take me back to the start --- [open]

Subject: take me back to the start --- [open] Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:14 pm

take me back to the start --- [open] YeNVfrA

Faye McJean
| Growing up is hard enough for the average teenager with two parents and a decent house. Growing up as a demigod, though, is far more difficult. Faye didn't want to pity herself, but in the back of her mind, she did. It wasn't fair. She tried to do the right thing all of the time and now everything was grey (or, greyer, rather). The world isn't as simple as she had hoped it would be. She had been putting the letters into a folder for months now, and the folder was beginning to tear. It was time to finally open them.

A normal teenager would've opened the letters in a normal place, but Faye didn't. She wanted to hide them, so she trekked all the way to the strawberry fields in an attempt to avoid the public eye. She sat criss-crossed on the farthest edge of the field and inhaled as she opened the folder. Dozens of letters from a variety of colleges slipped out. The back of her mind told her that this wasn't a big deal - she was just moving from one thing to another. But this was a huge deal to Faye. She was growing up. Growing away from camp. Within the next year or two she was supposed to magically blend back into society - as if it was simple. As if she didn't have nightmares. As if she hadn't killed people. How could anyone relate to that in the normal world? She was certain she would be an outcast in whatever college she chose to attend - if she did at all.

But that was part of the problem. Faye wanted to learn more. She wanted to become an architect, or maybe a mathematician, or a historian; she wasn't sure. As she opened the letters, seeing school colors staring back at her, she wondered if she could. Would anyone want her at their school? How had they gotten her contact information? Was she just a name on a list? Faye had taken the ACT and the SAT (and scored rather highly), but that was it. No extracurriculars to speak of, no references. Faye McJean had become a ghost at the age of ten. How could you have a future if no one knows you exist?

A twig snapped in the distance, causing her to inhale sharply. She pulled a fistful of letters from the pile and shoved them back into the folder. Faye told herself she shouldn't have to be ashamed of this fear, but she was.

no one ever said it would be so hard

Subject: Re: take me back to the start --- [open] Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:05 am

take me back to the start --- [open] Tumblr_mvun9ntXQj1shn22ho1_500_zpsa0494dd5

Quell,

"Do you want to go see the sunset with me?" The question was out of the blue, and Quell almost jumped. This was not his sister, this could not possibly be the Liv he knew. She was so… distant. But yet, there she was, her smile as bright and her teeth as crooked as she had been at age 13, when they were best friends and not the strangers they had become. He nodded slowly, and the twins gathered themselves together, trekking towards the hill. Liv walked in front, her hands swinging by her sides. Quell limped behind her, propping himself up by a cane he hid his sword inside of. Liv was as alive at 17 as she had always been. But Quell knew that was a lie. As much as it hurt to watch Liv grow up and move on, Quell also saw his sister was not the person she should be. He saw her clenched fists as they swung by her sides.

"The sun is pretty isn't it?" Livia asked, turning to face him as they neared the top. Quell nodded, but his eyes were fixed on a point in the opposite direction. Liv looked into his eyes - What? In response Quell nodded in the direction he was looking. Faye, sitting by herself.

Liv was able to move to Faye's side without being seen, and Quell felt a pang of jealousy as she approached silently. Perhaps it wasn't jealousy, but wasn't it ironic that their roles were reversed after all these years? Once upon a time, it had been Quell sneaking up behind Faye- Liv having been too clumsy and loud to ever sneak around, and now Quell's leg making every step clunky and awkward. "I would throw them all away if I were you." Quell muttered, finally reaching them. "We're just ghost children to the real world. Maybe there's a future for us- just not with them." Liv shook her head, something that surprised Quell quite a bit. She had changed since she shut herself out. "It's time to move on, Faye."

Subject: Re: take me back to the start --- [open] Wed Sep 02, 2015 9:03 pm

Faye McJean
| Faye hadn't been entirely reclusive during the past few months, but she was cutting it rather close. She tried to keep herself busy with a new class or a new fighting style. Her goal was to keep herself under control. The medics had given her a sleep aid, but she tried not to take it. The medication just made everything worse. After all she had been through, Faye did not want to be reduced to a numb shell of what she was. She was still strong... just tired. She felt like she needed a change of scenery, something else to worry about. She needed something new. Books and training could only take her so far.

Faye identified the noise's source - or sources - rather quickly. She gave them a smile as she abandoned her quest to rid the envelopes. The twins wouldn't judge her. Liv took a quiet seat next to her, while Quell took longer. She pitied her half-brother like she pitied her half-sister: silently. Her eyes never glanced at Quell's cane too long, or stared blankly at Liv for more than a moment. Everyone had their own battle scars, some were just more visible than others.

The sun set as she glanced back at the letters. They were from everywhere; Minnesota, Colorado, New York, and every where in between. The idea of travelling was appealing, but at what cost? Quell's comment gave her mouth a sour taste. "Is that what you've been doing to yours? Throwing them away?" she asked, turning her head back to her half brother. While Faye didn't want to grow up, it felt nice to be wanted. Colleges were normal, though. People did normal things there. They had study dates, ate pizza, and went to concerts. These people didn't have to worry about monsters, zombies, or supernatural abilities.

"If I don't have a future with them, who do I have one with? Everyone here? I can't live in camp forever." She sighed. "My dad wants me to go to school. I do too, but... it's tough," Faye mumbled, pulling her legs to her chest. "I hadn't wanted to think about it, but my folder's filled up."

no one ever said it would be so hard

Subject: Re: take me back to the start --- [open] Wed Sep 09, 2015 4:14 pm

Livia,

Liv frowned at Quell's responses. This was not the brother she knew. It had taken the wounds in Livia's heart a long time to heal, but the grey eyes stared at her sister with a new kind of wisdom, a kind of far away look in her eyes. They were old beyond her years, but they were still bright. Liv would not let anything take that away. She looked at Quell as he thought, her eyes piercing him. Life had caught Quell - the ZA might not have hurt him in the same way it hurt her, but Quell was still broken, even now.

He was bitter, Liv realized. She didn't remember her brother as the jealous type, but he was so different. Still quiet, but not soft spoken, more grown up than she ever thought her oh so mature twin would ever get. Sure they all wore scars - Liv might still jump at loud noises, and she could never watch another zombie movie, but Quell's leg was a living breathing reminder of what happened, of how he would never move on, of how he could never be normal.

Liv returned Faye's smile as she sat down next to her, her face communicating what her words couldn't - it would be okay. Quell took a seat on the other side of Faye, and their eyes met briefly, before Quell looked down. He shook his head. "No, they're still under my mattress." Quell muttered quietly, and in him Liv could see the boy he used to be, the boy who had his heart set on going to an Ivy League, who wanted to do great things.

"Well, as they always say, die young or have your heart die with your friends." Quell's voice was far from hopeful, but it wasn't so grim. Perhaps he truly believed this, but he didn't wish the same life for Faye.

Quell's tone, and Faye's uncertainty only made what Liv was about to say worse, and she felt a pang in her heart right before she blurted out, "Well I'm going. To Harvard. Next September. " Damn her stupid blabber mouth. "It's time we stop running and start living."