Starless Child

6. Charlotte

"Then why does it hurt so much when you're not here with me?"

Oh my god. Hera mumbled to herself. She felt like she was going to barf if this gets any cheesier.

Turning off the movie she pulled the comforter upto her chest and took a sip from the Pepsi bottle. She hated romance movies. She didn't even know why the heck was she even watching this.

There weren't many things that scared Hera Cage. but last night the cat really managed to spook her out. Her gaze kept moving from the window, than at the cat, then at the window again as her brain tried to find a reasonable explanation to the empty space in the glass where the cat's reflection should've been. She should've listened to granny and threw the cat out the very first day. She's never going near a can opener again.

After a while she found herself quietly crawling into granny's bed. Granny looked a little surprised, but she didn't ask any questions for which Hera was thankful for. She didn't know how to explain the whole thing to her without sounding like a complete lunatic.

This morning she decided to skip school. And now was sitting in the living room on the couch watching the most cliche romantic movie she could find on her laptop with a bottle of Pepsi and a pack of gummy bears.

I have to get rid of the cat.

The thought had been bugging her for a while now but she was home alone. Granny was off to work at her pharmacy and she didn't want to do it alone.

You know those times when you see a chair at night, in the dark and it feels like there's someone sitting on it just waiting to chew your head off? But no matter how stupid that sounds all logic inside your brain decides to take a vacation and you start making a list of all the things you wanted to do before you die.

And then you muster all the courage you have and turn the lights on.

The next thing you know you're standing in the middle of the room feeling like an idiot staring at the empty chair.

That's exactly how Hera felt this morning.

Like a complete idiot.

The only explanation she could give herself about what she saw last night was that she just woke up from a terrible nightmare.

She was freaked out and half asleep and her eyes must've tricked themselves in the dark.

But nevertheless she had no intention of sleeping with that creepy cat for one more night.

"What did you do?", Hera met the eyes of an enraged Lola as soon as she opened the door. She threw her bag on the table and plopped on the couch as the foam pillow made a swishing sound. Alice unwrapped a gummy bear and tossed it into her mouth.

"What are you talking about?", Hera asked innocently. Should she confess that she's the one who swapped her toothpaste for black dye last week or keep up the innocent act?

"James has been skipping school for the entire week. And today-" 

"You've been keeping tabs on when James comes to school or not?", Hera smirked.

"That's not the point here", Lola said in a dry voice. It was always a mystery to Hera why a smart girl like Lola always went for the arrogant douchebags. If there was one thing she couldn't stand in boys or people in general, it was arrogance. The sensitive, emotional and thoughtful ones were more her type.

 "Today his friends were looking all over for you and every one of them looked like they wanted to shoot you in the head", she narrowed her eyes at her "So what exactly did you do?"