Omasis

To Be So Lonely

"Am I interrupting something?" The voice called out, echoing across the room.

I spun around, disoriented, and the first thing that came out of my mouth was a yell,

"What the hell is your problem?!"

In the shadows I could see a figure hiding behind a desk, tall, lanky, a girl I think. She stepped out into the light, dim light but I could now see her better.  Horribly pale, but pretty, her eyes squint almost shut when the light hit her face.

I turned back to the ledge, I had stepped away on instinct.

"Have you come here to talk me out of this?"

I look in her direction, body still faced toward the outside. She shrugged, dumbfounded.

"No. I was just wondering what all the noise was."

"What?"

"I was on the level below, I heard some footsteps. Thought somebody was robbing the place so I went to check."

"What were you doing here?" I asked, hand held above my eyes to block the sunlight, looking down at the city.

"My dad owns this place."

I laugh, taking a step away and sitting down on the gross carpeted floor, "No shit?"

She sat down as well, a couple of feet away, she stared out at the city with a blank look. Now In the light, I could see her better, she was white like a ghost, frizzy hair that was the colour of sunlight. The light hit her eyes and I could clearly tell the shade of pink that they were. I tugged at the strings of my hoodie.

"You must get sick of it."

She turns to look at me, "What?"

"Your hair, you must get a lot of comments on it, I've heard people screaming things like 'The messiah is here!' at random light-haired people that pass by."

"Oh, I don't go out much. My family isn't Candidus either, we don't really believe in that stuff."

"You moved here?"

"Yeah, a little ways away, all the way in Olkmond."

"Olkmond? damn, you sure are a long way from home."

She smiled, standing up briefly to stretch before kneeling back down, she held her hand out to me, "I'm Tallah, you?"

I hesitated, I always do when stuff like this happens, but I grip her hand and try to smile, "Ather."

"Cool name, not very common for a Candidus boy, mmh?"

I laugh, "No, I guess not."

I hadn't realized she was still gripping my hand in a firm handshake. But I didn't have a lot of time to think about it before she shot up and pulled me up with her, dangerously close to the edge of the hole. She was still holding my hand as she rushed through the room, dodging all of the strewn-around office desks.

"C'mon, I'll show you around, you'll love my group."

___

She pulled me through the building by the sleeve of my sweater, threatening to split the fabric and rip it to shreds. The inside was nice, not as nice as the walls of the Grandiose- though I did paint those myself. It looked almost like a hotel, the doors to each office didn't have any windows so it looked like the long endless hallways of a silent hotel. Maybe it was, and everyone was just asleep, then they would all wake up and it would be filled with life again.

We busted out of the front door, the tape and lock was gone, she had removed them to get inside most likely. Can't be suspicious when your dad owns the building, I guess. The bottoms of her polished black shoes tapped in perfect timed harmony as she ran across the parking lot. The giant curls of her hair bounced up and down as she ran, covering her eyes occasionally so she would have to stop to readjust them back into their place. Her big beige overcoat hung loosely over her shoulders and she had to occasionally fix that too. She looked like a china doll trying to keep herself together.