Enjoy the chapter guys! Makes sure to check out my new story "Cold Expanse" when it gets posted later today. I must've written a good 10k words today, honestly. Point out any mistakes or things that don't flow with the rest of the story. Please remember that I've not written this in a long time and my memory's not perfect so I might have things wrong. Sorry :c

******

An explosion rocked my surroundings, leveling the town; an entire city reduced to rubble. The explosion had been on the level of a nuclear weapon.

Hopping out of the crater, I become aware of not having a single scratch on my entire body. What’s going on? The entire situation felt oddly familiar, kind of like Déjà vu. Looking around, I see that there’s no signs of life anywhere.

I killed everyone? I should at least confirm if everyone really died… Walking in no particular direction I head out from the crater. After a few minutes I notice that the landscape is gradually showing less signs of destruction.

The further I went the more the landscape starting appearing like a city, a half collapsed building here, a partly standing one over there, compared to the original piles of molten stone puddles and steel beams strewn around. Sadly, because the area was so hot, I didn’t see any corpses. Even the bodies had been incinerated; women, children and men. The heat was completely indifferent to who the victims actually were.

What might have been the scariest part was that I didn’t care. However, in the back of my mind I had some deep regretful and mournful feeling of not wanting them to have died. It was conflicting. How did I truly feel?

Finally getting far enough away from ground zero, I saw bodies lying around, not incinerated. It had confirmed that I at least didn’t incinerate everyone when I hit the ground like a meteorite. Maybe I was a god of some sort? The whole situation seemed to make sense in my head, but when I actually questioned it, the whole situation was beginning to feel more and more unbelievable.

The buildings were mostly standing now, although they were heavily damaged. I focused on the windows and noticed that the majority of them had been completely shattered and blown-in. Walking closer to the building, I inspect the shards of glass on the ground.

Picking up a moderately sized shard, I play with it in my hand. My hand suddenly jitters slightly and the glass slips, slicing my hand. Right before my eyes, I watch as the cut heals faster than it was cut in the first place. I focus harder on my hand, looking for anything thing out of the ordinary, bar the immortality.

Instead of discovering anything, I’m rewarded with my vision going white in splotches and a feeling of being tugged backwards. The world begins fading, waking me up.

A dream? I see…

******

Opening my eyes, I see the same old bundle of blonde hair on my bed. It was messy and reminded me of a bird nest, it was clearly Charlotte. So I passed out on my bed? I was intending on going into the lounge room and sleeping on the couch. I really need to sort this problem out, don’t I?

Climbing out of bed, glancing at my digital clock informs me that it is 9:14 AM. I slept like a rock, a good 13 hours. I’ll wake Charlotte up after I’m ready, I suppose.

Making my way into the bathroom, I turn the cold and hot water on in the shower. Testing the water for a few moments, until I then begin to climb in, only just realising I still have my clothes on. That was fucking close, wasn’t it?

Washing my hair and everything else took a little while, it had been 15 minutes or so. Turning the water off, I stand still for a few seconds to let the remaining drops of water run off my body. Towels worked a lot better when you weren’t flooding the floor.

My hair was going everywhere. I roughed it up with the towel in an effort to dry it and it loosely reminded me of Charlotte in my bed. I laughed a little bit because of the odd connection I had made.

Time to wake her up I guess. One of her feet were hanging out of the bed, with a sock on. Placing my finger on the sole, I do circle motions in an effort to cause her to jump awake from the sudden foreign feeling.

“Ahhhnnn.”

What was that… I heard a sound of pleasure coming from my bed. I tickle her foot once again only to elicit the same soft noise. Charlotte really was a weird one. Going to her side, I pick her up and place her in an upright position on the ground, as if she was standing. Suddenly, she awakens in a really confused state.

“Ehhh?!” An obviously confused noise was produced as she started falling to the side, off balance.

Catching her to prevent her actually getting hurt, her face goes slightly red. Damn, it wasn’t on the same level as the past few times she’s blushed. She’s becoming more and more used to me… This isn’t fun at all anymore.

******

Some time having passed, I was currently with Charlotte at our Lemonade shop. We had set up for the day and had opened the doors. Everything was running smoothly, however, there are no fucking customers!

"Charlotte?" I called out to her to get her attention.

"Yes?~" Her usual reply, all systems nominal.

"What are we going to do...?" I had resorted to asking a child for help. I was really just hoping that with her being an assistant A.I, she'd be able to come up with something, anything.

"To attract customers?" Charlotte had a complicated expression on her face, as if she wasn't sure but was thinking hard.

"Yeah." Her face still indicating that she's in deep thought.

Several moments had passed with her thinking deeply before she suddenly looked towards me.

"Can't I go out and direct customers towards our shop?" She turned her head to the side, as if it was more a question than an idea. I had already considered the idea, however, she was just a child.

"No, you're too young. It wouldn't work." I answer, probably more solemnly than she appeared to be. Suddenly she smiled before giving a slight giggle.

"Is that all?~"

Before my eyes I watch as Charlotte's body begins transforming into a taller version. Her body began expanding in certain areas and her face lost its childish appearance, being replaced with a young woman's face. Her clothes even changed with her body.

The Charlotte in front of me still bared resemblance to the sweet girl I had come to know, however, she seemed different. She had a sly look on her face as she looked at me and it had appeared that she had even mentally changed.

She even had a set of voluptuous mountains now! A formidable enemy... To prevent Charlotte from getting cocky, I looked away from her and went back to work.

"Alright, get to work then." I pretended to not have any interest in the new Charlotte and started working again. Out of the corner of my eyes I swear she had a upset expression on her face, gloomily looking at me. It was as if she had previously thought I wouldn't be able to resist her new appearance. Although, she wasn't necessarily wrong.

"You're terrible..." Charlotte had only whispered it, but I had still made it out. With her words finished, she had went off to lure customers into our store.

I was going to have to make it up to her later. I felt particularly bad about what I had done. I'm sorry, Charlotte.

***Perspective Change***

Knocking on the door a few times, I wait patiently. At first, there was no response. I hear the floorboards on the inside shift slightly as someone approached the door before I heard the satisfying click of the handle being turned to open the door.

I see April standing in the doorway. Her eyes are red and she seems really upset.

“What happened?” I decide to take the lead because she wasn’t in the best of moods.

“They came back…” I could feel the underlying implications of what she had said.

“What did you say?” I needed to confirm she was putting up a fight.

“That they couldn’t take it, I’d get them the money.” I could see tears forming at the edges of her eyes, this was taking a turn for the worst.

A few months back April had been involved in a lawsuit because of an abusive relationship. She had taken him to court but he had managed to spin the story and shift the blame to her. Soon her whole life had been ruined and she was riddled with debt. She had run out of money and could no longer pay a lawyer to defend herself. Having lost money and many possessions in an attempt to pay back her debt, she was still doing no better. Economicalopoly was an escape from real life and a way to redeem herself.

“They obviously can’t take your house, don’t worry,” at my words she nods her head slightly and leans in towards me. I hug her in an attempt to placate her.

“What am I going to do?” Her voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. At this point she broke, as she started sobbing into my shoulder. I took her inside and put a movie on while I held her to keep her comfort.

“Even if everyone else abandons you, I won’t leave your side April. Don’t worry.”

Marcus wasn’t sure just what would come out of this but he was not the kind of person to ever give up on a friend in hard place.

***Perspective Change***

It had been a hard day at work and I didn’t feel like sticking around any longer, leaf had disappeared earlier having apparently finished everything assigned to him with relative ease.

“Want to do anything tonight?” I had directed the question towards Crystal. We hadn’t really spoke too much today because we didn’t want to get caught slacking off on the job.

“I’m too tired to bother, working is such a pain.” She had sounded quite frustrated, just yesterday she had been perfectly fine, maybe something happened?

“Ahh, yeah. Let’s head home then.”

“Mmm.”

We had plenty of time tonight to get to the bus stop, making it home much quicker than usual. The bus ride wasn’t overly eventful but there was an elderly couple sitting in the back still showing love and dedication towards each other after what can only be described as an impossibly long time that they’ve been together. It was the small things like this that kept me going in life, knowing that one day that could be me. A loving relationship, family, not a care in the world. What more could any person instinctively want?

“Crystal, want to cook tonight or should we cook together?” I waited for a response but a reply never came. I head into the living room only to notice that she had went into the shower some time ago. I suppose I can surprise her with something tonight. I laugh a bit to myself at the thought of what I could cook.

******

Climbing out of the showing I dry my hair and body with a towel and then proceeded to properly dry my hair with a hair dryer after putting my clothes on. The hot air tickled as it went over my neck every now and then. It felt nice but not enough to notice it every time.

When my hair was done I put it into a ponytail so it wasn’t in the way and went out into the kitchen. I see Elizabeth sitting at the table, a wicked smile on her face while her blonde hair taunts me to come sit down.

What does she have planned…

Waffles. Who has waffles for dinner!?!?

“Thank you very much.” I pretend to be neutral on the outside, slightly thankful. I was really just covering up my confusion. Only Americans would be able to think up a dinner like this. Waffles with Cookies and Cream Ice Cream and a few other sweet things. I was going to need to do lots of exercise after this. I could literally see the calories this meal contained.

***End of Chapter***