The Freaks

Captian Sassy Pants

"Wow. I can't believe we just did that. All of that. It's unbelievable."

"I know. I was so sure I was going to die." agreed Chas.

 After the events on the rooftop had finished, Shaun and Lauren had to go and see if Tina and Tim (or as they like to call them now 'The Tebbs Twins' as Tebbs was their surname) had found the experiment they had to watch that afternoon alright and to tell them when to come in for work the next day. Leaving Chas and Archie to go and collect their things.  

"But I'm telling you now, if I did die then, I so would have haunted Shaun and made the rest of his life a living hell" she continued.

"Wow. Remind me never to cross you" replied Archie, earning a chuckle from Chas.

The room fell silent for a while as they started to pack their belongings. The only noise you could hear was the 'clacking' of photo-frames and the 'rustle' of paper being placed, dropped and forced into the two cardboard boxes. Suddenly Chas broke the silence.

"Two weeks today."

Archie tilted his head to the side, unsure of what she was talking about.

"Two weeks today. Right?"

"What do you mean?"

"The accident. I mean...I was out cold for a little while I know but I counted back the days this morning and I worked out that the accident happened two weeks today. Didn't it?"

He paused for a moment to calculate the dates in his head. Chas was right, it had been two weeks. Two weeks to the very day.

"Yeah....I think it has been" he said, trying to not think about what was possibly the worst fortnight of his life. Coming second to the fortnight after his father died.

"It's strange isn't it? How so much can change in such a short space of time. Two weeks ago I was just your everyday, average young woman with a world of possibilities laid out before me."

"Chas don't...."

"Now I'm just an unemployed 'super human'  who can't even get out of bed in the morning without the fear of one on her arms becoming impossibly long or her legs going like jelly when she stands. I can't even...no matter how much I wanted to, have kids. My own children. Someone must really hate me" Chas laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh, more of a 'can you believe my bad-luck' laugh. One that you could just tell was filled with sadness and despair.

Archie was unsure of how to reply. What can you say after somebody has just told you that their life has it rock bottom. Usually he would say things like 'don't worry, it will get better. You'll see' or 'yeah you've hit rock bottom, but the only way is up now' but that was for when the other person was crying or at least showing some emotion. He was alright with that. Dealing with people crying. Chas however wasn't doing anything. She wasn't crying, nor was she angry about what had happened to her. She was nothing. A hollow shell, empty of all emotion.

And Archie had no idea of how to deal with.

"How do you do it....?" He asked. "...how can you, after all this not freak out? After all you've been through?"

"I don't know". Chas stared off into the distance as if something across the room had caught her eye. "I guess it just hasn't fully sunk in yet" she said giving Archie a weak smile.

Archie turned his attention back to his half full cardboard box, satisfied with the answer she had given him. He didn't dare ask another question after that. She needed to process what had happened to her slowly, at her own pace or she would remain an empty shell of a person for the rest of her life.