Chapter One

Introduction/Chapter-One Coming out of a coma is one thing, but reliving it is another.

Introduction

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.”- Edgar Allen Poe.

 

The Aftermath:

Casper Heights is a world within a world that hosts a new species of people. 

What Aubrey didn’t understand was that all of this was a dream.  None of it was real.  It was vision of what’s to come, not what already has. 

 

 

Introduction

I was floating in a river of death.  Drowning wasn’t an option.  I had to stay alive for some strange reason.  My eyes were closed, body was cold.  Death was too peaceful for my body to even consider going back to life.  No memories hit me because there was nothing to remember.  What would the people of my world think when they hear I’m dead?  I could only imagine what my lifeless body looked like floating down this river.  Cold.  Sad.  Sweet.  That’s how death tasted in my moth.  Like a sugarless lollipop.  Soon I felt my body go underwater, floating away into an eternity of darkness.  I opened my eyes.  I was too dead to go back to life now.  I was too dead to live again.  I figured I’d just remain dead. 

 

One

The sad truth

 

The human brain tends to leave out the harsher things in life.  It has the ability to manipulate thought into believing lies.  Those lies turn into fantasy truths, and from there it becomes a life style.   Surroundings soon turn into dreams, and dreams soon turn into your surroundings.  The farther the brain is from reality the more in depth it will be with the lie.  You’ll find yourself floating in a dream world.  Or maybe even death.  The things that I define in life won’t ever make sense.  The things I have already defined were wrongly judged and I owe them an apology. 

I bit my lip.

However, I find myself mentally stable in some ways to continue living.  If this were the 1960’s, I would have been put in an insane asylum. 

I bit my lip harder.

“The human brain has the tendency to wonder.”  I whispered.

“To bad you don’t have a human brain, right?”  The boy next to me began to laugh.

I found no humor in his question.

I am trapped in this world of evil and in the mix of living here I find myself becoming one with it everyday.

The Casper brain tends to show the harsher things in life.  It has the ability to manipulate thought into believing the sad truth of reality.  Those truths turn into reality lies and from there it becomes a life style.  Surroundings soon turn into dreams and dreams soon turn into your surroundings.  The closer the brain is to reality, the farther away it is from dream.  You’ll find yourself fearing the real world, fearing dreams, or maybe even life.  

“Of course.”  I faked laughed with him.  “Your rhetorical-question was immensely humorous, you should try stand up comedy?”

He nodded his head in approval.

My face turned blank as it looked around.  My surroundings were turning into a dream.  I felt cold.  Sweet.  Bitter.  Death. 

 

I saw things.  Things that I wasn’t sure were apart of the dream or reality.  It was hard to tell the difference sometimes.   There was a boy there holding me down under water.  He wanted me to live but he was killing me.

“Protection” He whispered. 

I screamed loud but the water muffled my sounds.  Was it water or a pillow?  Was I sleeping?  What was going on?  My brain began to hurt and I grabbed my head.  I wanted to scream but I wasn’t sure if anyone would hear me.  The world began to fade out and soon the boy disappeared and I was floating in a river.

I’ve had that dream before.

It will be a reality. 

 

And then I really woke up. 

I opened my eyes far enough to see the dim sunlight coming through my dorm room window.  I was panting too hard to have not had a nightmare.  I grasped my throat and took a deep breath.  So its affirmative- I’m still alive.  I let go of my throat and looked outside the window next to my bed. 

So many reasons to go outside and play.  So many reasons to be happy.  But I couldn’t reason any of them.  

After 12 hours of sleep, I threw the covers down to my feet, kicked them to the floor and slowly got out of bed.  There had to be some logical explanation for why fate decided to tamper with my sleep.  What people don’t understand is that I could get 500 million hours of sleep and still be exhausted.    I dragged my body into the bathroom, turned on the lights, and for a minute stared at my pale face in the mirror.  Nothing had changed over night unfortunately.  I was still Aubrey Lauter.  The same 14-year-old girl that I was yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. I splashed my face with water and wiped it with a dingy cloth that hung on the doorknob.  Anyone could tell I looked depressed.  I guess the real question was, did anybody care?  I brushed my hair back with my hands and stared at myself for a second.  What happened to me?  I used to so full of live and energy, but what happened?  Was it coming to live in Casper Heights or leaving my family in Europe?  Why did they make me come here anyways?  There was no reason for me to be here.  There was no reason to live here and there was no reason for me to know about this world.  I was fine as a human.  

There was a sudden sound behind my shower curtain.  A part of me prayed it was a killer to take me away.  I bit my lip.  I felt the blood rush into my mouth.  My blood tasted good for something so poisonous.  (Casper blood is poisonous) Maybe if I sucked most of it out I would die. 

The sound happened again. 

 This could only one out of five people.  I thought to myself.  Five very brave people.  
“Can I help you?”  I whispered. 
“Can I help you?” The voice from behind the curtain mimicked.  Please tell me this isn’t who I think it is!   
“Merelda, is that you?” I said, drawing back the curtain,
“You missed my birthday you butt hole, I was about to throw a bucket of water on you but you woke up so I slipped into the bathroom hoping to scare you. But as always you didn’t even flinch, do you even have a heartbeat? How about a pulse?”
“You’re the one to talk,” I rolled my eyes and wiped my face again with my damp hands.  Stupid vampires and their heartbeat jokes.
“You missed my birthday party, again.” said Merelda.
“Was that today?”  I said with a slurred barely audible voice.  Play it off- play it off. 
“You sound drunk!” said Merelda.  “What were you doing all night!” 
“Not really, just a bad hangover” I laughed and smiled at my friend’s reflection through the mirror.  Her face was as dead as a rock.  Get it?  Another vampire joke!  “Merelda- I was sleeping all day.”
“That’s all you ever do!  You sleep, eat, and then sleep.  You’re like a baby!  A depressed little demon doll!”
“I’ll make it next year I promise.”
“That’s what you said last year too! Get your butt down to the Boiler room, now, we still have some partying to do.”  
“Who’s there?”  I began brushing my curly hair out- making it frizzy.
“Throw on something really cute and sexy.”  Merelda smiled at me, and suddenly I knew what she was hinting towards.

He was going to be there. 
“Who’s there, Merelda.”

“No one.”

“Merelda Leah Kingston Aswell- I could and would destroy you in a second.  Tell me who’s there.”

“That’s against the rules.”

“Call me a rebel then.”  I shrugged.  “Maybe they will kick me out.”

“They wont.  Casper never kicks people like you out.  People like me?  Possibly.”

“Vampires do more damage than normal purebreds do.”

“The girl who can create massive windstorms and tornados is less dangerous than the girl who can suck you alive?  I think we’re pretty equal.”

“To bad I don’t control wind.”  It was silent for a second.

“Everyone you hate except your lover boy.”  She finally said.
“Oh great!”  Laughed I as I brushed my hair back revealing my dull eyes.  In other words, he’s going to be there. 
“Don’t look at me with those dull grey eyes of yours!  Get some color into them.  Here, splash some more water on your face.”  Merelda slowly cut the sink water on and splashed some in my face.  “And brush your hair some more!  And your teeth!  Gosh, red heads can be so aggravating!”
“Technically, my hair is maroon.”

“Hypothetically speaking, your hair is burgundy.”

I just simply stared at her.

“Please.”  She begged.  “I want you down there.”

“Fine.”  I whispered.  “I’ll be there.”

“Good.” Then she used some stupid vampire technique to disappear. 

I found myself staring at myself.  My brain was making me see the danger that was near.  Walking outside and having some crazy element controller wipe me away.  (An element controller is someone who controls either wind, fire, earth, ice, or water).  Or seeing some wacky wizard with some hybrid, because that’s who everyone within the Gates of Casper wanted these days.  (A hybrid is someone who is mixed with two powers.  Example:  wind + ice = flawless beautiful child who can control wind and ice and has gorgeous flowing white hair with clear blue eyes). 

Maybe that’s not what fate wanted me to be though.  Maybe fate wanted me to be this shadow of death (Also known as shades).  Literally, that’s what I am.  I can turn into this dark cloud and move at swift paces, but I cant actually do anything to people.  I’m a waste of power.  I’m a waste of space.  And believe it or not- shades are defined in the Book of Legends as workers for the dark lord.  Therefore, that’s all I am.  A worker for the devil. 
The thought of fate came back to my mind. The dark legends.  The dark legends are the legends that predict the fate of everyone in the world.  There was no escaping them, simply because you were living within them.  And I was only anxious to see what the dark legends had predicted for me today.  And knowing what fate usually had in store for me- today wasn’t going to be good.