photography: capturing fragments of life. [sephy]

The seventeen-year-old walks through the forest, trying to enjoy the peace. He can't, though. Every other step he makes a sound. He mutters a few cuss words under his breath as the crackle of tree branches almost scare him half to death. An owl makes some stupid owl noise. Hoot, hoot.... shut up. The wilderness always reminds him of photography. As a child, it used to fascinate him, yet as he grew up, he realized something. Why would you want to capture a tiny fragment of the past? What's the point in captivating a stupid moment in time? He'd rather forget something like that.

Cole keeps on walking, quickening his pace. Whenever he finally silences his thoughts around him and thinks of one thing, his thoughts return to chaos. It's irritating. That's life, though.... right? No matter how much he doesn't want to, he'll have to move on. To survive.

Colton winces at the sound of a screaming girl; her voice murdering his eardrums. He quickens his pace, forcing himself to ignore whomever is trying to ruin this night. He has a love-hate affair with the forest. It has this creepy, yet intriguing aura, but his clumsy feet destroy the silence. Every other step he hears a crackle beneath him. Step, crack, step. Repeat. Why does he have to ruin every goddamn thing that makes him just a little bit happy? There's a reason he can't stand people. All they do is nag you. It's irritating. It makes him want to shut every one of them up with a slap upside the head.

He slows, glancing up as he sees the cause of the noise: a girl. She focuses into his view, appearing like a videogame character with her crimped, kinky dark red locks and fierce attire. Cole walks on passed, not even attempting to acknowledge her existence. He stuffs his hands into his pockets, following the dirt path before him.

Elora crumpled to the ground in a fit of curses, whimpers and angry growls. She punched the ground with her small hands, quietly repeating the same phrase over and over again. "Just leave me alone. Stop following me. Just leave me alone." The angry, questioning black birds followed her everywhere. No one else seemed to notice them but her. However, after years of always seeing at least five crows around you whenever you stepped outside, you learned to notice these things. They were attracted to her smell. They craved it. It was like the smell of fresh death to the scavenger birds. Other scavenger animals appeared around her as well, but the crows were the most persistent. Elora folded her legs to her chest and let out a long sigh. It was finally quiet. There were no crows cawing all around her, no noisy cabin mates. Nothing. The forest was still. It was as if everything has closed its mouth to enjoy the silence. It seemed to last forever. Elora was not sure how much time had passed until a bird chirped. It broke the silence. Elora cursed under her breath and let her legs fall to the ground in front of her. Her knees ached, so she must have been coiled enjoying the silence for a good amount of time. Elora did not care enough to check. She had yet to notice the boy to her right for now her eyes were closed and she was lying in the grass trying to block out the once again lively and noisy forest.

Colton jumps back, appalled, by the girl on the verge of breaking behind him. Instinctively, Cole labels her almost immediately. He grits his teeth, grunting in irritation. He stops in his tracks, turns around and juts his hand forward, offering to help her up. "Er, uh," Colton regrets his stammer, yet doesn't back down quite yet, "do you need.... help?" he gulps, stepping backwards, not wanting to his offer rejected.

There was something about rejection that he feared. It's probably why he never dared to ask a girl out. Even when they'd ask him, he'd turn them down. It sounds awful, but he couldn't help but think it was a joke. People always try to play practical jokes on him. Especially since yesterday was April Fool's.

Maybe he shouldn't have offered help after all.

Elora stiffened when she heard an unfamiliar voice. She didn't even bother looking up from the cradle of her knees. She clenched her fingers until her knuckles turned white. She hated it when people saw her break down. She intentionally came out here into the woods so that that didn't happen. And then this guy shows up mid-melt down and sees her like this. Elora cleared her throat and suddenly her serious, composed facade was back up. She was emotionless and strong and it was as if the meltdown never happened, except for the mascara spreading around her eyelids. "I'm fine. I don't need any help," she said. Her gray gaze flickered to the boy and she examined him for a moment before she sat up. Elora, not being much of a talker, said nothing more. She just turned her gaze to the empty forest in front of her and let the silence fall back around the two teens once again.

Colton nods, backing away. "Okay, sure." he sure as hell hopes she's not trying to pull one of those stupid girl things where they mean the exact opposite of whatever they said. What's that phrase he's looking for—reverse psychology? Yeah, that's it. She better not be pulling his leg.

He glances back, feeling his overly empathetic self take control. He mentally rolls his eyes, feeling like he'll waste his time, but pushes that to the back of his mind. He steps forward, huffing out a sigh. "You're sure?"