Town of Broken Girls

Shatter

Shatter POV

I'm going over to the mayor's office to talk to Gabrielle about August, who is still missing. I think she might of forgotten about it. Not that I can really blame her, there hasn't really been time to deal with that with everything else going on.

Barbie offered to go with me, which is sweet, but I don't really want to drag her into this.

I get to the office building and head inside. I see Rose sitting at the front desk, she's doing some paperwork and looks pretty flustered. I really hate to interrupt, but this is important.

Shatter: um- e- excuse me 

Rose: Shatter, hi. What are you here for?

Shatter: well- I- uh- I n-need to talk to the mayor

Rose: Oh- she's a little... busy right now. I could call you when she's free.

Shatter: Please, this is really important

Rose: I'm really not supposed to. Why is it so important?

Shatter: I- I'm not really sure if I can talk to anyone else about it, but it is a matter of safety.

Rose: *sigh* alright, if it's about safety, I suppose you can go in. Her office is right upstairs, at the end of the hall.

I give her a thumbs up, and head upstairs. I go down the hall and open the door to Gabrielle's office.

Shatter: Hey, Gabrielle I know you're busy but-

I look over to the mayor's desk and see her with her head buried in her arms on her desk.

Shatter: Woah, are you okay?

She mutters something but I can't quite hear. I walk over to Gabrielle and put my hand on shoulder.

Shatter: Seriously, are you alright?

Gabrielle lifts her head of her desk and turns toward me. I can tell she's been crying.

Shatter: Is this about what happened at your party?

Gabrielle: I- Yeah

Tears start to run down her face again.

Shatter: Hey, it's okay, you can talk about it, if you want

Gabrielle: It's just- I always knew it would have to happen one day, I just wish it had been on my own terms.

Shatter: I get that, hiding yourself feels awful, but it's better than being forced into showing who you are.

Gabrielle: I- I'm so mad at myself for being so dumb. I'm mad at Rose too. I shouldn't be, but I am. I'm mad with everyone for judging me as if they haven't trusted me to run the town for 4 years.

Shatter: Hey, it's okay. You're allowed to be angry, you're allowed to be hurt. But if you let it paralyze, you're the only one that suffers. 

She smiles for a second, before looking away from me.

Gabrielle: Hey... Shatter?

Shatter: Yeah?

Gabrielle: What was it like for you when you first came to town? Dealing with the whole... being an unstable thing?

Shatter: It wasn't... great

--------------------flashback------------------------------------

Shatter POV

It's the second day me and Lexie have been in town. Rose showed us around yesterday, she was sweet. And people were nice, mostly.

I did get a of weird looks though, they looked... judgmental? concerned? scared? I couldn't really tell which of those it was, but either way it hurt. I guess I kinda get it, I don't really look like anyone else here. Hopefully today'll be better. 

I get up out of bed. I check Lexie's room... she's still asleep. I'm not really hungry, so I skip breakfast for today. I head out the door.

I'm not really familiar with where everything is, so I kinda just wander in the general direction of the park. 

I pass a few people as I'm walking, more weird looks. I even see a couple them pointing and whispering. 

I decide to stray away from the path heading to the park, to get away from the crowd of people there. I turn my head down to avoid any eye contact

I walk down a couple roads and turn down an alleyway. I lift my eyes back up right before I was about to smash into a brick wall. Dammit, a dead end. I turn around and start to walk back out of the alley, when a man steps out in front of it's opening. 

He starts to walk toward me and I see a couple other guys behind him. Anxiety bubbles in my stomach as he gets closer.

Man: *aggressively* Hey there!

Shatter: uh- hi...

Man: We saw you get into town yesterday.

Shatter: y- yeah

I back away from him, before feeling my back hit the wall.

Man: We saw ugly-ass face of yours...

My heart starts to beat extra fast and I feel a bit dizzy. He pulls a knife out of his pocket.

Man: We thought we'd fix it up for you.

He holds the knife close to my face before slicing it into my cheek. I feel energy crackling throughout my body. My vision starts flash black. 

I don't know much, but I know that's not normal.

Man: *laughs* Look at this fucking freak

I feel the knife cut up from my cheek, across my eye. Blood drips down from my face onto my arms.

I look down, and through my good eye I see that the veins in my arms are glowing white. I glance further down, at my hands and see electricity sparking from my fingers.  

He lunges forward and his hand wraps around my neck. My throat starts to close up, and I can feel my eyes watering. The electricity is shooting stronger throughout my body, my vision flashing faster.

As the last few breaths sneak through my closing throat, my eyes are forced shut. And I pass out.

--------------- end of flashback--------------------------------------

Gabrielle: Wow, I- I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Shatter: i- it's fine, I m-mean I'm alive aren't I?

I shouldn't be though. I still don't know how I lived that day. It was a miracle that I didn't immediately die. It was a miracle that they didn't double check to make sure I was dead. It was a miracle that Lexie found me as quickly as she did.

Does it even count as a miracle if I wish it wasn't saved?

Gabrielle: That doesn't make it okay. 

Shatter: yeah..

Gabrielle: *clears throat* so, uh... anyway, why did you come over here in the first place?

Shatter: Oh- right-

Shit- how tf did I forget?

Shatter: Yeah, uh, I came to talk about how August is still missing. I'm pretty Daisy talked about it with you a while ago.

Gabrielle: OH- YEAH- SHIT, I FORGOT- SHIT.

Shatter: uh.. yeah.. so, did you have ideas of what to do.

Gabrielle: Well, if someone did take August, they most likely took her into the forest... hmm

Shatter: oh! we could gather a search party to head into the forest to find her.

Gabrielle: Hey, yeah, that's a good idea. I'll put the announcement out right now and we'll start as soon as possible.

I can't help but smile at that, I know, I know, it's shitty situation but... I've never really had a good idea before, or at least haven't been credited for it. It's nice to have my idea recognized.