Peter & the Dark Wolf: Chapter 2.3

In case you're at all curious about just how far ahead I am with this story (that I've officially been dabbling with for nearly two years--yikes!) I just finished chapter four on Monday.  As I get farther into the story, Peter's verbose pontification diminishes as the story itself comes more to the foreground ... in other words, if things feel as though they meander a bit, take comfort in the fact that it does pick up.


Check out 2.3 after the break!

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Peter & the Dark Wolf
Chapter 2
-3-

I was being ridiculous and i knew it. As odd and disturbing as the encounter had turned out to be, in the bigger picture--the grand scheme, if you will--it didn't matter. I made a concentrated effort to slow down my pace. There was, after all, no point in rushing through the next three days. And wasn't that part of the reason for returning to the dark lair? To remove myself from the insanity of the surface-dwellers (ah, the sweet irony!) and wallow in my own metered, off-kiltered pace? 

My eager stride slowed to a casual, almost meandering gait. I shoved my hands into my pants pockets and took a few deliberate, deep breaths. I became acutely aware of the warmth of the afternoon sun beating down on my face. I closed my eyes and savored the sensation, my fertile imagination conjuring an image of a sun so intense that it caused my skin to boil and melt off my bones. 

Goosebumps rose on my arms and I smiled at the thought.  It was, invariably, thoughts like those that had made it so difficult to live among the surface-dwellers and why, as I had finally realized, I needed to go back to my dark lair. 

Newly centered, I opened my eyes and took in the faces I passed on my way out of the carnival.  There was nothing of particular interest--there hardly ever was--families with little children, the children enthralled by the simple delights offered by the carnival rides; couples on dates as I had bee, holding hands, kissing; everyone had someone.  And yet, with all those people, no one looked at me.  I passed amongst them, the facade I had constructed causing me to blend in as one of their own.  None recognized the darkness in their midst. 

If they had, they wouldn't have been so happy to be at the carnival. 

And if they had met my gaze, if they looked past the half-smile and the sparkle in my eyes ... perhaps it would have been possible that they would have found a clue. A clue that in three days time, their world would come crashing down around them.

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(Need to catch up?  Click here for the rest of the story.)