Like A Thief

2: Sitting On Specific Benches

"Are we all lost stars trying to light up the dark"

(Unedited, I apologize for any mistakes)

Rosalie had awful nightmares. The kind you wake up from with tears running down your face and your sheets all tangled up at the bottom of your bed because you kicked them off from thrashing around so much. She had them more often than not, and had since that day. Her demons haunted her every day, but they took nighttime as the opportunity to put on their grand show. Flashing lights and all.

Tonight was no different.

When Rosalie woke, her cheeks were once again stained with freshly made tear tracks, her throat caught with the scream that she had just cut off by jerking awake. She jolted up, knocking her blanket off. She blinked, once, twice, and when she had decided that she was, in fact, now awake, she let out a withering sigh.

A soft snore made made her look down, and the events of the night came flooding back. Rosalie and her best friend, Natalie, had ventured out to yet another party, but soon enough turned right around and retreated home, deciding that the party, in Natalie's words, "blowed." They had stayed up, sharing a flask Natalie stored in her room and talking deep into the night until exhaustion overtook them both and they fell asleep.

Rosalie fell back onto the bed in frustration. She had long ago given up hope on praying for a peaceful night. She couldn't remember the last time she had been left to sleep peacefully without those daunting nightmares. And if she had given up hope on sleeping without nightmares, the possibility of a good dream was laughable. Pleasant dreams were merely a figment of her imagination now.

After a moment longer, Rosalie sat back up. She knew all too well that she wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep, at least not anytime soon. So she scooted to the bottom of the bed and slipped off carefully so as not to wake up Natalie and ran her fingers through her hair a few times to smooth it down-at least a fraction-before throwing it up in a ponytail.

She didn't bother changing out of her sweats and t-shirt. It was the middle of the night after all, and nobody cared what you looked like in the middle of the night. She snatched one of Natalie's hoodies and pulled it on before instinctively grabbing her trusty box of cigarettes and slipping out the door, leaving Natalie and her soft snores behind.

There was no need to make futile attempts to fall back asleep for hours when you could go out, and that's what Rosalie always did. Fresh air always did her good at times like these, anyways.

The temperature had definitely dropped in the darkness of the night without any sun to shine through, and Rosalie was glad she at least had Natalie's hoodie. She shoved her hands inside her pockets to keep warm as she took off down the street. Even in the dark Rosalie had no trouble navigating her way through the streets of suburban city that was Airedale Park. It wasn't a terribly big place after all, not to mention she had been living in Airedale all her life.

That was a good seventeen years of the Airedale experience.

Not ten minutes later, Rosalie came up upon her favorite after-dark haven. It was Airedale's most popular park, a large field accompanied by a small creek off to the right, with a small playground across on the opposite side. Various trees and flowers were scattered across it. The park was often hopping with activity, as it was a favorite spot of families on outings and small children who found entertainment on the playground or the open area where they often played various games or passed balls between each other. One could often find dogs frolicking or picnics taking place, the occasional student opting to do their homework outside if the weather was pleasant enough.