Banshee: Hello everyone! Here is the prologue for the new version of "Life with Organization XIII"! I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to writing for you again!
Prologue
Nails tapped against the floor as a black German Shepherd sauntered down the hallway, heading towards a bedroom with the door hanging open slightly. He pushed the door open with his nose, walking into the room, his eyes immediately landing on the figure sleeping in the bed; his current target.
Slowly approaching the bed, he sniffed at the mess of hair that poked out from underneath the blanket, letting out a low growl before barking loudly.
There was a loud, feminine shriek as the figure flailed around, falling off the bed.
Rubbing the back of her head, the girl sat up on the floor and glared at him with fiery blue eyes.
"Damn it, Butch!" She yelled out. "You know I hate it when you do that!"
Butch's only response was a little yip and a wag of the tail.
She glared at the canine. "Dinnae give me that look." She growled, referring to his clueless 'I don't know what you're talking about' look. "You and I both know that you're guilty."
Butch whined, pawing at her. She knew what that meant.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Time for breakfast." The girl sighed, getting up and patting Butch on the back of the neck. "Come on, let's go."
And with that, the girl walked out of the room, the Shepherd bounding after her exitedly.
That girl was named Nikki Hale; actually, her name is Nicole, but she prefers to be called 'Nikki.' At eighteen-years-old, Nikki is one of the oldest students in her high school; Destiny High, which she attends with all her friends. She's lived on the main island for quite a long time, now. Her family was originally from Sacred Meadow, but after some intense and careful thought, they decided that they needed a fresh start and moved to the islands.
Nikki is a pretty young lady, with fair skin and long, waist-length light-brown hair. Her most defining trait is her deep blue eyes, which can either freeze or burn someone alive depending on how she looked at them. She is neither too short, nor too tall, right in the middle as far as height is concerned, and her weight falls into an average range for a girl her age (I can't tell you her exact weight because she would hit me if I did).
Walking down to the kitchen, with Butch right at her heels, Nikki stopped dead in her tracks when she reached her sister's room. You would expect her to go inside and wake her sister up, telling her it was time for breakfast, but she didn't. Instead, she just stared into the empty room, sadness flashing in her eyes for a brief second before she shook it off and kept walking. Her sister hadn't moved out, left for work or gone off to college...
She was dead; died in a car crash when Nikki was eleven.
But there isn't time to dwell on that. The full story will be told another time.
When Nikki reached the kitchen, her mother was already there, having her morning coffee.
"G'mornin', Honey." Her mother, named Catherine, greeted her warmly; albeit tiredly.
"Mornin' Mom." Nikki returned the greeting, yawning. "What's for breakfast?"
"Whatever you want." Said her mother. "After I have my coffee."
Fair enough.
Yawning again, Nikki filled Butch's bowl with food and sat down at the table with her mother. Her father, Raymond, had already left for work, leaving them the only two people in the house. The room was filled with the smell of freshly-brewed coffee, and it seemed to wake Nikki up a bit, but not by much. She didn't like coffee anyway - too bitter for her taste. She and her mother talked for a little while, and the latter got up to make breakfast after her coffee was gone.
After a delicious breakfast of fruited pancakes, orange juice and toast - she was very hungry, Nikki ran back upstairs to get ready to meet her friends. It took her twenty minutes to find her music player - she never left the house without it - and she ended up finding it in her laundry basket. How it got there, she couldn't remember. After dressing up in a cute tank top and some shorts, she went to run out the door.
"Hold it, young lady!"
Nikki froze, one foot already outside the door, and slowly turned around. Her mother walked up to her with a knowing smile and held out her hand, and Nikki saw a little blue flip phone.
"You forgot something."
Smiling sheepishly, Nikki took the phone and stuffed it into her pocket, giving her mother a quick kiss on the cheek and uttering a quick "Thanks, Mom!" before running off.
"It's about time you showed up! What kept you?"
That was the greeting Nikki got when she finally met up with her friends at the beach. All of them had already arrived, and by the look of it they'd been there for at least half an hour.
The first girl was by far the tallest of the group, her jet black hair, highlighted with purple streaks, tied into low, curly pigtails that fell past her shoulders and over her chest. Her steely gray eyes stared at Nikki with disapproval.
Next to her was much shorter girl with short blonde hair and tanned skin, hanging shyly at the edge of the group. She said nothing, surveying the situation behind anxious green eyes.
At the other end of the group was a dark-skinned girl with brown eyes, and wavy black hair that cascaded down her back like a curtain. Her hand was on her hip, and she looked almost bored as she was waiting.
The friend who chastised her, the irate-looking redhead in the middle, had her arms crossed disapprovingly, her green eyes blazing.
"Good morning." Nikki greeted sarcastically, after taking in all their displeased expressions. "Nice to see you too."
"We've been waiting or you for almost an hour!" The redhead griped, tapping her foot.
"I'm sorry, Sandy." Nikki apologized. "I couldn't find my music player. It took me forever to find it."
"You kept us waiting for a music player?" Said Sandy, who looked offended.
"That, and I had to walk all the way here from my house."
"Drop it, Sandy." Said the tall girl, who cut in just as Sandy was ready to retort. "She may have been late, but she's here now. That's what matters. Now let's go."
The finality in the purple-highlighted raven's voice was enough to stop Sandy from scolding Nikki further. She then turned and walked towards the beach, the blonde shyly following behind her in order to escape the confrontation. The dark-skinned girl shot the two of them a look and followed suit, leaving the two of them lagging behind.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you." Sandy said.
"It's okay." Said Nikki. "If I had to wait an hour for someone to show up, I would have been mad too."
The redhead nodded, and they were silent for a moment as they made their way across the sand.
"So..." Sandy began, breaking the short silence. "Where was your music player?"
"Somehow it ended up in my laundry basket. I had to dig through a week's worth of clothes before I found it." Nikki explained.
"Lucky you found it before laundry day."
"Yeah, I know."
They finally found their spot after a couple of minutes. Getting out the beach tent they brought with them, Sandy was preparing to set it up.
"Hey Harry, Cassie, help me set this up."
Harry nodded and went over to help. Her real name is "Harriet." "Harry" was just a nickname; but only her friends could call her that. Anyone else would incur her gothic wrath. Being the tallest of all of them, Harriet grabbed the top of the tent and kept it stable. Meanwhile, Cassie, which was short for "Cassandra," helped the redhead put the pieces together. They finished after a few minutes, and soon they had all their stuff underneath it and were taking off their clothes, revealing their swimsuits. None of them went out into the sun until after they were finished applying sunscreen; especially Nikki and Harriet, who were both fair-skinned.
"Come on," Sandy urged. "Let's go in the water already!"
"Hang on, let me put my hair up." Said the dark-skinned girl, named Maggie, who was in the process of putting her long curtain of hair in an updo. She always hated getting her hair wet.
Nikki, who was tying up her own hair, shrugged. "Okay, you do that." She said, and she went to join Sandy at the water's edge. Meanwhile, Cassandra had gone off looking for sand dollars and Harriet was still under the tent reading a book; she never did like going out in the sun.
"Hurry up, Maggie!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!"
Finally finished with her hair, Maggie ran over, beach ball in hand, and they began tossing it around. For a good ten minutes they tossed and hit the ball back and forth, occasionally having to go and retrieve it when it went in the sand. Sometimes it would go out into the water, and Nikki or Sandy would be the one to bring it back. Maggie responded with weak slaps every time Sandy spiked the ball to her or Nikki tossed it over exceptionally hard. She cringed every time a wave came, convinced the water would splash over her. Eventually she had enough and went over to sit in the sun instead, leaving Nikki and Sandy to be as rough as they pleased.
"Guys." Harriet called out suddenly. When the others stopped what they were doing and looked at her, she simply pointed to an unpleasant scene that was unfolding.
Further down the beach, there was Cassandra, surrounded by a group of hostile-looking girls. Though her back was facing them, they could tell by her posture that she was uncomfortable and scared. The girls around her were walking up on her, waving their fingers in her face accusingly and yelling at her while she was stuttering out apologies. Cassandra was not only the shortest girl in the group, but she was also extremely shy and often broke down under pressure. It was only a matter of time before she burst into tears.
"Who do you think you are, huh?" They could hear the blonde, who appeared to be the leader, yelling at her.
"I-I'm sorry..." Cassandra apologized for what seemed like the fiftieth time, her voice starting to crack. "I-I was just looking for sand dollars..."
"Sand dollars?" The girl sneered. She waved her curly blonde hair out of her face flamboyantly. "You get in our way and nearly make us trip over your stupid ass because of some stupid sand dollars? Those are for stupid tourists!"
"Please..." Cassandra was close to tears now. "I didn't mean t-to get in your way... I'm sorry..."
"Sorry doesn't cut it." The blonde said coldly. "You need to be taught a lesson. Give me that bucket!"
Cassandra must have known what the girl was planning to do, for she started hugging the bucket of sand dollars closer to her and attempted to back away. But she was surrounded by the blonde's friends, who stopped her from going anywhere. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and she was on the verge of a breakdown, but none of her aggressors seemed to care. They were insisting on punishing her for an imagined crime. The response was immediate; Nikki, who was in possession of the ball, tossed it aside as she and Sandy got out of the water, not caring where it went; Maggie jumped out of her chair so fast, she almost fell into the sand; Harriet closed her book with a snap and stalked over, her steely eyes betraying her stoic face.
"No... please..." She pleaded.
"Give it to me!" The blonde ordered as she grabbed the bucket handle. "I'll smash those stupid things!"
"No!" Cassandra cried out desperately, holding on to the bucket for dear life.
"I said give it to me, you little-!"
"HEY!"
Everyone froze. The blonde and her posse all turned and saw Nikki and her group approaching with dangerous looks on their faces. Nikki and Sandy both had their hands balled into fists, Harriet was cracking her knuckles threateningly, and Maggie had removed her earrings on the way there and had them in her hand. At the sight of them, Cassandra was overcome with relief.
"Well, well, well." The group's leader cooed at the sight of the brunette, smirking maliciously. "If it isn't little Nikki and her pack of misfits."
"Leave her alone, Monique." Nikki said in a forceful voice.
"I'm not doing anything to her." The blonde replied snottily. "We're just talking."
"Oh, really?" Nikki replied coolly. "Looks more like you're harrassing her."
"Stay out of it, trash." One of the girls, who looked like Monique's exact double, but with brown hair, snapped at her. "Your stupid friend caused this. We're just resolving the matter."
"Shut up, Bella." Nikki snapped back, her lip curling. Bella made a noise, and looked affronted, but didn't say anything more. She turned back to Monique. "I'm giving you one chance. Let go of that bucket and walk away, and we can all go about our business."
"Or what?" Monique challenged, hands still clamped around the bucket handle, not letting go despite Cassandra's attempts to pull away. "What'll you do if we don't?"
Monique's friends all scoffed and giggled, looking sure of themselves. Harriet had Sandy by the arm, keeping her from rushing over and bashing the blonde's face in; though they all wanted to do the same thing.
Nikki looked Monique dead in her eyes, and said in a deadly serious voice that was cold as ice, "Clear off, or I'll bash your face in."
While the other girls were starting to get scared, the two dopplegangers laughed mockingly.
"Touch me, you piece of trash, and I'll call my daddy." Monique threatened, smirking as if she had won. "He knows people in the police department. Not only will you be arrested, but your dad will be fired!"
"Yeah!" Bella agreed, with an identical smirk on her face. "Besides, we outnumber you. Do you really think you and your gang of rejects can beat all of us?"
Harriet had let go of Sandy at this point, and they, along with Maggie, advanced upon the gang threateningly. They stood beside Nikki, whose eyes were still locked with Monique's as they glared at each other.
"Try us." Nikki responded, stone-faced. "So what if we're outnumbered? That hasn't stopped us before. You of all people should know that."
Monique's, and also Bella's, smirk faltered. Nikki knew she had won, just by the looks on their faces. This wasn't the first time they had an altercation. Monique and Bella had been Nikki's enemies for as long as she could remember. They were both on the cheer squad, with Monique being the leader, and they embodied every negative cheerleader stereotype; skinny, popular (despite their rotten attitudes, people always tried to get on their good side, lest they suffer the consequences), snobby bimbos that were as smart as a bag of rocks. Their father - yes, they are sisters; twins, in fact - was the principal of the local high school, which they all went to, something his two daughters often used to bully and push others around and get away with more than anyone else could. The twins would also harrass Nikki at every opportunity, provoking her so they could get her into trouble. But despite not being geniuses, they knew better than to take Nikki on by themselves, always being surrounded by their posse, which consisted mainly of their fellow cheerleaders. They had enough experience with Nikki to know that she was a fighter, and she, along with her friends, could take on their gang and come out of it victorious more than once.
After a tense moment, Monique regained her composure and straightened herself up. She huffed, flipping her hair again.
"Whatever." She said haughtily. "Trash like you isn't worth it."
Roughly shoving the bucket of sand dollars back into Cassandra's arms, and nearly knocking her over in the process, the blonde let out a loud "Hmph!" and stormed off importantly, nose up in the air, with Bella and the rest of her posse following suit.
"You okay, sweetie?" Maggie asked, concern filling her voice as she went over to Cassandra, who was trembling, and put her arms around her.
"U-Uh-huh..." Cassandra replied shakily.
"Lowlife cowards. They always pick on Cassie when we're not around." Sandy growled, glaring at the girls' retreating backs. "Leave it to the Alpha Bitch Twins to ruin our morning."
"They're not going to ruin our morning." Nikki said adamantly. "They can try, but they won't. Now come on," She continued, her demeanor returning to normal. "Let's go back to having fun."
"But what if they come back?" Cassandra asked fearfully.
"Then I'll knock their teeth in." Harriet said, expression as stoic as ever, holding up her clenched fist. This made Cassandra laugh a little.
Nikki returned home a few hours later, the skin on her shoulders and back slightly burned from her - exhausting - day at the beach. After the altercation with Monique and her gang, they went back to playing. Cassandra felt better after a few minutes of consoling, and ended up collecting enough sand dollars to decorate a wall.
After showering and rubbing aloe on her burns, Nikki decided that she wanted to go to Destiny Island. Taking her bag, she once again went out the door.
Apparently no one decided to go to the island that day, for the boats were all still there. Taking one of them, Nikki took the oars and began to paddle. When she reached the island, she tethered the boat to the dock and began to walk around. She could still see the main island from the shore, but it seemed so far away. Maybe that's what she liked about it. She was away from the noise, from school, and, most importantly, from Monique and Bella.
Feeling the edge of the water against her toes, she looked down and saw a little pink shell in the sand. Bending down to pick up the shell, she saw it was the exact same kind of shell her sister used to make their Wayfinders. Nikki's was made of blue shells. Just like her music player, her Wayfinder was another thing she never left the house without. She was carrying it in her pocket at this very moment. Though she didn't know how to make one, she still collected shells. Kairi had promised to teach her how, though. Stuffing the shell into a small bag, Nikki put in her ear buds, turned on the music player, and let the music fill her ears as she combed the beach looking for more shells. She spent the next few minutes picking up shells, only stopping when she had filled the bag. She then settled herself down on a towel she had laid on the sand, looking up at the sky before closing her eyes.
It was so quiet.
But then...
Suddenly she could feel another presence on the island. She doesn't have ESP or anything, something in her just knew. Opening her eyes, she scanned the shore, looking for signs of another person. When she looked, however, her boat was still the only one at the dock. She looked all around her, not finding a trace of anyone until her eyes landed on a certain palm tree; the same tree that Sora, Riku and Kairi always sat on.
But they weren't there. A stranger was sitting on the palm tree; a stranger wearing a black coat, the hood up concealing their face. The outfit was certainly strange. The coat seemed to be made of leather, and the boots were leather also. Weren't they hot in that getup? She didn't know if they were a boy or a girl, but her question was answered when they removed their hood.
It was definitely a boy; a young boy, possibly the same age as Sora, with big blue eyes and windswept blonde hair. He didn't seem to have noticed her, for he kept staring out into the horizon.
Not knowing who this boy was, though he seemed oddly familiar, Nikki opted to return to the main island. She quietly gathered her things and headed to the boat.
For the next several days afterward, Nikki went back to the island to see if the boy would show up. Some days he did, some days he didn't. But one thing was for sure; he went to the island for the same reason she did... for peace.
He did notice her after a while. At first he would disappear at the sight of her, as if she had caught him doing something illegal. Most of the time, though, they stayed away from each other, each letting the other have their space.
Nikki knew that this boy wasn't from the islands because she had never seen him in school. Where he was from, though, she had no clue, but she figured the coat he was wearing was a clue.
She tried telling her friends about the mysterious boy, but none of them believed he even existed. They tried telling her he was a ghost, but ghosts can't go around picking stuff up, and she knew just by looking at him that he was solid. The only ones that had a significant response to her claims were Sora, Riku and Kairi.
It was a beautiful, balmy summer day, and everyone was gathered for a small party. They were sitting at a picnic table, and while their friends were all goofing around and playing games, the four of them were engaged in a serious conversation. Nikki had asked to talk to them away from everyone else so that she could tell them what she saw, hoping that someone would believe her. To her relief, they seemed to be listening to what she had to say, and didn't simply dismiss it like everyone else did.
"You said you saw a boy on the island?" Sora inquired curiously.
"Yeah." Nikki confirmed. "I thought I was alone, but I looked and there he was, sitting on the palm tree. I don't think he noticed me, though. He was just staring off into space."
"What did he look like?" Asked Kairi.
"He was young, I know that. He didn't look any older than you guys. He had blue eyes, short blonde hair, and he was wearing some weird black coat."
At the words "black coat," their faces suddenly turned serious as they exchanged worried looks with one another. Neither one of them said a word, as if they were communicating telepathically. Nikki didn't undestand why they were responding this way.
"Is something wrong?" Nikki asked slowly, eyeing them warily.
Her question seemed to snap them out of it, for they were looking at her again.
"Oh, it's nothing," Kairi said reassuringly, forcing a smile as she waved it off. "You don't need to worry about it."
"But just to be safe, you need to stay away from him," Riku said very sternly, arms crossed.
"But why?" Nikki asked defiantly. "I've seen him, and he looks harmless. He's just a kid."
"Doesn't matter." Said Riku unwaveringly. "He may be harmless, but the crowd he hangs around with isn't. You're better off just staying away."
"Riku's right." Sora agreed. "You should listen to him. Not that we don't think you can take care of yourself or anything," He added quickly after seeing her glare, "but those weirdos in the coats aren't people to be messed with. They're just bad news."
"Please don't take this the wrong way, Nikki." Kairi chimed in, her face and voice much softer than Riku's. "We just want you to be safe."
Not only was Nikki offended, but she was hurt. It's not like she didn't know about their past adventures. When the three of them mysteriously vanished a year ago, she pressed them for answers as soon as they got back and got enough information out of them to fill a book. She knew that Sora was a Keyblade wielder, and Riku as well, and that they battled creatures called Heartless and Nobodies in their quest to rescue Kairi and return home. However, that was as much as they would tell her. They didn't elaborate on what Heartless and Nobodies were, how they came to possess their strange key-shaped weapons, and they wouldn't explain anything about their main enemies; some guy called 'Ansem' and 'Organization XIII.'
She couldn't believe it! Not only were they not telling her anything, but they were treating her like a little kid. What did they think, that she was a helpless little five-year-old? "Stay away from him," they said. "We just want you to be safe," they said. They were friends, but suddenly she felt as if they didn't have any faith in her to be able to handle herself or even trust her with knowing the full story. Hearing them say all that just made her want to talk to the boy even more.
"Gee." Nikki spat bitterly, moving to stand. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys."
And with that, she got up from the table and stormed away, all relief she had felt earlier being replaced by irritation. As she walked away, she could hear the trio whispering to each other anxiously, but ignored it and went to join Harriet, who was enjoying a book under the tree. Sitting with her knees up to her chest, crossed arms rested upon said knees, she glared at the trio, only stopping and looking the other way when they looked her way. They eventually left, casting her apologetic looks as they did so, Nikki glowering at them all the while.
They had to have been wrong. There was nothing about this kid that was dangerous. He did the same thing every time he came to the island. He would either sit on the palm tree, pick shells off the beach, or simply walk around. He seemed to notice that she was watching him, for he would watch her sometimes, more often than not from a hiding place. Never did he make an attempt to attack her or scare her away.
Not once, however, in all this time, did they speak to each other.
A week later, it was still the same routine. Nikki would go to the island, and she and the boy were so used to each other at this point that they went about their business without ever bothering, or even speaking to, each other.
It was sunset when she returned home. She had just been out with her friends, and they had gone to the local mall, where they played video games in the arcade for a good five hours. As soon as she walked in the door, Butch went up to her, whining, with a leash in his mouth.
"Aw, come on, Butch," Nikki moaned tiredly. "I just got back. I'll take you for a walk tomorow."
But Butch was persistent. He whined and pushed the leash towards her, growling when she ignored him. Every time she went to move around him, he would block her, still looking up at her expectantly.
"Ugh..." She groaned. "Fine. I'll take you for a stupid walk. But just around the block, got it?"
Butch seemed satisfied with this, for he started wagging his tail and whining excitedly. Grabbing the leash from his mouth, she fastened it to his collar, grabbed some dog bags and let Butch lead her out the door.
Unfortunately for Nikki, once around the block turned into several blocks. Butch just kept pulling her onward, and kept going even when she tried pulling him back towards home. They had walked for little over an hour before Butch was satisfied and began leading them back home. He led her back through the streets, when all of a sudden he stopped in his tracks. Nikki saw the fur on his back stand on end and his ears flatten as he growled.
"Butch? What's wrong?" She asked, but he ignored her, continuing to look straight ahead. Following his gaze, Nikki looked down the darkening street and saw a cloaked figure staring at them from around a corner. Judging by the size and build, she wondered if it was the same boy she had seen on Destiny Island.
"Can I help you?" Nikki called out to the figure.
At her voice, the boy flinched and ran away, making Butch start barking insanely. Rearing himself up on his hind legs, he tried yanking on the leash in order to give chase.
"Hey! Wait!"
With Butch running ahead, Nikki ran over to the corner to follow the boy. But when she rounded the corner, there was no one there. In fact, the road was a dead end. The street was lined with fences bordering people's yards, and unless he jumped one of them, there was no way the boy would have been able to disappear as quickly as he did. It was as if he had simply vanished.
"But..." Nikki stuttered, bewildered. "But I saw him go this way. How..?"
She tried scanning the area, but it had grown too dark to see anything. She didn't know if it was the same boy or not. All she knew was that what just happened was by far the strangest thing she had ever seen happen here.
"I wonder what that was about. Eh, whatever. Come on, Butch. Let's go home."
The Shepherd, who was so keen to chase the boy before, was more than happy to go home at this point. He turned around and began dragging Nikki along with him. As Butch dragged her back in the direction towards home, Nikki took some time to think. She wondered if that was the same boy she had seen on Destiny Island. It was odd that she never saw another boat besides hers docked at the island. How was he getting there if he wasn't using one? And if the boy she saw really was him, how did he manage to disappear without a trace?
"That was really weird."
The following day, Nikki didn't breathe a word of what happened the night before to her friends, knowing that they wouldn't believe her. And if she mentioned it to Sora, he, Riku and Kairi would just respond the same way they did last time; telling her it was nothing to concern herself with, but at the same time to stay as far away from that boy as possible. The way they were talking, it was as if the kid was a mass murderer or something. To add to the mystery, the three of them had started whispering anxiously to each other as she walked away. She knew right away that they were hiding something, and was considering confronting them, but she knew that Riku wouldn't tell her anything and would likely prevent her from getting anything out of Sora and Kairi.
In a foul mood, Nikki decided that she wanted to go to the island, in order to escape it all.
It was quiet when she got there, as most kids were going to the amusement park and the mall instead of the island, which meant she had it all to herself. She settled herself in the shade of some palm trees, and closed her eyes as she listened to the seagulls and the waves crashing on the shore. Hours passed as she laid contentedly beneath the trees. After a while, her anger and hurt faded away, and she was finally able to think rationally. This was a boy she didn't know, who obviously wasn't from the islands, and though he didn't look like a threat, looks can be deceiving. But it was hard to believe that this kid was dangerous at all. Maybe if she could just talk to him...
Just as Nikki opened her eyes to check her phone for the time, she saw a swirling dark void appear by the big palm tree. Stuffing her phone back into her pocket, Nikki got up and moved closer, and saw a small figure emerge from the strange black mass. The figure removed their hood, and though their back was to her, Nikki recognized them as the boy that had been coming there for days.
This was it. Now was her chance to finally talk to him.
"Hey!" She called out.
At her voice, the boy flinched and turned around to face her, his blue eyes were wide with shock, and it was obvious he wasn't expecting her to even be there, let alone start talking to him. An internal conflict was evident on his face, as if he was debating with himself on what he should do.
"It's okay," She reassured, stopping halfway across the bridge. "I just want to talk to you."
But the boy didn't seem keen to talk to her; in fact, he was backing away, keeping his mouth shut. A black void appeared behind him, but he kept his eye on her, backing into the void.
"Hey! Wait a minute! Where are you going?"
He ignored her, turning on his heel and running straight into the void, disappearing into its swirling, inky blackness.
"Wait!"
Despite every instinct telling her to stay away from it, Nikki ran towards the black mass just as it began to close. Managing to make it inside before it closed, Nikki immediately found herself surrounded by darkness. It was dark and cold, and she had no way of knowing which direction she ought to go. No matter where she looked, black was all she saw until she found a glimmer of hope; what looked like an exit in the distance. She ran towards it, hoping that it was a way out of this endless sea of black, and hoping even more that this exit would take her back to the island. When she finally reached the opening, what she found on the other side was shocking.
When the darkness faded, Nikki found herself, not on the island, but in the middle of a large city. Despite the lights in the windows, and the lit street lights, there wasn't a single person on the streets, making the city look empty. Instead of a bright blue sky and a shining sun, a deep blue-black sky, completely devoid of stars hung over her head. In the middle if the sky was a gigantic, heart-shaped moon, which she found very strange. The boy was nowhere to be found.
But the boy was the least of her worries now.
"Where am I? What is this place?"
To be continued...