Callie sat on the beach once again, starring at the sunrise. It was early in the morning; 4:30a.m. to be exact. Her black leather jacket lay next to her as she sat; her jean shorts already quite sandy. Her white t-shirt was slightly torn at the bottom from a fight the previous night. She had left the house, not caring if she ever went back. Her eye sported a nice black eye as well as her right arm was almost completely bruised. Callie’s mother had been drunk when she got home late and was not at all in a pleasant mood.

She lifted her hand to touch her lip where it had been bleeding. It had stopped finally and she was glad at that. Gently she pushed her legs out and dug her bare feet into the sand. Oh how she missed Italy. Everything had been okay there. It was when they moved to this place that things started to go down hill; and rather quickly at that. The young (well looked young anyways) girl laid back on the sand and looked up at the sky as it became brighter every minute. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the gulls trying to forget about the pain in her arm.

Erik found himself wandering the beach as he had done a few times previously. At one point he had actually tried to leave this city but ended up only taking a ‘mini vacation’ and came back. Why he had come back to this damn city was beyond him. There really was nothing keeping him here. He had no one. No friends. No family. No nothing. So why did he come back? He would never be able to answer that question himself. Not with any sort of rational mind anyway. Perhaps it was his ties to Verkur that kept him here. One could never be so sure of anything in life these days it seemed. He’d long since given up trying to figure out it. It was best not to question what happened in his life he learned.

And so it was, Erik was walking slowly along the beach not really paying any mind to anyone else who was around. It was like he was lost in his own inner world. He had been so lost in himself that he almost didn’t see her. But he did. His face lit up and a smile actually came to his face as his hand lifted to the air to wave at Callie. He was wearing his usual black jeans, a black t-shirt and was carrying his boots over his shoulder. His pace picked up as he headed right for her. As he neared his smile quickly turned to a frown as his eyes went over her face. In his eyes there was a mixture of anger, horror and worry as he dropped to his knees beside her.

“Callie,” he said softly. “What the hell happened to you?” He was trying to keep the emotions that were in his eyes out of his voice. Was it working? He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t really hear himself at the moment. At the moment all he could seem to hear was his blood pounding in his ears as he looked at his friend.

She froze as she saw the only friend she had made come walking down the beach. Oh no. Callie did not want him to see her like this. The girl remembered how he had reacted the last time Erik has seen her a mess and this time it was three times as bad. She put her hand over her face, though the bruises on her arm could still be seen. It was no use trying to hide anything so she quickly returned her hand to her side. She offered a smile to him as he dropped down beside her.

”It’s nothing. Mother just was more upset than usual last night.” She tried to shake it off like always, but she suddenly she felt embarrassed for the way she looked. It had been a long time since she had seen Erik and what a way for him to see her again.

”Where have you been? It’s been forever since I’ve seen you last.” She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him in a hug and then let go and returned to the way she was sitting moments ago. Her smile never left her face, though she felt it was forced through the pain that still lingered. Slowly she raised her knees up to her chin and hugged her arms around them, resting her head on her knees as she looked at Erik.

It was nothing? It sure as hell didn’t look like nothing. Erik could feel the anger rising inside of him but for now he kept a cap on it. He reached out and gently touched the side of her face where her lip had been bloodied. He brought his hand back to himself and reached into his pocket to pull out a hankie. He brought the hankie to her face and gently touched it to her lip to softly wipe away the blood that was still there.

“It sure doesn’t look like nothing Callie.”

He was a little taken aback as she suddenly hugged him but recovered quickly and hugged her in return. “I took a bit of a vacation,” he answered then shook his head. “No that’s not true. I had left the city with the intention of not coming back. But I ended up coming back anyway.”

She looked over at Erik and watched as he pulled out a hanky. He lifted it up to her lip where she had been bleeding earlier and wiped the remaining blood off. She could feel herself blush as he did so.

”Thanks.” When he said it sure didn’t look like nothing she turned away from him. Well of course it wasn’t nothing, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for her. The punishment just seemed to be a bit harder this time than most. She had to remember to try and hide the alcohol next time so her mother could not get that drunk again. It never worked though.

”I’m glad you came back. You are the only person I know besides my mother.” Now if that wasn’t embarrassing she wasn’t sure what was. But it was true. She didn’t have any friends nor any other family other than her mother. It was also quite surprising to her that her only friend was a man. She had been so cautious and wary around them before Erik and now here she was hugging him. But deep down she trusted Erik, even if they had only met a few times. He seemed like a good enough guy, so long as she never sung around him. That would be the end of any normal relationship for they always turned goofy after that.