Moonflower

[Lilith]

Tina was blind. The shadow had shallowed and she became one with the darkness. She heard the echoes of other people's life in the tunnels and they probably would have heard her if she wasn't crouched in a corner, her arms wrapped her body.

She swore she saw Blaine walk into the tunnels, yet she didn't find him. Where was he? The darkness maybe shallowed him too and he was digested by the cold stone walls around him. She wondered if he felt fear of the dark. Tina wasn't scared of it, quite the opposite. Her last name was Luz for a good reason, she needed a light to continue, to fight forward yet in total darkness she found comfort. Maybe that's why she was the black sheep of the family, she was a flower that bloomed in the darkness while her family would wither away. She was the anti-thesis of her family, the polar opposite, the nobody that nobody cared about.

Camouflaged in the darkness, she smiled softly. The tunnels feel good, it was a cold world, a safe place. She didn't feel the need to run after people here, Blaine could wait and so could everyone else. It's as if she set the world on stop and could press on play when she escaped the burrows by following her steps.

Mentally, she was serene.

Physically, she ached.

Her body didn't like all the exercise she put it through. She ran around the island, crouched, aimed, sneaked, fought and ran some more, and her joints and head were craving for some nicotine. She started biting her fingers, chewing on the skin and nails caked with dirt. The darkness helped her nicotine-withdrawn brain, it still felt cloudy and stormy but it hurt less.

She yawned softly, instinctively reached out for eyes. She rubbed them with her fists, and she felt a bump. It was the size of a scarab, and she swore she could feel its tiny wiggling legs against her eyeball. She raised her right hand, pulling on her eyelid, ripping the eyelashes away. Her left hand searched for the creature, but she went in too hard, the thing that infested her went deeper into her eye. She gasped from the pain and continued her search. She scratched and clawed until her nails dug into the thing and she pulled.

There was liquid on her hands, on her nails, flowing down her face. Was it blood? Was it pus? Was it tears? Suddenly, she didn't feel like biting her dirty nails anymore. The thing was between her finger and thumb and she threw away, unsure of the identity of the offender who insert itself inside of her eyelid.

She was happy this happened in the darkness, where no-one but the all-seeing cameras would see her sad and kinda gross interlude. The cameras here weren't like the other, she wanted to look at them but she'd need to get her flashlight out, seek for one and make a lot of noise. Smoking was also out of the list of things she could do here. First, there was the safety hazard and second, it produced something someone with a malicious eye could see.

Talking about eye: it hurt but there was nothing to do. She curled up and in a corner, a hand cradling her face and knees tucked to her chest. She closed her eyes and waited until sleep came to her.

She had a good dream where she didn't die and where the flowers bloomed.