Snippet #2360292

Rooftops were his favorite place in the city, especially one so tall and out of the way of people. Lately some had been so paranoid, so worried of the incoming future. Jonah had heard about this Darkness people were so worried about, the nightmares they mentioned and the evil it would bring. He saw no harm, knowing their culture brought all sorts of crazy ideas. Usually he didn't find them this outlandish! No one in Aster City was in danger.

If Jonah had just been on the second floor rather than the third, he would have noticed the nervous atmosphere below. He would have sensed the ill-intentions in the air before the bomb could go off.

He wasn't on the second floor, though, but on the rooftop, and could not predict the dust rush over his dangling legs and up his nose. He didn't notice the brick crumbling underneath him until it was actually happening. Luckily, Jonah's reflexes were quicker than gravity. Well, not really but he was fast enough to spin around and grasp the edge of the rooftop. In his panic of survival he managed to do the only pull-up he'd ever done in his life, crawling up back onto the rooftop, then shooting for the center, far away from the explosion. He moved where he was on the opposite side of the staircase entrance and put his head between his knees, positive he was dying despite having no injuries. The accumulative pain from the wounded was startling, a feeling he'd never experienced before. His eyes started to water rapidly, crying from shock and the fright of the others caught in the explosion.

'Who is doing this? Is anyone going to receive help? What should I do for them? Myself?' he thought before checking over his limbs, realizing he came out unscathed but a scrape on his arm. It bled a little, not even enough to drip. He could count the times he'd seen his own blood on one hand, but he was sure it had never been blue- or green? Both?

He stared, confused and bewildered at the sight. He used his other hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, pulling back only to see even more colors smeared into his knuckles. He stared at his arms, then up at the sky as if it had his answers.

Jonah stayed that way, sitting through the fear until everyone was pulled out of the wreckage and received help. He got to his feet and moved to the fire escape on the side of the building, scrambling down the ladders and tripping over the asphalt at the bottom as he ran around to the front of the building. The impact of emotion had remained in the air, keeping Jonah frightened as he walked past, staring at the debris in awe. Who could do this? He stumbled on, seeing the faces of the wounded, re-living their state of shock for those few moments.

The damaging images flashed in his mind involuntarily, his mind only settling at the sight of a girl running off in a rush.

He could see her pin-straight brown hair as if it was actually there, her green eyes wide as she turned tail and bolted. What for? He couldn't tell right away, but as he watched her image go the answers seemed to flood in.

She had to get somewhere and warn someone. He wasn't sure how he knew that, but he did. He followed the ghost of her path, knowing she was probably a mile ahead at this point.

As he walked on, his curiosity faded with his fear. His eyes didn't look so watery and big, the drips of color beginning to stop. What was his concern with this girl that may or may not exist. 'That vision..., that vision was nothing. ' he whispered to himself, dark, blue eyes turning back to the building before searching for something else to do, something to focus on. He pulled the flower out from behind his ear and wandered down the middle of the road, most of the cars gone after the explosion. Without their humming engines the street was quieter than usual. If Jonah listened real closely, he could hear the people screaming from before.

He pulled his earbuds out of a tangle in his pocket and stuck them into his ear, shaky fingers finding his music player and hitting the play button, a love song from his favorite musical softly playing.

"I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind, I put down in words, 'How wonderful life is now you're in the world'..."

He really didn't think this was the appropriate time for sappy love songs, but it lifted his mood nonetheless. Despite his solid opinion the vision was nothing and his curiosity to do something else today, Jonah's feet followed the girl's imaginary pathway up the street. He could be wrong, but didn't think so.