Nightmares and Butterflies

His long blue hair hung over his eye like a veil, hiding part of his face and obscuring his expression from my reading. But that didn’t matter. I didn’t need to see his handsome features to know what he was thinking. I already knew from centuries, perhaps eons, of experience. He and I had rarely been apart since our existence, which was much farther back than even we could remember.

“Are you ready?” he asked, the words snaked out of his mouth smoothly and I could see the hint of a smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

“Do you even need to ask anymore?” I parried his question with a question of my own and didn’t try to hold back the grin which I knew was completely at odds with my face that had fooled many into thinking I was just an innocent girl.

He didn’t need words to reply as he sprung from the dark tree and descended into the first group of humans like a shadow.
As screams flew up at me from their tortured throats, I took just a second to close my eyes and breathe in their pain. It was like a drug that completely enveloped me. Then my lashes fluttered open and I leaped after my companion, bringing screams from my own victims as I slashed their throats out and sent their precious red juice flinging into the air.

Chapter 1 - The New Kid

The funny thing about a name is that your parents decide it but you’re the one that’s actually stuck with it the rest of your life. My mom named me Kelly (last name Davenport by default) and I’ve never once felt like I belonged to the name. There has always been this surreal feeling of being “off” whenever I hear it said and I have no way of explaining why. It’s just one more item to add to the list of very strange things that happen in my life.

“Kelly, wait up!” Amber Knight’s words floated to me on the soft breeze and stopped my brooding thoughts.

I turned around to meet her and smiled as she rushed up, so full of energy and life that it always made me dizzy when I tried to keep up with her.

“Hi,” I greeted her as she fell in step with me and we walked towards the school campus, each of us holding heavy books in our arms.

“Did you have a good weekend?” she asked. Her wavy blonde hair rested lightly on her shoulders and her blue eyes stood out as bright beacons in the early morning sunlight.

Memories flashed up in my mind as I considered her question- old reruns on TV, a solitary walk around the block, another one of those deadly chases by a shadow man who seemed to disappear just as he was about it win, and, of course, the ever present nightmares.

“Yup,” I said perkily so she’d believe me. “How about you?”

“Oh yea, it was great,” she replied and smiled one of those smiles she was known for. It was the same one that made her cheer captain, on the student council, and probably the most beloved girl in school. “Mark had a party that was totally fun. It was really last minute, though, and when I tried to call your house, nobody answered.”

I nodded, again wishing for a cell phone to make my life so much easier. Although, I had to admit I wasn’t feeling particularly in the party spirit and was glad I hadn’t had to scrounge up for a last minute excuse not to go.

“Yea, that’s okay. I couldn’t have gone anyway.”

“Why not?” she asked, looking at me curiously as if she actually cared which really made her perfect self all the more admiring and intimidating.
She wasn’t popular because she’d connived her way up; she was popular because she actually cared about people and others were able to see that in her face.

“I had tons of homework and my mom went out again so I couldn’t really leave the house,” I told her. It was true… Well, most of it was.

The bright sun was lighting up the early morning earth and the crisp smell of autumn blew on the wind, making Amber’s blonde hair move slightly. The neighborhood looked quiet and shiny. We walked past houses that embodied the perfect picture of suburbia as the city of West Jordan was indeed prime suburb area. Most of the city comprised of new houses with picket fences and holiday flags waving in the breeze, or churches or small businesses like grocery stores and pizza places. It was the middle class’s prime breeding pond for raising children who went to church every Sunday and didn’t watch R rated movies. All in all, it was the perfect place to grow up, as long as you fit in.

“Did she go on another date?” Amber asked.

After I nodded, she asked another question. “What kind of guy this time?”

“Same old, same old,” I sighed. “Some sleaze-ball she met in the diner with a name like Ron or Bob whose suit belongs on a used car lot and refers to me as ‘kiddo’.”

Amber laughed. “Oh, boy.”
“She sure knows how to pick them,” I muttered and briefly scrolled through my mental list of all the losers she’d dated through the years that ended up with my dad who was nothing but a blank silhouette in my mental photo book.

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t settle down with any of them,” Amber’s tone was semi-serious as she knew how they were often abusers and losers on at least one level.

We rounded the last corner of the neighborhood towards the school and birds chirped at us as we walked beneath a large tree getting ready to lose all its leaves.

“So was Mark’s party a lot of fun?” I asked to steer the conversation away from myself and my mother’s less than stellar dating record.

“Oh yea. He had tons of junk food. I couldn’t resist eating a little bit. Mrs. Jackson will just have to get over it,” she shared and grinned at me, talking about her cheer instructor who really limited their calories.

I grinned back at her, appreciating the fact that she had at least some human flaws.

“Then we had fun messing with his Ipod and his stereo system.”

“Did you play any games?” I asked, interested because sometimes it was nice to hear about normal human experiences without looming shadows following you around hoping to kill you.

“Nah, some kids played poker but I got busy talking to the kid. Oh my gosh! I forgot to tell you about the new kid.”

“Evidently,” I smiled at her in amusement.

We were officially on school grounds as she started telling me about him. “His name is Julian and he’s from Colorado.”

A few kids greeted Amber from the outside bench as we walked past. She waved cheerfully without missing a beat and I tried to put a polite smile on my face that I hoped didn't look too forced. Ever since we had turned 13, Amber and I had drifted apart in many aspects, including our social circles and styles. Amber choose to keep with her preppy, more expensive clothes while I opted for the darker, more revealing fashions- these simple differences had really set apart the people that we each hung out with. Amber fit in with all the popular and cool kids and then made friends with the others because they wanted to be popular and cool. While I sort of drifted off on my own, only making an effort to keep Amber as a friend.

“What does he look like?” I opened the door and Amber followed me inside.

“He’s gorgeous!” she managed to squeal out before she was bombarded by the usual “gaggle” as I called them. They were all her friends from cheer and football and student council. They easily pushed me away since I was smart enough not to try and stay and linger anymore. Amber gave me a sympathetic smile and wave. I returned them, not wanting her to worry that my feelings were hurt, because they really weren’t. I fully accepted the fact that I didn’t belong with those kids and was just grateful to get to hangout with Amber when they weren’t around.

When I reached my locker, I switched out my books from those I had taken home for homework to those I needed for the first few classes of the day, including The Great Gatsby for English and my history and chemistry books.

Josh Thorton came up just as I was closing my locker.

“Hey babe,” he said and leaned over me, placing his palm on the locker.

“Hi, Josh,” I cheerfully replied and took in his charming smile, strong shoulders, and dark hair. He had neglected to shave for a few days and he looked a little gruff, a little more grown up than the other teens that surrounded us. He was almost eighteen and was ready to graduate that spring.

“You’re looking beautiful as always,” he said and straightened a wayward strand of my red hair which was probably sticking straight up like Alfalfa’s.

I couldn’t help but blush. We hadn’t known each other for very long, definitely didn’t consider ourselves to be a couple or anything, but we enjoyed hanging out. I tried not to feel too serious about his harmless flirting.

He put a casual arm around my waist as we headed to history. “So on Saturday at football practice, Alex sprained his ankle.”

I kept my eyes on the crowd so I didn’t run into anyone during the busy surge of students going to class. “Really? That sucks.”

To be honest, I was only half listening. I usually tuned out when he talked about football, which was like all the time. Not to mention, all I could focus on was the warm place through my shirt where his hand rested. I loved the feel of his strong touch guiding me to class.

“Yea, for him it does,” Josh laughed unkindly. “For me, it means I get to play quarterback, at least until he’s feeling better, anyway. Which, no offense to him, I hope is a long time.”

“Well, that’s cool. You’re pretty good at it,” I added.

“I practice hard so I better be good.”

Not many other students looked up at us as we entered the classroom. Most of them were talking and laughing in their little groups of friends and the room was turned down to a dull roar. Josh abandoned me for a second to talk to Mark, probably about the weekend’s party and I was left to head to my seat alone.

I sat down, pulled out a pen from my purse and then froze as I saw the new kid. He was staring at me, mouth agape, and eyes narrowed down in suspicious dislike. The girl next to him, Mandy Anders, must have been talking to him until I walked in because she was looking back and forth between us confusingly. Her blonde hair swished with her rapid movements and I absently hoped she didn’t give herself whiplash.

I was shocked because the new kid had never met me and surely I couldn’t have been so ugly that he had to stare at me with such open revulsion upon our first meeting. Then I actually looked at him, past his horrified expression, and realized he was very attractive. His blond hair was short and spiked evenly all over his head, yet seemed to be messy at the same time. His eyes were a knowing green and his body was lean, covered in perfect fitting jeans and a black t-shirt. I mentally gave credit to Amber’s taste, remembering that she had already told me, or perhaps warned me, that he was gorgeous.

I realized we were staring at each other, him with disgust and suspicion and me with shock and awe. I was the first to turn away, my cheeks hot with embarrassment.

At that moment, Josh decided to show up and plop down into the seat next to mine with a goofy grin on his face.

“Checking out the new kid?” he asked teasingly but carrying an unhappy undertone to his voice at the same time.

“No,” I lied, wishing he’d pick up on the fact that the new kid had been staring at me first and it hadn’t been a pleasant look.

The bell interrupted whatever Josh was going to say next and our teacher, Mr. Wood, began a lovely Monday morning lecture on history. Usually in that class, I’d goof off, passing notes to Josh or fight sleep but that day, I was all ears for the lecture, horribly conscious of the two boys who kept glancing at me. They actually both wore similar expressions: a suspicious narrowing of the eyebrows whenever they thought I wasn’t looking. Josh lost interest long before the new kid did.