Miss Invisible

“We have family in America,” she had told herself softly, reassuring herself that she wouldn’t be completely alone when her plane landed, because for some reason, now that she was actually stuffing her belongings into her suitcase, holding her passport in her free hand tightly, it was so much harder for her to believe that she was actually leaving London. Leaving her home. Leaving her family...

Her family wouldn’t notice that she was gone until after she had gotten onto the plain, and by then they wouldn’t be able to stop her. Her parents would report a missing child, but by the time London knew that Nerissa Hatts had decided to skip town, she would be in America, roaming the streets, dragging her belongings behind her.

The idea, it was a good one alright, but it was frightening to say the least. Someone stirred in the next room, their mattress squeaking when they rolled over and went back to sleep. Nerissa realized she had been holding her breath, and exhaled slowly; it was early, and if one of her family members woke up, everything went up in flames.

“One passport. One plane ticket. Clothes…” Nerissa walked over to her closet and pulled down half of the clothing that was hanging there, and stuffed it into her suitcase; she didn’t have enough room in the suitcase to pack all of her clothes, and so she would have to buy some more clothes when she arrived- which brought her to the next item on her list of things to pack, “Money…” but that was when Nerissa remembered that the money she had would do her no good in America.

She sighed and fell back onto her bed, spread out like a starfish. She had reached a fork in the road; she had no American money, and in order to get some she would either have to get a job in America as soon as she arrived- and she was pretty sure she would have trouble with that task due to her young age- or she would have to pay the American side of her family a visit. Both would be extremely difficult.

-

“Hey, kid, out of the way!” A man with a raspy voice shouted from behind his steering wheel when Nerissa stumbled in the middle of the road and had to stop to collect her belongings. She scrambled to pick up her things and darted across the street to the sidewalk, where she was safe from the angry drivers and their fast cars. Nerissa heaved her suitcase up higher and started down the sidewalk, reading the directions to the airport, which she had written on the palm of her hand.

Desmond was not having the best of luck at that moment. He had recently met with a new friend of his, Leanne Lorens, yet could not remember where she had last been. She said she would have met him outside of Diagon Alley in London, yet could not manage to find her anywhere. He sighed in irritation and pushed his bangs back up, his forehead feeling cold as the wind softly blew on it. It was almost summer and he was sweating a lot for some reason. Probably nothing.

He walked down the streets, his head stretched out to the left, hoping that he would be able to see Leanne waving up and down at him. But alas, he could not. He looked down to the ground and sighed, as if he had been defeated. He pretty much just wanted to talk to someone, anyone, but his dad was with his siblings. Most likely shopping for their first year of Hogwarts...all Desmond got was just the basics and a pat on the back. Then he was forced to go alone to Hogwarts, for 3 years. Now he was a fourth year, feeling like he was able to fight the world now.

As he was surrounded in the fog called thoughts, he felt himself accidentally run into a nearby entity. He stumbled for a second, being caught off guard, but managed to appropriately gain his footing. His shoulder ached from the collision, but it was nothing that he could not handle. He turned his head over to the person that had run into him...or he had run into. He couldn't tell, but he was pissed. "Watch where you're-" but he cut himself off as he noticed that the human he had run into, was a girl. With long red hair. His eyes widened, feeling a sudden threshold of fear and guilt. "I'm sorry!" he quickly said, rushing over to the girl and picking up anything that may have fallen "I wasn't paying attention, and I was looking for my friend...oh I'm a mess."

One thing after another… it was almost too much for poor Nerissa to handle. She just wanted to get to the airport in one piece- but of course, when Nerissa wanted one thing, it was only natural for her to get another.

She hadn’t seen him walking nearer, for she had been too distracted by the scribbled instructions on her hand, and therefore, couldn’t have prevented the collision, which had sent her suitcase flying out of her hand. She stumbled to the sidewalk, and luckily, she had chosen to wear jeans rather than shorts; a decision that had certainly saved her knees. Nerissa gasped; she hadn’t expected it at all- how could she have? –and was having a bit of trouble comprehending what had happened.

"I'm sorry!"

Nerissa looked up from the sidewalk to see who had run into her. For some reason, for a moment, she had expected to see some frightening adult who had been too busy chatting away on their cell phone to notice that they were headed straight for a young girl- only to be surprised for the second time that minute when she saw a young male she recognized. A boy who she had seen in the halls of Hogwarts.

The young redhead climbed to her feet slowly, her knees rather sore. There would be bruising. She opened her mouth to apologize as well, but she really just wanted to skip the small talk and gather her things- which had spilled out of her suitcase onto the dirty sidewalk- and leave. She had to get on her plane before her parents woke up and found out that she had left, unless she wanted to turn around and walk straight home, unpack her things, and pretend the idea of leaving London had never occurred to her.

Nerissa groaned as she looked at her scattered belongings, and began to grab handfuls of socks, throwing them back into her suitcase, “yeah…” she finally replied, but the single word was not much of a reply, but more of a way to let the boy know that she just wanted him to walk past her and continue on his way.

Desmond continued to frantically grab the girls things that had fallen off her, but then soon realized that most of the things that had fallen were in fact his. He had been carrying a couple of things, such as his cell phone, a chap stick for whenever his lips became dry, a napkin with directions to Diagon Alley and his wand. He gulped momentarily, scrambling on the ground to grab his wand, hoping that she herself wasn't a muggle. He got back up and handed her the things that he suspected were hers, smiling as he did. "I really am sorry," he apologized, concern lurking in his eyes "I wasn't paying attention and-oh and are you hurt by chance?" he asked, looking down at her knees. He did not see any blood, but he knew it should have at least bruised. He felt really bad.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked her again, his voice sounding more peppy and cheerful "get you a water or a band-aid or something?" He knew that if he had not offered all those things, he would feel very guilty about it later on. And if he felt guilty about it, he would then feel like he would just explode from the pent up anxiety. That was how he was. Now that he examined her face, he could tell that she had been through a lot. It was almost impossible to see, but it was as if she just wanted him to go, to just leave and never see her again. That was when Desmond's 'warrior' spirit started to kick in again. It wasn't much as fighting, but rather he couldn't decline a challenge. "Are you alright?" he asked again "you seem like you have been through a lot, may I try to help with whatever you are doing?" By the looks of things, it looked like she was moving with her family or something...but it was strange, no one else had been standing next to her. A woman never came rushing to Nerissa's side and helped her to her feet. It was as if she was alone.

The male, he began offering her help, offering her assistance that she felt that she very much needed- but when she opened her mouth once more to speak, she had quite a deal of trouble getting her words out; how could she trust someone who had run into her on the street? How could she possibly trust this boy was genuinely concerned? He wasn’t, she decided, he was just offering her assistance in order to keep her from slapping him, or shouting at him… or something. Nerissa exhaled loudly, in an almost irritated way; she was tired of trying to figure everything out, it took too much effort.

Giving up, she dropped the last of her things back into her suitcase and closed the large thing, dragging the zipper noisily around the entire thing until she was sure that her things wouldn’t try to escape the suitcase again; she didn’t need any more attention, or any more delays, she was probably late as it was already. “I…” There you go! Real words! Now try to get a logical sentence out of that mouth of yours and we will continue on from there. Nerissa’s thoughts had always been rather rude… especially when she was feeling anxious. “I think I got my directions wrong,” she continued, glancing back down at the black ink on the palm of her left hand- being left handed, Nerissa had had a hard time scribbling the instructions down on her left hand, while using the right; juggling her suitcase and a pen, while putting on her shoes had been too much multitasking apparently.

Nerissa wasn’t entirely sure that her directions were wrong, but she had a pretty good feeling that the male would be able to assist her in getting to the airport faster- not the mention the fact that he would probably go away once he realized that she was trying to get on a plane. Or maybe he would try to stop her when he noticed that she was going alone… Nerissa could feel her nerves squirming beneath her skin- NO, she would not let some boy ruin everything for her. “You know what… I think these are right after all, I wouldn’t want to burden you in any way,” she come up with an excuse to leave the spot quickly, and heaved the suitcase up off of the ground once more.

The male, he said that Nerissa looked as if she had been through a lot. Nerissa’s head snapped up, her dull eyes targeted directly for his; some random stranger could tell that she was dealing with a lot, but her family believed that everything was just peachy? Nerissa almost wanted to laugh, but she figured that would scare the boy off….- hadn’t she wanted him to leave? Yes, she had, but perhaps he could keep her company while she waited for her plane.

“No, I’m not hurt- bruised, but that’s nothing really,” she replied slowly, yeah, nothing compared to being tortured by the cruelest man you’ve ever met. Yeah, her thoughts were right on that one. She shifted on the spot, feeling somewhat out of place when an older man had tried to make his way past the two of them. She brushed a strand of her red hair, which had fallen into her face when she had fallen to the ground, away from her face and looked back down at the ink on her hand, rereading the words that she had read at least a hundred times already.

Desmond continued to look at the girl, a large grin on his face. He knew that she was going somewhere, but the question he wanted an answer to was why. Why had she been leaving for someplace all by herself? She really had some guts, he had to admit. And frankly, he liked it. He tilted his head slightly, trying to read the directions that were on her palm. Besides the fact that she had written it on her hand, it was rather nice handwriting in his opinion. His own was 10 times worse, even the professors at Hogwarts couldn't read his homework on several occasions. Maybe if he had slowed down during his writing pace, there would be no need for them to ask him what that word was. He scanned her hand quietly, not being able to read it at full capacity since her handwriting was a bit slanted. He considered some of the factors, one being that she had been in a rush and two being that she was left handed. He had not met anyone that had been left handed, so he assumed that she was in a rush.

Another mystery for his curiosity.

He examined her features, as if he was trying to read her like a book. Sure, he may have been good at reading expressions, but he was a failure when it came to body language. Most of the time he would be completely oblivious if someone was angry or sad if he could not look into their eyes. When he did however, it was like he was reading their brain like it was a library. He was going to comment on why she was thinking her directions were wrong, she had beat him to it by saying they probably weren't. Another defense, another reason for him to investigate. "Well," he commented politely "I don't know this place very well, yet I'm sure I could help you find the place you need to go. What is the location and maybe I will know where it is?" At that point, he felt like he had been giving up. Giving up the investigation of the strange girl. The one with long red hair.

He blinked a couple of times, his thoughts returning back to the guilt. A couple of bruises. Caused by him. Way to make a friend Desmond, he thought to himself, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at himself way to go. He carefully toke a step backwards, letting the adult pass through and ruining Desmond's 'center'. Whenever he was in his 'center' he felt like he could take on the world, fight any foe or solve any mystery that came to him. But now he was regular Desmond again...the same child that had accidentally crashed into the girl. "Well I am sorry about that, again," he said in a kind voice "but I would really like to help you to where you need to go...I feel kind of bad still." Hopefully he hadn't come off as creepy or anything. He was just so interested on why the girl, almost the same height as him anyway, had been walking in London, alone and without a parent.

“The airport…?” Nerissa replied, but it sounded a lot more like a question, as if she wasn’t sure of her decision, her decision to leave London in order to run from all of her fears, which would stay there in London- she just knew they would. They had to… leaving London was the last of her options, and she really didn’t want to think of what would happen to her sanity if leaving didn’t work. She just couldn’t imagine feeling so paranoid, and so broken for the rest of her life. “I have a flight in half an hour,” she added, glancing at her wrist to check the time, only to remember that she wasn’t wearing a watch. She bit her bottom lip and shifted once more, trying to balance the weight of her suitcase in a way that would make it a bit less difficult.

The young redhead was silent for a moment, allowing the stranger to read the directions she had jotted down on her palm, and she used that moment of silence to examine the being before her. He looked to be around the same age as she was, judging by his still-young features, but she could have been wrong. She tried to remember what house’s robes he had worn when she had seen him in the halls of the magical school she attended- had attended- but she just couldn’t seem to recall. He looked like a Hufflepuff, she noted, he appeared quite gentle, despite the fact that he had knocked her over onto the sidewalk.

Nerissa’s lips twitched upwards slightly into what could have been a smile, had she released her bottom lip from her teeth. It was a dented smile. A pathetic, dented smile. One that revealed too much about herself, and the best part about it was, she hadn’t a clue. She was under the impression that she was doing a good job at keeping her face completely expressionless… “I’ve seen you around Hogw…” Nerissa’s voice faded out when she realized that she was speaking a bit too loudly about Hogwarts in front of the muggles that crowded the streets, and so she corrected herself, “the school”.

She figured that she would clear that up so that she didn’t have to watch the male struggle with acting like a muggle, as she assumed he would; she herself always had quite a bit of trouble speaking muggle, despite the fact that her uncle was obsessed with the nonmagical folk.

“So… do you think you know how to get there? I don’t want to be late…” she asked him quietly, and suddenly her shoes seemed very interested.

The airport. Another large piece of the puzzle seemed to connect, allowing his thought to shift in a straight line. She was running away. There was no question about it. But to think, she was running away from the safety of her home, the safety of Hog- well it wasn't as safe as it was back in the Nineties. Now the entire school was run by Death Eaters, and it had scared him. But still, she was running away from it all...but where to? He would have to watch his words, he would have to be Odysseus and try to choose his words carefully and not make a goddess angry. Or more confused. He nodded his head however, knowing exactly where the airport had been. He lived in America before and he remembered the first day he moved to London. Mostly because it was the day he had become a true prankster. Yet that was another story that you would not want to hear for now. For it would just get boring.

He had to stall, he had to try and convince the girl to stay in London where her family would be. Another puzzle formed in his head, this time the picture being on why she would try to leave. Something had obviously pushed her into leaving and he needed to find out. Someone might've said it would be reckless, but he called it 'being progressive'. "Well I know where the airport is at," he said calmly, his voice starting to trail back onto his American version accent "I remember seeing a couple of buildings nearby the airport that I pass by everyday. I'll show you where if you want." Now he had set the bait, and just needed her to attack it. He almost thought that he was an evil genius for a second, but knew he was far from it. "But I just wonder," he said softly, but in a pitch that she could hear "why are you heading to the airport? Are you meeting friends or family there?"

Why was she leaving? Well, it was a reasonable question to ask; it wasn’t every day you ran into some strange redheaded girl who was planning on leaving London, completely alone- hell, it wasn’t every day you ran into someone who seemed so damn curios about the lives of others. Why was this boy so curious? Why couldn’t he just accompany her to the airport and- who was she kidding? It was she that was acting strangely, not this male before her. It just seemed so much easier to pass the blame on over to him. “I…” Nerissa began her reply, but for a moment, she had forgotten, it seemed, why she had decided to leave London in the first place. What made her think that by leaving London, she would feel safe again?

Perhaps it was the caring expression the male before her wore that made Nerissa question herself in such a way- or maybe, his question had simply been the first thing to open her eyes. She was in a terrible situation, and she had only just realized it was so. “I’m leaving because I…” she whispered, but once again she felt she was unable to finish her reply. Her tongue felt as if it was glued to the roof of her mouth; she didn’t know the answer, and it was like being called upon in front of a class in school, and not knowing what to say in reply to the teacher whom had asked her a question. “I…”

I, I, I. You sound so selfish- what are your parents going to have to go through when you leave them behind Nerissa’s thoughts were cruel towards her, as cruel as ever- but they were honest, and it seemed they were the only honest part left of Nerissa Hatts. “Never mind. I’ll just get there myself. Thank you though,” her voice betrayed her sudden struggle to continue forward on her journey- she sounded crushed. The worst part of it all, was that she had been the one to crush herself. There was no need for villains or bullies when Nerissa had her mind to tear her down.

She tightened her grip around her suitcase and took a few, small baby steps forward into the street, her eyes never leaving her worn sneakers. Foolish… Selfish… Ignorant… Worthless with each step she took that voice screaming within her skull continued to rip her apart. She had been so confident before she had been forced to realized what she was doing- before she had been given enough time to think about her actions, to see what trouble she would be causing if she fallowed through with her plan. Ne’Os should have killed you when he had the chance!

Nerissa stumbled in the street, and a stream of honking horns erupted. People swerved around her, trying to avoid flattening the redheaded female in the middle of the street. She had scraped her hand along the pavement, causing the skin of her left palm to sting painfully- her directions to the airport, they were smudged, the black ink smeared along with the crimson droplets of blood that had begun to sprout from her pores.

The girl looked down at her hand slowly, “I know…” she whispered to herself, seemingly unawear of the people in their cars who had to slam down on their brakes in order to keep her alive. She turned her eyes away from her hand to flick them in the direction of the male whom had offered her his assistance- she needed it at that moment more than ever, “Help.”