Hey! I'm baaacccck! Hah! Well it's been a week.. I think… Im not sure honestly! Its summer and I always forget the exact dates. But I am almost positive that I wrote about Clary skating and the park last week so close enough right? I know.. crappy excuse.. but school is pretty much my calendar! So I now give you this new chapter while I eat my delicious Nutella! Enjoy my lovely little killers!(Reference to that review and several PM's I got about how some of you nearly killed someone and me! Oh and there was that one person who said they would find me or haunt me… Either way HA! I'm still alive!... And now your all thinking "For now… mwahaha!" Jeez! Hence the reference as "lovely little killers" for those of you who might be offended. Though I'm not sure why, that seems like such a compliment!)
OH! And you can find Clary and Jace's outfits on me profile soon!
New PLaylist: (Since nobody wanted to send some songs {Im mentally Grrring you!} I spent the last few days looking for my own songs!)
Boston- Augustana(This is pretty much how Clary feels.. except she doesn't want to go to Boston.. obviously :/ that'd be a little weird huh.. I just got an idea ^-^)
Life is beautiful- Sixx AM(Im not sure about this one.. I just feel like this is pretty much Clary again{Most of them for obvious reasons will be about her})+
Boulevard of Broken Dreams- Green Day(Love this band!)
I Caught Myself- Paramore(This is the first time I heard this and I think it kinda relates for both Jon and Clare, Clare and Jace, Clare and her father. I mix of all I guess{Love the band though, I know them of course})
When You're Young- 3 Doors Down(Again, never heard this song before, its kinda country :/ eh.. But the lyrics are really good for Jace and his dad. Or Clary and everyone who keeps telling her things, like the therapists!)
Move Along- All American Rejects(Pretty much Clary's message to Jace.. or is it the other way around? Hmm.. your choice!)
Sk8ter Boi- Avril Lavigne(Pretty much its Jace and Clary only change it from skater boy to girl.. and yeah Jace is stuck up anyway so petty much just switch the roles! xD)
According to you- Orianthi(Um. I think is is better for chapter coming up but we all know this is Clary pretty much telling off her dad or Jon. Simple. As. That! Heh, I actually haven't heard this song in a while..)
Carolyn- Black Veil Brides(Well. Jace to Clary. I kinda needed to have a BVB song in here since they are kinda mentioned in this chapter..)
Chapter 9: Secret Places, "Dates", and… Awkward…
~Clary~
"So let me get this straight… You're having those dreams too?" I said, now walking around him in circles with my fingers rubbing into my temples. Ugh.. I think his cologne or whatever the hell he's wearing is giving me a headache!
"Yeah… that's really weird. Its at this park and everything right?" he mumbled, partly to himself.
"Yeah. Huh. That's pretty strange I'll give ya that much. What exactly happened in your dream though?" I asked, suddenly curious that his might be different in some way. He looked at me over his shoulder and rolled his eyes at me. I glared back at him and continued, "I'm just wondering if maybe its just a stupid mix up. I'm not freaking out or anything so chill your eyes and stop looking at me like that!"
"Uhuh. Sure. Well, all I can really tell ya is its pretty much the same every time. I'm walking through the woods and I think I see fire. Than I see something behind the fire or whatever that's shining an emerald-like green color. Oh and if it actually happened, it happened after the murder that happened here cause before-" I cut him off knowing exactly what he was gonna say.
"It was too loud and crowed. Yeah, I know. Same reason why I barely came. I just ran though the woods or skated instead." I sat down, my back leaning against the swing pole and my legs outstretched towards him.
"So..?" he gestured for me to continue but I wasn't sure what else he wanted to me to say.
"So that's it.. I don't like being around a bunch of people, big deal!?" I snapped and crossed my arms. Okay Clary, calm down it was just a question. No need to get your temper started again. But he just smirked and did that laugh that wasn't exactly a laugh but just blowing air out of your nose.
"I meant. What about your dream? What happened in yours?" he didn't look at me but continued to smirk down at the ground.
"Um, well. I'm on these swings. And.. I was uh. Thinking about stuff. Than I here a bunch of leaves crunching behind me so I turn around and… well I. I don't know what I saw really… just a bunch of bright gold and lights. Probably just the sun, though right? Than I wake up." I said it all in a really bored tone, hoping he wouldn't catch onto what I was thinking. Its him! God that's so weird!
"Yeah, probably." He said, still smirking at the ground.
"Dude, is that your way of flirting? Cause im pretty sure the ground is not interested!"
He began laughing a little too hard and fell backward. Right into the tree. Genius... I rolled my eyes and shook my head as he laid there rubbing his head.
"Nice goin there genius." I said sarcastically, clapping my hands slowly.
"Oh shut up! Its your fault, you made me laugh." He snapped, now sitting up but still rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh so its my fault? I cant 'make' you laugh ya know. Its an option!" He looked over at me and glared, making me roll my eyes again.
"Yes. Its your fault."
"K, so.. let me get this straight. Your blaming me… for so called 'making' you laugh and so forth you hit your head. On a tree. And yet, I insulted you on your flirting skills. I told you that the ground would reject you either way. And! I'm not exactly the nicest person, case you haven't noticed yet, or funniest for that matter. So technically. You cant blame me because you decided to think about something probably very perverted while I was telling you about the damn dream that you asked me to tell you about! Correct me if any of that was wrong." I finished off with a my best 'lady at the front desk/ flight attendant' smile. He was slowly going back to ground flirting.
"I'll your continuation of ground flirting as a 'Yes. Your right. I was thinking something extremely perverted while you were talking'"
He looked up at me, Finally, and smirked at me instead. I just glared at him, wondering if he was actually going to say anything. After a few minutes of him 'ground flirting' me, I just stood up, brushed off the dirt and mulch on my hands and legs, and walked over to my board.
"And where to ya think your goin!" he yelled from his spot I left him in. I glanced over at him as I picked up my board and than walked off to the third tree from the road. Behind it was a tree that had fallen over in some storm and now looked like a bridge. I quickly self measured my height on the tree like I always used to do. "Dammit!" I cursed to myself, I was still shorted than Simon was when he was tall enough to climb onto the tree bridge and pull me up. Its kinda like a rollercoast ride line. If your not tall enough you couldn't ride. Except… in this case. Now, where is that chain..? I searched around the ground for the chain, knowing it had rusted off by now. Or Simon or some other idiot took it down. Though I couldn't find it anywhere! You gotta be kidding me Si! Yep. He's dead tomorrow! Well. Might as well try anyway.
I jumped as high as I could and tried to wrap my arms over the other side but of course. Too friggin short! I hate this! Ok. One more time then I'm just gonna have to jump to the entrance. Okay… One. I balanced myself out. Two… Three! I jumped high up. Suddenly I felt a pair of hands on my waist as they pushed me higher up and I grabbed hold of the branch sticking out of the make-shift bridge. I quickly, still keeping my expert balance, stood up and turned around. Looking down, Jace was smirking up at me with a piece of wheat or a blade of grass sticking out of his mouth, his arms crossed over his chest. Seriously.. Mister Perfect is now a cowboy? Haha! Nice.
"I didn't need you help Mr. Perfect! All I had to do was reach the chain up here!" I whisper-yelled down to him.
"Uhuh, sure. The chain." He nodded his head, his voice dripping with sarcasm. And to prove myself, I reached up into the tree branch above me and grabbed the chain. Ahah! So he hid it from me! Jerk. And yanked on it hard. It fell from the tree, just barely missing me, and landed at Jace's feet. He stopped chewing on whatever he had in his mouth and it fell out. He glanced up at me and I caught the glare but I could see the smile he was holding back. He grabbed the chain and pulled himself up a little than he grabbed the branch sticking out and lifted himself all the way up. He stood up, brushing his hands off, than he put that stupid smirk back on.
"Shall we?" he gestured in front of me, but I just looked him up and down and crossed my arms, putting on my legendary smirk. He raised an eyebrow, Whyyyy cant I do that!?.
"What? Some secret land that nobody is allowed to go to except you? This isn't bridge to Terrabithia Miss. Morgenstern. Your not in some fairytale world" He started laughing but I slapped him when he said that name. "What the hell!?" he said holding his hand to his face. "Don't you ever call me that!" and I walked off.
Once I crossed the long tree, it stopped at another fallen tree that took a bit of a jump to get to but I managed it. That tree led to a river. This was the hard part. See, I have several choices in front of me. Down stream there was the dam, which I could use to cross, but last time I tried that, Si had to run two miles to find me laying between a few rocks on the banks. Or, I could find the weak spot which was near the dam, but that could have changed so I wasn't going to take my chances on it breaking. There was also that rock path that jutted out of the water even when it was flooded, but they were still really slippery and sharp. And finally, I could take Si's way and climb the tree next to me, which the strongest branch led to a branch to another tree on the other side. Well. Guess there's the winner. I quickly climbed up and crawled across the two strong branches, than climbed down, now on the other side of the roaring river. Ok. Now.. I whipped around, scanned the area quickly, catching the glimpse of gold I was looking for.
"Stop following me or I will beat you bloody and leave you lying her in the middle of the woods!" I yelled towards the tree that he was terribly hiding behind. He stepped away from the tree with a question in his eyes.
"You wouldn't." he stated as if it was a fact.
"Excuse me!?" How the hell would he know what I could or would not and or will do to him?
"You wouldn't beat me up. You cant. And don't get me wrong, I'm sure you're strong enough for it, but you just won't." he says again as if he knows me.
"Hey, I got a question for ya." I crossed my arms again and continued my death glare. "What the hell makes you think that you know me well enough to say that? Or, better question, Is this all because of the parking lot? Or because my friends told ya a little story that, like I said before, is mostly lies?"
"I.. I-"
"Ya got nothing. You don't know me. I don't know you. Your following me everywhere I go. Your being a pain in my ass. And I'm sure dealing with me isn't exactly a walk in the park either. So why don't you do us both a favor… and Get the hell out of my life!" I yelled, somehow much closer to him than I was a minute ago. Now I was yelling my last sentence right in his face. I could here the pissed off tone in my voice. Good. I am!
His face looked mad too. What gives him the right to be mad? Because I yelled at him!? His jaw was set, a scowl on his face, and his eyes had a defeated and angered look in them. He's right where I want him. I continued glare deeply at him, while he stared back at me. After who knows how long, he closed his eyes and looked away, staring off into the space above my head. Yet another reason to hate being short!
"Whatever.." he mumbled with finality and started to walked away. He's just giving up!? That's too easy! I cant believe this guy cant take a few hits and shouts from a short, tempered, nutcase!
"So your just giving up huh?" I yelled after him. He froze in his tracks and walked back to me.
"Well what the hell am I suppose to do, huh!? You never answer my questions unless you can backfire with them! You're freaking out on me if I make one statement about you! You blow up at me for no real reason and you're be a sarcastic smartass! What the hell do you want me to do!? Stay here and take it and not get anything out of you? I'm obviously not getting anywhere with this and you're not making it easy on me!" now he was shouting at me. Now that's more like it!
"Wanna come over?" I asked. His face turned from his pissed off mode, to his 'what!?' mode, than after he processed what I said, back to the pissied off.
"I'm trying to understand all this crap and you decide to ask me, out of now where I might add, if I want to come over to your house!?"
"Uh.. Yeah? If you don't want to, its fine by me but it-"
"No. I do. But I'm trying to actually un-"
"Understand me. Yes, I know. And good luck with that. But, I got nothing to do tomorrow after school besides either be dragged around a store or panicked over by everyone. So you can either come over and watch all the superhero movies and argue over DC or Marvel with me. Or.. you can be questioned a billion times by everyone, like me. Your choice." I folded my hands behind my back and moved back and forth on the balls of my feet. I quickly checked the time on my phone when I looked up at the dark, star-lit sky while waiting for his answer. "Oh and make it fast. Its about to be sunrise in under an hour and Jon is already pissed at me and has me under lock down with mum so I need to be back before we gotta go to school." I looked up at him as I put my phone back in my back pocket. He looked like he was coming to his decision and I was actually hoping he would say yes. I would've just asked Simon but I've already had that argument with him and he just wont budge from Marvel! I mean come on, how can you pick Loki over Joker and Bane!?
"Fine. I'll be there. But we are finishing this conversation whether you want to or not! I don't leave arguments until I win!" he said, pointing at me like a parent scolding a child.
"Oh fun! Bring a pillow, oh with feathers of course, I got the honey so don't bother with that, and popcorn, cause I eat the last bag last night." I made a mental checklist to make sure I got everything else.
"I know I'm gonna regret asking this but, why?"
"Because… I was hungry and I wanted popcorn that's why!"
"No! I meant why do I have to bring this stuff?"
"Oh! Ha, you'll see." I gave him an evil grin and poked his stomach
"Why cant you just tell me..?" he questioned, flicking my finger away.
"Because than you'll chicken out and wont come. And no, You cant back out now. Now stop questioning the master and just follow me." I pushed my hand through my long sleeves and grabbed the loose part of his sweatshirt, pulling him after me.
"May I ask where you're taking me?"
"It's a shortcut." I say to him over my shoulder
"To where?" Him and his questions! For goodness sake, he's starting to sound like my last therapist!
"To the secret hiding spot where I have my other boards and stuff. Which! Reminds me." I stopped Jace and he looked down at me confused. I began to push my sleeve up but he put his hand over mine, stopping me.
"You don't have to show me them if you don't want to…" he said softly. Now it was my turn to give him the strange look. What the heck is he talking about? I thought for a few more moments before I connected the puzzle. I laughed quietly, shook my head and pushed my sleeve all the way up. I had a long, black-silk ribbon I always tied from my wrist all the way up my arm. I guess he only saw the other arm that I didn't cover so he assumed I was showing off my scars to him. I untied it from the top and quickly took it off while pulling my sleeve back down. I didn't want him to see more than he already had. I'm not an 'attention seeker' like I hear most are. Crap. Now he's got me being serious. I cant do this. He's not getting to me. "Down, boy." I gestured for him to bend down so I could reach him. He chuckled but didn't move.
"Dude. Bend down! I'm not letting you know where all the secret places are!" I didn't realize how that might have sounded in a guy's mind and I regretted my choice of words. He put one hand at the bottom of my back and the other on my waist and pulled me forward. He bent his head down and whispered in my ear.
"Babe, trust me, I know where all of the secret places are, but I'm sure bending down will only help me know better." Ugh. I don't fall for this bs. But I played along.
"Oh is that so, hmm?" I whispered back, using my own alluring voice, while slowly moving my hands around to his back and down into his back pockets. He eyes widened and a small but low noise came from his throat. He somewhat pulled himself together, but I could still tell he was distracted.
"Yeah. Want me to prove it?" he whispered back. His hands now inching, one to the back of my jeans and the other to my jacket zipper. Oh. This boy is so full of himself. Thinkin I'm that easy!? xD Nice try bud. I smiled a devilish grin at him and that's when he got it. I snatched my hands out of his pockets than brought my knee up and got him hard. Than when he fell to his knees, I walked around him and tied the ribbon over his eyes tightly. He was groaning in pain when I pulled him to his feet seconds later.
"That's what you get for trying to pull that on me." I said sweetly, pulling him again, but by both arms so he wouldn't mess with the blindfold.
"Why… would you be so cruel.. as to damage the goods!?" he moaned.
"Who do ya think Magnus learns from!?" I laughed as I pulled him to the clearing
"Oh that reminds me. Will is our new Welcome mat." He said cheerfully. I laughed but I wasn't really paying too much attention. I hadn't been in these woods in a few years so I didn't want to get lost. At least not with him!
"Hush up for a minute, I need to make sure I'm going to the right place."
"Ooo, we're lost. And you're stuck with me. In the woods. At night. Oh this is just great!" If he makes one more smartass comment to me, I'm gonna tie him up in a tree.
"Shut up, you backseat driver! We're not lost, calm down. Actually, we are right where I planned on being."
"Two things. One. We're not driving. And even if we were, I'd be the one driving and you'd be the backseat driver, you hypocrite. Two, what time is it, cause I got practice early in the morning." I ignored him as I jumped up and down everywhere. I guess he was expecting answer because next he said, "Uh can I take this thing off now?" he asked. I looked over at him. He looked pretty funny pointing at his face and talking with that 'thing' on. "Yeah, sure."
"Ow! You got my hair tied into it! And how do you untie this thing!?" he wined. I stopped jumping around and stomped over to him.
"Ugh, you big baby, What is it with guys and their hair these days!? Jon takes up half his desk with hair products and crap like that." I untied my tricky knot and let him catch the ribbon when I walked away to try and find that hidden board.
"How would you know what's in Jon's room?" he asked, messing with the ribbon and looking around.
"Because I, unlike you, am not afraid to walk into my siblings' rooms. I don't care who he has over or what he's doing. If he steals one more game I bring home, he's going to be missing all his Axe and hair gels and everything else. I'll throw it all away. Well except for maybe a few of the Axe bottles. Some of them I actually don't mind. But only like two, ugh the rest makes me wanna puke." I was rambling on and on as I shuffled and jumped around.
"Not that your interest of your brothers cologne and video games doesn't fascinate me, but... What the hell are you doing?" he chuckled. I looked up at him and glared.
"I'm looking for the stupid board!" I yelled, frustrated. Its suppose to be around the huge maple tree! He started to shuffle his feet, his hands in his pockets and looking around.
I stood for a moment and watched him. Wait a minute… I walked up to him slowly and looked at the ground, shuffling my feet.
Him, being Jace and all, thought I was being 'shy and nervous' and put two fingers under my chin and lifted my head to face his, than he started to lean in and that's where I started to get a little freaked out. Whoa.. what does he think he's doing!? Move. Step back... Laugh! Do something! But I was frozen. I knew this was coming but I didn't know what I was going to do when this happened! I thought about making some snide remark like I usually do, but I didn't want to hurt him. Yes. I do have actual feelings! I'm not a robot or something! But now he was getting too close and I couldn't have that.
"Jace..:" I whispered
"Yes.." he whispered back.
"Jump." He froze, nearly inches from my face, and opened his eyes.
"What?" he was definitely confused
"Um.. I came over here because.. your standing on the board… to the hiding place…" I said quietly. He pulled back and looked away. At first I thought he was mad again but than he started to run his hand through his hair and looked down. Ah. Embarrassment. Yep, that's not a fun feeling… exciting emotion.(A/N: Heheh.. see what I did there?;-; yeeah, its late so I cant think so well)
"Uh.. J.. your still just standing there.. kinda gotta get the board moved…" I said a little awkwardly. This isn't something I'm exactly use to, but it's a long story.
"Yeah um.. sorry" he mumbled while stepping away and leaning against the maple.
I turned my back to him and bent down to find the latch. Si found this little underground cellar place awhile back and ever since I always liked to escape here. So I had a lot of stuff here too. I walked down the old wooden stairs and over to the shelves and boxes we had in the corner. On Halloween nights me, Mags, Iz, and Si would come down here and spend the night. Alec and Jon were too scared. Wimps.. So anyway. I had clothes here of course. I wonder if Simon or Mags left one of their jackets down here? I searched through a few boxes but couldn't find any. I than walked over to the bunk beds we set up down here(The only time Jon and Alec came here was to help put those together!) I looked around and in and under them and finally found a Black Veil Brides shirt and a black jacket. Huh… guess Simon still comes in here. I looked behind me to make sure Jace wasn't in here, than pulled off my jacket and hung it up on one of the posts. I pulled the BVB t-shirt on over my tank top and than zipped up the jacket. Ah.. Gotta love Si's loose and comfy clothes! We use to always switch shirts and jackets and shoes. Only we always looked a little funny since I'm probably five sizes smaller. I pulled up the hood, which nearly covered my eyes, and pushed my stupid glasses up along with my bangs. I reached underneath me and Si's bunk beds and pulled out his Element and my Zero out. "Ah. There's my babies!" I smiled another devilish grin and dusted them off. Jeez Si! "Aw, has Si been locking you two down here to get all moldy and gross"
I walked up the stairs and kicked the door down, Jace looked over at me from the tree and I grinned a huge grin and gestured to the boards.
"Got my beautiful, you can borrow Si's. He'll throw his hissy fit if he sees it all scratched up so try not to screw up. We're only riding to school." I sped talked, knowing that I would have to deal with Jon's questions at school. Great. I handed Jace the board but he looked at me like I was insane.
"I don't know how!"
"What!? What part of 'I got a few more boards and stuff at the hiding places' do you not understand!?" I yelled, panicking.
"I don't know! I wasn't really paying attention to that part! More on the fact that I was being pulled through the woods with a blindfold on!" he was now panicking.
"Ugh! Excuses! I wasn't gonna let ya run into anything! Ok whatever. You're gonna learn." I said matter-of-factly, handing him the board and pulling him through the woods and towards the main road.
"Learn!? In less than an hour you want me to learn to use that!?" he freaked
"I did! And sorry if I thought you did since ya tried to show off on mine earlier!" and I freaked back.
"Did you not notice me screwing up!?" Okay.. he had a good point.
"Yes, Whatever though! You're learning and you will be fine. Just get on it and try not to fall!" I pulled us through the last tree and bushes, now facing the main road. I pulled him onto the road, grabbed his board and set it in front of him.
"Okay now, in basic terms, stand kinda sideways with your feet apart, OH! I know! Have you ever been to a jail or prison?" he looked at me with wide eyes, completely taken aback.
"No! I haven't been to a jail or prison! Why the heck would I?"
"So your telling me you've never been searched or patted down, don't be a perv," I looked at him dumbfounded.
"No!" he shook his head still panicking.
"God, you're one lame excuse of a dude! I cant even tell ya how many times I've been caught up in NY! No seriously.. I cant. I got involved with these guys and now well we had this agreement and-"
"We kinda gotta go. Now!" he interrupted
"Ok. Just stand on the board the way you see me stand, and do everything I do. But when we get to the school, try not to look like an idiot. I don't need that on my perment record that I got to join a gang or some cult. Cause they always assume that that's why ya got all them tattoos and black stuff. Ugh, its stupid if ya ask me. Anyway. Just follow me and don't break the board or Si will kill me. Not like he doesn't have any others though.." I shrugged than I took off. It sucked not being able to do any tricks since he would try them too. Pretty sure he thinks that he shouldn't look bad next to a girl or something. Surprisingly, we actually got to the school a little early, well for me it was. Apparently, he was late for practice.
~Jace~(I'm going to do the next few parts or so with him, than next chapter I think I'll do this whole chapter in his perspective. He seemed a little out of it, maybe we should fine out why eh? ;D)
"I… am never… doing that.. again!" I panted. Please help me.. I think I'm dieing! I'd fallen several times, so now I had a scratch under my left eye, a few gashes in my arms, and I hit my head the first second I got on it.
"Oh quit whining! I got way worse than you when I first started and I was wearing shorts and a friggin bikini top so shut up and deal with it!" she snapped. She sounds like my aunt, ugh, that woman doesn't care if you're dieing. If she wants you to do something and you complain about, well.. pretty much the same thing happens that Clary does! And question. Why… would someone in their right minds do this with barely anything on!? Than again, Clary wasn't exactly in her 'right mind' so I guess she gets a pas for that.
"Im not com.. complaining. I'm in pain. And I am never… ever.. doing that again!" I was finally catching up with my breathing and straightened up.
" Ya know, for a basketball player, you sure are weak."
"I am not! I was just forced onto a uncontrollable movie object!" she looked at me like I was an idiot. Oh god. What did I say..
"Dude. Its controllable. Its called balanced and unbalanced. Moving and not moving! It was moving because you PUSH IT!" she yelled, than I believe I heard a 'dumbass' afterwards.
"Hey! Whatever! Im not doing that again. End of story. Tell Simon he can keep his 'Elements!'" she smacked her forehead and slowly shook her head.
"Element… the board is called an Element! It's the brand you moron! My board is a Zero! The deck aka that part you STAND ON.. is technically called Blood Negative Yellow. Its just the design and color really. His I think I um.. Dispersion 7.5 or.. I don't know. I forgot. But it's the deck. There are the trucks, bearings, so on. " she rambled on and on. I.. feel.. like an idiot. Great. Never before has the Jace Wayland been falling for a random girl and then suddenly a new mysterious girl comes into town and yep. There ya have it. Me, falling to me fetal death. Oh joy… ;-;
Okay.. I was going to continue.. a lot.. but than I decided that I should probably stop since I've literally been up all night staring at a screen and.. I think its affecting me.(I JUST PULLED A LEGOLAS LINE{That was for you Lord of the Rings fans out there!}) Everything is going fuzzy and I'm almost positive that Jace and Clary are now have personality changes because of it. And I cant let that happen! They have a strict script to follow and I think im screwing it up, IDK! So I might finish this today or tomorrow or sometime in the following week or just start a new chapter. Yeah.. I like that idea. I'm sticking with that! Ok. I got the song replying in my head and I keep thinking of the different kinds of clouds so this must be a side affect. I think I'm going to go listen to some music or watch a movie now. Yep. That sounds good. GOOD BYE NOW! DON'T DIE!