I ran and I ran and I ran trying to escape the spreading darkness. A black mist stood on the edge of my vision, tempting to blind me. It surrounded me and began to choke me. I sputtered and wheezed, falling to my knees and coughing blood onto the ground.
"Why are you running?" a voice hissed. "Stay."
"NOO," I some how managed to choke back. "No."
By now the lack of oxygen in my lungs was making me dizzy. I collapsed completely against the ground and let my eyes flutter shut. Then suddenly I felt as if a weight lifted off my shoulders and I slowly opened my eyes.
I was back in my bedroom, on my bed alone. I uncurled myself from my position and sat up. When I looked down on myself inspecting for injury, I couldn't help but gasp from shock.
I was wearing a VERY lacy pink corsette and a skimpy pair of lacy pink underwear. How did I end up in these?
The door creaked open and my eyes snapped to the intruder. He wore a plain white tshirt and faded jeans. His face was covered by the black mask that surrounded his eyes and layed over his left cheek. A black mist surrounded his body. His jet black hair was messed up in a good way and he approached me carefully, hunger in his eyes. I threw my blanket over my half naked body.
"Leave," I hissed at him.
"Now what would be the fun in that?" he said with a smirk. He approached me even more until he was centimeters from me. His towering figure created a cage around my body. I could feel the electricity between our lips, begging us to close the distance. Fear leaned in even more so that his lips were gently brushing my own, causing jolts of electricity to run up and down my spine. I closed my eyes prepared. He spoke against my lips, "I like you in pink."
Just as he was about to close the final distance, I awoke with my heart pounding in my throat. I could still feel his lingering effect on my lips as tiny sparks jumped when I put my fingers to them. I groaned. It was a dream and I had dreamed of Fear. Stupid hormones.
With another groan, I kicked off my covers and made my way to my bathroom. As soon as I stepped inside though, I screamed so loudly that I almost broke my own eardrums.
Lying on the sink where I usually put my clothes to change into, was a pink lacy corsette.
~*~
After a slight mental breakdown, 6 AM came around and it was time for school. Friday. Finally.
My wavy brown hair decided to go crazy on me and stick up in random places so I chose to go with a simple ponytail.
I made sure to tear the pink corsette into millions of pieces and put it in my "To Burn" pile (don't judge). After throwing on some clothes for school, I skipped downstairs and put in some toast for breakfast. Danny came into the kitchen in his boxer shorts and a white tshirt.
"Morning."
"Hey. Sorry, I got home late last night. I don't know what time I'll be home tonight. I think Paul wanted me to take his shift so I might not be home until really late. Danny was my older brother by three years. He was also the only living relative I had left. Ever since Fear came to Justice, the crime rates spiked before they came back down. Our parents were shot 5 years ago when Fear was still toying with Battlesword and the crime rate was dangerously high because everyone was distracted with the huge Super battle.
Today was the anniversary of their death. It still pained me to think about them and I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
"Behave. Danny you're in charge. If anything happens, call us," my mother told us as my father and her stood at the door ready to depart.
"Fine Mom. Just go," Danny pushed at her.
"I love you," my parents told us as they left.
I remember the phone call.
"Miss Renick?"
"Yes?
"May I speak with your older brother Daniel Renick?"
"Ummm...sure. Hold on." I went to get Danny and he took the phone in hand. I ran to get on the other landline and to listen to their conversation.
"Mr. Renick, I'm sorry to say that we have your parents Roger Renick and Diane Renick here at St. Patrick's Memorial Hospital. They suffered severe injuries from a shooting and multiple stab wounds. We need you to come in to see them and we'll explain everything." My lungs stopped breathing. I couldn't take another breath until my vision began blurring.
"Are they dead?" Danny asked.
"Mr. Renick, we'd like for you to come to see them. I'm afraid I can't discuss much on the phone. I'd like you to come in as soon as possible though. Are you in decent condition to drive yourself or shall we send someone?" the man asked.
"I'm fine. I'm on my way." Danny said and hung up and so did the man.
I set my end of the reciever down and stumbled into the room where Danny stood hunched over the phone that had fallen from his hands.
"Danny? Is it true?" I asked timidly.
I heard him suck in his breath and try to collect himself, but as he turned his face to meet mine, I saw that his vision too was blotty and his face was red. He held open his arms and I ran to them. He embraced me and held me closely.
"You heard that?" he asked.
I nodded my head and he sighed. "I'm sorry.'
I burst into tears and stood there crying in his arms. He tried his best to not cry but I felt the top of my head wet and assumed he let his tears slip. We stood there crying for another 10 minutes until Danny pulled away and grabbed his car keys.
"You can come, but you don't have to," he said softly.
"I have to, I need to come," I said back in a whisper.
Tears were now streaming down my face in a river. Danny came over and gave me a hug, knowing what I was thinking about.
When I walked into the hospital room, I saw two bodies laying side by side on separate beds. They looked so close yet so far. Their faces were paled covered in millions of colors from bruises. Their entire bodies were bandaged in blood soaked cloth.
I fell to my knees and felt Danny lift me up off the ground and put me to his chest. I cried so hard that day.
They had died an hour after reaching the hospital, but they never had a chance in the first place.
Later at the funeral, many people had approached to express their sorrow for their deaths, I recieved it bitterly. They didn't know what it was like to lose both parents in such an unjust way in the town of Justice. Such irony.
Danny was polite and mournfully silent. He thanked everyone for coming and when it was time to bury them into the ground, he picked up a fistful of dirt and threw it onto their caskets without a single tear. His face was hardened and determined. When it was my turn, I lost it and dropped multiple tears onto the dirt that went onto their caskets. Danny helped me stand straight and keep it together.
I never saw him shed another tear after that incident. He rarely showed his emotions and when he did, he quickly covered them up with his hardened expression that he had mastered. It broke my heart to see the only person I had left, so broken.
Danny walked over to the pantry, took out a bag of chips and walked over to the door. "Bye Eby! See you soon."
Poor Danny had to work nonstop at two jobs to be able to afford to take care of us. I insisted that I get a job but he refused and said I had to focus on school. He had to drop out senior year and couldn't go to college because he had to to take care of me.
Our parents were both orphans so we had no other relatives to live with. One day I would make it up to Danny some how. I had to. If not for him, for me.
After getting my usual toast and tea, I grabbed my violin and headed off to school. Since my truck was still parked at the elementary school, I had to walk. My backpack was in the back of my truck too. Awesome.
I needed to get a ride to my truck and no way was I walking through that neighborhood again. I didn't want a repeat of last night.
I decided that my best bet was Klyde from down the street. He was in my Calculus class and I talked to him about once a month, but I'm sure he'd help me out in this situatuion.
I headed off to his house. No one was out roaming the streets; every so often though, a person would come out of their house and scurry to their car in order to immediately drive away. I hated how everyone lived in fear. No pun intended.
Soon, I was on Klyde Dillian's doorstep ringing the doorbell. After a few seconds, I heard the the scrambling of footsteps and the lock unclicking before the beautiful face of Klyde Dillian filled my vision. His brown curly hair was messy as if he had just gotten out of bed. His beautiful green eyes spoke of hard times and worry, much like every citizen's in Justice. His skin was naturally tan but had paled due to being inside a lot. He was dressed in a white polo and black creased pants. Klyde's parents were both doctors so he was extremely well off, but no one in Justice was emotionally well off, except for Fear. I admit, I had had a tiny crush on Klyde all throughout elementary school, so I wasn't surprised to feel a pull to him caused by feelings that had never completely gone away.
"Eby? What the hell are you doing here?" Not exactly the welcome I was going for, but I'll take what I can get.
"Hey, Klyde. Nice to see you too. Um, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor. My truck broke down last night and I left my stuff in it. Can you give me a lift to it so I can get my things from it and then take me to school?" I asked while my voice got softer and softer with each word.
"Um, sure. No problem. Come on in, I'm almost done getting ready. Are you crazy though? Did you walk here?" he asked and opened the door wider. I stepped inside and found myself in one of the most elequantly decorated houses I'd ever seen.
"No I flew," I said sarcastically. "Nice house," I mummbled.
"Thanks. I'll be right back, I just need to grab something from upstairs and then we can go," he said and then bounded up the steps of his house.
I looked around some more. Hanging up on the mantel above the fireplace (cliche I know) was a portrait of his family consisting of his mother, father, and younger sister, whom I had met at luch, Caroline. They were all a picturesque family with amazing genetics.
I sighed. I was just a nobody. Average.
A small bronze elephant caught my eye though. It was a simple, polished statue about the size of my head.
The thing that caught my attention was its beautiful jade eyes that seemed to be carved perfectly. My fingers reached out to brush the jade--
"NO!" I heard before I felt a body slam into mine.
"What?!" I demanded, stumbling after getting my balance knocked away from me.
"Sorry. It's..umm..my parents' elephant. They don't like people touching their stuff. Sorry," Klyde said, straightening himself back up and scratching his head.
"Okay.." I said, skeptical of his excuse.
"So, let's get going then," he said with his keys jangling in hand. I nodded and followed him to his car. He drove a once expensive BMW sports car with a robin blue paint. He started the engine and we drove off towards school.
For some reason, I had a bad feeling brewing in my gut.
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Until next time
~Pattsy <3