Working at that little shop gave me a sense of pride and happiness that was unlike what I felt at Able's.
I had pride in what I did there too, but there was something different about being surrounded by humans rather than demons.
For one, I was popular with the older ladies there. There was something that drew them to me to strike up conversation and ask me everything about my life.
Curiosity, maybe? Or just friendliness?
Then there was the fact there were no other men here.128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsMQIxcKf3
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Humans didn't find a reason to fight if they wanted something. Generally, they avoided conflict.
And a shop full of retirees wasn't going to be wanting to snap my neck anytime soon.
It was nice to not feel threatened here.. There was no threats in a place like this that there was with three other male demons; one of which I had been violent with in the past.
Demons were so.... raw....with thier emotions. I saw that now.
I worked out the back with the other ladies who weren't manning the machines.
We gathered on either side of a massive white table to wind and cut fabric into more manageable sizes.
The table had grooves across it that the scissors would just glide through effortlessly. It was amazing to see how it was all done so quickly from both sides.
Once the fabric was cut, it was pushed down to the end of the table where someone would fold the piles and pack them away into the towering back and left side wall.
Each hole had its own colour of fabric perfectly sorted.
The whole place out here looked like a gradiated rainbow spilling across both walls. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnJoTD6Ehd
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Filling the empty space with fabric made it all complete.
My job was to do just that. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0A8BOgxxH
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I was the one who got to fold and place the fabric into the new homes for when they were ready to be used out the front.
Who knew how on earth the women here used to scale the ladders sliding across each wall to reach the holes at the top; I was sure it would have taken several minutes for them just to climb the damn thing.
I was young and nimble though. My job was important and gave the women here the relief they deserved.
Besides with my mutations still steadily fading, I still had the extra length in my arms to reach further than any of them.
Sliding along those walls was so much fun too. Being able to speed across that length in such little time made me feel like I was flying. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrBf6T2O5D
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It reminded me of my birth and the fall into that flower field. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8H8pUttfD
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It was the only time I was truly free like this; weightless.
The women here noticed how much I loved this part of my job. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKpuBsHM19
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I often saw them peering up at me from around thier sorting table with little smiles or shakes of thier heads at me.
My favourite of them was Diamond. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXpAV5ZdWX
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She was the youngest of the group too, at thirty-three years old.
She was solely a sorter and cutter out the back, never touching a machine in her life.
She was the one the other women used as reference for colour coding appealing patterns for darker skin on women.
Her skin was beautiful too. It was the closest to mine any human had been. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1inlYFwGP
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Her hair was pitch black too, tied into a ponytail that puffed out into a ball of curls at the back.
Diamond a cheeky girl too. Quick to joke and laugh with the others who sometimes found her humour a little too brash.
I liked it. We just got along so well, despite our differences. It was nice to actually have a human that wasn't overseeing my life or trying to harm me.
To be honest, if I hadn't of fallen into Lavender's flower field, I would have hoped to have fallen into hers.
She was often dancing to the old radio out the back the women liked to have tuned to thier favourite classic station. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGsbFb4o3W
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Even though Diamond preferred the more modern music, she never turned down a chance to learn the older classics and dance to them, like what she was doing now.
"Teddy Bear!" Diamond called up to me "come! Join in!"
The other women were gathered around the table, cutting and pushing fabric to Diamond who threw it up to me to save time.
Bessie was the quickest cutter of the group, unraveling the rolls of fabric to the precise length without having to line it up against the ruler lined into the edge of the table gutters.
At eighty-one, she was one of the older women, but still had a lot of life about her.
She was a soul who didn't let her age define her. Her fluffed afro was dyed copper brown and had tinged of gold on the curls. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbxQSWttef
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Her pale skin was marked with old tattoos that had faded green from years of love. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQPGJZqpTv
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She always wore her favourite shade of red lipstick that was only made brighter because of how pale she was.
Bessie was a no-nonsense woman. Despite this, she loved a good gossip with the girls and a shake of her body to the old tunes.
Compared to both outgoing souls, Charlotta was the quiet one of the group.
Also unlike both Diamond and Bessie, she was a volunteer rather than a paid worker, looking to make new friends in a strange town she had moved to only six months ago.
Nobody called Charlotta by her real name though. She went by Chive, as she had done all her life since an old friend gave her the nickname as a kid.
It felt strange to hear Chive's real name be used when it was. Chive became her new name that felt more natural to say.
For a woman of sixty-seven, Chive was an unusual name. It brought attention she usually shied from; accepting questions with a soft voice or small nod. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqi9XS7OQI
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The only other thing that bought unwanted attention was the deep red birthmark that spread over each of her fingers and up the length of her right arm to her shoulder that was a light caramel already. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡet0g9ENGxN
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Despite the mark, she didn't try to cover it now like she had in her younger years. She found it pointless to hide from something she couldn't change.
I liked how modest she was. She did nothing that would cause even the slightest disturbance to the others, remaining quiet rather than voicing an opinion.128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3THbiXauRp
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Her hair was kept as its natural brown and was only styled into a simple ponytail. Nothing outrageous or fancy. Just... there.
Chive's foot tapped away under the table she folded the fabric on for Diamond to collect. She was happy just to do her job silently in the good company of others.
"Teddy, there's dancing up in the sky, yeah?" Diamond called up to me as she threw a pile up to me "swirling around with the clouds?"
She spun around while holding the suspenders of her green dress that fanned around her.
"Dancing in the sky" I chuckled at her question "you know what? I'm not entirely sure."
Her face fell and she stopped her silly antics to fold the fabric being shoved to her.
"I'm a new soul, Di" I smiled to her worried face "I wouldn't know what the spirits have planned for us."
Her smile came back and she threw up another wad of patterned fabric for me.
"As long as it isn't nothing" she snorted.
The twinge of pain in her voice cut me. I knew she was questioning her mortality but didn't have the answers she wanted to hear.
I had come from there. I was the closest she had to knowing about what happened after death.
If River was here, he'd know. He always had answers for everything.
None of these women had a demon to guide them to the spirits. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HBmhMMBmz
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I felt sad for them that they didn't have that moral support and comfort for when that time eventually did arrive.
Lavender still had many years left. Majority of the women here didn't.
The music and dancing continued while chatter from out the front could be heard. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuIB1p6oOZ
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We only had a pair of old saloon doors separating our sorting area from the sewing floor, so we could see anyone out the front and vice versa. And because I was currently switching over to the ladder on the wall beside those doors, I was in plain sight of the customers gathered there.
One was a human male while his companion was a female demon. From the colour of thier souls, they were Bound to each other.
Our eyes met and I quickly turned my gaze away to focus on the fabric being thrown up to me.
I was aware I was being watched, and from the little giggles, talked about too.
"Teddy" Islet called to me "would you come here, please?"
Diamond shot me a look as I slid down and made my way out.
"Nice to meet you" I held my hand out to the man who smiled meekly at me.
His whole personality reminded me of Darcy. He looked terribly shy and had a habit of dropping his eyes to the ground when Islet spoke to him.
His hair was light blonde and fluffy like Bessie's little afro while his skin was dark like Diamond's.
I felt an ache within me at the reminder of what was no longer here.
His demon had porcelain skin as Azalea except for the swipes of red. This demon had ones of deep blue spotted across her exposed shoulders and across her face. Her eyes and eyelashes were the same colour, while her long hair was as white as her skin.
"Pleasure to meet you" the demon smiled warmly when our hands met briefly and her eyes darted to my tag and moved back to her human.
"The dress looks quite beautiful" Islet gushed when she pulled out a bulk of brown paper decorated with a twine bow "shall we make another with the same measurements?"
The demon gushed when her human handed her the package. She held it close to her body, playing with the bow, her ears perked upright.
I wanted Lavender to look like that when I learned to sew. I wanted to make her something that she would wear with pride.
"I want your demon to make it" she gushed to my chuckles.
"I know nothing about sewing" I looked to Islet for support "I'd only mess it up."
"Oh."
I saw her ears fall with her happiness. The human looked to her then to me.
"He can pick the fabric then" he spoke up and handed Islet his card "same measurements and deadline."
Islet was more than happy to take his money and write up his service in her thick book.
"My favourite colour is light green" the demon spoke softly to me while her tail flickered excitedly.
She smiled, blushing, when I just stared blankly back at her.
Her human saw her favoritism towards me and quickly wrapped up his conversation with Islet so he could lead his demon away by the hand.
Islet kept her smile wide until they were out of sight.
"First customer request!" she clapped her hands together happily before nudging me with her elbow "and Sugar really took a shine to you!"
Sugar? The name was kind of sweet and suiting for her. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1MDZ0ZVsS
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Now I had ot try and figure out what would compliment her gentle looks.
The pressure weighed heavily on my shoulders.
I couldn't mess this up and make Islet's business look incompetent.
"I'll trust your judgment, Teddy Bear" Islet smiled to me and gently nudged me towards the back doors "chop! Chop! We need to get started right away!"
Right. I had to make this all right.
I rushed to the back and scaled the ladder without a word to the others who watched on.
I decided to eliminate any bold or bright colours immediently from my options. Patterns would be good; perhaps small flowers over larger ones?
Or perhaps...
My memory shot back to Azalea and what she preferred. Able had put her in such a nice dress and decorated her with flowers when we had been hunting for workers all those years ago.
I slid over to the plain fabrics and wedged out a light green. I went sailing across the wall to scoop out a sheer pile of small white flowers edged with dark green leaves.
"This on top of this" I breathed to Islet who watched me from the doors "with skin so pale, putting something dark on her wouldn't look right."
Islet peered at the choices before finally nodding and accepting them when I slid down to hand them to her.
"Pen and paper" she ordered, having it immediently bought to her by Chive "draw what you see, Teddy Bear."
My hand was already scribbling before my mind could piece it all together. The scribbled shape of a demon stood there ridgedly while I covered it up with my vision.
A long dress that came to the knees and flowed outwards like Diamond's. Sleeves halfway towards her elbow that didn't puff out, and a simple rounded neck that didn't plunge. A loop of dark fabric around her middle to tie it all together in a neat bow.
It looked perfect. I was proud with how easily it had all come to me.
"We'll make it work" Islet smiled to the scribbles and marched it out to the front to start deligating tasks.
"Look at you" Bessie breathed "already taking tasks!"
I beemed back at her, hugging the ladder.
"You think she'll like it?"
"You know she'll love it!" Diamond replied cheerfully "you are both the same; she's going to never take it off!"
"Di" i blushed back at her enthusiasm "don't be unrealistic."
The other women made thier comments and giggled, getting back to work while I hung there like an idiot fawning over some fantasy.
I hope she did like it. I had wanted nothing more.
I was nervous for four more weeks before I saw Suger stroll through those doors again with her shy human.
I hadn't been this nervous for a very long time.
Did I really crave gratification that much that it was affecting me like this?
I wasn't even this nervous when I had to open my own bank account and try to explain how on earth I manged to come into the possession of one hundred and thirty thousand dollers just from cutting sunflowers and stashing my savings in a storage container under my bed. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjoL3GG7e8
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Even when Islet was called to clear it all up, I wasn't feeling this twisting in my stomach or my skin turn clammy.
Was I really that desperate to be told what a good job I had done?
Suger was so excited that she unwrapped it right at the counter and rushed to the tiny changeroom in the left corner beside the back doors to shimmy into her new dress.
She came out with an elaborate twirl, the sheer flowery layer separating from the green underlayer perfectly.
"I love it!" she squealed happily "Yorkie, look!"
"I'm looking, Sugarcane" he replied with a smile that hid laughter at her childish burst of energy.
"Woo wee!" Diamond cheered from the back doors she peeked through "you're georgous!"
Sugercane giggled at the praise and rushed over to loop her arm through Yorkie's and snuggle her head into his shoulder.
"Thank you so much, Teddy!" she gushed. "and thank you everyone else! You've done a beautiful job as always!"
I saw the grins and satisfied smiles from the other ladies at the machines. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYohYbHMjzQ
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They rotated so much that I didn't even know thier names. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mZAy73V4e
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I only knew the ones of the hidden women out the back.
" Shall we prepare another order for you then?" Islet grinned and went to the register to pull out the book before Yorkie held up a hand with a small smile.
"That won't be needed" he shot down Islet's eagerness immediently "this one will be our last."
I felt something fall within me at those words.
"Is something not up to expectations?" Islet worried "we can alter it right now i..."
"It's not that" Yorkie smiled again "we will be leaving at the end of this week. We won't be back to pick up orders anymore."
"Leaving?" I frowned now.
Sugercane's head tilted to look up at Yorkie with admiration before her eyes set on mine.
"We will both be leaving for a better place."
My mouth dropped open and I stood there dumbfounded while Islet and the others didn't seem to catch what they meant.
Leaving for a better place. Surely they didn't mean...?
"Your souls are golden."
"They are" Sugercane agreed.
"You're going to kill yourselves?" I breathed to them in shock.
Islet's eyes widened as it all hit her at once.
"No! Definately not!" Yorkie spoke now and rushed over to Islet to hold her hands in his "we aren't doing anything like that. Just moving away, honest."
"Heavens, Teddy!" Islet scolded me "you gave me a scare! Saying things like that!"
"Teddy!" Diamond laughed from the back of the store.
I felt the atmosphere lighten a little and even heard some of the machines start up again.
"Actually, would it be OK if we borrowed Teddy for a little?" Yorkie spoke softly "I'm sure Suger would want to personally thank him, as one demon to another."
Islet smiled to me and allowed it. I slowly left her side and followed both of them out the store.
I peered back and saw Diamond give me a thumbs up then slip back into the backroom to tell the others about what was going on.
"We aren't kidnapping you" Yorkie mumbled at my uneasiness when we walked further from the store "just going for a drink and a talk. You don't mind?"
"Not at all" I mumbled, even though I certaintly wasnt comfortable following this human and demon away from what was most familiar. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVM5aQQUj3
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I felt like I was going to get into trouble with Islet for straying further from my work area.
Although I was worried, my feet were carrying me out after them without hesitation. I was hanging on thier unfinished words with morbid curiosity.
The way he had said it didn't sound like someone planning to leave for a 'better place'. It sounded like someone waiting to meet the spirits; eager for it actually, but not wanting to cause alarm in everyone back at work when announcing it so publically.
Perhaps I was reading too much into it? Suger and her human looked very happy; not like a couple with a death wish.
Concern faded when I followed Yorkie and Sugercane to a cafe inside the centre and took my seat opposite thiers around the table there.
The screeching of the milk heater and spraying of the steam jumbled any other conversation. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefEaYNb6WR
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The grinding of coffee was loud enough to make ours from anyone wanting to pull themselves from thier lives long enough to pry into ours.
"So, Suger actually doesn't need to thank you personally" Yorkie began when he sat down opposite both me while Suger placed orders "I just wanted us away from the other humans. They don't understand us like we do."
Us? Was Yorkie a demon too? 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvCRC0FlFf
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Where was his tail? His ears?
Maybe he just wanted me to drop my guard around him?
"You know the best about mutations" Yorkie continued "with your tag and what not. Our humans are four and five; they don't understand how severe it can be to us."
"You have none though" I finally broke my silence "neither of you do. You can't understand what it's like to have this."
I studied Yorkie's dropped eyes and felt my head tilt in confusion.
Suger finally joined us, noticing how sad Yorkie looked, and took over for him.
"Yorkie is modified. His tail and ears were cut to make him look more normal" she spoke "they even had his teeth filed down. We don't want to live like that. We want to live with our humans and be happy together. We are saving them."
"Saving them?"
"They are taking a trip to the cliffs this Sunday" Suger smiled fondly "all it'll take is one distraction and we can fly away together."
"It'll be scary" Yorkie smiled now too "I don't know how I'll go with heights."
"Wait, so you two are purposefully going to mutate yourselves?" I leant in towards them "do you realise how stupid that is?!"
"Haven't you had someone you wanted to save?" Suger questioned "someone you wanted to keep safe? If you could, you would."
My heart ached as my mind rushed to Darcy and River. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2SlYGScOJ
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Darcy had been the one suffering, and River reflected each blow onto himself to try and save him. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTl8HPewJVn
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And when I had tried to; when I knew something was going to happen, it had been too late.128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjj9SOdOvGf
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I didn't know what to do and let Darcy almost die. These fading mutations were my reminder of what I had tried to save him from.
If children that young were going through the same thing...
"I didn't get this by letting myself do it on purpose. Humans are nasty things that will have you tagged the moment you come back."
I quickly shut my mouth and forced a small smile when the human waitress came to place hot cups of drink on the table around us.
We watched her leave then resumed our paused feelings.
"We aren't going to be coming back" Suger said over her drink she raised to her lips "it's all or nothing."
They exchanged another smile and I felt my blood boil.
River had been a breath away from losing himself forever and these two actually wanted that. They wanted to risk thier lives for something so insanely stupid that possibly couldn't even work.
"The only way it'll work is if you jump" I growled through my gritted teeth " and then it might not even work then. What's to say that you'll get the right mutation while you are falling? To me, it's honestly stupid."
I couldnt keep the anger out of my voice and didn't even want to. I wanted these two to see and feel how unessesary thier plan was to make thier little human happy for only a few moments.
After the thrill had passed, thier human would get bored; guaranteed. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwKRtAcwj1
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Then they would realise they had done it all for nothing.
Demons that actually wanted to risk thier freedom for mutations that serious had to be brain damaged.
From the fall on the way down here most like.
If only it was possible to have them switch places with River. He could be back where he belonged and they could be where they were needed.
"It'll be fine" Suger smiled "we have no plans on returning. The world is made to be explored in its natural beauty. Humans can't catch us in the sky. It's going to be glorious. Olive and Alice are going to love it."
I rolled my eyes.
Nothing could be that simple with humans involved.
I kept my mouth to my cup to keep from saying what I felt on the situation. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n4zzqrmdL
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I had to think about Islet and her reputation now that I was a worker there. Getting angry at her best customers wasn't going to leave them with a lasting impression of her kindness.
"I wish you all the best then" I huffed.
So stupid.
"Thanks, Teddy" Yorkie grinned now " that means a lot."
Whatever.
I finished my drink and left them to thier happy delusions of thier suicide mission.
There was nothing right about it that I could think that would rectify it.
The kidnapping of two small children. The deliberate endangerment for specific mutations that might not even arrive. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMT5jqR8ah
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The thrill of living fully mutated as a wild animal in this world.
Demons were odd creatures too. I thought it was just the humans.
Is let's face lit up when I arrived back to the store. She pulled me aside to the fron desk and sat down beside me.
"So? How was it? They enjoyed the dress? They'll be back in the future?"
Thats right. She was oblivious to this whole 'living free' idea they had. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWUrpl22hO
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To her, Sugar was her best customer and Yorkie was her human who lined Islet's pockets
"They're going to see the world" I replied to her "they won't be back anytime soon."
Hopefully it worked out for them. If they ever did come back, it would be as feral beasts.
"That's a shame" Islet sighed "Yorkie was always such a nice boy. A good human too for that sweet demon girl."
Human. Were other humans really that blind to a demon in disguise, even if it was right in front of them?
"They were very happy with all of the work you did for them" I added quickly "they were very grateful."
This cheered Islet up and I saw her little smile return.
"I'd better get back to it" I pointed to the back room "those fabrics aren't going to sort themselves."
She chuckled at me and let me go.
As irritated as I was with Yorkie and Sugar, I did want them to be happy.
If it was possible to just fly away from problems like that, I think I would have given into that delusion a long time ago too.
I would stick with my sliding ladders I rode with delight. The thought of actually being able to leave everything was a scarily realistic thought.
Yorkie and Sugercane's dream was not meant to be however. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUujpbmeu7J
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Sunday arrived and bought with it tragedy that aired on that nights news. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNahHHWligG
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The bodies of two children and two demons were found at the bottom of Middle Brother Mountain; a scenic overlook that was the highest any human could travel to see the most picturesque view of the town and its surrounding oceans sparkling below. 128Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4KacUyjopT
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And with those bodies were the parents who had tried to stop thier demons from taking thier children away.
A foolish dream ended in six sheets at the bottom of that mountain, with distraught witnesses looking on.
And amongst the sheets was the torn pieces of the dress Suger had wanted me to organize for her; the sheer flowers now dyed red with blood that weighed heavily on the farmers friends tangling and tearing up that fleeting, happy memory.
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