Adventure begins here.

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 CONTENTS

                


PREFACE

SMOKE BELLOWED FROM MY UNEVEN FLOORBOARDS, FLAMES LICKED around my bedroom walls. The smoke made screaming harder so I closed my eyes and rolled up into a ball on the floor, my arms wrapped tightly around my legs. Just as I had reached unconsciousness I felt my body being picked up. My rescuers arms were stone cold and sent a sharp pain pulsating through my arm. My eyelids felt as heavy as lead as I fought for a glimpse of my rescuer.

   The first thing I noticed about him was his livid eyes – a liquid topaz colour that sparkled in the firelight. His dark tousled moonlight shaded hair glinted in the limited light of the flames. His face was set like stone into a scowl, anger filled in his beautiful eyes. He was wearing dark jeans and a black t-shirt.

   It was as if he were an ice sculpture, carved by the gods. I reached out to touch the back of his hand but resisted; he looked down at me with intelligent eyes. He looked at me for a second studying my face, my eyes, my hair but then his head quickly snapped back as his eyes locked onto the house entrance. His face hardened back into the infamous scowl.

  As he stepped out of the house the cold air slapped around my face and arms. I was able to breathe once again.

    "Thank you for saving our little girl's life," a familiar voice spoke.

    "My pleasure, I was on my way into town when I heard her scream..." he spoke, his voice sounding calm and friendly, his voice not fitting in with his emotions.

  I felt familiar warm hands wrap around me again at last and I snuggled into them, knowing that it was my dad. I opened my eyes again looking for my saviour but he was gone, the cold wind blowed against my face –like his breath– as if this would be the last thing I would remember him by. I closed my eyes knowing I was safe and that everything would be OK.

  The things I didn’t know were that this was the last time I would see my father. I didn’t know it was just the beginning. The beginning of a new life of magic and fairytales. Where princes were vampires and damsel’s in distress were gifted with extraordinary powers that everyone had doubted from the very beginning. This was just the end of the beginning.

  1. REPITION

I LAY UNDERNEATH THE COVERS LOOKING BLANKLY UP AT THE

ceiling listening to the rain drumming against my window, the cold air biting against my skin. What a summer this had turned out to be. I tried to remember what I had been thinking about last night before creeping into a dream; the more I tried to remember the more I seemed to forget.

  I gave up and looked at my pin board on the wall next to my bed looking at each picture identifying who was in it. The one that caught my eye was the last picture my dad had taken with me before he divorced mum. My dad had one arm around me and the other around my haughty mother. I looked at my younger self, feeling guilty that I had ruined a perfect picture by scowling at the photographer.

  Dad had gone to America to start a new life; he got the job of manager at a local convenience store. It wasn’t his ideal job but it did provide food on his table and a reasonable sized house on the edge of town. He occasionally sent post cards and birthday cards mentioning what he had been up to recently, but these were sent once in a blue moon.

    “Charlotte! Get up, I need you to look after Sam,” mum shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

  Since dad, or Freddie as we called him, had left my mum she had it rough. She never remarried; determined she would not make the same mistake or ‘hardship’ again, although she did date.

  Sam’s father left soon after he was born leaving mum just about bankrupt living in a council flat on the outskirts of Ashington, Northumberland. We had moved there when mum began dating Sam’s father, he said it would be a different way of life. He had been living there since he was born and was convinced us it would be just perfect, it ended up worse than expected and mum’s boyfriend left.

  Before she had met Hugh she had been living in London, she desperately wanted to go back there as soon as she could get a well paid job. Ever since Freddie had divorced her she was depressed, she took frequent trips into town to get away from myself and Sam and was an alcoholic. It was hard for her; we were getting older every day.

  I sighed and opened my eyes reluctantly and pulled the duvet off me. I wobbled to my wardrobe throwing on black skinny jeans, a grey strappy vest top and a black skull hoodie. I pulled my hair up into a black cap before studying myself in the mirror.

  My mother was determined to get me wearing short skirts and small skimpy tops, things that I would like dead in. She thought if she pulled off the sympathy trick by buying me a second-hand mini skirt that I would start looking more feminine. She was always wrong though, but she didn’t give up. It would have to take a lot to make me go back to the good old care free days, when dad had left and I self harmed. I started feeling conscious of the fact that everybody was worrying over my cuts that ‘appeared’ out of thin air. Now it was natural, I had become a worshipper of heavy metal, hoodies that were a size to big and eye liner.

  I quickly ran mascara and eye liner on my eyes and made my way downstairs.

  Mum was on the coach, deep purple lines underneath her eyes making her look more like a zombie than a human being.

    “I’m going in to town, James said he needed an assistant,” she said wearily stubbing the end of her cigarette on the over flowing ash tray.

    “I’ll take Sam down to the park,” I replied sounding just as enthusiastic as I felt.

    “I’ll be out until late tonight so make yourself something,” she said before pulling on a cagoule before slamming the door shut.

    “Chhh-arrr-lll-iiieee!” Sam wailed happily tumbling towards me hugging me around the legs.

    “Come on, I’ll take you to the park,” I replied putting a smaller cagoule on Sam.               Outside it was still raining; I looked at Sam who was obviously enjoying himself. He ran up to each puddle jumping it, splashing himself. The sky was a dark ominous colour above us, a rumble of thunder echoed around the row of flats we were walking past; Sam pulled himself closer to my legs.

  “Don’t worry Sam, we’re safe. Look – the park!”

Sam ran past me up to the rusty iron gate pulling it open and running inside. It was not nearly deserted as I thought it would be, a couple of small kids were there with their mothers and some older kids were sitting on the benches laughing loudly. I looked around at all the people there keeping my head down, avoiding any sort of eye contact; this was merely a precaution.

  I had a bed reputation around here, there were times I just couldn’t help myself – I had to trash the streets around. Just the other day I had been kicking over some bins when I had been caught. Other times I was unstoppable, if I saw something valuable in a shop window I would come back later that night and break in.

  Ashington wasn’t half bad; I just didn’t like leaving the place I had grown up in with my father. News travelled fast so everyone knew about my occasional break in, mum had no objections, she taught me her tricks in the trade – stealing. She said when she got a job she would stop. Hardly.

  I found an empty bench that I could sit on whilst keeping a close eye on Sam. I sat down not bothered if I got wet or not, my clothes were already drenched when I had stepped out of the house. Sam had found some friends and was running around screaming happily, I felt sorry for him never having proper time with his father.

  I sighed remembering how happy and warm I had felt in my father’s arms after our house fire. I also remembered the cold arms of my rescuer, the exact opposite of my father. I had been mystified, he had been so beautiful and yet it felt so surreal. My twelve year old memories were cemented in my brain, the house fire, when Mum had met Hugh…

  I had been grateful and wished to thank the man who had saved me but he had already gone – it was as if he had vanished into thin air. His warm topaz coloured eyes had melted my heart, he was honestly the most beautiful person I had ever met. I also remembered confusion at why his face had seemed unfriendly when he had opened the door, his face set as if it were in a permanent scowl.

  I woke up from my day dream as I heard Sam crying. I jumped up from my seat running over to him; he was lying in the mud. As soon as I reached him he looked up, his eyes were puffy red and I noticed the tear tracks down his cheeks,

    “What’s the matter?” I asked him.

He didn’t reply but that didn’t matter, there was a trickle of blood coming from the corner of his face, near his milky blonde hair. I pulled a tissue out of my pocket and pressed it firmly to his head trying to stop the blood flow.

    “They pushed me, there they are,” he said pointing to the three teenagers laughing walking out of the gate.

    “Um…”  I said looking around.

  I recognised one of the ladies in the park; she was sitting on the bench with her son watching their dog.

    “Hi Louise, could you look after Sam for a second. I need to take care of a little something,” I said gruffly tapping the women with a buggy.

    “Sure,” she replied trying to smile sweetly, obviously wondering why I had talked to her rudely.

I ran to the teenagers pushing open the Iron Gate.

    “HEY!” I yelled tapping one, “You shouldn’t of done that, he’s only little!”  

 They kept walking, oblivious to the fact I was shouting at them. I sighed and pushed the tallest one as hard as I could. He grunted turning around to face me. He was very tall and well built, judging by his face he looked fifteen.

    “She shouldn’t have done that,” the girl whispered to the younger one.

I looked at her directly as she spoke, she looked about the same age as the taller boy. She had blonde hair and deep green eyes, she was holding the hand of another boy – but this boy looked around thirteen.

    “Excuse me, what’d you think you’re doing?” the taller boy grumbled walking towards me, anger displayed in his dark eyes.

    “Andy – stop right now!” the girl spoke again.

Andy ignored her and came up to my face; I could feel his cold minty breath against my face. My whole body was shaking; furious with myself I tried to stop. He laughed, aware of the fact I was still shaking. He turned around once more before slamming his hard fist against my face. My whole body fell back to the ground, gasping for breath I tried to stand up but it was useless. He laughed again watching my writhe in pain, my whole body felt numb with the numerous kicks to my stomach and the fact I was trying to stop myself from screaming. It was nauseating, like the whole world was trembling and giving away beneath me. I looked around the world still spinning, out of the corner of my eye I could see a tall figure dressed in black. I couldn’t see who it was as I was still dizzy.

    “Chh-arrr-lliiee!” a familiar voice called me but I did not respond.

I took a deep breath and stood up and walked over to Andy. He looked pleased with himself although his friends behind him weren’t so approving.

    “If you ever come near me again you are dead,” I whispered brusquely before turning away to make my way back into the park.

Sam ran up to me tears spilling down his dirty cheeks, I looked around the park trying to find the mother who I had told to look after him but no one was there. Even the figure in the corner had disappeared; maybe it had been my imagination playing tricks on me. The figure had looked vaguely familiar, I knew him from somewhere…

    “Come on, let’s get going,” I whispered reassuringly picking up Sam.

    “Did they hurt you,” Sam asked through sobs.

I didn’t reply – I just kept my eyes glued to the busy road in front of me.

  “Don’t worry about me Sam, just look at yourself!” I replied laughing wiping the mud of his face with my finger. He examined it beginning to laugh.

  I unlocked the front door, Sam still clinging onto my shoulder. I shut the door carefully placing Sam back on his two feet.

  “Come on, let’s get you washed up,” I said taking his hand and walking up the stairs.

I changed Sam into some new clothes and I washed his face, taking time to brush the mud out of his hair.

  “My head hurts Charlie,” he mumbled looking at the floor.

Shoot – I had forgotten he had a small cut on the side of his head. I stumbled around the room picking up a towel and dampening it by applying cold water. I pressed it against his head, hard enough to stop the bleeding but not hard enough to hurt him.

    “What did they do to you?” I asked stroking his hair gently.

    “They pushed me over and hit my head against something hard,” he sobbed looking at me.

    “They shouldn’t have done that,” I said gritting my teeth.

I put the towel in the laundry basket sitting down to face him.

    “Does mummy love us?” he asked after a long pause.

    “Of course she does. Why? Did you think she didn’t love us?” I asked bewildered he had picked up on mum’s depressive behaviour. I picked him up and put him on my lap.

    “She never sees us anymore and she hasn’t taken us on holiday forever!” he exclaimed.

    “That’s because…she’s been saving up to take us on holiday. Aunty Katherine has arranged for us to go to New York in a week. Fancy that – New York! You’re first holiday; you are a very lucky boy!” I replied.

I heard the door unlock from downstairs.

    “Mum’s home!” Sam exclaimed wriggling off my lap and running downstairs.

    “Hello Sam,” she said bending down to hug him reluctantly.

    “I took him to the park, he umm…got a bit mucky,” I explained sheepishly.

After Sam had gone back upstairs mum dragged me into the living room pulling me down next to her on the sofa.

    “Louise told me Sam got hurt and you got in a fight, I can’t handle this anymore Charlie. This is your last chance otherwise I’ll be sending you to live with your father,”

As soon as she mentioned my father I became numb and distant, my head spun and I suddenly felt cold.

    “Don’t I get a say in this! First of all some kids hurt Sam, I told Louise to look after him so I could go tell them off. I walk over to them and I can’t get their attention so I push one. I didn’t realise…he was so big. Then he hit me in the jaw and…”

    “I’m fed up of excuses Charlie. Louise was appalled by your behaviour,”

    “So! She left little Sam to fend for himself!” I shouted.

    “I’ve called your Aunty Alyson; you’ll be flying out to New York in three days,”

    “What about Sam?”

    “He’ll be staying with me, what did you think? That you could look after him, since you’re doing such a good job,” she snorted.

    “He’s never been on holiday!”

    “I’ve got a job as an assistant, I’ll start saving up!” she replied jokingly.

    “So how long am I going for, a couple of years?!”

    “You’ll be going till the end of the Summer holidays,”

    “You can’t do this to me!”

    “I can do this to you, I am your mother. Now get yourself upstairs young lady, I’m so tired,”

  I sighed and jogged up the stairs slamming the door behind me. I walked over to my bed and fell back onto it. I found it hard enough to make friends here, let alone when I was in New York. She was going to send me off like some fragile package in the post not caring if I wanted to go or not. I looked up from the bed to see a huge suitcase on the floor. I rolled my eyes sniffing trying to stop myself from crying.

    “Charlotte, Dinner!” mum called from the bottom of the stairs.

Her voice was muffled from the pillow so I turned over and closed my eyes.

  I was in an apartment, standing looking at the huge city bellow me from a window. I turned my head trying to figure out where I was. I was in a living room that was completely white – every piece of furniture in the room. That’s when I noticed him looking at me – the same figure I had seen in the park. He was dressed in black again – very inconspicuous! I couldn’t see his face clearly; he wore dark jeans and a grey hoodie (hood up) with an emblem on it; obviously of some American designer origin. He stared at me from the opposite end of the room, intrigued by my very presence. That makes a first, I sighed. No need for dark humour. He leaned against the wall furthest away from me next to the door. He walked over to me slowly breathing heavily as if he was going to walk into a toxic zone. He paused, just inches from my face, breathing slowly. His cool breathe slapped my face, his breathe smelt minty and fresh. He studied my facial features in extreme detail, I felt uncomfortable being so close to this boy who I had never met. I couldn’t see his face for the fading sunlight that was dawning on us. He leaned towards my face, my heart beating furiously. He smiled revealing his pearly white teeth…

 It was then that I woke up. The dream flew instantly out of memory as my eyes snapped open. My room was dark; my curtains still open displaying a starry night. It was very late.

  I looked up at the ceiling wondering what the dream had meant, it didn’t help that I hardly remembered any of it. The only parts that were still conscious in my memory were the boy’s perfect smile and the intensity I felt as he was leaning in towards me. I hadn’t ever met this person but it seemed like he had known me for a while. I cleared my thoughts for a moment trying to figure out all of the possibilities but I couldn’t think of any.

  I turned on a lamp by my bed side picking up the book I had been reading recently. It was a Shakespeare book, the title unknown as it had a thick velvet cover over it. I scanned over the lines and paused, partly because of how tired I was and partly because of some unknown coincidence.

  ‘Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men…’

The line repeated itself over and over again in my mind trying to figure out what it meant. I gave up and marked the page turning the light off and closing my eyes again.

  I woke up to blinding sunlight and bird song. New York was on the tip of my tongue, like I could reach out and grab it. I sat up in my bed yawning and rubbing my eyes. I watched a single magpie hopping across our small yard. I smiled darkly remembering the wives tales mum used to tell me about magpies – one for sorrow, two for joy and so on.

  I flipped my cover back walking to my chest of draws. I pulled on black sweat pants, a black t-shirt and a black hoodie pulling the hood over my head. I jogged down the stairs and slammed the front door behind me knowing mum wouldn’t care where I was going. My fringe fell in front of my eyes curtaining me off from the rest of the world.

  I began to jog, eventually braking out into a sprint. I ran down an avenue splashing myself with water from the large puddles in the middle of the road. I saw the mossy fence at the end of the avenue opening the black Iron Gate. A canvas of leaves hung like a canopy above my head.

  I slowed my pace reaching the huge driveway to the old deserted house. I stood in front of the old wooden house. The windows were closed off by wood; standing back it looked like something out of a horror film.

    “Charles!” a rough voice called.

They were all there, sitting on the porch of the house staring at me. I walked over taking a seat opposite them. There were five of us in total. Myself, Katy, Simon, Kai and Ian.

    “Look, ummm…” I stuttered.

    “We heard about it already Charles, she’s sending you to New York till the end of summer…and she’s giving you one last chance,” Ian growled looking at the floor.

  Kai looked at me in disbelief; his long blonde shoulder length hair glinting in the sun. I looked at him studying his face; his face was still round and not yet defined. He had light blue eyes and thin milky blonde eyebrows poised in confusion. He was like an exact replica of his father; his father had the same hair colour, eye colour and had a golden complexion. Kai was the latest to join our ‘gatherings’ – he had just turned fifteen but already considered himself as mature as our seventeen year old selves.

    “It’s not like I have a choice,” I replied rudely staring at the floor.

    “Look, you promised remember? Well if you break it we’ll know where to find you,” Ian growled scowling at me.

    “I promised to never tell ok,” I replied.

    “Well just remember what we do to squealers OK?” Simon grunted.

    “So that’s it, I’m out?” I asked after a long awkward pause.

    “Yup,” Ian said shuffling.

    “But Ian, Charles did nothing–” Kai spoke softly before being cut off.

I looked at him confused; instead he looked back at me his mouth grinning into a huge beam.

    “Kai, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Simon said lowering his voice to a whisper.

    “You tell them Simes,” Ian replied glowering at me. There was a long pause, four pairs of eyes flitted over to Simon watching him intently ready for the story he was about to tell.

    “OK well…we’ve been friends for a long time. By we I mean myself, Charles, Ian and Katy. We used to ride our bikes down here when we were fourteen; we called it our ‘hideout’. Charles had come on holiday for the first time after her... parents divorced. Well her mum had a new boyfriend who was from here so they came up here for the summer…and she came biking here one day and found us all and we became friends instantly…” Simon whispered softly.

Kai stared at him drawn in by the story.

    “Well Ian, Katy and I went to the same school when we were thirteen…and we knew a boy called Billy Black. He was a wimp; he fainted at blood and was scared of everything. He used to follow Charles here and one day you know, we just had enough with him for pestering us. We convinced him to go in the house so we could play hide and seek…except we locked him in.

    “We came back at midnight and found him crying by the front door. He was scared of the dark. He started talking real wise to us and we were having none of that so we told him to hide in the woods…except this time we went to seek him. We cornered him…and Ian took out his knife…” Simon cut off, his eyes glancing over to Ian.

    “I’ll carry on this story mate, we told him not to be scared…that it wouldn’t hurt but he wouldn’t believe us. We told him that it was something cool and that it would prove him brave. So I got my knife and began to scarify his name ‘Billy Black’ on his arm…” Ian spoke quietly. As he got to the part with the knife he got his index finger traced his arm spelling out Billy Black.

    “He was crying hard and said he was going to tell…so we told him to rinse off the blood in the river. We went to the river and told him to get in, that’s when he told us he couldn’t swim. We started arguing so we told Charles to push him in,” Ian carried on from Simon.

Kai glanced at me studying my face, I looked away sharply ushering him to continue. I hated lying to people I liked. I gulped and whispered mumbling over my words, “So I pushed him in. I shouldn’t have done it but he would tell and we wanted him to wash the blood. What he said about not being able to swim was true…he was choking scrambling at the waters surface. He began to drown calling out our names so…I dived in but the current was so strong. I could barely swim and I was being dragged down stream as well.”

I paused pulling off my hoodie beginning to trace the hundreds of scars and purple bruises on my arm.

    “Then…” Kai reminded me shuffling towards me.

    “I was too late; he was choking, dying. I managed to grab hold of him; I would try to keep him alive if it meant taking my own life. At the end of the stream is a chained fence, I would face the impact so I got the full effect instead of him. Even though I was hit I couldn’t feel the pain, my body was too numb. I couldn’t hear or see anything and my body wouldn’t respond. I couldn’t open my mouth so basically I was choking myself. The guys pulled me out after some time, I could barely breathe. I managed to get myself up…but that’s when I saw Billy’s body beside me. His face was scared and bloody. We didn’t know what to do with his body so…we carried him into the forest, further and further away from civilisation. It was a precaution we had to take, we could have got arrested. So we dumped his body in a pit and filled it in with earth. When we got back from covering Billy Black we vowed we would never tell anyone else…and when I mean anyone else I mean his parents and the coppers,” I replied.

  Ian pulled a knife out of his shirt pocket studying it merely an inch from his face.

    “Kai, remember what happens to squealers,” Ian said smoothly standing up and walking towards myself and Kai.

    “Why him Ian? Why does he have to suffer what we have? He won’t tell and you know that,” I shouted tears beginning to surface in my eyes.

    “Because,” Ian replied gruffly brandishing the knife.

    “No!” I screamed as loudly as I could as I grabbed Kai’s hand and started sprinting down the driveway and out of the forest. We raced out of the canopy of trees, in the distance were shouts. They were chasing us. We continued running down the avenues and streets that led to my house. I rummaged through my pockets finding the house key and placing it in the lock.

    “Get in!” I said urgently.

After shutting the door I led him upstairs to my room in the unlit house. Mum had decided to take Sam somewhere that was a first. I ushered Kai into my room closing the door behind me and closing the curtains, finally sitting down.

    “Thanks,” Kai replied sitting down next to me smiling.

    “No problem,” I said weakly smiling back.

    “Why did you do that? You could have let them cut me,” he said quickly, not considering if my feelings got hurt.

    “Why did I do that? I did that because…well we didn’t have a choice. We were the ones who killed Billy Black, not you. Just because Ian is some stupid idiot who thinks that everyone is a squealer he shouldn’t have the right to do that to you,” I snapped.

    “Where is it?” he asked cautiously, his smile growing into a frown.

    “Where is what?” I asked.

    “Your scar?”

I sighed and took off my hoodie again gulping, standing up and putting my hair into a bun. Then I turned around. He moved off the bed standing a few inches from me, his hot breath blowing onto my skin.

    “It’s…horrible,” he whispered tracking the incisions of my skin.

    “I know,” I whispered, choking the tears back.

He continued tracking my cuts moving his finger finally towards the huge purple bruise on my back. It was fading slowly, the corners turning yellow. The bruise that had been made by risking my life to save the little boy I had killed.

    “That’s where…you were caught by the fence,” he gulped.

    “You guessed right. My shoulder,” I replied.

  He knew what he meant moving his finger across the scars on my shoulder – RIP B.B.

He turned me round to face him

    “It’s wrong…all of it wrong. It’s a sick joke – RIP B.B – it’s like some corny horror movie. Absolutely sick. How did you wake up to yourself in the morning knowing you had killed someone?” he whispered.

    “Look Ian lied. I didn’t just push Billy boy in for the sake of it. Ian pulled me away from the others taking the knife to my neck saying that I would have to do the honours otherwise he would do it. I couldn’t do it so he moved the knife…to my wrist,” I mumbled tears swelling in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.

I turned my hand over tracing the crescent shaped scar on my wrist.

    “Then he pushed me in. Ian lied because…I told him to. I said if he ever had to tell you the story to ignore those parts. They’re not important…I’m not important,” I mumbled looking to the floor.

    “What? Cut that out Charles! Don’t start on that one,” he choked angrily.

    “Look I didn’t want anyone to know that, let alone my best friend!” I exclaimed looking into his angry eyes, burning with fire. His eyes grew softer, his face broadening into a smile.

    “Best friend?” he asked, obviously surprised.

    “Well what are you then?” I replied smiling again.

    “I like good influence!” he laughed.

    “Hardly, is that what I am to you?” I asked puzzled.

    “Course,” he said beaming at me.

    “Me...A good influence? I’m messed up, you have your whole life ahead of you…and I have nothing. Nothing at all,”

    “You don’t have nothing. Anyway I didn’t mean that,” he replied looking concerned.

    “Well what did you mean?” I hissed.

    “Um…Well my mum is going to flip if I’m not home soon so I better go,” he said heading for the stairs, closely followed by myself.

    “Look I’m sorry if I upset you. It was stupid, I don’t want to end on that note,” I replied guiltily. He turned around to stare at me, his mouth turned up at the corners.

    “You bring out the worst in me Charles! I don’t behave myself when I’m around you, I can just…be myself,” he laughed, I returned a smile.

I opened the front door, a gust of cold wind and rain burst through the door.

    “I’m going to miss you,” I stuttered, the thought of not seeing Kai for nearly seven weeks was torture. He was a nice kid; there was no doubt about it.

    “I’m going to miss you to. Don’t forget me!” he squealed hugging me tightly.

    “Ok you can let go now! Anyway I’ll only be gone for the summer, it’s not like I’m not going to come back,” I replied.

    “Look Charles, I don’t want to sound stupid or anything but just look out for yourself OK. New York is big and you’re bad enough here,” he said, his smile fading.

    “Don’t worry about me,” I replied.

He released me from his bear hug and kissed me on the cheek before vanishing down the dark street. I ran upstairs feeling happy and warm, something I shouldn’t feel when I was leaving so soon. Two days, that was all it was. I thought I would be excited, this was the first time I had been to America but I wasn’t. The feeling left me replacing it with a cold painful feeling. I would never hear the end of it if Ian and the others caught up to Kai.

  I pulled the band out of my hair running my fingers through it. I decided to take a shower and freshen up, the least I could do before going. I got changed into a long t-shirt and bounded to my room throwing the covers over my head. In the distance a siren rang piercing the silence. In my head I could hear my heart beating as I drifted off into sleep.

  I was in the same white apartment like last time except he wasn’t there and the room was wrecked. The once perfect white walls were now covered in eccentric coloured graffiti. The settee had been ripped, probably by a type of knife; the fluffy pillows had been slashed with the same knife, the contents spilled all over the floor. The TV screen had been smashed, glass was scattered all over the floor. The windows had been smashed to, a strong gust of cold wind whirled round the room. The roaring traffic and ambulances could be heard from the city bellow.

  I choked back tears bending over to pick up a broken picture frame that lay smashed on the floor. My hand found the photo and pulled it up to my face. I examined the picture reminding myself who the picture was of, my father and my aunty.

  I turned the picture of looking for a date; I swallowed when I found it. The 6th September 2007. I turned the picture over again looking at my father.

  He was quite short and round; he had a puff of ginger curly hair sprouting from the top of his head making him look more like a vegetable than a father.

  I walked towards the graffiti covered walls examining the words that were now permanently part of them. ‘He’s coming’ was written on several parts of the walls in different languages.

  Suddenly the room grew cold and out of the corner of my eye I could see a black figure leaning against the wall nearest the window. I turned round slowly studying him, he was wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing the last time I had seen him in my dream.  

  I woke up to bright sunshine and the smell of peaches drifting from outside of my windows. I stared out looking at a clear blue sky dotted with cotton candy clouds, it finally felt like summer.

  I dressed quickly putting on a black long sleeved dress and red sneakers. I pulled my hair into a black cotton hat and put on my silver skull earrings that had been a present from my father. The eyes were jewel encrusted glinting red in the sunlight.

  My mum was cooking pancakes, something rarely observed. She seemed quite pleasant today humming a tune to herself. Sam lay buried under a blanket on the couch watching a rerun of The Simpsons on Channel 4. I wouldn’t be missed much today, I sighed making my way to the front door and opening it.

  The heat was bearable as I made my way through the avenues and alleyways of Ashington. Of course it had only become hot when I was about to go, for all I knew I could be flying off to a grey thunderous skied New York. Just twenty four hours of freedom and then the torture begun. My mother had already told my Aunty a list of activities and sights that I should see whilst my stay, I would almost have no time to myself.

  I reached the park gates in no time, it was quite busy today but than that was expected on a hot summers day. I found the person I was looking for instantly spotting his bright green eyes and pitch black shiny hair. Ian.

  He was sitting on an empty park bench looking down at the ground. Katy, Simon and Kai were not accompanying him so he must have wanted some alone time. Screw that.

    “Charles, don’t you understand the meaning of being kicked out…and if you’ve come to beg to be part of the group again then I don’t really care,” Ian mumbled rudely keeping his eyes focused on the ground.

    “Of course. I’ve come here to get down on my knees and beg until you tell me I can come home to your arms,” I replied sarcastically.

He looked up rolling his eyes although I did catch a hint of smile on his face.

    “I’ve come here to talk about Kai,” I began slowly; this would either go down very well or not at all.

    “So you’re not here to beg?” he moaned.

    “No. Listen if you dare hurt Kai you won’t here the end of this. If you even touch him I will kill you…and you know I can,” I said sternly, I didn’t even flinch when I threatened him with a death sentence.

    “So first it was Billy Black and now Kai. How many other younger boys do you fancy?” he growled, his face suddenly becoming unfriendly.

    “You’re unbelievable!” I shouted starting to turn away.

I had to do this, for Kai’s sake. I couldn’t stand Kai’s death on my record. He had a whole future ahead of him, I had nothing. I couldn’t take that away from him.

    “When you say you’ll kill me…is that a threat or a promise?” he glowered.

    “Look if I come back and you’ve hurt him or if I hear from him that he’s been threatened then…it will be a promise,” I said gruffly turning on my heels.

    “Oh come on now baby girl,” he said sweetly putting his arm securely on my shoulder.

He turned me around to face him; I could feel his cool breath on my face. His face was just inches from mine.

    “You’re just going to leave to New York with me feeling like this,” he asked sarcastically.

    “Yes. Yes I am. And I don’t feel one ounce of remorse,” I smiled grimly beginning to walk away but turning to look back once more.

“Bye…baby boy,” I sneered, the corners of my mouth twitching up into a smile.

  1. BILLY BLACK

MY BIKE’S TIRES SPUN HASTILY ON THE BLACK COBBLED STREET, THE brakes squeaking every time used. My long hair flickered in the wind behind my back as I raced down the streets to the wrought iron gates. I hopped off my bike wheeling it into down the stony path.

  I looked around taking in the colours of every tree, the scent of every blossom. The heat was unbearable, ‘the hottest day of the year’ the weather man had said. But then again who listens to the weather man – they’re always getting it wrong.

    “Charles!” Katy called running towards me.

    “Hi, am I late?” I asked.

    “No, did you know you have a stalker?”

I turned around confused about her use of words, out of the corner of eyes I spotted a short blonde curly haired boy. As soon as I spotted him he inconspicuously moved back into the shadow of the tall trees, his curls bouncing on his shoulders.

    “Hey, who brought the baby?” Ian sneered swaggering towards us.

  Ian was very tall for his age; he had golden skin and had black hair that came down past his shoulders. His green eyes glittered in the sunlight beneath his curtain of hair.

    “Guilty, he’s my pet retriever,” I teased putting up my hand. I imagined what the boy would look like if he had a golden shaggy tail and giggled.

    “It’s not funny, he’s a squealer! He’ll go and tell his parents and eventually the whole town about this place,” Ian grimaced.

Simon walked up beside Ian sharing his furiously disappointed look.

  Simon was quite the contrast to Ian; he was short and tubby and had blonde hair that looked white in the sun.

    “Ummm…I was wondering if I could play…with you guys?” a small voice squeaked.

Billy wobbled up to us, it was clear he was much younger than Ian, Katy and Simon.

  Billy Black was very short, shorter than Simon. Now that was saying something. He had a round face framed with blonde curls that came down to his cheeks. He looked up at us with his bright blue inquisitive eyes. I looked into his bright blue eyes wondering why he wanted to ‘play’ with us in particular. He caught my stare and flushed tomato red. I quickly looked away checking if anybody had seen and then dropped my eyes to the floor clearing my throat.

    “Sure you can play. We’re playing hide and seek, you hide and we seek you,” Ian replied sweetly.

    “We count down from ten,” Simon said smirking at Billy.

  We started the count down by closing our eyes but we didn’t start yet. My eyes snapped open when Ian tapped me.

    “What is it Ian?” I asked.

He laughed for a second, the smile fading from his face.

    “Billy Black…has the hots for you!” he laughed again.

Everyone started chuckling but then stopped when Ian growled, “Charlie can do the honours seeing as he fancies her.”

  I gulped looking round the group; their eyes were all on me. I felt like I was in the middle of a play and I had forgotten my lines.

    “Ten…Nine…Eight…Seven…Six…Five,” I yelled.

    “Billy might have some competition,” mumbled Ian taking a step forward to me brushing my long, wavy golden brown hair from my eyes.

  My eyes snapped open breathing heavily. Simon and Katy watched me intently obviously recording my reaction.

    “No?” asked Ian, his hand retreating.

    “Four…Three,” I carried on shakily.

Ian stroked my cheek with his thumb, almost taunting me.

    “Two…one…ready or not here we come!” I shouted quickly.

I brushed out of Ian’s reach and started searching.

    “Billy!” Katy called loudly from behind.

I turned round to face the house, an obvious hiding place. I walked up the stone steps finding the door open.

    “Way to go Charles!” Ian taunted striding up the stairs, closely followed by Katy and Simon.

    “What do we do now?” I asked.

    “We lock him in. Let’s see how he handles the dark,” Ian smirked.

I looked round to the other members of the group who were all nodding, how could they do this. What was this – an act of bravery to make sure Billy could cement his membership in the group?

    “Voila,” Simon said gruffly picking something from out of his pocket.

  A key. To the house. So they had been serious, it was just plain sick.

    “Seriously guys, we shouldn’t do this,” I gulped.

    “So now you have the hots for him?” Ian asked grinning.

    “No…” I mumbled.

    “Well what does it matter then? Come on, let’s get it over and done with,” Katy replied.

Ian walked forward to the door slamming it and locking it.

    “I think we should give the key to Charles,” Simon said beginning to smile.

    “Yes. That will prove if she can handle keeping Black in there till midnight,” laughed Ian tossing me the key.

  I sighed placing the key firmly inside my pocket. Mum better not wash this hoodie.

    “Meet back here at seven, and don’t let Billy out,” Katy told me giving me the evils.

  I turned and ran to my bike as fast as my legs could carry me. I hopped on remembering to put the helmet mum placed in the basket on my head. Dad had always been a road safety kind of guy.

  My bike wheels spun precariously on the gravel, I was still breathing unevenly – I was shocked that Ian and the others could do something so cruel. If this was what it meant being part of their gang then I was out. I could almost hear Billy Black’s screams in my head, his accelerated heart beat. I could see the fear in his eyes.

  I shook my head making the weird assumptions and visions disappear. All I needed now was to look guilty going home to mum. I got off my bicycle wheeling it to the bicycle chain. I shrugged out of my helmet letting my curly golden locks spill over my shoulders.

  Mum answered the doorbell the third time it had rung, she was conscious of unnecessary people coming to the door offering towels and other products that meant nothing when you already had them.

  “Charlotte, I was wondering where you had got to. I wish you wouldn’t wear hoodies and sneakers when you’re around that group of friends. Just because you want to be different, you could have at least worn a miniskirt,” she rattled on.

Again with the miniskirts. Ugh.

    “The rest of them are going to go…sort of camping. They’re going to light a fire and eat marshmallows whilst telling scary stories, please can I go?” I begged. The lies became easier as I had been going out at night with the guys for a while now.

    “Be home at midnight, you know where I’ll be,” she sighed.

Her behaviour had certainly changed since Hugh, her boyfriend had left.

  I had hated Hugh right from the start; I didn’t want another man to replace my dad, let alone some drunken Casanova who was willing to replace the position of my father so easily.

  Some nights when he had come home he beat me, partially because of how drunk he was but sometimes I thought it was because I was so horrid to him making his job much harder than it should have been. High fives all around.

  I thought it had been better when he had left but mum’s mental health had just about deteriorated when he was gone. She became drunk more often; she smoked heavily and became very argumentative some days.

  Today was an exceptionally good day for her as she was pestering again about the dreaded short skirts.

  I shut the door behind myself and walked into the sitting room where Mum had gone back to lounging on the sofa watching some unknown American sitcom. Little Sam lay in her arms, his eyes were firmly shut dreaming.

  Sam had been a very pretty baby; he had very light grey eyes and thin strands of golden hair. He was face was particularly round and remained the same colour most of the time – a constant pink that reminded me of someone who was short of breath.

  He turned over in his sleep making small noises that reminded me of the days that dad used to blow ‘raspberries’ on my cheek.

  I sighed and turned to go up the stairs wondering what had put mum in such a good mood. I opened my bedroom door and peered inside, my bed wasn’t made and my dirty clothes lay on a pile by my feet. I picked up the dirty clothes and put them in the laundry basket.

  I went round the room in no time clearing things up and making the bed and so on. It was so easy for my mother to forget about doing the chores.

  Eventually I was done and I slumped down onto my huge yellow bean bag by my window. It was four, just three hours away till I made my way back to High Bridge Road. My thoughts crept back to Billy, a big lump rising in my throat. If I was to survive the next three hours I would have to keep myself from thinking.

  I noticed a walkman by the edge of my bean bag and picked it up placing the ear plugs into my ears. I turned it on and jumped because of how loud the music was but then remembered that it would be very hard to think like this.

  I usually did this when I didn’t want to think about something and it had become my routine on Saturday to sit upstairs and familiarize myself with the lyrics. I set it up to repeat and eventually got tired of the CD. By that time it had repeated five times and I had been singing along to the words, no matter how bad my singing actually was.

  I glanced at the now luminous clock, it read six forty-five. I looked outside to see dark clouds in the sky, absolutely great.

  It started to rain when I left; I was wearing black jeans and a black skeleton hoodie with the hood up. I had made sure none of my hair was visible before going out. I didn’t like people saying things like I was pretty because I wasn’t and I didn’t feel pretty either. I also thought I did this because I was told I looked so like my dad, it was unbearable sometimes so I decided to hide everything; my eyes in front of my wannabe-emo fringe. Mum was always pestering me to grow my fringe out; soon she would get her wish.

  The rain lashed down hard against my face cooling my hot skin. I blinked blinded by my rain covered eye lashes. I tried so hard not to think about Billy Black up to this point but now it was useless, at least he was dry and warm I thought.

  I drew a deep breathe as I entered through the gates, the gravel crunching beneath my silver sneakers. The full moon was visible, peeking out of the dark grey clouds that littered the sky.

  It seemed irrevocable, like I was trying to walk to France or somewhere but never stopping. Finally it came to an end when I saw three tall shadowy figures leaning against the door to BlackMore House.

  BlackMore House was abandoned now, all that was left in was old rotting furniture beneath white sheets – the kind people went around pretending they were ghosts in. The garden was wild and out of control, everything was overgrown. It was a struggle just to get to the house.

    “See, I told you you could do it,” Katy replied smiling.

I gasped; the key was in my other hoodie. I had forgotten the key, the most vital thing in the whole day and I had forgotten it. I was unbelievable.

    “The key, I…don’t have it,” I stuttered feeling completely useless. I could have sworn I saw the corners of Ian’s mouth twitch up for a second.

    “Way to go Charles!” Simon grinned patting me hard on the back. Hardly worth the praise.

    “We’ll figure how to get him out at midnight,” Ian replied gesturing towards a camp fire and three logs to sit on.  

  The night was cold but I was starting to warm up, I looked around the circle again. Ian was sitting next to me, his arm on my back. Opposite us was Katy, Simon was sitting on the log nearest Ian. Ian looked smug in the firelight, probably due to the fact I hadn’t killed him yet for him.

    “It’s a bit chilly out here tonight, don’t you think?” Ian whispered in my ear. Katy and Simon chortled at his joke while I pulled away. I hit Ian’s hand hard and moved away from him.

    “Oh come on give me a break,” he laughed.

    “It’s a full moon,” I pointed out trying to stop the conversation from bending around me.

    “Well you know what they say,” Katy whispered then throwing her head back and howling. Ian and Simon joined in the wolf howls but they stopped abruptly.

    “My old man told me a story yesterday. It was…very interesting. Not one for babies,” Simon said.

    “Go on then, spill!” Katy exclaimed, her eyes growing wide.

Everyone’s eyes flitted across to Simon full of excitement, I was the only exception. I just wanted to go home.

    “Well it started back in the years when people got burnt at the stake for being excused of witches. In those times there was no proof, for example neighbours ratted out on each other or if the harvest had been bad that year they blamed the farmers.

    “Well my dad said my great grandfather, well great great great…” Simon said in a dark manor.

    “Get on with it already!” Ian grumbled becoming impatient.

    “Yeah! We don’t care how great or how old your grandfather is, just get on with the story!” Katy shouted.

    “Well you get the picture; my gramps was very old…and great. He was seventeen when his town first accused specific members of witch craft. Various cattle being held in the field nearby were being slaughtered.

    “Well one night he was out about with his mates, just like us kind of. Well they were warned not to wander around with the recent goings on but then again my gramps was no baby. They ignored the warning and went to the fields anyway; they set up a camp fire and told scary stories. Kind of like what we’re doing.

    “That’s when they heard something, it sounded like a whip. Like someone was being whipped repeatedly. That’s when they saw the first glimpse of one of them. It had ruby red eyes and red stuff all around its mouth; blood. Its skin was a white marble colour and glowed from a distance. It crouched like it was about to pounce, it was very thirsty.

    “Suddenly it stopped and jumped back a bit. My grandfather’s friend had stood up, with the limited light it was hard to see but a few things were clear. Well one in particular. His friend’s eyes had become pitch black. My grandfather believed that the freak with the red eyes and blood was a cold blood. The dead awakened. A vampire.

    “Anyway my gramps friend started walking towards them beckoning the vampire forward. Then his friend jumped a few feet in the air landing behind the vampire. My gramps friend held out his hands like he was pushing something, like he had the force. Electric blue sparks shot out of his hands throwing the vampire back. It started hissing and then…it backed off.

    “They have a name for what my grandfather’s friend was. Exactly what they accused people of. Witch. I know it sounds stupid; my grandfather’s friend wasn’t a girl. They couldn’t think of anything else that could scare a vampire off so easily…with such force.

    “On my gramps eighteenth birthday his father was bitten. By a vampire. He had been bitten; venom had been released into his system he died. When my gramps heard the news he lost it, he became ill. That was his cover up. He started off with a temperature, then a fever with cold sweats. That night he was a changed man. He had been staying on the coach for a long time now and he thought it was time to stretch his legs. He went into the bathroom and took a cold shower and then went to the mirror. It smashed.

    “Gramps broke the window. His once baby blue eyes had turned pitch black. He eventually relaxed himself and cleaned up the shards of glass. His eyes were blue again. They say that when you have your normal coloured eyes you can’t use your powers but you can easily switch. When your eyes become black you can use your powers. Like turning a light bulb on and off. It can also be switched on by anger,” he said calmly.

I noticed goose bumps on my arm and I knew it wasn’t because I was cold.

  I looked at Ian who had now pulled up his hoodie. His face was barely visible in the moonlight. Katy looked breathless, her skin illuminated by the flames.

    “It’s time,” I whispered checking my watch.

We walked towards the house; it looked much more like a haunted house in the dark. I knew that we were going to get Billy out but how was another matter. The door was like one of those drawbridge deals with the wrought iron poles and the black iron door knob that was carved like a gargoyle face.

    “How’re we going to get him out? That door will be extremely hard to open,” I mumbled noticing how silent it was.

It was daunting that everyone had become so quite, usually Ian couldn’t shut up. I laughed but was cut off by his hard stare.

    “Window,” Simon said gruffly.

    “But they’re all so high up!” I exclaimed.

 I was not a particularly good climber. I had never excelled at sports whatsoever.

    “Watch me,” Ian snickered.

I looked at him confused; he turned his face to the side. The light was extremely poor but some of his face was visible. Particularly his dark midnight black eyes.

  He was up and in the window in what was no more than just a few seconds. When had been climbing up the wall he was moving so fast he looked blurry.

    “No words about what I did tonight,” Ian growled glaring at me from the window.

That meant he had caught me staring at his pitch black eyes. Simon and Katy also started climbing up the wall and were in the window in no time at all. They glared at me, their eyes shining in the moonlight before retreating from the window to go and find Billy.

  I was alone now. A cold shiver ran up my spine, what if the others didn’t come back. What if they left me here on purpose? I scowled at that thought; I was part of the group as much as Katy or Simon.

  An owl hooted in the tree behind me making me jump, I was used to these night time sounds from my window but hearing them standing in the dark with no company at all was just plain creepy. My eyes darted back and forth; if anyone was going to creep on me I’d be ready. A cold wind whipped around my neck, almost as if someone was breathing on me.

  I couldn’t here the others anymore; it was completely silent except for the wildlife. In the valley I heard a screaming fox, was it calling its mate or was it hungry? I felt something knock my arm, a branch? I looked round checking if it had been Ian playing a trick on me but it wasn’t. There weren’t any trees near me either, I gulped. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me; maybe I had just imagined it because I was completely and utterly scared.

  In the distance I could see the black Iron Gate open a jar, it slammed shut in a gust of wind. It groaned and sighed in the wind, as if it was a living breathing person. I looked around at the trees that were swaying side to side in the wind; it hadn’t been

windy when we were listening to Simon’s story by the firelight. What had made it come on so quick?

  My hands felt numb from the cold, I tried desperately to keep myself warm but it was useless in a short sleeved t-shirt.

  I began to hear voices, they must have found Billy. I could hear the young boy’s voice screaming before I could see him. His face was tear stained, his golden curls were tangled and he had fear in his eyes.

    “I’m telling! You left me with no one, absolutely on my own. You didn’t know what it was like! I heard voices and I thought I saw someone!” he screamed through loud wet sobs.

    “The dark plays tricks on your eyes,” Katy sneered.

    “I’m going to tell on all of you, you want know what’s hit you!” he screamed again breaking out into a nervous laugh.

    “I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Ian warned, he was holding something.

It gleamed and glittered in the light, it was long and silver and the wooden handle was decorated.

    “Whoa! Aw man! Where did you get that? My old man said I wasn’t allowed!” Simon exclaimed.

    “Now go. We’re still playing hide and seek. Now running off or you’ll get it,” Ian threatened.

We closed our eyes and the counting begun again, this time much faster. As soon as one was yelled we ran after him, his little legs had not carried him fast enough for us to not see him. He was heading to the forest.

  He didn’t get far into the forest until he was out of breath, he leaned on a tree puffing and panting. We corned him quickly; he was in no health to put a fight.

    “We found you,” Katy chirped.

Ian took out his knife again swishing it in the air a few inches from Billy’s quivering face.

    “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. You said you wanted to play with us. This is how we play. Don’t you want to be part of our gang?” Ian muttered.

Join now!

    “You don’t play fair,” he whispered shaking nervously.

    “I know,” Ian said.

  I could almost hear the smile in his reply. Billy quivered and quaked but eventually held out his arm. I looked at him apologetically but he took no notice as Ian’s knife crept closer and closer to Billy’s skin.

    “Don’t do it hard,” Simon said shakily.

Gently Ian carved out Billy Black’s name on his arm. Where Ian had indented the name there was now deep red blood. The blood spelled out Billy Black.

  Billy was brave in ...

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