ROAD BLOCKED
Detour Left
The words that set my life-- as well as my way home-- in a new direction. I started my way home when I decided to place in my earbuds and drown my sorrows and other daily drama in music. On my way home, I noticed a blue and red blur out of my peripherals, and I hear a soft whimper.
I turned off my music and faced the blur to see someone raising a club. I didn't have time to react as I rushed to stop him.
"Whoa, whoa. Hey! What's goin' on here?" I asked.
"This doesn't involve you, kid..." He slurred.
He was my age, I think I saw him in the halls at least once or twice. He sounded exhausted...
"...How long have you been here?" I asked him.
"Screw off!" He said as he took a swing at me.
I grabbed the bat he had and ripped it out of his hands. Before he could react, I kicked him in the stomach. He fell to the ground, and I managed to knock him out. I saw something fall out of his shirt-- a driver's license.
I didn't bother to read it and rushed to the victim.
As soon as I got a good look at her, I knew who she was and why she was being attacked.
"Miss, are you-- you're Sonata Dusk, aren't you?" I asked her.
She managed to nod, but she was clearly beaten senseless. I knew I had to do something.
"Where are your sisters, the other Dazzlings?" I asked, looking around.
She just whimpered, and that was enough.
I started picking her up when she gasped.
"Hey, it's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you... my mom's a nurse, and I don't think it's best to leave you in the middle of nowhere."
"W... Wh...o..."
"I'm Cobalt. Come on, let's get you some help."
She let me pick her up and I started bringing her home. Then I noticed that her car wasn't home yet.
"Damn... Hang on, let me call her." I said as we headed inside.
After a few minutes of calling Mom and telling her of the situation, she came home to help patch her up. She stopped when she saw Sonata.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I saw some guy beating her, I called the cops."
"Good, saves us the trouble... When you said someone needed help, I didn't think it was a girl your age..." Mom teased.
"It's a long story, what else is wrong with her?" I asked.
I was there when the Dazzlings took over the school. Victims would tell you that they had no control over what they did, or that they saw it, but couldn't stop it. For me, it was flashes of what they made me do... the concert, the cafeteria, the battle... All of it.
"God, someone went to town on you... She'll have to stay here for a few days, maybe a few weeks. She's too injured to even walk right." Mom said.
I simply nodded, both agreeing with her and knowing that I didn't have a choice.
Sonata finally made a sound, other than heavy breathing, and began to speak.
"How... about the others?" She weakly asked.
"What others?" I asked her.
"...Other students..."
"Don't worry, we'll fend them off." Mom said.
Before we said another word, the door opened and there stood...
"Hey, dad," I said.
"How bad is it--" Dad stopped as soon as he laid eyes on Sonata.
"When Cobalt said it was bad, he wasn't lying. The poor girl won't be able to move for a few days at least." Mom said.
"How's the suspect?" I asked.
"Good. We just got him into lockup and the boys are questioning him now." Dad said.
Sonata looked confused.
"Roy's a cop." Mom told her.
She showed slight signs of fear as soon as she said that.
"Don't worry, we have no interest in bringing teenage females into proximity of deadly prisoners. Also teenage girls with the power of mind control." Dad said.
She simply sighed as she started falling asleep.
"Is she good for sleep?" Dad asked.
"Yeah, she's fine. For now, at least."
I was about to go to my room, but dad called me.
"We gotta talk about how you found her." He said.
I knew what this meant and took a seat on the kitchen table.
"So... you found her being beaten. Do you know who the one beating her was?"
"Not his name. I saw him in the hall a few times, but I never really talked to him." I said.
"Alright. The boys found a bloody bat at the scene, along with a license plate. It belongs to a 'Snails'. We looked into his history a bit. We found that he was heavily involved in the Fall Formal Incident last year, along with several involvements in dropped blackmail cases against Sunset Shimmer-- you two are friends, right?"
"Yeah, we're close."
Dad gave me a look.
"N- not that close." I quickly said.
We both shared a quick chuckle.
"Anyway, we can't bring her in, so she's stuck with us for a while. That going to be a problem?" Dad asked.
Dad was always so precautious of me. He always wanted my opinion in these sort of cases.
"I don't see a problem, as long as a mob doesn't start forming." I answered.
"Well, it's settled then. Sonata, consider yourself at--"
Sonata was peacefully asleep, dispite being mortally beaten, so we decided not to wake her.
It's been about a week since we took Sonata in. She's been slowly adjusting, but she's still quiet. The only time she talks to any of us is when we eat or whenever she wants something. I've been trying to ask her about what happened, but anytime I mention it, she starts choking up. I finally decided to call a close friend of mine and ask her for answers.
"Come on, is there anything you can do?" I asked her.
"I'm just not so sure if everyone's ready yet. I mean, they did a lot of damage at CHS. I tried to talk to the others, but they just won't listen."
"Why won't you even try to help?" I asked her.
"Because they did too much. Some students got expelled because of what happened. It's not that I don't wanna help, it's just that Celestia won't even dare let them back in."
"Fine, thanks anyway." I said before hanging up.
"Wait! I... I think I know somewhere she'd be able to go. But... we're not so sure if they'll be much good."
"Who?" I asked her.
"...Crystal Prep."
I hung up on her immediately. I know you don't do that, but I was done with Crystal Prep. After my year there, I had seen enough to know that it was a bad idea to even think about sending her there.
"W- who was that?" Sonata asked.
I froze for a second, this was her first time speaking since I found her.
"Her name's Rainbow Dash, she's an old friend of mine." I explained.
Her face explained enough.
"I know what happened, we all know." I explained to her.
She looked at the floor.
"So why hasn't your dad arrested me yet?" She asked.
"Well, in a way, he did. He decided that you should stay here until further notice." I told her.
"So I'm stuck here?" She asked.
"It's for the best. Besides, do you really wanna go back out after what happened?" I asked her.
She got the point and decided to actually smile a bit.
"Alright. But... why?" She asked.
"Because I always wanted to run a bed-and-breakfast." My dad joked.
"Well now's your chance." Mom said, entering the kitchen from the living room.
Mom took Sonata into another room for her daily checkup, to see how she's doing.
"How about the other students? One of them almost killed her, and nearly all of them have a grudge." I said.
"So what? Worst case scenario: I get enough arrests for a promotion." Dad said.
"Okay, how about her sisters? If they happen to find us-- find her--"
"We'll worry about that if it happens, Cobalt. For now, we can only make her comfortable and let her heal. Both physically, and mentally." Dad told me.
I saw that there was no convincing him otherwise, so I nodded and headed back into my room. I quickly realized that I had homework due after the break, so I decided to pull it out. As I started in Math, I grew more and more confused.
"5w = 242 + 9b..."
I groaned in confusion and decided to go back on math later. I went for my English, which was just as complicated.
"Romeo and Juliet... how did Mercutio get... Come on!"
I know, why can't I just read the book? Well, I kinda ruined it saving Sonata. Along with most of my loose papers from a lifetime ago. Also, I have minor ADHD, which makes it much harder for me to focus for long periods of time. But, according to Annabeth Chase, it helps me in dangerous situations. (That's Percy Jackson, by the way.)
I decided to focus on Science, which wasn't as hard. I just had to find the densities of rocks...
Oh, boy...
After the painful process of finishing Science, googling a summary for Romeo and Juliet, and fighting through Math, I was worn out. I just finished putting it away when--
"Time to eat!"
You should've seen the second wind I'd suddenly gained.
Before you say it, no I'm not fat, I'm just... chubby. Not like Snips, but I'm no Big Macintosh. I also have a slight health issue when it comes to dairy. I can eat it, but not too much of it. A slice of pizza, sure. 4 slices, better have a trash can handy.
My parents adapted to this as we were having pasta and tacos that night. Sonata looked thrilled.
"You like pasta?" Mom asked.
"Nope." Sonata said as she put some taco meat on a soft shell she grabbed.
"Yeah, Sonata, do you have a religion?" Dad asked.
"No, not really. Why?" She asked.
"We wanted to make sure you were okay with us saying Grace. You can join if you want." Dad offered.
When I took my seat and got my plate, we started.
"Cobalt, you wanna say it tonight?" Mom asked.
"Sure." I cleared my throat.
"Thank you, heavenly father for this meal, time with our families, and our new friend, whom we hope has prosperity, however she chooses to live. Amen."
"Amen." We all said in unison.
We started eating and I realized something.
"Yeah, Sonata, I have a question."
"Huh?"
"Sunset told me that you and your sisters were banished thousands of years ago. So... does this mean you've lived from Greece to now?" I asked.
"Uhh... yeah. My sisters and I are at least three thousand years old."
"Wow! Historians would kill for a meeting with you three." Dad said.
"Yeah, that would be a pleasant discussion." Mom said.
Sonata looked confused.
"Mom was a archaeologist back before she met Dad; Folks called her Daring Do."
"I have quite a few stories for you two." Mom said, biting into a few noodles.
"Yes, she does. Did we ever tell you how we met, Cobalt?" Dad asked.
"No, I don't think so." I answered, anxious to hear.
"Well, it was 1936, your mother was in the middle of uncovering a golden statue in South America, then--"
"Wait, that's Indiana Jones!" Sonata pointed out.
He started laughing and we all joined in.