Theea
yla
The crowd noise thins to a muffled hum as I angle off the lantern-bright street and squint into the alley. It’s a slit of darkness between stilted buildings, all wet wood and old fish brine, the kind of place that collects secrets and broken bottles. Halfway down, a sheet of smug cursive gleams where the light can’t quite reach.
”Always the dark and creepy shit, right?” I mutter, talking myself up as I roll my shoulders. My hands hover near my knives—habit more than paranoia—and I test the boards with soft steps. The breeze funnels through here with a colder edge, carrying salt and taffy-sugar from the main walk; somewhere behind me, the knife juggler’s crowd oohs, then laughs, then oohs again.
I pause at the mouth, let my eyes adjust, then slip along the wall where the shadows are thickest. One step. Listen. Two steps. Breathe. A drip somewhere to my left, a skitter that’s probably a crab that got very lost, the faint rattle of a loose sign overhead. No footsteps. No throat-clearing do-gooder. Just me, and the poster daring me to touch it.
(Presuming) I make it, slipping my fingers quickly under the other poster to rip it free and replace it with Nova’s.
Theea creeps down the alley, vigilant as she tries to reach the poster, and replace it if she does!
”Always the dark and creepy shit, right?” I mutter, talking myself up as I roll my shoulders. My hands hover near my knives—habit more than paranoia—and I test the boards with soft steps. The breeze funnels through here with a colder edge, carrying salt and taffy-sugar from the main walk; somewhere behind me, the knife juggler’s crowd oohs, then laughs, then oohs again.
I pause at the mouth, let my eyes adjust, then slip along the wall where the shadows are thickest. One step. Listen. Two steps. Breathe. A drip somewhere to my left, a skitter that’s probably a crab that got very lost, the faint rattle of a loose sign overhead. No footsteps. No throat-clearing do-gooder. Just me, and the poster daring me to touch it.
(Presuming) I make it, slipping my fingers quickly under the other poster to rip it free and replace it with Nova’s.
Theea creeps down the alley, vigilant as she tries to reach the poster, and replace it if she does!
Know I'm gonna get there somehow, take it all in and breathe out
I got everything I need now, think I'm done looking down,
got my head in the clouds
I got everything I need now, think I'm done looking down,
got my head in the clouds
