AUTHORS NOTE: Thank you in advance for reading my story, please feel free to leave honest reviews.

Let me paint you a picture.

Central Park, minutes after sunset. The air is cold and grey. Every 20 steps or so, there's a dim light swarmed with moths, shining upon the green of spring. The crickets are chirping and the mosquitoes are buzzing past your ears and whizzing against your skin. There are thick bushes overgrown through a short chainlink fence. Near the bushes is a cold bench, and if you were there, that's where you could find me.

Can you see it? I could see it, but there were some things I couldn't see until I looked closer.

Earlier today, Lucas destroyed my heart. He didn't simply break it, he destroyed it. Shredded it and scarred it. Only someone skilled would ever be able to put those pieces back in their places.

He came home from Texas, and brought with him his ex. Or, should I say, his forgiven ex whom is now his girlfriend again.

I know we broke up years ago, but there was still unspoken feelings between us and we both knew it.

I could feel the tears stale on my cheeks. I had fled my room, in need of some air. And then I was on the bench. It should have been isolated, but it didn't feel it. I felt the eyes on my back, burning into my flesh and bones. Hell, I thought, I must be crazy. There's nobody here, not a soul.

But the feeling grew, and I was quite uncomfortable.

I twisted my body around to the bushes, but I couldn't see anything. Dear lord, I thought I was going insane.

But then the bush sneezed. Now, I know there is no such thing as a sneezing bush, so I knew there was someone in there. I looked closely and I could see pale fingers clenching the fence. By then I couldn't tell if the being was petrified or getting ready to attack. So, naturally, I fled.

They say curiosity killed the cat.

But, maybe I'm not the cat. Maybe I'm the human who found the poor cat and fixed it up a little bit. That's what I like to think. Because, when I went back, the cold fingers were still clinging to the old fence. But I could see eyes behind them, silvery in colour. They looked like fresh glass, peering out from the darkness.

I put on a brave face and crouched near the fence, watching as the previously mentioned fingers crawled back in fear. I froze, suddenly aware that the creature was just as scared as I was.

"Hey," My voice spilled out in a whisper. "What are you doing back there?"

A shaky voice stuttered back at me defensively. "I don't know you..."

"I don't know you either, but I know that normally I don't find people hiding in bushes at 11pm." I frowned, still attempting to make out the features of the human. All I could see we're the glassy eyes and some thick dark eyebrows.

"Are you here to laugh at me?"

"No, why would I-"

"Are you here to hurt me?"

"What... I would never-"

"Are you here to take me back?"

"Back...? Back to where?"

"Never mind... Why are you here?"

"I don't know, I... I just wanted to know if you're okay. And you don't seem okay, so please, tell me what's wrong. You can trust me, I promise."

"That's what they said last time..." The voice trailed off somewhere distant.

"Listen, you can trust me, I promise. I promise I have no negative intentions. I'm just a 15 year old girl, I've never done any harm to anyone in my life. I promise I'm not here to hurt you in any way. Please trust me."

And the most beautiful thing happened. They did. They trusted me. And I learned that they were actually she.

I helped her over the short fence, and sat her down in the bench, surveying her up and down. She was shaking. She didn't look good. And by that, I mean, condition-wise. In fact, she looked awful. Her faded blue jeans were almost in shreds. One leg of them was completely ripped, hanging on in the back by a few threads. The exposed leg was red and scratched from what looked to be at least 15 bug bites. Dried blood was visible, trailing from a source scrape on her knee. The other pant-leg wasn't even blue. It was dusty and brown, covered in dried up dirt.

Just from her legs I could tell she's been through too much.

Her shirt wasn't even torn up from what I could see... But that's probably because I couldn't see it.

I thought I better question later.

And I will question, I promise. But she's sleeping. I snuck her back home. I hope nobody smells the stench before I have time to get her cleaned up.