FicWad

We sat in a small diner off the road. The place was fairly empty, only truckers and an old couple who were glaring at us around. We went unrecgonized.

The bell jingled behind Ray, Bob and Mikey, making me and Frank look up. A thin girl in tight pants and a baggy shirt walked in and looked around wairly.

On her bag was a hiker's bag. It was beaten and dirty, as if it hadn't stopped moving in months.

Her eyes lingered on us long enough for me to see that one was a light brown and the other was an icecap white-blue. I stared at her, mesmerized.

She was beautiful, really. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but it shined in the harsh light. Her shirt was dirty, her jeans were wet up to her knees and her shoes squished with every step she took to sit at the counter.

Frank was watching as intently as I was. "She's beautiful." He whispered in my ear. I nodded.

The guys were watching too. "Did you see her eyes?" I asked him softly. He nodded.

"Are they pretty or something?" Mikey whispered. I looked at him.

"Amazing." I breathed. Frank echoed my amazing with his own.

In thirty seconds, she'd gotten the attention of all of us. That took a lot of work most the time. Unless it was boobs or coffee, it took a while.

My fingers tingled as she spun in her chair a few times, a huge smile on her face. A small laugh came from her red lips as her pale cheeks brightened with color.

It made a small laugh escape my mouth. Her spinning stopped with her facing us. Her face fell and she glared at us.

Her different colored eyes made us all flinch with the intensely evil look. She stood and walked out quickly as the woman behind the counter set down a cup in front of her empty chair.

I slipped out of the booth and went after her. In the dark, it was harder to see her, but the dim light from the diner's windows gleamed against her hair.

"Wait!" I called to her. She froze, her outline going stiff. "I wasn't laughing at you." I said stupidly.

"Then what?" Her voice was as soft as the night breeze.

"I don't know. I think it was cause you were having so much fun." God I sound like an idiot.

"I was. But that doesn't mean you had the right to laugh." She turned to face me, her blue eye catching the light more than the brown.

"You have pretty eyes. They're so.....different." I smiled.

"Different? I'm a freak dude!" She nearly screamed. I flinched and went closer to her.

"You're not-" I started to say.

"Stop! You have no idea what it's like!" She cut me off. "I was born like this. Everyone where I'm from says this is a sign of the devil. They tried to kill me!" She ranted.

"I..... I'm sorry." I had no idea what to say. "Come back in? You can sit with us and we can talk." I held back a shiver.

After a long pause, she finally spoke. "Fine." She huffed, coming up to me. "I'm Astrid."

"Gerard." I murmured, walking back into the diner together. "This is Astrid guys." She sat next to me.

"Hi." The guys said shyly. I raised my eyebrows. A shiver ran down my spine as she shifted in the booth and the smell of river water and fresh cut grass.

"You smell good." Frank blurted from her other side.

"Thanks." Her face grew red. "So you wanted to talk?" She looked at me.

"I was wondering if you'd tell us your story." I said hopefully.

An odd look crossed her face. "It's a pretty long story."

"We have time." I said softly.

"Okay. I'll give you the super short version. I was born in a really really small town in Canada. And people think up there if you have different colored eyes that you were posessed by the devil or something.

So, up until I was five, my mom sent me to live with my uncle, who raped me. Then when she found out he went to jail and I went home with her until I was thirteen. People threw rocks and flicked holy water on me those eight years.

I ran away to my granma's, but she tried to snuff me out while I slept. So I had nowhere to go. I still don't. Honestly, I hope they're dead. All of them.

But, I've been running for about six years now. When it's cold, I'll sleep in train stations usually. Or bus stations.

Other than that, I don't stay in one place too long. The end." She looked down.

Tears gleamed in all our eyes. "Come with us." Mikey blurted. Astrid looked up.

"Yeah. You can live with us." Ray rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Please." Frank whispered. I nodded.

"I don't think so guys. A home and all that would be nice, but I like kinda like the freedom of being a runaway. Even though I'd be considered homeless now." She shrugged.

"You...." I started but realized I didn't know what to say. She looked at me with confused eyes.

"It's okay. Really." She smiled at me. "I've survived this long. You'd be surprised how little you need to live."

I felt like shit. We were complaining about being stuck on a bus again and here she was, sleeping on the ground or a sidewalk. For years now.

"If you're ever in Cali, look us up. Please. My Chemical Romance." Mikey said. We all nodded.

"We'll see. Can you get up, Gerard? I wanna leave." She said softly.

I stood and waited for her to get up. When she was in her feet, I hugged her.

"Be safe." I whispered to her. She hugged me back.

"As safe as I can be." She smiled and left.

"I think....we should go." Bob murmured. We all nodded.

Astrid haunted my thoughts for weeks after I met her. I wonder where she is now.....







Random one shot. I tried to write a smutty one a while ago, but it didn't go through or something. I don't know.

Either way, I'm gonna harrass ya again about Wichita's Hetalia day.

Again, if you want to come, let me know! It's comin up SOON!!!!

Anyway, R+R and all that. Contact me or comment or whatever you can do.

Hugs and Coral,
-Lala