Star Girl // McFly

Three

Her skin wasn't dark green. It was a soft shade. Pale. In certain lighting, it probably wouldn't even be noticeable.

But in this lighting, it was.

The shade of the girl's skin fell on a spectrum somewhere between the colour of a flower's stem and mint chip ice cream.

Dougie stood in front of the sofa, shocked. But the odd thing was, it was almost as if he was looking for something else that was wrong with her.

Her skin was green but other than that, she looked like a completely normal human. She didn't have any extra extremities or brandishes that suggested she came from an evil cult. The only odd thing about her was what she was wearing. But hey, different people have different preferences. Dougie had certainly seen people in London who wore clothes much crazier than the jumpsuit the green girl was wearing. Heck, Dougie had worn more eccentric things himself.

He walked away from his sofa, turning away from it so he couldn't see the girl any longer. Take a breath, he told himself. You just had to put out a fire, your adrenaline is pumping and your senses are probably goofed up.

He did take a breath, and when he turned back, her skin was still green.

Time for deflection technique number two.

Dougie started to think that the green could be a result of the ash still covering her exposed skin. Maybe it's really...a shade of grey...or brown. He walked over towards his table, grabbed a dish towel and walked back taking a seat on his coffee table. He cautiously grabbed the girl's hand and holding it gently, trying not to wake her (not yet, at least), began trying to rub the ash off with the towel.

It didn't work.

Not how he had hoped, at least. He did get some of the soot off, but her skin was still green underneath.

Holding her wrist, he just kept staring at her seafoam coloured hand, unsure what else to do.

And when he looked back up at her face, her eyes were open.

She was staring at him, holding her wrist. He could tell, from her face, that she was scared, but trying not to show it.

"I'm sorry!" Dougie exclaimed, dropping her wrist and standing up from the coffee table, backing away a bit. "I'm not trying to harm you but you were in...some kind of a wreck. Do you know where you are?"

But the girl just continued to look at him.

"Are you from around here? Or, or..." Dougie picked up his cell phone, "Is there someone I should call?"

Nothing.

"Do you...do you know your name?" Dougie asked frantically.

The girl began to slowly sit up on his couch and looked around, her face, still fearful.

"I'll get you some water. Maybe then..." Dougie trailed off, running over to his kitchen and quickly filling a glass with some water from the tap. He rushed back, taking his previous seat on the coffee table in front of the girl and handing her the water. She looked at it, slowly, and then took it, the fear draining from her eyes as she took a sip.

"Are you hurt?" Dougie asked quietly.

Nothing.

Now Dougie didn't know what to do. She didn't seem hurt. She seemed fully aware of her surroundings, even if she'd never been to Dougie's house before. And even if she wasn't speaking. But he also just didn't want to call emergency services again. He didn't know what he'd say, and being scolded once was enough for one night.

"Hey." Dougie said, a bit louder. He had previously been whispering. The girl stopped looking around and looked him in the eyes. "Do you speak English?"

No response. She looked confused.

"Do you know what I'm saying?"

Her eyes were blue, Dougie noticed now. Darker on the outside than the inside and piercing. He continued to look into her eyes until she slowly nodded.

Dougie leaned back and let his shoulders un-tense.

"But..." He started, quietly again, "You can't speak English?"

The girl shook her head slowly.

"Not...much." She whispered. Dougie almost didn't hear. He was confused about how someone could understand English but not speak it. And if she didn't speak English what did she speak?

"Are you hurt?" Dougie repeated himself, trying to stick to yes and no questions. The girl shook her head. "Are you sure?" She nodded.

At least they were getting somewhere.

"Do you know what happened?" He asked. She hesitated, then shook her head. "Yeah. That makes two of us."

She looked down at the wrist he had been holding.

"I'm sorry." Dougie said quickly. "I was just...trying to get some of the soot off. You were in a crash and-" Her eyes went wide, and before Dougie could stop her, she got up and rushed over to the window next to the back door. "Hey, I don't know if you should get up!" Dougie called out, following behind her. She was looking out the window at the wreck on the lawn. He saw her eyes fill with tears.

And then she smiled.

He was beyond confused now.

"Uh...maybe...maybe you should stay here tonight. Tomorrow I can drive you home." Dougie nodded, trying to reassure himself. The girl, still covered in ash and maybe even some dirt, Dougie now noticed, was clearly not in her right senses, even if she wasn't hurt. "Does that sound alright?" She looked over at him, blankly. "Alright." Dougie sighed, not expecting an answer. He walked down the hallway towards his room, pulling a grey sweatsuit he never wore out of his wardrobe that his mum had given him two years ago for Christmas. Dougie wasn't the sweatsuit type. He walked back to the end of the hallway where he saw the girl, still staring out the window.

"You can sleep in the guest room." He said, making the girl break her gaze away from the outside world. "And you can wear these." Dougie held up the sweatsuit. "Don't worry. They're new."

The girl looked around his living room again, like she had when she first woke up. She walked over to the coffee table and picked up the half-full glass of water sitting on it that Dougie had given to her, holding it to her chest.

"Uh, sure. You can bring that." Dougie said. But she stayed where she was, and the fear returned to her eyes. "Don't worry." He tried to reassure her. "I'm just trying to do the right thing."

Her eyes filled with recognition as she began to slowly walk towards him, and then follow him into the guest room where he placed the sweatsuit on the bed, sighing.

"Oh hey." He said, turning towards her. "I forgot to ask your name."

She looked at him blankly.

So...they weren't quite that far yet.