Daltons Part 11

The sudden throw of passion had not been on the agenda for the evening, at least not in Lia's mind. Somehow her mind had let go of all the logic screaming at her and despite her better judgement things had gone too far, too fast. Her green eyes flickered open the blurred sight of a dark and unfamiliar room. As she began to shift she became suddenly aware of the heavy arm draped over her waist and her eyes followed it the peaceful sight of Hunter asleep beside her. A small smile appeared on her lips, he looked like less of an annoyance asleep. Her eyes searched for the clock and a small hint of panic came over her as she saw the time. She was dead.

Carefully she slipped out of the bed and fumbled through the dark for her things. Her mind was reeling with emotions, everything in her fighting her to stay but she knew better, by the morning they'd be leaving town and this, whatever this was, had been a stupid idea. She never should have gone in the first place, she should have just overpowered him for the ring but that deprived girl inside her had desperately wanted the experience, more than she would ever admit, so much so that it actually scared her. Slipping her clothes back on she grabbed her shoes and quickly made her way out the door. She shut it quietly behind her before pulling her shoes on she hurried down the apartment stairs and out.

As she got to the motel she reached for her key only to realize she didn't even have her bag. "Shit" she muttered running her hand through her tangled hair she hesitated as her fingers ran into a hair pin. Pulling it out she knelt down at the handle carefully picking the lock. Lock picking had basically been a right of passage in the Dalton family, after all haunted houses weren't always left open. She heard the familiar click and stood turning the handle quietly. Opening the door she carefully stepped inside the room hoping that her absence had gone unnoticed.

"Lia what the hell we were about to call the police!" Jimmy said and for the first time in a long time she saw a genuine look of worry crossed his features. "Well that would be a first" she commented, people like her didn't mix well with the cops, they always seemed to get in the way "Thank God you're alive" he said closing the space between them her brother wrapped his arms around her tightly. The moment her older brother embraced her she lost any control over her emotions that she might have had. It had all hit her, everything that they had missed out on in their lives had always gone unnoticed, until now. Tears rushed down her cheeks as she felt the burn against her cheeks and she could feel her brother tense in his hold uncertain of how to react, after all Lia Dalton didn't cry.

"Give us a minute Jim" and her oldest brother's voice cut through the room. She hadn't even seen him sitting there until he'd spoken. She stepped back from the hug and turned her attention to him now waiting as she watched Jimmy head outside shutting the door behind him. She watched Jake stand from his chair and move across the room before he grabbed his shoulders firmly his blue eyes staring into hers. "You can't do this, pull yourself together Lia you're a Dalton" he started before his eyes looked across her face and he suddenly released her stepping back. "What happened?" he demanded "What did he do to you?" but she shook her head.

"Nothing" she protested. Jake wouldn't understand, he never had he didn't see a problem with their lifestyle, they did their job, just like they were trained to and moved on from town to town. He'd never been the sort of guy who got attached very easily, so leaving people behind had become second nature. For her and Jimmy, it was different. They had always joked that Jimmy was the outcast, his dark hair made him contrast against their fairer features but in truth, it was Jake who stood apart from them both, whatever need for normalcy he might once have had, was long gone. "Lia you're sneaking in at four in the morning in tears so it's not nothing how about we try that again?" he asked.

"How about you leave it alone?" she retorted with force and the look of betrayal that crossed his face stung. "You and Jimmy need to get my bag back" she said simply moving past him to open the door letting her other brother back inside.
"Why? Where is it?"and she hesitated.
"His apartment" she revealed.
"Wait; what were you doing at his apartment?" Jimmy asked with such naivety it almost hurt to hear the words.
"I think I can guess" Jake offered, his own voice sounded more like a growl causing Lia to avoiding looking either of them in the eye. This was not ideal, if she'd come home at a more decent time she never would have been faced with the scenario and no one would have been any wiser of what had gone on in her absence.
"I still don't follow" Jimmy offered and Lia almost lost it.
"I slept with him Jimmy!" she yelled all of her frustrations coming out on her brother now, the wrong one in fact. "I gave it up! Handed out the V card! Hit it and quit it!"
"I think we get the picture" Jake interrupted
"Do you? Do you actually Jake because of all the people in this room right now you least of all should be judging me!"
"Hang on it's-"
"I swear to God if you're about to finish that with 'It's different' so help me Jacob" she warned him. She was sick of stupid double standards, it had always been this way and honestly, she was shocked she'd even been allow to hunt at all, one might have thought she was living in a Jane Austen novel with the restrictions they placed on her.
"I- wait you- wait- what?" Jimmy seemed to have a more difficult time comprehending it all but Lia waited, it usually only took him a moment before his brain caught up. "Jesus Lia... with THAT guy?"
"Did you have another guy in mind?" she questioned curiously
"Preferably none... ever" Jake offered and she rolled her eyes, welcome to the twenty first century.
"Okay well when you guys come back to reality come find me" she muttered moving past them  grabbing her jacket off the bed and heading to the door opening it.
"Lia! Come on..." Jimmy's voice followed her and she turned quickly.
"No, just leave me alone" she said slamming it closed behind her she took off into a run, disappearing into the night.

A Matter of Perspective

This was written by myself in a 25 minute time period as an essay assignment for an online practice examination. I thought I would share it.

"Two men look out through the same bars; one sees mud and one the stars." (Frederick Langbridge) a simple but exceptionally true statement. No, two individuals do not always see the same thing when they look at it. Every human being has a different way of thinking, as individuals no two people are alike, we have varying forms of intellect and different cultures, or economic situations can have an effect on how we perceive the world around us. Humans can be taught how to look at things and still, five students with the same instructors for their education will never turn out to be identical thinkers. One cannot exactly explain the process but there are a variety of factors that affect the outcomes. Individual DNA can be a contributing factor and an uncontrolled one at that.

 An artist will not look at the stars as a philosopher would, nor would an astronomer. One may see a beautiful backdrop to paint, another simply contemplates the view and it's greater meaning, while an astronomer will map it. All three are looking at the same sky but to each individual the outcome is astoundingly different. There is also the question of where an individual would look. As quoted by Frederick Landbridge, one man is looking down at the ground, while the other looks about to the sky, quite literally they are looking in two separate directions despite the fact that they are looking through the same bars.

Additionally is the metaphor to be examined here, optimism verses pessimism, most individuals would be inspired by a vision of the stars above, while mud on the other hand is less inspirational less one is an exceptional gardener. Not only in the quote, are the men quite literally seeing two different objects, but their perceptions on life seem to contrast, it is a classic tale of viewing the glass as half empty, versus half full.

What does this say of the human society? If all humans are of a basically similar genetic makeup, why are we not all seeing the stars through the bars, or the mud? There is a component of the human mind that cannot be controlled, it is the very reason that in an elementary class of thirty children, all receiving the same instruction for several years will produce so many different individuals and professionals. 

Out of one simple class of thirty individuals, despite their identical education could be an Author, a Doctor, an Educator and so on. In fact, despite everything there could be thirty different professions to appear out of this class and for no reason aside from the fact, that as human individuals each and every one of these students is potentially able to excel at different tasks. Some are logical thinkers, others are artistic, some have no preference and are comparable at both and others do not excel at academics at all but are much better at task work.

In conclusion often times no two individuals see everything from the same perspective It is not to say that it is not possible for this to happen, but the human brain is a complex place, completely individual to each and every new human being that is born and developed in a society.