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Author's Note: I'm really sorry, I forgot all about this. Its been a long, exhausting few months. This is still the last full chapter written but the next one is nearly finished. I just wanted to make sure that I finally posted it so people don't eventually lose interest in this story. I'm hoping to have the next chapter done in the coming week but considering how I've been writing lately, it could be longer.

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3.

There were strange ice chimes hanging above my head.

I blinked.

I’d never seen those before. Looking around, I realized they were the only things I could see and had never seen too. The walls looked light blue in color and there were strange figures painted all over them. Did some of those figures have wings? I tried to look past them but it was all I could see of those. The room was large and cold but I was strangely warm. Bundled up tight and barely able to move except my head. Everything was so big. I was in a cage of some kind, I could see the bars. Yet, there was no top. That’s how I could see the chimes. I was so confused. Had someone come into my room and taken me? To what end though? I was no one important.

Who would want to kidnap me, T…

I couldn’t remember my name.

How could I not remember my name.

I was T...I lived at…

Huh.

There was a commotion from somewhere far away. I could barely hear it but I thought it was running. It got louder and clearer. It was running. Then there was shouting. I think it was coming from right outside the room. The shouting was followed by a loud bang and a rush of air. Someone was in the room with me then. Two someones and they were in a hurry.

“My lady, we don’t have much time!”

A woman.

“I can’t...”

That voice.

I knew that voice.

Suddenly she was there.

Maela.

She was smiling down at me, those bright purple eyes, that dark reddish hair.

She was so big.

Why was Maela so big?

Someone rushed into the room, a man this time.

“They’ve breached the gates, my Queen!”

The other woman spoke. ‘Get every able body you can and hold the courtyard.”

“My life for yours.” said the man then he was gone.

I tried moving again but still couldn’t.

“Are you sure this plan will work?” asked Maela.

She was reaching for me and suddenly I was in her arms. Was she that strong or was I that small? I felt as light as a feather as she gently held me, smiling down at me. Though she was smiling, she looked sad. As if this was the last time I was ever going to see her. The dark makeup that usually adorned her eyes was smeared, her cheeks stained. She’d been crying. I didn’t understand it though, I didn’t understand anything. Was she crying for me?

“Are you sure this will work...”

The other woman was there. “It is the only way.”

Maela stroked my cheek, a single tear dropped onto my forehead.

There was a loud banging…

….Banging on my door.

I snapped my eyes open. My heart was pounding in my chest, I was drenched in sweat. Groaning, I slowly sat up and blinked. Confused. I was in my room, in my own bed. A dream. Another one. I sighed, throwing off my covers. Whoever was banging on my door was still doing it, but I ignored it for a moment. I had to take stock of my surroundings. I was home, in my own house. I was Taylor Stewart, sixteen years old. I sighed again. That dream was a weird one. I’d never quite had one like it before either. Usually my dreams had me as a silent third party observer. They were like watching a movie, the events unfolding in front of me but I never actually interacted with them.

I’d never been a part of them either.

The banging was louder.

I cursed.

I slowly got out of bed and as soon as I got to the door, I fumbled clumsily with the lock. Opening it, my father was glaring at me.

Of course he was.

“What took you so long? I’ve been banging for twenty minutes.”

I shrugged. “I was sleeping.”

I looked at the alarm clock. It was a little after five in the morning. Jeez, he should try it sometime. Why the hell was he waking me up an hour before usual anyway?

“Get dressed, we’re running late.”

"Late for what?”

He gave me a look like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Well seeing as I can’t get you after school, you’re gonna have to come to the garage before it instead.”

I groaned. Was he fucking kidding right now?

“This weekend we’re going hunting again too.” he added as an afterthought as he started down the hall.

This man, I swear to God.

He could just never leave well enough alone. I knew what he was doing, he was punishing me. He was so afraid that I was going to somehow tarnish his good name. This wasn’t the first time he’d pulled something like this. Every time I did something he deemed “girly”, he spent days trying to reinforce my masculinity. Last time it was a week-long gauntlet of sports games, fishing and camping. Ironically, I didn’t hate all of it. I was a fairly competent fisher and Dad was a bowhunter. I’d been learning to use a bow since I was six. I considered myself fairly competent with that as well. I liked being in the woods too. It was quiet there. Dad seemed to embrace it as well and he wasn’t such an asshole when it was just the two of us out there. After all there was no need for me to “be a man” when there was no one around to judge.

When Dad wasn’t talking and not trying so hard, I could almost get along with him.

Almost.

I looked into the corner of my room where my bow was sitting. I’d never actually killed anything with it though. That was the one thing that Dad couldn’t stand. Not that I couldn’t kill something. Like I said, I was fairly good with the bow. I just didn’t like the idea of killing something for the sake of killing it. It's like all those martial arts classes Dad wanted me to take as a kid. He wanted me to be a badass fighter, but I was never really into them. It only lasted a couple of years before the teacher told him outright that I didn’t have the aptitude for it. Dad was disappointed but didn’t stop trying. By the time I was in middle school, his attitude shifted and he became angry with everything I did that he didn’t approve of.

Our relationship---what little there was---was never the same again.

I grunted and made my way to the bathroom. I went through my morning routine as fast as humanly possible. After a short shower and a fresh change of clothes, Dad handed me some toast at the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t say another thing, instead rushing me toward the door. I barely managed to get my iPad into my backpack before he pushed me into the truck. The drive to the Garage was done in silence. Dad was never much for small talk. The only time he ever spoke to me outside of yelling was when he wanted to “lecture” me on the important things I should know. That was generally a list a mile long, too numerous to name everything. Suffice to say, none of it was “girly” stuff.

When we arrived at Stewart and Sons, Dad pulled up around back.

The Garage belonged to my grandfather. When he retired, Dad took over the business. For as long as I could remember, all Dad talked about me was me inheriting it someday too. He already had my whole future planned out. After graduating high school, I was to go a trade school like him, become an auto mechanic like him, marry, have sons and pass the business onto them. It was the most perfect and simple future. For my father. Whenever he told me these plans, I would just smile and nod. I didn’t know what else to do. Of course I wasn’t going to follow through with any of it. Dad would often lecture me about being Independent and my own man but was trying to force on me the same life that was forced on him.

It was disgusting.

It was a vicious cycle passed from father to son that was going to stop with me.

Whether he liked it or not.

“Start in the back and work your way to those boxes up front. When you’re done, I’ll drop you off at school.”

I looked at the stack of boxes and groaned.

This was going to take a while.

Thankfully there wasn’t actually a lot to do. It took me about an hour, but I managed to clean the back of the store area and shift the boxes from the front to the back. I’d completely forgotten that yesterday was the day Dad got shipments in. No wonder he’d been so pissed. Usually it was my job to take the boxes to the back room for storage. Apparently without me, he just left them there. I know he had other employees, so leaving them was some kind of punishment. Thankfully they weren’t very heavy. Moving all of them was still exhausting though, as soon as I was done, I was panting.

“All moved?” asked Dad as he came out of the little walled cubicle he called an office.

He knew I was done, the cubicle had a large window.

I nodded. Dad pulled four twenties out of his wallet and handed them to me. The money was the only thing I liked about this job. Call my father many things, but he wasn’t stingy when it came to paying me. The problem was, he only paid me if he thought I did a good job. Apparently today was one of those days. In a rare form of affection, he even ruffled the top of my head. He must have been in a good mood today. In fact, I thought I saw a smile.

“Frank, I’m taking the boy to school, you’re in charge!”

“Sure, boss!” shouted the only other employee present today.

I followed Dad to the truck. Again, I thought it was going to be one of those quiet drives like usual. I was surprised when he actually started talking:

“Your mother and I had a conversation last night...”

More like an argument. They were shouting for an hour.

“I’m not happy with any of this.” he continued with a defeated sigh. “But I also know it wasn’t your fault. You have to understand something, you’re my son and I just want what’s best for you...”

We pulled up in front of the school. The Garage was only a five-minute car ride away. I could have walked. I wasn’t sure why Dad wanted to drive me before but now I knew. He wanted to have this conversation with me. We used to have semi-reasonable ones like this before. He tried to start out nice and kind but in the end he made it all about him again. He couldn’t help himself. He was a classic Narcissist. Frankly I was getting a little tired of it. These tactics used to work when I was younger but after yesterday and the weeks that led up to it, I was feeling particularly and uncharacteristically bold this morning.

“You don’t though.” I said, standing up for myself for the first time. “It's NEVER been about me, it's ALWAYS about you!”

I grabbed the door handle in anger.

I pulled my hand back just as fast. It was freezing cold.

Looking at it, it was covered in frost.

“You can’t...” he started, angry.

“Yes, I can!”

This time I didn’t care about the cold handle, I grabbed it, pushed open the door and stormed off. Dad had his window down and was shouting something but I ignored him. I ignored the stares I was getting too. Instead, I lowered my head and stormed into the school in anger.

“That was intense, earlier.”

Mel caught me as I was leaving second period. I jumped a bit, I wasn’t used to people talking to me. She sidled right up beside me though, like we were best friends or something. It was weird actually. I’d known her for well over a year now and this was the second time we actually talked. It was almost as if she was going out of her way to engage me now. Now that I was complaining though. Not having any friends was kinda lonely. You never know how much you miss something until you realize you didn’t have it in the first place.

“You saw that this morning?”

She gave a short laugh. “Tay, everyone saw it!”

Tay?

Ok, as new nicknames went, I suppose it wasn’t the worst.

I winced a bit though. “That’s not embarrassing at all.”

“Don’t worry about, I don’t think anyone really cares.”

Just as she said it though, Donny was coming down the hall toward us. He had that look.

“You and Daddy fighting, princess?” he said with a laugh, getting his two cronies to laugh along with him.

He slammed his shoulder into mine, knocking me off balance.

Mel sidestepped him completely then in one quick motion, swept his foot out from under him. Donny’s fall was downright comical. He staggered a few feet, trying to catch himself before landing face first into the floor. Everyone in the hall erupted in laughter, including his “friends”. Neither one of them bothered to try and help him up either. I did though. Hey, he might be a dick but I was raised right. I held my hand out for him but he smacked it away. Hey, can’t say I didn’t try. Mel gave me a look. The corner of her mouth twitched into maybe a smile?

Donny wasn’t done though.

He jumped to his feet, turning on me in a flash.

“You itching for an ass kicking, Stewart!”

Me, he thought I tripped him?

I looked at Mel, she gave an innocent shrug.

Donny grabbed the front of my shirt. A crowd was already starting to gather.

I was waiting for the “ass kicking” but it never came. The large hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Mr. Franklin.” said a stern voice. “I see you didn’t learn your lesson after all.”

Principal Clarke was a large man. Rumor had he used to play college football and would have gone pro but he got injured and fell back on an education degree. As it stood, most people knew not to cross him. He was a huge black man, towered over just about anyone he met, including my pompous father, I might add. Mr. Clarke was an intense, scary man when he wanted to be.

He looked right at me. “Anything you want to add today, Mr. Stewart?”

“No, sir.”

“He tripped me!” snapped Donny.

His friend interjected. “You tripped over your own two feet, doofus.”

Wait, what?

Mel tripped him, everyone saw it, right? I looked around, wondering if she’d say something. Wait, where was Mel? Did she rabbit on me?

“Everyone to class, now!”

No one second guessed Mr. Clarke. The crowd quickly dispersed. I was happy to see that he didn’t ask me to stay behind this time. I guess it's different when there’s a whole crowd of people around to see the bullying. I couldn’t help but smile smugly at that as I started to my third period class. It was just down the hall and as soon as I got into the classroom and found a seat, Mel dropped into the seat next to me.

“Sorry about that, I can’t get in any more trouble.”

Where did she come from?

I looked around, confused.

“Where did you...how did you...”

She smirked. “I have mad skills.”

I wanted to say more but the bell rang. Class went into full swing and for a good portion of it, I couldn’t stop thinking about Mel. There was something about her again, something just at the back of my mind. It nagged at me all throughout class, making it almost impossible to focus. By the time I actually did, class was over. I moved onto my next class but the feelings were still there. It was made worse by the fact that Mel was there too. It was funny because I didn’t remember her being in this class. The same thing happened in the next two classes as well, both times Mel was there again.

Thankfully, she was nowhere to be found during my lunch period.

I was able to focus on my food without wondering why she kept popping up.

After lunch, classes resumed as usual.

No sign of Mel.

Maybe I was just overthinking it after all?

The rest of the day was fairly normal. I went to class, took notes, stopped thinking about the weirdness from before lunch. After the bell rang for my final class of the day, I did my best to navigate the halls to my locker. At my locker, my cell binged. I was expecting a text from Dad, it was his usual way of barking out orders. What I didn’t expect was one from Brittany. Apparently, they didn’t need me today. There was something about having enough people. I sighed and texted her back, telling her I didn’t have a choice in the matter. She texted back quickly:

All clear with Clarke.

Ok then, guess that means I’m off the hook for the day.

Dad was going to be happy at least.

I wasn’t sure to smile or groan as I dropped off my books, grabbed what I needed for homework tonight and headed down the hall. I thought about texting Dad to tell him I’d be there today after all but I thought against it. Maybe I could give myself a day off. After all, Dad wasn’t expecting me to begin with. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Besides, I wasn’t up for another screaming fit like this morning. To be honest, I’m still not sure what came over me. Up to this morning, I was perfectly happy letting my father push me around. Well maybe “happy” is the wrong choice of words there. I’m not exactly sure what happened to make me finally push back, but I’m not upset that I did it. My father needed to learn that I wasn’t going to let him walk all over me anymore.

Maybe it was time that other people learned that too?

I couldn’t help but smirk.

Listen to me, thinking I’m some kind of badass.

Then again…

No.

That made me too much like him.

That was the last thing I wanted.

Sighing, I pulled out my phone.

They didn’t need me. I’m on my way to the Garage.

Yep, I’m a wimp.

Walking out of the school, I shivered. It was cold again. It didn’t make any sense either. I checked the weather report last night. It was supposed to be in the sixties still. It felt like the thirties at least. I blew into my hands, seeing my breath. Either the weather man was smoking something nasty last night or there was something seriously wrong with their equipment. Looking up into the sky, I couldn’t help but notice the clouds didn’t look dark and dreary. Maybe our tiny little town was just going through some fluke frost event then? Sure, that made about as much sense as me actually being friends with Donny. I scoffed at that idea and decided to stop wasting time trying to figure out the weather.

Pulling my hood down lower over my face, I made my way through the parking lot.

There was only a few straight paths to the Garage from the school. The most direct one brought me past the depot where the school buses were kept. It was a large brick building that blocked out most of the sun and a good portion of the road beyond. The path between it and the fence surrounding the school grounds was narrow, barely big enough for one person. Definitely not big enough for someone to turn properly without backing up. Walking at a brisk pace, I was hoping to walk the few blocks as fast as possible.

Picking up my pace, I was just to the corner of the warehouse when he appeared.

Josh Martin.

One of Donny’s goons.

I didn’t have time to react as he quickly grabbed the front of my hoodie and pulled me forward. The fist that met my stomach was hard. I doubled over in pain and actually saw stars. Josh didn’t let me fall though. Instead, he cradled his arm around me as I coughed. I was in no position to fight back as he half-walked, half-pulled me along.

“Try anything and I’ll push your ass into traffic.” he hissed into my hair, his mouth inches from my ear lobe.

His hot breath on my cheek.

We were walking along the street now.

Cars were whizzing past.

The school was built on one of the busier streets in town. There was always a lot of traffic.

Unfortunately for me, with so many cars, no one really paid much attention to the sidewalk.

Josh pushed me along, leading me around the other side of the building.

There I found myself in another alley, this one a bit wider but leading to a dead end. It was where the depot kept their dumpsters. It was also where a lot of the assholes from school hung out between classes or sometimes during. Apparently, that transferred to after school as well. There were three of them here now, besides Josh. I didn’t know all their names but I’d seen them around, mostly with Donny. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on. I also noticed that Donny wasn’t with them either. Which meant he either didn’t want to get into more trouble or didn’t know this was happening. Either scenario, he was smart enough not to get involved.

Josh shoved me forward.

I stumbled, barely able to catch myself before ending up on my knees.

The others laughed.

I recognized two of them from the hall this morning.

Keeping my balance, I snapped up to look at their faces. Both were blonde and nondescript. They were both wearing their letterman jackets though. I’d say football but no one on the team was stupid enough to do something like this. There was too much at stake. If you were caught fighting, you’d get kicked off the team. If I had to guess, I’d say wrestling maybe. Most people didn’t think twice about the wrestlers causing trouble. They were loud mouths sure, but they generally blended into the background. The wrestling team was pretty shit too, so no one cared if they got caught fighting. All the more reason why Donny probably made them do his dirty work.

“We saw what you did this morning.” said Josh, stepping around me. “You’re not as slick as you think you are.”

What I did?

Wait, did they think I tripped Donny?

“It wasn’t me.” I said truthfully.

Josh scoffed. “I was there. You don’t expect us to believe he actually tripped over his own two feet, do you?”

Wait, if he was there, why didn’t he see Mel do it?

“No, but...”

Josh didn’t wait for me to say anything else. The three of them were clearly of little intelligence and didn’t really care about conversation. All they wanted to do was beat the crap out of me. Josh took another swing, this time I saw it coming. I snapped my head back, avoiding his swing. I might have been five when I stopped taking those karate lessons but that didn’t mean I was helpless. I’d been in a lot of fights over the years. Most of them with guys like Josh and his friends here. Sure, I’d never actually been in a fight with odds stacked against me like this, but bullies rarely fought alone.

As was the case with this group.

As soon as I dodged Josh’s punch, I was tackled to the ground.

It was a cheap shot.

The guy was bigger than me and he hit like a truck. I didn’t have much time to react and it was clear that he was definitely on the wrestling team.

He got one of my arms pulled behind my back and with one of his knees, he pressed my face into the pavement. I started to struggle but it was no use, this guy was a lot stronger than me. This was all total bullshit. Three against one because their buddy was butthurt I got him in trouble for something he did. I never understood how bullies operated. They were the most selfish, self-centered morons on the face of the planet. What’s worse, they got away with it. Thinking about how stupid it was really pissed me off.

“This is how it's going to go” said their ringleader, now crouched with his face once again inches from my own. “You’re going to Clarke’s office tomorrow. You’re going to tell him that you tripped Donny and that you were only out to humiliate him and then...”

Josh stopped talking.

At first I thought maybe it was because he ran out of threats but then I noticed something. The alleyway was starting to get really cold. I felt the moron on top of me loosen his grip. I pushed up, managing to knock him off of me. I was surprised at how easy it was. He didn’t try to push me back down, in fact, he staggered away from me. Taking the opportunity, I jumped to my feet. The air around me was cold, colder than I’d ever felt before. It was almost as if the four of us were standing in a giant freezer. I wasn’t the only one to notice either. The two wrestling morons were looking around, probably trying to see if there was some kind of giant fan or something. I’m not going to lie, I took a look too. It was way too cold for this to be natural, especially because I knew the weather forecast. Yet, here we all were, in a deep freeze in the middle of nowhere.

“What... ttt-the fuuuu---ck is th-iiiis...” one of them asked, his voice stuttering, his teeth chattering.

The other one wasn’t talking at all.

He looked pale, his skin was starting to turn a slight blue.

I didn’t wait around to see anymore.

Taking advantage, I scrambled to my feet and started to run. I didn’t get very far before Josh tried to stop me. First he tried to grab for my pack but when I turned away from his reach, he changed tactics and grabbed my arm. Sometime in the scuffle before, my sleeve got rolled and my bare arm was exposed. Josh grabbed it, no doubt hoping to use his strength to his advantage once again. I felt his fingers wrap around my wrist, I felt him tug me back and then I heard him scream.

It was loud and blood-curdling.

I looked at his hand and watched in awe as his flesh turned blue and a thin layer of ice spread up from his fingertips up to his elbow. Josh was screaming at the top of his lungs as it was happening, thrashing and trying to pull away. I saw his flesh split, watched as the blood and bone froze. Then I reacted, pulling my arm away sharply. As soon as I did, Josh’s bones cracked. I heard snapping, two of his fingers broke away.

I almost puked but instead, I ran.

The last thing I heard was Josh’s screams as I dashed out of the alley and down the street.

I never once looked back.

Elsewhere

It watched.
It waited.
It listened.
It chuckled.
“There you are...”

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Anything critical you have to say, PLEASE do so in a PM. Pointing out people's flaws or mistakes in a comment is hurtful and NOT appreciated.Thanks in advance...EOF