2: Ashallia

Ashallia sat on a stool in her Dad's old workshop, carefully filing the edges of the intricate metal piece she'd just created.

She wiped her tear-stained cheek with the back of her hand. She always missed him more when she was here, in his space, but especially now. She felt so alone.

Liam had dumped her, and so had all her 'popular' friends the moment they realised he had. And her closest friends had resented her the moment she began dating him.

She missed them too. Alena was always so bright and infectiously upbeat, and Jacinta had always understood her better than almost anyone. Anyone except her Dad. She looked around at all of his old tools and workbenches, and wiped another falling tear.

Dating Liam had been the worst mistake of her life, and she hated him for it. She'd fallen hard for him though, or at least for the charming facade he'd put on to get her to date him in the beginning. She hated him for that, too.

'Ugh, I'm such an idiot! Why did I ever trust that jerk?!' she thought, wiping her eyes again. She sighed and checked her phone for the time, ignoring all of the notifications from her senior year's group chat. She'd skipped school to avoid that toxicity today, and she wasn't about to let it in now.

She did have to get ready for work though. Skipping that would mean even more time before she got out of this horrible little town.

Quickly cleaning up, she left the newest of her small metal sculptures on her Dad's old desk, and took care to place the tools back in the exact places he had always kept them. She locked the workshop as she left and crossed the yard, heading into the house for a shower.

As she let the soothing warm water wash over her, she tried to push her feelings away. If she was going to have to face people at work, she could at least not look like an emotional wreck.

When she finally felt calmer, she stepped out, drying and dressing herself quickly, half drying her hair before running some cream gently through her chocolate brown, spirally curls with her fingers, scrunching them up and letting them loose so they'd dry full of bounce.

Looking in the mirror, she gave herself a quick once-over. She hoped her deep green eyes wouldn't look too red and puffy against her pale skin. It was always horribly obvious when they did. Frowning as she turned to the side, she fussed with her work shirt. It always seemed to accentuate her chest, no matter how loose she tried to wear it. As much as she loved her curvy figure, she didn't like to draw too much attention to it. There were some real creeps around town.

'Like Liam.' the voice in her head added.

She sighed, grabbed her things, and tried to quietly head out the door without anyone seeing her on the way.

Relaxing as she reached the end of the drive, she turned down the street towards the main part of town. Leaving her family's house always felt like a weight lifted to her. With the exception of her Dad's workshop, being home just felt.. oppressive, not like a home at all. Just another reason she couldn't wait to leave this place.

Keeping her head down, she walked quickly towards Pete's Place, the bar and restaurant where she worked, hoping desperately that it would be a quiet, uneventful night.