Fallen Identity

It was around 4 in the morning when we reached the door to the safehaven. Zach punched in the code and the door clicked open. The main room was completely empty and silent. You could hear a pin needle drop.

"You're probably tired," Zach stated. I just nodded my head yes in reply. At the mention of being tired, I could feel my eyelids start to drop and I fought to stay awake.

"You can use the room that you had before," he said, "If you know where it is of course."

"I remember," I smiled. My memory had become more clear now and I knew exactly where to go.

I started following my memory, taking the appropriate turns until I found myself in front of my old door. Zach had come with me to make sure that I could find my way. I started to reach my hand for the doorknob when I heard Zach ask, "Carter?"

I turned to face him and replied with, "Yes?"

He didn't answer though. He just leaned down and gave me a soft kiss. It felt like an eternity went by before I felt his absence.

"Goodnight," he smiled and then headed off to his room.

My lips were tingling from the kiss. I felt like I was walking on air. Now I know why girls always gush over their first kiss. How they always say it's so magical and special. That's what it felt like. This was my first kiss, or at least the first kiss that was real and that mattered.

I practically floated toward the bed in my room and fell asleep with a smile on my face

______________

"Who's the girl sleeping in Carter's bed?" I heard coming from the doorway. It sounded like Raz's voice.

"Hey, wait a minute.. That's Carly Andrews! How the hell did she end up here?!" Cameal exclaimed. Sounds of running grew louder as more people came and when I opened my eyes, I saw a bunch of familiar faces staring at me from the doorway. Carly Andrews?!

I saw Michael's head poke out from all the people and I couldn't help but smile at his innocent face. He was just so adorable.

"I found her last night," Zach answered Cameal's question.

"Way to go Zach!" Israfel shouted out, but of course, it sounded more like singing.

"Did you explain everything to her?" Raz asked Zach like I wasn't sitting right there.

"Uh, yeah," Zach answered with a confused expression on his face. Everyone didn't know that I was Carter. They only thought that I was Carly and maybe I should keep it that way.

"Right!" I finally pitched in to the conversation, since the conversation was about me afterall. "Zach explained everything to me last night when he found me. It's nice to meet you all."

I could see that Zach understood what I was doing now and went along with it. "Yeah, and Carly likes to be called Carter."

I saw that some of their expressions turned sour at the mention of my name. I couldn't help the pang of guilt that struck my heart at the lie, but the same nauseous feeling of spilling my secret was just as imminent and couldn't be ignored.

Cameal then rushed in and started talking really fast, introducing the 'girl me' to everyone. If I didn't already know all of their names, I would've probably forgotten them all.

He then pushed me out and started to show me around the safehaven and I noticed that I was still wearing my clothes from last night. At least I'm not in my PJs.

It was kind of annoying, having to act like I didn't know them all when I did.

We were sitting at the big table in the dining hall that we sat at our first day here; 7 months ago. It didn't feel like 7 months had gone by since I last saw everybody.

Everyone seemed to be staring at me intently and I felt my cheeks burn. I wasn't one for being in the spotlight. Just when the silence started to turn awkward, Lailah strutted into the room, and when she saw me, her eyes narrowed in disgust. I couldn't help but feel like she just slapped my face.

She gracefully took her seat at the head of the table, making sure everyones attention was on her but I could see some pairs of eyes peek out at me.

"So this is the little runt we've been looking for," Lailah began. "She's kind of scrawny. But anyways, were here to discuss what were going to be doing now that we've found her."

Lailah looked satisfied that no one was going to speak up and continued, "I think it would be safe to leave the girl here and the rest of you can go back to Chicago where you belong."

Leave me here? With her? Not a chance.
"What a perfect idea," Sraosha finally said. Sraosha and Dina were seated on either side of Lailah, like the suck-ups they are.

"Then it's settled. If no one objects..?" Lailah asked while standing up and then raised an eyebrow as she let her question drift off, waiting for an answer. No one answered. "Well, you'll be leaving tomorrow morning as planned then, I presume?"

Leaving tomorrow morning as planned? What was she talking about?

"Yes, we'll be gone before you wake up," Raz spoke up for the first time since we sat down. Lailah nodded to him before exiting the room, with Sraosha and Dina in tow.

I looked around the room at everyones faces. Of course no one came to my defense. They didn't know me that well. At least, they didn't think they knew me that well.

"Carter?" I looked up at Zach's face and realized everyone had left the room and that I had been staring off into space.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know. Everythings moving too fast. It only seems like yesterday that I left here and now you guys are going to leave me with that witch." I could feel the tears trickling down my cheeks.

When did I become so emotional?

I didn't feel Zach's arms slip under me, as he lifted me up and started to carry me. He started walking toward the front door and then up the stairs that lead to outside.

"W-where are we going?" I sniffled. I'm such a crybaby.

"Somewhere where we can talk without being overheard," he replied. I kept my eyes open, memorizing every little detail as he continued to carry me all over the city. When he finally came to a halt, we were at a bench that looked oddly familar when I remembered that I fell asleep on this bench the first night I ran away from here.