Title: Cracked

Author: M. Ampersand

Summary: She's empty. She's fallen. She's trapped inside the space between heartbeats and can't get out again. So when a spring breeze waltzes into her life, Quinn clings to it hopeful desperation.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction using the characters from Glee, which I assume is owned by Fox and Ryan Murphy - I'm not exactly sure who, but I am absolutely positive that I myself do not own Glee or any of the characters included in this story, nor do I claim to have created any part of Glee whatsoever. This little endeavor is for entertainment purposes only - I am not profiting from this in any way.

ONE

"And, when our lives crack, and the loveliest mirror cracks,

is it not right to rest, to step aside and heal?"

~SYLVIA PLATH~

It was snowing outside - a snow more rain than anything, and that melted when it hit the window shield, streaming fat droplets that trailed tails like watery comets. Or dying fireworks. Or sperm.

...Huh. Such a Puck-like thought. Quinn shuddered and hugged her coat closer, downing a hot gulp of Chai tea before placing it back in the cup holder. She jammed her hands in the coat pockets and sunk down in the seat, absentmindedly tapping her foot on the gas pedal as she watched shoppers go by. She briefly contemplated saying hell to it all and plowing the car through row after row of parked vehicles. An image of the resulting carnage popped into her head, all twisted, hot metal and curling smoke and her there in the very center of it. Alive or dead?

She turned her head to the Giant Eagle entrance. No Judy yet. Lately, she'd been thinking dead. Or at least asleep. Asleep seemed the best she could do these days, after all the shit she'd been handed. She paused. Well, that and the shit she'd made for herself. It was hard sometimes to tell which steaming heap was bigger.

No Judy. Chances were she'd been caught up with some fellow parishioner, or the mom of one of Quinn's former Cheerio friends. Or one of Russell's friends. Quinn could picture her mother now - tight, too-bright smile and a dull, purposely vacant look to her eyes. Quinn wasn't dumb. She knew what Judy put up with in having her back - she'd seen the red velvet smiles, the pearl earrings and dyed curls and the always ever polite cruelty. She knew better than anyone else what Judy went through. (For her - but she wasn't ready to admit that yet. Not to herself or to anybody.) Quinn...could have sympathized. Perhaps. But Judy didn't talk about it. And so neither did she.

She sighed and bumped her head against the headrest. She bumped it again. Her foot continued tapping out patterns -somewhere along the way she'd subconsciously started to match the clackety-clack rhythm of creaky grocery cart wheels on asphalt. Duh-dut-kack-duh-dut, kack-dat-duh-dut...Out the window again. She studied the water droplets. If she looked closely enough, see, she could see upside-down reflections of the parking lot skyline. A hundred little skylines. All crooked and wrong side down. She followed them to the side, saw how the image changed with every droplet, segueing from skyline to rear bumper to car door to-

She unfocused her eyes. There in the car next to hers, dark brown hair and, uh, a rather distinct nose and two dark brown eyes looked her way. Unusually wide (but not unattractive) lips quirked in...a smile? Maybe. It was hard to tell. The eyes studied her intensely, glinting with what was probably amusement.

Quinn blinked once, startled, then felt herself turn bright red. She whipped her head around to pointedly focus forwards, fumbling beside her for the Chai tea. She nearly upended it on herself in her attempt to come off as casually sipping. Well. It might've still come off as casual. She waited a minute. (A minute exactly - she painstakingly watched the neon green numbers on the dashboard clock change from two-fifty-one to two-fifty-two.) She risked a small glance to the side.

Nothing. Positively nothing. The girl was oblivious, completely absorbed in an iPod Quinn hadn't seen the first time. Earbuds wound their way through the girl's hair and to her ears. I wonder what she's listening to. Quinn's hand itched for her own iPod, but it was on her dresser at home. Oh. Bummer. She slouched down even further, eyes now level with the tip of the steering wheel.

A young woman passed by with a small boy in tow. She didn't look that old, not much older than Quinn. A couple years, several at the most. Was the boy a younger cousin? A brother? Or maybe...Quinn's heart panged. Ow. Don't wanna think about that.

She watched them pass. Suddenly the boy stuck out his tongue. Without hesitation, the young woman stuck hers out too and they both tilted their heads back, going "Aaahhh!" and strolling forward, ducking their heads around in a crazy attempt to catch a few white snowflakes. The pang in Quinn's heart eased into a small, radiant warmth. She smiled and felt herself soften.

She glanced to the side. The brunette girl was watching the boy and woman too, her eyes warm, the barest glimpse of white teeth spread in a gentle smile. So she felt it too. The boy and woman rounded the bend, hidden by a row of cars. The girl turned. Quinn found herself once again briefly locked into that gaze, looking back at the girl the way so few people look at strangers, looking right into the center of the eyes.

Then they both quickly turned away. Quinn instinctively tried to slouch, but couldn't scooch down any further. She craned her neck, peering over the rows and rows of cars. No Judy...

Author's Note: To be honest, I have very little idea where this is going. Let's call it a little experiment, shall we? At the very least it can keep me from keeling over in boredom during school. This chapter is more of a prelude than anything - I hope to get some longer, more substance-filled chapters out before the muse flees and I'm left with a very unexciting, non-explosive, rather grey and porridge-like experiment. So. Look for another chapter within the week.

Also - thank you for reading!