Audrey was depressed.
It wasn't the normal sadness that often passed over her. The one that would disappear the instant she was distracted. Nor was it the sadness that was only there for a few days, then disappeared again as the emotions began to seem trivial.
No, this was a severe depression, one that had kept Audrey locked in the house for days.
It was silly, really, what simple things held her in this sadness. The simple things that kept her in her room, crying her eyes out. The simple things that kept her from answering her phone.
The stupidest things.
She often tried to tell herself this. She couldn't be upset about such childish things. She wasn't a child anymore. She was twenty-one, not eight. She had to stop being so upset about such trivial, stupid, silly, childish things!
She had to stop wishing for the impossible.
But this trivial, stupid, silly, childish thing had kept her inside the house despite her more reasonable arguments. It kept her upset and hurt for days, despite how hard she tried to force loud, fast music into her brain. No matter how many fast-paced, non-depressing songs she listened to, no matter how many brain-numbing movies and TV shows she watched, no matter how many books she read, Audrey was still incredibly depressed.
Because she wasn't special.
Get over it! She tried to tell herself. Not everyone is special, no one is! You're a normal person; you always have been and always will be! There is no such thing as superheroes, or aliens, or mutants! You are normal, and you always will be!
Audrey burst into fresh tears.
No, she wasn't special. She was a normal woman, one who needed to get over these childish fantasies and quickly. Life had no use for such trivial things.
She tried to brush off the tears. These thoughts had plagued her since she was a child, and now they only seemed worse, despite her hopes (And parental reassurances) that it would get so much better as she 'matured.'
She could never be special, not in the way she wanted. Not the superhero kind of way. Not the abnormal kind of way. Not the alien kind of way.
She just didn't want to be human.
Was that so wrong?
Unfortunately, Audrey was born average, a normal human with a normal life. Normal and boring.
And she would give almost anything to change that.
She had barely heard the knocking on the door until it had become a loud pounding. A screeching voice accompanied it.
"Audrey Erickson, if you don't open this door, so help me, I'll take every single one of your old comic books and burn them!"
Audrey sighed and rolled her eyes. "Go ahead!" she called back. "Why not? Toss a thousand bucks down the drain!"
The voice paused. "Please, Audrey, you can't stay like this!"
"Why not?"
"Because it's not fair to everyone else, and it's not fair to you. Please open the door."
Audrey glared at the door for a moment, then stood up from the couch. "All right, all right. I'm coming."
Silence.
Audrey opened the door to reveal a red-headed woman with bright eyes and a stern expression on her face. Her brown eyes were narrowed, her hands placed on her hips. "Well?" She demanded.
"Well what?"
"You know what, Audrey, don't play games with me." Her lips pursed as though she'd swallowed something sour. "What's wrong?"
Audrey tried to blow it off, waving her hand in annoyance. "Nothing, DJ. Nothing at all."
Dorothy Jackson (DJ to her friends, as, along with her initials, that had been her dream job since she was in the cradle) bit her lip, an annoyed expression on her face. "Don't lie to me."
Audrey rolled her eyes. "I'm just… a little tired."
"Oh, yes. You're so tired that you've had to lock yourself in your house for five days." DJ snorted. "I'll say it again. Don't lie to me."
Audrey sighed. "It's personal. Let it go."
DJ looked at her friend for a long time. "You have to stop living in your childhood, Audrey." She said kindly.
Audrey glowered at her friend. DJ had a way of knowing exactly what you were thinking, even when you tried desperately to keep it from her.
She sighed. "Look. There's going to be a party tomorrow. Everyone's invited, including you if you'd bother to go to your mailbox and check. I want you to come. It'll get your mind off things; get you out of this… depression."
Audrey looked at her for a long time. Finally, she sighed and nodded. "All right. I'll go."
DJ's eyes lit up. "Great!"
"But you're going to have to give me a ride."
DJ grinned. "No problem. See you tomorrow?"
Audrey rolled her eyes, but it was impossible not to smile when DJ was. It was so contagious.
DJ raced off to her car, and Audrey was left alone once more.
If the party was meant to be a distraction, it failed miserably.
Audrey sat at a table, completely alone. Music boomed around her, causing her ribs to vibrate with the pounding beat. Her heart timed itself with the music as it seeped into her, seeming to draw her in, make her a part of it.
But that wasn't all. Laughter rang around her. People had to shout to make themselves heard. Everyone was talking, laughing, and having fun.
It was the kind of party designed to last all night. There were more than a hundred people there, so at least a few of them would be willing to stay until the sun rose. It had been at least an hour before food was brought out, and deserts had to wait for another hour after that. Then the lights started flashing and people started dancing; the music was turned up even further.
DJ, of course, was doing what she did best. Directing music, knowing exactly what to play and when, how loud to turn up the music, and so on.
But she'd left Audrey there alone.
Audrey couldn't really complain. There was no reason. DJ had to do what she had to do. She couldn't get mad about that.
She barely touched the food; she simply wasn't hungry enough. The music was starting to give her a headache. Irritated and really tired, she stood and started walking away. There was a small area behind the house that she'd seen when she'd first come. It looked like a nice enough place to explore, so that's what she did.
The music grew more and more distant as she walked along the path. It was short enough, so the music was never really canceled out. The path beneath her feet was just a simple patch of dirt, with tire tracks embedded in it.
It wasn't long (barely a few minutes) before she came to a proper road, one that crossed horizontally in front of her. The sun had yet to sink, and there was a faint drizzle of rain, so she could see, in the distance, a very faint rainbow. She smiled softly.
She looked at the road. No cars in sight. She could just cross it, and leave the party for hours. No one would ever know.
She looked beyond the road. There were old and unused cars and trucks, along with a couple tractors, across it. Following that were rows upon perfect rows of orange trees. Past those were hills, covered in dead grass that, from the distance, looked strangely beautiful.
She thought about it for a long time. For some reason, she really wanted to go, to leave this place forever.
She closed her eyes.
"Enjoying the view?"
She jumped, her heart skipping a beat. She whirled around to face the speaker.
He was a tall man, with dark eyes and a strange smile on his face. He had thick hair, falling halfway into his eyes.
She kept looking at him until finally realizing he was expecting an answer. "It's just a road." She replied.
He smiled. "To some." He came up next to her.
She raised an eyebrow, wondering if this man was really just friendly or actually drunk.
He extended a hand. "My name is Jake."
She shook it. "Audrey."
He smiled. "Care to sit down?"
She rolled her eyes. "In the dirt?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Too much of a princess for that?"
She snorted and sat down. "If there's one thing I'm not, it's a princess."
It was true. Audrey had never given into the whole 'princess' idea, even when she was little. No, it had always been 'superhero' or 'alien.' Once, it was 'mutant escapee from Lab 69', whatever that meant.
Jake grinned and sat down next to her. They sat in silence for a long time. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence; more like the silence between two old friends, just glad that the other was there. It almost seemed that way with this man. It was as though she'd known him her whole life.
He looked at her after a moment. "What are you thinking?" He asked.
She sighed. "Nothing."
He smiled. "That's hardly likely."
She smiled and looked back at him. "All right. I'm wondering what the world would be like if people had superpowers."
She waited for the inevitable laughter. She'd said it like a joke, though to her it seemed like a crime that it wasn't real, that it wasn't true.
But he just eyed her thoughtfully. "And would the world be better with them?"
She nodded. "Of course!"
He raised an eyebrow. "But, what if everyone had them. Wouldn't that be boring?"
She chewed her lip. She hadn't thought about that. Finally, she decided. "No. I just think it would be fun to have them. To be…"
"Different?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Then what?"
She looked down, avoiding his piercing gaze. "You're going to laugh."
"Try me." His voice was so serious. She looked back at him, into his eyes which were locked on hers, burning intensely.
"Well… not… not human, ok?" She blurted out the words, then blushed.
He didn't laugh.
He looked thoughtful, almost like…
Like he was taking her seriously.
"Maybe…" He said at last. "Maybe it would be better." His dark, almost black eyes locked on hers.
She sighed. "I don't know. Sometimes I just really wish I wasn't human, that I was special."
He smiled softly. "So that's it? You want to be special?"
She sighed, placing her chin in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees, which were slightly raised from the ground. "I guess."
He smiled again, that strange smile she'd seen when she first met him. "Why didn't you say so?"
Before she could say anything else, he had his lips pressed against hers.
She lashed out, shoving him backwards, slamming her fists into his chest. She cried out as she broke away at last, on her feet in a split-second.
"What are you playing at…?" she hissed.
But she was talking to thin air. Jake was gone.
She wiped her hand across her lips, annoyed more with herself than anyone else. "Brilliant." She muttered. "Absolutely brilliant, Audrey. You walked right into that one."
Her previous thought that Jake was probably drunk now held no doubt.
She glared at thin air, as though he was still standing there, smirking at her. She was blushing; she could feel her cheeks and ears burning with embarrassment. She'd effectively poured out her dreams to a man who was completely drunk.
Irritation flashed through her as she slowly made her way back to the party, biting her lip as, for some unfathomable reason, it started to burn slightly.
Jake looked out from the shadows. He smiled as he noticed her biting her lip.
"Oh, Audrey Erickson." He whispered. "You have no idea how truly special you are."
And he disappeared into the shadows.