THUD!

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I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, my eyes trailing the ever-changing scenery. The steady humming of the car's engine was the only sound to be heard, as my parents and I were sitting in stony silence, trapped in our own worlds.

My fathers eyes were fixed on the road, once in a while flicking up to check his rearview mirror. My mother was leaning back in her seat, eyes closed as if she were sleeping. The only thing that signified she wasn't was her breathing, which was too rapid to be mistaken as the quiet, steady rhythm of deep sleep. I took this all in in a calm manner, already used to the blanket of tension and loneliness that enveloped us, even when we were together.

You would think that it'd be easier for all of us to deal with the pain, considering It had happened close to 5 months ago. Ha, I wish. Even though we're all still breathing, we may as well be dead to each other. All my dad does now is work, making him the all too cliché workaholic. My mom buries herself in her writing, attempting to fill the gaping hole in her chest with poems and anecdotes.

And me? Well, before this all happened, I was all high and mighty, what you might call my high school's 'Queen Bee.' I had the perfect boyfriend, perfect group of friends, and had everyone fawning over me. People either envied me, loved me, or wanted to be me. I hope you noticed all the past tense in there. It's where all that meaningless crap is now- the past. It was as if someone had flipped a switch, beaming me into a parallel universe. I became the exact opposite of myself. All of a sudden, things that came easily to me, like confidence, cockiness, and socializing became a constant struggle. I couldn't even will myself to get up in the morning, knowing that my attempts would all go to waste the second I stepped out in public. This became so severe I had to start taking online classes, because if anyone so much as glanced my way, I would have a full-on panic attack, and those could last for hours.

So, yeah. Apparently, all good things must come to an end.

My parents and I had decided that the best thing for us to do was start over some place new, where no one knew who we were or our tragic family history. Really, it was more like my parents decided, since they never asked for my input, only assumed I'd agree. Hey, I'm not complaining. I do find it quite amusing, though, that they think that just because I'm going to face a new group of kids that I'd open up again. If anything, this whole experiment will cause me to close down and lock myself away even more.

If I look at this whole situation in a non-pessimistic way, like my parents are trying to, I can see that it probably will be a lot easier. I won't have to endure looks of sympathy and blame from random classmates and cold-hearted bitches I used to call my friends, (always a plus), school counselors won't try to make me come see them for "support" and "healing sessions", and teachers will treat me like any other student, not like some freak who caused the fatal accident of her older brother.

No.

I clenched my jaw, tears threatening to escape my blurry eyes. I squeezed them shut, hastily wiping away any tears that had managed to escape.

Taking deep breaths, I reopened my eyes, forcing myself to focus on anything outside my window, as long as it wasn't that. My eyes landed on a sign up ahead. Squinting, I could barely make out the words: 'Welcome to Georgetown, Colorado'. I scoffed as I noticed that there was an old, chipped painting of a family at the bottom of the sign. The four members wore identical over-exaggerated smiles, as if to say, "Look at us, perfectly happy in this town. Nothing can go wrong here!"

I immediately frowned as I noticed more about the two siblings. There was a guy and a girl, and the guy seemed to be a perfect, loving, protective older brother. My heart pounded painfully in my chest, causing me to wince at how much I missed him. How much it still hurt. I decided to shift my focus again, this time directing it towards my parents. If they had noticed the sign, they sure did a good job of hiding it, as both of them had their eyes strictly on the road, most likely searching for our new address.

"It's supposed to be right here," my dad muttered to himself, attempting to keep his eyes on the road and read the GPS at the same time.

If there's one thing I know my dad is horrible at, it's multitasking. The man can barely chew gum and walk at the same time.

"You just passed it," my mom told him, her voice taking on an amused and playful tone.

My dad shot her a playful glare. "That would've been nice to know three streets ago," he retorted, pulling into a parking lot so we could turn around.

I sat in stunned silence. This was the first time in a very long time my parents had acted so...normal, almost carefree. Maybe this move really is for the best.

THUD!

Yeah, spoke too soon.

I shot straight up in my seat, wondering what the hell was going on. It took me a total of five seconds to realize we had hit something. Or more specifically, someone.

Shit.

My dad and I both raced out of the car at the same time, quickly making our way towards our innocent victim. By the time we reached the front of the car, she had already gotten up, and was in the process of dusting herself off and checking for injuries. She noticed my dad first.

"What the hell?! You almost killed me. Learn how to fucking drive or stay off the damn roads!" this girl was livid.

"Are you hurt? D-do you want me to call an ambulance?" she didn't even look at me. She was still too busy glaring at my dad, who looked as if he were in the presence of Satan himself.

"No thanks, blondie. Lucky for this bastard, I'm fine," her eyes never left my dad, even though she was addressing me. I frowned, realizing what she had called me. I have brown hair...

I glanced around, realizing many people were beginning to stare. I could feel the panic rise inside of me as they watched us, clearly disapproving of the scene unfolding before them.

"You're lucky my girlfriend isn't here. She would have ripped you to shreds," the girl snarled, her wrath clearly still directed towards my trembling dad.

Wait, girlfriend?

I turned to look at her again, this time examining her features. She was wearing a pair of red Converse, blue, frayed skinny jeans, a red button up, and a leather jacket. Her black hair was in waves, falling perfectly over her shoulders and reached 2/3 of the way down her back. From what I could see, she had dark red lips, high cheekbones, and a perfectly shaped Roman nose. She didn't look like a lesbian at all. Hell, she didn't even look human. If anyone were to ask me who I'd encountered today, my first instinct would be to say that I had met an angel.

As if sensing my eyes on her, she turned towards me swiftly. In any other situation, I would've lowered my gaze, and waited for her to turn away and leave me alone. Instead, I lifted my eyes to meet hers.

Her eyes were deep violet.

I instinctively took a step back, mesmerized and and quite honestly a little terrified. I'd heard something about this before, a disease called Alexandria's Genesis. I never thought the myths could actually be true...

I studied her eyes again, all traces of my current fear replaced with mere curiosity. She hadn't seemed to notice my fear, or the afterwards lack of it, as she was too busy checking me out. I shivered at the way she looked at me. It reminded me of the way a lion would look at a piece of meat- almost like a controlled hunger. When she finally looked at my face again, our gazes locked. Her enchanting eyes flickered briefly with an emotion I couldn't recognize before she finally smirked, shot me a wink, and walked away, swaying her hips. I didn't realize I had stared way too long until my dad cleared his throat, signaling for me to get back in the car.

It wasn't until we had driven away that I finally realized two things. One, I never found out the girl's name, and two, it was the first time I had spoken willingly to anyone in months.

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