"Oh my gosh, have you seen the new kid yet? Gorgeous, totally and completely gorg-Arie,…Arie, are you listening to me? Hot new kid. Hello, are you in there?” Arabella slowly pulled her head out of her locker to look at Kristine, who had stopped babbling and was now staring at her with concern in her bright blue eyes. Kristine was short, 5’2” at the tallest, a good two inches shorter than Arabella, but her big personality more than made up for the lack of height. “You look like hell, Arie, did you sleep at all last night?”
“Barely, I had that nightmare again, you know, the one where I wake up terrified, but have no idea why. Then Sam called, and I had a hard time getting back to sleep.” Arabella explained, shrugging as if nightmares and phone calls at 3 in the morning were normal for her, which they were.
“He’s still calling you at 2 in the morning?”
“Well, this time it was 3:30, but I didn’t give him the chance to explain why he called, I told him I had to sleep and then hung up. He did that thing again right after I answered the phone.”
“You mean when you say ‘hello’ and he knows what mood you’re in from just that one word?” Kristine asked skepticism clear in her voice.
“Yep, the first thing he said was ‘what’s wrong’. The thing is, I have no idea what’s wrong. I don’t even know if it’s wrong exactly, but something is definitely off, I can feel it. Something is about to happen, something big.” Her voice and eyes full of apprehension Arie looked back into her locker to gather the books she would need for her morning classes. “Anyway, what were you saying about a gorgeous new kid?” she asked poking her head back around the door to her locker eyebrows raised.
“Well, I saw him when I passed the office a few minutes ago and…” Kristine trailed off, her eyes widening as she looked over Arie’s shoulder and down the hall. “Oh crap, here he comes…with Cobb. Don’t look, pretend he’s not there, maybe they’ll pass us without Cobb noticing that we’re here.”
Arie used the mirror in her locker to look quickly behind her. Sure enough Mr. Cobb, principal of Golgotha private school, was coming up the hall heading straight for her. Please, don’t be looking for me, please. The tall, skinny man was of the unfortunate type that thought he was cool, but was far from it. Arabella seemed to be one of the only students able to give the man her honest opinion about anything without getting in trouble. The problem was, every time Arie told the truth, Mr. Cobb thought she was being sarcastic or witty and would laugh and joke right back. The man was clueless, completely clueless. “He’s not going to keep walking, he’s coming to talk to us.” Arie breathed to Kristine, “brace yourself.”
“Ah, Arabella, just the girl I was looking for.” Mr. Cobb said, a bit too loudly as if he was incredibly proud of himself for having found her.
“Good morning, sir, was there a specific reason you wanted to see me?” Arie asked as politely as possible. Better to let him think I like him then deal with the fall out if he knew the truth.
“Yes, ma’am, these fine young folks here,” Cobb responded stepping aside to reveal the two teenagers standing behind him. “are Kellan and Kylie Roberts.” The two teens were very obviously twins, both tall with stick strait hair as black as night, Kellan’s cut short to fit school dress code and Kylie’s reached down to just below her waist. They had almost the same face, Kellan’s being more masculine, angular and straight, while Kylie had softer features. The most startling difference was their eyes. Kylie’s eyes were an unsettling shade of purple, something most people could only accomplish through colored contact lenses, while Kellan had luminous jade green eyes that seemed to flicker with light almost as if there was a lit candle behind them.
“Today is their first day and they will both be joining the senior class. I was hoping you would be able to show them around today.”
“Of course, sir. I would love to.” Arie replied, her opinion of Mr. Cobb was clear in her voice, though he remained completely unaware. She shot a glance at the new boy and saw without surprise that it looked as though he was trying not to laugh. Good he catches on quick.
“You’ve been at Golgotha longer than most students; I thought you would be the best guide. Be sure to answer any questions they might have and make them feel welcome.” Turning to the other three students now gathered around Arabella’s locker Cobb finished, “I’ll see you all second period.” And with that he continued down the hall.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Beginning
She woke with a scream, at least she thought she had screamed. It seemed unusual as she didn’t normally make noise while asleep. Still breathing heavily from the panic of her nightmare she realized that was exactly what it had been, a nightmare. The same nightmare she knew, as the ones she had been suffering from for the past week, but once again she couldn’t remember any of it. Brushing her long auburn hair out of her eyes she scrambled slowly out of her bed managing to make it through the maze of dirty clothes on the floor to her door. It was still early morning so there was a good chance no one else in the house was awake, which was good, any other day she would have had to wait for the bathroom to be open.
“Six people and one bathroom, what the hell were they thinking?” she mumbled on her way down the hall. Seeing the door slightly cracked she exhaled a sigh and sent a silent ‘thank you’ to whoever was watching out for her this morning. Slipping through the door without opening it enough to make it creak she flipped the light on and shut the door behind her. “You think they’d have put a lock on the stupid door by now.”
Squinting in the bright lights over the sink she stared at herself in the mirror. “Come on Arabella, remember, what was that about?” she murmured to her reflection. The girl in the mirror stared back maddeningly, her face just a little too pale, eyes the color slate. They weren’t blue, no matter what anyone said, sure they could look blue at times, but they were definitely gray. “Ugh…something is off…but what?”
Something beeped, then vibrated, then… “Shit, phone…” Arabella tore her gaze from her reflection, flipped off the light, and slipped back into her room as fast as possible, not wondering for a second who would be calling this early in the morning. Sam, it’s always Sam. Glancing at the florescent red numbers of the alarm clock before grabbing her phone she saw with some surprise that it was 3:30 in the morning. He’s an hour later than normal she thought before flipping open the phone.
“Hello” Arabella half whispered into the phone hoping the loud ring hadn’t woken her family. It’s not as if her parents knew she regularly took calls from boys in the middle of the night. Well, just one boy actually.
“Arie, what happened, are you alright?” the warm male voice on the other end sounded concerned. Sam, the only person on the planet that knew what mood she was in with just one word. Unfortunately after he graduated two years before, he had done nothing with his life. Now he spent his time working the night shift at some warehouse and calling her in the middle of the night whenever the spirit moved him.
“Of course I’m alright, its 3:30 in the morning. I’m sitting in my room, what could be wrong?”
“Don’t lie, something is up and I know it.”
“I don’t feel like talking about it right now and unlike some people I have school tomorrow, so I’m gonna get to sleep.”
“You didn’t have to answer, I would have left a message.”
“Yes, I did have to answer, and you know it. Now, good night.” Arie said, not unkindly, and snapping the phone shut she fell back on her bed. She did have to answer, they had had this conversation before. She somehow knew instinctively whenever he was going to call and she always woke up just before the phone rang. Sam rarely called for no reason at all, usually there was something he needed to talk about, even just to get it off his chest, and he knew Arie was the one person he could talk to who wouldn’t judge him. Feeling slightly guilty for ending the call so abruptly she closed her eyes and prayed for a dreamless sleep.
“Six people and one bathroom, what the hell were they thinking?” she mumbled on her way down the hall. Seeing the door slightly cracked she exhaled a sigh and sent a silent ‘thank you’ to whoever was watching out for her this morning. Slipping through the door without opening it enough to make it creak she flipped the light on and shut the door behind her. “You think they’d have put a lock on the stupid door by now.”
Squinting in the bright lights over the sink she stared at herself in the mirror. “Come on Arabella, remember, what was that about?” she murmured to her reflection. The girl in the mirror stared back maddeningly, her face just a little too pale, eyes the color slate. They weren’t blue, no matter what anyone said, sure they could look blue at times, but they were definitely gray. “Ugh…something is off…but what?”
Something beeped, then vibrated, then… “Shit, phone…” Arabella tore her gaze from her reflection, flipped off the light, and slipped back into her room as fast as possible, not wondering for a second who would be calling this early in the morning. Sam, it’s always Sam. Glancing at the florescent red numbers of the alarm clock before grabbing her phone she saw with some surprise that it was 3:30 in the morning. He’s an hour later than normal she thought before flipping open the phone.
“Hello” Arabella half whispered into the phone hoping the loud ring hadn’t woken her family. It’s not as if her parents knew she regularly took calls from boys in the middle of the night. Well, just one boy actually.
“Arie, what happened, are you alright?” the warm male voice on the other end sounded concerned. Sam, the only person on the planet that knew what mood she was in with just one word. Unfortunately after he graduated two years before, he had done nothing with his life. Now he spent his time working the night shift at some warehouse and calling her in the middle of the night whenever the spirit moved him.
“Of course I’m alright, its 3:30 in the morning. I’m sitting in my room, what could be wrong?”
“Don’t lie, something is up and I know it.”
“I don’t feel like talking about it right now and unlike some people I have school tomorrow, so I’m gonna get to sleep.”
“You didn’t have to answer, I would have left a message.”
“Yes, I did have to answer, and you know it. Now, good night.” Arie said, not unkindly, and snapping the phone shut she fell back on her bed. She did have to answer, they had had this conversation before. She somehow knew instinctively whenever he was going to call and she always woke up just before the phone rang. Sam rarely called for no reason at all, usually there was something he needed to talk about, even just to get it off his chest, and he knew Arie was the one person he could talk to who wouldn’t judge him. Feeling slightly guilty for ending the call so abruptly she closed her eyes and prayed for a dreamless sleep.
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