Lux

Darkness was my enemy, for it was the one place the reminded me of everything I have been through. It reminded me of the rapes and of the beatings, and most of all the murders that I have seen. Nothing ever happened in daylight, no. It always happened at night when everyone is asleep. I could never sleep at night only during the day. But ever since I saw him its been hard to sleep in the day. Instead I took to sleeping in the night now.
I started to dream about him, meting him, kissing him, holding him. But that was as close to him as I would ever get. Whenever I close my eyes I see him. His midnight black hair, his liquid blue eyes and how the corner of his eyes turn up. How the skin over his cheekbones stretch to outline the bones. The skin on his arms are also stretched when he makes the smallest movement and his muscles flex. Everything about him is a reminder that he has a home and I don’t.
I know that I would never be his type. I was just some homeless girl without a mother or a father. Just a girl with dull brown hair, liquid green eyes and how the corner of my eyes turn down. You can just barely see my cheekbones through the dirt that covered my face. I wasn’t model material, I wore rags for clothes for Gods sake.
He was perfect. I was the opposite of perfect.

Nate

I can’t seem to get her out of my mind. She was standing on the side of the road doing everything she can to stay warm. I could tell that she was tired from just standing there. As I watched her I could tell that there was more to her story than what I could see. I’ve never taken that much interest into a simple, poor, homeless mundane like her before. Whenever I have seen a mundane I always turned my head and never looked back no matter what. But ever since I saw her I’ve want nothing more but to feel her and be with her.
Every time she crosses my path I’ve wanted to touch her, I want to get to know her. I think about her all the time. I think of her long light brown hair, and her liquid green eyes and how the corner of her eyes turn down. How the skin over her cheekbones are outlined by her skin that is stretched over them. How the smallest of movements can show how strong she really is even though there is dirt to cover it. Everything about her was so unique and different from everyone else.
I knew that a girl like her would never want someone like me to get close to her so I took to watching her from afar. To show her that there is more to life then just living the way she does. It was strange doing this but as long as she is a secret it doesn’t really matter who says what, right?
Lux

“Grandma Betty!” I said her name as I ran across the road pushing people out of the way. I ran as fast as I could trying to get to Grandma Betty. I had to tell her about him. The boy that I have been watching while it was still fresh in my mind. “Grandma Betty.” I said coming to a halt in front of her.
Grandma Betty was a tall women. She sometimes reminded me of a tree because of how tall she was and how her body sometimes resembled a tree. She was strong and had long black hair that hung damp and dirty. She wasn’t my real grandmother but she was as close to a grandmother as I could get. Besides everyone calls her Grandma Betty because of how old she is and how long she’s lived out on the streets.
“What is it, child?” she asked. For a tall and strong women she had a soft voice that even made Cinderella want to crawl under a rock and cry.
“I saw him again.”
“Really? Did you speak with him?”? “No. I’m afraid that if I do he’s not going to want to talk to me.”
“Child, you have to take risks in life try speaking with him. Act as if he is one of us. Just be calm and be nice. Act like you’re like him and he’s one of us.”
“I don’t think I can do that, Grandma Betty.”
“But you can.”
“You really think so?”? “I know so, child.”
“Thanks, Grandma Betty.” I said as I took off running again. I could hear her reply but the wind was greater than her voice so I didn’t hear all of it. I ran until I got to the side walk and then started to look around for him and for my friend.
“An apple a day keeps the doctors away.” I heard someone say behind me.
When I turned around it was just who I was looking for. “Mindy.”
“Want an apple?” she asked.
Mindy was only a year older than me. She was short for her age and had long silky blond hair. She was like me, homeless, until she was asked if she wanted to sell apples and she said yes. When the owner had died Mindy was the owner for now on seems how there was no one else that wanted it.
“Sure.” I say taking the apple. “You know that saying ‘An apple a day keeps the doctors away’?”
“Yeah”
“It don’t fit me.”
“No you’re right it don’t. How about ‘An apple a day keeps the cops away’.”
“Perfect.”
We laughed and then started to talk about how things were going on both our ends. Then we talked about boys.
“Any cute guys you see yet?” Mindy asked.
“Yeah but I don’t know his name. I’ve just been watching him. He’s not like me.”
“Oh so he’s like me?”? “Yeah.”
“I might know him.” Mindy started to look around for him but I just shook my head.
“I’ve never seen him come here before.”
“Thats because you never come around here anymore.”
“I know.”
Thats when I saw him. He was standing across the road coming toward the apple stand. He didn’t seem to notice me only had his eyes on the apples. Some of his midnight black hair was in his face and as I watched him I watched the way he brushed his hair back. When he was standing in front of the stand he looked up at Mindy and was avoiding my eyes.
“Hello, how may I help you?” Mindy asked.
“Mindy, you know what I want.”
“Yeah I know, Nate.”
I elbowed Mindy in the side and she stared at me. Then I looked at him and then back at her.
“Omigod. Really?”
I nodded so I didn’t have to speak.
Mindy started to get his stuff and then when she was done she handed him the bag.
“Thanks, Mindy.”
“No prob, Nate.”
Nate went to turn away and automatically Mindy grabbed his arm. He turned around to face us with confusion on his face. “What?”
“Someone wanted to met you.” Mindy said with a smile playing at her lips.
“Really, who?” he asked. But I could tell that he already knew who wanted to meet him. I saw his eyes flick over to me and then back at Mindy.
“Nate,” she grabbed my hand and pulled me in front of her and then went to my side. “This is Lux. Lux, this is Nate.”
Nate held out his hand to me and I took it. His hand was warm and hard. When I touched his hand I could feel the blood rushing up to color my cheeks. I had been afraid that he wouldn’t like me but as I looked into his eyes I could tell that he had no anger or hate just curiosity in his eyes. I giggled a little and then looked at Mindy as soon as Nate released my hand.
“So, Lux, thats a pretty name.” he said.
“Thanks. Its not my real name but its enough.”
“What’s your real name?”
“Susanna.”
“I think I like Lux better.”
I giggled again and then nodded.
“You guys go for a walk in the park. I have a business to run here.”
“Yeah lets go for a walk, shall we?” Nate said.
“Sure.”

Nate

She was sweet just as I thought she would be. I thought that I could keep my distance from her and just watch but I hadn’t realized that she was friends with Soffie too, Soffie was Mindy’s real name she just went by Mindy when she was out in the mundane world. When I first saw her today her eyes were solid green but now every time I look at her and she’s looking at me her eyes are liquid. It was hard to make sure that I wasn’t pushing her to think that she should be afraid of me but every time I open my mouth a question comes out without my knowledge of what I’m asking.
“So, why do you live on the street?” I asked.
“I ran away.”
“From where?”
“An orphanage.”
“Why?”
“Because they were mean. They called me a little b**** that no parent would ever want. They just didn’t like me.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah but I’m happy I left. I met Mindy and Grandma Betty. Its an ok life when you have good friends.”
“So why was Mindy living on the streets at first.”
“Mindy was kicked out of her parents house. She was told to never come back and she never did.”
“Why did they do that?”
“Because Mindy wouldn’t listen to her parents when they told her that they were sending her to Sweden.”
“Why did they want to send her to Sweden?”
“Because she had relatives in Sweden and her parents were fed up with her.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. But Mindy don’t like to talk about it. She told me only because I told her how I ended up here.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“So whose Grandma Betty? Is she your grandmother?”
“Come with me.” she said and she grabbed my hand and started to pull my towards the place I first saw her.
The alley was cold and dark but I could see. There was trash on every side of the alley and it seemed to stretch on forever. We turned a corner and thats when I started to see piles of rages all over the place. Lux stopped and I did too.
“Everyone get up. Its just me, Lux, and a friend, Nate.” She said.
Then the piles of rages started to move and I realized that they weren’t piles of rages they were people.
The person that was closest to us stood up and greeted us. It was a women with dirty blond hair that hung limp on her shoulders.
“Lux, Grandma Betty has been looking for you.”
“I know. Michelle, this is Nate. Nate, this is Michelle. She’s my mother figure.”
“You hurt her and you will regret it.”
“I don’t plan on hurting her, ma’am.”
“She has been talking about you nonstop.”
“Michelle!”
“Hey I’m your mother I can say whatever I want.”
“Yeah right.”
I could tell from the look on Lux’s face that she didn’t like it when Michelle said she was her mother.
“Well I’m going to go find Grandma Betty.” Lux said and walked away from Michelle.
We walked down the alley way until we got to a dead end. She looked to the left and then her eyes were open wide. I fallowed her gaze and saw an old women lying on the ground breathing heavily.
“Grandma Betty.” she gasped. She went over the old women’s side and kneeled down on the ground. “Grandma Betty, what happened?”
“Nothing, dear. I’m just old.”
“Grandma Betty, what’s wrong with you then?”
“My time here is up, Lux.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m dying, Lux.”
“But-”
“I was waiting for you to show up so I could tell you goodbye my dear. Just know this, Shadowhunter, protect her. Protect Lux, keep her away from her father. Lux is like us.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
But by then she had taken her last breath and then you could tell that the life was taken away from her.

Lux

I couldn’t understand why everything happened the way it did. Watching Grandma Betty die right before my eyes was bad enough, but watching Grandma Betty die right there with Nate was terrible. Nate didn’t need to see her die with me, but I was glad he was there to comfort me.
“Lux, you ok?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine. What am I going to do now? She’s the one that protects me and cares for me. No one else. I’m alone for good.”
I started to cry and soon I was in the embrace of Nate’s arms crying into his jacket.
“Listen to me, Lux, you’re not alone. Ok, you have Mindy, and now you have me. As long as you want me around, I wont leave you. Ok?”
I pulled my face away from his chest and looked up at him with tears in my eyes.
“Really? You mean that?”
“Yes I do. Lux, theres something about you that makes it hard from me to stay away from you. Why would I leave?”
“Everyone does.”
“Well, I wont.”
“Ok.”
I hugged Nate and then backed away from him. I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked at him. In the light of the setting sun he looked more beautiful than before when we were out in the sunlight.