Changes

Changes (Chapter One)

Cassi stumbled out of the run down apartment complex, her foot catching on an exposed wire, just one of the many obtrusions strewn across the floor and grounds of the ancient building. Catching herself, she glared at the aged hobo sitting at the doorside, who was looking far too eager for her to stumble and render herself unconscious so he could pillage her clothes.

A pang of guilt and understanding hit her, however, so she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of lint. Her eyes closed for a second, and reopening them, she handed the object to the homeless man as she turned on her way.

“Th-thank you, miss!” The man cried after her, managing to get to his feet and heading off on his own direction. Cassi hoped the best for him, and hope he managed to get enough money to take care of himself for a while with the golden object she gave him.

Walking slowly down the street, Cassi pondered what she’d do that day. Realizing that she’d spent nearly a week at that decrepit apartment, she decided it was time to move on again. So, she set off in the direction of some better housing, her hair swirling and coming to rest behind her.

She happened to like her hair. It was the one part of her body she actually had positive opinions about. Ever since her parents forced her to leave the house at the age of fourteen, Cassi had been forced to take care of herself on the dirty streets of Buffalo, once a large and relatively prosperous city, but now rapidly becoming a slum and in other areas, a ghost city. However, she realized not too long ago that she couldn’t live there forever, so she boarded a train to Chicago with the last of her saved money. Here, she had found better luck living off the streets, and as such, was better able to take care of herself. Still, her clothes were never in great condition and her body, which was relatively attractive and shapely, but due to not always having a constant source of food, was usually on the thin side. As such, she took pride in the one part of her body that she didn’t see as dirty and unwanted- her dark blond hair, with it’s barely discernable hint of red.

Of course, she smiled to herself, it wasn’t always that color. In fact, more often than not, it had large streaks of other colors in it. What colors? That always was dependant on what she felt like, because as her tastes changed, so did the colors. It was a neat perk to the gifts she discovered she had, was being able to change the color of her hair as it pleased her.

Sadly, she still couldn’t stop it from changing slightly on it’s own…walking carefully into an abandoned warehouse, she remembered the time her parents had screamed at her, and in her growing anger, the streaks of red in her hair had begun to intensify to such a level that after a few minutes, her hair looked as thought it were on fire. Pushing the memory aside, Cassi frowned to herself. No need bringing up bad memories, she felt. All in the past, and she needed to focus on now.

Pulling her focus from her mind to the warehouse, she began to poke around. In the following ten minutes, she found out that the warehouse only had a few tenants already- and only one of them was human. Stepping carefully away from the sleeping man she discovered underneath the broken machinery that once made beautiful clothes, she perused the remains of the warehouse. Finally, she discovered a relatively hidden section of the warehouse, complete with a sofa with more than it’s share of burn marks and holes with stuffing poking out.

Stretching out on her newfound treasure, Cassi decided that she could make her home here for a while. Far longer than at that poor excuse for an apartment complex, she thought happily. Smiling to herself again, she let her eyes close and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Cassi awoke with a start- something was different, something had changed. She looked around, and noticing the windows (despite being nearly blacked out on their own) had grown very dark, she surmised she’d been asleep for at least a few hours. Her stomach growled at her, reminding her she hadn’t eaten yet.

But neither of these observations was what set her on edge. She calmed herself, and closed her eyes. Instantly she understood as she heard a sound- scritch, scritch, scritch- and realized the other warehouse resident had woken up.

Crawling from her niche, she slowly wandered to where she had earlier encountered the man. As she had sensed, he had awoken and was in the process of covering up his limited belongings so to make it seem that the area was still abandoned.

Clearing her throat, Cassi stepped slightly into the area as the man whipped around, clearly not having expected a visitor.

“Holy fu…uh….What are you doing here?” The man shifted uncomfortably.

Cassi stepped forward once more, offering her hand. “I guess you could call me your new neighbor. I thought I’d shack up in here for a while. I hope you don’t mind.” She looked him straight in the eye, and saw him contemplating what to say next.

“Uh…I guess…I don’t care…I mean, I don’t own the place or anything, so I can’t really say no anyway.” The man seemed to relax a bit more knowing that the situation wasn’t dangerous. “Uh…my name’s Sven.” He took Cassi’s hand and gave it a shake, then went back to covering his belongings.

Cassi smiled and offered, “Cassi. Nice to meet you.” She watched as he worked, as well as examined the area at the same time. She saw bits of clothes poking out of holes in various containers about the room, along with a box that was nearly covered but had a glint of metal sticking out of it’s miniscule opening. Noting that he certainly had more than a shopping cart’s full of belongings in the place, she surmised he’d been there at least a while. “How long have you been living here? Three, four months?”

Sven looked back at her as he pulled the last blanket over a box. “Yeah, how’d you know?

“Good guess, is all.” Cassi grinned at him. “Say, it was kinda rude of me to just barge in here as I did…how about I make up for it with a meal? You hungry?” Her own stomach rumbled once more. “God knows I am.”

“Uh, yeah, actually, I am quite…well, starving, to be honest. Although, I’d prefer if you keep your religious comments to yourself, please…I’ve had a falling out with God, I suppose you’d say.” Sven grimaced. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me. I know you didn’t meant anything by it. Just, from what’s happened to me…what I’ve been through…not to mention, all that goes on in this city…well, let’s just say that God is a touchy subject for more than just me.”

Cassi nodded. “It’s ok, I understand, I think. Personally, I’m not a religious person myself, so I think we’ll be fine. So, how about that food?” She turned towards the entrance, and striding towards the door, she noticed a coat on the floor. Her sharp eyes spotted a name- Jonathan- scribbled on the tag. Stopping at the door, she looked back at Sven, who stooped to pick up the coat on his way to the door, and she asked, “By the way…is there anybody else that is living here I should know about?”

Sven looked at her with a confused look. “No, not that I’m aware of. I haven’t lived with anyone since…” He stopped, and Cassi saw a small frown that flit across his face before he continued. “In a few months. I’ve preferred mostly to keep to myself, honestly.”

Cassi started to apologize, but he waved his hand and cut her off. “Nevermind. Another time.”

She put her hands up in surrender. “Wasn’t trying to push.”

Sven smiled. “Thanks. Sorry again. But, you’re really nice. Sorry for freaking on you.” After Cassi motioned towards the door, he walked through it.

Cassi started to follow, but her eyes caught on a shadow that twisted just slightly on the ground. Looking up to see what could cause it, she saw nothing, and she saw nothing on the ground upon a second look. She shrugged to herself and followed Sven out.