"You learned to run from
what you feel, and that's
why you have nightmares. To
deny is to invite madness. To
accept is to control."
~ Unknown

________________

[t w o]

I HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS DOING. All I knew was the second my cell phone started ringing, I knew my parents had found out. They knew I had run away.

"Shinedown," my mother had screamed into my ear when I picked up. "Where are you? Are you wearing your gloves? If you aren't, you are in big trouble, young la-"

"You know what, Mom?" I snapped, suddenly. "I know I'm in trouble. I've been in 'big trouble' all my life. And yeah, I'm wearing them. Though I could take them off." My gaze flittered down to my hands, covered in the dark blue silky fabric.

"Don't you even think about it, Shinedown! Where are you?"

"Didn't you read the note?" I hissed into the phone. "I ran away. And I don't plan on coming back." And with that, I snapped my phone shut and shoved it back into my pocket. Taking deep breaths, I ran a hand over my hair, trying to calm my nerves. I was furious with my mom. First time I actually decide to pick up and the only thing she's concerned about is the fact that I'm not hiding my curse like I should be.

My thoughts slowly centered back to a few days back, when I had taken off the gloves (a/n: she's been too worried to take them off since). Was that really how I wanted to spend my life? I was pretty sure it wasn't.

"Order for... Shine Allice?" Standing up, I quickly snatched my drink from the cashier, sliding some of my mother's money across the table to him. He gratefully took it. "Have a nice day, Ma'am."

A shot him a small smile before turning on my heel, just about to head out the door when a man about twice my size stepped out in front of me. I collided into him, dropping my drink all over his shirt and stumbled backwards. The man let out a small cry as the cool liquid soaked into his shirt, holding his arms outstretched. "Nice going, Grasshead," he sneered. "This was my favorite shirt!"

Biting my lip, I was just apologize when I noticed how unflattering the fabric looked against his smooth tan skin.

"That's your favorite shirt?" I sniffed. "It would look better wrapped around a taco shell."

The crowd of people waiting in line who had taken a sudden interest in our conversation let out small gasps and began muttering to their peers. That was when I noticed how the man's face had suddenly turned a shade of mahogany. That shade didn't look that good on him, either...

"What did you just say?" He asked, his voice turning over to the angry side.

Sensing his tension, I began to back up slowly, my gloved hands slowly gliding up to my face. "Woah, I was just-"

"You were just what?" He asked, stepping forward a bit. The cashier suddenly noticed what was going on after taking care of another customer.

"Hey," he hollered. "What's going on over there?"

The man ignored him, his lips twisting into a peculiar smile. "What's with the gloves, Grassy?" He asked, cockily. "Got something to hide?" My gaze flickered to the blue fabric hugging my skin. Crap... I knew I should have taken them off. But what about the turquoise skin?

"No, sir..." I muttered, dragging my hands through the air, and behind my back. I felt my heart rate spike softly, beating like a drum against my chest. What was wrong with this guy? Couldn't he just go away?

But then, the man took a swift step forward, grasping my arm with such intense force that it stung, my skin turning a bright shade of yellow, and pulled it towards him. "Hey," I cried, fighting against his grip. "Let go of me!" But the man held his grip, the crowd backing away slowly, even the cashier got a little nervous, slowly creeping back behind the counter.

"Let go." I ordered, yanking my arm back, but I wasn't able to move fast enough, for the man gripped the fabric surrounding my wrist and pulled, uncovering my turquoise fingers. A stunned silence followed after, as I hugged my hand to my chest, covering it with the other. My heart beat so loud I could hear it in my ears. My knees started to buckle, but I held firm. This was exactly what I was afraid would happen.

The crowd stared at me, their eyes filled with confusion and fear. Some of them hadn't moved, but were slowly backing away once they realized I hadn't painted my hand.

"Give her back her glove," a voice suddenly demanded from somewhere in the crowd. The man blinked softly, his expression turning hard after seeing my turquoise hand, and began to search the crowd, accusingly.

"Who said that?" He snarled, baring his pearly white teeth.

I took this as my chance to try and calm down, gazing down at my hand until I realized that something was off. It wasn't that shade of dark blue before, was it?

"I did." The voice called, snapping me back. I looked up to see a girl around my age with dark brown hair and a decent sized elevation on her back, making her look like she had stuffed the back of her shirt with tissues. She slowly waltzed forward, loosely, crossing her arms over her chest. "The name's Stella, and I'm pretty sure that you're going to want to give this young, green-haired girl back her glove before I decide to bring this up to the authorities..."

I watched in amazement as the man's unbreakable barrier broke.

He let out a small exasperated laugh, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're serious?" The man asked.

The girl, Stella, nodded her head, bravely. "Uh huh," she nonchalantly pulled out her phone, holding it out and wagging it loosely in front of the man. "Unless, you know, you want to get a restraining order." She shrugged, an evil smirk playing onto her lips.

My mouth slowly fell open at this girls fearlessness. I doubted I would ever make it trying to attempt what she was doing.

While Stella was threatening the man with her cell, my focus got cut off by a sudden bright light coming from my bare hand, which had now turned a dark shade of midnight blue. I stared down at it, worry piling up in the pit of my stomach. Flipping my hand over, I realized that the midnight pigment was spreading slowly over my peachy skin.

That was when something horrible happened.

My nerves were caught of guard, snapping and spinning and twisting. I didn't know what to feel. I was scared. I was humiliated. I was horrified. I tried to hide the odd color that was rising up my skin by letting my clothes do their job, but when it reached my neck, the crowd let out a small scared gasp, startling Stella and the man from their dissing competition.

That was when I got a strange tingling sensation, as if my entire body had fallen asleep. I slowly began to tremble uncontrollably, gripping my arms. The room seemed like it had dropped sixty degrees in a couple of seconds. At least, to me.

My gaze flickered around the room, searching for a mirror. I finally settled for the one on the wall, and stiffly moved towards it, the room suddenly silent. Staring into the mirror, a girl who looked just like me (only with an unflattering shade on her skin) stared back through the glass.

And that's when the mirror broke.

I could only watch in horror as a giant bolt of white hot lightning shot from my chest and collided with the delicate glass. In a second, the frame wobbled off of the wall, and shattered against the floor. And then, only then, did the crowd of people start screaming and running. They created what almost looked like a stampede, which only made my nerves bounce more, causing three more bolts to come shooting out of my arms and legs. And let me tell you, it didn't feel that good either when they were coming out of my skin.

I let out a shrill scream that sounded inhumane compared to the others. "Everyone, get out!" Stella cried, covering her head with her arms, the bulge in her back increasing when she bended forward.

Most of the people made it out the front doors, but some got trapped after I shot a bolt at the ceiling, making the door collapse in a heap of rubble. "My door!" The cashier cried, not even aware of the small fire burning on the tip of his hat.

I wasn't able to control it. I didn't know how. It wasn't like I tried to do anything... Right?

"Shinedown!" Stella cried, pushing her way out of the throng of scarred-for-life people that had crowded around her. "Calm down!"

Turning around to face her, another bolt shot out of my neck, smashing a porcelain pot to itty bitty pieces. My breathing turned ragged, the pain becoming almost unbearable. "You think I know how to control this?" I practically had to scream over the shrieks and cries of the people.

Stella tripped over someone else's shoes and slid across the flooring on her stomach, almost getting hit by a bolt that slid by her head. "I know you-"

But she never got to finish her sentence, for a deafening cry of pain sounded out from behind me. My shoulders tensed as the room fell into a dead silence, the eyes all pointed at the man curled up in a ball on the floor, clutching his stomach.

A short, strangled gasp came from my midnight blue mouth as I realized what I had done. The man squeezed his eyes shut, twisting back and forth on the floor as the bolt zoomed through his internal organs. I was only able to watch with a pounding heart as his skin started glowing a hot, bright color, his screams getting louder by ever millisecond. Clutching his shirt, the man tried to claw his skin off, scratching his skin until his fingers were raw. But the bolt kept getting hotter inside his body, a lightbulb just beginning to turn on, the hand twisting the knob ever so slightly.

I could have done something. I could have tried to help him. But... I didn't.

Everyone watched in utter silence as the man squirmed, the bolt getting hotter, his skin getting brighter, until, with a final, earsplitting scream, the bolt shot back out of his body, and destroyed the table standing next to him. And then, the man slowly lied down flat on the flooring, his eyes closing. And he breathed his final breath.

We all watched in shocked silence as my skin slowly started turning back to its original peachy color, slipping under my clothes, and nestling back into my blue fingers, leaving the sense of smugness in its wake.

I killed him. I had killed an innocent man because of something that I couldn't control.

And worst of all... It was all my fault.

................

I'm guessing this is going to haunt her for a while... Lol! I'm the author! Of course I'll make it haunt her!

Anyways, this is pretty much how Stella and Shinedown meet, and like I said before, it's kind of... Well, unusual. And in case you were wondering, Stella is a mutant (duh) and you'll find out what her mutation is in the next few chapters.

Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to hit that like button and I'll see you guys in the next chapter.

Love you,

Danalpswolf