Shadows Need Sunshine by Pain Cross (love books to read .txt) 📕

Her voice was deep, something rare for a woman, but soft. He liked the way it sounded, and found that it was the only thing he really did like about her. He felt it was the kind of voice that could sing a lullaby and sound so incredibly beautiful to his ears. Sebastian promised himself to find a girl with a voice like that. However, he didn't want someone with the exact same voice as this woman because she only seemed to be able to talk in monotone. Almost like she was bored with everything in general...

"So, what's your name?" Sebastian asked, still trying to keep himself from asking questions about the way she sat.

"It's Avani."

Sebastian was honestly surprised. He'd never heard that name before, and it didn't seem to suit the woman before him.

"That's your name?" Sebastian asked in confirmation.

"No, but I want you to call me that."

"Um, sorry?"

"I don't trust you or anyone else with my real name. So, I'm afraid I'll have to go by an alias."

Sebastian took a moment to think this over. What could possibly be so special about her name? Before he could pry more into it, he stopped himself. Why care? It's not like he planned on ever talking to this girl again.

"I see..." Sebastian smiled then lied through his teeth. "Well, that's okay. I personally like the name."

Avani just stared back blankly.

Sebastian was very glad when a waitress asked for their order, obviously trying not to look at Avani. Sebastian didn't blame her, it's not like people just came there and sat in chairs upside while remaining completely serious.

"I'd like what I usually get, Jen," Sebastian said, flashing her a smile.

She nodded cheerfully and then turned towards Avani. "And you?"

"Chocolate milk," she answered back, looking down at the table.

The waitress scribbled rapidly on her notepad then said, "Alright! I'll be back with your orders in a sec!"

Avani intently watched her run off then asked, "You know her, Sebastian?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yeah, my friends and I come her a lot and she usually serves us."

Sebastian was very glad she had asked that because maybe with that he could ease his way through a conversation. He could talk about his school life and friends-

Wait a minute. Did he ever.... Had he ever even-?! How did she even...

"Avani?" he asked slowly.

"Yes?" she answered, apparently trying to pull something large out of her pocket.

"How did you know my name?" he asked slowly, slightly afraid.

She somehow - don't bother asking Sebastian how because he'll never know - pulled out a whipped cream can out of her pocket and said, "The woman who talked to you at the flower shop, I was reading her lips."

So, that explained why she had been pressed against the window. But, that just arose a very big question that he had forgotten to ask.

Right before he could ask her his question, the waitress came scurrying back. She put down their drinks on the table and apologized for the wait, though Sebastian didn't think there had been much. He smiled at her and reassured her that it was alright. She smiled then scurried off once again.

Sebastian took a small sip from his coffee then asked the question he desperately needed an answer to.

"And, why do you always pace in front of the flower shop like that?"

Avani sprayed some whipped cream into her mouth, saying some garbled English through all the cream.

"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that," Sebastian asked.

She swallowed and wiped the ends of her mouth, completely missing a lot of cream-covered places on her face, with the back of her hand. Then, she gave him a look that looked almost annoyed, but still managing to keep that same blank look. "I really hate repeating myself, Sebastian."

"But, that was no fair. You were the one who had your mouth full of whipped cream."

She seemed to ponder over this for a moment. "You're right, I was the one with a mouth full of whipped cream. However, I don't see how this changes the fact that I don't like to repeat myself."

Sebastian opened his mouth to respond then closed it, annoyed. Well, she wasn't wrong.

Avani took a deep breath. "Do you really want to know, Sebastian?"

"Yes," Sebastian said. He put his drink to his lips, learning the hard way that you should never drink something when someone is going to tell you something surprising.

"It's because I suspect that you are a murderer."

Sebastian chocked on his coffee. He grabbed a napkin and put it over his mouth, on the verge of spitting out his coffee. He also extremely loathed the way that Avani kept staring at him like if he weren't struggling to breath. After he had swallowed the coffee and taken a deep breath, he looked up at Avani.

"Are you alright, Sebastian?" she asked.

Sebastian wasn't sure what to do. What to do with an eccentric woman like this? Yell at her? Slap her? Punch her? Kick her? Eat her? Throw her in front of a train? Well, that last one didn't seem all that bad...

"E-excuse me?" Sebastian said.

"I said that I believe you to be a murderer."

Sebastian stopped himself from letting more coffee touch his lips, not wanting history to repeat itself. He put the drink down gently. "Okay... Uh, why?"

She sprayed some whipped cream into her mouth and waited this time before speaking. "Sebastian, tell me, do you ever get bored?"

"Well, of course I do!" Sebastian said, now outraged. "But, why would I ever kill someone to cure my boredom!?"

Avani still looked bored, and this ticked Sebastian off. However, he wasn't supposed to be rude, so he took a deep breath and calmed himself.

"Avani, can you please-?"

"Sebastian, you are perfect."

"Huh?" Sebastian said, completely confused. Sure, he liked to think that to himself but... hearing it from her...

"You have high grades, are attractive, sharp, polite, and you seem to be the embodiment of perfection itself. It's impossible for anyone to be like this, but it's known that sociopaths have done this in the past. They pretend to be completely perfect, then you find them pressing a knife against your throat. Sociopaths are also known to get bored if things are the same, which leads to murder. You, Sebastian, are a sociopath."

Was she on drugs? Mentally disabled? Stupid? Drunk, maybe?

Sebastian looked her up and down then he mentally snapped his fingers.

Aha! It all made sense! Sebastian had come to the conclusion that Avani was very, very poor. It explained the clothes, mannerisms, bags under her eyes, - Sebastian assumed it was from spending whole nights searching for food - and everything else he could think of. Sebastian suddenly felt pity.

"I can assure you that I'm not, and never will be, a murderer, Avani. Understand that."

Avani now looked almost annoyed. Still, her voice remained in monotone. "No, you are a liar, Sebastian. You are a murderer or plan on being one, that I'm certain of."

Sebastian was now trying hard to be mad at her, but he just kept feeling bad for her. Just imagining a shivering Avani sleeping in an alleyway seemed to make his heart feel like it had been struck with a knife. He pitied the poor greatly.

"Avani, where do you live?" Sebastian asked in order to verify if she was indeed poor.

She seemed to take that question as if he had openly admitted that he was a sociopath. Well, she didn't really show it, but he could tell by the look in her eyes... Who cared anyway? The least he could do is let a poor person believe they've won.

"Around," Avani answered simply.

Sebastian nodded his head. Now, he was sure, and now he felt bad. How quick he had been to judge her! Had he not been raised properly?

Sebastian glanced at the untouched chocolate milk she had ordered. "You can drink that, you know."

"I cannot drink upside down, that's dangerous."

Sebastian decided to just shrug, because he'd now learned that the only way to get through this evening was to not question her. As Avani stuffed the can of whipped cream in her pocket, Sebastian noticed something very interesting. Well, it wasn't very interesting, but it still caught his attention.

Her hands were pale and perfect, long-boned with slender fingers, long enough to play the piano, almost delicate. They looked like they'd never done a day of hard work in their lives. But, why were they so clean? She shouldn't have somewhere to wash them. Or, does she? No, it was quite obvious that she was homeless and poor. Thinking that, Sebastian stared at her eyes.

For the first time, he saw how truly dark her eyes were, not glittering black diamonds, but a sort of smoky charcoal that reminded him of ovens baking bread. It wasn't bad, in fact he liked it a bit. He pitied her again.

"You've been staring at me for the past two minutes," Avani suddenly said, staring at him with her unblinking stare.

Seriously, how could she not blink?!

Before Sebastian could utter a word, she pulled out the whipped cream can and showed it to him. "It's because I'm the only one with whipped cream right now, isn't it? Go ahead and have some."

"No, no," Sebastian said. "I'm alright."

Besides, that might be her only food for the week.

Avani put the can of whipped cream back into her seemingly endless pocket. Then, she suddenly rolled out of the seat and fell into a crouch onto the floor. She stood up, with her back straight for less than second before going back to its usual hunch. Then, looked down at him.

"It's late. You and I should both leave."

Sebastian stood and nodded. "Yes, you're right."

Avani reached for chocolate milk then chugged all down her throat in whole four seconds. She put the glass cup down then started dragging her feet towards the exit, grabbing some people's attention. Feeling pity once again, Sebastian walked beside her and they both walked out the big glass doors to the cold air outside.

"Thank you for inviting me," Avani said.

Sebastian happily nodded. "It was nothing. Do you want me to buy you anything else? A pastry, maybe?"

She shook her head slowly as the pedestrians nearby started to stare at something in awe. Sebastian could care less about what they were looking at and the gossip that immediately followed. So, he focused on Avani instead and the way the soft breeze blew her black locks everywhere.

"I hope to see you again, Sebastian," Avani said in farewell.

Then, Sebastian saw exactly what the pedestrians had been in awe about. It was a polished black limousine with tinted windows that had pulled up by the sidewalk. Many people had now stopped to admire the car and the older gentleman coming out from the driver's seat. He quickly strode to the door of the passengers' seat and opened it.

Sebastian turned back to Avani only to see her dragging her feet towards the limousine. She looked at him one last time. "Goodbye, Sebastian."

Dumbstruck, he saw her climb into the car, the older gentleman closing the door and hurrying back to the driver's seat. The limousine sped off with just about all of Sebastian's pride.

He took a few steps back, in complete shock.

One admirer of the car eyed him with concern. "You okay, buddy? You look you're going to be sick."