Author's note: this is my first fanfic and i am looking for criticism. Please DO NOT send a barrage of messages that i don't update on a regular schedual i will update when i fell like i have enough to post, this will always be over 1000 words so please be patient with me.
now that that is out of the way it is on to the fun portion of the note, i have never and will never own Darkest Powers, every character other then Kiara and her family are all apart of the wonderful mind of Kelly Armstrong. with that said please sit back relax and enjoy.
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White walls. Black hair. Green eyes.
I opened my eyes and looked around my room, hoping the pale yellow walls held the answer to my fragmented dream. There was nothing there but unwelcome joy. I sighed and swung my legs to the floor, immediately pulling them back onto the bed to escape the cold hardwood. I eventually set them back onto the hardwood floor, allowing the cold to spread through me. I loved that feeling. I stood and padded to my closet. I pulled on a pair of black pants and a black pullover hoodie with the words Almighty Goth scrolled across it in bright red. I flipped up the hood and stepped out of the room, being as quiet as I could. I snuck down the stairs to the living room. The clock on the VCR glowed red, the numbers reading 6:15. I groaned silently at how they expected us to sleep from 10 until 8 when we were called for breakfast. I tossed and turned until 1 when I was finally able to shut everything down and sleep. But even then I was always up at 6.
I had been here for almost a month and not much had changed other than the fact that the house went from housing four teens to housing five. Originally it had been Amber, Mila and Brady. Then I came in. the three originals ignored me and I thought it was because I was new to their circle, but that wasn't the case. I found that out when Peter arrived. Brady welcomed him willingly into their group, once again leaving me isolated. I had gotten used to it, so it wasn't a big deal anymore. I walked to the bookshelf and selected a thick hard covered book then sat on the couch. I prayed that sleep would take hold of me, I felt my eyes glaze over and tunnel vision pull at the edge of my sight, but all that went away with a simple blink.
Ms. Vandop found me curled around the book an hour later. Her harsh voice grated on my sensitive ears.
"Kiara, why are you out of bed so early? You shouldn't be wandering around this early."
I glared at her and silently stormed back to my room.
When the 'wake up' call came I had my legs propped against the wall, my head hanging limply off the edge of the bed and my iPod headphones jammed into my ears. I was determined to ignore breakfast today; after all it was only Mila, Amber and I that ate breakfast this early and the two girls weren't going to induct me into their conversation. I had been doing fairly well, well that was until Ms. Talbot came up and forced me from my room. I lightly stepped down the stairs. Near the middle I could hear Amber and Mila giggling about something. They stopped as soon as I walked into the room. I looked at the floor and sat as far away from them as I could. They started again but quieter this time. I grabbed a glass of tomato juice and sipped at it still listening to my iPod and reading one of my Shakespeare books. I saw Vandop's lips moving, probably chastising me but I pretended I couldn't see her.
Classes started at nine and again I was late, seeing as there were two new boys walking through the kitchen door. I heard a cellphone vibrate and thought that one could be convenient to have. I bumped the larger boy quickly sliding my hand into his pocket and then into my own, muttering an apology as I hurried by in order to get to class. I could feel the bigger boy's eyes on my retreating back but chose to ignore it; I was getting good at blocking out the world it seemed. I hadn't seen either boy since their arrival, but then again I figured that I'd never have a chance to talk to them again after today anyway. I sighed and headed to my room. Thankfully the nurses didn't care if I came or went. I guess that was the only good side effect of my record. I snuck around to Talbot's door and slipped in creeping to Vandop's and out into the boys section. I knew where Brady and Peter slept so I started at the other end of the hall, finally finding a locked bedroom door. I knocked lightly, hoping that they weren't asleep. Lucky for me they weren't. The smaller boy answered and his almond shaped eyes bugged out. I motioned for him to shut up and raised an eyebrow asking if I was allowed in or if he was going to let me get caught. He opened the door wider granting me access. I sat at the first desk I saw and pulled out the bigger boy's cell.
"Hide it." I said as I handed it over. "Oh my name's Kiara by the way. You are?" I asked glancing at the boys.
"Simon Bae." the smaller replied. I nodded and looked at the other one.
"Derek." I nodded. "Welcome to Lyle House." With that I slipped out the door and back to the girls' side.
That night I decided to sketch what had been in my dreams for the last few months. The scene I put on paper looked like a hospital. And there was a boy behind a locked glass door. He had long, messy dark hair that you could just see the glint of his eyes beneath. I checked my iPod clock and opted to call it a night as soon as I finished. Again the dreams haunted me, only this time there was a twist. The dark haired boy changed into a black wolf. I bolted up, sweating. Shower time I thought briefly and grabbed my towel and clothes for the day.
I caught the boys doing meal prep the next day and I stifled a giggle. Derek's head snapped up. I was caught and I knew it so I entered the kitchen and grabbed a glass of tomato juice before turning around.
"What in God's name did you two do to get peeling duty?" they looked at me dumbstruck.
I chugged back my juice and exited the kitchen for class not even waiting for a reply.
The boys finally decided that meals were a good thing but they were immediately snatched up by the rest of the group. I sat away from the group; until Derek grabbed his full plate and moved down to sit with me. Simon followed suit soon after. The rest of the table glared at me and I went back to drinking yet another glass of juice. The boys looked at me confused, probably wondering what was wrong with me. I shrugged and ignored their puzzled stares.
I left before dinner ended and escaped to my room. I flopped on my bed and slid my sketchbook out from beneath my pillow. I flipped it open and drew out a room with a hospital bed and other equipment. I heard a knock on the door at 9, an hour before lights out. I opened it to reveal a very angry Amber. She was upset about me trying to steal everyone away from her. I listened intently, hopelessly confused as to why she was throwing such accusations at me. Then it hit me. She wasn't used to being ignored or abandoned. I shook my head.
"I'm not trying anything like that. I promise. The boys just sat with me because they thought I was being left out. They're new. Give them time and they'll come around to how this place is." I closed the door and went back to my bed, gingerly picking up my pencil and putting the finishing touches on my sketch.
The house was dead still when I woke at 6. I stood up and padded to my closet like every other day. I pulled out my Normality Challenged hoodie. I had almost forgotten about it, almost. I looked at it remorsefully. It was the sweater that I was wearing the day of the incident. The nurses had washed it many times in order to get the blood out, but it didn't matter. Nothing could wash away what I had done. I slipped it on and headed for the media room, sketch book in hand. I lightly stepped down the stairs, praying that I didn't wake anyone. I turned into the media room and jumped a foot in the air. Derek was sitting there surfing the net. He glanced over at my sharp intake of breath. He nodded and I sat on the sofa flipping it open to a new page. I started sketching what I remembered from that day. I felt the couch dip under Derek's weight as he sat next to me.
"You're pretty good. Simon would be jealous." He said I looked up at him then back down.
"I can only draw what I see in dreams." I smirked at the page. He nodded in understanding. We sat in silence for a moment and then I whispered, "You don't have to be nice to me you know."
He looked at me his face screwed up in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
I sighed. "In case you and Simon hadn't noticed everyone else here leaves me alone, even the nurses. I mean they're not mean about it, it's just that they give me a lot of space. And I'm betting you two will too if you ever find out what happened."
He sighed loudly. "If you don't mind being alone so much why does it look like you're about to cry? You've obviously been lying to everyone by saying it's okay to leave you alone. If you want friends so bad then why don't you try and join in."
I shook my head. "I tried that, but first impressions can be a bitch." I stood up and headed to the kitchen. I had left my sketchbook open on the coffee table and when I walked back in with a glass of tomato juice. I stopped dead in the doorway, my eyes widening when I saw Derek flipping through it. He stopped on the third page in and looked up at me.
"What's this one about?"
I glanced down and saw that it was my reflection in the bathroom mirror at the school. I looked away from him and shrugged, pretending not to know anything about the terrified, blood covered girl staring up from the page.
"What happened to you?"
I yanked my book out of his hand and slammed it shut.
"Nothing happened, okay? Why does someone always assume that there's some- fucking- thing wrong with me or that something happened to me?" I was hysterical and I knew it. The lights were flickering and the one above my head exploded, glass rained down on me giving me deep gashes across my palms. I curled up into a ball right where I stood, shaking and whispering. My eyes glued shut and my fists clutching my hair near my ears.
"Make it stop!" I was close to yelling. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and swatted it away leaving a trail of blood in its wake. I saw him stand out of the corner of my eye; he was going to get the nurses. Cold washed through me as I grabbed his pant leg, looking up desperately, he couldn't tell. He crouched down and looked me in the eyes.
"I'm only going to say that the bulb blew and you got hurt because of it." I nodded. He disappeared from the room leaving me alone. Tears streamed from my eyes. Was I going to get a transfer this time? I didn't know, but the thought buzzed around my mind like an angry wasp. I hadn't noticed that Derek had returned until he was pulling me to my feet. He led me to the kitchen where we were greeted by an angry Ms. Vandop. He held my hand out to her and she glared at it then at him, probably suspecting that he had something to do with the glass shards embedded in my palm. She muttered something about tweezers and vanished into Dr. Gill's office. I was looking at the cut mournfully. I knew what was coming, a lecture about being awake at 7 o`clock in the morning and how she`s repeatedly told me that I cannot do that, about my meds and lastly my first transfer warning.
Sure enough, I was right, however Ms. Talbot told her off about the transfer aspect. Derek chose to avoid me for the day. No doubt wondering what form of freak I was. He wasn`t attractive with his greasy black hair and face full of acne, but I loved looking into his eyes when I was speaking to him. They seemed familiar somehow. Simon avoided me too, no doubt because Derek had said something to him. I spent the day pretending everything was fine and that I didn`t see the disgusted looks on my housemates' faces. I stared at my Shakespeare book intently and cranked my iPod up to full. However I wasn't concentrating on anything but what happened that awful day and the cold looks I got from everyone, even the nurses.
A week passed and nothing changed. I went to my sessions, took my pills, did my work and pretended that nothing could ever get to me. It was about three weeks into February when Rachel and Elizabeth came to us. Mila had been rehabilitated but Amber was struggling along and ended up being transferred by the time Rae and Liz arrived. Brady was in denial and Peter was too involved in his videogames to notice the rest of us most times. I was nursing infected stiches.
By the time April rolled around Peter, Victoria, Simon, Rachel, Elizabeth, Derek and I were living in the house. One day the nurses said that they were taking the first five out to lunch while Ms. Talbot welcomed someone new. Derek and I were told to stay in our rooms. I cocked my head and wondered why Derek was told to stay here, me I understood. I was a hazard to everyone within a two block vicinity, Derek was an unexpected mystery. I complied and dashed to my room, locking the door behind me. Ms. Vandop was smug when she returned. She made it quite plain that she thought I was beneath her. I glared and stormed past her to the dining room, not expecting the new kid to join us.
