This is full of clichés, but nearly everything's full of clichés these days so...
I've been working on this more than Loucetios because this frankly has a more casual style for me to write and I'm also a lazy twat but anyway enjoy these two and their various faults.

L

The next few days were filled with the most boring lessons I ever had the misfortune to be in, and the freaks I had to sit next to made it worse. It was like they were calling me a dog by putting me with all these mutts. The summer heat made it worse, sweat coating every inch of skin whether it was in the sun or out of it, and the air-conditioning in the rooms made me wish for a jumper.

Friday afternoon. I had stuffed all my books into my bag and was standing in the hallway trying to hoist it up onto my shoulders. It felt like it was filled with lead bars.

"Need help?" a voice asked behind me.

"No," I said sharply, staring at the floor instead of his missing eye.

"Mate, that bag weighs a ton-"

"Get the hell away from me," I snapped, spinning around to face him. He looked slightly shocked, served him right though.

"Alright, alright," he said, walking away. "But my locker's next to yours."

I said nothing, and after swinging my bag onto my shoulders and nearly breaking my back I headed out of the grounds.

The sweltering heat seared my skin, and the roads had partially melted. Sweat beaded on my face as I trudged down the cracked footpath.

I missed Rin. Why couldn't we have stayed together? At least we knew each other, as family, even if she was only a little better than the freaks I had to deal with. But Dad had to take her away…

The divorce was their fault, and their fault alone, but guilt kept wracking me even though there was no reason for it. Maybe if I had said something, instead of staying silent when the yelling started.

Rin had yelled too, shrieked, screamed her rage at them, but they didn't listen to her. They should have. Maybe if I was like her they wouldn't have split…maybe if I was a freak they would have stayed together…

But freaks cause nothing but more problems, and that was the last thing I wanted. What I did want, I couldn't have. Not anymore.

Footsteps behind me jolted me out of the reverie, and I turned to see Oliver walking behind me, hands in pockets, the bag on his back sagging under the weight of all his books.

"What the – why are you following me?!" I shouted at him.

"I'm walking home," he said, unperturbed.

I started walking faster. "No you're not! You've never come this way!"

"I stayed back at school for Ex. I don't have it on Fridays." He fished a lolly snake from his pocket and bit into it.

I stayed silent as we waited at a road crossing. The sweet aroma that accompanied him made my stomach churn.

"Do you have a problem?" he asked.

"You're the ones with problems."

He raised his eyebrows. "Girl in English class, long hair. The disabled girl. Kid with three fingers."

I breathed out through gritted teeth.

"Leave them alone."

"Leave me alone," I spat. The light for the crossing turned green, and I stepped onto the road. "I'll call the police if you don't stop stalking me-"

He gave a surprised shout and grabbed my bag as the truck rushed by, inches from me, the speed of the vehicle sucking the air from my lungs as he pulled me back. The truck sped onwards, its driver hadn't even noticed me on the road.

Oliver let go of my bag, his eye wide. My breathing was ragged and came in bursts, my heart was racing, my hands shaking.

I stared at him, mind blank from the shock, and he stared back, until I turned around and crossed the road, after making sure there were no vehicles approaching.

ooo

The keys turned in the lock and I pushed the door open to our new house. A cool air-conditioned breeze blew over my face as I tossed my bag onto the splintered desk in the corner of the living room and went to go upstairs.

As I passed the kitchen my mum called out to me.

"Yeah?" I asked, poking my head around the corner. She was standing by the sink, holding a potato in one hand. More potatoes were clustered on the bench, along with a packet of sausages. The tap was rusted, and one of the cupboard doors wouldn't close properly.

"How was school?" she asked, that clichéd question. Her blue eyes were staring at me, trying to figure out something. Blue eyes. She looked so much like Rin. She looked so much like me.

"Alright…" I said, coming into the kitchen and pulling a pot out of the top cupboard where I knew she couldn't reach. "Nothing happened." There was no way I was going to tell her I had almost been run over.

She waited a moment, and murmured her thanks for the pot before enquiring again.

"Did you make any friends?"

I had heard that question every day for the past week, and every day the answer was no.

I shook my head, resisting the urge to look down at the floor.

"Oh." Her voice was frail.

I hesitated, then went over to her and hugged her. Her thin hand tugged at my ponytail, like she used to do when I was little.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, releasing her.

She didn't acknowledge the apology. If she did, she would be afraid she would have to accept it.

I didn't look at her as I left, instead staring at the worn linoleum that lined the kitchen floor, and then at the threadbare carpet. The move had been hasty, and Mum hadn't wanted to spend too much, in case she couldn't get a job straightaway. She had got one, though, but the pay wasn't the best, so we were stuck in a dilapidated building.

The stairs creaked under my weight, and the door to my room screeched in protest when I opened it.

I laid down on the hard mattress and breathed out, slowly. Trapped with all these stupid freaks. And that Oliver. If he didn't stop pestering me I would call the police.

The shrill ringing of the phone echoed through the house, and then a voice drifted up from below, sharp-edged in its frailness. I squeezed my eyes shut, cringing, but couldn't bring myself to plug my ears. I was drawn to the words, the tone they used, the harshness present in every argument.

"No, Eric, I don't…that was your own fault…no…he's fine…." A clash as a pot was slammed down. "No, Eric, don't you dare talk to my boy...was I meant to do?!...shut up…you separated them…put….on….Eric, put Rin on the goddamn phone!"

Her voice faded, though I knew it wasn't silent.

Heavy footsteps marched up the stairs, and then she knocked on the open door.

"Len? Rin's on the phone."

Her eyes were red.

I took the phone and turned to the window to avoid my mother's anguished face.

"Rin?"

"Afternoon, idiot."

My sister's voice emanated from the phone, crackly with static. It sounded like mine, only higher pitched and feminine.

"I wasn't expecting the goblin to answer," I said, smiling involuntarily. Mum always called us a pair of goblins, we annoyed her so much.

"Shut up Len." A sigh. "Always I have to keep my little brother in line…"

"Don't forget I almost died because of you."

"That was an accident!"

A pause.

"How...How is she?" Rin asked. "She wouldn't say much to me…"

I turned around to make sure Mum had left the room. "Not that well…she's not…she's not talking to me either, and I don't know what to say. She's not eating much…"

All I could hear was Rin's breathing, loud and there, real, something to lean on.

"Is Dad…?" I couldn't finish.

"He's calmed down. Apart from a rant every two days. The neighbours called the police last night because they thought something had happened…But of course, our dear father won't ever abandon us, oh no, his dear little children don't deserve to suffer." Her voice hardened as she imitated his voice. "He talks to himself way too much."

"….Are you okay?"

"I can take care of myself," she huffed, "unlike a certain brother of mine."

"I'm your only brother."

She didn't reply for a few seconds.

"How's school?" I ventured, unsure.

"Normal, I guess. Not as many….as much...you know…disturbances."

A few moments of silence.

"Look, just, take care of yourself, okay? I'll see when I can visit," she said. "Hopefully he won't give me too much trouble."

"Hopefully." I sighed.

"See you, Len."

"Bye…Rin."

The phone beeped, and was silent.

"Rin and Len, left and right, up and down, black and white," I whispered. Mum had come up with the little rhyme. She meant us, our family, to be inseparable. It had been…now it was shattered.

O

The truck driver hadn't run a red light. It was a simple matter of making sure he didn't see us, and making the crossing light green in Len's eyes. I had altered his hearing too, by removing the sound of the truck approaching. If Len had actually been hit it would have been a disaster. I would ruin more than a few lives in one stupid mistake. It wasn't my job to kill people, I was meant to save them. Guardian angel were the words someone had used, though benevolence was not one of my strong suits, especially not towards the monsters. The methods I employed were bittersweet, and sometimes even I choked on the taste. But over the years I had gotten used to it, and managed to keep some people from harm. However, I am only one, and the world is filled with monsters. I knew of others that would bring those down, but I had only met one, and she had been eroded down, her eyes glassy, her words soured by decades of servitude. Her mind had cracked too, on the verge of shattering completely.

The thought of what I may become makes me shudder. The thought of what I already was had adverse effects when it was first made known to me. My mortality was taken, as payment. I would never age. I could, of course, die from other means, a car crash, a knife, but otherwise I was immune, to poisons as well as diseases. But the knowledge that I would continue on as an empty shell while my friends and family filled their short lives with all the things life has to offer had nearly driven me insane. Not that my sanity is completely intact at the moment…

Well damn looks like I accidentally modelled Len and Rin's parents on my own, if only slightly. Oops.

Thanks for the kind reviews and the advice as well, I hope this is of better quality. My apologies for this being a little shorter than the previous chapter.

And the Australian summer does tend to melt roads.