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Talon shuffled his cards. His hands shook. The excitement was too much for his small body to contain.
“Ok you can stop”
Talon spread out his cards before the boy with the dreads and the eagle like eyes. He picked a card at random
“That’s not your card. Pick again”
Talon said dragging each word in a very soft and quiet voice. The whole classroom was silent so that they could hear what was the new boy saying
The guy with the dreads frustrated frowned and picked again drowning a smile out of Talons lips
“A crown… You like to be a leader… You probably rule the whole school here. But you are kind….Too kind”
Said Talon and the boys thick brows rose up to meet his hairline. He didn’t even turn the card. Silently he placed face upwards before Talon
“How’d you know I got this one?”
Talon shrugged “I just did”
The guy laughed and got up “that’s cool man. I’m Kevin. Welcome to Falcons high”
Talon nodded and collected his cards stacking them in the black box and slid them in his graffiti drawn bag
“Thank you” he whispered.
Kevin Dutch was indeed the leader of this school but he was a kind soul. He slid his arm around Talons thin shoulders and pulled him in “You just proven to be worth been part of my crew! I’ll introduce you to my friends during lunch break!”
He said. Not only was his voice loud and clear Talon felt the vibrations of his body as he spoke and that made him feel the need to curl into a ball in a corner again
He was a sensitive boy really.
“Alright…” he whispered
This year would certainly be, different from the rest.
Talon had just transferred to a new school. He didn’t have a hard time interacting with people. He just hated how they lost patience over his way of speaking
He talked slowly, sometimes dragging, changing the words and few times stuttering. And beyond that he had a small really soft feather like voice that required silence to be heard
He didn’t even try learning to speak louder and faster. He didn’t want to hurt his vocal cords like that. Dax liked his voice.
And Dax was all that mattered to Talon
The bell rang echoing in the halls and in the classroom and everyone took their seat Kevin sitting right ahead of Talon with a grin plastered on his face
The heart of the group. The one to make jokes. Thought Talon and smiled slightly. It was good Kevin was the first person to approach him in this school.
Falcons high
The teacher came in and all students sat down. She started calling names
Kevin turned in his seat restless and rested his elbow on Talons desk
“Hey how’d you do the trick with the card before ?
“It wasn’t a trick”
“What was it then?”
“You are better off not knowing”
Talon smiled. A smile that hid secrets. Secrets he was proud to have as he tugged at his long sleeves jacket to hide the dirty bandages around his wrist.
A reminder of his secrets.
“Kevin Cross”
Called out the teacher a little bit irritated and Kevin turned again in his seat and raised his hand to point out he was here
“Talon Veniamin”
Talon did the same having to stretch a bit since Kevin’s body hid the whole of his
She went on with the names and Talon rested the palm of his hand on top of his jackets pocket and traced the packet of his cigarettes with ease
Few minutes later the teacher looked up from her clip board with a cocked brow and repeated the same name
“Cadis Etrama ?”
A girl with cropped brown hair who furiously sketched on her notebook with a pencil answered without looking up from her sketch
“He is absent”
“Very well”
Talon leaned forward and whispered in Kevin’s ear which caused the big guy to flinch
“Is this the part where you tell me to stay away from the boy who is missing because he is Involved in some kind of gang?”
Kevin chuckled hiding his mouth with his hand and bit his lower lip to contain his laughter
“Who’d thought you knew how to joke”
Talon lowered his brows and tilted his head so that he could look at Kevin’s piercing eyes
“I wasn’t joking”
There was a silence between them and Kevin smiled
“Cadis is a cool guy. You can be friends with him. If he lets you that is”
Talons mouth shaped an o and he sat back
“A loner then”
Hours went by fast and lunch break came. And so Kevin dragged Talon all the way outside to the school yard where they sat down in a circle with four more people
Kevin’s friends.
Talon got bad vibes from them
+++
The dried yellow grass was brushing Talons naked knees and the soft sand welcomed his feet. He kneeled on the ground running his fingers on the field of grass.
At some point there was no sand. Just grass. Soft,trimmed grass and blue lilies
He walked past the brown and yellow leaves and woods and stepped on the green side of the field
There rested Dax knotting his blonde hair in a long braid. Talons legs ached to run to the man but his mind knew that would be disrespectful
So he just walked and only once the man with the ears of a wolf looked up at him did he sit down before him
He crossed his legs and sat just a bit closer. But close enough for their knees to almost touch
Dax smiled and run a sharp nailed hand through Talons faded blue locks as his lips connected with the boys forehead
“What brings you here this time ?” He asked as gently as he could with the usual growl his throat emitted whenever he spoke
“I made friends at my new school”
Dax nodded and pulled away from Talon rested his spine on the thick roots of the tree
“How were they?”
Talon took a cigarette from the ground and lit it up with the lighter that always hang around his neck
He held the fag to his lips and thought for a moment before balancing the cancer stick between his fingers
“I liked Kevin. The boy with the dreads…he has weird eyes. He looks…like an eagle…or a harpy”
Dax nodded his eyes focused on Talons large almond shaped ones
“There is Eddie…the black guy. I think he is the most easy going…”
There was another pause for Talon to take a drag of his cigarette and swallow the smoke before letting out what was left of it
“I like him too. He lips have a really nice shape”
Dax’s left ear twitched but he kept smiling
“Then?”
“But that’s it. I don’t like…his other friends”
Dax nodded and waited for Talon to finish his cigarette. And by the time the cigarette was finished Talon had finished talking about Kevin’s friends
He took in his hands gently Talons damaged wrists that had two raw cuts just a bit above the old wounds
He lifted one wrist first brushing his thin lips above the cuts as bruises
“So what else happened?”
Talon frowned having a hard time remembering. He could feel it. He was loosing the link that kept him balanced between the real world and this world he created
A world for his astral body to wander in
“There…there was another name…I don’t remember”
Dax’ lips stretched in a wide smile his sharp fangs in their full dazzling glory
“That’s alright. You can’t tell me next time”
He got let go of Talons hands not commenting on the poor state they were as he kept smiling
“You can come next time”
“I want to sit here more”
“I know”
Said Dax. Talon rose up to his feet and touched his naked chest to the area where his heart was supposed to beat
He closed his eyes
I want to leave
He thought. And the second time he opened them it was morning and there was smoke in his room from the burnt candles and the ashes of the Lavender petals he burned
Talon hugged his naked arms and smiled.
This time Dax was more intimate.
He got up from his bed and scoffed once he saw the blood stains. He looked around for his bandages and wrapped them around his arms once again. He took the black and red porcelain bowl and threw it the sink to clean it later
He was dizzy and the side of his forehead was throbbing.
No. He didn’t over do it. He could get used to losing this much blood. It was worth it. Worth it for Dax
He dressed up in loose pants and threw a colorful shirt on him wrapping himself in his oversized jacket and knitted scarf
He searched for his packet of cigaretteand once he found it he let one up gazing at the rising sun
Cadis Etrama.
That was the name he couldn’t remember
(Unedited version )
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