Shades of Gray, Redeux

[Megami†]

((Ali continued from Completely and Utterly))
((Tanesha continued from the mall.))

Long highlighted locks blew gently in the summer breeze that seemed to overtake the entirety of the island as Ali Grayston continued her journey across the landmass they had been placed on in search of... what was she searching for, anyway?  Allies, companionship, a friendly face?  Truth be told, she had already foresaken one group of potential companions at the church.  Her life was on the line, and as far as Ali was concerned, very few people were trustworthy enough for her to put her life in their hands.  Only a select few were worthy enough to receive that sort of trust from Senator Grayston's only child.

She had fled from the church a few hours prior, having decided that things were getting a little too crowded for their own good.  From the fragments of the last game she'd happened to glance upon, and even simply using some form of common sense, Ali could easily come to the conclusion that large groups of nervous and unstable teenagers who barely knew one another were bound to collapse from the inside out before it was all said and done.  But... with Carmen, and Sera, and the other girls, it would be different.  Ali had all but placed her life, her image, the entire entity that she had created in their hands on multiple occassions... as much as a person like Ali Grayston was able to do so, anyway.

She had secrets, of course.  Everyone has secrets.  Even a member of Bathurst's social elite, even the daughter of Senator Andrew Vincent Grayston IV had secrets to hide, and she hid them well.  There were secrets that for one reason or another, she didn't even trust her best friends with.  Still, Ali could think of many a time when the other members of the Sisterhood -- namely Sera Wingfield -- had gone above and beyond the cause only for Ali's benefit.  In fact, she could recollect with absolute clarity a situation that transpired in the not-so-distant past in which Sera's blind loyalty was demonstrated for all to see.

~~~

"Ali..."

She had been startled, at the very least, when Sera had called her up in the middle of the night, demanding that she talk to her in private as quickly as possible.  Within the hour, Sera had made her way from the apartment complex in which she lived to the elustrious Grayston manor in Denton's ritzy Kensington Heights subdivision.  Now, Ali and Sera sat flopped on the sofa of the den, a mischevious smile forming on Sera's lips despite her attempt at showing some form of sympathy to her friend.

"I found out who spread those rumors," Sera offered to the brunette, and all at once, Ali's curiosity piqued.

Not long ago, only a day or so after she had been nominated to walk in Bathurst's Football Homecoming, a vicious rumor had reared its ugly head around Bathurst High.  Someone, Ali never had found out who, had spread a rumor around that Ali had slept with several members of the football team to "earn" her homecoming nomination.  Although the rumor was completely untrue, very few footballers seemed to either deny nor confirm the circulating rumor, making it that much worse.  On the outside, Ali had kept on going right along, forcing the facade that the rumor was just someone's jealousy and bitterness rearing up.  Even though she knew it was, the fact that countless Bathurstian students actually believed it was affecting her, even if she wouldn't allow it to show.

"You do?"

The brunette's eyebrows raised in curiosity as she turned to face the blonde-headed girl sitting on the opposite end of the couch.  Sera's gaze met hers, a devilish smile spreading over her features.  At first, she had heavily contemplated whether or not to clue in the remainder of the Sisterhood or to just inact retribution on the gossiper herself.  In the end, Sera had decided that this was, after all, Ali's vengeance, and revenge is a dish best served cold.  She nodded slowly, her smile growing wider as she beamed with pride upon her discovery.

"Mmhm, and I know exactly how to get back at them, too..."

~~~

Ever since encountering the mysterious voice from within the depths of the shopping center, Tanesha had been trekking across the island, going to no place in particular.  Now, finally, she had stopped in the park.  Her large form lay prone and unsteady on the edge of the fountain, Tanesha's mind drifting back to a time long ago as she looked up at the stars shining brightly over this otherwise hellish place.  When she had stopped, she had finally taken the time to bandage up her wounds and clean them out with the running water from the fountain.  Now, despite the perile her life was in, Tanesha felt her body giving out on her.  Even though she could die in seconds, exhaustion was taking its toll on her, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

Dark, beady eyes fixated themselves on star after star, leading Tanesha to ponder her own existence and attempt to fathom the concept of this game.  She had long since come off of the adrenaline high she had been running on in the wheat field what seemed like eons ago, but was in all actuality on that morning.  She had quickly come to discover that time was quite relative in a place like this, where every moment could be your last or where time could, in fact, stand still for just a moment.

A loud sigh escaped the dark girl's lips as she continued to lay sprawled out, her thoughts tangling and intertwining with one another.  Soon, the sun would inevitably rise on the second day on the island, and she would once again be forced into a killing game where Tanesha had many vendettas to fill, but for now, she was rather enjoying the peace and solitude of the seemingly empty park.  She had somehow missed the fresh corpse lying somewhere in the vicinity, otherwise any sense of safety she might have gained probably would've been dashed in that instant.  A loud yawn escaped her lips as she looked up to the darkened heavens above her.

~~~

Tanesha dashed through the quickly emptying hallways toward her locker as the tardy bell for her next class rang, inwardly cursing herself all the while for having opted for a second helping at lunch today.  By the time she reached the rickity looking locker she had been issued, even the delinquents normally lingering in the hallways had finally meandered into their respective classrooms, and she was now officially late by any standard.  Swearing audibly, Tanesha kicked at the rigged locker a few times until the antiquated thing finally came open with a squeal.

Wildly shoving the dark black book into the confides of her locker and extracting several books for her next few subjects, Tanesha slammed the locker shut and stumbled off down the hallway and toward her next class.  What she didn't realize was that two figures were watching from the shadows, waiting patiently on the heavy girl to dash off to her next destination without a second thought.  That was when they'd strike.  Sera Wingfield's eyes lit up visibly as she watched Tanesha predictably shove her most prized possession into her locker, just as she'd watched done repeatedly within the past few days.

"Sera," the bronze-skinned brunette beside her inquired, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Sera's eyebrows arched in mild surprise when Ali Grayston second-guessed her plan of action.  After all, Sera was only doing this for Ali.  That fat cow had spread vicious rumors around the school about her, making her out to be a whore, and she deserved what she got.  You reap what you sew, as they say.  This girl wanted to spread rumors and lies around the school about Ali?  They'd do something far worse, they'd spread actual facts.  Sera felt no pity nor remorse for what she was about to do.  In fact, she was overcome with pride at her ingenius plan.

"Ali, she deserves it.  She certainly wasn't thinking about your feelings when she announced to the school that you fucked the whole football team, now was she?  Spreading something like that around about her wouldn't do any good, everybody knows the football boys aren't that desperate."

Although Sera's commentary seemed to give Ali that little extra push needed to go along with the plan, Ali couldn't help but remain somewhat skeptical.  Of course, she was beyond irate that Tanesha had had the gall to spread those rumors about her, and she certainly wanted to get back at her, but this almost seemed to be taking it over the edge.  Then again, Sera was right.  Tanesha certainly didn't care when she'd spread that nasty rumor around in the first place.  She was the one who started the whole fiasco, so overall, Ali and Sera were just returning the favor.

~~~

As she entered the park, Ali couldn't help but reminisce over the memory.  It almost surprised her even now, because she didn't feel guilty about the exploits that took place after that moment.  She had sought retribution on Tanesha Lexx for the spiteful actions Tanesha had taken against her unexplainedly, and from that fateful moment by the lockers onward, there was no turning back for Ali.  After that moment in time, she had probably managed to make a lifelong enemy, but Ali maintained that karma had just as big a part to play in the events that unfolded next as Ali herself did.

Tanesha had lied and deceived and backstabbed before, but that time, she had done it to the wrong person, and Ali had been determined to get her back in spades... and they had.  She couldn't imagine why the memory was popping up now as she traversed the freshly mowed grass of the park, or why a sense of foreboding seemed to overtake her as she pressed onward.  Deep green eyes scanned the distant horizon, looking for any sign of danger, or life, or anything aside from the seemingly endless field of grass and trees.

The children's swings blew back and forth gently in the gentle summer breeze, and the sounds of rushing water from the fountain added to the overall tranquility of the region... at least, it was probably tranquil at one time.  The lack of noise seemed to scream in Ali's ears and made her increasingly uncomfortable.  Nothing but the monotonous chirping of nearby crickets and the running water echoed throughout the air.  No gunshots, no screams, no nothing.  Just increasingly eerie and unusual silence.  Drawing in a quiet breath, Ali continued to survey the scene, her pace slowing drastically as she continued traversing the park.

~~~

Sera Wingfield sat absent-mindedly on the couch of the teacher's lounge, humming a happy tune to herself as she inspected her fingernails.  Ali sat atop the nearby table in the lounge, outwardly presenting a facade of relaxation, though quite a bit more tense than her blonde counterpart.  Ali looked over to Sera briefly, which the blonde seemed to notice and flashed her a huge grin.  Ali smiled back, although she seemed a bit distant.  Sera, however, didn't seem to pick this up.

After a moment, the blonde girl stood up, heading into the other part of the lounge to check the copy machine, which was rapidly printing various pages from a certain little black book that had been confiscated from the locker of one particular individual earlier that day.  Seemingly satisfied with the amount of copies of various pages that had been printed, Sera shut off the machine and grabbed the stack of papers before heading back into the other part of the lounge.  Ali hesitantly stood up and grabbed the scotch tape that had been sitting nearby as Sera re-entered the room.

"You ready?" Sera mused, grinning mischeviously all the while.

"I suppose," Ali retorted with a shrug.

"We're gonna pay her back, Ali, and we're gonna do it in spades.  She deserves every single bit of this.  Plus, all the guys in school deserve to know what a freak she is, just in case, you know, they ever get really drunk one night and decide they might want to fuck a walrus or something."

Sera laughed aloud after stating the last sentence, and Ali found herself laughing as well.  She had absent-mindedly glanced over several of the journal pages, or heard Sera reading them aloud.  Simply put, Tanesha Lexx was an absolute freak.  Every other sentence in her journal seemed to rattle on about how "in love" with some boy or another she was, to the point of obsession and even further at times.  It even detailed how she spread the rumor around about Ali out of jealousy over some nerd Ali didn't even know, which made her that much madder.

"Then let's go," Ali mused, tossing the roll of tape up in the air and catching it as she and Sera left the lounge.

~~~

A light humming suddenly broke the silence in the park as Tanesha Lexx began humming a tune absent-mindedly to herself.  The monotonous chirping of the crickets was becoming tiresome, and Tanesha just wanted to be left alone and go to sleep.  However, the moment that the sound of footsteps echoing on pavement reached her ears, Tanesha bolted upright with a start, searching crazily for the intruder that had defiled her sanctuary.  Immediately, the darker girl's eyes narrowed even more as the figure drew closer.

"YOU!"

Ali jumped visibly at the loud yell that echoed out from the fountain, her attention turning immediately toward the source of the sound.  Ali's eyes, too, widened, but not in rage.  Rather, Ali was simply surprised at the unfortunate turn of events she had just run into.  First she had run into Mariavel in the church, and now here, someone else who was probably out for revenge for something she had brought on herself in the first place.

"Tanesha!"

"You bitch!" Tanesha retorted, springing to her feet immediately and dashing toward the model-esque brunette.

Ali didn't have time to react before the black girl had all but charged at her and sent her falling to the ground with a loud thud.  A scream escaped the brunette's lips as she collapsed on the ground, Tanesha's weight on top of her.  Ali struggled in vain beneath the weight of the much heavier girl, her eyes widening in an emotion that someone like Ali Grayston rarely felt and never showed: fear.

"What the hell is WRONG with y--"

Ali was cut off as Tanesha's hand pressed itself harshly over her mouth in an attempt to silence her.  Tanesha's hand continued to force itself over Ali's mouth, and the brunette continued to struggle, unable to retaliate due to the sheer weight of the being sitting on top of her.  Out of the corner of her eye, Ali saw Tanesha's free hand reaching for the nearby nail bat that Ali had dropped upon being tackled.  It was at that moment that the severity of the situation registered to Ali Grayston, and she did the only thing that was humanly possible for her to do at the time -- she bit down on the flesh of Tanesha's hand, and hard.

Tanesha immediately recoiled, quickly noticing that her hand was covered in blood and teeth marks from where Ali's teeth had actually torn flesh.  Taken aback by the brunette's unorthodox attack, Tanesha was left open when Ali reached up, racking formerly perfect manicured nails down her face viciously.  The pain was enough to send Tanesha leaping up off of Ali and force her into covering her face.  Ali gasped loudly, air that had been blocked from her lungs by the force of the heavy girl's weight suddenly re-entering them.  Ali went for the nail bat, but Tanesha had other plans.

Grabbing the brunette by the hair before she could manage to pick the bat up, Tanesha whipped her into the side of the fountain, causing Ali to double over the structure in pain.  Immediately following behind, Tanesha forced the brunette to bend backward over the fountain, inevitably managing to shove her head under the water.  Ali's vision suddenly became blurry as her head was unexpectedly forced back into the water, she inhaling a mouth full of the substance from the unexpectedness of it all.  Ali flailed about wildly as Tanesha continued to hold her under, grinning all the while.

Much to Ali's surprise, Tanesha pulled her head out of the fountain and jerked her up to face her, the grin spreading across her features even further as she did.  At this point, Tanesha was in complete control, and she was revelling in the feeling.  Never before had she been so in control of any situation before, much less a situation involving one of the most popular bitches in the entire school.  Now, Tanesha was the one playing the game, and Ali Grayston was just a pawn.  Pulling the waterlogged brunette within inches of her face, Tanesha looked toward her, a look of pure hatred and malice forming on her face.

"I hate you..." Tanesha uttered into the brunette's face, "I hate you so much.  Girls like you, you should just die.  You go around, you make everyone else's life a living hell just because you get off on it.  You're a bitch, and you deserve to die.  Die and rot, just like all the other bitches on the island.  That's all you are.  Just a bitch.  A dog in heat.  Fucking everybody else's boyfriends, just because you can.  Just die!"

~~~

"I HATE YOU!  I FUCKING HATE YOU!"

The screamed words echoed out from in between sobs through Bathurst High's hallways as Tanesha Lexx looked on in pure horror at the scene that had unfolded before her.  On the walls, for as far as the eye could see, fragments of the journal that she had kept as her own personal confidante for all these years were posted for the world to read.  And read them, they did.  Students across the school were curiously reading over the articles -- laughing, mocking, taunting her as they read them.  Some of the boys she had written about looked on at her disgustedly before heading the complete opposite direction.

Tanesha had found her journal, posted to the bulletin board in the hallway, and by the time she had gotten out of class and seen the xeroxed papers lining the walls of the hallway, it had been far too late.  Now, the heavy-set girl simply sat crumpled up in a corner of the hallway, tears streaming down her already ashy face as she tried to grasp what lengths Ali and the Sisterhood had gone to to get back at her.  She had thought that Sera Wingfield was simply making idle threats that day in the locker room.  She had no idea how wrong she would be.

They had ruined it.  They had completely ruined her life on a whim, just because they felt like it.  It wasn't fair!  Girls like that deserved what they got!  Tanesha didn't deserve this!  Ali Grayston was a bitch, nobody cared if rumors got spread around the school about her.  It wasn't supposed to happen to Tanesha.  The muffled laughter continued to ring in her ears and caused her to sob louder and louder at the sheer treachery of it all.  She would never forgive them for this... never.

~~~

Tanesha once again thrust Ali's head into the water, but this time, she had every intention of leaving her there until the bubbles ceased.  Ali was expecting it this time, however, and held her breath as she again went under.  Immediately afterward, her leg swung up, kneeing Tanesha roughly.  Tanesha's grip lapsed for just a moment, and Ali took that intant to shove the heavy-set girl off of her.  Continuing to gasp for air, Ali grabbed the pack that lay nearby -- the pack belonging to Tanesha, and swung it at full force, knocking the black girl down with the momentum behind the blow.

Before she even knew what she was doing, Ali let Tanesha's pack fly toward her and ran the other direction, snagging her own weapon and pack as she returned to it.  She stopped, only for a brief moment, and turned to the bigger girl who was still trying to get up from having toppled over backward upon impact.  Shaking her head disgustedly, Ali brushed her drenched hair out of her face and attempted to wipe away some of the running makeup.  The look of disgust never once left her features as she addressed Tanesha.

"I'm so much better than you... in every way possible.  You're jealous and spiteful and you take out your frustrations on other people.  You'e naive enough to think that the things that you do are perfectly fine, but when your actions come back on you, it isn't fair.  You reap what you sew, Tanesha, and you deserved what you got.  But to try to KILL me?  You're even more pathetic than I thought.  And that's why I'll always be better than you, Tanesha.  I'm not willing to stoop to their level and play this game, and you're an idiot if you think I could.  Your trivial little life means nothing to me, so why would I bother taking it?"

Having said her piece, Ali dashed out of the park, despite the intense pain in her lungs from having inhaled so much water.  Tanesha didn't bother getting up from her prone position on the ground as Ali said her piece, her words cutting Tanesha deeply as she uttered them.  Even as she spoke, Tanesha's hatred for her grew deeper and deeper.  Right now, though, all the dark-skinned girl needed to do... was rest.  Slowly, surely, the world around her faded into complete darkness, and Tanesha dozed off into a light slumber on the ground beside the fountain.  Blinded by rage and consumed by anger, Tanesha Lexx barely even realized that she had attempted to murder Ali Grayston.  At this point, she didn't even care...

((Ali continued in Shattered Portraits))

[Mitsuko2†]

From: Part of your World

"Uhg... This stuff reeks." Said a tired Lavender as she ran through the night with only the glow of her flashlight to guide her. She ran from the lighthouse when she heard others approaching and was now somewhere in the vicinity of the school if her calculations were correct. She had been running so long that it had already become night on the island. She wondered when Mari was. This island was pretty big, It could take days to find her. She sighed and slowed down to a quick walk.

Moving her flashlight around, she saw that she was in some sort of park. Checking her map, she saw that she had practically ran the entire length of the island! No wonder she was exhausted! She looked around as to make sure she was safe when she heard a scream. She quickly ducked behind a slid and looked in the direction of the scream.

Ali Grayston and Tanesha Lexx. Not a combo that would end well. Thankfully, Ali ran off. (she couldn't hear what she said to the obese girl though) and she sighed with relief. She didn't want to think of people she knew as killers. Lavvy tentatively made her way from behind the slide and approached the girl. She shined the light towards her and called out.

"Tanesha? Are you ok?"

[Megami†]

A flashlight!

Tanesha jumped in surprise as the bright beam illuminated her surroundings, flickering this way in that in an attempt to find something, anything.  The beam was searching, and Tanesha didn't want to be the person it found.  All she had wanted was a bit of peace and quiet.  All she had wanted to do was rest.  Truth be told, the fight with Ali had all but worn her out, and she just wanted a place to sleep.  Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

Frustration was welling up inside the black girl as the thoughts raced through her mind.  Even as Lavender Heart called out to her, inquiring as to whether or not she was okay, Tanesha barely heard the words.  She didn't want comfort.  She didn't want solace, or companionship, or for some girl she barely talked to in high school -- the best friend of the bimbo who'd tried to kill her earlier that morning, no less -- to pretend to be her friend and try to show her some sort of compassion.

"No!" she yelled as she sat straight up from her prone position, not as an answer to Lavender's question, but more of a sign that she didn't want the other girl around.

"Go away!  Just go away!  Why can't you people just leave me alone!  Just leave me alone and GO!"

They just wouldn't go away.  No matter where she went, they were always there, lurking, waiting to destroy her when they got the chance.  The girl in the field that morning, she had wanted to destroy Tanesha... wanted to rub in her face how perfect her life was... wanted to flaunt her friendships and possessions in Tanesha's face.  And so Tanesha had decided to play the game, and Tanesha had decided to kill the girl.  Who wouldn't?  But of course, the girl's knight in shining armor wasn't having it.  Such an atypical story, don't you think?

Always making me out to be the bad guy... never anyone else.  Always me.  I'm always the bad person in the end, because everyone turns against me.  It isn't... my fault they don't like me.  I don't like them either.  I just wish they were all gone.  All gone...

It was then that Mariavel Varella -- Lavender Heart's best friend, no less -- had shown up, hellbent on ending Tanesha's life.  And for what?  Tanesha had vocalized in the hall at one point in time that she thought Mariavel was a whore?  She'd sat sprawled out in the middle of the floor, showing her panties to anyone who dared look like she was something special.  Tanesha had had every right to say it.  The fact is, girls like that, they don't want to hear the truth about themselves.

And she had escaped... and run to the mall.  It was such a big place, Tanesha was sure that she'd find some sort of haven there, but it hadn't happened either.  The voice.  The mocking, joking, cruel voice that tore out from the darkness and teased her.  Taunted her.  Always teasing and taunting, always poking fun at Tanesha.  That's how it always had been.  Tears welled up in the heavy girl's eyes as she looked on toward Lavender Heart.  In her mind, Lavender was just a cruel reminder of everything she hated and detested from Bathurst High School.

I know how to make it go away...

"No.  NO!  I don't want your help.  Just go, just leave me alone!"

Tanesha snatched up her belongings, her eyes still fixating themselves on Lavender.  She would make it ALL go away.  She would go somewhere where nobody could find her... nobody could bother her, or tease her, or torment her... because they couldn't go there.  But she could.  She was certain of it.  For one brief moment, her eyes met directly with Lavender's, and then the heavy girl dashed off -- in as much of a run as she could muster -- far, far away from the park and to the sanctuary she knew she would find within the most dangerous part of the island...

((Continued Elsewhere.))