Solstice

Prologue

Her we go. This, like all my writing, probably sucks, but hey, maybe I'll actually finish this one. . . maybe.

I stepped out of the brightly lit dance studio and in to the darkness of the night. The street lamps flickered, casting wavering yellowish circles of light on the side walk as I began at a brisk pace. I had stayed extra late to practice that night, like always, and was rushing to get home. The street was deserted, quiet in a creepy sort of way. I stayed late at dance almost every night. Mostly because I tried every way possible to get away form home. We were poor. Dirt poor, rock bottom, bankrupt; call it what you like. Dad dealt with the money by beating on mom. Mom dealt with abuse with drugs. I dealt with drugs by dancing. Lots of times I had thought about running away. I could make a living in amateur dancing. I was deffenetly good enough. But one thing always held me back.

Jeremy.

My beautiful sweet baby brother. Five at the time and so far un-corrupted by our rotten family. Just thinking about him at that cheap day-care, made me walk a little faster. I was almost jogging now, my ratty old pointe shoes dangling from my shoulder, hand-me-downs from my instructor. I turned the corner quickly, my hair whipping around, and pressed the unlock button to my battered old car.

I climbed in side and threw my duffle bag and shoes in the seat on the passenger side. I had to try twice before the engine sputtered dully to life. I began driving. Making my way through the streets to the slummy side of town where our apartment and the day-care where Jeremy stayed was located. I had to pay for the day-care and my dance lessons with my part time job at a department store. It wasn't high pay and not a great day-care. It was the kind where the lady is fat and walks around smoking letting the kids run around as they like. But anything was better than having him around my mom doing drugs, or getting beat by my dad.

I was just about to turn on to the street where Jeremy was when I had a sudden urge to turn left instead. Against my better judgement, I did, finding myself on a street that was more like an ally. The brick walls were high and there was no light what so ever. I had been driving for about three minutes and was getting totally freaked out and was going to turn around when I saw them. There were three men in the middle of the narrow street, spread out just enough that I wouldn't be able to pass. There was no other turn off and I couldn't just hit them, so I did a really stupid thing. I stopped.

The men were gorgeous, and seemed out of place in such a seedy neighborhood. Their skin was deathly white and they're eyes black. The scariest thing though was the way they were looking at me. Hungrily, not in a sexual way, but as if they truly wanted to eat me. They just stood there, not moving at all.

My hands shaking, I pressed the lock button on my car door. I began to put the car in reverse when they seemed to break out of they're trance. One of them jumped at my car with surprising speed. I gave a scream of surprise as he landed on my hood, shattering my windshield and showering me with glass. Another one reached in and grabbed my arm, yanking me so hard that I could hear it give a crack and feel it go limp. I was cut all over and my arm was clearly broken as one of them literally drug me over to the side of the road. He threw me in to a crevice in the wall that could not be seen from the road and stood back to wait for all the others. I had heard of people being raped and killed. Some people in our neighborhood in fact, but never had I thought it would happen to me. I tried pleading, talking mindlessly in my fear, but the only result was a kick in the head by one of my assaulters. I lay there in a heap, keeping my eyes closed and trying to stop the dry sobs that were shaking my whole body. My hands were shaking un-controllably as suddenly I felt an intense burning pain in my left fore-arm. I screamed out in agony, getting only another kick. I was writhing in pain, trying to get the fire that was engulfing my arm to go out, but in only intensified, spreading up my arm even more.

That's when I heard them. The sound of Police sirens, a sound that used to scare me, used to remind me of all the pain and suffering in the world, but today, sounded like trumpets from heaven. The three men scattered so fast that they were just a flash of white. The sirens were closer now, just out side the crevice where I was. I tried to call out but I couldn't move, couldn't even talk. The pain was too great. I listened to the sirens, trying to tell myself that soon I would be rescued. It was all lies though. They wouldn't find me, the crevice couldn't be seen until you were in it and they sure wouldn't investigate. In this kind of neighborhood where murders happened every day, they didn't have time to research every sixteen year old girl that went missing. My parents wouldn't complain, but all I could think of was Jeremy. My poor sweet brother.

His round happy face was the last thing I saw in my mind before the pain drove me out of consciousness.

There we go, there's the prologue. It will get better, I promise. Any ideas are welcome!