She wanted to die.
He wanted to live.
•••
A hand grabbed onto my wrist, yanking me back just as the train rushed past, before I'd even had time to comprehend whether or not I'd carry out the action. I stumbled back into the person's chest, my hear...
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"Arrows?"
I hadn't noticed them until Romeo had told me to look down, and at first I had been sceptical of staring at nothingness on the floor until I realised it was littered with multi-coloured arrows. They were spray-painted onto the ground, creating a small path for us to follow, leading from the exit doors away from the hospital.
The darkness of the night seemed to welcome back the two of us with open arms, inviting us to stay under the canvas of the dark indigo sky adorned with glittering stars, but my eyes had needed a few seconds to adjust and realise that we were quite literally stood on art.
"A while back," Romeo began explaining, smiling upon seeing the perplexity in my gaze. "I wasn't feeling strong enough to travel that far, so I created a graffiti piece around the hospital. Since we don't have much time, I figured I could show it to you. That way, we don't wander too far but we still get to run away for a while."
I glanced back down at the pathway, a smile spreading across my lips before my eyes flicked back up to meet his. "Where do the arrows lead to?"
"Well, that depends on which route you want to take," he mused, leading us a little further forward so I could see that the arrows split off into two directions: one curving around the hospital building and another leading towards an unlit area I couldn't distinguish.
Looping around the building, the arrows etched onto the floor were decorated with vibrant patterns and colours, an array of beautiful combinations that brightened up the dreary exterior of the hospital. However, the arrows leading away from the hospital seemed to fade from vibrant colours into monochrome greys, blacks and whites, with a scarce handful of arrows still in colour amongst the darker shades.
Tugging on his hand for him to follow me, I set off towards the arrows leading away from the hospital, feeling drawn to the melancholic shades as my eyes remained trained to the path on the ground.
"How long did this take you?" I found myself asking, looking back up at Romeo for a second before returning my gaze to the graffiti piece.
Each arrow had its own distinct detailing, whether it was some sort of pattern or border around it. They seemed to stretch on for quite a distance as I raised my vision to try and gauge where it would end.
"It took a few nights," he replied, smiling to himself as I shot him an incredulous look. "But it was well worth it; I'd say this is one of my favourite pieces."
"It's incredible," I murmured, glancing back up at Romeo. His eyes glinted with a silent appreciation for my compliment as I leaned closer to him, dropping my head against his shoulder while we strolled along.
Moving at a fairly slow pace, the two of us lapsed into a comfortable silence as we savoured the serenity of our leisure walk. Everything felt so normal with Romeo, relishing in the content that such a simple activity seemed to bring us. Every so often he would glance over at me, or rest his head atop of mine or sketch a couple of unreadable letters across the back of my hand: little things that made me feel like I might implode if I spent another second in his presence without speaking aloud how he made me feel.
