#myangst

She was gone.

That's all that drove through Charlotte Shey's head as she rode down Sunset Blvd.

Normally, she would be glancing at those on the sidewalks. To see what tourists decided to stay out in the sun too long and become a lobster, which star she'd catch smoking on the corner, failing to hide from the paparazzi in their obvious little cars, what nut on a guitar believed he was making it big in the falsely named City of Angels.

But no, not this time. This time, she couldn't even focus on the lines in front of the motorcycle, much less risk a glance to the side.

"I'll be walking from the Hills to the Woods, maybe even further, trying to see if any of Josafina's alley cats show up~ See ya before the show, Charlie!"

Her best friend's final words to her rang through her head, crisper than the phone made the message out to be.

She never did see Li'l Red again.

Red had been shot dead in one of the alleys downtown, found by a girl looking for her cracked out grandparents.

They never found who did it.

Charlotte shook herself to reality just as she ran a red light...

Within moments, she was sent flying, eyes clenched shut as the screeching tires and the sicking crunch of her brother's bike as it's taken out from under her by a pick up truck reached her ears too late.

Landed with a hard thud to the pavement, Charlotte Shey could feel her ribs crack apart and could feel the sharp stabbing pain of breath ease away as she slowly loses her vision and sense of surrounding.

Yet, above her, she could see a girl, roughly her age, face obscured by the bright sun behind her head, yet the Merida-like red curls gently flowing from the girl's head gave Charlotte one last thought as her body seemed to relax at peace...