Almost Real
Chapter 1
Cole’s P.O.V.
There she was again, shamelessly naked, sitting in the corner of the alley curled into a ball, she never had the nerve to look at me. Her long ebbing and flowing light blonde hair dreamily circling the floor around her elegant body in waves, a red headband resting atop of her head, I thought she was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. That’s right, a creature. Something this profound, something this wonderful, something this amazing shouldn’t be real, it possibly couldn’t. why did I feel so attached to this stranger, the beautiful stranger in the dark alley who only spoke my name, who only sang in her gentle voice about me? She interrupted my thoughts when she turned her head slowly to face me, I thought that just for once I could see her lovely face, but all I could look at were her crystal clear silver eyes. I froze in place, then once again she whispered my name.
I shot up in my bed, sweat beating down my forehead and down my chest, my hair was dripping with it, it irritated me. I ran a hand through my shaggy black hair and sighed. I took a glance to my right, the window was dimmed with light, I got annoyed quickly so I looked to my left, my eyes darting to my clock. They widened and I stumbled out of bed, pulling on my jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt, I grabbed my brown and black bag in the corner and opened the door out of the attic. Of course only I would be stupid enough to fall down the first five steps, then stumble my way into the second door to the kitchen downstairs. I groaned and rubbed my forehead as I opened the door. What fucking kind of moron, even when he’s eighteen, would fall down a flight of steps everyday?! As soon as I opened the door, I knew what was coming, I quickly dodged the water balloons aimed directly at my face and walked past the nine year old red head glaring up at me.
“Nice try Ash” I smirked and grabbed a piece of toast from the toaster, Arianne smiled at me while finishing cooking for Ash and Liz, throwing me my wallet, and getting her attention back to the food. Instead of what a normal mother would say, ‘have a nice day sweetie’, she said in a devious tone
“make sure you don’t get killed today, I can‘t afford a funeral” I laughed and went out the door. Arianne had warned me about that since I was a kid, and I thought she didn’t care, turns out she probably did. Me, my mother Arianne, and my little sisters’ Ash and Liz moved here when I turned fourteen, the place was a disaster, I told Arianne I hated her for making us move here. Everyday since we got here I would glare at her, curse her under my breath, and tell her I hate her, it was different when I was in elementary, I was weak, spineless. Then I had a bit of a growth spurt. Usually when I got into the west Scranton high, everyone would stare at me, like I’m some kind of beautiful stranger, or a freak. But this time, I wasn’t exactly the center of attention, the two new students were. It caught my attention for a second, then a boy with red hair and gold eyes walked by me, nudging me in the arm, I knew what he wanted. I chuckled and followed him to class.
Aria’s P.O.V.
I watched myself carefully, staring at the reflection in the mirror, running a brush through my long flowing light blonde hair. My room was dimmed by black curtains and I had a bed set to match it, it was dark and hollow, I felt alone, lost, trapped. But they didn’t care. They only thing that was visible was my pale graceful figure sitting on the floor, glowing from what little light had come to face me from the windows. Why were we still here? And why, even though I did hate my parents mercifully, did I let Erin proceed with such a disastrous deed? Yes, for a long time I had wanted to do it myself. But there’s no way I could let that happen, there’s no way I would let it happen.
But for some reason…I did. A smile grazed my lips as the door opened to reveal my very messy best friend, with a wide grin on her face.
“Let’s go, Aria” I nodded.
When we arrived at the new place Erin said was Pennsylvania, I took a step out of the car, looking around and breathing in the fresh air. It’s been so long since I’ve been outside, when Nathan left, there was no one to protect me from my safety, from my own home. I was trapped for years, but on my eighteenth birthday, I met Erin. She was a runaway, she obviously thought that where she was wasn’t where she belonged. When she appeared at my balcony, bruised and broken, I tended to her wounds and came to a conclusion, she would stay with me. She had been staying with me for weeks without my parents knowing, and she went and devised a plan to brake me out of hell without me knowing. I looked at her, she smiled, her shoulder length dirty blonde hair blew in the wind, her baby blue eyes sticking out from her frail looking, yet amazingly strong, self, and her perfect complexion was lightly grazed with freckles, I smiled back. Without her, where would I be now?
“thanks Erin” she shook her head and laughed.
“stop thanking me, it gets annoying.” she stated, then smirked.
“and you really need to stop talking like you’re a poor defenseless princess trapped in a tower guarded by a dragon, or stupid shit like that, that’s not who you are anymore, you never were” she patted my back and I nodded, glaring at her as I nearly stumbled foreword. She was right, I had to act like myself again, I used to be different, I would always smile, and laugh, and even cry, but now, I‘ve changed so much, they tried to make me perfect by making me fake, but anyone could tell I wasn’t real. I sighed.
“yea, your right” we walked up to a large building, one like I used to live in, but much more bright.
“w-where are we?” she walked onto the porch, ignoring my question, and unlocked the door. Trying to catch up, I walked into the apartment building, one door in front of us. She opened the second door to reveal a wide spacious house, bigger then my room, the dining room, all three bathrooms, and it even had an upstairs.
“come on, get ready, everything’s already here” I blinked and walked to the dresser randomly placed in the center of the empty living room with other objects and furniture, taking out a black laced undershirt, really short black blue and baby blue checkered shorts, and a sleeveless white mini over-shirt. I quickly got dressed when she left the room. The windows and blinds were closed so no one could see in, so I didn’t mind.
“and why are we getting ready again?” I asked, she raised an eyebrow.
“you didn’t know? Here in Pennsylvania, teens have to go to school, with other normal teens” she said in a teasingly mean tone, I growled to myself, I hated being sociable. I looked around at the furniture, and drew my attention back to her.
“hey what about the-”
“I’ll have someone else do it, lets go” she grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door. I noticed she was wearing a black mini skirt with a light blue lace undershirt and an over-shirt like mine. We walked to school in peaceful silence, though I wasn’t very pleased with me stumbling behind. I never went to school before, is everyone supposed to stare at you? I twirled my light blonde locks of hair in my fingers, trying to distract myself. I looked at the ground, I needed to make sure I didn’t see their faces, It just made me even more edgy. Erin looked at me, raising an eyebrow she smiled.
“you okay? You look like your going to have a nervous brake-down” she laughed, I sighed.
“you know I don’t like being around people, it makes me…annoyed a little” I smiled sheepishly at the teenagers staring at me with wide eyes as we walked down the halls. She grinned and continued walking ahead of me.
“I know” I knew it was only part of making me, me again, but she was taking enjoyment in being a bit of a bitch a little to much, wasn’t she? I saw that she went to a different class then I did, I sighed in relief and decided to skip, because class only equals more staring. I shuddered. I walked down the empty halls, it was like being trapped all over again, though I couldn’t get over the fact that I might not actually be alone now. I heard footsteps heading towards me, then I heard them break into a run, I spun around instantly with wide eyes, then…everything went black
Cole’s P.O.V.
I walked down the quiet halls, I did what I always did when I went to school, skip class. That and cover for Nathan, but that’s not important. I heard a loud crash, and raised an eyebrow, following the noise, I wondered if I was like one of those stupid chicks in a horror film. Where everybody screams ‘don’t go in there! Don’t go in there!’ of course I’m the idiot that does. I peeked my head around the corner and my eyes widened. There she was, the girl who has been haunting my dreams for years, laying on the ground, blood trickling down her forehead, knocked out cold up against the damaged lockers. Whatever had done this to her was already gone, and no one was around to help. I walked over to her slowly, deciding that I should help her, and grabbed her arm that was resting over her face. When I lifted it up, I suddenly stopped, there was nothing else I could do at that moment when I noticed who it was.
My eyes widened.
Aria
There she was again, shamelessly naked, sitting in the corner of the alley curled into a ball, she never had the nerve to look at me. Her long ebbing and flowing light blonde hair dreamily circling the floor around her elegant body in waves, a red headband resting atop of her head, I thought she was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. That’s right, a creature. Something this profound, something this wonderful, something this amazing shouldn’t be real, it possibly couldn’t. why did I feel so attached to this stranger, the beautiful stranger in the dark alley who only spoke my name, who only sang in her gentle voice about me? She interrupted my thoughts when she turned her head slowly to face me, I thought that just for once I could see her lovely face, but all I could look at were her crystal clear silver eyes. I froze in place, then once again she whispered my name.
I shot up in my bed, sweat beating down my forehead and down my chest, my hair was dripping with it, it irritated me. I ran a hand through my shaggy black hair and sighed. I took a glance to my right, the window was dimmed with light, I got annoyed quickly so I looked to my left, my eyes darting to my clock. They widened and I stumbled out of bed, pulling on my jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt, I grabbed my brown and black bag in the corner and opened the door out of the attic. Of course only I would be stupid enough to fall down the first five steps, then stumble my way into the second door to the kitchen downstairs. I groaned and rubbed my forehead as I opened the door. What fucking kind of moron, even when he’s eighteen, would fall down a flight of steps everyday?! As soon as I opened the door, I knew what was coming, I quickly dodged the water balloons aimed directly at my face and walked past the nine year old red head glaring up at me.
“Nice try Ash” I smirked and grabbed a piece of toast from the toaster, Arianne smiled at me while finishing cooking for Ash and Liz, throwing me my wallet, and getting her attention back to the food. Instead of what a normal mother would say, ‘have a nice day sweetie’, she said in a devious tone
“make sure you don’t get killed today, I can‘t afford a funeral” I laughed and went out the door. Arianne had warned me about that since I was a kid, and I thought she didn’t care, turns out she probably did. Me, my mother Arianne, and my little sisters’ Ash and Liz moved here when I turned fourteen, the place was a disaster, I told Arianne I hated her for making us move here. Everyday since we got here I would glare at her, curse her under my breath, and tell her I hate her, it was different when I was in elementary, I was weak, spineless. Then I had a bit of a growth spurt. Usually when I got into the west Scranton high, everyone would stare at me, like I’m some kind of beautiful stranger, or a freak. But this time, I wasn’t exactly the center of attention, the two new students were. It caught my attention for a second, then a boy with red hair and gold eyes walked by me, nudging me in the arm, I knew what he wanted. I chuckled and followed him to class.
Aria’s P.O.V.
I watched myself carefully, staring at the reflection in the mirror, running a brush through my long flowing light blonde hair. My room was dimmed by black curtains and I had a bed set to match it, it was dark and hollow, I felt alone, lost, trapped. But they didn’t care. They only thing that was visible was my pale graceful figure sitting on the floor, glowing from what little light had come to face me from the windows. Why were we still here? And why, even though I did hate my parents mercifully, did I let Erin proceed with such a disastrous deed? Yes, for a long time I had wanted to do it myself. But there’s no way I could let that happen, there’s no way I would let it happen.
But for some reason…I did. A smile grazed my lips as the door opened to reveal my very messy best friend, with a wide grin on her face.
“Let’s go, Aria” I nodded.
When we arrived at the new place Erin said was Pennsylvania, I took a step out of the car, looking around and breathing in the fresh air. It’s been so long since I’ve been outside, when Nathan left, there was no one to protect me from my safety, from my own home. I was trapped for years, but on my eighteenth birthday, I met Erin. She was a runaway, she obviously thought that where she was wasn’t where she belonged. When she appeared at my balcony, bruised and broken, I tended to her wounds and came to a conclusion, she would stay with me. She had been staying with me for weeks without my parents knowing, and she went and devised a plan to brake me out of hell without me knowing. I looked at her, she smiled, her shoulder length dirty blonde hair blew in the wind, her baby blue eyes sticking out from her frail looking, yet amazingly strong, self, and her perfect complexion was lightly grazed with freckles, I smiled back. Without her, where would I be now?
“thanks Erin” she shook her head and laughed.
“stop thanking me, it gets annoying.” she stated, then smirked.
“and you really need to stop talking like you’re a poor defenseless princess trapped in a tower guarded by a dragon, or stupid shit like that, that’s not who you are anymore, you never were” she patted my back and I nodded, glaring at her as I nearly stumbled foreword. She was right, I had to act like myself again, I used to be different, I would always smile, and laugh, and even cry, but now, I‘ve changed so much, they tried to make me perfect by making me fake, but anyone could tell I wasn’t real. I sighed.
“yea, your right” we walked up to a large building, one like I used to live in, but much more bright.
“w-where are we?” she walked onto the porch, ignoring my question, and unlocked the door. Trying to catch up, I walked into the apartment building, one door in front of us. She opened the second door to reveal a wide spacious house, bigger then my room, the dining room, all three bathrooms, and it even had an upstairs.
“come on, get ready, everything’s already here” I blinked and walked to the dresser randomly placed in the center of the empty living room with other objects and furniture, taking out a black laced undershirt, really short black blue and baby blue checkered shorts, and a sleeveless white mini over-shirt. I quickly got dressed when she left the room. The windows and blinds were closed so no one could see in, so I didn’t mind.
“and why are we getting ready again?” I asked, she raised an eyebrow.
“you didn’t know? Here in Pennsylvania, teens have to go to school, with other normal teens” she said in a teasingly mean tone, I growled to myself, I hated being sociable. I looked around at the furniture, and drew my attention back to her.
“hey what about the-”
“I’ll have someone else do it, lets go” she grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door. I noticed she was wearing a black mini skirt with a light blue lace undershirt and an over-shirt like mine. We walked to school in peaceful silence, though I wasn’t very pleased with me stumbling behind. I never went to school before, is everyone supposed to stare at you? I twirled my light blonde locks of hair in my fingers, trying to distract myself. I looked at the ground, I needed to make sure I didn’t see their faces, It just made me even more edgy. Erin looked at me, raising an eyebrow she smiled.
“you okay? You look like your going to have a nervous brake-down” she laughed, I sighed.
“you know I don’t like being around people, it makes me…annoyed a little” I smiled sheepishly at the teenagers staring at me with wide eyes as we walked down the halls. She grinned and continued walking ahead of me.
“I know” I knew it was only part of making me, me again, but she was taking enjoyment in being a bit of a bitch a little to much, wasn’t she? I saw that she went to a different class then I did, I sighed in relief and decided to skip, because class only equals more staring. I shuddered. I walked down the empty halls, it was like being trapped all over again, though I couldn’t get over the fact that I might not actually be alone now. I heard footsteps heading towards me, then I heard them break into a run, I spun around instantly with wide eyes, then…everything went black
Cole’s P.O.V.
I walked down the quiet halls, I did what I always did when I went to school, skip class. That and cover for Nathan, but that’s not important. I heard a loud crash, and raised an eyebrow, following the noise, I wondered if I was like one of those stupid chicks in a horror film. Where everybody screams ‘don’t go in there! Don’t go in there!’ of course I’m the idiot that does. I peeked my head around the corner and my eyes widened. There she was, the girl who has been haunting my dreams for years, laying on the ground, blood trickling down her forehead, knocked out cold up against the damaged lockers. Whatever had done this to her was already gone, and no one was around to help. I walked over to her slowly, deciding that I should help her, and grabbed her arm that was resting over her face. When I lifted it up, I suddenly stopped, there was nothing else I could do at that moment when I noticed who it was.
My eyes widened.
Aria