A distraught looking girl rushes down an abandoned, colourless alleyway. Although she knew her way around the city well, the labyrinth streets were making her anxious. Would she make it in time? Did she even have a chance? Usually she was a pretty confident, upbeat person but her sanguine attitude was absent as she turned the corner and found herself on one of the main streets, which in itself, was more of a courtyard than anything else. There was a plethora of restaurants, tourist facilities, painters, and musicians. Even in her nervous haste she slowed to risk a glance at the group of avant-garde painters. The iridescent colours of a particular piece caught her eye, it was of the city and it seemed to shimmer and almost shift as she went by. It reminded her of why she loved this place so much. If it were any other day she would have loved to sit and watch the artists and musicians master their craft but the time for that was over and she would be long gone by the time the sun had set.
The girl was near the end of the courtyard when the man she was running from stepped out of the last bistro on the road and called out her name. His mellifluous voice made her shiver, that same sly, smooth voice was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. He caught her eye and smiled. Fear coursed through her body and she broke into a run. She could no longer hear the music that the musicians had been playing and the silence beat into her as she ran along the more secluded streets. Along one of the roads there was a grey cement wall slowly being overtaken by vibrant bougainvilleas. The sight of something so alive and beautiful trying to conquer something so ugly and dead made her smile then frown. She knew that winter would soon come and the plants would wither away and die and the cold colourless wall would win.
She was close to her destination now. She ascended a set of stairs and was near the top when she noticed something on her hand. It was the ochre rust from the railing. Something about that particular hue stirred something in her memory but she realized her mistake all too late. This is the end, she thought as she fell. She hadn’t made it in time.