CHAPTER 1
Ever since I learnt how to walk, read and write, I knew I was different. I could know what a person was thinking just by looking at their posture and facial reactions. I could also know if they were good or bad, and I became very selective about the people I chose as my friends.
I've never really had any true friends. For the first sixteen years of my life, I've realized that the world is a cold place. People only care about themselves. Everyone has their own motives and selfish desires.
Bearing this in mind, I have isolated myself from everyone else. I do not expect anything good from people. I find the greatest happiness being alone with myself, locked up in my bedroom.
My best friends are Ice cream, Novels and Writing. I'm not sure I could exist without my three best buddies.
The door of my room burst open with a thud and footsteps stormed in.
"Janette! Where the fuck did you put my red tank top, I can't find it," said an angry voice.
Good grief! I knew who that voice belonged to. That was my sister Vivian. She was just a year older than me and we both dislike each other. Fire and Ice, argghh!
"Do I share your clothes with you?" I said curtly.
"You were the one who did the laundry!" Vivian retorted.
"Maybe next time you should do your own laundry if you don't want things getting lost," I said quietly flipping through a storybook as I lay propped up on my bed.
I could feel my sister's growing irritation.
"I'm going to an important party, and if you don't find me that tank top, I will beat the shit out of you," Vivian said with venom in her voice.
I continued sitting on my bed, appearing unfazed. My sister's hands and legs were very unstable, and I knew if I said the wrong words, I would get bruises all over my skin.
"You should check your wardrobe!" I said.
Vivian took an angry step forward which made me glance from the book to her fuming face.
"Do you think I haven't checked? Get out of bed and start searching for that shirt. You ugly bean stalk."
Seriously, she was calling me a bean stalk. I hated this girl.
"If it's not there, then Mom might have sent it to the orphanage."
"Whaaat!" she exclaimed.
"Every three months mummy takes away old clothes and shoes to the orphanage to help those in need. You know that right?"
"Of course I know that," she said acidly. Vivian soon raged out of my room banging my door and calling after our mother.
That lady was an ordeal. Great, now she had spoiled my afternoon. I shut the book and took off my glasses, rubbing my eyes.
I sighed as I tried to get out of bed, making a few coins jingle in my pocket.
An idea came to mind. Maybe I could go out for a walk and use these pennies to buy an ice cream from a convenient store. Gosh I missed my buddy so much, and I really needed her this afternoon.
I wore my slippers and pulled up the hood of my black sweater.
The moment I walked out of my room, I could hear Vivian and Mom quarrelling.
I slipped underneath their noses without them noticing.
Nobody ever noticed me actually.
Everyone thought I was a boring weirdo. It was one of Vivian's favorite words to describe me when she had nothing doing. Sometimes I wished I didn't get offended by her words but however hard I tried, they always stinged.
"Useless creep, You are nothing, Nobody wants you... You are better off dead..... No boy is ever going to like you... You better go and become a Nun, it would suit you perfectly...."
I don't know why, but sometimes, her everyone's harsh words played in my mind, rendering me lonely and sad. Geez, I can't wait to meet ice cream. I've got a lot to tell her. She always knows the way to calm my nerves.
A few minutes later, I saw an ice cream truck and decided to get one from there.
"Good afternoon sir. I'd like one strawberry flavoured ice cream."
"Sure!"
The man vanished and came back with one. He handed it to me and I payed him a few coins.
I licked my buddie gently allowing her coolness to melt in my mouth. "Mmmm! So delicious!" I murmured, gratefully.
Suddenly, a cold wind knocked the breath out of me. I stood frozen and then a moment later, I was able to breath. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground.
My heart thumped in my chest. My whole body trembled. That was no ordinary wave. It felt as if death's shadow had passed right over my being. After taking in deep breaths, I opened my eyes, only to see everything frozen in time.
The children who had been running a few moments ago weren't moving any longer. Their postures and expressions were stuck in place, immobile.
The place was deathly silent. A cold shiver ran down my spine as I tried to stand. I looked about myself, flustered. Ice cream stood in mid air. The dry leaves that were moving a while ago stood frozen in time. Nothing was moving.
What the fuck is this!! What the fuck is happening!! Is this the end of the world! Was Jesus really coming!
A loud explosion jolted me from my thoughts. I shrieked at the sudden tremor. It was deafening. I turned instantly, staring with utmost horror at the sight before me.
An office building had been crushed into debris by the explosion. And the most terrifying part of it all was that, high up in the air, an otherworldly figure burned with rumbling energy.
My body quaked at sight. My mind went blank, refusing to think. I was petrified.
Out of the debris, another figure emerged, he shot into the sky with the force of a tornado, crushing into the other figure whom I could make out as a man.
They striked each other with angry fists. Power rumbled in the air as the two beings crushed themselves into more buildings.
I watched as they blasted themselves with energy that seemed to be pouring out of their bodies. One of them smashed into a skyscraper near me, sending debris into the air. The building mourned and for a moment, I anticipated what was going to happen next.
I wanted to run and escape my imminent death, but my legs wouldn't budge. I was too stunned to do so. All I did was to stare at the figure of a man, burning with otherworldly energy. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.
In that instant, our eyes met. His eyes were blazing dark purple flames. Those same flames tensed around his arms and legs. I could not take my eyes off that beautiful figure in the air. His dark hair caught in the wind, and his eyes did not leave mine.
The building gave a sickening sound, as it started falling in my direction, debris coming along with it.
Before I could be crushed, before I could even blink my lashes, I felt arms around me, carrying me off from my imminent doom. Everything happened so fast. I didn't even know when he got to my side.
He gently set my feet on the ground. I realized that we were a great distance away from the wreckage. His arms still held me firmly and the flames in his eyes quenched slowly as they found mine.
His face was filled with wonder and something like excitement. It was as if all the answers he needed to his questions were on my face.
"Who are you!" He said. His voice was confident and calm. "No mortal is ever able to free themselves from my power".
Something moved in the corner of my vision. It was the other otherworldly figure. Burning with black flames. Its eyes were hallow and dark red. It had no characteristics of a human. Yet it charged in the air, towards us, with absolute speed.
"Watch out!" I said pushing the stranger away with brute force but it was too late. I couldn't save myself. A dark sword was plunged into my chest by the shadowy figure who had eyes of red fire.
It pulled out its sword and I fell to the ground. Blood sputtered out of my mouth as I gasped, struggling for breath. The stranger's eyes burned brighter with fury and purple flames. Out of the air a flaming sword drew out of his hand and he plunged it in a flash to the Shadow like creature.
With a sickening cry that tore through the air, the creature turned into blood and ash.
The stranger knelt beside me, sweeping me into his arms carefully. My vision blurred in and out of focus.
Suddenly, a strange sound tore through the air. The sky ripped into two, and shadow-like figures poured into the air like an invasion of ants.
My heart shattered at the sight of it.
"Shit!" the stranger cursed, as he stared in horror at the sight. And I fell unconscious before I heard his next words.