FrAcTuReD (Part One) (Completed continued in Part Two)

Chapter. 07 (Slight Edit)

Alex looked almost impressed. "You're Dad sounds insanely protective, you know that?"

She merely shrugged. "In his defence he only had one kid left he had no intention of letting die. And that woman wasn't about having any more kids. Which I see for the best, don't need anyone else screwed up by her..."

"You mean your Mom?"

A cold scoff came. "As if, that bitch isn't what I'd call a mother. Even though she's her mother I don't have to like it nor agree, then again I never did. That woman can rot for all I care."

Again with that. "Hey, who do you mean by that?" Charla looked at her. "You keep going on about her and she things like that, so who are you talking about."

Charla became quite, she merely looked up at the sky and said. "When you see the stars, what is it that you feel when looking at them?"

"The stars?" she looked at the sky. "Fire I guess, a light that may never go away."

Tilting her head back Alex saw Charla smile, and yet it looked so bittersweet. "It's something different for me, I see them as worlds." Her hand stretched out to the sky as if trying to reach those stars. "Worlds so far away that I may never be able to return but now as I am I know that I can never reach them." Her hand clenched into a fist before falling back to her lap almost as if it was dead. "But if you were to ask her the answer might be different."

Alex looked back to the sky. "I can see it that way I guess..." she said as she blew out more smoke and was about to ask again what she was talking about before Charla took it from her as she stood.

And to Alex's surprise Charla took a drag and let out a puff of smoke. "This isn't the best habit you know." she said. "Anyway, regardless of what you see me as I am glad that I got to speak with you. He was right about this place being different, I'm happy he wasn't wrong." she then turned and left the gas station. "Nice meeting you."

Alex stood up and watched as Charla left. What the heck was that about? Didn't Charla decline the cig from before so what changed? Then again Charla seemed real different right now; she frowned at the figure now in the distance. Something about this seemed off; maybe if she spoke to Charla in the morning it might give her some better clues?

Stopping, Charla looked back to the gas station and scoffed. "A good person huh, If only you knew..." she said before dropping the cigarette and stomping it out before pulling the hood back up and then turned on her MP3 and continued down the road with only the music to accompany her through the silence of the sleeping town.

The next morning Charla headed to the school a bit earlier than before, but not before Nina gave Charla her key so that she wouldn't have to wait outside the house like before.

Charla silently accepted it but couldn't help but feel about doing so, like she was robbing a kid for the house key like a bully. Though Nina didn't seem to mind in the slightest, children these days were so mature.

"Hey!" drawing her out of her thoughts Charla saw Alex in the same spot where they first met yesterday waving at her. "I figured you'd head the same way so I thought to meet you here."

"Oh, um... good morning."

Alex grinned. "Morning, you look a lot better than yesterday."

"Sleep tends to help with that, though I don't think mine was all that good." She merely stared at Charla, almost as if she were examining her. "Is something wrong?"

Alex quickly shook her head. "No, everything's fine. But I do need to speak to you about something in private." She then glanced around before lowering her voice. "It's about something last night." She then pointed in the direction of the school and spoke normally. "Let's head to that spot from before okay?"

"Sure," Charla said wondering what she was going to say but had a feeling she knew what it was about.

When they reached the spot Alex went into some details about how she and Charla had spoken when three of Alex's friends had left.

"Do you remember talking to me then?" Alex asked.

Charla shook her head. "No, I... I don't." she frowned as if silently trying to figure out what might have happened last night. "What did I say?"

"We talked about some of the rumors that apparently started when you came to the school and some stuff like that."

"Rumors?"

"Yeah some real stupid shit, you'll probably hear someone talking about it soon."

And the one thing I hope to avoid ends up happening great, I hate you life. She thought to herself. "People are such jerks, it's not like I'm an alien or anything."

"Tell me about it." Alex said before eyeing her then asking. "Although, last night you did say something, you told me you hurt some guy that was pestering you."

"Hitting me with a blunt object isn't pestering." Charla said her voice almost devoid of any forms of emotion as she brought her hand up to the back of her head. "That student always seemed to have it out for me and I blacked out from it, but my Dad told me that I got right back up, threw a chair at him before throwing him to the ground dislocating his shoulder at the same time. But that..."

"What?"

Charla made the motion with her arms, like in act from a shadow play. "After he was on the ground, I apparently twisted his arm like this." She said making the motion. "As if on purpose, but I have no memory of it or doing those things."

That explains why this guy's parents wanted to sue and probably why her Dad is so protective of her but still... "Hey, Charla tell me, when you look up at the sky and see the stars what do you see?"

Charla looked at her with a slight confused expression. "That's a weird question, why are you asking me that?"

"Just answer it..." she said feeling almost stupid with her cheeks heated with slight embarrassment. As if her answer would be any different.

Charla thought about it for a moment. "Hmm well, if I had to say something, I'd probably say that they're thoughts."

"Thoughts?" Alex repeated almost shocked.

"Yeah," she said with a nervous laugh. "I know it sounds dumb, but as a kid I always thought of the stars as thoughts or ideas that people have, and when one goes out it means an idea is forgotten, an idea of your dream that you had to let go. But you know... my brother always said it was different for him."

"What would he say if he was here I mean?"

Her smile became sad. "He'd say that for him the stars are worlds, places that he'd like to go too, places so far he would never return here if he could go. He'd often make music about it." Charla then looked at her watch. "Anyway, I have to go the school's nurse said he wanted to make sure that I'm alright and I have a feeling if I don't go he'd be pretty mad. But I'll see you in class and I promise I won't faint ether."

Alex was left alone behind the school, in her head she was crossing over the encounters with Charla on the first day and now mixed with that of last night and noting the differences, something about this seemed really bothersome to her. And she felt like she knew where to look if she wanted answers.