One Man's Trash is Another's Treasure

[Ende]

Ende was feeling like she was in a creative rut, usually she was able to just look around at the world and be inspired to create something beautiful but lately nothing seemed worth it. She had picked up Carla from the hellhole that was her home and had spent all day with her. They had walked around the mall for hours, then hung out at the park for the rest of the time. It turned out that seeing Carla was what Ende needed to get out of her rut. Carla had a fantastic idea to try new places for inspiration, a park was to predictable to paint, so Ende thought the junkyard could be cool.

Changing into one of her very few pairs of jeans, and actually putting on her converse, after blowing the dust off, she headed out to the junkyard. It was closed of course, but that didn't deter Ende at all. All that kept the gate closed was a loose chain, Ende was able to push the gate far enough open to squeeze through. She saw that there was the actual junkyard, and then a large warehouse. It would have been easier to just wonder around the open junkyard instead of breaking into the warehouse, but Ende wasn't about what was easy. There was a heavy large door, that Ende figured was for large machinary to go through. She continued to scale the building and found a door that she guessed was for the manager, and most likely led to an office. A small window was by the door, Ende looked in and looked for signs of any alarm system, but there was none. She smirked, this was all to easy.

She reached into her messenger bag that was slung over her shoulder and pulled out a pick. Pushing it into the lock she carefully dug around in the lock until she heard the familiar click of the lock flipping over. Holding her breath she pushed open the door and prayed no alarm would go off. Luckily no alarm went off, she breathed again and stepped into the office. It was incredibly dark but Ende always had a flashlight in the bag. Digging it out, she flicked it on and the room was bathed in light. She saw another door and hoped that led into the warehouse. She pushed it open and saw that it did in fact. She looked around with the flashlight, and didn't see to much to draw, but the light hit a flight of stairs and her curiousity got the better of her.

Ende went up the stairs and found another level. She shined the light on a lightswitch, taking a chance she flicked it on. She was surrounded by rows and rows of car parts. Amazed she walked through and found four rows of old car seats. She looked up at the ceiling and saw steering wheels and lights hanging. Feeling inspired, she found a back seat that looked clean and layed on her back. Looking up, she pulled out her pad and pencil and began to sketch the ceiling. Any stress she had seemed to drain away, and she completly forgot that she was breaking and entering.

[Dusk]

Jane wound her way through the outskirts on her way to one of her familiar haunts. Normally she would head to the woods but the mosquitoes had been out in force for the last couple of days. At first she had thought that she could follow the roads along the way, but there were too many cars out for that, so instead she was taking a different route through a dried up creek. She was beginning to thing that her black knee-high converse may not have been the best choice because the rocks kept poking her feet through the thin soles. Aside from that she was pleased with her black and grey checked capris, lime green tank top, and favourite yellow cheetah print hat.

On her way there she stopped to harass a few bull frogs that lurked in the brush, but it wasn't long before she reached the back of the junkyard. Everyone knew that it was closed, but as she lived a completely nocturnal life a few exceptions to the rules had to be made otherwise she would never get to go anywhere. The fence was bowed low in a few places in the back, and she easily rolled over the bent mesh. She had just been enjoying the view from the top of a pile of scrap cars when she heard the chain at the front rattle.

She quickly slid down from the top of the pile and jumped into a shadow at the bottom. She skirted her way around the heap to see a girl, who was obviously not an employee, Pull her arm through the fence and look around. Dusk stayed hidden in the shadows while the oblivious girl gained herself access to the building. Jane followed as quietly as the shadows that she jumped between. The weak lights of the junkyard tingled on her skin, but didn't bother her.

She stopped at the still open door and saw the girl take out a flashlight. "Why doesn't anyone use red lights?" She thought to herself. Not only could they retain their night vision, but she also wouldn't have to worry about getting fried if the light got pointed at her. For a moment she debated following the girl. After all, it wasn't any of her business, and she sure as hell didn't want to get burned again. She decided to just call the incident in, but she didn't have her cell phone with her.

Silently berating herself for forgetting the light she slowly followed at a very safe distance. It didn't take long for her to reach the end of the line. The door was ajar, and with the light spilling out there was very little she could do. She looked around the hallway in an attempt to find something to help her. The area above the door was still shadowed. Lately she'd been experimenting with moving up a shadow. So far she'd only managed a foot or two before she fell out of the shadow, but she figured that she could try it now.

Quietly, she started up the wall. With any luck she would be able to see what the girl was doing from the other side of the door frame. She could feel herself slipping after only two feet. The top of the frame was at least seven feet. She quickly scrabbled back down, but didn't make it down in time. The unfortunate thing about slipping out of the shadow was that it was just like unexpectedly falling from a foot and a half off the ground. She braced herself, but still landed rather loudly. Hissing a curse she quickly pulled herself against the wall and sank in. She hoped that the girl wouldn't hear her, and if she did that she wouldn't point her light at her. If she was really lucky the girl would walk next to her and she'd be able to make a grab for it.

[Ende]

Ende had drawn the basic outline for the ceiling and was beginning to do the shading when she heard a loud noise, like somebody dropping the ground. Ende quietly closed her pad and put it back in her bag. A rack was right next to her that had rows of different car parts. She saw a muffler and again silently grabbed it. Staying low, she quietly walked towards the noise. She wasn't to concerned with who it was, they were going to get with a muffler, giving her the time to escape.

Ende listened carefully for any noise or movement. Everything seemed still but she knew she had heard something, that wasn't an issue. She felt like somebpdy was watching her, she just couldn't tell from where they were looking. She raised her hand and concentrated for a moment, she saw a flash of lightning outside and the rumble of thunder. The warehouse was doused in darkness as she shorted out the power. She crouched down behind a shelf and pulled out her flashlight again. She wanted to have it out when she tried to go down the stairs.

Taking a deep breath, she got back to her feet a crept towards the stairs. The muffler and flashlight in hand, if anyone came at her they would be getting a flashlight or muffler to the head.

[Dusk]

Dusk held her breath as the girl came out of the room with a rather painful looking car part. She silently thanked God for her gift that kept her hidden. The sudden flash of lightning had washed away her hiding spot for a brief second. but the other girl seemed to not notice. She quickly moved into the doorway as the power flicked off. When the brunette had turned her light on it narrowly missed where she had previously been hidden.

"Well that was lucky," she thought. She believed that everything happened for a reason, but that lightning felt like to much of a coincidence. In a matter of seconds she realised that her fellow trespasser was making a break for the stairs. She didn't want to risk getting nailed with the muffler, or worse, the beam of light shining from the flashlight.

She was at a loss for what to do before her mind piped up again. "Oh yeah, I could do that," she thought taking off after the girl while spinning a sphere of perfect blackness around her and the girl she was pursuing. This way she could talk to the girl without fear. Her voice would melt in from the darkness like an intercom system, and with the liquidy feel of the shadows the ripples would help her tell if the girl was going to try to make a break for it. It also helped that the sphere would have some substance to its edges, though it certainly was not unbreakable by any means.

[Ende]

She could see that she was beginning to get close to the stairs. Her plan was to bolt down the stairs and get the hell out of there. If it was the owner that was creeping, she didn't want to get caught and have the police come. Getting arrested, would be the last thing Carla needed.

The stairs were in her site but then it got really dark. So dark she couldn't even see her own hands. She turned on her flashlight but it didn't cut through the darkness. Forgetting about the flashlight, she got a good grip on the muffler and began to swing wildly in the air. She hoped that if anyone was going to come at her, they would get hit with the muffler.

[Dusk]

Dusk could feel the girl moving around wildly and adjusted the sphere to match her the best she could. Taking a deep breath she cleared her throat.

"Calm down there. We don't want you getting yourself hurt. Don't worry, I'm not calling the cops. I was just trying to make sure that you weren't planning on burning the place down or something. Who are you anyway?" she asked a politely as she could while trying to keep some level of authority in her voice. She was afraid that the girl would start flailing in the wrong direction and fall down the stairs.

Dusk rocked back on her heels. She knew that she was safe from the light without her little cape of darkness, but she also knew that she would be very well adjusted to the lower light level because of it.

"I'm going to need to get out of here before I cut her loose. No need for her to know who I am," she thought to herself.

[Ende]

She stopped swinging around the muffler when,she heard a voice talking to her. She could hear her ragged breath as she tried to calm down. Looking around, she tried in vain to see where the voice was coming from but all she was crushing darkness. It seemed as though the voice was coming from everywhere, but she figured that had to be because she could see anything.

"Who are you, how are you doing this" Ende said coldly, her voice as calm as she could make it.

She was not about to tell this stranger who she was, especially when they were able to throw her into complete darkness.

[Dusk]

She had to admit, she ws thankful when the girl stopped her flailing about. Jane couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl. Normal people just weren't usually cut out for the pitch.

"Call me Dusk," she said somewhat arrogantly. She could at least be civil and give a name when she was asked.

"As far as how I'm doing this...if I could tell you I might," she said in a friendlier tone. "Mind telling me what you're doing here?"

[Ende]

Ende refused to show that she was scared, but it was very difficult when she had no idea where she was. Hearing the girls name made her feel slightly better, she wasn't sure why. Turning around she hoped maybe she could see some kind of shape of a person but still it was nothing but black.

"Dusk...I was just here drawing, not doing anything illegal. Can you please stop whatever you are doing" Ende said.

She grabbed for her bag and fumbled around looking for the pad of paper, wanting to get it out as proof to show all she was doing was drawing.

[Dusk]

She thought about the girl's words for a moment. It seemed fair enough, and she could melt herself into the shadows to avoid being seen if the girl came out swinging.

"Alright. When I let you out I want to know your name though," she said sternly. She squished herself into the shadows behind the girl so as to stay between her and the stairs.

"Do me a favour and keep the light off. Don't look for me. I'll come out if I think I can trust you," she said. She pulled the darkness off of the girl in layers. It was the first time that she'd really been able to get a look at her. She made sure that she was tucked into a shadow and couldn't be seen right away.

[Ende]

Ende was relieved when she said, she would take the darkness off of her. She put the light into her bag, but kept the muffler in her hand, gripping it tightly. When the darkness was off of her she breathed a sigh of relief.

"My name is Ende" She said.

She wanted to look so badly, to try and see Dusk.

"How did you do that? Are you special...like you know" Ende asked.

She knew there was other people out there who could do special things, and she was wondering if this girl was one of them.

[Dusk]

When she let her go she thought for sure the girl would run or turn on her light. Yet, she had opted to not even look around her for the location of her captor. The girl was good. She stepped slowly out of her shadow.

"I'm behind you. Please don't turn on the light, and please don't try to hit me with that muffler. If you do I'll have to trap you again for both of our safety," she said. She held her hand out somewhat stiffly.

"Pleased to meet you Ende. I'm not sure if you'd call it special," she said with a smirk, "I'm sorry to interrupt your drawing." She gave the girl a light tip of her hat.

[Ende]

It killed her but in order to prove that she wasn't going to hit her with the muffler, she threw it aside. Ende didn't want to end up in the darkness bubble again if she could avoid it. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness a bit and she was hoping she wouldn't need the flashlight.

When she finally turned around to see her, she saw that the Dusk was holding out her hand stiffly. Ende took and shook her hand.

"But it is special, whatever it is exactly you do, with the darkness bubbles and stuff" Ende said.

She considered herself special even though at time having control over the weather backfired, like when she was sad and it would begin to rain out of nowhere. Kenningston had been treated to come freak weather since she had moved there.

"It's okay, I was done with the outline anyways" Said Ende easily.

[Dusk]

She felt a lot better once Ende had thrown the muffler aside. Dusk was relieved when the girl didn't turn on the light as well. She smirked.

"Well, I'm not sure if the pros outweigh the cons," she said with a laugh. "I'm glad you were able to at least get the outline done," she added.

She glanced at the doorway of the room Ende had recently come from. "I'd come in and see what it will look like, but I don't want to risk the power coming back from that lightning." At about that time Dusk realized that she hadn't heard any rain since that flash.

[Ende]

Just having the outline done, made her feel like she was getting more and more out of her rut. Now she could go back to her apartment, and have something to paint finally. She liked drawing, but painting was what really made her happy. Ende couldn't also wait to call Carla and tell her how brilliant she was to suggest trying a new place.

"So what exactly is it that you do?" Ende asked.

Ende looked up at the ceiling, and realized too that she hadn't made it rain. Often she found it difficult to put normal weather patterns together, like lightening and rain. Sighing she focused her attention back to Dusk.

"I wouldn't worry about the power coming back on" Ende said easily.

If the lightning had done what she had wanted, the fuse box was completely destroyed.

[Dusk]

Jane wasn't quite sure how to answer that. She didn't really like talking about herself, and she didn't exactly want to go blabbing everything about herself to a total stranger.

"What do I do?" she asked herself more than Ende. "Well, I guess I just sort of stick to the shadows and get my nose into things that aren't my business," she shrugged. As far as she knew this girl was just a normal human wandering around for things to draw.

She edged a little closer to the brunette, and the door. She really was curious about the room, but she also wasn't quite ready to turn her back on the other girl. She had a feeling that Ende wasn't someone she wanted to trifle with. Her night vision was pretty excellent compared to most people's. After all, she'd lived in dim light and the dark all of her life.

"Eh, unless you want to go back in I'll just look at the sketch if that's alright," she said evenly. She didn't want to tip the other girl off that she was a bit leery of her.

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