Catching Broken Stars

Chapter 5

Lucas takes over, waking up to find me walking back with Jackie. He doesn't ask questions, just offers to drive for now. I wearily agree and he slides right into the driver seat. Now I watch the sky, the puffy clouds quickly skimming past us as the car moves. I sigh and look back at the long road ahead.

"So, Cassie. Are we not going to talk about what happened?" Lucas asks cautiously.

I face him, my nose wrinkling up.

"Maybe." I reply, chewing my nail.

"Cassie, come on. At first you seem absolutely fine, the next minute you're breaking down in the middle of nowhere."

I look down, ashamed.

"I don't know." I say slowly. "I didn't think you saw."

"Of course I saw. Cassie, you can talk to me. You know that, right?"

I nod and fiddle with the glove box. This is just something I don't talk about. My family keep it hidden, and me hidden, so they can forget the pain their own daughter caused them. It was probably a good idea to run away after all. It's not like they miss me, or anything. They're probably glad I'm gone, glad that I'm somebody else's problem. I just wish it wasn't Lucas or Jackie.

"It's nothing." I say, trying to convince myself.

Lucas raises his eyebrow but says nothing. I wait, twiddling my fingers.

"Well?" he says. "Continue?"

"I told you, it's nothing. You don't need to get worried. It's probably because I didn't take my medication. Which reminds me..."

I pull out my container and take out my pills, dropping them into my mouth and swallowing.

"Ok. Anything that needs pills is a big deal, Cassie." Lucas exclaims as I put away the container.

"Um, you don't know what these are for." I counter. "This could be allergy medicine."

"True, but they could also be mind controlling pills that brainwash us and let you take over our bodies." he says with a satisfied air.

"Yes. You are correct, Lucas. These are mind-controlling pills. Right now, you're not even driving. I am."

I whisper the last part, then giggle and lean back in the seat. Lucas laughs and focuses on the road.

"But in all seriousness," Lucas says. "What are they for?"

"They help control me." I say quietly.

Lucas nods and embarrassment floods over me. My face flushes and I turn away before Lucas sees. Sadly, he does. His hand reaches over and holds mine.

"It's ok. Don't stress over them. I used to have to take them for my anger issues."

"You had anger issues?" I ask, surprised.

"Yep. Still do, sometimes. I try to control it but there are times when I can't anymore."

I nod. He tells me about how when he was six, his dad used to come home from work, Lucas would be in fits of anger. They finally diagnosed him when he turned nine and he was given medicine and counselling on how to control it. He took the medicine till he was 14, while practising how to control it. Once the medicine was finished, he tried to control a particularly bad episode, and it worked. So from then on, he has been fine and only gets short bursts from time to time.