Word Association - Blog Week 2, Assignment 1

Noisy children brawling games
Word association exercise
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The pit was dirty and dank, like most ravines tend to me in hallowed October evenings, overflowing with leaves and the junk casually dropped down by littering passerby, or people who wished to hide away secrets. Electronics and glass glittered against the natural debris, and the not so natural as footprints rained into the world like sudden storm clouds.
Fists were raised. There was no self conscious thought to the outside as voices, young and stark against the harsh winds rang through the trench. Molly shifted her weight, hands up in small fists, a bruise blossoming on her cheek. Andrea said if she could do this, if she were the David to their band, to take down the Goliath that was Courtney Wintermyre—Well… Andrea hadn’t explicitly said, but every knight won a maiden’s favor eventually, right? Even if they were both girls, a favor was a favor.
The dirt scuffed her shoes and her knees were scraped from running and falling- They’d wound up here fleeing. She was not proud of her sudden bolting from the confrontation, but they were here now and a circle had formed. It had been made official of officials, outside schoolyard constrictions and teachers gazes. Outside reassurance. Outside getting up again if she fell to hard.
She swallowed thick; this was the reality she had to prepare for. She watched as Courtney paraded her fists, leaves on her shoulders- She wouldn’t see them, for what giant notices their head in the clouds if they’ve been there all their lives?
The first punch flew and missed. Molly spun, arm aching from the effort, and stumbled to look back- She only saw Courtney for a split second, and that was all it took for to know it was over. Everything then turned into a swirl of peach and freckles, aimed directly at her nose, and her world held only the large, over-vocal crack, that resounded like a gunshot echoing the noise of a branch stepped on in the dark.

Andrea’s mother drove them home. The car smelled of old exhaust, dead cigarettes, and hamburger wrappers, and Molly had to concentrate out the windows to make out the blurs of colors and shapes going by. Everything spun and ached, but Andrea had rested her hand against hers along the way. Her heart hammered- She wasn’t sure if it was the mild concussion or her broken nose, or just the noise of an erratic heartbeat that wouldn’t leave her, but it let her smile all the same.
In the trench, leaves continued to fall across glass and wire. The dirt was scuffled and flecked with blood—But as the dirt carried some of Molly, she carried some of it along with her as well, down the long road home. She rode like a knight on horseback- Her maiden’s favor fluttering alongside her in the breeze.