Fire Fixes Nothing

Isabel

Isabel was struggling. A lot. Ever since she was 4, when she had lost her mom, things seemed to only go downhill. Even though she had been young, she remembered it clearly. All day she had waited for her mom, she had promised to come back for celebration after all, she had never come. Instead, the police came, they explained it to her, and she was sent to a boarding school. It was a private Catholic school, called 'Prince of Peace Catholic Academy'. For Isabel, school hardly mattered. Even if the teachers hated her, that was the least of her troubles. Today they were on an 'exclusive' field trip to some stupid museum all the way up in Fort Worth. Isabel was hanging out with the only girl that had ever paid her attention, in a good way that is. Her name was Makinley, and to Isabel, she was an angel, sent from the heavens. All the others bullied her, and not the standard bullying you'd expect from a middle schooler, worse, way worse. It was mainly that one girl, Haylee. She had made it her personal mission to make Isabel's horrible life absolute misery. All because of one thing, Isabel happened to feel attraction to the female sex, which in a school full of female Catholics, does not quite fly well.

As Isabel and Makinley leaned over the balcony, where the river lay, Isabel could feel the breeze in her curly brown hair. Today, she wore a vintage dusty T-Shirt with a faded label. She had forgotten what the label had said. On her unnaturally skinny frame she also wore light blue faded jeans, they had many holes and tears, that was Haylee's fault. She also had a handmade brace on her hand and wrist, from the previous incident with those bullies. Her white sneakers were no longer white, and her clear-framed glasses were falling on her face. "Your glasses are sagging a bit, you might wanna push them up." Makinley said, her voice sweet. Isabel realized Makinley had been staring at her. She has to appreciate how she didn't touch her, Makinley knew how Isabel felt about physical touch. Isabel pushed the glasses up her face. "Thanks." She said, Makinley gave her that angel smile of hers, it was so pretty, but Makinley was just a pretty girl. "You're welcome!" Makinley replied, so friendly, so angel-like.

Makinley had short, shoulder length, straight dark brown hair, it was slightly tangled but it still looked gorgeous. Much like Isabel, on top of her dark eyes, she wore glasses. Her frames were more squared and they were darkly colored, while Isabel's were clear and rounded more. Makinley had pale skin, and a few bracelets bore her arms. Today she was wearing a yellow and white striped shirt, with a white collar. And dark jeans, without tears like Isabel's. Her sneakers were as clear as can be, they could've been brand new.

Isabel and Makinley locked eye contact for a moment, just staring into each other's eyes. Makinley's eyes were the most gorgeous thing Isabel had ever seen. She resisted the urge to lean into her friend's face and give her a kiss. As if she meant to ruin the moment, Haylee stormed in. "Well, if it isn't our local gay loser!" Haylee said with the most mock kindness Isabel had ever heard. She advanced on Isabel. "Oh my… please don't tell me you've been associating with THAT!" Haylee said to Makinley. As she said it, she pointed a finger to Isabel as if she was the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen. Isabel figured she probably was. "Go away." Isabel said. That landed Isabel a punch to her face. The whole time Makinley stood there awkwardly. That was the one single bad thing about Makinley, whenever anyone else was around, she acted as if hardly knew who Isabel was. "DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT! I HAVE THE POWER HERE!" Haylee screamed as Isabel's nose bled out. She watched crimson drops land on her shirt. She then proceeded to call Isabel a name that would be best off not transferred onto paper.

That's when Isabel saw it. It was a snake-like creature with three heads. She remembered hearing about them in class, a hydra. Clearly Haylee noticed the panic on her face. "What is it, loser?" Haylee asked, her tone cold. Isabel pointed at the hydra, unable to speak. The hydra definitely looked hungry, and it seemed like 13 year old girls were something it could settle for. "Why are you pointing at the ugly cat?!" Haylee asked.
"Do you not see it?!" Isabel cried, panicking. She was used to being able to see plenty of things others couldn't, things that seemed to walk right out of the history textbooks. "No? Now stop distracting me, I can't harass you when you're complaining about some cat!" Haylee exclaimed. Isabel couldn't move her mouth. It felt like the whole world had stopped. She needed a plan and she needed one fast.