CHILLED ~ editing

SEVEN:

"I knew I could find you here."

Ivory didn't need to turn away from the beautiful stars to know who it was.

"You have some pretty strange friends, Georgina. Aideen. She's really some-"

"What do you want, Dash?" There was a pinch of laziness in her tone as she drew a sigh from cracked lips.

"What do I want?" He was quiet for few seconds. "Just to talk to you."

Aideen was on her phone texting a "Skylar". I saw the way Dom was staring at her like there will be drama to come. Trissa and Fae were in the kitchen talking to each other. I swore it was the first time I saw Tris smile. And now here I was, outside on the small balcony.

"Fine," I surrendered. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well . . ." He sat right beside and took the same view I had of the stars. Dash looked at me for the first time. "Are you crying?"

"What?" I tried to be brave by lying. "I'm not crying." It could have worked if my eyes weren't so red and wet.

"Come on, I know you're crying; I can see it. I thought we were pretty great friends already. Please can you tell me what the problem is?"

How could he and I be great friends? It was only one day that I got know him. Then again, that's the exact same time I became friends with Aideen- the same exact time I became friends with Dom. Did it have to do something with being Abled that made you so charming and easy to talk to?

I knew that I couldn't hold in my problems and finally decided now would be the time to let go.

I cleared my throat and wiped my tears. "I-It's just . . . a few days ago I ran away from home. Didn't think to much about; just ran. And that was, honestly, amazing. The thrill of leaving your problems, you know.

"But then, I meet Aideen. And my whole life changed. I find out that I'm not human, better yet, that what was new to me was somehow already in my head without me knowing. I can't believe that everything that was taught to me was all a lie." Did I make sense? I wanted Dash to understand me so bad. "I feel like I'm biting more than I can chew."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could understand what you're going through. All my life, I knew." But what was he exactly? Unless there were more weird creatures that I haven't heard about, Dash was either an Elf or an Abled.

"What are you, Dash Iscar?" He had the look like he never would have thought that this is what I would say.

"You can't tell?" He responded softly. "Our kind can distinctively pick up on who's what. It makes it easier to find people like us quicker." I felt like I was in one of those cool, exclusive clubs. Except I didn't want to join this one.

"No! I told you I was new to this whole thing!"

He laughed. "I'm an Earth Elf, Ivory."

"Like Dom?"

He laughed louder. "God, no. Dom is only just Abled."

I made a mental note to find out soon enough what was the difference between Elf and Abled.

His eyes lighted up and a big smile formed. "I have an idea."

"An idea for what?" My curiosity grew by the second.

"An idea that would make you happy. But more important let you see that this new world you're learning about isn't all that confusing and strange; sometimes there are beautiful and fun things that could be seen."

Dash looked around the balcony and found a dead and unnurtured plant in the corner. He brought it in front of us.

"Watch this," he said and I did.