Fractured • DISCONTINUED

0.3

"What kind of a store doesn't sell candy." Michael pouted, as they exited the small souvenier shop they had been in. Ashton's sister, Lauren's, birthday was coming up, and he was on the lookout for a gift to give her. Luckily he had found an ocean themed snowglobe that he figured she might like, and a locket with an L on it he knew she'd love. The other boys had pitched in, to buy her a stuffed animal with a "secret-compartment" on the underside of it, which Michael wanted to fill with candy. Alas, the store didn't have anything but black licorice, and nobody likes black licorice.

"A fucked up one." Luke answered, and the other two nodded in agreement. A comfortable silence settled over them after awhile, and they kept walking, even after the boardwalk ended, and it was just the small port that the seaside town had. It didn't take them long to pass the boats (even though they stopped to take multiple photographs with a boat named Sydney,) and soon they had stopped at a relatively large pile of washed up rocks. Luke immediately dropped the paper bag she was carrying, and began looking for a foothold on the pile, in an attempt to climb up. He took a few minutes to find one, and had to have Ashton and Calum give him a boost to even reach the foothold, but eventually he ended up atop the pile, and that was all that really mattered.

"Hey Ashton, take my picture!" Luke said after a moment, holding up a peace sign. "Fine," Ashton shrugged, motioning for the other two to stand near the rocks, "but you two need to be in the picture, too." Calum rolled his eyes, shuffling in front of the rocks beside Michael, and pressing a faux smile onto his face. Ashton pulled up his camera once again, and snapped a few various photographs of his friends, including ones where Michael was trying to climb up the rocks as well- and failing epically. Eventually, however, all of the boys were sitting on top of the rocks, and staring out at the water. A few waves crashed against the side of the rocks every now and again, sending a light spray against their faces, but for the most part it was silent for the first time that day. It was almost as though the land had them under it's spell, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •••

Ari sighed, as she finally found a pencil sharpener in her old desk, and closed the top of it. It was an old seaman's chest that Scattie had helped her convert into a desk, and she loved how it looked in the small shack. She shoved the sharpener into her purple shorts's pocket, and smoothed out her green tee-shirt. Her hair was in a neat braid, and as soon as she slathered sunscreen onto herself, she headed back out. It took her awhile to make it back to her rocks, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the four boys sitting atop it, paging through something. "What're you doing?" She asked, hoping her voice was level. "Um...sorry, is this yours?" One of the three blonds asked, gesturing to the notebook they held. "Yes, of course it is." She answered, and the boy nodded, giving her a regretful look. "Sorry, we didn't know it belonged to anybody." She shrugged, and walked a bit closer to the rocks. "It's fine, I guess." She said, even though it really wasn't fine.

Her mother had used to say, Never let the sun go down upon thy anger, or in other words, life is so short, what's the point of going to bed angry? She aspired to be a more worldly version of her mother, even though she sometimes wanted to strangle people on situations like this one. She reached up, and grabbed onto one of the ridges, using it to hoist herself up. The boys watched as she climbed quickly, and wondered how she made it seem so effortless. She was soon perched on the largest rock, and had taken her notebook from the hazel-eyed boy. "So...are the songs in there yours?" The blond with green eyes asked, and she nodded. "Yeah, I get bored sometimes." She answered, picking up the sharpener and her pencil. "They're pretty good." The blue eyed boy said, and she shrugged a little. "They're okay, songwriting isn't really my thing." She said, flipping to the page with her latest song, Part Of Your World.

"Well for not your thing, they're good." The blue eyed boy pressed, and she shrugged once more. "Yeah, I guess." She said, looking back down as she fit the pencil tip into the sharpener. She began twisting her pencil, and shavings twisted out while an awkward silence settled over them. Calum stared at her, however, while his friends looked up, down, and out at the water. He couldn't help but know, just know, that she was the girl from his dream.

Word Count: 845.
Author: Mercy.
Status: Unedited.