When we stepped onto the Roseorn sidewalk, the city was still as busy as ever.

Surprise, surprise.

Guessing from the way the sun was threatening to collapse out of the sky, it was maybe around 5pm-ish, so the crowd of citizens rushing home was expected. I knew none of the people passing by would pay me any mind, but they didn't even take a second glance at Oliver either. If someone glanced up at him, they would immediately tear their gaze away or would look at him sympathetically. I can't really gauge if that second part is a good thing or not.

My natural reaction was to sidle away from the crowd, but Oliver took hold of my hand. The look on my face must've given away my internal panic because his body seemed to shrink with guilt.

"Sorry, I don't want to lose you in the crowd, Dia..." Olly glanced at the people around us and immediately shut his mouth. "Um, I just can't afford to take my eyes off of you."

"Dude, what the hell? I can take care of myself."

His face flushed red yet his iron grip never faltered. "I know, but what if I get lost in the crowd?"

My attempts to wiggle out of his grasp came to a reluctant halt. "Fine. Let's just get this over with, a'ight?"

He gave me a thumbs up accompanied by a sunny grin and picked up his fast pace. I kept my eyes glued to the concrete sidewalk as we maneuvered through the crowd. Part of me was hoping that some sorry soul would try and start something with me so I could have a snack for the road, but my other half convinced me that focusing on Oliver was probably the most effective way to keep myself from losing control in the middle of the whole city. Focus on Oliver. Right...

That'd be a whole lot easier if my fingers didn't feel like they'd melt from the buzzing feeling of Olly's careful touch. His hands were warm and soft and gentle and familiar against mine. If he let go, it felt like I'd die. As we bumped shoulders with a briskly walking woman, Olly's fingers intertwined with mine defensively. Everything in me wished he would hold onto me forever.

Shut up, brain. Shut up, shut up, shut up.

Not to my surprise, Oliver was a master at weaving through crowds. He barely reacted to any of his surroundings nor did he show any mercy to the idle citizens. Of course, people gave us disapproving looks and shouted out sentences containing colorful vocabulary, but unlike the other times that I've been out here alone, we were making quick work of the streets.

"So, where are you taking me exactly?" I asked, trying to break the serious silence between us.

"You'll see."

"You'll see? Jeez, lil bit. I need specifics."

"I said it was a surprise, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but-"

He stopped walking.

I bumped into him yet he barely budged. "Ow! What's the matter?" Even when I waved my hand in front of him, his large eyes never faltered. "Oliver! Hey!" Following his eyeline, I got a look at what he was gaping at.

It was a large billboard of some broad dude with a thick, dark brown caterpillar mustache. He had his arms crossed like a smug businessman as he stood in front of a small picture of the city. It read in big, bright bold letters: "WELCOME TO MY CITY OF ROSEORN!"

"How charming," I sneered. "They must've finally put up a picture for the new mayor, huh? He looks like a total prick."

Oliver finally blinked out of his contemplative trance. "Um...we better go."

"Yo, if you're afraid of mayors, I am too. The last time I met one didn't go so well, y'know?"

"I know," he automatically answered. He glanced at the sun and squeaked. "Gosh! We have to stop wasting time! I-I'm sorry! I-It was my fault this time." His grip on my hand tightened and, barely giving me any time to answer, he started a light jog towards our destination.

"Oliver, I understand that you really wanna get to wherever you're takin' me, but you could slow -- woah!"

He took a sharp turn around a corner and zipped up the stairs of a porch. I whipped my head around to see that we were in a completely different part of the city. This portion seemed more suburban than the other parts I was growing to be familiar with. All of my pent up asthmatic breath escaped my body once I was face-to-face with our destination. The off-white painted house -- well -- mansion was hu-fuckin'-mongous, dude. It was secluded from the other residential areas and the only life surrounding it was the various types of greenery. The mansion seemed to have a little more than three stories, which were held up by foreign-looking pillars. Shit, I barely had enough time to count how many windows it had! Don't get me wrong, I was a little jealous and boy, did I feel outta place. I was totally considering eating the owner and claiming the house for myself, but I guess that's something humans would call "immoral."

This porch. I know this porch.

It's like...

The sound of jingling keys caught my attention.

"O-Oliver...where the hell are we?" I breathed. A lopsided smile tugged at Olly's lips as he pulled me towards the now open entrance. "Wait! We're going inside?!"

I could barely get more protests out before my feet were met with cold, expensive tile. Out of habit, I crouched down and clung to Oliver, trying my best not to cower. He just kept walking with his head high. It smelled like tantalizing perfume and unattainable wealth inside. The flowers in the hallways were beautiful from far away, but as I got closer, they were only plastic. The walls were white, decorated with photos of the same glamorous woman. As much as she overflowed with attractive poise, her dark eyes had a hidden sadness in each picture. I wonder if the people living here noticed it too.

"Oliver!" I whisper-shouted. "We seriously shouldn't be here!"

"Calm down, Diamondback," Olly turned to me, not caring enough to lower his own voice. "We're fine. I promise."

We passed by a maid holding a silver platter. My knees nearly buckled at her sudden appearance. Oliver gave my hand a reassuring squeeze as he kept his eyes on the maid who now stood there with the platter clasped to her chest. She and Oliver stared at each other like skeptical statues for what felt like an eternity. Finally, the maid blinked, stuck her nose up, and continued walking as if she'd never seen him in her life.

"Oliver!" I tugged at the back of his shirt. "The hell was that all about, dude? I told you we shouldn't be here! They're gonna kill us! Shit, they're gonna kill me!"

He began to lead me upstairs.

"O-Olly! If we don't turn around right now, I swear I'll...I'll..."

He dragged me through the corridors to a large white door that seemed to disappear among the white of the walls surrounding it. Hell, all of the doors in the hall were pretty damn fancy (even the elevator!) but this one was monstrously huge. Oliver pushed the door open, revealing a never ending spiral of stairs.

"The Statue of Liberty?! Oliver, we need to go back!"

"It's okay. I promise." He shut the door behind him and dragged me up the stairs at a fairly brisk pace. For what seemed like hours, we were going up and up and up towards some kind of endless oblivion. There were windows that spiraled along the walls and with each step up, the city faded further and further away into a little pinch of nothingness. This uppity human land made the world appear so much prettier than the hell that I'm chained to. It was unfair.

Oliver's expressive eyes were fixated on a smaller door at the top of the steps.

"That means that we're almost there, right? That little look on your face?"

"Yep."

"So...what is up there exactly?"

"You'll see."

"I-I know that. I just want to know what I'm in for, know what I'm sayin'?"

"Something new."

"You're not tryin' to kill me, are you? 'Cause if you are-"

"We're here!" When he let go of my hand, all the warmth I became accustomed to flooded back to a lonely cold. He clasped the embroidered, golden doorknob and as if he was testing my patience, he opened the door at a painstakingly slow rate. Once the sunlight hit my eyes, I squinted to try to see the "utopia" I was taken to. My vision took a while to adjust, but when it did, it wasn't what I was expecting at all.

It was the rooftop of the mansion. And well...it was nothing like the inside, to say the least. There was only a vent for air conditioning, the top of a chimney, and fancy railing (probably to make sure people don't go falling off). Oliver stood in front of me with his arms outstretched and a blissful grin.

"What do you think?"

"...Wow."

"Right?!"

"It's...great...?"

As I dropped my coat to the ground, he spun around on his heels to gaze at the view of the sky. "We made it just in time too!" Taking my hand once again, he sat me down next to him on the air vent. I slid my claws between his long fingers, hoping he wouldn't pull away. And he didn't. "This is what I wanted to show you."

The sun was just beginning its slow descent to darkness. With each ray of sunlight that disappeared, the sky was painted a mesmerizing lilac and the clouds morphed into an orangish-pink in front of us. The dying sun completely faded away, leaving a beautiful picture in its place.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Olly breathed dreamily.

I nodded, getting lost in the way the light reflected off of his black eyes, making them appear to be the same yellowish-lilac color. "So, is this how you say thank you to everyone who decides not to kill you?"

"No way," he laughed. "You're the only one."

My heart threatened to catapult right off the side of the mansion.

"It's a good thing the maid didn't stop us on our way up here, though. We would've missed the whole thing."

"Look at you, sneaking into mansions to see sunsets and shit."

He snorted. "Sneak in? Diamondback, I live here."

Now my heart felt like it was gonna fall right outta my ass. "You WHAT?! Olly, what the hell?! If you told me you were this fuckin' rich, I would've asked for financial compensation AGES ago!"

Olly sighed, slipping his fingers away from mine. "I thought you knew already. Besides, you are part of the reason my dad's become even more filthy stinkin' rich than he already was before. After you killed Mrs. Nicklewitch -- who was a great woman, by the way, shame on you -- my dad took over as mayor," He cast his somber eyes to the ground. "It doesn't really matter anyway. All my life, I've always been able to get everything I've ever wanted, but..."

"You're lonely."

He hesitated to nod.

"You still have your family, right?"

"I understand what you're trying to convey, Diamondback, but I don't have my family," His voice choked over an emotion that I was all too familiar with. "We exist in the same space and that's it. Toni's the only person I can talk to around here, but he has track practice and school events and cool friends to attend to. Mom disappears throughout the day to 'seek some thrill' in her life and Teddy's just a kid, so he's off in his own dream world. And Dad...Dad and I don't really talk because...because..."

"Olly, what is it?"

His poignant pupils trembled as he struggled to hold eye contact with me, desperately trying to read my expression. He forced his eyes back down to the ground.

"I don't...I don't know if..."

I didn't want to force anything out of him. He's all I have right now and if I push him away by being too understanding, I don't know what the hell he'd do. Leave me, maybe.

His nervous hands grasped at his pants.

"I'm sorry, I just don't wanna lose you too. I'll tell you later, though?"

"Of course, lil bit. I get it."

What could be so bad about Olly that would make his Dad not want to speak to him? He's not a monster on a city killing spree, is he? Last I checked, that's someone else. Shit, I stand by what I said. His dad really is a prick.

Olly nudged me out of my own mind with a hollow grin. "But this isn't about me. What about you? What's Diamondback's story?"

"Sometimes I wish I could ask myself the same thing. For starters, my memory's shit. That's a new thing. I talk to stuffed animals more than I do people and every day feels like a sleepless night where closing my eyes just isn't enough. It's a cycle of hope and regret, hope and regret, hope and regret."

"And even more hope and regret. Life is just one big circle of repetition until you find something to break it," The warmth of Oliver's thigh brushing against mine had me frozen in place. "And this human contact of yours. That's what's supposed to break it?"

"I hope so."

Human contact is supposed to kill me. That's what it is. It was too soon to tell Oliver that, though. That was my problem to deal with and my problem alone.

Olly only hummed in response. Underneath the sunset, the people passing through the streets of Roseorn appeared microscopic and insignificant. A mesh of clashing colors in a compact world. I wondered if they would be able to notice me from so far away.

"You still haven't killed me yet." Olly suddenly spoke.

"I...I haven't, huh?"

"Must mean something."

That's exactly what I was trying not to think about. There's no use in running from it anymore.

Oliver's my human contact.

But I've been talking to him this whole time. I've walked through the city with him, I've watched the sunset with him. What am I missing? What the hell do I have to do?

And why doesn't Olly seem too happy about it either?

~~~

A/N: Uh ohhhhh. Looks like someone's catching feelingssssss. Do y'all have any safe havens of your own? For me, it's the bathroom. I always find myself sitting on top of the toilet seat much longer than I need to lol. Don't forget to drop a vote while you're here <3