The Black Dance

Harper Nieves pulled into the driveway of the large wooden building at half past one am and cut the engine.  He climbed out of the green Jeep with a tired sigh.  As he walked towards the front door his thoughts revolved around the bed waiting for him upstairs.

He had been in the house for about two weeks and he had yet to sleep in the bed.  He was avoiding it in actuality.  He wasn’t comfortable sleeping in unknown beds.

He reached his hand out to open the door, when it was flung open to his clearly distraught caretaker, Carol.

“Harper!  I don’t know how it was up in Lockenton, but here I won’t let you go gallivanting all around town at all hours of the night.  I want you to head upstairs right now.  You’ve got school tomorrow.”

Harper blinked at the sound onslaught.  “Yes, ma’am.  My apologies.”  He stepped around the chubby woman and walked towards the stairs.

“Hold it.”  He paused and turned around. 

Carol shut the door loudly and faced him.  With her hands on her ample hips and her auburn hair a bun the image of milk and cookies popped into his head.  He forced the thought from his head and concentrated on what she was saying.

“Don’t you think you should tell me where you were this evening?”

Harper managed to keep the frown off of his face.  “Oh, yes ma’am.  I was in Lockenton.  I still have my job there.  The reason it took so long was talking to my boss about changing my hours.  You know I’ve got school tomorrow.”  He felt a thrill of vindictive pleasure when he saw chagrin enter her eyes.

“…what’s the number of your job?”

He rattled off the telephone number easily.  “Miss Carol?  I doubt it will matter anymore.  I got fired,” after I had worked all my hours, “when they realized I no longer lived in the city anymore.  That thought it just wasn’t worth the risk.”

“Oh…well go to your room.”

Without another word, Harper hurried up the stairs and into his bedroom.  It was sparsely decorated; everything he had owned had burned in the fire.  Taking off his jacket he hung it on the hanger and put it in the closet.  He slipped out of all his clothes except his boxers and placed the discarded clothes into the hamper. 

He got in the bed, glad to still feel exhaustion leaden his body.  He happily drifted off to sleep…

…and woke up when his alarm went off four hours later.  With a groan he got up and prepared for his first day at the new school.



Reine Hart’s hazel eyes snapped open immediately when the digital clock sitting on the varnished wood desk displayed the numbers 5:00 AM.  She sat up and brushed her long obsidian hair out of her face.  Reaching over she grabbed her brush and quickly pulled the dark masses into ponytail. 
         
She slipped from underneath her bedcovers and walked to her dresser. Pulling out black jeans and black tank top, Reine changed out of her silken nightclothes.  She walked quietly over to the door and opened it.  She peered into the completely darkened hallway, trying to discern any movement.  Seeing none she opened the door completely and slipped out of her room.

Reine pressed her back against the far wall when she came upon her older sister’s room.  The theme song of Mission Impossible came to mind and she had to stifle a snicker.  With her hand clasped over her mouth she ran the rest of the way down the hall.

When she came to a stop outside of her parents’ room the smile was wiped of her face.  She opened the door and walked inside boldly.  Her father was sprawled out on the bed, snoring loudly, and her mother was curled against him.

Walking around the bed she approached the nightstand and grabbed the keys.  They clinked together loudly causing her to wince.  She threw a look at her parents but they slept on.  She cradled the keys to her chest and escaped the room.

Reine returned to her room.  She attached the keys to a belt loop and searched for her shoes.  She found black boots perfect for a September night inside her closet.  Closing the door she was confronted with her calendar and a giant red circle.  Squinting in the dark lighting she made out the words ‘First Day of School’ in her sisters handwriting.

She cursed underneath her breath.  “Damn it, it’s too late to reschedule.”  She tapped her foot as she thought.  She shrugged, “Oh, well.  Looks like I’ll be late.”  She pulled on her boots and went to the window on the other side of her bed.  She opened it just as a thought occurred to her.  “Kress is going to be pissed when she finds I’m gone.”  She smiled suddenly, “She’ll thank me when I’m finished.”

Giggling she climbed out of the window and was gone.



Emilia Dawson  woke up to the sound of her bedroom door opening.  She cracked her hazel eyes opened and peered at her father.

He stood in her doorway swaying slightly.  He was drunk already.  Wow, that must be a new record.

She rolled over a pulled her comforter over her head.  “Wrong room, Dad,” she murmured, knowing he could hear her.

There were muffled footsteps before her covers were ripped from her bed.  Her father glared at her.  “Get up.  School starts today.”  His eyes narrowed and he leaned closer to her so she could smell the different types of alcohols he had drank.  “And I better not here a word from your teachers about misbehaviors.  You understand?”

Mind still foggy from sleep, Emilia couldn’t understand h8im.  Was he mad already.  The day had barely begun.  “What are talking—“

He reached down and grabbed her upper arm.  She was hauled to her feet in a grip capable of crushing human bones and thrown out of her room.  Emilia scrambled to her feet and ran down the hallway before her dad decided to hurry her along again.  She entered the bathroom and locked it behind her.

When Emilia exited the room she had a towel wrapped around her body and one wrapped around her hair.  She cautiously entered her bedroom and was pleased not to find her father passed out on her bed.  Again.

She pulled on soft, creamy beige pants and a soft v-neck pink shirt.  She decided on wearing her pink high-heels with it.  She put on dangly silver earrings with pink hearts at the end and a matching bracelet and a silver watch.  She went into her closet and on the top shelf pulled out a black metallic box.

Inside was an amulet on a silver chain.  There was a red gem cut to perfection small enough that it could be concealed inside her palm.  She put it on and her outfit was complete.  She walked out of her closet and pulled the black curtains away from the windows.  The previously pitch black room was flooded with light.

She sighed happily and left her room.  She walked down the stairs.  Sitting in the living room staring at the blank TV screen was her father.  She didn’t bother staying to see if he was alright.  She entered the kitchen and inhaled the enticing aroma of coffee.  She poured herself a cup and walked over the refrigerator.

She opened it and pulled out one of the many bottles of dark red liquid.  She poured half into her coffee mug and downed the whole thing.

“Lily?”

Emilia froze.  She turned slowly and saw her father standing in the doorway.  His eyes were bright, almost feverish as he stared at her obsessively.  She really hated it when in his drunken haze he mistook her for her mother.

“No, it’s Emilia.  Lily’s dead, remember?” she said bluntly.

He blinked.  “What?  No, Lily’s not dead.  She couldn’t—wouldn’t die.  She…she’s,” his voice trailed.  His confused black eyes twisted into fury.  The bottle in his hand was suddenly hurled at her head.  She ducked and put the kitchen table between the two of them.  “Why, Lily, why?  Why did you die?  We didn’t have to have the kid.  I didn’t—don’t want the kid.  Why?!  WHY?!”

Emilia scooped up her purse and escaped while her father was still wailing about the mistake that was her birth.  She slammed the door behind her and walked quickly down the winding path that led to the front gate.

At the front gate were her two friends:  Remi Ash and Sabine Chevrier.  Remi had waist-length obsidian hair pulled into a high ponytail.  She had cold gray eyes that had a slight Asiatic tilt that spoke of her Japanese heritage.  She held a cigarette in one hand.  She was wearing a white dress that stopped just above her knee.  There was a black belt wrapped around her waist.

Sabine had moved here from France three years ago.  She had curly shoulder length hair held back from her eyes with a red headband.  She had deep indigo colored eyes.  She was wearing a loose black pants and a tight red shirt with sleeves that billowed around her arms.

“Bonjour Emilia,” Sabine called pleasantly.

“Fuck off,” she grumbled.

Their faces both held mild signs of surprise, but took her mood in stride.  They started walking.  There was a moment of silence before Felicia took a drag of her cigarette and asked softly, “Father Dearest?”

Emilia’s frown deepened, “Fuck.  Off.”

They nodded simultaneously.  Emilia was lucky to have two good friends amid the popularity contest called high school.  Friends that didn’t talk much and knew when you just wanted to revel in the silence and not have to listen to your father wishing for your death or nonexistence.



Kressent Hart opened her eyes groggily and sat up.  Her internal alarm clock was going off saying it was six in the morning.  She looked at herself in the mirror situated across from her bed.  Her green eyes were squinting in the unnaturally bright morning sun streaming through her window.  Her short black hair stuck up all around her head wildly causing her to wince.

She got out of her bed and put on her white robe.  She stumbled out the room and into the bathroom adjacent to it.  When she came out of the bathroom she was only wearing a towel that barely covered her.  She was grateful she was the only one up at this time.  She had the job of waking her sister and parents usually stumbled out of their room after that.

She reentered her room and closed the door behind her.  She went over to her desk where she had laid out the clothes she would be wearing.  After Mari had demanded she pick out something to wear on their first day of high school as seniors ahead of time.  She (Mari) had decided on wearing black form-fitting pants with gray and white stripes and a white tank top, which she would cover up with a matching gray and white striped jacket, instead of her customary large black sweatshirt.

Hopefully nobody would comment on what she was wearing.

After one last look in the mirror Kress walked over to her cordless phone and dialed Marilyn’s house.  As it rang Kress exited her room and walked down the hallway to her sister’s room.  After the fourth ring a very groggy voice answered.

“Yeah?”

“Come on Mari is that anyway for you to answer the phone?”

“Kress?  What the hell do you want?”

“It’s time to get up.  School starts today.”

“School?  Yeah ‘course I remember,” the voice trailed off.

Kress opened the door and gaped at the empty room.  “Damn!” she swore loudly.

“What!  What happened!  I was awake the whole time, I swear—“

“Shut it, Mari.  I’ll be over there in an hour,”

“Yeah, sure whatever, what—“

Kress hung up, too pissed to be civil.  Marilyn probably will have forgotten by the time Kress got over there.

Dylan King’s threw on his black jogging shorts and plain white t-shirt.  He grabbed his CD player and put his headphones on.  He ran down the stairs easily.  His mother was in the kitchen.  She had her laptop balanced on her lap, one hand waving in the air as her nail polish dried, and in her other hand she was applying her make-up.

“Hey Mom,” he said as he lightly kissed her on her cheek.  “I’m going running, okay?”

“Alright, sweetie,” she called absently, “Be careful.”

He rolled his eyes and exited the house.  As he stood on the porch in the early morning air he glanced to his right at the white house stood there innocuously.  When the song ‘Remember When’ started playing in his ears he was assaulted by past memories.

He remembered when he, Kressent, and Mari had been inseparable.  They had been his best friends and he felt like he could tell them anything.  And then he had turned 13 and had been forced to go to summer camp.

When he had returned Kressent had avoided him the first week.  Then he had eventually cornered her and asked her what was wrong.  She had blushed furiously before leaning in and kissing him on the lips.  When he had shouted ‘cooties’ and started spitting, she had ran away crying.  Later they both had apologized and neither brought it up again.

With Mari it had been a whole lot worse.  And it had still not gotten any better.  On his return Mari had been unbelievably annoying.  She was always asking where he got his clothes and stuff from.  And when he pushed her in the mud she no longer found it funny.  Everything he did was wrong.  Whenever they were alone there would either be long awkward silences or they would be arguing loudly.

With a final shake of his head Dylan cleared his thoughts and started running.  He ran for about 45 minutes before he had circled around.  As he came jogging up and his house came into view he could help but be attracted to Marilyn’s house.

As he was running pass it he heard Mari’s very distinctive voice, “Oh damn, I’m late!”  With a quick look around he ducked around the side of her house and into the backyard.  He didn’t hesitate to lever himself upward to see Mari scramble to get dress.

Inside he saw clothes and shoes scattered all over the floor and more being tossed aside as Marilyn came tumbling out of her closet.  She wore a green plaid skirt to short to be legal and a black tank top.  She had black boots in her hand.  She tossed the boots onto the floor next to her and studied herself in her full-length mirror.

He saw her face in mirror frown in obvious displeasure.  The next thing he knew she had grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head.  He saw her bared breast.  Dylan lost his grip on the window and fell in a heap underneath her window.

What the hell!  He shook his head and escaped her backyard.  With the image still fresh in his mind he vowed revenge, whether she knew what she did or not.

But first he had to take a really short, really cold shower or he’d be late for school.



Marilyn Davenport was awoken by the annoying sound of her phone ringing.  She tried to ignore it, but after the fourth ring she remembered her parents were out of town.  She grabbed the phone and put it to her ear.

“Yeah?” she mumbled.

“Come on Mari is that anyway for you to answer the phone?” she heard a familiar voice say cheerily.  Kress was the only person, other than Reine, who was a morning person.  It was rather annoying.

“Kress?  What the hell do you want?”

“It’s time to get up.  School starts today.”

School?  What the hell, that was today?  “School?  Yeah ‘course I remember,” she trailed off.  When she wasn’t chastised immediately she felt her eyelids droop close.  Her hand went slack.

“Damn!”

Marilyn’s head snapped up as she struggled to keep her grip on the phone, “What!  What happened!  I was awake the whole time, I swear—“ Kress interrupted her.

“Shut it, Mari.  I’ll be over there in an hour.”

“Yeah, sure whatever, what—“happened?  She got hung up on.  She flopped back onto the bed with a groan.  School?  She could sleep for ten more minutes and then she’d get up.  She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Marilyn rolled over the phone, which was still on her bed,  fell off.  This caused her to jerk away suddenly.  She grabbed her digital clock and held it inches from her face as she blearily read the numbers.

7:40

School started at 8:10.

It was a ten minute walk to get there from here and she would need about ten minutes to get her schedule.

She blinked and did the calculations in her head; math wasn’t her best subject.  That left her with ten minutes to get ready.  She swore loudly and scrambled out of bed, hurriedly.  She was in and out of the bathroom five minutes, eternally grateful she had taken a shower the night before.  She entered her walk-in closet and pulled out the outfit she had decided on the day before.  Looking at the clock hanging in there she shouted, “Oh, damn, I’m late!”  Kress was probably walking to school without her.

She quickly shimmied into a tiny green plaid skirt, her favorite and a black spaghetti strap shirt.  She looked for her favorite boots and was dismayed to not find them.  She tossed a bunch of shirts, pants, and shoes out of the closet.  She of course found the boots at the very bottom of the pile.

She walked out with her boots and judged herself in her full-length mirror.  Did the shirt always fit like this?  She made a face and pulled her shirt off.  She thought she heard a thump somewhere behind her, but she didn’t have time to investigate.  She searched her drawers for something else to wear.  She eventually decided on wearing the black shirt she originally had under a purple sleeveless shirt that had one side slip off her shoulder.

Marilyn zipped up her black, leather, knee-high, combat boots and ran out the door.  Her short green plaid skirt fluttered behind her as she raced down the street after the retreating figure.