Chapter 1:

A/N: The cover photo was made on Rinmaru Games.

"He's Here…" My eyes snapped open, I slowly turned over to face my alarm clock. 3:30a.m. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to remember the dream that had awoken me, but failing. I gave up and rolled out of bed and when my feet hit the ground, I let out a small squeak and jerked them back. The floor was FREEZING! At some point during the night, my AC must have turned on. I jumped out of bed and ran towards the AC unit, switched it off, and ran back to bed in record time. I Curled up under my covers and tried to go back to sleep.

I was almost asleep when I heard the car pull up in the driveway. I grabbed my pillow and put it over my head, knowing it would start soon. I winced when I heard the front door burst open. I heard the low muffled yells of my father down stairs and my mother's higher yells soon followed. There was a loud crash that sounded like broken glass hitting the hard wood floors of our living room. My mother's yells stopped suddenly. Everything was quiet.

I turned my head and felt something wet on my cheeks, I hadn't realized I was crying. And I didn't hear my door open. Someone pulled the pillow off my head. I smelled the alcohol on the person's breath before I saw who it actually was. Whoever it was pulled me out of bed by my hair. I didn't cry out. I knew it would only make it worse. The person threw me against the mirror above my dresser, shattering it.

Before I hit the ground, the person had me by my hair yet again. I was held up in the air, my feet dangling a foot off the ground, and at this point I knew it was my father who had me. He was about 6'4 and I was only a measly 5'2, meaning he could easily pick up and throw me.

"Stupid bitch," he said as he threw me out onto the hall way. I tried to crawl away to get to a phone, or something… anything. My father grabbed me by the back of my neck and pushed me against the wall before I could. He flipped me around to face him. We had the same ebony hair, the same jaw line, the same high cheek bones, and even the same eye shape. I hated how much I looked like him.

My father growled as he undid his belt buckle and the buttons on his pants. I shuddered, realizing what was coming. The smell of whiskey was over whelming as he leaned in closer. "Your filthy mother refused, so I though why not her filthy daughter instead. Should be just as good, right?" he said with a low chuckle. He forced his lips on mine. I wanted to pull away but his hand held me in place. His other hand worked its way down to my pajama pants as he slowly untied the drawstrings. He laughed as they fell. I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over.

When he finished, he let me go, and I slid down the wall. I curled there in a ball and closed my eyes, waiting for something new. He chuckled and said, "I need a drink." When his footsteps disappeared, I slowly sat up. The pain in my hips was nearly unbearable. I used the wall as leverage before wobbling to the bathroom. I stumbled and grabbed the sink for support.

When I looked in the mirror, I wanted to cry again. There was a thick bruise forming over my entire throat and I had a black eye. A bruise was slowly making its presence known on my cheek and I would probably have a limp for the rest of the week… It was only Monday.

I winched as I took a step toward the shower. I turned the shower on all the way hot and just sat there, letting the hot water fall over me and wash away the filth.

Turning the shower off, I wrapped myself in a towel and made my way slowly, but surely, to my room. I eventually got there and I glanced at my alarm clock, reading 5:00a.m. on its digital face. Two and a half hours of hell and it wasn't even daylight yet, but it was time to get ready for school. I hobbled over to my dresser, being careful not to step on the broken mirror. I pulled out a long-sleeved, red checkered flannel shirt, a black spaghetti strap shirt, and a pair of black, boot cut jeans. I struggled into the jeans and fell backwards onto my bed. I couldn't stand on my own much less walk around school all day.

Suddenly, I remembered two crutches in the corner behind my door from when I "fell" down the stairs and broke my leg last year. I could use those and if anybody asked I'd say I fell down the stairs again. I'm clumsy enough, so people would surely believe me…wouldn't they? It was Eliza that I would have to tell the truth. She's the only one that knew.

I made my way back to the dresser, grabbing my flat iron and makeup bag. I did my makeup while I waited for the flat iron to heat up. I put on my base and powder normally, but I did my eye shadow a deep purple. I applied it in a smoky eye style to blend it in with my black eye. As for the bruise on my cheek, it fit with my story of falling down the stairs.

By the time I was done, the flat iron was more than hot enough. I straightened my hair so that it covered the bruised part of my face and sighed as my alarm clock turned to 5:30. Time to go face the world. I grabbed my black high-tops from under my bed and put them on one foot at a time. I basically crawled to my door Until I reached the crutches. Using them to pull myself up, I repositioned them under my arms and headed down stairs.

The living room was a wreak! Glass from a broken vase was all over the floor and my mother was nowhere to be seen. I grabbed my house keys, phone, MP3 player, and a bottle of ibuprofen before heading out the door. I looked around, feeling like I had forgotten something.

The walk to the bus stop was horrible, and the ibuprofen didn't help at all. I was almost in tears by the time I got to the bus stop. As I got on the bus, the bus driver just looked at me and shook her head. I made my way to my seat at the very last row. My best friend Eliza was staring at me from the seat next to mine. She had a look of pure rage on her face. When I sat down, she instantly was on my case.

"What the hell did that bastard do to you now?!" she said in a hushed, but urgent voice. I just shook my head. She sat back and crossed her arms, mumbling something that sounded like, "I swear I'm gonna kick his ass someday!" I let out a light laugh, shaking my head again. "Why don't you just call the guard on him?" Eli Suddenly spun and asked me.

I jumped a little and replied, "Because he would charm his way out of it, and you forget he used to be captain of the guard."

She growled. "I forgot about that. I mean, I get the guard ore a bunch of creeps but by the Goddesses, he brings a whole new meaning to the word creep!"

I shrugged and looked forward and noticed two people sitting in the seats in front of us. No one ever sat there. Eli was still mumbling something about kicking ass and not caring what happened. I looked around and saw a piece of paper on the floor. I quickly picked it up and made a paper ball, throwing it at Eli, hitting her in the head. She looked at me and made a crazy gesture that probably meant something along the lines of "What!?" I pointed to the two strangers. She looked forward and looked back.

"Who are they?" she whispered to me.

"I have no idea," I replied.

One of them was all gold and green. He was wearing a green hoodie with a pair of jeans. He had blond, almost brown hair, but it looked like bronze when the light hit it. The other was all black and red. He had raven black hair and he was wearing a black hoodie with a pair of black jeans. They both had their ears pierced the blond had simple blue hoops, the darker had identical red hoops.

"Twins?" I asked Eli.

She shrugged. From the back they did look identical, almost a good vs evil type thing. "I wish they would turn around," Eli said.

Almost in that exact moment the blond one turned around. He had shockingly blue eyes. "You know I can hear you, right?" He had a deep, but not too deep a voice. It was almost melodic.

Eli and I both pulled the classic shocked anime pose in our seats. "Umm…. uh… ah…" I couldn't think of anything to say.

"Thank you for turning around. I can see what you look like now," Eli said, regaining her composure.

There was a deeper chuckle from the seat in front of me, but the darker of the two never turned around. I grimaced and pulled out the bottle of ibuprofen and took out two; and Eli, without even looking, pulled a bottle of water out of her backpack and handed it to me. I swear, she can read minds sometimes. I took the two ibuprofen and turned to stare out the window. It was almost a two hour ride to school. I could vaguely hear Eli and the blond boy having a conversation.

I zoned out, thinking about my life and how it had gone wrong. How had my dad had gone from a honorable member of society to a drunk asshole? I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me until a deep voice said, "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

I jumped and looked towards the voice. It was the darker of the two boys. I was immediately taken aback by the boy. He had a strong jaw, high cheek bones, angular eyebrows, thin lips that seemed to be in a permanent smirk, and his eyes were a startling scarlet red.

"Hello!? Anybody home?" he called out, turning his head to the side.

"Sorry? I was zoned out," I admitted sheepishly.

"I noticed. My name's Dark, by the way," he said, his smirk returning.

"I'm Kai," I replied

"Kai. That's a cool name," Dark said. I think he was being genuine "So what's with the crutches, Kai?" He drew out my name and the way he said it sent shivers down my spine.

"Um, I fell down the stairs," I answered, trying to catch my breath.

"You fell down the stairs?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah, I'm clumsy like that," I said with a blush.

"Hmm, well, I like your eyes!" he exclaimed, suddenly changing the subject.

"What?" I inquired, thrown off.

"Your eyes… They're purple," Dark explained.

I instantly panicked. "Oh my goddesses, I forgot my contacts!"

"You don't like your eyes?" he asked me with a puzzled look.

I shook my head. "Oh, no! I love my eyes. People just make fun of them, so I hide them," I explained the situation with a shrug.

Dark frowned. "Well that's stupid," he said bluntly. "You shouldn't have to hide who you are."

With that he turned around in his seat. I sighed, seeing the school in the distance. It wouldn't be long now. I glanced back at Dark. If only he knew…

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