Somewhere close by a person must have felt suicidal because they keep                                                               making that God-awful noise next to her ear. Slowly the fog in her head                                                                starts to fade and she realizes that her damn clock is vibrating all over her                                                         dresser as it wakes everyone on the block. Opening her eyes she sees it's                                                                five in the morning. Another day of playing catch me if you can with the Bullies

at school.

    Making fast work of brushing her teeth, combing her hair, and dressing in her                                                    normal poor hand-me-down clothes, She is out the door before anybody else                                                             at home wakes up. Sure, she was way early, but it's the only time she has to

herself. Walking four miles since she started high school three years earlier her                                                            mind went on auto-pilot as she traveled the lonely streets. As she rounds a corner                                                   two blocks from Kingston High where she is a student, she hits an object moving                                                     at a high rate of speed. She flies backward landing hard. Barely able to breathe, she                                            slowly makes her way to her feet to be knocked back down as Someone else rushes                                                past.

    What's going on? She looks in the directions of the runners to see a big monster run-

ning after a small child. Jumping to her feet she follows them. For a child, she is really

fast. The monster was losing steam fast though. The Monster is a girl Carly knows all too

well. She has had the same race with the Monster for years. As she closes in on the  Mon-

ster whose real name is Gloria.

    She sees the child trip and falls from a crack on the sidewalk that was lifted, and knew

she had to do something. Running full-on into the Monsters side and tackling her to the gro-

und was not the smartest thing to do, but she couldn't let her hurt a child. She sees the kid

jump up onto her feet and run around a corner disappearing without ever looking back. As

she turns to look at the Monster she should have expected the punch that connected with

her jaw. This was not her morning. She made it a habit to leave early for school to avoid stuff

like this, and here she was on the receiving end of one punch after another.

    The world around her was starting to fade as she was slipping into unconsciousness, then

she heard a war cry that brought her back, then Gloria's body was lifted off of her. The child

had returned and was pulling Gloria off by pulling her hair. Then the Monster grabbed her by

the throat and slammed her hard onto the ground. The Monster was about to kick the child when

her foot was caught before it could connect with her head by someone with very large hands. The

hand that held the foot lifted it in the air until Gloria lost her balance and fell onto her back.

    "Do you wish to continue this Gloria? because I promise it won't end well for you." The large str-

anger asked the fallen Bully.

    "**** you trailer trash! This isn't over, you can't protect everyone." Then she jumped to her feet

running away towards school.

    The stranger glanced at the hurt girls and saw that she knew one of them. "Carly? What made

you decide to tangle with the Monster? You in that much of a hurry to die?"

    "I was trying to save that kid from getting pummeled by her," she said pointing to the ground

where the little child was just getting her senses back from hitting the ground as she did. That's

when she started to notice that the child was not a child, but a girl her age, just short in stature.

The rest of the body was a wonder as Carly looked at her, she noticed things she never noticed

before now. Like her honey-colored hair that went to mid-back. The face that looked so young held

eyes that spoke of secret knowledge yet revealed. Oh my: she thought as she stared at the young

woman.

    "What were you thinking? I was almost free from her when I saw you get hit and had to come back."

    Carly was stunned, "Excuse me but I was trying to stop her from hurting you. A thank you should be

the first thing out of your mouth!"

    "Well, thank you, though it was not necessary. I was perfectly capable of running from her."

    "What's your name kid, because I saw you trip and go down. Just a second later and she would have

grounded your bones to dust with her feet. So drop the attitude, kid!"

    "My name is Tara" then stepping into Carly's face, "and I'm getting tired of you calling me kid!"

    Damn, she is a spitfire. I don't know about the attitude but Carly was surprised by herself when she

apologized to Tara. "I didn't mean anything by it. I thought Gloria was chasing a small kid when you

guys ran past me. Can we start over because I've had enough of getting my butt kicked for one day?"

    That's when Tara looked at Carly and knew she was hurt, and it was because of her. She was wob-

bling on her feet, and her left eye had a half-moon under it. But she had a strange smile on her face.

She looked at the Stranger who saved them and asked her as she rushed to Carly to stop her from fal-

ling, "Help me with her, please. Why didn't you say you were hurt this bad. You need to see a doctor or

something."

    She grabbed Carly under her arms and help her towards school since it was the nearest place that

they could go. That's when she noticed that Carly was leaning into her more than necessary, and she'd

swear that stupid grin just got bigger. If it was not for the tall strong woman holding onto Carly's left side

they both would have landed in a heap on the ground. "Just a little farther now and you can see the scho-

ol nurse." She didn't know why but it worried her that Carly was hurt. It was like she could feel her pain.

And what she didn't know was that the same silly smile Carly had, she had as well. The tall stranger hold-

ing onto Carly kept looking back and forth between the two and shaking her head. Why were they both smil-

ing like that after the pounding that both of them received? It was kinda scary.

    She had her share of beatings throughout the years, so she knows that a head injury can make you act

strange, but both were acting the same; weird. They enter the school doors and slowly traveled the stairs

until they reach the door that says, Nurse on it. Going in the door they find a hospital bed in a corner and

lay Carly onto it. As Tara was placing an ice pack on her eye that she found in a cabinet the Nurse walks

in and screams in surprise as she sees Carly's face,

    "What happened to you, dear? Looks like someone hit you with a bat." Carly laughed, You could say that

Mrs. Shelton, the Monster got us. But I don't think it's as bad as last time. That last beating I was messed up."

    "I never did like that girl, nothing but pure nastiness in her heart. Don't care who she hurts." The Nurse said.

    Tara was steaming mad, "are you telling me this isn't your first time getting hurt? Why don't they put her out

if she is such a menace?" The tall stranger noticed that ever since Tara had put Carly on the bed she had yet to

let go of her hand. When she heard this was not her first beating Tara started to rub Carly's arm in a comforting manner. She had never seen someone be so tender towards Carly, and she was pretty sure the blond didn't

even know she was doing it.

Even though the blond and the patent didn't realize how they were acting the Nurse saw it. " I believe you

two need to head to your classrooms. No need to check back in on her, because I'm going to call her parents to come and get her since she won't be in no condition to attend classes today." She had treated Carly a few times

and always liked the girl but the way both girls were acting towards one another made her feel uneasy. Tara

didn't want to leave Carly's side but knew she needed to head to class. She just started hereafter moving from out

of state, and she didn't want to start on the wrong foot. While still holding Carly's hand she reached out her right hand to move some hair that was hanging close to Carly's eyes. "I hope you feel better soon.

I'll save you a seat in the lunchroom, okay. Bye."

    As Carly watched them leave a feeling of deep loneliness crept into her heart. For some reason when Tara held her hand she felt grounded, but now it was like a piece of herself just walked out the door.

    Standing in the intersection of the school hallways Tara turns to look at the tall Stranger

to find she was the only one standing there. “damn she is fast” she thinks. Then she realizes

that in the hour that they were together she never heard her name. Well, she will run into her

eventually.

    Then her mind starts to wander over her time and reaction to Carly. She hated leaving her.

She kept telling herself that it was because she was just concerned since she was hurt so bad,

but every time they touched it was a feeling. A feeling of...Home; is the best she can describe it.

She hoped that she would see her soon, she really needed a friend, and she felt that she could

trust Carly.

    Walking into her classroom and finding her seat she froze. Three seats in front of her was Gloria

smiling at her. Whenever she knew the teacher was not looking she kept sliding her finger across her

throat, or smacking a fist into her hand. How was she was to focus on her school work with the Monster

threatening to grind her bones to dust? She raised her hand and asked to use the restroom, no sooner

it was granted she was running from that classroom. She was just running out the main doors of her

new school when she collides with a solid body knocking her back a few feet.

    “Thought you could slip past me, huh? Mr. Hatfield doesn't care what his students do so long as you don't

bother his naps. You're going to pay for this morning little girl.”

    Gloria had her pressed against the front

double doors. Her hands slammed into the doors on both sides of her face, pinning her. “Told you I would get

you.”

    “Then you get both of us!” Just then a heavy book bag landed on Gloria's head leaving her dazed. It was

the break Carly needed, grabbing Tara's hand they ran as fast as they could but found their path blocked

by five girls. All five girls were follower's of the Monster, Some times the five would find kids to watch her beat

them. All of them were sick and twisted. Everyone just called them the Trolls; because they all are so ugly; of

course never to their faces. That's why she knew that things just got worse when she heard Tara call out, “Will

you Trolls get out of the way? We need to get out of here.”

    What Tara didn't know was that it was too late. The five started laughing looking over the two girl's heads at

the recovered Monster, That's when they knew that this time they were not going to be able to walk away.

Carly jumped into action pushing Tara to the side as she screamed for her to run. Tara believing she was right behind her, ran as fast as her short legs could carry her. As she was leaving school grounds she saw the tall Stranger again just walking off school grounds. Running up to her she noticed Carly was not with her. Turning around she started to run back when long fingers grabbed her shoulder and turned

her around to face the Stranger. Tears were running down her face unnoticed. “what's going on?

    Why are you crying?” The stranger asked her.

    “Carly! They have Carly!” She cried as she broke free of the grip on her shoulder and made a mad

dash back where she knew Carly was. As she ran she saw a graceful body run past her at speeds bey-

ond a normal person's ability to run and she knew it was the Strangers. As she neared the site she saw girls

scattering like roaches as the Stranger ran upon them. Then she saw her. Carly was laying on the ground

on her side not moving. “No!” She cried as she dropped down next to the unconscious girl and cradled

her head in her lap.

    She looked at the Stranger and yelled at her where she was knocking another girl senseless, “Call for help!

She is really hurt bad this time.” Then she started to rub her forehead where a nasty bruise was forming. And  kissing the spot on her chin that had a deep cut. This was the second time this girl had taken a beating for her,

and it was just the first day they had ever met.

    She stayed holding onto her as the medics tried to look her over. They tried to remove Carly from her lap

but they found she was stronger than they thought. So to keep both girls from getting more upset they allowed

Tara to continue holding her; that is until they were ready to load her into the Ambulance.

    They tried to tell Tara it was time to let go, but she threw herself over Carly's body. For some reason, it felt

like if they took Carly that Tara's heart would be pulled from her chest, and it scared her to death. She didn't know why she was feeling this way, but she knew without a doubt that where Carly went she would follow.

    She was still fighting the medics when the long fingers of the Stranger pried her off of the hurt girl. “Come on Tara, stop fighting us. The Medics or trying to help her. We'll go to the hospital so you can be with her. Ok?” Slowly Tara stopped fighting and watched them load her into the back. Then they were off.

    Turning to the Stranger she asked where the hospital was? “I need to be with her, please help me be there for her.” She pleaded.

    “Come on, we'll take the city bus. We can be there in an hour.” the Stranger said. They ran at a slow pace, mainly because of the legs of Tara's being so short, but they made good time and boarded the bus on the way to the hospital. It took them about an hour but they finally made it to the emergency room. Tara wasted no time running

up to the Nurse's desk.

    “Please, my Sister was brought into here. Her name is Carly.” She had seen enough movies to know that unless you were family they didn't let you see the patent, so she was rehearsing what she was going to say on the way over. She just forgot one thing.

    “Miss, Carly, who? What's the last name?” Tara looked at the Stranger with shock in her eyes, “Benson.”

the Stranger finished for Tara. “Yes, she is in room H21. If you follow the hallway down to the right it will be

the sixth door down.” The Nurse watched as the short girl ran towards the room like her life was on the other

side of the door.

    Tara took a deep breath then opened the room door. She was trying to prepare herself for anything on the

other side of the door. When she walked in with the Stranger next to her tears once again came to her eyes

as she saw the girl who had saved her twice in one day laying there with tubes and monitor cables everywhere.

She slowly walked over as if Carly's soul was calling for her. Joining their hands together she could do nothing,

but rub her bruised face. The Stranger brought over a chair and helped Tara to sit in it next to her Savior.

    A woman in her mid-thirties walked up to the room. Receiving a call at work that she needed to pick up

her daughter at school, she was shocked a little later that the Nurse called at the hospital saying her daughter

was there now. Her heart jumped in her throat upon hearing this. Breaking many traffic laws she arrived as

soon as she could. As she was about to enter the room she stops in her tracks.

    She noticed Samantha standing in the corner by the TV hanging on the wall, but what got her attention was

the young-looking blond sitting near her daughter. The blond never took her eyes off of Carly, and the look in

the blond's eyes said only one thing...Love.

    She quietly got Sam's attention and motioned with her head to step out of

the room so they could talk. As they stood out of the room Mrs. Benson kept looking into the room watching the

two girls. Carly had yet to wake, but for some strange reason, there was a large smile plastered on her face. And Tara was rubbing her arms, or fixing her pillow, and talking to her about everything, and about nothing.

    “What happened Sam? She looks bad this time? And what's up with that smile? Did she receive nerve damage

or something?” Mrs. Benson fired off the questions. Sam for the next few minutes filled her in. “Who is she, Sam? You would think they were in loving or something? I've never seen someone treat Carly like that.”

    “Carly saved her from the Monster and it was like something out of the twilight zone after that. They both kept smiling even after the beating they took, and after the second time, Tara tried to tear the EMS workers apart when they tried to touch Carly. I had to actually pull her away. Since we've arrived she hasn't moved from that spot.”

    “So, that's Carly's sister huh,” Mrs. Benson asked, laughing. “The Nurse told me her sister and friend were alre-

ady with her. I found that strange, since I know I gave birth to only one child.” Mrs. Benson pointed down the wall and asked “You want to get some coffee; because I believe Carly is in good hands,”

pointing to the blond.

    They walked to the vending machine and paid for two large coffees then sat at a small square table next to the wall. “Sam, I don't know if I'm supposed to ask you this. I am not asking you to betray my daughter's trust or-anything...” Mrs. Benson was looking into her lap and was playing nervously with a string on her slacks; “ Is Carly

...Is she Gay?” She was holding her breath as she waited for the answer. She never thought about it until she saw the two girls together. And thought about her growing up until now, she never showed any interest in boys even at seventeen years old. But she just thought her daughter was just being shy.

    Sam was floored! What do you say when asked that by your friend's mom?

    “Mrs. Benson, Carly is my best friend. We have known each other for years, but I can't remember if she has said anything as to which side she leans. If she is Gay, then I don't believe she has realized it yet. I never saw her act

the way she did today until she met Tara.” Sam knew why she was asking because she was wondering the

same sense watching the two girls “So, I think we just need to wait and see.”

    Mrs. Benson, I do have an admission to make though; I am Gay.” Mrs. Benson was stunned. “So, you and

my daug...”

    “No!” Sam nearly spit the coffee out of her mouth. That's not what I meant. I was telling you so you understand

that if she is Gay, Carly is still the girl you raised.”

    Mrs. Benson laughed as she remembered something she heard about Gay's. “Sam do you have gaydar? And

if so, can you tell if Carly is one?”

    Sam laughed; “I think mine has been broken for years or else I may have had found my soulmate by now, but I can't tell with Carly, sorry.” Mrs. Benson asked, “What about Tara, then?”

    Sam lowered her head down looking at the tabletop, with a knowing look, she said, “ Oh yeah.”