Hollow Vision

Thunder and rain raged outside and Trick gazed, frowning, out the window of her high school.
Psych wasnt at practice that morning and, given the weather, Trick was very worried.
Even if she was sick, Psych always came to practice. She was a little dependent (for lack of a better term) and had trouble getting through her day without her friends.
Trick caught Puck's eye and motioned to the empty desk that was usually occupied by a nervous chattery skinny little psycho. He shrugged. It wasnt a normal thing for Puck to ever worry. He had sort of a "why should I care?" attitude about most things but Trick could see past it and knew he was just as nervous as she was.
She turned back to her work, cursing math and trying to concentrate dispite the pouring rain and the rumble of thunder.
"What's today?" called out a girl in the second row that Trick knew by sight, but not by name.
"Twenty~fourth," someone replied.
Trick heard Puck gasp.
She turned to look at him and saw him hurriedly packing his bookbag.
Seeing her looking confused he whispered "March twenty~fourth!"
"Shit!"
Mrs Eckler looked up from her desk, wide~eyed, "What did you just say?" she asked in astonishment but before she could get an answer Trick and Puck had both dashed out of the room and were running full~speed down the hallway by the time anyone else had figured out what was going on.

"We are so lucky I took the car to school today," Puck said, speeding out of the school parking lot and down the road as fast as the weather would let him.
Trick was staring at the road in front of them, "I can't believe we forgot," she said quietly, "Oh my God, I can't believe we forgot."

*

These two years without you just havent been the same.
I've been doing well in school. I'm still having some trouble with science but I've been getting help from the rest of the team.
We still dedicate games to you all the time. I think I miss you the most. I wish you would have told me why you left, no one ever wants to explain it to me. Whenever I ask they all just get very quiet and change the subject.
I miss you a lot and still cry at night. Nothing seems the same without you. If I could wish anything it would be to see you just one more time.
I love you

Psych tokk the letter she wrote last night out of her pocket. She had put it in aa ziplock bag that morning because she didnt want it to get wet.
Kneeling by the headstone she put it on the ground.
"I love you, Syn," she whispered, tears mixing with the rain that fell down her face.
She was soaked to the bone but she didnt care, "I was the only one that came this year," she said, "I still love you..."
Curling up on the ground she cried. Cried until she ran out of tears.

"Psych!"
She faintly heard Trick's voice over the force of the storm but didnt move.
"Psych!" came a slightly more desparate call, Trick reached the gravesite where Psych lay on the ground.
She picked her head up and wiped the mud from her eyes, the falling rain made it look like she had been crying through thick eyeliner.
"Ohh Psych.."
Trick reached to touch her shoulder but she pulled away instinctively.
Trick kneeled next to Psych and looked at the gravestone.

Synthia Carlson
5.26.85
~
4.24.01

Puck came running up behind them, the sickening squelsh of his sneakers in the mud could be heard even over the storm.
Sitting on the ground on Psych's other side, he too looked at the stone.
They sat in silence for a long time, Psych had picked up her envelope and was nervously twirling it in her fingers.
"Why did she leave us?" She asked quietly, still on the verge of tears, "I n-never understood it but y-you guys wont.. ever tell m-me why."
Puck put a hand around her shoulder, "She didn't like herself," he tried to explain, he could feel Psych sobbing into him, "She couldn't find a reason to live."
"But.. why would sh-she want to die? I mean.. she l-loved us... r-right?"
She looked up at Puck, she wasnt used to the scared expression on his face, "She did love us.. right?"
Puck opened his mouth to speak but his words were drowned out by a particuarly earth~shattering roll of thunder.
"She didnt live like normal people live, Psych," Trick said at last, "She was so sad all the time, she didn't understand how much we loved her.. All she could see was what went wrong."
Psych looked up, almost to scared to ask.
"Sheno lower?"
"What?"
"Did she know I loved her?" Psych shouted, burtsing into tears again, "I never told her I loved her, and now I never will! What if she wanted to leave because she thought we didnt love her! Because no one ever told her! And now shes dead!" Psych pulled away from Puck, backing away from the two of them, "What if she died cold and alone in the dark because she thought no one loved her because we were the friends that never showed her we cared!"
"Psych, you loved her, You adored her, of course she knew--"
"Then why did she leave us!"
She turned to run away into the depths of the cemetary, Trick started to chase after her but Puck caught her arm, "Let her go," he said, "Just give her time."

Dax purred in the corner as Ravyn lit candles around the room, light from the setting sun danced on the snowcapped trees of the forest just out the window.
A chill passed through the stone room and she pulled her blanket closer around her. The cold rushed up from the hard floor and numbed her feet.
her match hissed when she put it out under cold water from the basin by the wall. Glancing up at the mirror, she was surprised to see how pale she had become. She looked thinner.. More skeletal than she should. Her blue eyes looked like pools of icy water in the frozen white skin.
The chamber door creaked open, Ravyn turned from the mirror, which had had her so mezmerized she'd almost forgotten why she was even there.
The small messy~haired boy hurried into the room and closed the door quickly and silently behind him.
"What're you doing here, Ash?" Ravyn whisper/shouted at him, "Are you trying to ruin everything? Where's Daryn? Wha-- What happened?"
For the young boy looked on the verge of tears, his pale cheeks growing pinker and the amber eyes beneath his wild hair looked panicked and frightened.
"Th-they took him, Milady," he whispered "They took him, Rave.. I dunno where...Ravyn.."
"Dammit, Ash!"
He backed away, "I tried, there were too many of th-- what're you doing?"
Ravyn kicked off her slippers and was pulling on her boots.
"We're going to get him," she answered, annoyed.
Finding a jacket, she pulled a dagger from under a small table in the corner, tucked it into a pocket and rushed about the room blowing out candles.
"Uhh.. "We"?"
"Hey, you're the idiot that lost him..."
Ash watched as she searched for something, feeling underneath tables and in drawers.
"I need your help," she said, exiting the room and motioning for him to follow.
"How did I know that one was coming?" Ash muttered sulkily, following Ravyn out the door and down the cold dark hallway.

*** More to come, soon as I find it out ***

Tal sat bored out of his mind in class on monday morning, the teacher going on about sentence structure. He was almost asleep when he felt something move under him. As inconspicously as he could, he quickly reached down to keep the squirming thing in his bag. He pulled the bookbag into his lap and put a hand inside it to pet the small animal that was growing restless. He tried his best to do his worksheet one-handed and be unnotised by the teacher.
Half an hour went by and Tal almost thought he would get through the class when the door opened as someone came back from the bathroom. Dax gave a paticularly violent squirm and escaped the bag. "No!" Tal tried to grab him but missed as the teacher yelled suddenly, "Tal! How many times do I have to tell you not to bring that thing to class!"
"At least a couple more," he said jumping up to catch Dax who was hiding under the computer tables. He pulled a piece of dried mango from his pocket to lure Dax into the larger space where he could grab him. As soon as he was within reach Tal wrapped him up in his jacket so Dax wouldnt bite (he knew his little Dax wouldnt reelly do anyone much harm, but he could get Pend and Soul in trouble if anything happened).
Everyone laughed all the while and Dax was thouroughly enjoying being the center of attention.

** ** **

Tal sat shivering in the office, Dax still bound in the coat. A little girl who came in with her mother asked if she could pet his puppy. He smiled and nodded, he felt Dax's tail wagging as she patted his head happily. The little girl's mother turned around and scolded her for talking to strange people in the guidence office.
Tal played with Dax's ears until the councelor came and called him over. He picked up Dax and went to sit across from the Dr.'s desk.
"We've called your guaridians, one of them will be here shortly to take home your uh.."
"Dax," Tal helped out.
"Yes, you realize that it is against school rules to carry living things around in your bag?"
Tal nodded, still petting Dax.
"Why do you keep bringing it if you know that? Thats insubordination you'll get in trouble for that."
Tal was reminded of how much he hated the word insubordination.
The truth was that he didnt want to leave Daz at home where he would be lonely. Dax was like a best friend to him and no one else really understood the kind of care he needed. Tal took another piece of fruit out of the little bag in his pocket and fed it to Dax. Pend knocked on the door and let herself in. Upon seeing Tal and his rolled up jacket, she sighed exasperatedly and said basicly what everyone else had been saying (though a bit more colourful) "Tal, why do you have to do this so much?"
"Cause he misses me," Tal said, aware that the councelor was writing down everything they did.
Pend seemed to notice too because she asked if she could talk to Tal alone. The councelor agreed reluctantly to leave the room.
Pend waited until the door closed before sitting down on the desk in front of Tal saying quietly, "Cmon man, youre getting us in trouble. I told you you could bring Dax to school if you found a way to do it so no one would notice."
"I tried," said Tal defensively, "He jumped out of the bag."
"Look, I know how important it is for you to always have him around," Pend said quietly, "But i dunno if this can work out. Dax is lonely without you but youre getting in too much trouble for bringing him and youre making me look bad as a.. uhm.."
"Gaurdian?"
"Yah." Pend looked around the office, thinking.
"Look," she said finally, let me take Dax home with me today and I'll talk to you when you get home, okay?"
Tal sighed, "Fine," He handed her the jacket and Pend put Dax in her bag she brought with her. Tal took his jacket back after Dax was safely away and he reached into his pocket to give Dax one last treat, a little piece of a cinnamon stick he had Ravyn steal from her culinary class at the high school.
Walking back to class, Tal tried to think of another way to sneak Dax past both his teachers and Pend and Soul.

Trick, Puck, Five and Psych sat around a little table in the kitchen of Trick's house playing cards after school got out. Puck put down his cards and said "We had a great time today, sorry you couldnt come Psych."
"I would have," said the amber-eyed teenager, brushing her grey hair out of her face, "But I was in the friggin guidence office *again*."
"She givin you trouble?" asked Trick, taking a sip of coke from the two litre bottle beside her. The diamond stud in her nose glinted as Psych shook her head. "Just the usual stuff," she said dismissively, "How's life? How's school? Hiw are you holding up since your Zadie died.." Psych trailed off, her eyes filling with tears.
"Ooh, she didn't ask you that did she?" Five looked worried, these days anyone who even mentioned the word Zadie much less directly referring to him got a fair beating.
"I told her that she should have her own family problems to be looking out for and to leave my life alone."
"I would have too."
"Then I walked out. Krystall told me you guys left so I hid in the bathroom the rest of the day."
"Well," said Trick to fill the awkward silence, "We met a girl out there who helped us get some stuff. She was hidding from someone so we let her come along with us."
"Yah you mentioned, what was her name again?"
"Sake, wasn't it?"
Five nodded, "That sounds about right. She was kinda quiet though, I don't think she would really like Psych all too much."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, she was hiding from someone, she was really quiet and kinda nervous, I think she would be a little overwhelmed by your overall You-ness."
"Gee thanks, I appreciate it."

Trick's mother came in and said that dinner was ready an anyone that wanted to stay for it could.
Trick knew that Five would stay, she never passed up a meal when it was offered to her. Psych and Puck got up to go.
"See ya," said trick to Puck, then to Psych, "Tell your bubbie I said hi."
"Right."
"Later,"
"Bye."

N: Puck, Trick, Five, Daewen

Having hidden this girl from whoever it was they were hiding from, they took several side-streets to an old thrift store. They each entered within a few minutes of each other so they didn't look suspicious. When the four of them were inside, Trick told Five to look around for anything she liked.
The dark-haired girl stood behind Puck, who took her aside and pretended to look through a rack of clothes while saying quietly to her, "This is how it works, Trick distracts that lady up there by asking something. While theyre busy, you slip into your coat anything you think could be useful. Got it?"
The girl nodded.
"What's your name, by the way?"
"Sake."
"Puck."
"Arright, let's do this."

Trick went to the woman who was sitting behind a counter. The storekeeper was wearing thick glasses and a frown that said quite clearly she was having a bad day.
Five watched out of the corner of her eye while pretending to look through some half-off jewelry, and slipping on a gold bracelet while the woman wasn't looking.
~
Ten minutes later, Trick bought a pair of earrings and a black T-shirt (It would look weird if they all left, buying nothing) and they left minutes apart as they had coming in.
"Well, what did you get?" Trick asked them all hopefully. Her favourite part of a schooltime theft was seeing the treasure. One by one, they revealed thier finds.
Five had obviously gone into a dressing room and put on as many shirts as she could under her coat (The beauty of thrift stores being there were no little number thingys to make sure nothing was stolen). She also had three golden bracelets that they could sell elsewhere.
Puck had a pair of earrings and a watch, pointing out that there was a pawn shop across the street that looked like it didnt care if it's trades were stolen goods as long as they could buy and sell them.
They turned to look at Sake.

N:Cannen

Cannen pushed his golden blonde hair out his eyes and glared at the sign "welcoming" him into the city.
I cannot believe I'm doing this, he thought, as he strode down the highway median.
But Daewen was here somewhere, and she was the only other one of the group left. Stall didn't count, 'cause he wasn't there at the beggining. It had been him, Dae, Esg, and Kwyn. And he wasn't about to let her just walk away from this.
"Okay,"he said to himself, "First stop, coffe shop."

Trick was half-asleep in math class as the teacher droned on about algebraic expressions. ~Damn I hate this~ she thought. She pulled out a sheet of paper and began to draw, vaguely considering starting on her science project that was due after lunch. ~As long as I'm not doing anything for this class, I may as well be doing something productive~
Before she could decide, Puck, who was sitting across from her and looked just as bored as she did, passed her a note saying

Me an Lil Five are ditching after lunch. Join us to go Find her some new clothes?

~SURE THING~
she replied. Stealing wasn't something Trick was good at. She was much better to have around to cause a scene as a diversion. They were quite a team in getting things for Lil Five, since she had no home, no money and a great need for things like..food, clothes and hockey sticks.

~I can't wait to get outa here~

N:Daewen
P:A tree, town

Daewen kneeled in a large, frosty tree watching people go by. She'd declined the offer to be registered at school today, on the baisis that she probably wouldn't be staying long enough. She hadn't been to school in years, and she wasn't about to start that crap again, especially this early in the morning.
Large groups of people were best dealt with after quite a lot of coffee, and tylonel token in advance. Because she knew she'd need it.
Sighing, she could see her breath forming clouds in front of her. Three friends walked by, talking about other people and sports, kid things. Once everyone had passed, Daewen jumped ungracefully out of the tree, and made her way to the center of town to investigate her new surroundings.
Downtown people hurried around avoiding each others gaze, trying to carry on thier lives without having to bother with one another. Business men grumbled along oblivious to her, the perfect place for a little pickpocketing.
Slipping her hand into the purse of a rich looking women, she extracted a change purse embroidered with pictures of flowers. Inside was at least thirty dollars in small bills, but she only took five. Daewen sincerely doubted someone who carried that much around with her would miss it.
As she dropped it back into the bag, the women turned around to see her half crouched beside her.
Swearing, Daewen ran in the other direction as the old hag screamed at her, stomping her feet and saying the usual dribble about the police. As if, she thought, they have MUCH bigger problems then you losing a few bucks.
She ran until her lungs felt like they were about to burst. She'd circled around to another part of town, one with a coffe shop just beckoning to her. "Oh yeah, caffiene here I come" she muttered to herself. "I've been needing this for a long time."
Daewen really, really loved coffee.

In a small bedroom in the middle of suburbia, with white walls plastered over with posters of rock groups and various hockey teams. A digital clock had just hit 6:00 am and pale morning sunlight filtered through the curtains into Trick's bedroom. She groaned and turned over, pulling the sheets over her head.
~~Tap tap~~
Trick opened her eyes and glared at the window.
~~tap tap~~
Trick groaned again and sat up to open the window.
"Go bother someone else," she said tiredly to her thin white-haired friend on the other side of the window.
"Can I have some food?"
"You drive me crazy," But Trick punched out the screen and in crawled a small girl of about fifteen years but very short for her age.
"Five, we have practice today before school, don't we?"
"I think so," answered the small girl. She pulled the sticks out of her hair and picked up one of Trick's hairbrushes as her friend got dressed.
Ten minutes later, Trick and Five were walking through a park on thier way to the school. On the way they met one of their teammates. "Hey Puck," said Little Five, "Have any food?"
Puck dug in the pockets of his jeans and pulled out a package of beef jerky.
"Disgusting," said Trick quietly. But Five dug into it as though she hadn't eaten in days.
"Where's everyone else?" asked puck, messing up his dirty-blonde hair.
"I dunno."
Puck continues messing his hair.
"My hair froze. I had a shower this morning and then left forgetting that snowstorm last night. Will we have practice today through the ice?"
Little Five shrugged.
"Hey," she said, "there are those dark-haired twins again."
"You point them out every time you see them," said Puck annoyed, "You gona ask one of them out or what?"
Trick rolled her eyes.
Five waved to them, they were about a block away.
The boy saw her but didn't wave back, Instead, he walked faster.
"What's with him?"
"I dunno, I need to get my stuff. C'mon"
They went into a small shack in the woods next to the school and got the hockey gear that they stole from the gym a year or two ago, and played until class started.

~~~~She couldn't get away from the noise. It was a monster following her everywhere she ran. Not until she'd found her way back to the basement, overrun with hiders like her, runners like her, did she realize she had lost them. They were carried off in the chaos, the noise, the lights. The monsters drew them up inside themselves and swalowed them, not whole, but chewing up thier skin and bones and grinding thier thoughts up to nothing. And she was alone. ~~~~

She jolted up and had to bite her tongue and cheek to keep from screaming, until she remembered where she was. Sinking back into the couch, she kept biting her tongue until she felt the familiar metallic twinge seep in her mouth.
It was only a dream, it was only a dream...She chanted that mantra insider her head, forming her lips around the word, trying to convince herself it was true. But it wasn't!!! She screamed at herself. They were lost, and she was alone now, now that she'd left those two, who tried to bring her down into the underworld with her.(I'm better off by myself...maybe)
And there were no monsters, not like she dreamed about...just people, people with guns, people with knives, people fighting each other to keep a place they'd have left in a second.
Pushing the thoughts out of her mind, she slowly got off the couch and looked around. She didn't see anyone around, but she was sure they would be here soon. They didn't seem like the type to stay in bed very long.