The Runner

"Why isn't it snowing?" Jasmine asked bluntly, trying get the wind to carry a leaf in its own personal tornado across the carpet.

"What?" Jazz asked, confused.

"Well it's summer in America, right? So shouldn't it be winter here? Where's the snow?" Jasmine continued.

"Are you honestly stupid?" Lizzie demanded. "It only snows on the mountains here. We live in the Pacific."

"Well sometimes it snows here." Jazz interjected. "In the Rangipo Desert."

"Not helping." Lizzie told her sister.

I looked between the two, it was hard to imagine they were twins. But they were; Daughters of Athena. And while they mightn't have had the happiest lives, they had each other. While I didn't have... anyone.

Sure, these kids were sweet and they mostly tried to make me feel included but how long was it really until I was alone again? I came to the Den as an outsider and I had a terrible feeling that that was how I would leave.

I clenched my jaw and turned my attention back to the petti-argument that was gaining momentum.

"It snows every winter in New York! Why doesn't it here?" The curious Jasmine demanded.

"Maybe because this is the other side of the world?" Lizzie suggested.

"Hold up," Lyssa interrupted, entering the room. "What do you mean it doesn't snow here?"

Statements turned into shouting which escalated into yelling which erupted into a full-blown argument. Next time someone told me that the best topic for polite conversation was the weather, I told them that I'd rather discuss something much more mundane like the existential significance of sand.

I drew the line when the first fist was thrown.

"Stop it." I said as Lyssa clutched her stinging cheek and Lizzie shook out her fist. Jazz also rushed into the fray and helped me to pull them apart and quieten the room. "We fight monsters, not each other."

Jazz nodded. "It doesn't matter whether it snows here or not, let's just accept that our country's have different climates and decide to move on. The weather isn't worth fighting over anyway."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I'm not very sorry." She told Lizzie bluntly. "But I apologise for starting this argument."

"I apologise too." Lizzie said.

"Me as well." Lyssa said.

"That's better." I said and walked from the room to seek some quiet in the living room where I found Chris, sitting on the couch.

"What was all that shouting for?" He asked.

"They were arguing over the weather, if you can believe it." I told him, taking a seat beside him.

He shook his head. "Well I'm glad I stayed in here then."

He turned back to his book and a smile crept onto my mouth. If he, an outsider too, could find solace by himself and be just as likeable around people, then was there any reason why I couldn't either?

What made me an outsider?

Only myself.

Notes