-1-

It started like any other day.  I got up.  I went to school.  I was, predictably, late for homeroom.  Thankfully, there was more going on than me being late, so the teacher didn’t really pay me much mind.  The radio was on, the broadcast was an emergency one.  I stood in the back of the room, listening like everyone else.

‘During the construction at the edge of a small community in the northwest, the workers stumbled across a pair of objects that can only be identified as giant eggs, buried deep in the bedrock of the local hillside.  Officials are unsure of the species of the eggs, as they have never encountered any of such magnitude and unharmed condition.  The investigation is on going.  Updates will be given through out the day as more information is made available.’

Furrowing my brow, I sat down at an empty desk near the back of the room, more intent on looking out the bank of windows than to listening to the hub-bub of activity the broadcast had created.  Sure, the small community the anchorwoman had mentioned was ours; one of the large hotel branches had thought building a multi-million dollar hotel in the backyard of St. Ides was a good idea, apparently.  I wasn’t that interested, though.

Homeroom slid by, like it always does, and I was off to my first round of classes-math, chemistry, and then English.  I wasn’t real impressed that my science class followed my math class, since most of chemistry was math-related anyway.  It was like a solid hour and a half of mind-numbing numbers and equations.  Not exactly my idea of a good morning.

English class was my escape, most days.  I enjoyed the books and the chance to write without being ridiculed for my, as my friends would say, brainy whack-job fantasies.   I’ll admit, I have a lot of ideas going on in my head at any one time.  It seems, however, that the only one who really appreciates my talent is my English teacher, though.  Somehow, this fails to surprise me.

Today’s English class consisted of a new student, however.  He was sitting quietly in the back of the room when I walked in.  I instantly made eye contact with him, even though it was completely unintended.  We just happened to look up at each other at the same time.  He smiled at me and that was pretty much all she wrote on that.  

After class, he followed me out and walked quietly beside me until I reached my locker, where he also stopped.  I turned to him to give him a snide remark, but it seemed to get lost from my brain to my mouth.  He seemed rather lost, and forgive me for saying it about a high school male, but a bit helpless.  It was almost like he had no idea what he was doing.  I know that’s rather common for the typical Highschoolus studentia, however, something told me he was far from common.

He seemed antsy and at odds with his surroundings.  I watched him for a moment while putting my class books away, as gym followed my English class.  And then lunch.  As I pulled my small bag consisting of the day’s gym clothes out of my backpack, I asked him, “So, what class do you have next?”

He looked at me like a deer in the headlights, so I repeated the question.  Finally, he answered me in a voice that was just above a whisper, “I don’t know.”

Trying to suppress a giggle, I held my hand out to him as I used the right one to close my locker.  “Give me your schedule.  Sometimes they’re hard to understand, what with the ‘A’ and ‘B’ days.”  He handed it over and I looked through his classes.  He had gym next, joy.  It seemed we’d have a few classes together.  “Right, so you have gym next.  Follow me, and I’ll show you where it is.  You can get to the locker room and the coach’s office through the gymnasium.”

He followed me along quietly until we got just outside the gym.  Stopping to look at me, he blinked a few times.  “Thank you.  What’s your name?”

I hadn’t thought about the fact that I had no idea who this guy was, and that I hadn’t told him who I was.  I guess I wasn’t used to having to introduce myself, since I had known everyone I associated with since pre-school, basically.  “Right.  Sorry.  I’m Sophie.  And you would be…?”

This question in turn seemed to surprise him, as if he hadn’t expected that I’d want to know his name in return.  “Well, I’m, uh…” Before answering, he looked around a moment, as if getting his bearings or something.  “My name is, uh…  Rob.”

I knew I wouldn’t really remember him, short of having to share a few classes with him, since he was a very common-looking person.  He had no features that really stuck in my mind.  I was sure I’d forget him before the end of lunch, unless, of course, he followed me around there, as well.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully, since the scientists still didn’t know what they were looking at out in the back hills of the town.  I packed up my things and headed towards home.  I hadn’t gotten more than a few hundred feet from the door when I had a tap on my shoulder.  I turned, expecting to see Kate or Toni wanting to buddy up for homework, but it was neither of them.  It was Rob.  It took me a few moments to remember who he was, in fact.

“Oh, hey Rob.  How was your first day?”  I continued walking, not really wanting to hang out with the new guy.  He was persistent and followed me along, scuffing his feet a bit as he walked, hands buried deep in his jeans pockets, dark button-up shirt tails dangling.  I had to admit, the look was good, but with no other memorable features, no one would notice it.

Shrugging, he replied, “It was alright.  I didn’t get lost once you showed me how to read the… schedule.”

Nodding, I didn’t respond.

As we walked, he seemed to just be following me, as if he didn’t really have anywhere else to go.  This really struck me as odd.  “Rob, don’t you have somewhere to be?  Like a home?”  I didn’t want it to come across as rude, but bluntness was always something I had been good at.  I glanced sidelong at him, hoping I hadn’t just offended him with the question.

Continuing to walk quietly beside me, he stared at the sidewalk in front of him before stopping.  Naturally, I stopped too.  “I, uh…  I want to show you something, Sophie.  I’m not a creep or anything, I promise.  I just…  You helped me today when no one else seemed to care that I needed it.  Thank you for that.  In return, I’d like to share something with you.”

Of course, I was incredibly apprehensive at this point.  Being a girl, we’re taught practically from birth to be wary of males wanting to share things or show us things.  All kinds of bells and whistles were going off in my head.  Should I just take off and leave him standing there?  Should I scream for help?

Fortunately for him, he didn’t give off the vibe of creep any more than my dad or my grandfather.  I wasn’t sure I should, but when Rob stepped off the sidewalk and disappeared behind the boarded up Five-and-Dime, I followed him.  Behind the building, he looked around to make sure we were alone before talking.

“I’m not sure how I got here, in all honesty.  I don’t know why I’m here, what my purpose is.  I do know I’m not like you, though.  I’m different.  I can do things I’m pretty sure I don’t think you, or anyone else I’ve met today, can do.”

Raising a brow at him, I just stared.  Now, he was starting to sound like a lunatic.  “Maybe I should have just kept walking home,” I thought.

Watching me closely, he spoke again.  “I can prove it to you.  I can change things about me that I’m sure I’m not supposed to.”  Looking around, and then eyeing me, he smiled softly.  “I have an idea.  I want you to change my looks.”

Taking a step back, I was sure something unpleasant was about to happen.  He was going to pull out a razor blade, or want me to pierce his tongue or some other insane idea or another.  “I, uh…  I think I should go, Rob…”

Reaching out to gently lay a hand on my arm, his eyes pleaded with me harder than his mouth.  “Please.  Don’t go.  Just…  Just trust me, please.  All I ask is that you talk.  Nothing more.  I promise.”

Looking into his gray eyes, I couldn’t just leave.  There was something very sincere in his eyes:  a truth that could never be put into words.  As insane as it was, I knew he was telling the truth, that he could do things he shouldn’t be able to.

Before I realized I was doing it, I nodded at him, agreeing to help him.  “Okay…  What do you want me to do?”

Smiling at me again, he let out the breath he had been holding.  “Just…  Tell me what to change.  Tell me about a character of yours.  Describe him to me.”

I gave him a look.  How did he know I had ‘characters’?  Shrugging, I sighed and sat down on a pile of cinder blocks.  “Alright.  Let me think…  Oh, I know who!”  Closing my eyes, I pictured the male character in my head, even though I didn’t need to.  He was one of my favorites of my characters.  “Alright, here we go.  He has black hair with natural blue highlights…”

As I spoke, Rob’s hair changed color.  It was interesting to watch.  The color came from his roots and practically flowed to the ends.  I was so surprised by this that I stopped talking to watch, mouth agape.

“Okay, keep going.”  He had a smile on his face as wide as his cheeks would allow.

“Um…  It’s long.”  As I spoke, his hair grew, stopping at his shoulders.  “No, longer.  To his waist.”  Sure enough, the hair tumbled to Rob’s waist in a very lovely veil of shiny blue-black.

“What else?”  He was practically giddy with excitement.

“Um…  Chiseled cheekbones.  Kissable lips, stained permanently black.  Broad shoulders, thin waist, toned arms…” My voice trailed off as I watched these physical changes take place.  He was turning into the exact visual representation of my character with every description I gave him.  It was beyond amazing.

Blinking at me, the smile still in place, he urged me on.  “And?  Keep going.”

Shaking my head a little to get it back on track, I continued.  “Fangs.  He has fangs.  He’s a vampire, but not huge ones.  They’re only visible when he smiles and stuff.  Toned and sculpted chest and abs…”

As I mentioned the look of the torso, he lifted up the dark blue shirt to show me the changes.  “Like this?”

Nodding rather mutely, I gripped my backpack to me to keep from wanting to touch what I was helping create.  It was just too incredible to be really happening.

“Is there anything else?  Are we done?”  He looked at me and I realized his eyes were wrong.

“No.  The eyes.  Your eyes are wrong.  They should be green.  Vivid green.”  As I watched, his eyes went a gorgeous shade of green, but when I said vivid, he bumped them up to practically glowing.  “No, not so much.  Not glowing, just…  intense.  Vibrant.  Yeah…  Yeah, like that.  That’s perfect.”  Giving him another once-over, I shook my head.  “Your skin’s wrong.  It needs to be lighter.  Like, almost white, but not quite.  Really pale.”

Skin tone changing, I had to shake my head.  He wasn’t getting the color right.  I wasn’t sure how to explain it better, so I started looking around for something that could be used as reference.  Moving toward the fence near where I sat, I found a small sapling that some creature had trampled and broken.  The flesh of the tree was the perfect shade.  I waved him over.  “Like this.  This is the color.”

Looking up at our finished product, I had to suck in my breath.  He looked exactly like my vampire character.  There was no question in my mind about how accurate it was.

“So?  Is it right?  Are we done?”  He was as excited as I was surprised.

“What about your voice?  Can that change too?”  It was the only thing left.

“I’m not sure.  I hadn’t tried.  Why?  What’s he sound like?”

Shrugging, I thought about it a moment.  “Your voice needs to be deeper, more velvety.  It should almost make me feel like you could do things to me without touching me at all.”  I blushed a bit, adding that last part in, but the next time he spoke, Rob had the voice of my character.  I about fell down.

“Are you okay?”  He reached for me to help balance my legs, as they seemed to want to defy me all of a sudden.

Allowing him to help me back to my pile of cinder blocks, I sat down and simply stared.  It was amazing.  If he walked out into public, looking, as he did now, no one would forget him-ever.  I had created my vampire with a very unforgettable appearance, after all.

“This is just…  Wow.  How is this possible?”  I couldn’t stop staring.

“I don’t know.  I told you, I can’t recall anything.  I don’t even know my real name.  I got ‘Rob’ from the article I saw hanging on the wall about St. Ides robbing Thunderhead of a flawless season in basketball.”

Staring at him, I didn’t know what to say.  Logically, I should have gotten up and ran for the hills, but the logical part of my brain didn’t seem to be functioning at the moment.  Instead, I just sat there, nodding like it all made perfect sense.

“So, what now?”  He sat down next to me on the cinder blocks, hands resting gently on his thighs as he looked out over the empty lot.  “They’re only going to believe that the transfer papers got lost at my old school for so long.”

I hadn’t even thought about how he had gotten into school.  “I don’t know.  Keep going as you are until something comes up, I suppose?”

As we watched a few rabbits frolic in the weeds, he reached over and put a hand on top of mine.  I looked down at them for a moment before looking back at the little balls of fluff bouncing around in the warm afternoon sunlight.  It felt good to be sitting here next to him.  I wasn’t sure if it was actually him I was enjoying the company of, or my character, but either way I wasn’t ready to move.

I finally decided we couldn’t just sit there like that forever, so, sighing, I gently pulled my hand out from under his.  He turned to look at me and I smiled softly at him.  “It’s getting late.  I need to get home.”

Nodding, he stood up with me.  “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then, I suppose.  I’ll be alright.  Don’t look at me like that.”  He smiled when he said the last.

I didn’t mean to stare at him, but it was almost impossible not to, looking as he did.  “You know…  You really probably should tone that look down a bit.  I mean, it’s great, trust me, I created it, but you don’t want stalkers and stuff if you have nowhere to go to get away from them.”

Nodding, he waved as I walked back around to the front of the building.  I waved back and reluctantly headed home.  Homework would be hell.

 

Reviews

[DiggeyEleven]

Good start, got me hooked, I want to see where your going to take this so don't disappoint :) Watch your puntuation and sentence structure thought you had a bit of a run on in the middle:

"I continued walking, not really wanting to hang out with the new guy, but he was persistent and followed me along, scuffing his feet a bit as he walked, hands buried deep in his jeans pockets, dark button-up shirt tails dangling."

I know I do the same thing, but if you take it slow you can catch it. I love hate to have a period breaking up my thought but too many commas is not always a good thing. I also don't think you put quotation marks around things the characters think to themselves, but I could be wrong about that. Apart from that it was pretty well done, I liked the description, the main character felt real and natural. Rob seemed truly lost in our world. I liked it, just keep us coming back for more :)

[Nicholas Ghost]

You already know what I think of it Kenly. *Grins* Where's the rest!

[Xfaerie corpseX]

Ohmigod.
i love it.
i wanna read more more more.
lol
its a really good write and gave me somethin to do when i was bored, now im hooked.

[Miranda]

I love it ,great start, can't wait to read more! :)

[L.I. Black]

Damn woman....
Well you've got me hooked now for sure -waddles off to wait for next chapter-