Traded In

Chapter Three: Cats & Dancing

I felt like making a U-turn and running away even if it was too late to do so, but something kept me rooted to the floor.

I sucked in my nervous agitation and prepared myself for the coming conversation, one which I knew was going to end badly. They always did. Still, my heels turned, painting circles on the hard sand and I walked toward the voice which had called me.

"Hey Cinder" I greeted as I poked my head through the side of a cave support, my fingers clenched onto it like life support.

All of our fields were encircled by rock formations that came from the roof and touched the ground. Russell and a few of the early campers had helped to sand them down to appropriate sizes, so that most of us could fit through them and do our work without feeling claustrophobic; he even gave them a nice arch at the top just for show. They always reminded me of those pillars you see in the old European movies, except for the fact that they were covered in our crappy chalk art and hand writing.

"You're back!" she took a moment to wipe the beads of sweat from her forehead, now smudging it with topaz-purple colored sand "Well don't just stand there, get over here!"

I was reluctant to take a step forward, but her welcoming smile pulled my feet obediently towards her. I hated the way she had the power to do that! I was going to need to have a serious talk with my feet later for disobeying my brain. She wiped her dirty hands on her apron and stood up to meet me face to face; her eyes glanced at me as if she were looking at me for the very first time, and finally after some time passed she gave me her signature bear hug. "Dad was starting to get worried. We thought that you guys - -"

"Yeah I know" I didn't want her to finish the sentence "but it was really nothing. We were only delayed a couple of days, and well a few more annoying hours due to some store clerk." I was beginning to feel my ribcage protest, but Cinder didn't seem to hear them. "Girl don't you ever scare me like that! You know I would've gone on a Seeker killing spree if I found out you went missing!"

I grinned goofily, because when she wanted to, Cinder could be as cracked as Ash, and my imagination played out a new scene, which made me laugh. "Yeah yeah" I was able to pry her off, an achievement my lungs thanked me for. "You know very well that I'd never let those parasites get me. I'd die first before I'd ever let one of them get to my CD collection."

"You mean that one Michael Bublé disc you have inside that old mp3 player?"

"That's the one."

She let out a loud laugh at my pathetic excuse for a CD "collection", but I didn't get upset because I knew she listened to it when I was away. Music was a luxury we had nowadays in the caves. It wasn't necessarily something at the top of our survival list, and we sure as hell weren't going to risk our lives any time soon for it. Although, sometimes that's what we felt like doing when we got the desperate urge that came with this everlasting silence. I was beginning to have so much fun that I almost didn't see the figure that crept over us while we talked. It wasn't must of a figure really, the stature it held was shorter than I, and did very little looming. Nevertheless, its presence was like a tiny needle at the bottom of your foot, one that you couldn't find and pluck out, but still hurt when you pressed down onto it.

"Parasite is an offensive word Charlotte; you know better than that."

"Huh?" My face turns to face Carlos, who's looking at me as if I just stepped on some of his territory. For a split second I check my feet for any signs of pee surrounding me.

"What're you talking about?" I don't know why I bothered asking, things would've been much better if I had ignored him and went on with my conversation. That way I would have saved myself a migraine

"You said, and I quote: 'you know very well that I'd never let those parasites get me.'" I rolled my eyes the way he stated that in a very matter-of-fact kind of way. "May I remind you that we don't use that type of language anymore? How would Burns feel if he was here and he heard you saying such a thing?"

"You know what I meant by parasites Carlos." I tried my very to keep my voice calm "I wasn't at all referring to Burns or any of the other souls, just the Seekers is all."

"Seekers are souls too."

Okay, so maybe I had lied before - -alright I had lied to Crater. A big lie. If there was one thing I did have, it was a short temper. Any little thing could set my off, and any big thing was just setting room for an explosion. Don't blame me though, blame my equally short height; there was much less room for my temperament to reach its limit. Or at least that's what my grandfather told me to say when I was younger, even today I find it to be a decent enough excuse.

Through some sort of phenomenon I managed to bite my tongue. If there was one thing I hated (among the many things I hated) it was when a smart alack like Carlos corrected my every single sentence. This was especially true when I had nothing to say in rebuttal, since he was, of course, right.

"Very well Carlos. I'm sorry, I promise I won't ever say it again" I knew it was a promise I couldn't hold up to, but if that was going to shut him up, then I would say it. He smiled from ear to ear, beaming as if he had just done the world some greater good by amending me. I would rather be chased by a heard of Seekers, than see him smile like that again.

"Oh and please don't forget to address Cindy by her proper name. You know how tedious it could be to remember all of those nicknames you guys came up with."

Did I say I herd of Seekers? I meant an avalanche of Seekers, being led by a dozen Magma clones. At least I could somewhat put up with them. I again swallowed my tongue, this time trying the best I could to not look agitated.

The arm he wrapped around Cinder looked as ridiculous as a monkey wearing a banana for a hat, and much less amusing. His head barely reached her shoulders, and he practically had to stand on tip toes to reach my nose as he looked at me. I didn't know what she saw, but Cinder turned to him and stared down with such a tenderness that I could do nothing more than marvel at it. Such a strange affection this was. Maybe it was just one of those marvels I would never grow to understand.

Before I gave him another opportunity to show me how insignificant I was, I began to say my 'farewells' and 'see yeah laters'.

Cinder didn't seem to mind; in fact she wasn't even looking at me by this point. When she had laid eyes on Carlos, it was as if the rest of the world was invisible to her, and my goodbye stood unnoticed along with a few other gestures of disappointment. I knew that I shouldn't have been upset by that, in the end this had happened about a dozen times since he moved into this camp.

Cindy is Russell's only daughter, and one of the most down-to-Earth people you could ever meet. We instantly clicked when I was brought into this safe house, and the two of us had become best friends ever since; we were inseparable and constantly stirring up mischief wherever we went.

'Were' being the key word here.

The dough in my hands twisted elegantly, spinning into a threaded knot that reminded me of a smooth braid. My fingers pinched the corners where they met, until finally they were joined as one to become a soft star formation. I glanced down at it the way a mother stares at her child. Don't ask me why, but I found shaped dough to be extremely adorable. It was one of my weird likes.

"Ahh that looks cute mi`ja!" Lava gasped as she looked down at my creations with her brown eyes. "I like that one the most" she pointed to the white dough in the shape of a cat.

"Oh yeah? I think it's one of my best ones yet."

"How you do that anyways?" the white mush in her hand had no shape, and sat in her hands as hard as a rock. "You do a little of this I bet" she dropped her rock, and took my cat from where it was laying. She swung it from side to side in this funny dance. "Maybe some cha-cha-cha too?"

I was grinning by now and blushing too, because I knew that even though she was purposefully giving an awkward motion, she still danced better than I did.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have a dance again?"

The comment takes me by surprise a little. I wasn't quite sure where she was going with this, the more I pondered over the possibility, but the more I was beginning to understand. Dancing was another luxury that humans had to refrain from doing often. It wasn't that the action itself caused a lot of noise, but it was very distracting to our daily lives. It made us relax a little too much and Russell knew that sooner or later we would drop our guard, and that was not an option. I tried to imagine dancing here. Sure, I knew I sucked at it, but just giving it a try sounded like a good enough idea; at that moment I knew my shyness wouldn't take the best of me, and I would be able to let go and fully enjoy the music with my friends. That is, if we had any music besides my Bublé CD.

Lava began speaking again when she noticed I had come out of my thoughts. I didn't think she was actually going to catch me spacing off. How humiliating. Still, her face was just as dazed, and she didn't seem to mind that I hadn't answered her question. "I remember when I lived back in Mexico. We had this huge party for my cousin's graduation; she was the first from our family to graduate from college at the time, and my parents were so happy. We danced and partied until it was t`ree o`clock in the morning." She was swaying with the cat by now, her eyes somewhere far away from here. "I had met this guy there, and I was still such a pequeñita, but I felt that there was chemistry between us. He had the most beautiful brown eyes, and his smile was so genuine that I was ecstatic when he asked me to dance." For a split second I forget that she's speaking about herself, and start to believe that she was telling a story about me.

I know it sounds strange, and not to mention narcissistic, but my mind just does that sometimes. I don't mean to twist the story around; however, my imaginings go wild and puts me in her place without me being completely conscious of it. It makes the scene look so much more real, almost if I had been there enjoying that moment too. She doesn't have to explain the place for me to know what it looks like, or at least what I think it looks like. Every small plate, light, talk, music, and face is already created within my brain. I see the boy and his smile, and it makes me smile too. "You know" she begins once again, but this time she's still too concentrated that she didn't notice me not paying attention "by the end of the night, I realized I didn't even know his name. He left without telling me." She frowns at this, and gives the cat dough a look that is defensive and yet exposes her hurt. "I wonder why he never told me?" before I can console her she answers her own question "I bet it's because he didn't like me all that much. Not as much as I thought I liked him anyways, but then again, I was still so young. What did I know about love?" Unexpectedly she smiles at the animal in her hands, as if it's told her a very funny joke, and then she kisses it. It was a simple peck, but it makes me feel as if I were watching her kiss the boy she's mentioning, which only makes me turn pink.

Out from across the other side of the dining area, Ash strolls by and observes us. Of course, he stops dead in his track, and already I feel like I know what he's going to say. "Awww baby, don't worry. I know I've been gone long, but you don't have to practice with that anymore! Papa's coming!"

Yeah, I was pretty close.

"OOH!" Ash must've really surprised her, because Lava's steaming red and her eyes look as if they're ready to pop out of her face. She grips the cat in her hand, squishing the poor thing out of shape, and tosses it as hard as she can in Ash's direction. He easily dodges it and the dough skids through the sand. "I wouldn't kiss you if you were the last man on Earth Ashton Fabbiano!" I consider the irony of this insult. Ash just smiles and raises one eyebrow, the way he does when he's about to make a snappy comeback, or when he's trying to act cool, which is about half of the time. "Oh please Laviana Garcia, you wish you could get your hands on some of this Italian pastry. Last man on Earth or not."

Lava raises both of her eyebrows and puffs her lips out, finishing off the look by crossing her arms over her chest. I begin to fear for the rest of my dough babies and silently make my way towards them, grabbing them with ease and placing them over the fire. It was a good move too, because just as Ash starts to mimic Lava's dance and blow kisses, she goes and reaches for another one, only to notice that there isn't any. The chase starts once again, and before I know it the two disappear out of my sights. I hear Russell yelling from a distance and try my best to look occupied, just in case he thinks I had anything to do with it.