No. 179
Chapter 1
It was a cold November morning, the sun lazily peeking over green Cranston Hill, which was still blanketed with fog. Rain had just fallen, but dry cold air quickly stole all the dampness off the ground. Over on Sterling Street the wind swept up leaves from the ground caressing them as it wound around the trees playfully. Nelly was in the backyard playing with her ball, alone. Again. She was tired of playing with the other children, them and their stupid opinions, always saying mean things behind her back. She couldn't take it anymore; she stood there ball in hand as the cold morning wind blew her hair, making the loose strands feel like whips across her cheeks and nose. She ran her finger on her dry cracked lips and licked them. She sniffed as a huge lump sat there in her throat, she forced it down, but felt the heat of her eyes as tears welled up in her eyes, a stray tear ran down her cheek.
"I won't stand for it… I won't." Her head shot down as the sound of a bicycle rode past. Her vision blurred and her nose frostbitten, Nelly agitatedly rubbed her eyes with her cold white fingers. White and pale and cold. That's what they were, and even more so she felt a tingling feeling earlier but ignored it, now she paid the price as she curled her fingers into a tight fist, feeling the rigidness and awkwardness that came with the unwelcomed movement. Numb.
"Should have worn mittens." Muttered Nelly, she wiped the hot tears from her face, leaving her skin wanting the warm sensation. Anger swelled up inside her; teeth clenched Nelly clasped the ball digging her nails into it. "Why am I so different from the others? I…I deserve friends too… don't I?" The tears were coming back. Nelly screamed with all her might and pelted the ball to the ground; it bounced away and rolled into the woods.
"Great." Nelly rolled her eyes and chased after the ball.
After a great deal of searching she finally found it, well, someone had found it. A tall boy with short black hair and pale white skin had it in his gloved hands. The ball was a dark scarlet with a white cross on the front, now dirtied by the years of use and mud. When she came closer, Nelly's mouth immediately curved up, she tried to hold it in but to no avail. Nelly burst into laughter; tears were coming from her eyes, she stopped.
"What's your name, mate?" She said wiping the tears away with her hand, she felt weird after she was laughing so hard. The strangers green eyes glared at her. For a few heartbeats they stood there looking at each other. His eyes were deep, like his gaze was never-ending and meaningful, but Nelly just wasn't sure why. His face was smooth and his chin strong, the black suit he wore reminded her of a butler, and so did his facial expression, patient, expecting and loyal.
"Is this, yours?" His full lips barely moved, there was a hint of some sort of German accent, it was cute. Nelly combed the loose strands of black hair out of her face and behind her ear; she felt her face turning red, quickly, forcing a smile out of her.
"I asked you a question, you know." Nelly stated with a superior tone to match the boy's mockingly good manners. He sighed and gazed at her face, his eyes had a certain fire in it that she didn't like. Finally he paced toward her; calmly he took her hand and gave her the ball. Leaning on her he whispered into her ear:
"Alastor…" The boy's green eyes looked into her blue ones and seemed to smile at her, "My name is Alastor."