Tag: romance

Week 2 Post 3: Greyspace

On By MaryIn 2025, WritingLeave a comment

It wasn’t until they were halfway down the road that Mallory surfaced from her thoughts enough to glance over at Eliza. Eliza was pouting, glaring at her sideways as she slumped in the seat with her arms crossed. Her face was red from the roots of her auburn hair to her neck. “I can’t believe you told him I like him!” she said, her voice coming out in a long drawn-out whine.

Mallory grimaced. The first thought that ran through her head was, That’s really the only thing you took away from all of that? But if Eliza hadn’t noticed the shadow or wondered at how they had been rescued… she found herself not wanting to worry her friend. “You’re welcome,” she said instead, instilling a slight smugness to her tone. Eliza huffed and turned to stare out the window.

After getting Eliza home, she drove around for awhile before begrudgingly returning to her own house. The driveway was empty – she hoped that meant her mom had found a new job. Still, she was quiet as she entered. She stopped at her mom’s room first and pushed the door open slightly to confirm that she was home alone. Then she went to her own room and flopped down onto the mattress. Her mind continued to race, replaying the entire stairwell scene over and over again. She couldn’t work out how the rescue had happened. How none of the debris had buried them, or broken them. And that shadowy figure she had seen at the top of the stares…

She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to worry about any of this. She didn’t want to think about it at all. She was going to specifically focus on not thinking about it.

The next morning, she woke and performed her normal morning exercises and got through the first half of her school day specifically not thinking about it. At lunch, she found her usual perch to hide and read when a familiar overly-friendly voice said, “Asimov fan, huh?”

Looking up, she could see that Isaac was leaning down to observe the cover of her book. Behind him, Samanda and Sampson (who she had by now dubbed “the Sams” in her mind) stood, almost like overprotective bodyguards carefully trailing their ward. Mallory sighed and marked her spot in the book with a finger. “What do you want?” she asked, her tone flat.

To his credit as a future politician, Isaac’s smile only slightly faltered before he cheerfully said, “You get straight to the point, don’t you?”

“Well, the sooner we’re done, the sooner I can get back to my book.”

“I see…” His mouth opened like he was going to speak more, but then slowly closed as the smile faded from his face. Being this close to him, Mallory could see that he had a scar across his nose, and it wrinkled noticeably as his features shifted into a frown.

Bewildered, she wondered what could possibly be on his mind, but she had no reason to speak first so she allowed the silence to linger uncomfortably. As the silence dragged on, he began to look rather sheepish and a blush rose across his features. He had opened and closed his mouth a few times, clearly struggling to find the words. Sampson finally cleared his throat and crossed his arms, and Samanda threw her arms into the air in exasperation. “He wants to know if your friend really likes him!” she said. Isaac’s head snapped back to glare at her, but Samanda barreled on with, “There, it’s out now! How hard was that to say?”

Week 2 Post 2: Greyspace

On By MaryIn 2025, WritingLeave a comment

Once outside, Mallory collapsed on the overgrown grass and took several large gasps of the refreshingly clear air, reveling in the warmth and light of the fading day. It felt great to be out of that dark death trap. She thought briefly of her knife, but didn’t want to go back into the house immediately. After her breathing calmed, she opened her eyes and sat back up, dusting herself off as she observed the pair of young men that had rescued them.

Isaac was easily discernible from Eliza’s description of him. He was broad shouldered and thin waisted, with wavy strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and a dimpled smile that seemed suited to a life in politics. He was flashing that smile now at both her and Eliza. Mallory thought he looked a little too old to be in high school. Eliza stood sheepishly a few feet away from him, refusing to look up from the ground. She had turned a shade of pink that wasn’t entirely due to the exertion of their ordeal. She had immediately started preening, attempting to put her hair in order and dust her clothes off, obviously worried about how she appeared to Isaac.

“So, you were following us,” the dark haired one said, smirking slightly. “I was pretty sure it was the same car behind us since we left the school.” Eliza turned a deeper shade of red at his words, still refusing to look up. “Any particular reason?”

“She likes him,” Mallory said simply, gesturing vaguely between Eliza and Isaac. Both heads shot up and stared at her in surprise, and Eliza started a spluttered protest.

“Really?” Isaac said, sounding awed. Mallory noted he did not look at all disappointed.

She grimaced. The dark haired one chuckled and offered his hand to her. “My name is Sampson,” he introduced.

“Mallory.” She waved away his hand and stood up on her own, and he shrugged and stepped back to give her more room.

“Pleasure.” A young woman with short black hair came jogging out from a nearby copse of trees. Sampson nodded toward her. “And that’s Samanda.”

“What kind of name is Samanda?” Mallory wondered aloud, still annoyed at the entire situation. As she approached, Mallory noted that there was a strong resemblance between Samanda and Sampson, and she wondered if they were twins. She shared the same nose and sharp features, and there was something of a perpetual smirk threatening the corner of her lips.

Samanda grinned as she approached, and responded, “It’s Amanada, with an S.” She had the same strangely lilting accent as Sampson that Mallory couldn’t quite place. It was almost but not quite Irish. Sampson raised an eyebrow at the approaching girl, who gave a slight shake of her head, before saying, “What happened to all of you?” in a way that sounded suspiciously like over-acting to Mallory’s ears.

Frowning at the unspoken communication between the two, Mallory felt suddenly exhausted. She had the feeling that knowing more would be bad and decided not to push the issue. “Thanks for the…” she tried to think for a moment of how they could have possibly saved them and found her mind hurtling through all sorts of impossible mental gymnastics. “…help. We need to go.” She turned and unceremoniously bee-lined for her vehicle, and heard Eliza murmuring embarrassed goodbyes as she quickly followed.