When Your Light Goes Dark

Chapter One : Beginning of the End

"Good morning, Peter," Anna said to the ghost who waited at the foot of the stairs.

Peter smiled, brown curls bobbing as he nodded to her. His hair dusted his antique muslin collar, tucked neatly over that of his jacket, and Anna thought then as she always did that he could use a haircut.

Peter would always need a haircut.

She glanced through him, behind him to the school bus stop. Unfortunately, today they were not alone. The bullies at her stop were right on time, instead of their usual 'fashionably late,' and they watched like lazy predators as she continued toward them. Peter walked beside her, his feet appearing to touch the pavement but making no sound.

"I wish they'd all just turn sixteen already," Anna said to him, trying not to move her lips very much. "Then, they can drive their brand-new cars to school. I'll have the whole bus to myself."

 One of the girls at the stop called out, "Talking to bushes again, freak?" She laughed. "Did you name this one?"

"I am not a bush," Peter said indignantly. He turned to stare at them, his pale face with those dark eyes looking murderous.

"They didn't mean you," Anna murmured. "They can't see you, remember?"

"Right." Peter raised an eyebrow at her. "However, they can see you."

Anna would have said something else. She would have let him know exactly what she thought of that (how dare he be right) with some perfectly scathing remark, except by then she was at the bus stop and, with Jackie looking down at her like that, she had to keep her mouth shut.

Her personal bully's full name was Jaqueline Candace King. Her father owned a rude chain of cheap furniture stores called Sofa King ("Our prices are Sofa King low!") and the success of his business meant that Jackie and her family never wanted for anything. Anna wasn't poor, but neither was she top-shelf, and sometimes it felt as though Jackie was on a personal quest to make sure Anna knew her place.

Like Anna had ever wanted bottle-blonde ripple curls and so much make-up she'd probably have to chisel it off at night. Nothing against girls who look like Photoshop had followed them home, but Anna preferred to look a little more, well, real.

She didn't care for her brown, doe eyes, hidden as they were behind the necessary coke-bottle frames; she wasn't crazy about the straightness or length of her hair, but neither was she interested in product or a trim. Her pragmatism meant that she would always be caught in limbo between hating herself, and feeling satisfied because she was true to herself. She didn't even try to fit in.

As they stood there at the bus stop, Jackie kept staring at her. Anna didn't want to give the bully any satisfaction, but she felt the other girl's eyes on her like spiders with little burning feet, and finally glanced over.

The grin on Jackie's face grew, a sickening version of the Cheshire Cat.

"What's your damage, Bananaphone?" she demanded gleefully. That stupid nickname again. It had evolved over the years, Anna-Banana and Ban-Anna and most recently, ring ring ring ring BANANA PHONE. They always burst out laughing, like they hadn't told that joke five times a day for years.

Anna had learned that telling Jackie to stop wouldn't work, and there wasn't any point in trying to posture. Jackie was older than Anna by half a year (though they were both sophomores, and still both 15 until Jackie's birthday in October) and bigger than her, by inches and pounds. Anna liked her figure and she liked Jackie's, too, but she had to admit that her body would never be that... solid.