Charlie Cho
"1...2...3..wait...Oh shoot, thats not right", he mumbled to himself quietly. Charlie was sitting at a small mahogany table at the far end of the library, with two of his classmates on the opposite side of the table, flicking each other's foreheads with their pointer fingers. Charlie steadily tapped the end of his pen on his head and bit his lip lightly. He raised his eyes from his book and watched his classmates actions as they were clearly not focusing on the homework like they should have been. He soon found himself lost in a train of thought as his eyes paced back and forth between the two of them. He couldn't help but wonder if they were meta-humans like him, or if anyone he saw was for that matter. It was difficult not to feel like an outcast and it didn't matter that very few people knew about his difference. It was an internal emotional turmoil that he couldn't help but battle. Meta-humans are still humans...right? Just a particularly different branch of humans, but still all in the same. Our differences could be the very thing that brings us together.
Charlie softly combed the side of his head with his fingertips, gently gliding them through his hair as he placed his pen behind his ear and closed his books. As he stuffed them into his brown messenger bag, he looked back at his classmates.
"Guys, I'm gonna go. I can't seem to really focus today". They stopped their play briefly and looked at him with cocked eyes. He looked around awkwardly before continuing,
"Besides...I've gotta be at work soon, so...might as well get a head start. See you tomorrow morning then.", he said, chuckling lightly as his classmates acknowledged his departure before returning back to their banter. Charlie playfully rolled his eyes at them before heading out of the library, slowly pacing himself as he walked down the street, his hands lazily gripped around the leather strap of his messenger bag.
As was almost always the case when he wasn't focused on something, his mind was racing. Just random thoughts seemed to always infiltrate his mind. Particularly thoughts about meta-humans and being one and the current events surrounding them. He was always so sensitive to everything around him. He hadn't always been this way though. He had been severely sheltered by his autonomous parents and their strict philosophies. So when he finally moved out on his own, it was, a wake up call to say the least. All of sudden, he was being bombarded by countless stories and news about his kind and...the things that had been done to them. He only knew of two other meta-humans and they had just so happened to meet by chance. Or maybe fate. Maybe there was some deeper connection that drew his kind together. Then again...he'd only met two, so, what would he know? With a somber and crestfallen countenance plastered over his face, he was nearly at the flat that he shared with his older brother.
At the pace he was walking, another good 15 minutes or so and he'd be there. Passing by Barney's drug store, Charlie found himself cutting through an alleyway, just between Barney's and Starbucks, his place of work. If he had been in his right mind today, he would have packed his uniform prior to leaving his flat for the library. He disliked having to backtrack. The alleyway was like a 4-way intersection, each path leading to a street opposite of the other. It was an unusually long alleyway, about a 5 minute walk from 1 side to the other. As he made his way, he paused, his senses picking up on voices coming from around the corner in the east alley. It sounded like men, 2 or 3, he guessed. Had it not been for the aggressive and violent nature of their speech, he would have thought nothing of it and continued past them.
His heartbeat was definitely increasing for sure. He was getting nervous that much was certain. As inconspicuously as he could, he knelt down on his knees and ever so stealthily peered his head around the corner, hoping to catch a better glimpse.