Challenge 203

[darklight90.livejournal.com]

Challenge: #203 Don't Get Caught
Title: The Cruelest Day
Word Count: 524

Cloud was twelve years old when the world went up in flames.

The playground had been the first to go. Grass burnt and metal was twisted into distorted shapes, reminding him of the spun-sugar statues the confectioner would place on his cakes. Cloud could barely afford a bite of taffy, let alone a whole cake decorated with butterflies and silver candles. He’d had to be content with watching them through the glass windows of the shop, pretending that he could taste the sweetness rolling on his tongue. The molten metal smelt nauseating and the smoke made his eyes stream rivers. At his feet, Yuffie began sobbing and crying out for the stuffed rabbit she’d left behind in the blaze.

Before long dark claws could make a snatch for his shoulder, he picked her up and ran. Stars seemed to be raining down on them until he realized that they were pieces of burning wood. Houses fell down like the card castles he’d once built for crowds of astonished kids like him. Behind them, he sensed the scuttling of inhuman feet, no doubt gunning for the blood gushing inside his still-beating heart.

Yuffie was heavier than he’d thought. He almost dropped her twice. Both times, she screamed louder and wrapped her hands tighter around his neck. With that and the thickening smoke blinding him, he could have passed out on the spot.

He choked on his tears when he recognized the burning rubble in front of him. All that was left of the kitchen – his mother’s pride of place – was a blurring silhouette beneath the ashen sky. A blackened apron, stained red, blew out from the debris and wrapped itself around his waist.

For a split second, Cloud mourned.

Yuffie’s soft whimpering brought him back.

There would be no more Sunday brunches and home-made birthday cakes.

Muscles which he never knew he had tightened under pressure. His feet moved of their own accord, weaving in and out of rising flames, dodging screeching dark figures as they grabbed for what he had left. Years later, in front of a more pensive group of peers, he would compare it to dancing. It would be one of the few times that Yuffie wouldn’t laugh out loud at anything he said.

Here, she was a tiny bundle of skin and bones, trembling so hard that his ribs hurt from where her knees curled in. With each shadow swooping over them, she would shriek and he would tighten his grip around her. Hours would pass until the fire ate itself away. The stars were back in their place above them, seemingly dazed and confused at the ashes scattered about on the land. She huddled closer to him, eyes tightly shut. He watched the horizon for a sign. Anything to let him know that there would be an end. It would be hours again ‘til the sun rose, making him realize the injustice of it all.

They’d escaped, him and her. They’d screamed, cried out for familiar faces, their lungs now spent from exertion. But they’d made it. They hadn’t been caught and their hearts would forever remind them of that.

Comments

[oreo-81369-17.livejournal.com]

0_0.....holy crap this was amazing! lookit all the detail~!!! *flail*

A blackened apron, stained red, blew out from the debris and wrapped itself around his waist.
that's my favorite line ever >A< this was so good holy crap♥

[darklight90.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! :D

[sekiharatae.livejournal.com]

Wow. Just... wow.

Dangit, I want more!

[darklight90.livejournal.com]

Wish I could write more but word limits are word limits. Thanks for reading though :)

[vinoconvino.livejournal.com]

Awesome, and very haunting!

[darklight90.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D

[zanypomegranate.livejournal.com]

This was extremely haunting. And you really made the whole prompt stand out with the last line I though. :)

[darklight90.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[tabitha-dornoc.livejournal.com]

I was hoping someone would write something like this. :) We focus so much on Sora's story, I think it's sometimes easy to forget that he's not the only one fighting the heartless. This is absolutely lovely. I just love the visceral images you work into your writing. <3

[darklight90.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love writing about supporting characters, especially given that we usually know very little about their background. All the more scope for imagination, I say :D. Thanks for reading!