Chapter Text
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010, 6:28 p.m. PST
The streets of San Diego, California have always been filled with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, with a high population and even higher cost of living. As the prices rise so does the resentment of those who cannot thrive, and many find themselves at this particular stretch of road, the same road where two teenagers walk.
“You know Mavis, between the two of us, we’ve got one working eye now.” Laughs the teen wearing sunglasses and holding a cane. Mavis rolls her eyes as she sticks her leg out in an attempt to trip the other girl.
Lilith steps over the obstacle deliberately as Mavis protests “And somehow you see better than me. Also drop the smile, even with the bandages covering my eye I know you are smirking like an ass.”
Lilith drops her head and chuckles as they continue walking, where her cane hits the familiar bumps of the yellow tactile paving to indicate a crosswalk starting. “By the way, where are we?” she starts questioning “Do we even have a place to go?”
“Well the map says to keep going straight, the shelter should be two more blocks, I think,” Mavis says, as she tilts the comedically large map to the side a few times. “Although I’m not exactly sure this is the right street.” She opens the map further, and the excess paper falls to the ground. As she holds the small text close to her face she doesn’t notice that it’s a map for an entirely different city.
Lilith sighs halfheartedly, “God I wish I could see, if we can’t find the shelter I’ll use that useless map for a blanket.” As the girls continue to walk Lilith begins to lose faith if they will find their destination. “Mavis, can we just walk over to someone and ask, be ready to run though, just in case.”
“That would probably be for the best, I swear none of these streets look right.” She exclaims, trying her best to refold the map, although she eventually gives up and jams the rest in her back pocket.
“If I hear that stupid thing keep crinkling I’m going to beat you with it.” Lilith grumbles as her patience begins to dwindle. “Just find a person and ask!”
“Oh alright,” Mavis huffs. She then parts her way through the bustling crowd with Lilith following close behind, heading towards an elderly woman feeding the pigeons. The woman looks up once they get close, looking at them blankly in confusion.
Suddenly she lights up, “Oh Samantha, Claire, I missed you both so much! Come come, sit down with me and feed my babies. Samantha, tell me why are you all bandaged up?” She then coos to the pigeons eating her discarded breadcrumbs.
(AN1&2:their greed sickens me)
Mavis stands there bewildered for a moment not knowing what to say, Lilith leans over and indicates to play along. “Of course granny! But first can you help us read this map? Mom couldn’t pay rent and said we can find her at the women’s shelter.” Lilith says smiling while Mavis holds the map waiting for a response, hoping that worked.
“Oh love bugs, I'm so sorry that happened to you! Of course I can help, let me see this tricky map. And where are my readers?” Granny proclaims as she pats herself down for her glasses. Mavis gently reaches for the glasses resting atop the woman's head and hands them to her with the map. “Thank you dear, let’s see. Where did you find this map? It’s not even for San Diego, it states right here in bold that this is for San Francisco.”
Mavis feels a dangerous energy blazing beside her, as she turns she looks to Lilith. Somehow even with sunglasses covering blind eyes she knows there is murderous intent in her gaze. Fearing for her safety she asks granny a follow up question, “Do you know where another shelter is that we can go to?”
Granny looks up puzzled, she then reaches down by her feet and snatches a pigeon to pet lovingly. As if the pigeon will unlock the answers for her. “Oh yes I do believe there is! It’s smaller and I’m not sure if they can take the two of you but it’s around the corner from the coffee shop that’s just down the road.” Granny points to the opposite direction of which the girls had been going.
“Thank you so much granny!” Lilith says sweetly while her eyes continue to bore into Mavis’ soul with the intensity of a thousand suns.
“Thank you granny! I’ll make sure to pay more attention next time!” Mavis expresses while aiming her words at Lilith in a desperate hope to calm the flames of her fury.
Granny looks to the girls with a prideful smile “Of course, I’m always here if you need me babies. Now get there safely, after dark things around here get rough.” She looks away from the girls and continues on with the pigeons as they surround her.
Mavis and Lilith begin to make their way in the direction granny provided. After a while Mavis finally slows down as she sees the small cafe come into view, she beamed with excitement turning the corner to the shelter doors. “See I knew I could find it!”
“No, actually I don’t see.” Lilith snarkily replies as she taps her cane on the ground loudly. “And technically the crazy old lady with an army of pigeons knew, not you.” she then sighs, dropping her tensed shoulders. “At least we actually found the place. Even though you tried to get us lost.” She jokes, letting her anger subside.
As the doors open and the girls enter they see a receptionist who looks like a preppy valley girl. The girl blinks slowly at them once they walk up to the counter, continuing to pick her cuticles with her pen.
“What are you here for?” She questions begrudgingly, as if the welfare of two teenage girls is just another chore.
“Hi, we are hoping to get a room for the night?” Lilith pipes in with less confidence than in her previous encounter.
“I can do that, only if you had gotten here like twenty minutes ago, we’re full.” The receptionist bluntly retorts, as she pops her gum obnoxiously.
At the sound of the popping gum, something else explodes, Mavis' patience. Which unlike Lilith is not as controlled, and she starts banging the reception bell in frustration. “Can you give us some food at least, you coldhearted bitch, look at my poor blind sister.”
Lilith steps in and pulls Mavis back while hoping she can ease the situation. “You will have to excuse my sister, we are both incredibly hungry and tired, clearly it has caused some frustration and I am so sorry. Are there any food pantries nearby we can visit? Any help is appreciated.” Lilith explains as a desperate grab at any assistance.
The visibly annoyed receptionist holds up a finger as she pushes the rolling chair around without getting up towards a back door. Poking her head inside talking to someone. “Yeah, we have two cans of soup and a small thing of crackers, but that’s it. Be happy you get anything at all for free.” She snaps while another associate walks out with said food.
She sets the food on the counter and looks at the mess in front of her, one blind teen and another with bandages covering her eye and cheek. “You two should be careful around here, it’s not safe for two young girls to be out alone. It’s why we are always full.”
“We will keep that in mind, thank you.” Mavis responds after getting elbowed by Lilith. Quickly sweeping the two cans and crackers into her backpack as they leave the safety of the shelter.
“Well, we are one hundred percent dead. We’ll be lucky if we live long enough to eat that soup.” Lilith cried as she stressed over all the terrible possibilities that could befall them.