Illuminated

Perfection. A word used too often without just cause, bandied about with recklessness. I found out its true meaning. In her. The girl with sangune hair. A bright red star shining it's light on a gray and dreary existence.

My world was certainly gray. Not just my surroundings, although that too. Every person I saw was just a sack stuffed with dust, shambling around with a semblance of life. They would shake my hand and say, "how do you do?" It took everything I had not to rip open the sack and let their dust scatter to the winds. I was suffocating, buried in an avalanche of cold, gray, meaningless human filth.

The first time I met her the sun broke through the clouds for the first time in my life. No dingy sack here. No grime clinging to her, no repressive filth clogging my nostrils and coating my tongue. Here was a ruby, shining like fire, castings it's glow on my face, warming my bones from within. After several heartbeats (lifetimes?) filled with wonder and adoration, fear rippled through. Squeezing the air from my lungs in a grip stronger than steel. The world would suffocate her. Snuff out her light. Without someone to protect her, without a guardian she wouldn't survive. this world would swallow her up. She needed someone, she needed me. No harm would come upon her, nothing would ever touch a single red hair on her head.

The first time my duty required action I was anxious. Did I have the strength to do what needed to be done? I found that I did. A sack man assaulted her outside her apartment. Whistling and calling out obscene words. Gesturing his crude desires to mate. My anger seethed inside of me, begging for release. I held it in check. Mere words cant harm a goddess. Then he smacked her on the ass as she went by. My rage turned cold. That night, after she was safe and sound, asleep in her bed, I went looking. I found it at the bar down the block, guzzling beer and chain smoking cheap cigarettes. I followed it when it left, stumbling and singing. It fll through the door and fell unconscious on the floor of it's hovel. My knife was quick. The gray ash flowed quickly from the sack, pooling on the cheap linoleum. I had to discard my clothes, dirt like that just doesn't wash out. i dumped its body in the river and went home. i slept peacefully that night. she was safe.

My duty called for action eleven more times in the following months. Each sack of shit put out of my misery. Punished for their crimes. But it wasn't all bad, wasn't just about destroying those that would harm her.

Watching her glorious steps around the city brought new meaning to my life. Existence wasn't quite so gray, so dreary. I was no longer insignificant, I was an angel, a God, the Shepherd protecting his lamb from the terrors of the dark. My ward went though life unsuspecting of her silent protector. Or so I thought.

Tonight started like any other. She clocked out and walked to the bus stop. I followed with my usual deference. Boarding at the back as she boarded from the front. At her stop we got off and I blended with the crowd behind her. Followed her to her complex. Then she did something unusual. She passed by her door and headed for the alley. I followed with caution. Turned the corner, and found myself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"I don't know who you are, but you need to leave me alone."

The words stung like acid, burning through my mind.

"I'm just here for you. To protect you. Fear not my child, nothing can harm you." The words came out quiet, distraught.

"I don't need your protection you freak. Quit being such a pervert and leave me the hell alone."

The world collapsed in a deafening roar.

I trembled. How could I have been so wrong. Looking closely I could see her clearly. How had she tricked me? There was no fire, no gentle glow. She was just a stupid sack, all made up with red spray paint. She was never a ruby at all, just a common rock painted bright red. As my eyes finally pierced the veil of her deceit my whole world changed colors. The smudgy gray landscape shifted and became a glowing red ember in the corner of my vision. Soon the whole damned world was red. That lying whore had to pay for her fraudulence. I dedicated my life to her. She promised salvation. She lied. my knife was out before she could react. Her dust filled the alleyway. Bright red dust.

0003 READS

Written by Lazarus_Long

6 minutes ago

Illuminated

Perfection. A word used too often without just cause, bandied about with recklessness. I found out its true meaning. In her. The girl with sangune hair. A bright red star shining it's light on a gray and dreary existence.

My world was certainly gray. Not just my surroundings, although that too. Every person I saw was just a sack stuffed with dust, shambling around with a semblance of life. They would shake my hand and say, "how do you do?" It took everything I had not to rip open the sack and let their dust scatter to the winds. I was suffocating, buried in an avalanche of cold, gray, meaningless human filth.

The first time I met her the sun broke through the clouds for the first time in my life. No dingy sack here. No grime clinging to her, no repressive filth clogging my nostrils and coating my tongue. Here was a ruby, shining like fire, castings it's glow on my face, warming my bones from within. After several heartbeats (lifetimes?) filled with wonder and adoration, fear rippled through. Squeezing the air from my lungs in a grip stronger than steel. The world would suffocate her. Snuff out her light. Without someone to protect her, without a guardian she wouldn't survive. this world would swallow her up. She needed someone, she needed me. No harm would come upon her, nothing would ever touch a single red hair on her head.

The first time my duty required action I was anxious. Did I have the strength to do what needed to be done? I found that I did. A sack man assaulted her outside her apartment. Whistling and calling out obscene words. Gesturing his crude desires to mate. My anger seethed inside of me, begging for release. I held it in check. Mere words cant harm a goddess. Then he smacked her on the ass as she went by. My rage turned cold. That night, after she was safe and sound, asleep in her bed, I went looking. I found it at the bar down the block, guzzling beer and chain smoking cheap cigarettes. I followed it when it left, stumbling and singing. It fll through the door and fell unconscious on the floor of it's hovel. My knife was quick. The gray ash flowed quickly from the sack, pooling on the cheap linoleum. I had to discard my clothes, dirt like that just doesn't wash out. i dumped its body in the river and went home. i slept peacefully that night. she was safe.

My duty called for action eleven more times in the following months. Each sack of shit put out of my misery. Punished for their crimes. But it wasn't all bad, wasn't just about destroying those that would harm her.

Watching her glorious steps around the city brought new meaning to my life. Existence wasn't quite so gray, so dreary. I was no longer insignificant, I was an angel, a God, the Shepherd protecting his lamb from the terrors of the dark. My ward went though life unsuspecting of her silent protector. Or so I thought.

Tonight started like any other. She clocked out and walked to the bus stop. I followed with my usual deference. Boarding at the back as she boarded from the front. At her stop we got off and I blended with the crowd behind her. Followed her to her complex. Then she did something unusual. She passed by her door and headed for the alley. I followed with caution. Turned the corner, and found myself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"I don't know who you are, but you need to leave me alone."

The words stung like acid, burning through my mind.

"I'm just here for you. To protect you. Fear not my child, nothing can harm you." The words came out quiet, distraught.

"I don't need your protection you freak. Quit being such a pervert and leave me the hell alone."

The world collapsed in a deafening roar.

I trembled. How could I have been so wrong. Looking closely I could see her clearly. How had she tricked me? There was no fire, no gentle glow. She was just a stupid sack, all made up with red spray paint. She was never a ruby at all, just a common rock painted bright red. As my eyes finally pierced the veil of her deceit my whole world changed colors. The smudgy gray landscape shifted and became a glowing red ember in the corner of my vision. Soon the whole damned world was red. That lying whore had to pay for her fraudulence. I dedicated my life to her. She promised salvation. She lied. my knife was out before she could react. Her dust filled the alleyway. Bright red dust.

0003 READS

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