"Mamma please stop cryin'…I hear glasses breakin' as I sit up in my bed…Mommy I'll do anything."-Family Portrait by Pink
The first time they meet, she was young, very young. Her mother and stepdad had just had another fight and Shilo being the intelligent baby she was had crawled into her sister Dana's bedroom, seeking some small bit of comfort, of reassurance. Instead she found no one. Quiet as she could, Shilo crawled onto her sister's vacant bed. 'She must be hiding too.' The little one thought as she curled up into her sister's covers and tried to block out the sounds of yelling and breaking glass. It worked for a few minutes but then the fighting couple just got louder and louder. Shilo whimpered and pressed a pillow over her ears. That is when she heard it, something…different.
Scared and shaking, afraid the fight had neared her hiding spot, she didn't look up at first but then a mellow voice floated through the air. "Hey there dollie, why are you scared of little old Royce?" it asked. At that moment the fight got even louder and she gave a frightened scream and jumped up to cower at the head of the bed, gripping the headboard tightly. Then her eyes settled on the owner of the voice and her fear was forgotten. Standing in Dana's bedroom was the oddest man she had ever seen. Although one couldn't call him a man, if his torn letterman jacket was anything to go by. The rest of Royce Clayton was just as torn and gruesome, especially the right side of his face.
Strangely though, his visage didn't scare her as much as the fight outside. Still cautious though, she crawled very, very slowly toward the dead jock. As soon as she got close he lifted her up and into his arms, holding her safe and tight. "Hush doll, my little china doll. Everything will be alright." That same mellow voice said in her ear and she relaxed against him, clutching his ruined jacket tighter. Then he began to sing Elvis's song Teddy Bear softly while rocking back and forth on his toes. And that was how Shilo met the guy who would be her friend, then later her lover. That was how she met Royce Clayton.
"What if I fell to the floor, couldn't take this anymore. What would you do? What if I wanted to fight..."-The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars
The next time they met, she was about 5 or 6. She had been playing at the local playground near her house, Dana over at a friend's, when some older boys and girls came up and started taunting her, calling her a freak and a bastard child because she didn't have a daddy. Well of course she had a daddy, the little spitfire retorted; she just didn't know where he was. And although that last part was whispered they still heard it and the verbal barbs grew worse. Now they were harping on the fact her daddy didn't want her, he must have known she was a freak from day one and one and on. Shilo, brave at first in the face of adversity, was ready to take a swing at them, and she did.
But before her hit connected one of the girls caught her fist and slapped her so hard she fell to the ground. The next second everything changed. The sound of something hitting metal rang through the summer air, over and over again. The kids, of course, thought Shilo was doing it. "FREAK." they yelled at her before running away like cowards. A deep laugh, one she knew all too well, broke her silence. "Scared those yellow bellied snakes in the grass didn't I china doll?" The young girl's face lit up and she hurled herself into the spirit's waiting arms. "Royce I missed you! Will you play with me?" she asked and laughed when he said yes. After 30 minutes of the two running around the playground like fools, Shilo stopped suddenly. Royce didn't have to wait long before she spoke. And what she asked made his long dead heart break in two. "Am I really a freak?"Both ghost and girl had known for a long time about her 'special abilities', after all could any ordinary girl conjure blue fire at will?
Royce walked over to one of the benches and sat down, patting the seat next to him. Suddenly Royce felt every bit of his 50 plus years, even eternally trapped in his 17 year old body did nothing to stop the weariness that stole over him sometimes, like now. "When those kids said you were a freak, they were just being jerks. They have been raised where if something is different then it's automatically labeled 'freaky' in their eyes. Unfortunately for you, you became the target of the day but you ARE NOT a freak. If anything they are the freaks for their close-mindedness. Now what do you say we go play some more huh?" And with that the incident was put away from both their minds, at least for a while.
"When I woke up this afternoon, I knew I felt…uneasy. But no matter what I do nothing seems to please me."- Turn on Billie by The Pierces
She had slept late…again. Jumping out of bed Shilo rushed around her messy room grabbing random articles of clothes and putting them on. In the end she had on a neon orange shirt, black tight jeans, and her black combat boots. Normally that outfit would work will and she would rush out of the house, grabbing a piece of toast or something on her way. But not today. Today nothing seemed right and not just because she had slept late. No today was her birthday; her 12th birthday and she wanted things she knew she would never get. She wanted a real dad or at least parents that didn't fight like hers did. Sighing, the young girl went to the bathroom, pulling a comb through her inky tresses, so unlike her older sister's brown hair or her mom's dark blonde. Why did she have to be the one who was different?
A tap on the doorframe made her pause and turn around, expecting her mother or even Dana who sometimes overslept too. Neither, however, was at the bathroom door. Leaning casually against the doorframe, dressed in the things he died in, was Royce. A smirk lifted the mangled side of his face and made him look handsome in a way. "Well, well, well I think Happy Birthday is in order don't you?" he asked, a teasing yet proud tone seeping into his words. Shilo blushed and hesitantly stepped toward her ghostly friend, for once taking in his lean and slightly muscled physique. Shaking her head she hugged Royce like always and whispered a quiet 'thank you'.
"Come on doll, I have a surprise for you." Royce said before leading her out to her own backyard. At first she didn't see what the surprise was, and then she saw it. Set on the picnic table was a small cake and a present or two. "How did you do this?" Shilo asked her eyes wide as she gaped at her now beaming friend. "Ah, a magician never tells his secrets." Was the reply before he mentioned to the table. Eager to unwrap her gifts, the only ones besides a small one from her mother and sister she would get, Shilo raced to the table. Tearing open the first one she discovered a small slender jewelry box. "But I don't have any jewelry to put in it." She said. "Open the other one then." Royce said and handed it to her. With trembling fingers she removed the wrapping paper to find a velvet box, long and slender. Opening it she gasped at the beautiful pendant that lay within. It was a small copper colored heart on a chain. It was simple but Shilo loved it like it was a diamond one. She hugged Royce fiercely and as the sun shone down upon them she thought this was the best birthday she ever had.
"I've been watching your world from afar. I've been trying to be where you are…to me your strange and your beautiful."-Strange and Beautiful by Aqualung
It had been four years since she had seen him. Four long dark years…the loss of her mother at 14 had made Shilo spiral down into a depression but she pulled herself out of it every time she thought of her Royce. Yes he was hers, her friend…and maybe something more. She found that more often than not when she thought of him she got wet and her body felt on fire. One night while she was laying in bed she felt a presence she hadn't felt in four years.
"Royce?" she whispered, hope flooding her voice. "Yeah doll." Came the reply and she opened her arms to him. She felt it then, his coldness but she also felt his erection pressing down on her panty clad center and she strained to get some friction. He answered her plea by thrusting his hips down to hers. She moaned in the darkness and grabbed his shoulders while pushing up against him. Gently he kissed her, stealing her breath as his hands skimmed her body before removing her night clothes, one by one. Soon his hands roamed over territory only she had touched, her skin trembling under his cold but gentle touch. Mewling when he drug his thumb across her pert nipples and gasping when he started to suck them, Shilo had never felt like this. Everything was new and bright and glorious and she wanted whatever he was giving.
Arched her back, she threaded her fingers threw his short hair and snapped her hips up to meet his. Pulling away from her breasts, Royce took in the look of pure want and lust on his china doll's face. Smiling he moved lower and blew a cool stream of air onto her heated skin, already dripping with sweat. As she wiggled against him he moved even lower before brushing her dripping center with his lips, then tongue as he thrust that organ inside of her, simulating what was to come. After a few minutes of her panting and wriggling Royce stopped and undressed slowly, allowing his little vixen a very good view of his body. His cock was rigid and standing at attention. Shilo reached out a trembling hand and touched it, causing Royce to hiss in pleasure. Slowly, pressing kisses everywhere he could, Royce lay on top of her. Looking into those ice blue eyes so filled with love, he entered her, slowing his eager pace down s to be gentle. She hissed as the pain came and went then hissed again but this time in pleasure as he began to thrust in and out of her.
Moaning she pushed her hips up to meet his and felt her orgasm filling her to the brim before exploding, shaking her to the core as she cried out Royce's name. Within a few minute he followed her into the abyss of pleasure and as they lay there, tangled together Shilo thought to herself 'This is home.'