CAROLINE DENNEY, SIXTEEN
The day was hot, the sky, an infinite painting of blue, lay far above the Earth. The sun was a boiling mass of heat trying to escape the fiery depths of its surrounds, much like the thoughts inside Caroline�s head. It had been a hard week for her, no one felt more tired and run down. Her father's wedding plans were coming between them and she didn't have anyone to talk to. All Caroline's favourite people were dead. Her mother, her best friend. The bell rang and she was flung against the side of the corridor like a piece of paper. People rushed past the small 18 yr old, they were all just a sea of faces and strangers to her. No one ever helped to pick up her books or to say sorry for stepping on her toes. Caroline told herself that one day they would not laugh and push her.
Caroline was small and insignificant. She had deep pools of darkness in place of her eyes. Her hair was mousy blond, nearly brown and down to her shoulders with a kink in the bottom that curled under. Caroline was short by everyone�s standards, 5�3� on a good day and wore dark glasses to school, trying to escape letting anyone close.
Caroline made her way home to the flat that she shared with her father. Not for much longer, Caroline thought to herself, could she call this her home. The flat faced onto a busy street that was like the Harbour Bridge, thick with foot traffic. This street would never win any awards. The flat itself was quite large in relation to the other houses on the street. It had two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen/dining room, living room and a study for her father. Caroline walked around the flat, touching the walls and feeling the well-worn carpet under her feet. She loved this place and would hate to live anywhere else.
It had started to rain outside when she heard the loud ratta-tat-tat-ratta-tat on the door. Caroline could tell who it was and walked to the opposite end of the flat to her room. She got sick of the stupid charade that her step-mother-to-be was making and answered the door. Caroline opened the door a fraction, did the fingers, told her where she could go and went away again. Humpty Dumpty, or Claudia as others called her was 6ft tall, deep ocean eyes, chocolate coloured hair with legs to the hilt. Humpt-Claudia was a Public Relations guru and had buckets of money. After the wedding in a weeks time they would all be moving to her �haunted castle� on the Coast.
It was eight that night when her father came home. He asked her about school, she answered the usual 'nothing much'. Brad Denney was in his late 30's but looked younger. He had dark brown eyes and sandy blond hair. Claudia called him gorg'. Caroline only thought of him as having lousy taste in women. She hugged her dad and told him she was meeting some friends at the Plaza. He always said yes so she picked up her jacket, slipped on her mules and slammed the door on the way out. Caroline didn't know why she had slammed the door, probably natural instinct hoping her step-mother was on the other side. Caroline walked on to the path and stared up at the stars in the sky. She laughed loudly for all to hear, thinking how insignificant everyone, including Humpty Dumpty, was and always will be. Things were going to be different, Caroline decided. She continued on her way scuffing her shoes and kicking a tin can. An instinct feeling came over her that she was going to meet someone or something was going to happen that would change things for all of them.
From the moment Caroline pushed through the mob of people huddled outside the automatic doors of The Plaza she could sense someone watching her. Her eyes scanned the large area infront of her - happy people, lovey-dovey people, arguing people, a person watching her. She knew who it was and did not head for him. Instead she went off in the opposite direction and sat down in the food court. Caroline didn�t speak to Kieran as he sat down opposite her but waited for him to speak.
The two of them had grown up together and for most of her life they had been good friends. About six years before this meeting his mother had died. Kieran and his father moved away and a few months prior to the present, they moved back. Things had changed in both Caroline and Kieran�s life. They had not attempted to talk to each other, until now.
�When I came back, you had changed, I had changed. I don�t know why I haven�t come up to you until now. I guess I�m a wimp�. Kieran stared at Caroline with his brown eyes. He was 5�8� and had dark blond hair.
"Yes, I totally agree with you, you are a wimp. You have had lots of chances to talk to me, I may have changed but that doesn�t mean I�m not unapproachable. Your problem is that you listen too much to what the others say. They shut me out and don�t allow me to talk to members of their group. You are a part of that group". Caroline could make things easy for herself by blaming others.
�Look, I�m not here to fight and talk about what we did and didn�t do. I want to make amends, you were my best friend and I don�t want to lose you. I want to get to know you again. I miss you�. Kieran�s eyes were full of emotion as he spoke to Caroline.
Caroline gave up some hostility after Kieran's latest speech and they began a conversation that lasted for a couple of hours. They caught up on what they had missed in each other�s lives. After he had lost his mother his dad married a girl of about 19, they moved back to town when she decided to go to University. Things were on the up in Caroline's life. She had her friend back.
For a month after the wedding life continued at the Denney-Kent household. Caroline spent little time in the same room with Claudia and much time with Kieran. She took notes of the placement of certain outlets in the house. Caroline continued to tell Kieran how her life had been without him and things that she hadn't told anyone else. He listened and told her about his life. Kieran understood how she felt and Caroline knew that he wouldn't leave again, he would help her escape. Together they planned until the day of deliverance.
Caroline sat on Kieran's bonnet laughing. She listened to the cracking and breaking of wood. The flames were a mixture of purple and pink and she started started singing "Humpty Dumpty sat in her room, Humpty Dumpty when KaBoom". The explosion was the best bit. Everything had been calm then suddenly BOOM. Out of nowhere came the sound beautiful to her ears. Somewhere in the rubble and ash lay her father and Claudia. Caroline wanted to spare her father the pain of living without another wife. As Kieran and Caroline drove away she thought to herself how easy it had been. Turn every gas outlet on at full power and wait for Claudia to light up, she was too dumb to smell it and had probably thought it was exotic cooking. They were on the main road before she could hear the sirens of the fire engine. Caroline laughed again and smiled at Kieran.
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