Bite My Tongue.

The group sat in a rough circle later in the evening, encircling a table on top of which sat a bong and a few boxes of Chinese food. The bowl had been freshly packed and rules instated that said if one didn't want to join in, they would pass it to the next who did. No one had to smoke, just engage in conversation. So far, the group had only been discussing recent events, shooting the shit until someone found an engaging topic. It was an effective time killer, but not particularly interesting until something struck Annie over the back of the head from behind her. As her back was facing the window, she didn't exactly see it coming and doubled over with one hand over the back of her head and the other curiously cupping her left eye.

"Hey, watch it, Caleb!" She snapped, voice a hiss. She moaned for a moment, the sound a pained 'ahhh', before she muttered a clearly annoyed, "shit."

"Sorry Anabel. I keep forgetting." The voice belonged to a young man about Annie's age. He had Annie's chestnut hair, only it was trimmed shorter and stuck up in odd directions. His eyes were Annie's color as well. It was clear they were related. His voice, however, held a droll amount of jocular wit about it, strangely playful for someone so apologetic.

"You've been saying that for how long now?" Annie responded, tone dry. She was sitting up now with her left eye held impossibly in her left hand. The rest of the room minus Cara and Caleb responded immediately, some shouting, others leaping backward in fear. Clattering chairs and the groan of a moving table echoed loudly as the room descended into quiet unease at the added sound of Annie's chuckling. "That reaction never gets old."

"What?" It was Max who finally gained the courage to speak, his throat dry, and surprisingly not from cottonmouth.

"Have you never heard of a false eye before?" Annie asked, her left eyebrow quirking disturbingly over the empty socket. She was acting as if it were perfectly normal to have a false eye, as if it were natural that she didn't have an eye where an eye should be. The empty socket wasn't dark, like it appeared in movies. No, it was a bright pink hole, that occasionally moved when her right eye moved.

"You don't have an eye." Josh spoke quietly, curiosity lining his voice. It was almost childlike, the way he asked.

"I lost my eye a few years ago. I wear a false one to stimulate the illusion of a symmetrical face." She said.

"Ana, English, please." Cara reminded her and Annie grinned.

"Sorry. I wear a false eye so I meet society's standards of beautiful. Also because people don't ask questions when you appear to have two working eyeballs." This was the most bemused that they had ever heard her, her tone wry and cynical.

"But you can drive." Dan interjected.

"I'm not blind." Annie replied. Her fingers were now pulling at her eyelids and sliding the glass eye back into it's socket. After a quick adjustment, Annie once again appeared to have two working eyes, with no visible sign of her left eye being false, or even injured.

"But how do you -"

"Not die on a daily basis because I have no concept of depth perception, of where things are?"

"Well, yeah."

Annie chuckled again, her head shaking in amusement. Caleb had now taken a seat to Annie's immediate left and was waving his hand teasingly to the side of her face. "I can see you, Caleb. We're not twelve." She slapped his hand away. "Anyway, I see things differently than you do. My body's adjusted itself to seeing by other ways. I've learned to measure distance by sound. Because of my handicap, I've also learned to see the world differently." She pointed to a painting that was on the wall.

It was an oil painting, that was separated into four distinct squares. It was the sky seen through the same group of trees at sunrise, noon, sunset and nightfall, four distinct times of day. The colors were blended so well that there was a sense of realism about it that almost gave them chills. "When writing music, you look for different sounds, especially with bass and guitar. You produce different sounds on bass by finger picking, picking or slapping. Same concept with guitar. Just like with playing music with three different styles, the body actually sees three different ways: sight, touch and sound. Without an eye, I was extremely unbalanced for a while. And then I started picking up on things. My body was reacting to sound on my left more. I learned to feel with my left hand through the dark. I eventually reworked myself until I could function like a normal person, minus the occasional awkward turn of my head if I need to look left." As if on cue, she slowly turned her head toward Caleb, who was still having his hand at the side of her head, her eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you done?"

"Yes." And then he was off on a different topic that seemed like it came from a different galaxy than they were in. "Are you going to introduce me?"

"Not if you're going to be a raging bag of dicks." Annie replied. "My twin brings out the worst in me, I swear. It isn't even banter anymore; it's bickering." She rolled her eyes. "Caleb, this is Josh, Matt, Max, Dan and Chris. Boys, this is my twin brother and my polar opposite, Caleb."

"Wait, how did you lose your eye?" Clearly, nobody was quite that interested in Caleb.

"I fell off a boat when we were visiting Hawai'i for a family reunion." She said. "The story itself involves lots of stupidity and a drunken uncle and it's really not something I like talking about because it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience in the first place." She grimaced noticeably.

"How old were you?"

"Sixteen." Caleb replied. "It was really nasty." He shook his head. "Stupid thing cost her a lot of friends."

At the mention of this, Annie shrugged. "I learned a lesson." She said, picking at a finger. "I started watching people to see if I could trust them. Picked up on body language, drew my own conclusions about people based on common sense without emotional ties. I grew up years ahead of everyone else in the sense of maturity. It's why people come to me for advice. Like I said, I've been through a lot growing up. I learned too quick. Still, every cloud has a silver lining. I now have better friends." She said.

Josh was still fascinated by the fact that she had lost an eye and still functioned as a normal human being. He couldn't begin to imagine how she lived with just one eye, imagined the world had gone very wrong for her very quickly. He suddenly realized how utterly alone she must have felt, how terribly ostracized and he couldn't help the wave of sympathy that washed over him.

Annie had had it rough. And yet she still was a naturally bright and carefree person. She had a good mind on her, she was sensible and she seemed content with her life, so content that she was comfortable. It was rare to see that in anyone anymore. The group had found a topic interesting and engaging fairly quickly - Annie seemed like an endless supply of stories and scars that were each fascinating and mysterious. Josh had never met anyone quite like her.

"So." Annie began, her expression grave. "Have you boys ever been to a haunted house?"