Rayne

Truth to be told, it worked. She would never reveal it, but Rayne fancied it when Alliyah complimented her. She enjoyed her silver tongue telling her she looked marvelous; she appreciated when she praised her drawings or clothes and when she made sure to include her in the group’s plans.

“I do like other dark things, besides clothes.” Rayne declared.

“Like what?” Her friend turned in her seat to look at her.

“Gruesome, morbid, gory things…” She answered, slowly dragging the words. “And black animals and sinister nature.” Rayne added on a brighter note.

“I like those things too, though.“

“Really?”

“Yeah, I love horror movies and you’ve seen I have two black pets.” She smiled.

“What is your favorite horror movie?” Her eyes gleamed as her interest peaked.

“I love the entire series of SAW.”

“Me too!” Rayne exclaimed, more enthusiastic than she realized. “Wow, the girl made of sunshine likes to watch dismemberments.”

“You just have to stop thinking that you know all of me already, angel. I know that I don’t know the half of you.”

Rayne shuffled lightly in her seat and turned her eyes to the window, once again.

She’s not wrong… I keep finding out new things about her.

As the two of them walked through the airport, Rayne spoke:

“I am aware that we’ve talked about this, but remember, what you will see when we get to the parts of the country that were truly affected will probably shock you a little bit. Just try to not react too heavily in front of locals. We’re here to help, not freak them out even more than they already must be.”

Alliyah simply nodded. Rayne contacted the person in charge of the volunteering program, and they both found their way to them and the rest of the group.

The girls were taken to a sort of motel where at least four people would be staying in each small bedroom - there were 2 beds and 2 mattresses on the floor per cubicle.

After dropping off their bags and changing into more comfortable clothes (well, Rayne just slipped into elastic, ripped, black jeans and replaced her heavy boots for sneakers; whilst Alliyah changed into grey sweatpants), they were taken to a school that was serving multiple purposes, where they would be registering as volunteers.