Stolen Voices ✓

March 18th

All we have is now.

-anonymous

March 18th:

The sun is tender against her skin, making her pale skin glimmer under its golden hues. Feathery dust swirls in the white beam of light peeking through the slit between where her ivory drapes don't meet. Mara sinks deeper into her pillow, breathing in the smell of its lilac detergent. Her wild blonde hair is a halo around her crown.

The moment is perfect, her eyelids fluttering open with a smile dancing on her lips. She stretches her aching limbs, a yawn leaving her mouth before she sits upright on her bed. Her hair is wild around her shoulders, frizzy and knotted as she blinks the crust away. Her smile falters at the sight of Talon lingering in her doorway, a smirk on his lips.

"Well, don't you look ravishing," he snickers, stalking into her room without an invitation. He wears a knit sweater that hugs his frame, his curly, leather-black hair tumbling over his forehead.

"Boundaries, do you have any?" Mara sighs her voice horse with morning tiredness. She rubs the slumber from her eyes, enough to shoot a chill glare in Talon's direction, who now sits at the edge of her bed. It sinks with his added weight.

"No, I don't. Not when it's the love of my life," he sighs.

Talon is twenty and a college student at Berkeley who never seems to make it to classes. Nevertheless passes with straight A's. His home on winter break, celebrating his brothers engagement. The first minute he saw Mara, strolling around this very mansion without a care in the world, he was drawn to her. He teases her a lot, sure, but he really does find her attractive.

She is a firebird with hidden wings, soaring above them all. She radiates confidence in the most vindictive of situations. A smirk constantly plays on her lips. And her eyes, so cerulean, draw Talon into their ocean-deep disturbance at first glance.

"Why are you here?" Mara flops back down on the mattress, drawing her fingers through her hair in an attempt to unknot it. Her fingernails scrape her scalp as a sigh escapes her.

"Wedding planning, as a bridesmaid, you should know this," he laughs again, standing up from his place at the edge of her bed. He stalks toward her door before spinning on his heels, remembering his reason for being here, "your mother wants you down."

"Of course she does," Mara mutters, but Talon has already disappeared.

Mara comes down the staircase twenty minutes later, freshly showered with her teeth brushed minty. Her hair, now silky and shimmering under the light, smells of pinewood as she used her brother's shampoo, her's being used the night before. She can't be bothered to dress up, ignoring her mother's public remarks to change.

Instead, she clutches onto the steaming cup of coffee their butler, Happy, offers; bringing the warm liquid to her lips. The burning sensation of it coats her throat in an accepting spike, dulling the pounding against her temples. She isn't supposed to drink coffee, its interaction with her meds and all, but she needed its effects.

She watches as her sister flicks through an array of different flowers, pushing each aside as she struggles to make up her mind. Mara's eyes wander around the large dining room, flicking to Talon, who tosses her a wink. She disregards the smile that threatens her, rolling her eyes instead. She will never give in to his charms. 

Talon represents everything she avoids, wealth and power. He is too clean-cut, he possesses no real hurt in his life and can never understand the torture she does. He will charm her but never show her the raw passion of life, always fixing things with a smile. He is like her pushover father, but she will never become her vindictive mother.