"Girl in the van,"

Pain...

Pain is what our female protagonist felt when she was suddenly brought back to consciousness. She had no memory of what had happened previously and every time she tried to remember the raging headache that she had been so generous to nurse would pound harder against her skull and a white noise would overtake her hearing senses then dizziness would soon follow in its unruly, so eventually, so inevitably, she gave up.

Her eyes still hadn't opened, but she could feel the hard ground beneath her. The texture was a mixture of that which was soft and hard, and caused her to become extremely itchy and the wetness that accompanied the weird combination of texture did not help at all. She could tell that she was outside and surrounded by nature, mostly due to the fact that she identified the texture for grass and hard ground which were wet, that and the occasional critters she could hear. The sounds were almost peaceful. Almost. The hard surface that she so uncomfortably leaned on did not help the pain that danced across her body in a violent manner. The uncomfortable groan she soon released when she tried to get up from her awful position had caught the attention of her saviour.

Cassandra tried to open her eyes to take in her surroundings when she felt a cold hand grasp her shoulders in an almost comforting manner, though the nerve cells in her body had not sent the comforting gesture to her brain yet, and that's when she started to panic. She ignored the pleadings of the familiar female voice and sharp, shooting burning pains that made their evermore presence known.

"Shhh!" the voiced loudly-whispered, "It's just me, Cass. It's just Lily,"

Slowly, but surely the thrashings had stopped, "Lily?" she asked just to be certain, tears were building up behind her eyes, as she still couldn't open them. The crack in her voice nearly broke Lily's heart. She soon felt the warm yet could embrace of her friend as her dainty arms wrapped around her, extra careful not to disturb the angry wounds that glared into the night sky. Both hers and her companion.

Lily smiled a sad smile into her shoulder, happy that she was okay. She didn't want to lose the one and only thing that had been stable in her life, "Yeah, it's me," she whimpered, her quiet voice lingered in the still night. Nothing was said as the two best friends held each other for the longest of times. The silent conversation that carried between them was more than what words could ever voice, "Here, drink some water,"

Cassandra hadn't realized it till this moment, that she is incredibly parched and was in dire need of some refreshments, water being what she craved the most at the moment. The coolness of the water passing her lips and taking the journey down her through seemed like the best feeling in the world. The water somewhat nourished her chapped lips, and she sure as hell was grateful for that. She showed her appreciation by humming and giving Lily what felt like a smile, but to Lily, it looked like a grimace. And in all honesty, Lily felt the same way, Cassandra looked.

Cassandra let out a small, weak cry that disturbed the serenity of the night creatures. The owls nearby flew off and the nocturnal critters and little animals either hopped or pranced away, "What happened? Why don't I remember anything? And why can't I fucking open my eyes?" she was almost in panic mode again, but soon realized that something must bad must of happened if she was in a forest, sitting on a damp floor, wearing what felt like a torn dress, and the constraining feels of the bandage wrapped to delicately around her head. She wanted to scream into the still night, but she didn't know how much potential danger that could put her in, so by default, she kept her mouth shut. Her past experiences taught her as much.

Lily slightly let go of the embrace, she suddenly grew cold. Cassandra couldn't see it, but she could sure as hell feel it. Lily may be a redhead and comes with all the attributes of being one but she could be a cold mothefucker when she wanted to be and today was one of those times. Cassandra felt a wave of confusion pass over her being as she looked to where she guessed Lily might have been, if the body heat, she was emitting was anything to go by. The smile that had the pleasure of adorning Lily's face had long vaporized into thin air. The memory of what had happened, and her theory as to why it happened replayed in her mind.

But then again, that could just be her paranoia. How could she not have it, considering the life she led before.

"We were in a car crash," her cold voice reach the half working ears of Cassandra. The whisper sent chills down her spine, "You saw something, and that probably made you forget a lot of stuff," Cassandra didn't know, but Lily focused her gaze back to her, "That or, you must have hit your head, but then again, you don't have any head injuries that I can see,"

"That you can see!? Take me to the hospital then. I shouldn't be lying in some damp forest in the middle of nowhere, I'm guessing,"

"You see, I would love to, but that isn't a good idea, especially since I don't think that the car accident was an accident at all,"

Cassandra was perplexed as ever, still not knowing or recalling any memory of a car crash, she didn't know how to feel about the situation at hand, "Huh?"

Lily sighed and licked her lips, "I'll explain it to you later, but right now I have to remove your bandages and clean your wounds again. We wouldn't want to be basking in any more problems," she said as she got up from her position. She went to the newly purchased bag and grabbed a gauze, a white cloth, and a bottle of alcohol that she was tempted to consume, but knew she had to stay on high alert, so she decided against it. These were all the things she got when she hurried to the store and left Cassandra's unconscious body behind a huge, unoccupied garbage bin. Not her proudest moment, she didn't want any authorities sniffing their way. Potentially, they have already got the attention of a massive organization that either wants them dead or rotting in an underground room. Lily could handle that, but she wasn't completely sold that Cassandra could.

Cassandra tried to move her body and let out a pained hiss. Her nose scrunched up and she squeezed her already squeezed eyelids even more together than before. She had forgotten that she had lost her eyesight and tried to open her eyes once more, which resulted in her hurting herself again, "No what the fuck do you mean you don't think that the car accident wasn't a car accident. You can't just leave me on a bomb like that,"

Lily walked back to the tree where Cassandra was situated and past the fire she built, it was their only source of warmth, "I can, and I will. If you did for sure saw something that triggered your brain and made you forget the event prior to us ending up here, then I don't think your brain would appreciate me recollecting our wonderful adventures,"

Cassandra quickly decided on giving up on the matter. She knew from experience that pushing Lily into telling you things was not a good idea. The pain from her movement also played a major role in not continuing to pry for answers, the headache was just too much, "Since we mentioned the forest, how did we get here in the first place?"

"Let's just say I have a ton of upper body strength,"

If Cassandra could, she would've rolled her eyes at the absurd comment, "You mean to tell me that lounging on the couch all day watching Friends with a bag of sour patch kids gives you upper body strength. Well, you should have told me sooner, I would have joined you,"

Lily, being the good friend she is, rolled her eyes for her, "Your sarcasm in unappreciated,"

"Your vagueness is unappreciated,"

Lily slightly smiled, "Touché,"

***

"Lily?"

It had been quiet since their last conversation. Cassandra's mind swarmed with thoughts that plagued her mind, assumptions and theories were created in the space of time where they both seemed to recollect themselves. Cassandra had managed to get herself in a comfortable position, she laid on her back and stared at the sky, envisioning how the stars would align and where the moon would fit in the perfect picture. She still couldn't open her eyes and the notion frustrated her to no ends. She was ready to start pulling at her now straight hair, which she had momentarily forgotten had been altered to be easier to control. She still thought that it was unnecessary.

"Hmm,"

Lily hummed without turning her gaze from the fire she created a while ago. Cassandra could feel the warmth and imagined the fire dancing and flickering around in an enchanted and beautiful movement. She could imagine the little red and orange specks that would escape the flame and land nearby on the ground, or just fuse out mid-air, barely spreading its wings.

"You know you can tell me anything... right?" she said, extending her words with a pause right before saying right. Lily raised her eyebrows. She was skeptical of the sudden conversation and wasn't very open about sharing things that happened in the past. The less Cassandra knew the better; that was practically her motto, but with the recent events maybe Cassandra having a little knowledge about Lily's past wouldn't hurt; no matter how much it pained her to speak about, though she didn't expect the oncoming words ready to spill from Cassandra's mouth.

Cassandra hadn't received any kind of response, so she had taken it on herself to continue, "You know I would never in a million years judge you, for anything right. And that I would support whatever you do..." Cassandra let her words linger in the air for a while. A small smirk found its way to Lily's face and she imagined what Cassandra was insinuating.

"What do you mean," Lily played dumb.

Cassandra sighed and turned her head to where Lily's voice came from, "I'm just saying that if you were... a criminal and had a love for crime. I wouldn't judge that, and would fully support you because that what best friends do,"

Lily struggled to stifle her laugh, "Oh,"

Cassandra smiled a bit, "Yeah, we could both become criminals, you know. Best friend goals type of shit. You could be the 'spy' and I could be the girl in the van,"

She turned to look at the temporality blinded girl, "Girl in the van?"

Cassandra shrugged against the ground, "You know, the nerd. I mean, I'm not that smart, but I can learn how to code and get around computers and other 'spy'/criminal gadgets. Then we could go on crazy missions and steal shit and become crazy rich,"

"Why can't you be the 'spy'?"

"One: you obviously have great upper body strength, you know, with you carrying me in the middle of nowhere. Two: you have way better social skills than I, and have the stealth of a ninja, like the Ninja Mutant Teenager Mutant Turtles,"

Lily chuckled, "I don't think you said that right,"

Cassandra let out a chuckle of her own, as she continued to talk about them being partners in crime, "Either way, I think we could make an impeccable team,"

Lily gazed into the darkness of the forest and thought long and hard about whether she should confess to her best friend, "Cas?"

"Yeah,"

"I'm not a criminal, well, at least not anymore,"

If she was able to, Cassandra's eyes would have been wide open, wider than the average anime character's eyes, "Wait actually. You are, sorry, were a criminal. Well, that sure explains a lot,"

Lily gasped, and held a hand to her heart, "What's that supposed to mean,"

"Your demeanor when you meet people,"

"I could just be anti-social,"

Cassandra rolled her eyes behind her eyelids, "Says the party girl. That's complete and utter bullshit, and you know it. Also, the gun and I found in your socks drawers was a big nod at that theory as well, and don't even deny it wasn't yours. It had your initials and was in your favourite, all-time colour, "

The playful aura that they created soon dissipated into thin air, as Lily skeptically looked around her surroundings with narrow emerald eyes and carefully analyzed every nick and croonie of the area, "You found a gun in my socks drawer?"

"Yea--,"

"And you hadn't been in my room prior?"

"Nop--,"

Lily wasted no time in getting up and hastily picking up the bag that held important objects, "Cassandra, we need to leave now!"

Cassandra was still shocked at the abrupt change in Lily's mood, and was extremely concerned for her "Wait, what? What's going on?"

"Here let me help you,"

Cassandra felt the gentle, yet urgent tug, urging her to get up. As much as she wanted to rebel and put extra weight on herself, and demand answers, she knew that it wouldn't have been the smartest of ideas and wouldn't be beneficial in any way. So with great reluctance from her stiff body, she stood on shaky legs. The local diner that they worked at drowned them with long hours of walking and other stuff that put a strain on their legs, that this feeling was familiar territory for her, but that didn't mean she welcomed it with open arm, instead she was rather tempted to lay back down on her back again but the urgency in Lily's voice motivated her to ignore the tempting thoughts.

"What's wrong?"

Lily sighed, knowing that this time she couldn't ignore the past no longer and had to come clean, "Remember when I mention that I used to be a criminal,"

She nodded, "I chose to ignore that, well partly ign--,"

Lily ignored that statement and continued walking, after she made sure the fire was out of course, "Well it wasn't me that was the criminal, it was my Dad,"