Queen of Thieves

"Who was that? Who the hell was that?" Eiron asked. I cowered away from him.

"I don't know, I don't know!" I knew without looking that he was closer to me now, so I pulled myself back harder against the tree trunk.

"Don't you think you've lied to me enough Clarissa?" He asked moving closer.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, anger building up inside me. "I've never lied to you!"

"Oh. So you just forgot to tell me that you're a monster?"

"I'm not a monster!" I cried, looking up at him again.

"Then what are you?"

"I don't know! No one's been bothering to tell me these things and I can't find out on my own!" He takes a deep breath as if he wants to reply to that, but he doesn't. Instead he lets the breath out in one long sigh.

"Just tell me who that boy was. You two seemed to be having a pretty interesting conversation going on."

"I don't know who he was. He just came. I was just sitting here and he begun talking to me in my head. He was trying to get me to join some sort of group. Honestly I don't know who he is or what they want from me." There's a short silence. I don't look up at Eiron: I'm afraid of the emotions I'll see on his face.

He breaks the silence first.

"What did you do... How did you get that mark?"

"I made... Something fall. I didn't mean to, though. I was in the cinema with Starla, way over the other side of the city. And I just got so angry with the man sitting next to me. He just wouldn't stop trying to touch me. And the things he was saying... I told him to stop, but he wouldn't. And I lost my temper and I screamed at him- in his head. Everyone in the theatre heard it inside their heads, and the sign outside broke off. And they called the State. I didn't even know what I had done until Starla told me. I was really sorry about it, but they still gave me the mark." Another silence stretched out between us. This one lasts and lasts. I gather up the courage to look at Eiron, but he's not looking at me.

In my head I'm remembering the day he asked me out.

We had both been standing. It was kinda awkward, and there was a silence just like this as we waited for him to ask the question we both knew was coming. He had been looking at the ground by his feet I had been leant against the tree, staring into the distance just as he was doing now. Then suddenly he opened his mouth and said the words I had been waiting for.

'Clarissa, will you go out with me?" Those six words were so hard for him to say, I know. He finds it hard to be close to other people, and for him it was more than asking me to be his girlfriend. He was trusting me with his heart and his emotions. He was trusting me not to betray him.

And here I was, betraying him just by my existence.

I'm shaken from my recollection of that moment by his voice.

"I don't think I can do this Clarissa," he was saying, shaking his head. "I don't think I want to be with someone like you. I don't think I can." It took a while for what he was saying to sink in.

"So you're saying... You want us to break up?" He nodded. "I don't understand. I'm still exactly the same as I've always been."

"No you're not Clarissa. You're one of them now." I tried to stop the tears that were making their way out of my eyes again. "I'm sorry. I really am. I liked you a lot." My tears didn't stop. "We can consider... us again when that thing is gone. It will go, won't it?" Anger flushed through me once again, although it didn't stop the tears.

"No! We can't! Just because the mark's gone it doesn't mean that the powers are too! If you're just ashamed to be seen with me because of it then say so. I'll just disappear from your life. But you won't be able to have me back."

"It's not that! I'm not ashamed. I just don't think I could look at you every day with that thing on your face!" He replied, and I could see he was equally as angry as I.

"You think it's hard for you? I have to wake up every day and know that it's there. I will have to see it every day, and there's no forgetting it! At least you don't have to wear sunglasses everywhere you go just so people don't attack you, or dream about people you've never met and hear their voices in your head telling you to join their crazy little cult of outlaws! If it's hard for you then think about how hard it is for me!" I feel my emotions running away with me and I fight to regain control of myself. I don't want a repeat of last time on my hands. When I look calmer Eiron speaks again.

"I'm not strong enough to deal with this, Clarissa. I'm sorry." He's gone before I can say anything or lose my temper again.

I'm left crying under the willow tree on my own.