The future?

"Beansprout, wait up," called Charlie as she chased me along the prom outside our old school.1

I slowed down, but didn't stop. Charlie overtook me easily, then stopped in front of me, forcing me to stop as well. I kept a distance between us and folded my arms, squinting up into her face, which was framed by the setting sun.2

"My name is Josephine," I said icily by way of greeting.3

Charlie stepped forwards, and instictivly, I stepped back, keeping the distance between us. Charlie's hand, which had risen out to touch me, fell back down to her side.4

"Why do you keep running?" she asked me softly. I turned away from her, towards the sea.5

"Because I have no-one to stop me. Because I don't know any other way to get away form the pain, and because my heart is shattered, beond repair." I whisphered, to softly for anyone to hear me. I closed my eyes, and raised a hand to one of my necklaces, a leaving present from another friend. It was a purely instictive gesture, which I had developed over the years to remind myself that, at one point, I had had friends. My trecherous mind immediatly replied with the Harry Potter quote 'friends, who don't even write?'6

Charlie stepped up, next to me. I flinched, but stayed still.7

"Why don't you trust anyone?" she asked softly. I oped my eyes, but the view of the sea was obscured by tears.8

"I couldn't possibly imagine." I spat back at her, angry again, and annoyed at being angry with her. I set off back down the prom, towards my car, watching my shadow bob up and down as I walked, stretched out 10 feet in front of me.9

I felt Charlie's hand on my shoulder, trying to turn me around, but I merely shrugged out of the grip and carried on walking. Charlie grabbed my right arm, and forcefully pulled me around, so I was facing her again. I hissed in apin and tried to pull me arm out of her grasp, but the only result was that my jacket sleeve rode up a couple of inches, revealing a bandage, wrapped around my arm. Shocked, Charlie's grip slipped, and I pulled my arm out of her grasp, and pulled the sleeve down again.10

"Yes?" I asked icily as the silence stretched.11

"Are you... are they..." Charlie seemed to be searching for the right words to use.12

"No, I am not self harming," I answered her unspoken question evenly.13

The silence was skeptical. I raised my right arm, adn showed her the neat bandaging. "Could you do a bandage this well one-handed?" I asked scathingly. Charlie didn't look convinced. I sighed. "One of the assassins at Uni made a proper bomb, which took out a window." I said.14

Charlie nodded disbeleivingly. "Right."15

I sighed again. "The work was easy, so I joinded the assassins guild. My assassin had already been told off several times for using dangerous weapons." I explained more fully.16

Charlie looked slightly less disbeleiving. "How come you never told me?" she asked.17

I couldn't help it, I snorted. "I couldn't possibly imagine." I replied, sarcastically.18

Charlie looked confused. "I stopped emailing you about three years ago, apart for birthday and christmas. And you wonder why I didn't tell you that I've joined an assassins guild?" I laughed hollowly. "Hate to break it to you Charlie, but it takes two to make a friendship work." Charlie still looked confused. "Charlie, you broke my heart." Dimly, through my tears, I could see her open her mouth to respond, and I held up my hand to stop her. "Not all in one go, like Jenny, but you still broke my heart. In pieces. In the beginning, I made excuses for you. You had school work, you were on holiday, but eventually, I had to accept that you just didn't care." Charlie opened her mouth again, but I hadn't finished. "Do you have any idea how many emails I've sent you?" Dumbly, Charlie shook her head, I could just see the movement through my tears. "27. Of which 25 were asking you about your life, all of them asked how you were and 15 reminded you to read the Moonlight Warriors. Oh yeah, and 10 of them asked when you wanted to come over." I shook my head, and turned around to walk back to my car. "At least Jenny told me." I said quietly