Authors Note: Well no one reviewed…so why exactly am I updating? …Who knows…I wonder if cheese fondue is good….sounds gross…fondue….funny word…ANYwho, so here's chapter 1. Enjoy. But beware, this is really long and nothing really happens until the end…so you could just scroll to the bottom and probably not miss anything. Ehehe..
The Present
Chapter 1 – Home Sweet Hellhole
beep
Beep
BeepBEEP
Autumn slowly cracked an eye open, looking for the "useless, pain in the ass" otherwise known as the alarm clock, the bane of human existence.
BEEPShe sighed and rolled over, slamming her palm down on the god-forsaken piece of American junk. She watched as it stopped blinking and went silent, and the numbers slowly dimmed and became blurry. She closed her eyes and rolled back over, planning on getting some extra sleep before the sun decided to come up. At least that was her plan, until rapid knocking and pounding sounded on her door. She opened her eyes and glared at the door, trying to see the little grade-schoolers behind it. "What?!"
"Au'umn, i's 'ime 'o ge' up!!"
She sighed, "Alright Mia, now go bother someone else." She smiled slightly, hearing two pairs of feet running down the hall. She sat up, swung her legs over the side of her bed and looked around at the five other empty beds sounding hers. She sighed, wishing that their occupants had simply gone to eat breakfast, instead of simply being non-existent, she hated to admit it, but sleeping in her own room was becoming more than slightly lonely. It didn't matter that she'd been the only permanent resident, and she had been as such for the past 15 years, she was still lonely. Sometimes she thought she was the only sane one around, everyone claiming to have terrible night-scares about a crying girl, who committed suicide, everyone, that is, except her.
She gently slid out of bed and walked over to the window, pulling the curtains open, groaning, finally hearing the light sounds of raining gently taping the window, urging her to prepare for yet another uneventful day of life at St. Sebastian's Orphanage.
She slowly walked to the door and flipped on the light, before marching over to the mirror on the table next to her bed and staring at the girl that was shown to her. She silently sat down and glared at her reflection, causing it to glare right back. She looked at her blue eyes for a moment, contemplating whether or not to wear make-up today. Idly she picked up a hairbrush and began brushing her silver-blonde locks that came to her elbows, hissing, occasionally coming across a knot or two.
She quickly pulled some of the hair on the right side of her head through a silver hair tie and got up, beginning the search for her school uniform, or at least some clothes she could use to fake it. She quickly found the light-green pants, and blue sneakers, but finding the shirt was an entirely different story. She rummaged around, her soft blue nightgown dragging against the cold wooden floorboards. She bent down and looked under her bead, nothing. She moved to look in the closet, nothing. She walked over to the window and found it on a hanger, hanging off the back of a chair. She sighed and shook her head, gently picking it up and throwing the hanger onto her bed.
She stared in disgust at the blue sweater with the green dress-shirt underneath, its collar parted slightly, and hanging over the sweater, the sleeve cuffs folded up over the ends of the sweater. She gagged slightly, and went into the bathroom. She changed her clothes, smeared some blue lip-gloss on and stepped back out into her room. She glanced around, grabbed her tan book-bag, and her old bracelet and headed out into the hall. She smiled to the nun that walked past and bounced down the stairs with some of the third-graders, fumbling with the silver clasp that held it together, and supported the black cross, that was held within a black circle, before heading into the dinning area, grabbing a biscuit and an umbrella from one of the girls that slept in the room next to hers and bounding out the door, headed for the school building.
She slowed her pace as she approached the gray-stone and redbrick building that stood ominously ahead of her, mocking her. She groaned and looked up through the clear umbrella at the gray sky, groaning. She walked in behind some upper-classmen, closed her umbrella and moved to her locker, not noticing the person following her until their shadow rose up on her locker. She quickly spun the combination and placed the umbrella into her locker and turned around to face the person.
"Michael!" She looked at the boy, causing him to smile slightly. He had tanned skin, messy black hair that hung in front of his violet eyes, and very broad shoulders. He wore a black shirt, matching pants, and a white tie.
"Long time no see, sweets!"
She shut her locker behind her and grinned, hugging him slightly. "So what have you been up to lately?" He wrapped an arm around her waist and began walking down the hall, flashing his movie-star smile towards anyone that dared to look. "Not much, the Penguin had me doing some after-school jobs so that's why I wasn't around.."
"I see. So you're still listenin to the old bird, eh?"
"Of course. You expect anything different?"
"Its been 3 months.."
"Sorry about that.."
She sighed, "Nah, its fine..So, how does it feel to be a senior?"
"How does it feel to be a sophomore?"
"I asked first.."
"It's a futile evasion.."
"So?"
"Well…its kind of like being sixteen all over again, where you just got your license and an entirely new door to freedom is opening for you and..My god Vanessa has a nice ass…" Autumn stopped and stared at him, causing him to look down at her. "What?"
"Too much information…" Michael laughed and nodded, "Sorry I just.."
"I know, but we've got 3 minutes to get to class, see you at lunch!"
"Alright, on the commons or in the forum?"
"How about the track?"
"Sure, you trying out for the team?" Autumn merely smiled at him and jogged off to her first bell, purposely not answering his question.
Michael shook his head and headed for the auditorium, fully intending to get some extra sleep.
Autumn slid inside the room just as the bell rang and jumped into her seat, quickly pulling out her homework and then staring out the window, bored. She pulled out her notebook as the teacher walked past her desk to examine her homework and opened it to a clean page, only to begin doodling. Before she knew it, the buzzer rang, signaling the end of first bell.
She sighed and slowly backed her things away and headed for her second bell, reluctantly entering the flood of students that filled the hallway. She silently moved among them, trying to get to her class as fast as possible so she wouldn't have to feel like a sardine any longer than necessary.
The next 3 bells went by much the same as the first, until the 1st lunch bell finally rang and the high school students filed out of their classes, headed for where ever it was that they were intending to ingest their food. Autumn quickly headed for the track, briefly stopping at her locker to put her bag away and grab her umbrella. She glided among the students, unnoticed and finally made it outside, quickly opening her umbrella, she ran towards the track and swung herself over the fence, jumping up the bleachers to where Michael sat in the rain, starring up at the sky. She sighed and sat down next to him, moving the umbrella over him as well. "Hey, whats wrong?" She asked, trying to get him to actually engage in a conversation without having hoards of other students surrounding them. "Nothing.." Her attempt had, as usual, failed. She smiled slightly and leaned against his arm, in a silent attempt to explain to him that he wasn't alone.
The pair sat like that for the remainder of the lunch period, until the bell blasted over the speakers and they silently got up and walked down from the bleachers. "What bell do you have P.E. this semester?" She looked up at his voice. "Hm..oh this bell.." She smiled up at him, as he looked down at her. "So meet me in the Auditorium after?"
"Sure…have you been to any of your classes?"
"No." She groaned and elbowed him lightly, "Miiiiikeyy…we'll have to go back out onto the track for seventh bell though, the drama classes are.."
"..Held during seventh bell, I know, I know.." he finished her statement and smiled, "But I'm taking the umbrella" Before she could respond he snatched it from her fingers and strutted inside, disappearing into the sea of students. She groaned and entered the building, heading for the girl's locker room.
The class went by rather quickly, she dressed rapidly, to avoid letting anyone see the upside-down cross-shaped scar that resided on her abdomen, went up to the Gym and began her stretches before having to go up in the weight room and do 5 sets of 40 reps on the leg press at 270 lbs. (A/N: I had to do it for Cross Country training, yes it IS possible, just very painful for untrained legs) She happily finished and slipped out of class, making her way back to the locker room and changing her clothes. She was tying her shoes and replacing her bracelet as the rest of the girls began filing inside, chatting rapidly. She silently slipped out of the room and was at her locker by the time the bell rang. She shoved her gym clothes inside and grabbed her backpack, and the books she would need to do her homework, having learned that as long as she did her homework, the teachers wouldn't ask about where she was, having been told that she had a "weak heart" by a "reliable source", aka Michael.
She giggled and ran to the auditorium and slipped inside, unnoticed. She ascended the steps of the dark room, towards the center balcony, knowing exactly where to find him. She smiled and sat down in the seat next to him, pulling out her Algebra 2 book and began working on lesson 8.6, knowing Michael would be satisfied just having someone there.
By the time the bell rang, she had already completed all the homework that she knew about, and would finish the rest when they were back at the "home sweet hellhole." Silently she stood up beside him and they walked out the backstage doors to avoid being noticed, heading down the hall towards the doors that led to the commons and the track. Just as they walked through the doors, Michael opened the umbrella and moved it over them. They walked over to the track, jumped the fence and walked to the first row and sat down. "So you're going to try out for the track team?" Autumn looked up at him and nodded. "How fast are you?"
"I don't know…"
"Want me to time you?"
"Sure.." Autumn stood up and jumped back over the fence, and walked over to the track. Michael moved to the fence and got his watch ready. "On your mark, get ready, get set, GO!" He hit the start button and watched as she took off, all but flying around the track. He smiled and looked at his watch as she completed the lap and jogged over to the fence.
Her cheeks were flushed, and her breath was coming in short pants, the smallest beads of sweat mixing with the rain running down her face. "Well?" She watched him expectantly. "1:14"
"I've gotten faster…"
"Or your legs got longer.." He smirked as she glared at him and climbed the fence, landing next to him and moving under the umbrella. They sat back down and Autumn looked out at the track, while Michael returned his gaze to the sky.
Soon after her breathing returned to normal, and her heart rate slowed, Autumn began leaning against Michael, shivering violently. He silently wrapped an arm around her and stood up, "We should be heading back.." She looked up and nodded, "We can go back a little early and just say we didn't need to go back to our lockers.."
"Or just say nothing at all.."
"At least I got an actual statement out of you that was more than 3 words.." She laughed as he went silent and jumped back over the fence. She slowly climbed up over the fence and dropped beside him. When the bell rang they began silently walking back to the orphanage, under the umbrella, just staring at the sky.
When they arrived Michael placed the umbrella on the rack and gave Autumn a quick hug before heading off towards his room. Autumn sighed and ascended the stairs, heading for her room. She silently pushed the door open and slipped inside, locking the door behind her and dropping her bag on her bed and moving into the bathroom.
She quickly turned the hot water on and headed back to her bed, carefully pulling her hair from her hair tie, stripping out of her wet clothes and then putting them over the radiator to dry. She grabbed her pajamas and some clean underwear and went back into the bathroom and closing the door. She placed her clothes on the sink, under her towels. She placed her hand under the faucet, finding the temperature to her liking, quickly shut it off and turned on the shower and jumped in, squealing at the simple pleasure of hot water hitting her frozen skin. She purred, and then began quickly washing her hair in order to get the most out of the hot water before everyone else began taking showers as well. She scrubbed her body clean with some lavender-scented body wash she had gotten for her birthday from one of the younger nuns. She giggled at the memory and sighed.
As soon as she had finished, the water began to cool down, signaling her to get out or risk being frozen once again. She quickly hopped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. She dried herself off and quickly pulled on her pajamas, before brushing her hair, towel-drying it, and then brushing it all-over again. She laughed, feeling unusually giddy.
She looked down and cursed under her breath, finding out that she had not taken her bracelet off. She fingered the small black charm that she'd had since she came to the orphanage, it had gone from a necklace, to an anklet, to a bracelet as she grew. She smiled and walked over to her bed, collapsing on top of it. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling, "I should unlock the door…and then maybe take a nap.."
She nodded and got up, turning off the bathroom light, and unlocking the door before hopping into bed and glancing at the clock which read '4:42'. She closed her eyes and was almost instantly asleep.
(A/N: for those who are scanning, this is where you should begin reading)
She was awakened by the sound of thunder, when she opened her eyes she realized it was dark, the light from the windows having long-since faded. She glanced at her alarm clock which read '10:59' she groaned and got up, cursing quietly. She walked over to the window and opened the drapes to see a flash of lightening, and then another. Then a flash of red lightening, he eyes bulged when the thought registered. 'Red Lightening?! The Ozone must be more screwed up than I thought..' She saw another flash, this time the light was green, then a flash of blue, and then purple. She followed the path that all the bolts seemed to be taking to the on-rooftop-park across the street from the orphanage, it was owned be some wealthy elderly woman, who gave twenty grand to the orphanage each year.
She quickly tied her hair up into its usual side-ponytail and opened the windows, stepping out onto the balcony, only to find that it wasn't even raining. From her new position, she could clearly make out two shapes on top of the building, which seemed to be fighting. She squinted, vainly trying to get a better view.
She quickly pulled on her socks and shoes and went back out onto the balcony, quickly climbing down the trellis and running across the street, only to jump up onto the fire escape and begin sprinting up the ten floors to the roof. When she was arrived she was greeted was with a young man being thrown backwards into her, and they were sent flying back onto the fire escape. He was obviously the first to recover,as he jumped off of her and turned around to look at her. He looked about 17, with elbow-length blue hair, and bright green eyes, and pearly white skin, which was unmarred except for a small scar on his right cheek, and green lip-gloss?! He was wearing an odd sort of long-sleeved red shirt, and matching pants with black boots, and had earrings with the same charm as her bracelet. They simply stared at each other for a moment before the man's opponent spoke, "Whats the matter, Damien, lost the will to fight?!" The young man, now identified as Damien turned around and glared at what seemed to be another male, this one, however, was slightly older, but far more feminine.
In Autumn's mind he was the image of beauty, he had golden hair that held faint red streaks, tied back in a ponytail, however the majority of it had fallen out and was now hanging about his shoulders, his bangs hung over his right eye, and there was a snake-like black tattoo under his left; he had only lightly tanned skin; there were several piercings on both of his ears; a black cross-shaped tattoo on his neck, and a necklace with the same charm as her bracelet, hanging around his neck. He wore a light green long-sleeved shirt, which came down to his thighs, a bright yellow belt around his waist, from which hung a fox tail and several daggers; he had blue pants, that had several tears in them, and the right leg of which was missing from the knee-down; lower still wear brown boots that began just below his knee, however the left one was mostly hidden under his pants leg. He held a glowing green saber, with a jagged blade.
He glanced at her and froze, before moving into a defensive position behind his sword, snarling at her "Liliel" was all that came from his mouth before he began slowly making his way over to the third person, who appeared to be yet another male, this one obviously older than the first two by at least 3 years. He had messy brown hair that stopped just about his shoulders, he was wearing a gray blind-fold over his eyes, upon which was, yet again, the same symbol as her charm; he wore a black, long-sleeved shirt, matching pants and boots, along with a rather-shiny black cape, he was just as tan as the second male, without the permanent body-art.
Autumn simply stared at them, her gaze occasionally moving from one to another to another, and back again. The one known as Damien was the first to speak "Long time no see, Lili.." The second boy grabbed the older one's hand and they vanished.
Something clicked in Autumn's head and her instincts began screaming at her to run, and she did just that, she bolted along the edge of the rooftop park, heading for the elevator. She heard Damien curse and began running after her, in a matter of seconds, she felt and arm wrap around her waist. She screamed and her world went black.
Authors Note: Wow, I finished this before 3:30 am!! Amazing! Ahahaha…I'm officially psycho, well please review. I BEG OF YOU!!
7 pages…not bad for going off a chapter summary that was a grand total of ½ a written page..