"Gimme one of those." I gesture towards the cigarette box in Essri's hand, out of breath and worn out I don't bother get out of my slouched position on the sofa.

Essri looks at me incredulously, "One of these?" She's sat forward, elbows resting on her thighs, beads of sweat are still dribbling down her back, despite the lack of heat in the room she doesn't look inclined to put her top on.

"Yeah," I say certainly, "I was thinking about what I said before, and there really isn't any point in having good lungs when we could die at any moment."

"I guess," She shrugs, giving be an uncertain look as she hands on over, "But what if we make it through this whole ordeal and you end up with lung cancer or somethin'?"

"Then so be it," I light it and resist the urge to choke as I take a drag, "My mother is trying to kill off my species or something like that, my brother could be dead for all I know, and my dad is currently dying from alcohol poisoning. And then there's a community of mutants that want me dead and an ex-boyfriend that practically tried to kill me."

"When you put it like that I get what you mean." She says honestly, "But you have your friends, we should make you want to live as long as possible."

"Kinda hypocritical." I scowl, taking a deliberate long drag of the cigarette again.

"No, I'm not being hypocritical." She shakes her head, "The difference is that I'm addicted to them and it's not worth giving them up while we essentially in a war zone, but you're smoking because you're upset and want to get back at your mother and Cree by harming your body."

"No, I'm not."

"Don't even pretend that you aren't." She smiles unamused, "And I know that you've only had sex with me as a way of getting back at Cree, you like knowing that you can hurt him, even if it can't amount to the pain he's made you feel. It's also the only reason that you let Richard kiss you, because we both know that you wouldn't have kissed him unless Cree was watching."

"You don't know what you're talking about." I mutter, crossing my arms no longer interested in taking another puff from my cigarette.

"Really?" I lifts an eyebrow, "Tell me why you had sex with me then."

"Because you're attractive." I say this in an obvious tone, still scraping through my mind for another reason.

"You don't have sex with people because they're attractive, you like to have a better reason than that." She smiles at me pitifully, "I don't mind being used for sex, Trula. But you're my friend before the benefits part and I'm not going to let you use me until you've gotten over your issues with Cree."

"Issues?" I scoff, "I've got more than issues with him. And I don't think you stopping this is going to have any real effect."

"But there's more to it than that. Cree still cares about you and these issues only exist because you're both so goddamn stubborn." She says frustrated.

I eye her curiously, her eyes widen as she realises that she's said something she wasn't supposed to, "What are you talking about? I know you're all hiding something from me, you wouldn't have wanted Cree to stay with us if there was."

"They are issues, Trula." Essri explains, ignoring my question and slipping her top over her head, indicating that this conversation is almost over. "Bad issues, yes. But they're going to affect whether we live or die so I suggest that you get over them pretty soon since it looks like Cree will be sticking around for a while."

Fuming as she walks out of the door I slam myself back against the cushions, clenching my teeth. Doesn't she understand that I can't just get over these 'issues?' I was in love with Cree, the first person I've ever been in love with and he betrayed be for a town of people that are cruel and merciless. Doesn't she understand that every time I look at him that I get an overwhelming pain in my heart and the only thing that makes it go away is making him feel the same way?

But she wouldn't understand, would she? She's never been in love, she's perfectly fine with a fling here and there but obviously hasn't had any sort of committed relationship. And she's acting like we're arguing right, left and centre; it isn't affecting our chances of survival because I'm not choosing to ignore threats in order to give him a piece of my mind. It's not like I've intentionally put anyone in harms way because of him. Either she's imagining things or everyone is hiding something from me, and I'm not inclined to believe that it's the former.

I eventually get dressed and go upstairs to join everyone, my headache has gone but the grogginess has returned – I'd probably give my right hand for a litre of black coffee right now. The room has been cleared up slightly since I left, the patch of vomit on the window sill has been washed away and someone has managed to cover up the hole in the window with a tarp but water still dribbles through the bottom of it from the unrelenting rain, the sleeping bags have been neatly piled up and a blanket has been spread along the floor as an area to sit.

Rylyn sits stirring a pan full of beans over the fire Essri has relit, I smile finding that Rylyn is no longer as stressed as she used to be about cooking. Essri is crossed legs nearby studying a slice of bread with intent eyes, I'm about to ask what she's doing when she shouts a clear, "Ignis!" setting the whole slice of bread alight with a massive flame. Shocked she drops it, screaming, "Malus ignis!" and watching the fire dwindle into cinders.

"Oh." Avex eyes the ashes from his place on the blanket, "I forgot it was Fry-day."

An empty can of beans comes flying from the left, hitting him square in the head, letting out a screech of pain he looks accusingly at Cree who's a metre away from him. "Don't look at me like that." Cree protests, "You know that was a crappy pun."

"What were you trying to do?" Rylyn asks, staring at the remnants of what used to be bread.

"Make toast." Essri mutters, going for another slice of bread.

Rylyn snatches it out of her hand, "Not if you're going to burn the building down."

"I won't." She makes a grab for it, trying to tug it from Rylyn's hand, scowling when it rips in half. "I didn't know how much power I would need, I have a good estimation now. It won't set on fire."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, we can't just eat beans. We may as well have some toast with it." Essri sways, fiddling her fingers in the air with licks of flames coming from them.

Rylyn rolls her eyes, "Fine, but it's your fault if we die."

I walk past them and no one really says anything to me, maybe they heard Essri and I arguing or maybe they just know what we were doing earlier. Either way I don't care at the moment, I just want some form of medication to deal with my headache. Cree looks as if he wants to say something but just looks away and grimaces instead, apparently he knows what happened down there.

I root through the front of a bag until I find some aspirin and manage to swallow it without water, hopefully my headache won't last too long, although there's probably quite a few people that wake up on Christmas morning with a hangover. Water would probably help with my hangover as well but I can't see any in my immediate vicinity so I slum against one of the damp walls, letting my skull press against the cold surface, waiting for the pain in my head to fade.

When breakfast has finally been made my headache has reduced to a low pulsing inside my skull and Essri has managed to create a medium sized pile of perfectly toasted bread. It's served on paper plates and we're given plastic cups filled to the brim with orange juice. I smile at Rylyn when she hands me mine, whispering a 'thank you'; when she doesn't smile back, just gives me a blank look I feel a pit start to form in my stomach. But she has no reason to be angry at me, maybe she's just tired. Then when she's served everyone she sits crossed legged on the floor next to Luka, the pit gets larger and I forage my mind for an explanation.

How is it now that I feel utterly isolated with my own friends?

It isn't until the next day that the pit stops growing, it took me hours to get to sleep because of the coils in my stomach, I couldn't calm my nerves enough to lie still and close my eyes. The only positive about yesterday was that Cree and Avex had ventured out before any of us woke up to do more shopping, which would explain why Essri and I hadn't seen them that morning. They got us a book each, mostly something to occupy our minds since we had nothing to do until one of Rylyn's visions gave us more indication of what to do next.

I would have been fine with the small gift if it hadn't been Cree to hand it to me, his fingers purposely brushing mine, a desperate look on his face. When I read the book title I sneered, 'Forever and Always', it's the book version of the first film Cree and I watched together. I had discarded it next to my dirty plate in an act of defiance but after an hour of no one speaking to me, all absorbed in their own books, boredom got the best of me. And I really had to hold myself back from attacking Cree when he smiled to himself, looking hopeful.

So after virtually no sleep I kind of want to cry when I'm shaken awake by Rylyn, I consider slapping her away but I don't think that would do me much good. "What?" I croak through a haze of sleep and feeling half dead.

"We're going into town, get up?" She shakes me harder.

"Why though?" I whine, rolling onto my back.

"Avex wants Greggs for breakfast and so does everyone else."

"Can I get coffee?"

"Yes, if you come with me."

"Okay." That gets me up within seconds and putting on my clothes.

Apparently Avex and everyone else only woke up for a moment to talk about Greggs since they're fast asleep when I take a look around the room and follow Rylyn outside. Nice of them to make us get their breakfast, especially since Rylyn and I did get kidnapped by a vampire just the other day.

When we get to town without so much as a single word I remember that Rylyn is mad at me for some reason, I want to ask but I really don't want an argument. So I don't say anything, I want to make sure I get my food before we talk about this.

Walking into the nearest Greggs the smell of pastry overwhelms my senses, almost making me tear up. I kind of understand Avex's obsession now. There's no customers in the store currently so there's only one person behind the counter, the girl looks up with a kind smile and serves us. Rylyn belts out an order so long that I start to wonder why we're not stealing the food since it's going to cost a fortune.

It takes about ten minutes for the girl to fully sort out all our food and hand it to us, we end up with three bags full of pasties and sausage rolls and sweet pastries and bottled drinks, I have to hold the drink carriers which hold the hot drinks everyone ordered, I do reduce the mass of everything so it's not as hard to carry but I'm still wary of getting scolded by all of them if I do just so happen to trip. Ending up in the hospital wouldn't be good for any of us since it would give the S.S.C.C. a lead to where we are.

As we start to head back I decide that now is a good time to confront Rylyn, I don't want to have an argument in front of everyone else. Not sure how to start I just blurt it out, "Why are you mad at me?"

"What?" Rylyn pretends to look confused, "I'm not mad at you."

"Obviously you are, just tell me why."

"There's nothing to tell." She widens her eyes, mentally willing me to drop it.

"Why were you acting like you were yesterday?"

"Like what?"

"Rylyn!"

She sighs, slowing her steps, "Okay, I might have been mad at you but it was stupid. It wasn't your fault."

"What wasn't my fault?" I study her face, waiting for an answer.

She hesitates, "I got mad about you and Essri."

"I told you that I'm sorry for not telling you about us though."

"I know." She acknowledges, "But it's more than that."

"What do you mean?"

She shakes her head, gathering her thoughts. She doesn't say anything for a moment and seems to be angry and afraid at the same time, "I mean-what I mean is that I think I-"

The sound of heavy and quickening footsteps behind us stops her, we look behind us and see two small blond haired children barrelling towards us, except they're not children, they're Elowen and Galen. Elowen looking like a furious lioness with her claws and pale blonde hair, Galen like a bald Naruto with his arms thrown back. I'm more surprised than afraid in that moment, mostly because I don't know how they found us.

I send a panicked gaze towards Rylyn and we both set off running together, Rylyn dropping our Greggs and sending waves of power behind her to throw them backwards, Rylyn cries in pain as Galen sends ice flying towards us, skimming her side. For being so short Galen is a fast runner so in no time he is catching up to us, almost on our heels. When I feel his hand brush my back I send my arm flying round, hitting him in the face with still boiling hot drinks. He lets out a scream of pain as he collapses to the floor cradling his scalded face. It would almost be comical if Elowen wasn't still chasing after us like a bundle of fury, she never slows her pace even as she passes her injured brother.

Luckily she's slower than us so when round the corner, tumbling head first into a girl we still have time to get up and drag the girl into an alley with us before we're caught.

"Asha?" I recognise the voice instantly, I didn't even think about the possibility of it being her than we ran into.

I turn my head to see the pale face framed by red curls, her heart shaped face, thin lips and wide hazel eyes. "Maggie." I smile, even though I can feel the betrayal I felt flooding back into me.

"Asha, where in the hell have you been?" She's visibly shaken, there's already tears gathering in her eyes. "Everyone's been looking for you, the police are looking for you, Asha. They're looking for Colin, they looked into his history and found out that there's no real record of him. Did Colin force you to go with him?"

I'd almost forgotten about the name Cree used to use before I knew who he was. "What? No, of course not."

"Are you sure? Because we can go to the police right now and tell them everything, they won't let Colin touch you." She goes to grab my hand reassuringly but I flinch away, reminding her of what happen last time I saw her.

"Oh God." She says, covering her mouth, the tears in her eyes spilling over, "I am so sorry, Asha. I know you ran away because of me, I'm telling you that I've regretted what I did every moment since you left. But please tell me that you're staying, your dad can't handle it any longer and apparently no one has seen your mum or Joel since they found out you were missing."

I swallow back my anger, "I know that they're gone, I found my dad last night and sent him to the hospital. But I'm not coming back, I just need to leave. Come on, Rylyn."

For the first time Maggie seems to recognise that there's someone else there, "Who's that?"

"Rylyn." I say, ignoring her tears.

"Please, Asha." She begs, grabbing at me sleeve, this time I don't move away, "Please stay. It hasn't been the same since you left, and Ash was so horrible when he found out. He's always drinking and when he does turn up for college he just makes us all miserable. And no one talks to me anymore, they all blame me for you leaving and they're right, but I can't stand it without you. You're still my best friend and I feel like I could die every time I think about what I did."

She sobs as she waits for me to respond, I don't want to sympathise with her but I can't help it, "I can't promise that I'll stay but if you give us a place to hide out for a couple of hours I'll talk to you."

Her eyes widen in surprise, clearly she was expecting me to throw her to the ground and curse her, "Okay, you can come back to mine."

We end up in the familiar setting of her pink bedroom except now it's much messier than it used to be and smells like an old sock. Rylyn is awkwardly sitting on a pink beanbag and Maggie is sitting across from me on the bed, "Okay, we can talk." I say.

She isn't crying now but she's still sniffling, "I really am sorry. I've missed you so much. I'm glad you're safe."

I wait for her to compose herself a bit more, if she carries on crying I think I'll cry right along with her. Despite her room being messy there's a seven day pill box with pills placed carefully in each section. "What are your tablets for?"

"Hmm?" She follows my gaze, hesitating, "My doctor diagnosed me with depression a couple of weeks ago, probably explains why I've been doing so badly at school. It's weird that I didn't notice since I take Psychology."

How did everything go downhill so quickly here since I left? Instead of voicing my thoughts I say, "What were you talking about with Ash drinking and stuff?"

She pulls a pillow onto her lap and starts to mess with the frayed edges, she opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out. After a few seconds she seems to have made up her mind about what to say, "He was obsessed with you when you left, even more so than he was before."

"He was obsessed with me before I left?" I ask, he was too controlling but he wasn't really obsessed with me.

"Yeah." She admits, looking guilty, "I didn't tell you before because I thought that you might assume that I was trying to ruin your relationship or something. Ash was always getting into fights about you, he didn't tell you because he knew that you'd break up with him. I think that he'd threatened about half of the guys in our year about you by the time you left, and I'm pretty sure that he had the password for most of your social media accounts. And you know that guy, Phil Cox, the guy that asked you out in September? He didn't leave college because he moved house it was because he was terrified of Ash after he jumped him after college."

I stare at her horrified, how didn't I ever notice these things? "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Then when you left all he did was drink and stalk your social media for any sign of you." She gazes at me with honest eyes and I have no doubt that she's telling the truth.

I don't want to say what I say next but I need to know, "It doesn't matter now, but I want to know why you did it?"

The tears start to glaze over her eyes again, "He said he loved me." She squeaks, holding back tears. "He started messaging me on Facebook in summer and he kept telling me how beautiful I was and then he kept asking me out. I said no at first because I didn't want to betray you but then I stated to like him back. He told me that it would be okay because he said that you were always cheating on him, he convinced me that you were cheating on him and I thought that it would be okay. Then when you found out I realised how wrong I was. But I still wanted to stay with Ash when I knew that we wouldn't find you. But he was so paranoid and only thought about you, he kept blaming me for you running off. When I tried to make him feel better he'd just-"

She cuts herself off, I take one of her hands and smile encouragingly at her, "He'd just what?"

"He'd just turn around and hit me." She gasps, pulling her hand from mind and covering her mouth with the pillow.

"He what?" I'm not even in denial that he could have done this, it's just that I can't believe Maggie. Fragile little Maggie out of all people.

"I shouldn't have said that." She shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Maggie, how often has he hurt you?" I shift closer to her, resting my hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know." She whispers, looking up at me with her watery halzel eyes. "Two or three times."

"A month?"

"A week." She confesses, pulling the pillow closer to her.

"Maggie, why haven't you told anyone?" I demand, holding back tears of my own. I can't believe I left her with that piece of scum.

"I guess I thought I deserved it." She shrugs, not really looking sure herself.

"No one deserves that, Maggie. Not even you. Ash is manipulative, he made you want to be with him so he could hurt both of us. You never cheated on me to hurt me, it was because Ash got inside your head." I nod at her reassuringly, "You need to tell someone and breakup with him. You can't stay with him."

"I know." She murmurs, her tears coming to a stop.

"Promise me you'll tell your mum and break up with him. I want to know that you'll be okay when I leave again." I offer her my pinkie finger.

She interlinks her pinkie with mine and shakes it, "I promise. It's the least I can do after what I did to you."

I bring her into a hug, squeezing her against me. The familiar tiny figure and her red hair tingling my cheek almost make me feel like everything is normal again.

She smiles at me when we pull apart, "I know you can't tell me what's going on in your life at the moment, but if you come back to town again you can stay here, if you want to."

"Thanks." I pull a half smile, "And just so you know I've missed you as well."

________________________________________

Sorry for the late update I left a lot of my essays until last minute after the holidays so that's where I was.