"THE TOLL BOOTHS SERIES"
These are all for the Pomme de Sang Drabble Challenge #2: inspired by the Tainted Love lyrics. (You are allowed to string together 100 word pieces)

TITLE: "Toll Booths" (1/3)
TEAM: Human
Word Count: 100!
Chara/Pairings: Anita solo
Note: Drabble #2 challenge: "Tainted Love".  Anita reflects on the ramifications of her past engagement. This one also works as an original piece for me personally. (May be the first in a series.)
 

I was engaged once. Those college years seem so long ago - I gave myself wholeheartedly, without payment or question.

Who knew his belief in me would waver so easily. Be so shallow and callous like a dead-end country road.

Since then I have become a carpenter with a tainted toolbox. I've built my own barricades along the paths to my doorstep. A small tollbooth stands here as testament - "Ding! Ding! To go on, you'll have to pay up!"

Sometimes, when the sun rises and hits it just so, it throws a shadow over the gravel that is somewhat like me.

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TITLE: "Token Please" (2/3)
TEAM: Human
Word Count: 100!
Chara/Pairings: Anita/Richard
Note: Drabble #2 challenge: Second in the "Toll Booth Series"

Richard introduced himself as a schoolteacher. He failed to mention the werewolf bit.

That hadn't stopped me from lowering my barricades - one token please. It was easy to run to him, to watch him endlessly - those strong hands always in that honey-brown hair.

I could trust him. Even love him. He proposed. I wanted him in my bed. He said, "Wait."

His monster betrayed us in the end. Not out of fear. Or carnage. But from hatred of himself. It oozed from him like liquid, saturating us. So I ran.

I'm still running, it seems. We've both paid the price.
 

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TITLE: "Borderlines" (3/3)
TEAM: Human
Word Count: 100!
Chara/Pairings: surprise. sorta.
Note: Drabble #2 challenge: Third in the "Toll Booth Series"

Dreams have me running through moonlit forests. Sometimes I can see Richard running there, too. But we never meet. Always parallel.

I'm awake now. Sunlight hits me, dappling the jogging trails behind my home.

I run alone through miles of oaks. But that's okay. No tollbooths. I feel free.

I approach an old bench and slow-up. A man sits resting. Or waiting. For me? He's blond, his smile watchful. He's barely there at all - a borderline ghost.

I sit. He reminds me of someone long gone. It doesn't matter who.

THIS man, I trust. Wholeheartedly.

Oh, the irony.

"Hello, Edward."
 

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