Above the Shadows - Bellarke AU

Above the Shadows

Click!

The camera takes a photo printing a Polaroid out. Abby grabs it shaking the photo. Everyone huddles looking at it.

"That's a keeper!" Abby exclaims.
"God, I have a double chin." Raven says in disgust.
"The lighting is horrible." Jasper points out.
"I'm not there." Clarke gasps.
"I think it's great."
"What's happening? Why are you all pretending I'm not here?"

But they weren't pretending.

Clarke goes upstairs seeing the chalk board on her door cleanly erased. She opens the door seeing storage everywhere. Clarke looks at the room confused. She walks away stunned.

I didn't want to accept it, but I had disappeared from sight and from memory. It was like I never existed.

I guess it's like anything. Eventually you adapt. Years later I'm 21 now. All things considered, I live a pretty normal life. I have my own place in a building that does corporate rentals. Nobody knows anybody, so I fit right in.

I have deliveries dropped in front of my door with a white board on it giving the driver's the instruction to ring the doorbell once and take the tip. However, they end up ringing the doorbell twice annoying me.

I have a job. Mostly, I work nights. I get messages telling me where people will be and I take the bus and go find them. I guess you can say I'm a private investigator for paparazzi. I can dress casually wearing dark skinny jeans, usually a black tight t-shirt, combat boots, and my father's leather jacket and watch. Most of my work settings are in night clubs, looking for these celebrities and finding their secrets. It's really an easy job. I can get close and personal to them just using my phone for the pictures I take. Usually, it's cheating scandals but the work does vary.

If you think I feel bad about what I do, you'd be wrong. I show people as they really are.

"Pretty terrific, huh? I'm telling you, this girl is good." Marcus Kane says over the phone looking at the head line. 'CHEATER! Wells Jaha caught one week after wedding.'
"Thank you." Clarke looks at him sitting across her feet up on the desk.
"And she delivers. Always delivers. No muss, no fuss. And she's cheap!"
"Not anymore, I'm not." Clarke pulls out her phone texting him.
"Yeah. Couldn't be happier. Yeah!"

Ting!

"That is great." Kane picks up his cell phone reading her text.
'I want a raise.'
"Hang on for a minute. Who the hell is this?"
"Oh for heaven's sake, I just sent you the cover photo." Clarke texts.
"That's it. This girl has a six sense. I don't know how she does it." Clarke angrily kicks off papers from his desk. "What the hell is this?"

As for my family, Jasper still lives at home. He moved to the basement as a teenager, for the view. It's what supposedly inspired his career as a visual artist. Jasper has been working on an experiment film called Top Ten Legs of the Last Decade for... well the last decade. Raven had remained her own number one fan until she married Finn Collins, an adventurous spacewalker as they put it. He was an astronaut working for NASA and with that, she doubled her fan club. Mom found a new love in a smaller hospital called Arkcadia. Friday night dinner is still a tradition, although Finn is usually held up at work. Not much has changed.

My favorite things about being invisible... going anywhere, seeing everything, not having to worry about rules or good manners, or even caring what I look like. I never feel ashamed or embarrassed. I can walk out of the communal shower butt ass naked, which I often do. The worst thing is not being a part of anything.

"Let's all have another round!" A girl screams. "I think I need to lie down." She slurs. Clarke watches the man and the woman at the bar. They starting walking to the stairs as Clarke stand up and takes their photo.