You Built Your Walls Too High

Carli meets someone new, and a secret is revealed.

Carli sat back down and held her face in her hands. “What’s wrong with me?” she whispered through sobs. “Where did I go wrong?”

“I don’t think you did anything wrong.”

Carli jerked her head upwards, and scanned the room for the small voice that she had heard. It was none other than Autumn Mela, L. A.’s local weird girl.

“Mela?” Carli said cautiously.

“Please call me Autumn. It’s better that way.”

Yeesh. Creep much? “Um, okay.”

“Your friends don’t seem very nice.”

“What do you know about my friends? You’re just the resident creep.”

“I’m just trying to be kind to someone who seems to be outcast.”

“You would know a lot about that kind of thing.”

Autumn’s face turned red. “I can handle it, you can’t!”

Carli stood and looked Autumn square in the face. “Listen here, Mela. I don’t need pity. Especially not from you.”

“FIne, then.” Autumn turned on her heels and walked away.

Carli left Spoon’s and waited at the bus stop. Again, she found herself tugging at a tuft of hair. It was comforting in the worst way, because she knew her mother hated it. “Don’t pull your hair, Carli. It’s too beautiful to be pulled”.

Her mother hated tons of things, and loved many others. She loved roses, and put their petals in her homemade shampoo and conditioner. She loved writing, and her library was filled to the brim with original novels. Carli’s mother called herself the guardian of the book. She knew which bookmarks caused the least amount of damage to the spine, and when and where reading was appropriate. She despised that children now spoke so loudly in libraries, and hated the way they folded the corners of the pages.

A tear slid down Carli’s cheek. Her mother would have told her not to cry, if she were still alive.

Reviews

[skiiish367]

Love how you didn't make Carli the nicest person. Even with her demons she has flaws, and put a nice touch to the character.

[SilverInk]

Yeah, I have a bad habit of making characters perfect, and Carli was a great way to break the habit. Thanks for reading!

[GoldenNotes]

This chapter was extraordinary i loved how you built up to the main point her mother being dead this is great keep up the good work.

[SilverInk]

Thanks for your review!

[Gejodi]

who seems to be outcast.” seems to be an/the outcast? No problems I see good writing the further along we go we get more info on the main character I like the line .. She knew which bookmarks caused the least amount of damage to the spine,

[SilverInk]

That's "outcast" as in the verb, not the adjective. I'm glad you liked this chapter!