6 Chapter 5 - Disbelief

She awoke on the verdant fields in mid-summer, the blazing sun beaming down at her.

"Clarity? Are you alright?" said a very familiar voice nearby.

She was stunned to find Ethan, his arm around her, looking mildly concerned.

"Anemia again?" He asked. She subtly nodded, confused but elated, was all of that trauma simply a dream?

That may have been the biggest feeling of relief a fourteen year old girl could ever witness.

Nothing further had to be said. The siblings spent an amazing day in the summer's sun chatting, laughing and appreciating the wondrous assets of life, Clarity felt so grateful for her brother. Life could not be more perfect than it was in that moment.

Until she officially woke up. It was 3 weeks since the - unfortunately real - event, and it was a week before his lazily delayed funeral and she was in the most unlikely spot to see yourself in before regaining memory of how you ended up there; school. She had fallen asleep from the lack of energy on the edge of the field, propped up against a tree that felt much like the one she used to sit by in the secret place. The ache of remorse hit her again and began floating in her stomach. The disappointment was immeasurable.

It took a moment for Clarity to fully regain her vision and when she did, she was greeted with a mild shock, there was still a voice speaking to her.

"Clarity, are you alright?" said a different familiar voice.

Her, now perfectly focused vision, saw a boy standing in front of her.

For a moment she thought it was Ethan, already beginning to jump to conclusions like this was some sort of dream sequence and she was still in the secret place with Ethan, then along with immense surprise, she realized who it was.

Jessie Andrews. The boy whom, with his chick-flick girlfriend, had tormented Clarity throughout her school life, or at least watched with an amused reaction when Lola would.

"Why do you care?" Clarity asked firmly, but she almost regretted saying it, because she noticed a look of sadness on his face, he had obviously been crying.

She overlooked this, as the pain he had caused her in the past gave her no empathy for him.

"I just wanted to s-"

She immediately interjected, knowing for a fact this was one of his malicious missions.

"Hilarious, find the most emotionally vulnerable girl in the school and manipulate her into seeing you as trustworthy so you can put another name in that crime-ridden book of yours to gain more superiority."

She knew it was way too broad an accusation, but left without hearing or saying another word.

2 lessons and a tedious walk in the wintery rain later, Clarity entered the lonesome apartment, threw her school bag down and lay on her bed, spending a full hour staring at the ceiling thinking about things.

A vast variety of thoughts passed her mind from the funeral coming up to what she was gonna do with the apartment, this made her conclude things such as 'I can't afford to keep it because I can't yet get a job' and 'Won't they eventually just kick me out anyway because I'm technically not under guidance anymore and will have to go back to the foster home?'

These thoughts, as stressful as they were, eventually allowed her to drift off to sleep and even though it was only coming up to 17:00, it seemed right as it gave her much needed energy that she had been lacking for the past month.

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