The remorse Scott Fuller carries is weighing him down like a huge stone tied to his leg. He is drowning in a lake full of self-condemnation. The days are coming and going, dusk and dawn uneventful for him. Praying isn't going to heal his wound, it just keeps growing.

All she ever wanted was to help him, save him somehow. He dragged her through a hole in the ground, falling just like Alice in Wonderland. If only they could open their eyes and realize it was all a dream.

He decided to stay with the Geckos for a while, just until the heat died down and it was easier to choose where to go. The brothers didn't really know what to do with the teenager -- they fucked up his family's life and pity wasn't going to bring anyone back. A bed to sleep in would do just fine for the time.

Thea met the boy by accident. She was walking downstairs through the hallway when they ran into each other. He had no idea about the girl being there; most of his time was spent sleeping or playing guitar outside when the sun wouldn't turn him into ash.

"Oh, I'm sorry wasn't really paying attention to where I was going"

"It's fine. Do I know you?"

They clicked in the weirdest way, like friends finally seeing each other after years of departure. He sometimes played classic rock songs around her and she used him as guinea pig on drink-making adventures.

But enough was enough and being at Jed's wasn't helping him in any way. So after one month, he packed his few belongings, stole an old car from the parking lot, gathered all the strength and courage he's always had and took off. His goodbye to the Geckos was brief -- a note stuck on the door of the room he was staying in: Thanks for the bed, try not to fuck anything up this time.

Thea leaned over the car's passenger window, Texas' nightly wind blowing her hair wildly. "I'm actually gonna miss you, Fuller. Try to keep me in the loop, don't you?"

"Course, T. If I ever end up in a proper band you'll be the first one to know." He gave her a smile. She's been nothing but supportive of his dream of fully engaging in music and he's grateful for that.

"I hope so. Now, here's a little something for you. I know how much you like those." The green-eyed girl generated a thin magazine from her side along with a DVD, extending them to him. Lucha Libre Comic Book and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

Reminders of a lost life, like it's been years since he was a teenage boy living in Bethel. He fought with his older sister almost every day, picking at each other and driving their parents a bit crazy. It doesn't matter if they are not blood-related, love perseveres; love goes beyond everything.

"True love is loving the unlovable."

Scott couldn't help but laugh. "It's been a while since I've read one of these. Thanks for the gift." His eyes caught her's for a moment, shining with sadness and faith. Faith that things will get better for the both of them. "Guess I gotta go now."

"Yeah...Take care, Scott. Hope to see you soon." She likes the boy, he's a good kid, and her heart shook a little for having to see him go.

"You will. Bye, Thea." After one last smile in her direction, he turned the car on, stepped on the accelerator and soon Jacknife Jed's was nothing but a reflection on the review-mirror.

A few months ago, if you asked Seth Gecko what he hoped to be doing in this exact moment, his answer would be: "El Rey, taking my fucking time. Blue agave, beaches and a goddamn beautiful woman to die in the arms of."

Except El Rey doesn't exist, at least not for someone like him, and there's a ghost of a preacher's daughter running around his brain.

All Seth got are night terrors and a bar full of bloodsucking snakes just like his brother. What a fucking gift.

During her time alone Thea had a few jobs. The first one was in Alto, a small place filled with people working in the agriculture field. There wasn't much to do, only a few businesses including the grocery store she worked at. Charles, the owner, was an elderly man whose wife died a few months before and left him alone in this one-horse town.

A bell rang up on the door when she entered the shop. It was filled with just so much stuff on the walls, that you didn't even know where to look: retro advertisings and signs, old car plates, country posters, and even a few taxidermy animal's heads. The shelves and refrigerators held only the essentials, the more common stuff.

The man behind the register sent her a friendly smile. He looks like Santa Claus, she thought. "Good afternoon little lady, looking for anything specific? We ain't got much in here but it's enough."

"Oh no, thank you. Just going to get something to drink." She smiled back while grabbing a coke inside the refrigerator. The girl surely looked like a drifter. -- dusty jeans and a jacket that had seen better days.

"I see... are you new here, darling?" He scanned the bottle and took the 5 dollar bill from her, his hand wrinkly and spotted with little dots from too much time under the sun.

"Hm... kind of?" In a small town like this one, she assumed the older man often felt lonely, grasping every opportunity to interact with people.

He handed her the coke and change. "Gotcha. Mind me asking your name?"

"Not at all. My name's Thea."

A warm smile brightened up his face again. "That's some gorgeous name you have. Do you happen to know what it means?"

"Not really, sir." She confessed.

"Ah, please call me Charles, darling. It's a blessing a few of you youngins still respect your elders." His right hand moved past the register for her to shake.

"Ain't that a sad thing."

"It is." Affectionately, the white-haired man tapped the back of her hand; a gesture that sent Thea back to a life forever gone now. Her mom did the same exact thing. "Anyways, your name means goddess of light and sight. Interesting, no?"

"Yes, it actually is. Never knew about that." Goddess of light and sight. All the light in her life left alongside her family, like water running down a poisoned drain.

"Yeah, our names are powerful, believe me," hope is a fierce thing held close to her heart. God, guide me to a path of lightness and sight, please.

"Darling, ain't ya interested in working here? You look like a sweet girl and I could use a hand 'round here." The proposition was tempting, but the fear that whoever left the message at her house would find her was stronger. "Oh, I'm sorry Charles, I'm only stopping by for a place to sleep tonight."

"Well, I understand... look at me talking your ear off here. There's a motel few streets down, name's Pine Creek. Nothing 5-stars like, but the best place 'round here." With the kind smile still spread on his face, Charles gave her one last hand-shake. "God bless you, Thea."

"Thank you so much, Charles, you too."

Destiny played with her again when miscalculations led to only 30 dollars on her pocket, having to accept the work offer.

The job was simple: normally involved restoring the shelves, cleaning the area or staying on the cash register when the older man needed to take care of other stuff. Locals would come and go during the day, sharing small talks and sympathetic smiles with the young girl.

Charles liked to talk and finally having someone to do so made him content. Their conversations were filled with old-time stories and bits of advice, Thea absorbing every lesson available. The most memorable one was after telling him a brief, simpler version of what happened to her; why a nineteen-year-old girl was running from town to town through the Lone Star State alone.

His answer was forever engraved on her mind: "Don't hold a grudge, it will eat you alive. Forgiveness isn't about the other person, sweetheart. It's about you."

The blinding ball of warmth in the sky protects her from monsters of dusk, the only shelter beside a gun weighing heavily in the back of her pants. She closes her eyes until everything behind them is colored orange.

For the past few days, Thea's been dreaming red -- everything surrounding her is colored this visceral shade. Voices whisper ancient foreign words; a girl extends a black-stoned vintage necklace while her eyes turn the color of blood. She's not giving a present, they are exchanging something and everything starts to burn.

Sweating and trembling, she wakes up along a racing heart. It was like making a pact with Lucifer, shaking hands with the devil.

a/n:

This chapter is just a lil something to show part of Thea's time alone through Texas. (:

Constructive criticism is welcome just like observations and opinions!!