( OPEN ) RIPPING ME INTO PIECES

[CADEN JARED HEBLON]

B E H I N D _ T H E _ W H E E L _ O F _ A _ L I F E
• • • • • • • • • WITH NO CONTROL
NO _ CONSCIENCE _ AND _ BARELY _ A _ SOUL

A N D _ D O E S _ I T _ S C A R E _ Y O U _ T O _ K N OW
YOU CAN'T PRETEND ANYMORE • • •
CAUSE _ I'M _ BEHIND _ EVERY _ DOOR _ YOU _ RUN

Caden yawned, staring at the ceiling of the Hades cabin. He hadn't just woken up; it was simply a habit of his to yawn when he was wide awake. It was almost seven o'clock in the evening, which was way too early for him, who was more of a night owl, to be tired. He wasn't planning on staring at the dark, overly-mystifying stone ceiling of his cabin until he actually was tired or Jacoby showed up though, so he decided to just go down to the lake for awhile. It wasn't in his intent to go swimming, but more of an impulsive urge to watch the surface of the water rippling. Caden wasn't very big on swimming anyway, being a child of Hades who was the brother of Poseidon. He didn't do boats or planes, end of story. Bridges were just asking for him to get killed, since they went over water and were generally somewhat up in the air. Then there were the whack jobs that built bridges that went upriver on the actual river for about five miles.

Caden shook his head, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes. It was getting pretty long, enough that if he didn't toss his head or shove it out of his face enough he'd be virtually blind until he did. That was the disadvantage to having thick hair and actually caring what it looked like. He knew people that would actually just take a knife and hack it off to a mostly-even length, which was something he would never dream of doing unless he was absolutely desperate. He sighed, pulling on the pair of shorts that he wore whenever he decided to go to the lake and a white t-shirt. He didn't bother with removing any rings, necklaces, or bracelets he was wearing and slid his wallet and switchblade into his back pocket.

He pulled on the shoes sitting beside his bunk that he'd been wearing all day and left the cabin, sticking to the evening shadows. Caden didn't necessarily have something to hide, he would just prefer to not be seen. When he got to being within two-hundred yards of the water's edge, he moved out into the open. He reached the edge of the lake and flopped down on the grass, his feet barely dangling over the edge. He stretched his arms up into the air and pulled himself into a sitting position. It would be his time of day soon: quiet, dark, and very rarely interrupted. It was a lot like him, if you really thought about it. He wasn't exactly antisocial; he just felt awkward in social situations and preferred to keep to himself.

His eyes rose to the sky. It was still light outside, but you could already see the moon, which was full tonight. He couldn't wait until it got darker where you could see more stars than you ever would in any city. The night was warm tonight, somewhere in the mid-eighties. That qualified as warm to people in the South. Ninety was more or less the lower end of the temperature being 'hot' to Caden. He was still tempted to take off his shirt from the mugginess of the air, but he was still self-conscious about the scar on his back. Even after having it for three years and knowing full-well that most people hear had at least one scar, plus the fact that there was no one to see him out here, he was still worried about people talking about the long jagged mark going horizontally across his lower back.

Caden pulled a pair of glasses out of his shorts pocket. He usually wore his contacts at camp, but he'd already taken them out for today and hadn't felt like bothering with putting them back in. His eyesight wasn't horrible, but it was bad enough that he needed glasses. He drummed the fingers of one hand on the grass as he stared across the water, occasionally brushing his bangs out of his eyes. Caden finally gave in to the half of himself telling him to stop being self-conscious and pulled the t-shirt off. He set the barely sweat-dampened shirt in a crumpled heat beside him and resumed his position of staring across the water. He was finally starting to relax when he heard something behind him. He wanted to jump to his feet and pull out the switchblade, but he wasn't in the mood to scare the ever-loving crap out of anyone. Instead, he settled for looking over his shoulder, using his hand to shield his eyes from the setting sun, to try and see who it was. Caden might be good with shadows, but recognizing silhouettes just wasn't his forte. "Who is it?" he shouted to the approaching figure, still hidden by the last rays of sunlight.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

( WORDS ) EIGHT OH EIGHT
( TAG ) OPEN
( STATUS ) FIN
( MUSIC ) IT'S ALIVE
( LYRICS ) IT'S ALIVE
( OUTFIT ) ULTIMATE SMEXINESS
( CREDIT ) SKYLARR (WITH INFLUENCE FROM ACADIA'S)
( NOTES ) PSYCHOTIC MUSE BURST MUCH?
AND THIS WAS WAY TOO MUCH CODING FOR
SIX TO SEVEN FORTY-FIVE IN THE MORNING.

[CASSANDRA RUGGIERO]

Cas had decided to get away from everything and everyone and just go to the lake and think about stuff. On the way she thought of her rocky start at arriving here and the fact that she was the only Artemis camper. Then the whole drama began of how she met her friend Jake and how she instantly fell fro him. And then the stress that came along with it. And finally, the best part was when she told her adopted older brother Casey about Jake he flipped the fuck out.

He had basically told her to stay away from him and to avoid him at all possible. But Cas didn't seem to understand and then they got into a yelling fight and some choice words were exchanged and then the phone was hung up. She couldn't seem to understand why Casey was acting this way but she just pushed these thoughts from her mind. she wanted to go and swim to take her mind off of things. She was currently wearing a two piece bikini that was designed by Ed Hardy. The top was visible but the bottom was covered by a pair or small swimming shorts. She was afraid that showing too much skin would get her n trouble, not that she really cared.

She had just been walking barefoot through the forest when she finally made it to the lake. She sighed as she saw that it was nearly nightfall and that meant the moon would be out very soon and Cas couldn't wait. But she tensed up when she heard someone yell at her. She turned and saw someone sitting in the grass since she walked over to the water. "It's just me, the name's Cas" she spoke to him with a smile as she cast a look over to him. Her body was well toned and she kinda figured it was. Her hair was on her back but the ind blew a breeze and basically made her hair fly behind her similar to a train.

"I'm the Artemis camper, the only one. And you might be?" she offered as she smiled at him. There was a little bit of flirting there but she didn't care. He was cute and she thought she should have a little fun while she was at this place

This is the bathing suit: upload.ecvv.com/upload/Product/20086/China_ed_hardy_swim_suit_beach_wear2008622311319.jpg

[CADEN JARED HEBLON]

B E H I N D _ T H E _ W H E E L _ O F _ A _ L I F E
• • • • • • • • • WITH NO CONTROL
NO _ CONSCIENCE _ AND _ BARELY _ A _ SOUL

A N D _ D O E S _ I T _ S C A R E _ Y O U _ T O _ K N OW
YOU CAN'T PRETEND ANYMORE • • •
CAUSE _ I'M _ BEHIND _ EVERY _ DOOR _ YOU _ RUN

As the silhouette came closer, he was able to make out their distinctly feminine figure. He was fairly sure it was a girl, unless there was an extremely feminine guy with long hair running around the camp. He highly doubted that one. There were guys with long hair here, but none of them were that thin. Great, just what he needed right now: a girl talking to him. Jacoby was the flirt and socialize of the Hades cabin, not him. He was only social and/or a flirt if he was drunk. That didn't really happen much, so he was basically socially awkward and lacking in the correct social skills needed to survive a conversation with the opposite gender.

He could finally see what the girl looked like as she got closer. To sum up her looks simply: she was really pretty. That would only make this conversation worse. It wasn't extremely difficult for him to talk to an average-looking girl. The pretty ones were trouble though. He figured he'd be fine as long as he didn't focus on her looks too much. Just find a way to look at the trees behind her, except make it look like you're actually looking at her, he told himself. That was a lot easier said than done, though. Especially the not-focusing-on-looks part. It seemed like girls tried to find the skimpiest bathing suits possible these days. He didn't really want to know if the bottoms were as revealing as the top. At least she'd had enough sense to wear a pair of shorts, albeit very small shorts, over them.

"Uh, hey, Cas. I'm Caden, from Hades," he said, then realizing how the phrase 'from Hades' could be taken. "Uh, what I meant is that my dad is Hades...I'm not actually from hell...unless Alabama in the summer counts." Oh, geez. Just shut up now, Caden! he shouted at himself while simultaneously mentally slapping himself. He looked down so that she couldn't see him grimace at his pure idiocy. He looked up again, hoping the look on his face was somewhat of a smile. It felt like he was still grimacing. Hopefully it wasn't. Could he fail at this anymore? He wouldn't be surprised if she just got up and left.

Caden pushed his glasses up some with his index finger, trying to think of something he could say without stuttering. He also couldn't help but wonder if she'd noticed the scar or not. Great, now that he'd thought about it, he was feeling self-conscious. He really needed to learn to control his thoughts better. He looked out at the lake glistening in the rays of orange and gold light from the setting sun. "So...how was your day?" he asked before he could stop himself. He immediately corrected himself. "I'm sorry, that was lame. God, I suck at this." He muttered the last sentence to himself, but it was still loud enough that she probably heard him. Where was Jacoby hitting people in the back of the head with an army of pebbles when you needed him?

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

( WORDS ) FIVE ONE TWO
( TAG ) CASSANDRA
( STATUS ) FIN
( MUSIC ) BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
( LYRICS ) IT'S ALIVE
( OUTFIT ) ULTIMATE SMEXINESS
( CREDIT ) SKYLARR
( NOTES ) I'M REALLY SORRY
IF IT SUCKS. /:

[CASSANDRA RUGGIERO]

Cas looked at him as her eyes went over every inch of his body. Not bad, not bad at all she thought to herself as she listened carefully to him speak with her. She listened carefully and when he explained about it she laughed a bit. "I'm not laughing at you Caden, I just know how you feel. And trust me Mexico is way hotter then Alabama in summer. That's where I grew up" she explained when she stepped closer to him. She stepped so close that she could see his face. she then smiled and reached forward and then placed his bangs out of his eyes. "You're cute when you can't see your expression" she spoke as she made his gaze meet her.

The breeze came back again and it was even more powerful then it had been when she had first arrived. It blew her hair into her face as it revealed her back. there were two long and jagged slashes down her back near her shoulder blades. It looked similar to angel wings being ripped off. She then looked as if she was freaked of the fact that the breeze had been colder then the one before and and was caught off guard as a result.

When he asked how her day was and then aid God I suck at this she smiled at him. She stepped closer to him and looked at him. She placed her hand on the side of his face. "Caden, was it? You're fine, really. You're doing a good job by looking at me and not my body. And secondly, you're adorable. But if it makes you feel any better, I get nervous around cute guys. And I'm nervous that you'd freak when you saw my scars" she explained as she turned around and gave him full view of her long scars.

"You can ask about them if you want. People do that all the time"

[CADEN JARED HEBLON]

B E H I N D _ T H E _ W H E E L _ O F _ A _ L I F E
• • • • • • • • • WITH NO CONTROL
NO _ CONSCIENCE _ AND _ BARELY _ A _ SOUL

A N D _ D O E S _ I T _ S C A R E _ Y O U _ T O _ K N OW
YOU CAN'T PRETEND ANYMORE • • •
CAUSE _ I'M _ BEHIND _ EVERY _ DOOR _ YOU _ RUN

Caden smiled a bit when she said she wasn't laughing at him. Well, she hadn't ditched him or called him a loser yet, so that was a plus. "That much is true. Even one week in Mexico in the summer is murder." When Cas stepped towards him, he wanted to take a step back, but he didn't want to offend her. He could finally see her face clearly, even though he had to look down. He would say that he was roughly a foot taller than her. He couldn't see for himself, but he was pretty sure his face went five shades paler than normal for a split second when she brushed his bangs out of his eyes. He wasn't exactly used to attention from girls. The only female attention he really ever received was from his adoptive mother and sister. Well, there was always the occasional preteen girl whispering to her friends and looking at him and Shane when they went to the mall to hang out during the school year. He found girls like that to be creepy, bored, or desperate. "Oh, uh, thanks," he said, looking into her eyes. If Jacoby found out that he was letting a girl make him this extremely awkward, he'd never let him live it down.

A breeze started blowing, tossing his overly thick bangs into his eyes, blocking his vision. He tossed his head to the side, moving them out of his eyes. He looked at her when he could see clearly, noticing her slightly freaked out expression. His guess was that it was from the breeze, which had been cold compared to the ones that'd been blowing all day. "Cold?" he asked, smirking, for the first time since the conversation had started not sounding unsure or awkward. He guessed that some habit that had rubbed off on him from Jacoby, the cabin flirt (or ass, depending on how his day was going), was finally somewhat kicking in. Caden leaned down, picking up his t-shirt which, thank goodness, had dried without smelling like sweat. More like grass and lake air. Good enough. He offered it to her, just in case she actually was cold.

Caden felt himself blush when she touched his face. Being fairly good at controlling his emotions, he managed to get the redness to mostly go away. "Thanks. To be honest, I was waiting for you to call me a hopeless loser and leave," he said, shrugging. He had a bit of a tendency to be blunt, but that wasn't always a bad thing. "If I freaked at someone else's scars, I might as well have issues looking at myself in a mirror," he added as she turned around, revealing two long scars starting around her shoulder blades. One of the first things he thought of: angel wings.

"What, do they not want angels to have wings anymore?" he asked, smirking. He knew it was an extremely cheesy thing to say about a person's scars, but he'd secretly found the question hilarious when he'd dared Shane to ask a random girl a question. He could definitely feel his confidence growing though."But don’t worry, I've got scars of my own," he said, turning to show her his back before turning back to face her. Hers were definitely interesting, and he had no clue what could've made scars like that on a person's back. "Well, I don't want to seem nosy, but I'm definitely interested. You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to," he said. His mind was seriously backwards today. He was generally good at talking about more serious subjects, but here he was, trying to find the right words to say and how to say it. Maybe he was just bad at answering questions.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

( WORDS ) SIX TWO NINE
( TAG ) CASSANDRA
( STATUS ) FIN
( MUSIC ) BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
( LYRICS ) IT'S ALIVE
( OUTFIT ) ULTIMATE SMEXINESS
( CREDIT ) SKYLARR
( NOTES ) - - - -