God it hurt... Adri could already feel the bruises on her back... And her shoulder hurt like hell, only dulled by the freezing weather. But that wasn't the only pain.... Her whole body ached... hurt with the pain. By staying away last night... She'd really only made things worse for herself. Only gotten hurt worse than she would have last night.

Usually Allen wasn't so bad... Usually he didn't hurt her... didn't hit her. But he had... He'd beaten her until she cried for him to stop... But... But it was the first time he didn't rape her... But... But the rape would have been better... Wouldn't have hurt her nearly as much...

The tears fell silently. She didn't usually cry unless... Unless it was what her 'brother'... or her 'father' wanted. Besides... They hurt now... When it was so cold out. They stung her eyes, her face....

It was nearly two in the morning, but she couldn't stay there anymore. She just couldn't. She had to get out of that damn house.

Wiping furiously at the tears Adri sat on a bench. She couldn't cry... She couldn't just... Just let them hurt her... She had to ignore it... Had to pretend it wasn't happening... She remembered what her 'mother' said when she was little when she had nightmares.

Just count to ten... Close your eyes and count to ten... And when you open your eyes... Everything will be better again.

It was all she knew... All she could hold on to anymore. Curling up on the bench she closed her eyes tight, shivering against the cold, the tears stinging her cheek. "One...." She whispered quietly. "Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine......"

Alexa was walking back home for a night outside, usually she wouldn't have strayed out at night, but she felt more confident now, not a little mouse looking for a place to hide away from the predators that lived at night. Her ears caught the sounds of someone crying. Curious as to who would be out her in the cold on a night such as this made her want to go look, yet she was cautious all the same. After all, it could be a trap.

She saw the girl and she seemed hunched over in pain. Alexa's generous heart reached out to her, despite her cautious nature of late. The girl wasn't properly dressed for a night like tonight. It was well below freezing and it would do nothing for the girl to freeze out here.

She took a few steps closer and watched her closely. "Is everything alright? Do you need help with anything?" Alexa was generous and lived to want to help others.

"Ten...." She whispered between shivering lips.

Hearing a voice, she opened her eyes, a woman... She couldn't really say how old but not really old at all.

She pushed herself up, wincing in pain but wiping the tears from her eyes. God she hated crying...

"Uh... Yeah... I'm okay. I.. I just needed some fresh air is all... Needed to get out." She said softly. And that was the truth after all. She was okay... She'd taken a shower and dried off... She'd even eaten something... She just couldn't stay in the house a moment more when she left.

She reached into her pocket to grab her cigarettes... But they weren't there... She'd put them in the pocket of her other hoodie... Damnit... Oh well though. She'd already had her three cigarettes for the day anyway... She knew she shouldn't have anymore.

"Uh... You wouldn't happen to have a cigarette I could have would you?" She asked almost hopefully.

Alexa was good at reading people, could tell when they were down. The girl here was not alright, despite what she said. She could perhaps lie to herself and believe it, yet Alexa knew that it was all a lie. She had tried lying to herself when she had been attacked by that vampire and it hadn't helped at all, it had only made it worse.

Alexa watched as she went through her pockets quickly looking for what she found out was cigarettes. Involuntarily Alexa wrinkled her nose, she didn't have any appreciation for cigarettes, besides she thought that it was an awful habit, but quickly her face smoothed out. "I'm afraid not, I don't smoke. I find that it would be a waste of the money that I need."

She knew that she had to get the girl out of the cold. "How about we head to a coffee shop and I'll get you anything that you want and we can get out of the cold." She shifted her shoulder bag, readjusting the weight of the books in her bag. Exam period was a pain.

"Oh... Well... I don't pay cash for them... So I never really noticed..." She said with a little shrug. She'd caught the wrinkled nose, and knew that the woman didn't care for it much.

"But that's okay... I probably shouldn't have another anyway..." She said off-handedly. As if to prove her point and reassure her that it was a good thing, Adri coughed hard. The cold air hurting her throat. It was from a cold.... But still. It always reminded her of what could be if she keeps smoking.

"I... It just helps with things... Other wise I wouldn't." She shrugged.

"Coffee? I... Uh, okay I guess... Better than going home anyway." She frowned as she saw the backpack. Was she a University student? She was too old for high school. But she looked almost too old for college. Maybe she was a graduate student?

Ah... Something she would never be... She'd accepted long ago that she wasn't going to be going anywhere. Allen was the golden child... She was the red-headed step child... Well adopted whatever. They would tell her that she'd only ever be what her mother was... A whore, a druggie and a dredge on society. She wouldn't become that... But now... Now what could she do?

"I don't like coffee... But tea is okay." She said with a soft smile.

Alexa smiled. "I don't think that I have to tell you that they are bad for you, something tells me that you already know." Alexa had a love for the world around her, not only for the plants and animals that she strove to protect with protests, but also the humans that seemed to destroy a planet that they needed more than they seemed to realize.

"Well come on then, I'll get you a tea and a hot chocolate for myself, it isn't far and we could sit down for a bit and we could chat and at least be warm." Alexa kept the smile on her face. One way to make others happy was to sometimes be happy yourself. Though Alexa knew that something in the girl's life had taken a turn that she had not anticipated.

She held a hand out to the girl fixing the bag again. "I'm Alexa." The least she could do is give the girl her name. After all it would only be fair, that the person that was buying you a drink would give a name.

"Yeah... I know... I mean I see all the ads and I've been told a lot... But well... It helps to calm me. I try to only have a few a day... It's just... Well..." She bit her lip slightly. "It's just been a rough day I guess."

She was working on a plan to get out of this damn life... But it would take time.

"But yeah. That sounds like a plan." She said with a smile. "And well... Warm would be good. It's a bit colder out here than I expected." She said as if it really didn't matter. And in a way it didn't.

"I'm Adri..." She said shaking the woman's hand lightly. "So Uh... you know of a place this late at night?" This could be a good thing, if she ever needed to get out late again. "It's an actual coffee place right? Not a club or something like that?" She asked curiously. After all, a club probably wouldn't let her in. But a coffee house...

Was there a curfew? She didn't know... But she might be able to pass as eighteen. Jack at the club she'd gone to believed her anyway.

Alexa smiled. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Adri." She continued to smile at the comment about the coffee shop being still open. "The closer you are to the University campus the more of a chance there is for a coffee place of some sort to be open. Most university students live on coffee and can't survive without it. It depends mostly on the workload we have but coffee or some sort of caffeine is almost a necessity. i prefer hot chocolate, has all the sugar I need."

She led the way and soon enough they approached a Second Cup. It was open until two in the morning and inside there were student inside talking and cramming for exams. Alexa opened the door and led Adri to the counter. "What kind of tea would you like?"

"Oh... Well I guess that would make sense." She gave a little smile, as if she knew something about college life. Most kids her age did anyway... But of course she was completely clueless.

Smiling she stuck her hands in her pockets, it was almost hard to feel her fingertips now. But she'd be fine soon enough. And at least the cold dulled the pain, dulled the sharp spasms in her back. The inability to move her shoulder wasn't from the pain, but from the cold.

"Uh... Just green tea if they have it..." She said with a smile.

And well, even though it was one thirty in the morning, there were still several people there. It was almost stunning, some even looked younger than her. She... She could blend in here. And if she did get caught for a curfew or something, she could say she was a student at the University.

"That's okay right?"

Alexa had a strange feeling that the girl knew nothing of university life, like she had never been and it wasn't all that weird, but Abri by now would have applied to university and chosen, if she was in University or at least knowing about the life that would come ahead. She didn't question the poor girl and let her be.

She smiled as she turned to order. "One medium green tea and one medium hot chocolate." She chatted a bit with the cashier as they both complained about exams and then she paid the cashier and then passed Adri the green tea and held her own hot chocolate. She looked around the coffee shop and pointed to a corner of the room. "We can sit over there." It was a little secluded and would allow for a bit of privacy for both of them.

She took her shoulder bag off and sighed in relief. It was very heavy and she was glad to have it off her shoulder. She slid into the seat and rotated her shoulder to help ease the stiff muscle. She then took off her chocolate brown coat and sipped her hot chocolate with a soft sigh.

Medium? A small would have been fine... But the cashier and Alexa seemed to be talking, so she wouldn't interrupt. Besides, why insult an offer?

Taking the drink she pressed her hands around it, greedy for the warmth. Yeah it burned, but it was better than freezing.

"Oh, yeah." She nodded following Alexa to the booth.

"So... You go to the University?" She asked, blowing at the hot tea. "What do you study?" She should at least pretend to be curious, but secretly she was jealous of the students... A Life... An opportunity that she would never have in her life. "I mean... You look a bit older than twenty-one... If you don't mind me saying that of course."

Alexa smiled and answered the girl that was obviously curious. "Yes I do go to the university and I'm 25. It took me a little to while to decide exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I finally settled for Environmental sciences with a minor in botany. I really feel like I belong their and a good thing about my degree is that I'll be able to work for the government."

She didn't know if she actually wanted to do that, yet it was a better plan that most and she would love to be able to help stop green house gases. She could also become part of one of those extreme groups. She'd have to see and decide what she would do. "Why do you ask, simply curious or is it something else..."

"Government huh?" She said with a curious look, sipping at her drink. She knew that there were so many paths in life... But all the ones on the high road had been barred... Given tolls that she would never be able to pay.

College... She wasn't smart enough, wasn't rich or athletic enough. Her parents didn't want to give her a shot because she wasn't smart and she couldn't hold her own... She wasn't smart enough to... Well to get anywhere in this world.

"You're lucky... I mean... To at least be able to go to college and all." She said with a smile. The only problem with the warmth now was that the pain was coming back... She had to hunch over to fight it off. "And well... You at least know what you want to do with your life." And she had something that she could do and be proud of. Her nearest future was that of a stripper. Hardly commendable, but better than what she was now.

But it was a future, when before she had none.

"Just curious of course... I might be applying there soon..." She lied before taking another sip of her tea, luckily she didn't have to use her arm too much.

Alexa watched Abri with concern. There was something wrong, she could tell and Alexa wanted to help. There was envy in her eyes, but it was more like she wanted to do what Alexa could and if she was in high school, she should be fully able to apply without a problem.

Alexa didn't voice her concerns it really wasn't any of her business, but she felt a sort of sympathy for her. "It took me a while to finally figure out what I wanted, but now that I know what I want, I can do whatever I feel fit with it." Alexa eyes didn't leave the girl's face and to some the intensity of pale gray eyes could be disturbing. "What do you want to do, later in your life, any ideas?"

She was being lied to, she could always tell when one lied to her and Adri was lying to her. It annoyed her, but then again, Adri barely knew her and some people had difficult lives, really difficult.

"Ideas? No... I really don't. I mean... I probably won't even get accepted into DU." She muttered. "And even if I do, I'd only be able to take whatever classes I can pay for..." Which was approximately zero and even less if she got books.

"I.... Well... I really don't have any strengths... There's really nothing I can do too well, even if I try." Adri said, staring at her tea. She wasn't even sure id she could dance, but she was going to try. It was the light at the end of the tunnel and she only hoped that it wasn't the oncoming train.

Hunched over, staring darkly at her tea, she looked very much now what she really was. A scared child... One who was desperate for something... Anything.

"The only thing I know I really want to do... Is to get out of this city. I hate it. I hate this place more than anything and I just want to leave. You know?" Her eyes flicked up to Alexa for a moment. "Just leave everything behind and try to start a new life somewhere and forget about everything that ever happened here." But a little voice in the back of her mind said that she would never be able to... She would never be able to leave Demaitre.

"Why would say that? You're selling yourself short. Give yourself a little more credit." Alexa was one to think that if you worked hard enough you could pretty much anything you wanted. All you had to do was to believe in yourself, Alexa had enough of belief for two and she would try to share it with this girl, hoping that she transmit some of it.

Alexa frowned and then her face lit up with a smile. "Then we will have to find what it is you are good at. We can do it by a process of elimination, you might have a hidden talent." Alexa looked her over critically, it was difficult to tell what she looked like under all the baggy clothes. "Is there something that you might want to do in the near future."

Alexa placed her hand on Adri's hand. "Everything is possible. Sometimes you simply need to fight a little harder or find another way to reach the goal you are looking for. Life wasn't meant to be easy, but I'm sure that you can find a way to make it fit with whoever who want to be."

She laughed shortly, but the movement made her nearly wince with pain. "No... I'm not really selling myself short Alexa. I wish I were. But I'm not smart, I can barely keep my grades above a D. It's too late for me to get into any... competitive sport for a scholarship like my brother." She shook her head slightly and tried to move her back a bit, but that only hurt.

The same with her shoulder too.

"He's already been accepted by DU. And all my parents have to pay for is room and board and books. He's the golden child. Not me." She gave a hollow smile.

Yeah, life wasn't supposed to be easy, but was it really supposed to be this hard? The very people who were supposed to be helping her... Were just tearing her apart bit by bit.

"Like I said I just want to get out of here. I'm only applying to DU because my parents are making me. I know I'm not going to get in. I'll just send in my application, and I'll get a rejection letter that they can wave around in my face. That's all they want..." She muttered softly before sipping at her tea again. Her parents only wanted her to fail in everything she did it seemed. Or at least her father did. Her mother just didn't give a damn anymore. It was like she wasn't even there.

"The only reason why I can't leave now is because I really will end up as nothing..."

Alexa watched her and sighed almost regretfully. She must have awful parents that they didn't care about her. "How about I help you? I can tutor you for free, I'm good in any of the science subjects, including math, and we could meet at a coffee shop. I wouldn't mind helping you out." There was something that she could offer, she wanted to help this girl and enable her to have a better life than the one that she seemed to see for herself.

Alexa could hear the despair and she was a bit at a lost. She had never really been at a lost. She had always been a smart, only child with supportive parents. Now though she didn't even speak with her parents and she knew that they tried to reach her. The countless e-mails told her so. If it hadn't been for their almost fanaticism with PETA, they would probably still be talking.

She leaned in towards Adri. "Everyone is good at something and I think that we can find something that you are good at. We simply have to find it." Alexa smiled. "What is it you would do later?" She hoped that it was something that she could help with.

Adri held back a heavy sigh at the offer it was nice, but it seemed like the woman didn't know a lost cause when she saw one.

She moved to sit back against the booth, but her back was still tender, and she winced as she sat back up. "But that's just it Alexa... I... I don't really know what I want to do later. I've never thought about it." She said simply. She never thought about the future because it was too fluid. Too many things could happen to destroy a dream that it seemed pointless to even have them.

"I guess because things are so uncertain... I've just never thought about anything." She gave a little shrug. And what could she do with a high school diploma and nothing more? "Maybe I'll join the Army or something..." She said casually as she sipped at her tea. But that was just the first thing that popped in her mind.

And well... As she reflected on it, it didn't seen too bad. It was something she could find a career in. It would get her away from this hell hole. She could find a niche for herself and they could pay for college eventually.

"But I don't really know..."

To Alexa there were no lost causes, simply people that needed a boost and a push in the right directions. "Start thinking then. Try to find out what you like to do. As a child wasn't there something that you dreamed of being and that you were that when you played dress up. As child I wanted to be what my parents were, a defender for animal rights. Now I don't believe that, so instead I want to promote animal welfare and protection of the environment. That's why I'm at University."

Alexa wanted Adri to find something that she liked, there had to be something that would attract Adri's attention. At the mention of the army, Alexa wrinkled her nose and took a sip of the hot chocolate that she had ordered. "No offense but I'm against war. those big tanks and airplanes, pollute the world more. Not only that but we destroy each other in a sometimes pointless war and that shows me that human race is going to destroy itself." She thought that humans were total idiots, they took advantage of everything they had and that included loving Mother Nature.

You couldn't truly blame her, she was a pacifist and tree loving person. She despised to see destruction being done to the world and thought that there were better things that people could do with their time, as in promoting peace instead of destruction. "Besides the idea of the army doesn't seem to make you all that enthusiastic. If you are going to do something, put her heart into it and find something that will truly make you happy.

Adri frowned, partly because the pain was coming back and she couldn't get comfortable, and partly because it was obvious that this girl was an idealist.... There was nothing wrong with hoping for the best, but it was like she wouldn't accept that some people just didn't go anywhere.

Someone had to ask 'do you want fries with that' after all right?

"The world isn't just sunshine and rainbows Alexa..." She said softly. "You should count yourself lucky you have what you do... That you've never had to deal with the darker side of life." She said simply. "I never played dress up. No one's ever asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. No one's ever really cared about my future or tied to steer me the right direction."

She sighed slightly, looking down from Alexa to her tea. "Some people just don't have a future. Some people just don't go anywhere. And as cruel as it may sound, you have to accept it... There are things that you can't change. No matter how much you may want to."

Alexa frowned and she was hurt. Life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows? No shit, she could have told Adri that, but sometimes you have to hope for something better. After all, there were directions of life that were hidden from view, that you had to find. "I know that it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Do you take me for an idiot? What i would like to know is why you don't want help. After all I'm offering. I'm offering to give a possibility to escape a life that you deem dark and i won't say it isn't, but how can someone help you, if you won't help yourself."

Alexa leaned across the table and titled Adri's head so that their eyes met. Her gray eyes were hard, but it was only to try to get a point across. "Everyone has a future no matter what anyone says. You have to believe in yourself Adri. No one is going to do it for you. Only you can do that and if you won't do it, that you will be stuck in the hell hole of life." Harsh, yes, but it seemed that it might be the only way to get Adri to move and try to better her life.

Alexa could see the wince and the way she continued to shift and she knew that it had nothing to do with her own words. "Do you know what the problem is? People have put you down for so long, that now you believe them. Stop believing them and prove them wrong. You are stronger than their words and their lies."

"Idiot, idealist... Well they're about the same." She said with a light shrug, her shoulder aching slightly. "Idealists just might not know better. Idiots believe despite everything they've seen in the world. That's why I would call you an idealist rather than an idiot."

And the reason why she couldn't help herself was because there was nothing she could do. "I've tried to change things, but it just doesn't work. I'm a kid. No one believes what I tell them and even if they do, they believe other people more." Her father, her brother... Her brother was the star of the high school. Her father was a well to do Bank Manager... No one would believe her when put beside them. No one had so far anyway.

Her hands clutched at the tea as Alexa spoke about not listening to people who put her down. "What do you know? What could you possibly know about me?" She whispered softly, keeping her frustrations and anger at bay. "I've tried so hard to prove them wrong... I have. I've worked hard to try and get good grades, to do well in school or sports or something... But I just can't Alexa."

She'd studied for a chemistry test for a week. She studied every chance she got and even had another girl from her class turtor her, but when it came time for the test, she had failed it miserably even though she thought she'd done well. She had walked out with a good feeling, but when she got the test back, she had nearly broke down in tears.

"It's like there's a wall or something... Something that just won't let me get pass as certain point and nothing I do helps. I've had help from teachers, other students. I study and study for tests, but I never get anywhere."

Alexa watched her and she could see the anger and the pain in her eyes. There was something about her that pulled her in. The girl seemed in a lot of pain and was trying to show no one. "Someone has hurt you. I can see it every time you shift and every time you try to get comfortable." Alexa was observant and she missed nothing. Her clear colour eyes catching even the remote moving of a twitch or a shift caught her attention.

Someone had said that she wasn't good enough and she had tried to prove them wrong. "Then perhaps school isn't for you. You are a smart person, but not everyone is school smart. I'm one of those school smart, perhaps you are a manual person. A person who is better with her hands. There are other ways for you to show your worth." How was she suppose to convince her to show that school wasn't the only thing that mattered. "Perhaps I can figure out why you can't learn the way everyone else does? Give me a chance to try. I might find a way that no one else tried." She wanted to help her, she really did.

"So what?" She said simply. "It's not like anyone really cares." She said with a frown. "Besides. I'm fine... It's nothing." She lied. But the woman was right. She couldn't sit back against the booth... She hated to think of what it would be like to try and sleep as she slept mostly on her back....

"Like what? I don't have any talents... I can't do anything Alexa, I've told you. Why are you so insistent that I have some hidden talent that will supposedly make people proud of me? What could I have possibly not noticed for... sixteen years?" And how would it possibly set her free?

She might be good at dancing... She hadn't really even tried yet. Isabelle was offering her a while new world. Maybe not as honorable as college, or whatever. But she could make money. She could maybe get herself emancipated and... And eventually she would be free.

"Alexa... I... I'm sorry to seem so stubborn... But I can't seem to see anything that you can. I just can't." She murmured, staring at her cup that was nearly empty. "I've never been able to do anything to make anyone happy. Not even to make me happy. I've always just.... Been." She gave a little shrug. "It's worked so far... It just needs to last a little longer."

Alexa sighed, exasperated. "Everyone has a a talent, no matter how small it is it can help you make your way into the world. Perhaps you haven't found it yet. Some talents are more obscure than others." Hell, for all Alexa knows perhaps she had a knack for a musical instrument. It was going to be interesting to see if that was the case.

"Alright." She eyed the girl almost critically, then came up with an idea of sorts. "Is there anything that you might consider trying no matter how different it might sound? Anything at all? I want to help, but I can't if you don't give me anything to help you with." She didn't know why she wanted to help this girl, but she truly wanted to and nothing was going to change that, yet Adri wasn't being helpful.

Adri just shrugged as Alexa asked about things she wanted to try.

"I don't know.... I've never thought about it, I've never even.... Well I'm... I mean I'm sure you can guess." She gave a little shrug.

She wasn't exactly deprived as a child, but she hadn't had a number of experiences that were memorable and gave her guidance. "I don't really have an idea of anything... I don't have any clue what I want out of life...." She murmured.

With the warmth and the sitting position her back was beginning to throb again. Shifting once more she bit her lip. "I... I should probably be going now... It's really late, and I'll be in big trouble if anyone finds out I'm gone..."

Alexa frowned thoughtfully, it was a puzzle and she loved puzzles, she would help Adri figure it out. "Well then perhaps we should figure out what you don't like and do it the other way. Maybe that's the better idea. There has to be something you hate or dislike greatly. We can eliminate that from the lists of possible job ideas." They had to start somewhere and if they had to go backward so be it.

Alexa glanced at her watch and almost swore. She had an exam tomorrow and she had to either get to bed and catch a few hours or spent the rest of the night drinking energy drinks and bring said drinks with her to the exams. "I wouldn't want you to be late, besides I have to get some sleep, if I'm going to pass my exam. I'm ready but I could use some shut eye or I'll have trouble answering." She finished her tea in one gulp.

It wasn't a puzzle... It wasn't a game... It was nothing. Her life was nothing and wouldn't ever come out to anything. Just like her mother... Her real mother.

"Well... I'd be more concerned about doing what you have to do. No need to worry about me." After all, they really didn't care if she was out, just if she got caught... That would give them excuse enough in their mind to 'punish' her. "I mean you're actually doing something important with your life after all." Yeah, she knew the value of her life well. Alexa would go on to be important in other people's lives, she would do big things, at least in her life.

"Well... Good luck then." She said forcing a smile to hide a grimace of pain as she stood. "Good night."

Alexa shrugged with a sad smile. "I can't help it, if I feel sympathetic for someone who is clearly in distress. I only wanted to help." Alexa was empathic, which meant that she felt what the other was feeling and it reflected on her. It wasn't a power like telepathy or telekinesis, but it was something that she simply felt in her gut. She felt truly sorry that she couldn't help the girl out more.

"Everybody has a part to play in the world no matter how insignificant it might be. Without that part, the entire world would turn to chaos. But if you have to go, I understand." She let out a soft sigh, passing a hand through her black mane. "Good night Adri." She hoped to anybody who would be listening in the sky above that fate would be kind to her.