She dug her toes into the sand, though it was cold and damp, caking and cracking where she wished it would crumble. Cressida stared down at the grey, lips pressed together tightly. The man had been found here, with that terrible symbol carved into his back. She crouched down, hand lingering over the sand, as though afraid to touch. What if it stirred something? Something ancient and hungry? Something that was not her goddess and not her friend?

Open--Elaine Grazzo

"Take that back, I am not a brat!"

Pearl had bundled herself in a wool sweater before leaving her dorm room, the heavy thing several sizes too big with sleeves that trailed to the tips of her fingers. She walked quickly and with her head down, the late September cold biting through the loose knit as she made her way to a corner shop. She’d been sent out with a list of necessary supplies, her floor housed at least two girls who’d had their stomachs pumped after Friday night’s revelry, and another three who’d spent all of Saturday and some of Sunday morning dry heaving. The blonde was acting as Florence Nightingale, sent out to restock the front lines with Gatorade and saltines. She glanced back down at the crumpled piece of receipt tape that had been scrawled with various other requests, squinting as she tried to decipher some particularly messy handwriting. It was in that split-second that she stumbled fully into another body, the list dropped in surprise as she stumbled. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault, I wasn’t paying attention..” Pearl apologized quickly, mortified. She cast her eyes downward, “Are you alright?” Wind curled around the receipt, picking it up like a fallen leaf and tantalizingly tossing it in wide, looping circles before carrying it away.

ties {rebel’s window} || open