Chapter 1

A Chapter by Kayla

The sky was dark, blacker then ink with billions of tiny sparkling diamonds that seemed to be set against the velvet like curtain of sky. The gleamed and glittered, out-shined only by the moon, which hung full and round, with a face as white and pale as snow. Far below the glimmering stars and the beaming moon lay a forest full of tall trees and struggling bushes. The branches were dense and thick, obscuring most of the light that shown down from above.

Near the trees, stretched out by the shimmering surface of the obsidian lake, was a beach with sands almost as pale and white as the moon. The grains of sand all nestled against one another, only disturbed when someone or something climbed across it's surface. Glowing on the sands a good long way away from the water, was a raging fire. it danced and spat heat, attempting without success to devour the dark shapes that dances erratically around it.

Those shapes were people, humans celebrating a victory achieved by the high school baseball team. Those in attendance of the party were either drunk, or had consumed some sort of mood altering substance. It was a scene that was frequent in many places around the country, though in this town there was one difference. This was the home town of Elizabeth Connor.

Elizabeth was the only one that did not really fit in with the crowd that was at the party. She had long dark wavy hair that she always kept pushed back with various bands and straps. Her eyes were a golden hazel, set into a face that was exotic for this part of the world and it was more tanned then the faces of the other students. She was tall for a girl, though not taller then most of the guys. She always wore long sleeved shirts and pants, trying hard to hide the scars that dotted her athletically built body. Normally sneakers or some sort of boot adorned her feet, but tonight was different.

It was a warm spring night, and the water in the lake had warmed up above freezing. It was still very cold, but to Elizabeth it was almost refreshing. She closed her eyes as a chilled breeze flowed over the lake and tossed the fire into a fast dancing fit. The music, laughing, shouting, and the occasional swear as someone fell over were all drowned out as she allowed herself to be lost to the world. The feel of the wind, and the cold inky darkness that swam around her ankles eased her mind and allowed her to forget the world she lived in.

Her new world of tranquility was shattered by a loud shout that was closer then the others. She turned to see who it was and rolled her eyes, seeing the captain of the baseball team. She rolled her shoulders, thinking of all the times she had seen him messing with girls. The team was notorious for messing around with all of the girls they could, even the ones they could not. It was sickening and Elizabeth did everything she could in order to avoid it, but she was not always lucky. She was sometimes cornered and hit on by the guys who recently joined the team, or had been suckered into the game with promises of glory and all the girls they could ever want.

The captain of the team, Joshua Langer, made his way toward her, on very unsteady legs. When he reached the dock that Elizabeth had been sitting on out over the water, she stood, ready to leave now that she had been noticed. The dock under her numb feet felt sharp and warm, like hot coals filled with extra sharp shards of glass. She walked toward him, sticking to the very edge of the dock, but as she had figured would happen, he altered his course to intercept her.

"Hey, Elizabeth." he slurred, the smell of alcohol wafting off him making Elizabeth gag. She could not help but thinking that it smelled more like he was bathing in the alcohol rather then just drinking it. She looked into his face, a look of disgust plastered across her own countenance. She could see some of the boy she had once knew as a friend, but as she aged the features of his father filled in more and changed who Elizabeth had once known. She stepped around him, teetering dangerously on the edge of the dock as she skirted past and started once more towards the beach at the far end of the dock.

"Where are you going?" He called after her, his heavy drunken foot steps quickly catching up to her. he grabbed her arm tightly and forced her to stop. She rounded a glare on him, trying to pry her arm free of him.

"Let me go Josh." She hissed, purposely spitting in his face as she did so.

"I-I have something to tell you." He said lazily, his eyes unfocused as he looked into her face. He swayed and rocked, Elizabeth afraid that he would fall into the water and drag her with him.

"What is it?" She asked, wanting to get out of there before anyone else saw that she was there. She was an outcast in the society of the high school, and she'd had to sneak in by the water to be unnoticed by the others. She was not exactly sure why she had gone in the first place, but she had, and now she was regretting it.

"Come join the party!" He yelled in her face, the smell making her pull back away from him.

"Ug! You smell disgusting!" She quickly covered her nose with her free hand. He laughed and the grip on her arm loosened, giving her a chance to rip away and run down the dock. He tried to run after her, but a thud and a loud splash told her that he had succumbed to the alcohol and fallen off the dock in his attempt to catch her.

"Come back here Elizabeth Connor!" He roared as he burst from the water, clearly a lot more sober then he had been just a short moment ago. She could not stop the laugh that tore from her throat as she ran away, feeling as though she had just triumphed against a mighty and powerful beast, and somehow she had managed to kill it and escape without a scratch. She ran for a good while, until her legs and her lungs were burning, causing her to stop and take a rest.

The wind was coll on her sweating face, her feet sore and burning from the run and having been in the fringed water for so long. She took long moments to recover from her sprint, then started her way, slowly, toward home. She lived a short distance away, from the place where the party was taking place, or a shorter distance by foot then by road. It still took her most of the night to reach the small home she shared with her father, but reach it she did.

The outside light of the house was situated by the front door and it was on, as it always was. She paused at the end of the cracked and crumbling drive way and stared at the faded brown door. She was accompanied by the silence and the darkness that came with night as she slowly started toward the house.

The outside walls were once an olive color, though the paint was dirt, chipped and worn out in some places, showing the hodge-podge of colors that had once coated the sides of the house before it was repainted. Weeds and vines grew along and up the wooden sides of the building, cracking the paint and wood more. The roof was bowed and it often leaked in bad rain storms or in the late spring when most of the snow was slush.

"He had better be passed out drunk." She whispered to herself as she reached the door, placing her hand on the tarnished brass handle. She took a deep breath and stepped in, closing the swollen door as easily and quietly as she could. Inside it smelled of stale beer and urine, the stench strong enough to make her eyes water without her even having breathed in any of the toxic fumes.

"Home sweet home." Her voice sounded muffled in the oppressive weight of the odor that accosted her as she made her way down the empty beer can filled hall towards her room. She was careful where to step, not wanting to crush a can and wake her sleeping father. Her room was at the end of the hallway, off to the left before the kitchen.

She heard movement off to her right, pausing and turning her head, afraid of what she might see. The sound came from the living room, the place where her father spent all of his time. The floor, tables and even the couch where her father slept, were all covered in golden beer cans. Some were crushed flat, while others were twisted into sharp jagged heaps that often bit into the skin of anyone who fell upon them. The cans cascaded down off the couch, as if it was a golden water fall, to reveal the bloated and grimy but sleeping form of her father.

He rolled onto his feet and staggered toward Elizabeth, who was not sure if she should run and risk falling on the cans, or stay in place and risk her father being in a bad mood, which he almost was always. Harry Connor was a tall man with a large gut, wiry graying hair and red, puffy hazel eyes. He wore only briefs to cover his shame and they had been stained a dark brown-ish color from years of not being washed, and a watch that no longer worked. He smelled strongly of stale beer, dried urine, and vomit, the stench rolling off him like a tidal wave that was strong enough to almost knock Elizabeth off her feet.

"What you doin'?" He droned out, his words slurred by the alcohol that had seemed to replace his blood.

"I was checking the drive way." She answered quickly, using one of the many excuses she had thought up to get out of being hit by her father.

"I saw a car pull in, but they were only turning around." She finished, watching the drool drip from the face of the man before her and she winced, feeling like she was going to puke. He looked at her hard for what felt to her like hours before he finally took a swing at her. He had clearly not believed her and she figured she would have to think of something more convincing next time.

The swing was slow and easily avoidable, but Elizabeth knew that if she avoided it she would get a worse punishment later when her father figured out how to get down the hall and to her room. It was a hard hit, one that made stars burst to life in her eyes and made her head feel as if it had just exploded. She spun and fell into the wall, landing in a pile of crushed cans, flattening any that were not yet squashed and feeling one or two cut into her skin. She gasped in pain, then scrambled to her feet and ran to her room.

Once in her room, Elizabeth closed the door and locked it, sitting on her bed and breathed deeply. her room smelled much better then the rest of the house. She cleaned it often and made sure to buy sprays and flowers to keep the smells that her father produced out of her personal space. She took a moment to compose herself, then walked into the tiny bathroom that belonged to only her.

In a drawer she fished out the first aid kit and patched up the ash on her forehead from her father's fist, and the smaller lacerations that the cans had caused on her arms, side and hands. She was sore and wanted nothing more then to go to bed, but just as she finished taping the last bandage on, the heard pounding on her door.

"Open this damn door!" He yelled, causing her to flinch. it was locked and it was a stronger door then any of the others in the house, so she was not so worried at the moment. She changed quickly and claimed into her bed, her heart pounding from both the pain and from the confrontation she had just got in with her father. Tears pricked her eyes, stinging them as she looked at the door, wishing that she cared more for him rather then just a check that kept her alive.

Her father had once been the chief of the police station. He was one of the best, catching any criminal and keeping peace in the town. That was until his long nights at the station had gotten to her mother and forced her to leave. She had thought that leaving Elizabeth with her father was the best idea, hoping that he would take care of her. Elizabeth wondered if her mother ever thought about this happening. He was now unemployed and collected a check from the government once a week. A check that Elizabeth was only allowed to cash because everyone in town knew what her father had turned into.

She lay down in her bed and stuffed the pillow over her ear, hoping to drown out the sound of her father's drunken yelling and the pounding on the door.

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