Chapter 1

He sat next to me, relaxing by the bar. I could feel his eyes staring intently into my side. I shifted uncomfortably, trying to cover the journal I was reading. He gave a slight huff as he leaned away from me. I tilted my head so I could look at him, not once leaving the page I was on.

“Can I help you?”

“My name is Casper, we met at Gabby’s party.”

“And you’re trying to look at my journal, why?”

“I just wanted to know what you were reading. She told me you like to read.”

I placed a small book mark I made from a receipt into the journal and looked up at him.

“I remember you.”

“You should, we stared at each other awkwardly after she made that lame joke.”

“Yea...she’s something.”

He called the bartender over and ordered his drink. Once the bartender left he turned back to me, noticing I was still staring at him.

“Aren’t you a little too young to be sitting up at the bar?”

“I’m nineteen, as long as I don’t order booze I think I’m okay.”

I couldn’t help but stare into the light blue almost green eyes he had. His hard features were complimenting the softness his eyes let off. Inviting and mysterious I couldn’t help but look at him almost with curiosity. We both grew silent and continued to have a mental conversation with each other. With a blink of an eye we both knew what we wanted from each other, an emotional connection was made yet neither of us could put our fingers on it.

“Here you go.”

He looked away and thanked the man.

“Listen, Emilie. I want to help you.”

He looked around the room quickly taking in the people that were around us.

“It’s too crowded, let’s go outside.”

We left the crowded bar into the quiet atmosphere of the nighttime. People happily walked by heading to their destinations that no one would never know. Having conversations, taking pictures, feeling as if they had the whole world ahead of them. We walked close together through the brisk air, and into a small park that overlooked part of the city. He sat me down on a small bench and for awhile we sat in silence.

“Want one?”

He looked at the offering, “I thought you were against smoking? Don’t be a hypocrite.”

I placed one of the cigarettes into my mouth and let out a deep sigh.

“Silly ghost, these are candy cigarettes, they’re nothing but sugar.”

He shook his head, trying to hide a small smile that crept onto his face.

“You’re unbelieveable”

“All the fun of smoking, without the smoking.”

I placed the pack back into my jacket pocket and sucked on the sweet sugar.

“I didn’t think they sold those anymore.”

“I get em online. I even have chocolate cigars if you wanna try it out.”

“You Americans and your chocolate.”

It was the first time I heard his accent come through. I almost couldn’t believe that I couldn’t hear it. I was a huge sucker for people with accents of any kind.

“Holy crap balls! you’re not from here are you?”

“It took you that long to figure it out?”

“Where are you from? That’s not an English accent at all, nor Italian...I don’t think it’s Canadian.”

I went on through the list and made him say something.

“German?”

“I think that’s as close as you’re going to get. Pretty sure you named almost every country.”

“Tell me please?”

I leaned onto his arm, staring, once again into those eyes. He whipped his hair away from his face and rose an eyebrow.

“That’s another thing. You also seem to be infatuated with accents.”

“Who doesn’t like accents?”

“Everyone else in the world.”

I huffed my cheeks out, almost losing the cigarette.

“Please tell me?”

“The land of tulips and windmills.”

“Holland?”

“Well, it’s actually called the Netherlands, but we do have provinces called Holland.”

I looked away from him in awestruck.

“What are you doing here?”

“My parents thought that maybe a change of environment would help me with my sleeping problems. I was going to go somewhere like India or Japan, but because of school I didn’t have time to learn either language and so they sent me here.”

“And you so happen to live next to my crazy best friend.”

“Unfortunately.”

“She’s not that bad. How could afford to even...live out here?”

“My parents...are willing to pay anything for me to get better.”

“I didn’t know you were rich.”

“I’m not. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

We sat in silence once again, me too terrified to ask, and him waiting for me to ask. He nudged my shoulder, trying to get me to respond.

“Uh,” I turned back to him, “What did you want to talk about?”

“I know you and one of your other friends ran away from a small town not too far away from here.”

“How?”

“I also know you’re looking for someone and that you’re trying, and failing miserably might I add, to cover your tracks so you don’t get caught.”

“How?”

I stood up and went in front of him, trying to loom over his tall frame.

“Don’t worry it wasn’t because of Gabby. Mostly the news...and I did a little research on Gabby’s computer. What exactly are you planning to do anyway?”

“Why are you snooping around my friends computer?”

“Because I know when someone has something to hide  and sure enough it ties into you. So tell me.”

“Why should I?”

“I can tell the police where you’re located and send you and your other friend back home.”

We glared at each other. The air was thick with tension and the nightlife suddenly turned into something repulsive. His once soft blue-green eyes turned hard and almost to a dark blue. He knew I couldn’t walk away from the situation I was in.

“Is this a trap?” I whispered.

“No, I just want to help.”

“What can you do to help?”

“I can cover your tracks.”

I sat down next to him again. I gave a long sigh and reached into my pocket for another cigarette. I could feel him watching me and it creeped me out.

“Want one?”

We locked eyes once again.

“Sure.”

“My friend and I are staying at hotel a little ways from here. You probably know that though.”

“I know your friends parents cut her off and the little credit card debt you have isn’t going to help much when you run out of money to pay it off.”

I stood up with him and began walking down the road. We headed out of the way of the busy streets, down past the large clubs, the closed stores, and crowded bars. We walked past the empty park that was lit with lanterns as tall as the trees. We spoke more about nothing. We kept the silence away, and avoided anything that would push the privacy boundary. The conversations kept us from falling silent, from falling into the awkward silence that we had when we were at the party. The city crowds began to disperse and soon we were walking along a semi quiet road. We stopped at a large building that soared into the sky. It was decorated with glass and numerous bright lights that could easily light the entire city.

“Do you want to come in? We have a spare room.”

“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later.”

“Uh, yea.”

I couldn’t help but watch him as he left, almost yearning to run after him. Even after he had long since disappeared, I watched him. I walked inside suddenly feeling very lonely despite the people that were bustling along the inside trying to get a room for the night.

Author's Note

This is in the FIRST draft, please point out spelling and grammar issues, tell me what you think =D

Reviews

[luvs2write]

I think first chapters are about the most important part of a book. If the first chapter doesn't catch your reader's attention, what's making them finish the book? That being said, I think this is a really good first chapter. You introduced your characters without the daunting wall of information or bland backstory...I like that. I think your characters are interesting and I definitely want to know more about them. Especially since one of them is Dutch...but that's a long story. ;) I like your dialogue, it feels like normal human conversation, where as in some other (even published) books it's like "Really? You think people actually talk like that?" You have a lot of dialogue, and I think that makes it interesting...but you might want to watch it too. For instance, instead of just writing out a conversation, you may want to add in little things after each bit of dialogue. Maybe someone runs their fingers through their hair when they talk, maybe they sigh or close their eyes a minute in frustration. I think this is pretty great though, keep it up! And could you message me when the next chapter is up? Thanks!

[TarynNiquole]

The funny thing about this someone told me that I shouldn't put in their little actions, and Im glad you actually told me I should, because I always think that it's better and adds more life into the character :D thank you

[luvs2write]

Every writer has their own style, just do what you think feels right. It is your story to tell, afterall. =)

[Chasidy]

I liked the chapter a lot, and I plan to continue reading your story. Maybe add a little more descriptions like about the bar or what the characters are wearing and things like that. Also add the characters thoughts (meaning what they're thinking at that time.) Other than that I like it so keep writing :) You'll only grow stronger as a writer if you do and you'll notice how much you've grown.