Disclaimer: all characters are mine except Lucius who I cant tell you who he belongs to because I wrote this off the book Canyons which I let my friend borrow …(blabs on about how her friend still has yet to return the book) … so uhm … yeah … read and be happy! Dag-nabbit!

Quiet steps paced her along, though silenced against the cruel rush from the traffic beside her. She cringed as she got caught in a severe gust from a large yellow school bus out on it’s normal weekly trip to pick up several other high school students, still trying to wake up. Groaning she hugged her jacket tighter to her neck. It wasn’t exactly a cold day, actually it was quite warm yet she wore the jacket just in case it wasn’t the same story at her school. She starred down at her shadow starring right back up at her caramel-toned face, appearing darker than usual under the bright orange color of the street light. She sighed checking herself out, yeah she was still one of the many 15 year old black students at Braxton HS, she still had on her white boot leg jeans and tight black shirt with that annoying tag in the back that made her neck itch. She was still wearing her white socks and black boots and lastly her wrists and knuckles where still wrapped from an injury she received while snapping her fists into the now broken jaw of her aggressor. She wondered if now he’d think twice before messing with someone her age. Snickering to her self at the thought helped to ease the lonely feeling that raged through her heart, mind and soul. Something just seemed to be missing or if it was there, she certainly didn’t know it nor could reach it. A distant clang bounced off the walls of her ears while she waited for the bus. She checked her watch, 6:30.

6:30 AM and 5 seconds exactly, gees she had gotten precise recently.

Well it was certain that no one should be out at the time except her neighbors but even they would be at work. Well there was still another 20 minutes until she was supposed to catch the so called "always on time" bus. So she took her pack from it’s position being strapped across her chest and resting at her hip’s side and placed it on the ground, taking her blue, black and white wind breaker off and tying the sleeves to the pack’s strap. She then darted off towards the clanging sound; suddenly finding her self aggravated that she didn’t change into her tennis shoes. Then she heard it again,

A bell,

It was a bell that she heard no doubt about it. The type you hear at churches and those kinds of places only in this case, it was in the woods not on the road which also made things a bit odd which would normally make her go away instead of investigating, yet something drove her inside the woods. It was still dark but she seemed to be able to see perfectly fine, from the huge branches that lie shattered and excepting their fate of rot, to the almost invisible spider webs that stretched between trees. She then stopped at what looked like a house or tiny church that seemed to rest in the middle of the woods. Well once again she had stumbled upon something she should have stayed away from, but she couldn’t help but to wonder what the structure was doing out in the middle of the nowhere that she thought she knew everything about. Nonetheless, she had found out the source of the bell, or so she thought was the source though not seeing the bell. Yet now her curiosity dragged her into the structure. Her brain not even thinking twice about the old faltering structure’s chances of crumbling down on top of her. She stepped into the structure, standing on top of the decayed door with out knowing it. To her right was a counter and in front of her a table with a few items on it though she couldn’t make out what items lay atop it.

The sun had just started to peak its way up above the horizon allowing a few dim rays to squeeze through the cracks and holes in the walls to the clearly identified bookstore. Glaring insanely at the rays knowing now that obviously she had missed her free ride to school and would now have to walk the mile or so to her school, she looked back at the store. Rows upon rows of books on shelves along the walls of the store. In the middle rested a few desks, tables and chairs, all of which didn’t seem fit enough to hold a humming bird for no more than about a minute or two. She wandered over to one of the rows and glanced up at a book that seemed to be it pretty good condition just like the rest, well from where she was standing; at least you could see the title and author. She then began to reach for the book she was looking at when…

"Miyah, can I assist you?" a voice from behind her snapped her awake again but she was too late, the voice’s owners hands resting themselves upon her shoulders firmly. Firm enough that she was unable to maneuver herself freely, as if a huge metal lock had been put on her shoulders, back and neck but it was padded and warm.

"Or would you prefer I just show you the exit, you need not be here Miyah." The voice spoke again in its low baritone pitch. She had no idea who it was that held her captive but she had no choice but to follow, having lost her voice for the most part over the weekend from screaming at her cousin and almost cracking his jaw open like she had her aggressor. By the time they had reached the end of the woods the sun was filling the sky with it’s orange rays, the orange starting to fade away and allow the sky’s natural colors to take over. To her surprise she was back home at her 3-floor estate, her father standing on the deck as if he was expecting her.

"Good to see you again Miyah. Apparently I was correct about you again" A slightly crooked smile appearing upon her father’s dark brown face. He was a well-loved and powerful man, and the ladies loved him, having that midnight black, muscular body that made him look almost identical to Wesley Snipes, yet he put the gentle back into gentleman. He motioned for them to come inside which they did, which was when dear ol’ mystery man let go of her. Her father starred at her, bending down enough so they where eye to eye, tan to grue (gray/blue) before pecking her on her forehead. She felt something touch her head, something heavy rest itself upon her beautiful light caramel, mid-back length hair. Ugh she hated that, but this time she was cool about it so she let it slide this time.

"Miyah,"

Oh how she hated that also, that one word sentence that started and ended with your name.

" I’d like you to meet an old friend of mine"

Her father motioned towards the man behind her, a tall Native-American who, just like her, had hair just a bit lighter than their skin tone. His smile just as friendly and inviting as her fathers, only not as childish and it wasn’t followed by a laugh or small kiss to the forehead or even worse, a ruffle of her fragile hair. She nodded a greeting to him offering the most respectful smile she could find for this tight situation. Her Grue eyes looking him over for a split second as he seemed to do the same with his burnt wood brown eyes.

Gees why do they have to always make me wanna laugh when they smile back?

She thought to herself as the man and her father started a slight conversation, which she was totally oblivious to, when another odd sound rippled through their ears, interrupting them. This time it was close, too close, and all too familiar, the sound of a window shattering to the ground. The man gave her father a slight nod and walked off to the room where the sound had come from. Her father, taking her into his arms and moving her away from another window as a just-in-case. A moment later, her father wandered through the house signaling for her to stay still and silent before coming back and shrugging.

"What happened? And where’d he go? And WHO’S that guy?" she asked her father whom was still glaring out at the window and hallway before he placed a finger to her lips and smiled.

" Chill Miyah. I don’t know what happened and that GUY you refer to is my friend Lucius. So just chill out for a sec OK. ‘s all good."

She found it hilarious how her father used such normal slang terms such as " ‘s all good" and " chill out". He was your regular ghetto pops. At least he didn’t go into the thug territory with " hey shorty" and other terms she refused to think of. A soft sigh escaped through her lunges as she passed her father and headed to the guest room only to see that that was the unfortunate window that had been broken. She whistled, suddenly remembering that her dog had been in that room when she left for school. Fortunately he had found his way out of the guest room and back into her room which was OK with her.

She patted her blotted Great Dane on its massive head before reaching for her "Night" book. Hating the fact she hadn’t read last night, and knowing it was going to be a pain if she didn’t know the material for the quiz that she’d have to take tomorrow hence she wouldn’t be there today for sure. Suddenly she realized she had that job interview at that camp to go to, the thought of working with little brats just made her shudder but she needed those hours. Another sigh escaped pass her mouth from all the thoughts of things she had to do. Her father knocked a few times on her door while he was tightening his tie up. How he transformed from a muscleman into a businessman in less than 5 minutes flat was beyond her.

" Hey, wanna join me at work? I could use some help." He gazed at her through the mirror in her room, still trying to get that tie together.

"What about school? I’ll have an unexcused absence." she stood and wandered over to her distressed father and snickered at his determination with the tie.

" Oh you mean the thing that that old lady at your school doesn’t do after a students intelligent father calls in and explains the reasoning behind you being home, stressed out from the robbery that happened over night." He remarked, still working at that tie.

" Yeah that. And the thing that she does do once she finds out that it isn’t true" she said finally assisting her father.

" If she finds out"

"If?"

" If "

" Oh brother"

"Who’s gonna tell?" he cupped her hands in his after she finished fixing the tie.

" C’mon squirt. You need a break from school. Your too smart as it is." He reached for his jacket.

" Oh come on!"

" I mean it! You and your odd terms for math, history and science like oh I don’t know, ciphering, antiquity and astrophysics. I mean gees. When I was in school back when Bill Clinton was just a lil boy that still wet his pants, we only had geometry, government and Biology." He led her out of her room as she laughed from his comments.

He led their 2 harlequin Danes into their pen and pulled the cover over it, refilling their water dishes and putting the thermal bedding into their doghouses.

" They said it’s supposed to snow so go on and hop in the truck. I’m opening the latch in case it does snow." Her father said as he unlocked the gate to the little doggy door that crept out from the side of the house. Giving the two dogs a dog run to play outside and an entering and exiting holding pen that led to the dog door. He exited the run and went back inside, changing the water and unlocking the dog door that led to the little resting pen that had it’s own heating unit and tilled flooring so it was an easy cleanup in case of a snow storm. They had built the room for the dogs upon special request from the mother whom no longer lived with them. Finally locking the door and getting into his Jeep Cherokee, driving out of their driveway, not worried about a possible robbery of their house. He knew everyone in the neighborhood and knew that if they didn’t notice or stop the robbery, their Danes surely would.

" So what do you need help with, Pops?" She asked her father as they drove to his job at the office.

" Nothing much, just need you to entertain a few people so they’ll get off of my back and give me time to work." He glanced to her for a moment before turning on the CD Player.

Great, so now she was going to become the walking dog biscuit, used to lure the other attorneys away from her father so he could get something done. She shrugged and nodded.

" Well I haven’t seen Chase or Joan in a long time. I guess no harm could come of it. Just as long as there is some coffee or hot cocoa there!"