My Pretty Shadow

[Narcissa]

Prolouge:

Rain poured down from the ebony heavens, making the small, peaceful town look like Gotham city when the Joker is on the loose. Lighting flashed periodically, lighting up the quiet streets.

A tall, dark man hurried across the main road, his hood obscuring his features. He didn't even stop to look across the dark street, even though he had reprimanded his little daughter for not doing so earlier that day.

Something was odd this night, and nothing was ever odd here. His plan this night had been to stop of at the school, and gather the exams he had forgotten to take home in the rush to get his children from his parent's house.

However, he had gotten side tracked by one of his students called in a panic over their test the next Monday, and the teacher had gone to his house to help the boy. So, by the time they were wrapped up, the high school was locked and the night janitors had gone home to rest.

Now, he cursed the student under his breath for making him help when he knew he had to get his exams from the schools, and making him have to run home, in the freezing rain in the middle of fall.

Finally, the man reached his door. His hands moved to open the door. Another lightning flash. And as the light flooded his porch, he felt himself get wrenched backwards, and all went dark.

[SisKate]

Oooo! Chills went up my spine, this is great!

SisKate

[Narcissa]

*Thanks! Oh, and just a warning, this story may delve into the PG-13 violence area (if you haven't noticed, this is an almost-romance/horror/mystery), but I'll say so before hand, but this Chapter won't!*

Chapter 1: The Man on the Stretcher

Damien Lee groaned softly to himself. Early morning Sunday light filtered through the window, splashing onto his bed and choking him. Well, he may be exaggerating a whee bit. Just a little. It wasn't even what woke him up. The annoying sounds wailing from outside did.

The nearly eighteen year old boy tumbled out of bed, his soft, shoulder-length golden hair ruffled and bed-raggled. Stumbling towards his window, Damien pushed apart the curtains, and he rubbed the window with his fist to get rid of some of the accumulated moisture from the storm the night before so he could see. What he saw suprised him.

The first thing that his eyes caught on was the image of his lovely mother. She was only in her early forties (she said she was thirty-five, however), and was a burleque blond (it was dyed, now). Her short skirt and low-riding top was making the stout, plump man she was talking to flush and stutter.

As Dae looked, he realized that the man was a police officer. What would a police officer be doing here? He wasn't even from this town, if the name of the neighboring, larger town of Badin on his Cruiser was any indication.

Then, the boy's gaze strayed to the ambulance located across the street. Buff paramedics lifted a stretcher, with what could only be a person on it. Lee felt his chest tighten as he saw his neighbor, and the wife of his teacher, Mr. Wilkins, race across the street.

The young woman, only twenty seven, had tears streaming down her dark, beautiful face. Her twin five-year old children, Howie and Julie, stared after their mother with wide, scared eyes. However, they stayed behind. Well, Howie was holding back his sister.

Mrs. Wilkins screamed and cried, as she watched the person be carried away. All of a sudden, Damien knew who the man was.

It was his Anthropolgy teacher, Mr. Wilkins.

[Narcissa]

Chapter 2: Monday Mournings

Mr. Wilkins was in a coma.

The news buzzed around Jekyll Highschool like a mosquito. It didn't help that their were only four hundred people in the school, one hundred per grade.

With each person that learned, the stranger the story and aqusations were thrown around. Students blamed Kevin, the awkard, nerdy red-head who the well-liked teacher had been helping the Friday before.

Damien's best friend, a pretty Italian named Ninnie (her real name was Nina; however, in first grade Damien had dubbed her Ninnie, since she always spoke of non-sensical things) rested against his locker, looking annoyed. The boy groaned, running a hand through his messy blonde hair, "What, Ninnie?"

Ninnie swatted him over the head, placing a tiny hand on her hip. Dae yelped, "What was that for, you crazy thing!"

"Your being a broody jerk! Stop angsting out and tell me what Henry looked like!" The out-spoken girl called Mr. Wilkins Henry, since she was a cousin to the comatose man.

"Ninnie, I couldn't see much. I was half-asleep, and looking through my window." Damien moved to leave to his first period, AP English, but his friend grabbed his arm in a vice grip.

"You know that's not true!"

"It is! Now leave me alone!" The boy ripped his arm away from Ninnie, and stormed off.


Damien stepped into his large house at last. Groaning in weariness, the boy pulled off his shoes and shrugged off his bag. In his socks, he padded into the kitchen. His mother and father sat at the table, talking quietly to each other. His mother looked up, and gave a big, wide smile.

"Hi, honey!" She squealed, springing to her feet and clutching her son to her body.

"Ashley, put the boy down." Harold Lee sighed, shaking his head. In his early sixties, and with a bit of a beer belly, he had been a very handsome boy as a youth. He was twenty years his wife's senior, but he loved her dearly. Harry had been married once before, but his ex-wife had left and taken their daughter, Tiffany, with her. Damien had never met either, although his father visited Tiffany once, when he was four.

Damien cast a grateful look to his father, before asking, "What's up?"

The couple looked at each other, Harold with a grave look on his stubbled face. Ashley tried to put up a happy facade, smiling weakly at her son. Her husband groaned, and realizing his wife was not going to be speaking any time soon, said something that would forever tear apart Damien Lee's life.

"We are moving."

[Narcissa]

Chapter 3: Of Movings and Schools

Damien glanced around his room. No, not his room. His room was back in Virgina. Not in this strange place, this land called New Jersey.

He groaned, running a hand through his golden mane. Why did his parents make them move? Oh, yeah. Mr. Wilkins. Dae felt a lump form in his throat.

The man was still in a coma, and wasn't coming out anytime soon. His cousin, Damien's best friend, Nina, had moved in to help Janice Wilkins, along with her parents.

No one was able to find out who attacked the kind teacher, but Kevin Baisly, a student, was the number one suspect. He was the last one to see Henry awake.

A knock took Damien from his thoughts. His mother.

Ashley sighed, walking through the door. She wrapped her arms around her son's shoulders, and murmured, "You've got to get to school."

Oh, great. He had forgotten. Only two days in his new home and he had to go to school again. And not just any school, a Jersey school. Damien groaned, this was not going to be fun!

~~~~~~~~

There were alot of kids in Freehold Highschool. That was Damien's first thought. More than in Jekyll Highschool, by far.

It was as he feared. Girls with to much make-up, boys with greasy hair and bulging muscles. Everyone was either from an Oriental or Italian background. Oh, dear Lord!

The senior glanced around, searching for someone slightly normal. A girl, a boy, it didn't matter to him. Just someone normal!

At Jekyll, he had been in a group of nerds. Kevin and Nina had been his two best friends, and they had gotten along with everyone else relatively well. Damien had been the star of Track, and gotten the school to the state finals.

Now, he was scared. No one like him in sight!