72 Pillars Chapter 2

I walked down the sidewalk not feeling like a million dollars. The sun was shining, birds where chirping, and children were joyfully playing with one another on their way to school, all this happiness somehow made me fill even more depressed. How could I not be depressed after what had happened earlier today, a girl that I didn't even know appeared in my house and claimed that she wanted me dead with some kind of sadistic glee. So yeah, today wasn't the greatest day of my life, far from it.

"Ethan!"

I hear a familiar voice call me from behind. I turn around to see my childhood friend Harold Alvarez running down the sidewalk with his hand in the air waving at me.

"If it isn't Ethan Brumfield?" Harold says with a large grin as he puts his right hand over my shoulder.

"Hey Harold." I said with an actual genuine smile.

I have to say if it wasn't for Harold I would be a complete loner, when it came to having a social life. Harold wasn't just my closest friend, he was my only friend.



Harold and I walk side by side as we made our way to school. While walking I take a glance upward towards Harolds hair and smile.

"What?" Harold asks, noticing my smile.

"Those dreadlocks really look good on you." I said.

Harolds eyes widen as it takes him a few minutes to realize what I was referring to.

"Oh thanks man." Harold says scratching his now long hair.

"It took such a long time for me to get them... You know my mom always said that I was beginning to look a lot like my big brother and now with the dreadlocks she says that the resemblance is uncanny." Harold said with a look of sadness that wasn't hard to miss.

Harolds brother died in a car crash 3 years ago, it was around the time when Harold and I were first beginning middle school. Harold once Showed me a photo of his brother. He was a tall African American man with brown eyes, a little facial hair around his upper lip, and he had long dreadlocks that went past his shoulders. Back in middle school Harold always told me that he would one day get dreadlocks of his own to honor his brother. It was a dream that he never gave up on, and it made me happy that he finally fulfilled it.

It took 6 minutes for Harold and I to make it to our high school. The name of our school was Crestview High, and even though I could and have said horrible things about this school, in all truth and honesty, Crestview is a highly rated, public school in the city of Lineson. So I guess I could do worse. The first part of Crestview High was the large parking lot that rested in front of the school, it was here where parents dropped off their children, and where a select few students who had cars, that their rich parents bought for them, parked, so in other words the cool kids. Students who didn't have cars had to walk through the parking lot to get to the school where they would be met by the principal or vice principal who stood beside the opened school iron gate wishing everyone good morning and making sure no one was late. If you didn't get ran over in the parking lot or been given detention, for being rude to the principal then you were mostly home free. The whole school consisted of 4 huge buildings, each building having a personal number, 100 to the 400 building, each building had its own purpose and its own number of classrooms. What rested in the middle of the 4 buildings was the lunch area, which stood wooden benches and tables, where students ate outside, or waited in line for food at the cafeteria that was next to the 300 building. I personally never had to worry about any of that. I never ate lunch, which I already know isn't really healthy, but during lunch I always preferred playing basketball at the basket ball courts that stood pretty much in its own corner of the school, which also rested the P.E building and tennis courts. In the back of the school was a huge open grassy field that was as far as the eye could almost see, on the other side of the field rested houses and other buildings not belonging to the school.



Harold and I stand before the large parking lot field with cars and children making their way to the front gate. We both knew that it was just a few more steps before we would once again be in the hands of the school, trapped until the next break.

"Well Ethan old buddy." Harold says with a weary smile as if all the energy had drained from his system.

"Let's take these last few steps together." Harold says holding out his right hand.

I turn towards Harold and look him in the eyes for only a few minutes, and soon smile.

"Yea lets....." I couldn't finish me sentence, no matter how much I tried the last word wouldn't come out.

My eyes were open in shock, my cheeks must have been the brightest color red imaginable, and my body couldn' stop shaking from all of the emotions I was experiencing at once. Harold who was looking at me in worry, soon realizes that I wasn't staring at him any longer, but was in fact staring at something else behind him, and quickly turns around, and upon doing so starts to giggle with joy, which made me a little annoyed.

Harold turns around with a cocky smile and looks at me.

"Ethan." He says with a little pity.

"W-what?" I said stuttering a little.

"Is today going to be the day that you talk to her, I mean she is literally coming this way." Harold says putting his left arm around my shoulder.

You might be asking who is she exactly, well that would be a simply question. She would be a girl, and not just any girl, but probably the most popular girl in the school. Her name is Madelyn Adams, and to say that I have a major crush on this girl would be an understatement. Remember when I said that their were two good things about today, well seeing this girls face was the greatest gift I could receive, and she definitely made me blush.

I couldn't help but watch as Madelyn walked towards me and Harold. Her long blond hair danced in the wind, which some how made me blush even harder. Madelyn wore nothing but a small white t-shirt that did little to hide her curves, if I might add, and a pair of jean shorts, all of these things made almost every boy around Madelyn look at her with lust in their eyes, I was different, for the first time since I had found out who Madelyn was, I wasn't focused on her curves or even her outfit, the reason why is also very simple. Madelyns blue eyes where focused on me and she continued to walk towards me and Harold, at this point I wanted to scream.

I didn't know if this was a dream come true or a nightmare, the girl of my dreams was walking right towards me, and I had nothing to say, yeah it was definitely a nightmare.

"Hello." Madelyn says with a smile as she stands before me, with her hand out, obviously looking for a hand shake.

"Uh, uh... hi." I said struggling to form an actual sentence, and accepting Madelyn's handshake.

"Your name is Ethan right?" Madelyn says, her blue eyes looking straight into mine.

"Y-yea" I said stuttering.

I take a small glance over at Harold, to see him struggling not to fall down laughing his brains out. I was so going to punch him after this, but I might not get the chance, all the boys in the area where looking at me with threatening eyes, I couldn't blame them, the school idol was shaking my hand and talking to me.

"Well my name is Madelyn, Madelyn Adams." Madelyn said as if no one knew her name.

"And I was hoping we could be friends." Madelyn says with a kind smile that made my heart skip a beat.

"UUUUUHHHHHH....." It had finally happened my brain had broken down. I could no longer think as I stared in Madelyns beautiful blue eyes.



"He would love to." Harold said stepping in between me and Madelyn.

"Well that's great and who might you be?" Madelyn asked looking at Harold with that same heart stopping smile.

"Oh how rude of me." Harold said with that same charming smile he used on every girl he talked to.

"I am Ethans best friend of all time, but you could just call me Harold."

Harold was always the better talker between the two of us especially when it came to girls. Lucky him.

"Well a friend of Ethans is a friend of mine." Madelyn says.

"RING! RING! RING!" The echoing of the first bell was heard by everyone, and with no hesitation everyone started to run towards the school, not wanting to be late.

"Well that's the bell." Madelyn says looking at me.

"I hope to see you both around." Madelyn says as she starts to run towards the school, with her hand in the air waving at the two of us.

"Yo bro how did it feel to be talked to, to the most beloved idol at our school?" Harold asked as both him and me ran towards the front gate, along with the few late stragglers left behind.

I did not speak as Harold and I neared the front gate. I couldn't help but think about Madelyn, and not in a lovey-dovey kind of way, but in a nervous/ scared kind of way. It must have been evident on my face because Harolds eyes became filled with concern.

"Hey man what's wrong?" Harold asked.

"Hey Harold, did Madelyn look normal to you?" I asked.

"What do up you mean by normal?" Harold couldn't help but look confused.

"I mean did you happen to see a strange black mist covering her as she talked to us.

"A strange dark mist? I didn't see anything like that man." Harold said.

"Are you sure that it wasn't just a figment of your imagination?" Harold asked as he ran next to me.

"I-I don't know." I said looking at the ground.

Harold had every right to be skeptical, I mean what I was saying was hard to believe, and yet still my mind drifted back to Madelyn and the darkness that surrounded her, a darkness that gave me the chills as I saw how it flowed around her like mist. In the end I couldn't help but ask....

'What was that enveloping darkness?"
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