This is all we've got

Chapter one: it's got to start somewhere

Sixteen watched her feet move completely independent of her control.

Ah, she must be caught in the periphery of a scene. The writer now had complete control of her every action as she was commandeered like a lifeless puppet, feeling exactly that. She wasn't even angry, just mildly disappointed that her nap had been interrupted.

She would probably appear in the background of a few panels, just enough to set the perfect high school backdrop for whatever drama was playing out this time. Was it a love triangle? A betrayal? Jealousy? It hardly mattered to Sixteen. She just had to be there.

Theoretically, she understood why she was necessary. Honestly, she just wanted to sleep. Or maybe eat something because she rarely ever got to see food unless it was necessary for a scene, which happened less than she liked.

Sixteen could hear shouting and harsh words and then she was out in the rain because it was raining now. She was pretty sure it hadn't been raining when she'd first got here and now she was getting soaked for some bloody reason. Sixteen could see the back of another extra walking away somewhere to her left and inwardly grimaced in solidarity. Inwardly because she actually couldn't move her face from the permanently blank expression that seemed to be the default for such times. The writer didn't spare much imagination to those in the background, after all.

Nor did the writer care much for warnings because Sixteen was caught completely off guard when the scene suddenly ended and she was abruptly given back autonomy over her body.

In any other circumstance, she would have been more than relieved. In this particular one, not so much.

Sixteen was left at the top of the outdoor amphitheatre, a long line of rain-slick concrete steps glistening below her as she hovered with her foot hanging halfway through taking her first step down the treacherous descent.

If she hadn't been self-aware, then she might very well have mindlessly continued on as the writer had intended, barely breaking stride. Being as she was, however, and not having paid any attention to her automatic actions, she now found herself lurching forward, slipping and tripping down the slick steps with the grace of a cat thrown in a bathtub of water.

"You've got to be- oof!"

Luckily, she didn't fall too far before she veered to the side, off the steps and onto a wider concrete platform where she had the time to catch herself on the rough floor. Sixteen wasn't certain but she was pretty sure that even if she managed to brain herself to death here, there was a high chance she would be resurrected the next time she was needed to walk uselessly past a main character. Not that she'd ever tried it, or even particularly wanted to.

For a moment she just lay there, winded and blinking rain out of her eyes. She briefly considered just not moving until she was dragged somewhere else by the writer. Then a raindrop fell up her nose and scrunched up her face in discomfort, immediately abandoning that idea.

She groaned as she pulled her limbs towards her one by one, checking that yes she could still feel them and no she hadn't broken anything. Ending up in a crouching position, she examined her knees which seemed to have taken most of the damage. She winced at how badly they were scraped. One was even bleeding.

Then reflexive tears were welling up and she tried blinking them away, but the rain streamed down her cheeks and only seemed to encourage the tears to fall with them, salty water dripping into her mouth.

"What, seriously? Crying?" she muttered to herself as she wiped her eyes dry. Well, as dry as they could be considering she was sitting bleeding in the pouring rain. She stared at her knees in disbelief at this situation she found herself in.