just to be normal (OPEN)

[Hail Katrina Muse]

Hail closed her eyes as she sat down on the ice covered bench. it had been three weeks since she was allowed to be out side and six months since she was allowed to be away from the hospital. she took a deep breath and stretched her small skinny arms across the back of the bench and looked around. she had her plaid pea coat on over her scrubs which seemed to have become a permanent fashion statement. her feet were coved in boots, extra warmth never hurt anyone. she took a deep breath and looked to the side.

"Hail, I'm going to the car. It's freezing and I didn't think you would want to stay out here this long."

the nurse complained as she turned and ran off to the car. it really wasn't as cold as it could be. really she didn't need to complain to much, heck it could be like negative thirty something. now that's cold. Hail smiled and looked down at her shoes. she was a lone now. it was rather nice. it made her feel normal. she looked up at the sky and sighed. "well i guess its back to the hospital I go. tell me why did you make me if your just going to take me away... I'm only fiffteen..." hail complained to the sky. it wasn't like she did this all the time but she knew deep down she was dying. the doctors hadn't told her but she knew.

the soft pin needle pain in her chest started to grow. she took a deep breath and tried to think of something else, anything else. Snow. it was white. extremely white. she took another deep breath and relaxed. it wasn't long till she had to stand up, her butt was freezing and her back was losing feeling. she stood there and stretched out. "Freedom." she thought about running. it had been a while since she had done that, run from the hospital. no. from the doctors. her life, well the lack of life. she walked the path way threw the thin two inches of snow and looked around. was she really a lone? "Hello?" she called out in case there was someone around.

[Craig Asheburke]

The ashes fell like snow,
And the ground caved in,
Between where we were standing. . .

It was snowing - something Craig already knew of. It required a jacket, and Craig technically did wear one - around his waist, that is. His faded cutoff-on-the-knee jeans lightly stroked the sidewalk, as they were getting too long for him. His shirt nearly covered the jacket that was on belt-level. Very ordinary of Craig, not one thing different.

His wore his black reading glasses, a reminder that he just escaped the library with ironiclly no book in hand. So why did he go there? Well, his dad was home. And Lincoln Asheburke never seemed to recover from his mother's death, so the depressing feeling in the air of the house gave Craig chills. Not only dad, it was hard not to anger his dad over a simple thing, so he needed to escape from all the hot tension and cold comfort.

Which brings to the now-part. He stuffed his hands in his jean pockets, only to feel something hard and round. He grabbed it and studied his hand. Two lemon heads. He blinked in amazement, for Craig never forgot any piece of lemon flavored candy. Memories of New York flooded his head, making him sigh about the busy streets, the constant honking of cars, his ever growing lemon collection that most of it seemed to remain at his aunt's house...

BUMP! Before he knew it Craig seemed to land hard on his arse area. He watched at the last moment as his two lemon heads rolled uselessly into a town drain. "Shit!" He cursed as he got up and dusted his shirt off of snow and dirt, getting a few frostbites. He shook his head wildly to see if his bangs were promptly messed up. "You okay?" Craig asked absentmindedly, not even noticing it was a girl he bumped into. He was on his jeans, now, brushing off snow from here to there.

[Hail Katrina Muse]

there was no answer so it was a sheer notion that she was a lone. not that it really bothered the young girl. she liked being a lone at times, it garenteed she couldn't hurt anyone. she took a deep breath and started to walk on.

Hail gasped as she hit the ground. her hand flew up to her chest and tightly squezed her coat. her heart ached. she took a deep breath and loosened her grip befor hearing a male voice. she looked up and around till her brown eyes rested on a boy. he looked to be either the same age as her or older. she stood up and brushed her bottem off.

"you okay?"

"yeah." she nodded as if emphisizing her reply. "I've had worse. are you alright?" hail looked at the boy and was taken back by his cuteness. aww he was so cute, not like attractive cute but he was good looking. his eyes. they were the prettiest blue she had ever seen. she smiled lightly and looked away. surely she was blushing but she couldn't tell. her eyes closed as she got a feel on her heart. it was calm for now. good.

Hail looked at the boy once more and stuck her small hand out. "Hi, I'm Hail Muse." Hail smiled. she cought a glimps of the bright colored hospital band and quickly covered it up. sadly it was permanet and there was really no way to cover it up. she took a deep breaath and smiled a little more covering up the fact she just hid the bright bracelet.

[Craig Asheburke]

The snow was finally dusted off, and Craig noticed the introdution and turned, finally facing the girl. His eyebrows raised at how short she was, and couldn't hellp but smile at the fact that a light blush crept upon her cheeks. "Craig Asheburke." He replied, grabbing the small hand lightly and shook it as gently as he could.

"And are you sure you're okay?" He couldn't help himself but lamely ask such a thing. Surely hurting a small kid was the last thing he wanted to do. His eyebrows raised to emphasize the question, and as casually as he could he softly let go. Slowly, he studied her, noticing her dark brown hair and eyes and a small tan.

He unwrapped his jacket it and slipped his arms through the sleeves. It already was starting to get cold, even for the New York native. Not even bothering to pull up the zipper, the white hood soon covered his hair, though some of his bangs showed. His hands crept inside the side pockets as he waited for an answer.

[Hail Katrina Muse]

Hail smiled as he shook her hand. she was relieve in some strange way that he actually was taking the time to be polite and some what caring to her, although after knocking her down it was alway polite to ask a lady if she was alright. Hail knodded with the simple reply "Yes i'm sure." she patted her her heart as if showing a false sence of how strong it was.

Hail hated her heart condition and she hate not knowing when it was going to win. she took a deep breath and shoved her hands in her coat pockets and looked at Craig. Craig was an intresting name, not a common one either. she smiled and looked at the snow. "Are you alright?" she asked trying to avoid the one question that would circle back to her: So what brings you out here? she looked at him and then remembered that he had jropped something down the storm drain. with out waiting for an answer to the first question she asked another. "Did you lose something down the storm drain? if so i don't mind helping you replace it, after all it is partly my fault that we comlided."

Hail smiled her imfamous crooked smile. it had been a long time since she lasted played it across her lips. in fact the last time was when she had first moved to forks and found out about Dr. Cullen. the terminal fiffteen year old knew she was too smart for her own good but she promised to never tell anyone, but not only that she had promise to pleed the blinded human if confronted. she looked at Craig. "Craig? did your mom name you that?" she hated awkward silences and more then anything she hadn't talked to a kid her own age in years.

[Craig Asheburke]

Craig couldn't hold back a smile. Cute, a kid's asking me if I'm alright. He thought. "I'm fine. No need to worry about me." he reculctanatly added: "And I'm glad you're okay." Out of all this, he silently longed for the two lemon heads that fell in the storm drain, but shook it off slightly, as they were on the verge of cracking anyways. "I- er... kind of did lose something. It's not really that important, I have a lot more at home."

Home. The city that never slept soon came into his head one more, and slowly he tried to rearrange his lemon candy collection in his head. He had about 5 lemon heads there. Not a problem. His head shifted into his house here in Forks, which wasn't as abundant as the one in New York. Two lemon dum-dums started off at his collection, as well as some other hard candies he forgot the name of. In a quirky manner, he pushed up his glasses, parted his lips to say something, then closed them.

The silence felt really weird into Craig. Not that he was a completely talkative person, but not having a conversation was a pain in the ass as well. He stood still like a statue, taking a few moments to ruffle up his bangs or adjust his glasses, but no other movement whatsoever.

"Craig? did your mom name you that?"

"What, you have a problem with it or something!?" The subject about his mom always made Craig naturally chippy, even if he was in a happy mood. "It's like asking if your mom named you Hail! Now, how would you answer?

[/i]" He didn't mean to be mad, he was just sensitive over his mom's death, despite the fact he knew that her mom wouldn't want him to be like this at all.

-- note: "quotes and italics" = his voice throwing ability. He didn't know he used it, so yeah.

[/blockquote]

[Hail Katrina Muse]

hail was taken back by the suden sharpness to his voice. she took a deep breath and stepped back. her mind quickly worked to cover the reasons on why he was so snappy, his mom was a touchy subject, they shared that. her eyes watered up as the sharp pain in her chest started to grow.

Hail placed her hand on her chest and gripped her coat. she didn't know what to say first. she was being over come by pain -both mental and physical- and emotion which only seemed to fuel the pain she felt. "I'm sorry i didn't mean anything by it..." Hail finally managed to choke out a statment then collapsed to her knees. she was too worked up and needed to cal down. she took a deep breath and gasped for another. "I don't have a mo-"

"Hayley!! Are you done freezing, yet?" The nurse cleared the snow overed trees and saw a boy with hail, who was on the ground gasping for air. The nurse pulled the small pack from her coat and rushed to her. she looked at the boy then back at Hail. "Hayley look at me. look at me Hayley, your going to be okay breathe." The nurse opened Hails jacket and pulled the hospital shirt down. she incerted a needle and then dropped it. she sighed as hail's breathing slowled. she placed a small circle over the needle wound and then picked her up.

The nurse turned to Craig and smiled. "I'm sorry but I have to get her back to the hospital."

[Craig Asheburke]

"I don't have a mo-"

"Hail, I-" He said it at about the same time she was on the ground, writhing in pain.. A pang a fear struck him as he was about to bend down to help her, but a nurse seemed to take care of the job. When the nurse was opening Hail's jacket, he quickly turned to the opposite direction out of of nervousness. Hospital shirts gave Craig the creeps, then again, any hospital-esqe seemed to make him blow over. Surpressing the urge to regurgitate, he began to walk off, only to look back once more.

The nurse seemed to have her covered. Her sad smile seemed believeable, but something about made Craig get second thoughts. He soon shook it off - literally, trying to promptly ruffle up his bangs in the unusual way he always did. His hood flew off, and he let it remain there. Eyes still on Hail, he took off his glasses, folded them, and stuck them in his pocket, not even bothering to see if his case was in the other pocket. "Take care of her." He commanded silently, making it sound more to himself than to the nurse. He walked off then, eyes up at the sky, wondering if he had anything to do with Hail's condition as of now.

Thread Ended.