after all open the locker and point the gun at Alex, but a police man shot him in the back of the head, causing the crimson blood to spray onto the youth’s pale skin.

Remembering that, Alexander cringed with a painful look on his face, before lowering his head and placing it into his hands “I really need help.” He whispered to himself this time, though he was sure that the other heard him. Alexander Grey shouldn’t even remember these things, everyone else who was there had forgotten them, why couldn’t he?

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[Ebony Wynter]

Moving his head from his hand, Ebony turned to look at his friend. "Medication is hell, hon. It really is," Ebony said without actually looking at Alexander. He felt he should do something, anything, to make Alexander feel better. Something. Anything. Ebony felt his hand move, but Ebony pulled back that thought. He wanted to give Alexander a hug. Just maybe it would help. Maybe. Frowning, Ebony looked over at his friend.

Medication was a large part of Ebony's life. It helped. Ebony would be the first to admit it. He just hated the fact he was tied to it. That the medication was there to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, to make sure he slept, and to get over the fact that he was seventeen and still couldn't order his own food. Ebony almost stood up to walk over and give Alexander a hug, but he didn't. He forced himself to sit back in the seat. Contact with people wasn't something Ebony often did. He tried to avoid it, honestly. It made him uncomfortable, and it often made other people uncomfortable. So he sat there, green eyes peering throught blue-black hair. He was concerned. After all, Alexander was one of Ebony's friends.

"I really need help"

Ebony stood up and walked over to where Alexander was sitting. Moving his thin arms, Ebony went to wrap them around Alexander. Comforting people wasn't a talent Ebony had. He could be a very sweet person, just not at night. At night Ebony was a completely different person. "Everyone needs help. I need help. Do you want to talk about it?" Therapist mode. Ebony had this mode. He'd sit down and seriously listen if you wanted to talk. Everyone called this his "therapist mode." He'd ask you questions about your emotions, and he'd just generally listen. It was one of Ebony's good qualities. Those were the qualities he was seriously lacking.

Ebony hadn't told Alexander much about himself. Not any of the darker aspects of Ebony's mind. He kept those private. No, beyond private. Those thoughts were uttered to no one. He couldn't bear himself to bring it up, bring the things of his past up. They would stay silent, in the back of his mind, but very much alive. Unlike the vowels and the screams, those thoughts would never die.

{OMG, I'm so sorry. This took me forever to write and it sucks so much. -gags- I'm sorry, really.}