switched

3

They are now cruising the town's streets. It's around midnight. They've driven through the whole night and over one day. Carter is completely exhausted. She's sick of her motorcycle and once again realizes how uncomfortable the seat is. She needs to finally get rid of it and get a newer model. Avery had almost fallen asleep on her back a few times. At this hour they make it through Aether's town center quite quickly. There's a lot of lit up signs of stores open 24 hours. They pass a night club. The loud music can be heard even though it's dull. They pass a few large towers, a police station and a hospital.

Another hour goes by. Now they are in an area a lot closer to nature. The amount of trees had enlarged. The neon billboards had disappeared a long time ago. They've driven past the ocean, stopped for a second to listen the waves crashing on the rocks. Now they are surrounded with high mountains. Some of its tops are still filled with frozen snow.

"There".
She hands Avery one of the blankets she took from their previous home.
She had foreseen that's sooner or later they will end up sleeping under the vast sky. Carter started a fire so that it was a bit warmer. The atmosphere improved because of that as well. Avery fears the dark, he always sleeps with a lamp on his bedside table.

"Carter... I'm starving".
Avery hones while laying wrapped up in the blanked that reaches the tip of his nose. She must admit he looks extremely cute.

"I've taken all of your supplies, don't you worry". Carter quietly giggles and hands the boy his favorite salted crackers.

His face instantly lights up with the widest smile ever seen. He basically stuffs his face with food.

"You'll choke, slow down".
Carter scolds him while sipping tea.

"Carter... Carter, wake up".
She feels touch on her shoulder.

She lazily opens her eyes and proceeds to stretch.

"Five more minutes".
She mutters.

"No way, you're getting up and we're going". 
Avery won't let go. He never lets go.

For a minute she doesn't respond pretending she's asleep again.

"Oh, so that's the way you wish to play this. Fine". She can hear Avery whisper.

After just a few moment she can feel an all pervading cold.

"Avery!".
She yells. This smart cookie poured water all over her.

"Okay, okay you win! I'm up. Happy?".

The boy responds with a priceless smile.

"I slept terribly. Let's get going. This place freaks me out".
Avery admits, so they pack their stuff and once again they're on their way.

They're driving slowly through narrow, forest lanes. After around half an hour the forest starts to be a lot less bushy and the paths are wider.

"We should arrive at our destination soon". 
Carter passes the judgement.

Although she cannot see his face, she can tell he is smiling widely. She herself breathes a sense of relief. After few minutes a large, wooden building arises in front of them. It's four stories tall. It makes an immaculate impression. It's very precisely built, it looks very stable. The spaces for the windows are chiseled, cut out from dark wooden logs. The whole house is this ebony oak color, the walls don have any sharp edges. It's almost unnatural as this is all solid wood. It's all professionally done, it looks... perfect.

"Wow".
Avery's voice reminds her she froze in awe.

"I know".
She accompanies him.
" Wow".

Carter parks her vehicle on the left side of the house, gently leaning it on the side wall. She readjusts her backpack, Avery squeezes her hand.

"You're gonna crush my fingers".

She wishes she could loosen up the tension between them but to be honest, she has no idea how.

"Carter, perhaps we should have thought this through... you know....".
Even though he is only eleven years old he is already so mature. Sometimes more mature than her. She doesn't let him finish the sentence. She confidently knocks on the door. 

"Will there ever come a day you actually listen to me?"
Avery asks.

"Not in a million years".
Carter answers and that's when the door open.

They're met with a tall man with black, straight hair falling onto his shoulders. His skin tone is very fair. Almost unnaturally pale. He has evident dark circles under his eyes. He is very slim and insanely tall. Far over six feet. That's when Carter realizes how huge the door are. Over the man's head there is over fifteen inches of free space. Standing in front of him she feels as if she were Avery's height and also eleven years old. Black haired man looks them up and down. He overawes her. They exist like that in the awkward silence. She hadn't been this intimidated by anyone ever before. She feels that it's the first time she should have listened to Avery. They shouldn't be here.

Up until now the weather was sunny. Now, it's starting to thunder and dark clouds appear above their heads. She's not shocked that even the weather degrades at the sight of him.

"Who the hell are you?".
His deep, mellow and mysterious voice brings her back to earth.

"I'm Carter Joy Felton. This is Avery. We are distant relatives. Maria sent us".
And so the show begins.

"I realize this is very forward and coming out of nowhere. I would've come alone to minimize the element of shock and surprise but it so happened that I had nowhere to leave my son".
Carter places both her palms on Avery's shoulders and speaks trying to sounds as confidently as possible.

"Good one. Well played".
The man laughs straight in her face.

"What's so funny all of a sudden?".
Her heart starts beating like crazy.

He keeps on staring straight into her eyes. Technically, as human beings, we are only able to look into one pupil at a time. But Carter is going back and forth between one eye to another it feels like she's looking into both simultaneously.

"The rain is heavier and heavier. Can we please go inside and address the matter there?"
Carter asks, trying to protect both of them from the downpour.

The man eventually makes up his mind letting them in.

SIMONE STEVENS

I look Montgomery straight in the face trying to grasp what he had just said. Someone is interested in taking me in? I don't know what I'm feeling. I've gotten so used to coming "home" to my father drunk and mother knocked out from sleeping pills. I've mastered in conquering my solitude - turned to studying and books. Tried spending as little time at home as possible that's why I go to the city library a lot.

That's also how I diagnosed myself. The trauma started when i was just four. It's partially blurry but the most traumatic is so clear - him running at my mother and grandma with a knife he places on my mother's throat. If my grandma didn't give him the money he demanded this very second to get more booze and drugs, my mother would have been killed. In front of me and her own mother.

I started hearing those voices in my head when I was around five. First I treated them as imaginary friends and for the first time didn't feel lonely. But with time they started taking more and more control to the point that I wouldn't remember what I was doing, how I was getting to school and back. I was terrified but couldn't tell anyone about it. That's when I turned to books and the internet. Everything pointed clearly to Dissociative Identity Disorder.

So I do own platonic friends in my head. Many of them. Recently it's been rather quiet and I've been more conscious than ever. To this day I happen to forget stuff when someone takes over but recently I've been bright. Besides the slight whirring sound in my ear but this could be anything.

Montgomery of course has no idea about what's going on in my brain. I've never told him because, I of don't trust him, second of all I think it's time for me to give myself a fair shot.

"I'lol meet them, Principal Montgomery.