Disclaimer: I had help with the names. Names were donated by GimmerIcewood, xFallenskyx, Wolfgrowl, xXSilvershadeXx, XxSmallstepxX, Halliova, and Coalstorm of WindClan. Also, the story takes place in the real world and would be as if they were humans. The gangs are what the Outsiders (People outside the clans) call the two Clans. The clan names are normal until you get to the kits and apprentices. The apprentices have -path instead of -paw, and the kits have -tot instead of -kit.
Please, review and enjoy!
Chapter 1
Light faded as the rain continued to pour. A young teen stood at the foot of a strange dark building. Her eyes blankly stared off into the distance. Memories flashed through her eyes, but none were recognizable. She sighed. Nothing could be heard except the faint patter-patter of raindrops splattering against the cold ground.
A sharp squeal rang as the large doors of the uncanny building creaked open. The girl jolted. A frail woman poked her head out the door. Her soft blue eyes glanced at the young teen. Her jaw locked at a gaping potion. The girl was shaken with multiple scars stretching across her lean body. Bruises could be seen splotched on her eye and cheeks.
"Rafaela!" the woman praised. Her arms embraced the soaking teen. "We heard about the crash. We thought you were dead!" she spoke as tears flooded her eyes.
The woman wept some more, her head pressing against the teenage girl's shoulders. When she finally finished, she wiped the tears from her eyes. "How did you escape? Never mind that, you're back!" the teen just stared at the woman. "Come, come on in. You must be freezing.
The girl nodded as the woman motioned her inside. She followed the woman through a retro-styled room. The wooden floors creaked beneath their feet. Security cameras were focused on the wooden door where they entered through. The woman past a front desk and swiped a clipboard that was set on the top counter.
"Why are you escorting me to my room?" Rafaela asked. "I'm pretty sure I can find it myself."
"When you ran away, the manager made it clear that once you were found and brought back, you would be escorted back to your room and that no other would try to escape."
The teen gritted her teeth and forced her cheek muscles to relax. They finally made it to her room. The woman placed a plastic card in her hands and stood behind the teen. Rafaela took the key card and swiped it down the key card lock. There was a light click and she entered her room. The woman made some scribbles on her clipboard and strolled away. The girl growled and shut the door.
She stood in her room in the dead silence. Nothing made a sound except for the howling of the wind from the outside. She shivered.
Frost glazed over the musty, old window. Its panes iced over with white powdery snow. A single eye appeared through the foggy glass. Rafaela stood motionless with fingers pressed on the smooth sanded frame. She peered beyond the uncanny eye and deep into her soul. She breathed a sigh which had cleared most of the fog.
There wasn't really much to see. Shadows of the neighboring buildings were covering most views of the alley ways. Cylinder trash cans stood up right from the street lamp's luminous light. The girl placed a hand on the frigged glass. Hairs spiked their way up her arm. She yanked her arm back.
She whirled around and plodded over to her right. She sat on her cot, a large green matt lain on a box-like surface. Ragged blankets were folded neatly on the end of the cot. A night stand sat to the left of her bedside, next to her pillow. She flicked on the lamp and gazed at the strange figure resting on top of a tattered book.
The figure was made of stone and had detailed markings. She snatched the figure up and began to study it more immensely. This wasn't here before, she thought. It must have been one of the janitor's. They always leave things here. She sighed. It did look good, for a handcrafted sculpture of a serpent, that is. Two tiny holes were drilled into the dragon's head, each about a millimeter wide. A strong, but thin string was strung onto the figure making it appear to be more of a special sort of amulet-like necklace. She slipped it on and had let it dangle from her neck.
Rafaela stood up and briskly made her way out of her room. Anger faded out of her mind as she made her way down the long, cream colored hallway. Her mind began to surge as she set foot in the restroom. Hardly anyone came into the restroom at this time of night. Lights flickered on and the room began to buzz and awaken from a long rest. The girl strolled to the line of sinks, to the south of the door. Her eyes rolled up to the security camera, pointed towards the restroom's main entrance and exit.
Slowly, she made her way to the center of the chilly room. She tapped her foot on various tiles until she found the lose one. She knelt down and opened up the compartment. Carefully, she scooped up the army knife. Its long blade glinted under the restroom lights. The handle was made of a soft black leather. She shoved her hand, along with the knife in her pockets. She stood back up and shoved the tile with her foot back into its place where it covered the compartment once more.
She glanced at the security camera once again. No one can stop me this time, she thought. She sauntered back down the creamy hallway and turned to the door that was the one that had the door mat that said "Welcome" on it. She swiped her card and returned to her room.
The air was still as chilly as it was when she left. She snagged the knife from her pocket and plodded over to a full-body mirror. She clutched her long black hair in a ponytail position with her left hand and raised her knife in the other. Her face was pale from the cold. She made a swift upper cut and the hair was sliced in the same instant. She let go and locks of black hair fell gracefully to the ground. By the end of her self-produced haircut, her hair was cut into a shaggy hairstyle worn by most guys in her building.
Compared to most guys in her building, she was the most innovating of them all. Her jeans were held around her hips by a plain, old, tan, lose fitted belt. Rips and tears could be seen at the leggings of her jeans. Mostly it was from the countless times that she stepped on them whenever she walked. She had a soft black jacket was unzipped which revealed her black t-shirt with faint outlines of a dragon breathing fire. Thick white lines outlined the dragon's head, body, and claws, while red, yellow, and orange lines swept across the shirt in what seemed to be flames. Green circles directed where the piercing eyes would be. She seemed to never get out of wearing it every day at least once. Every once in a while, she would be sent back into her room to change out of it because she had already had worn it once. Her shoes were beaten down from the myriad times of walking, running, and the occasional times of tripping.
She held her new dragon, which dangled from a string, in her hand. A strange presence swept her mind as thoughts emerged once more. It was as if her mind was blocking something very crucial. Intel that may indicate what was going on. She shook the thought from her head and turned to the window. She uttered some soft words underneath her breath and then plodded to the window.
Breathing a breath of calm air, she held up her hand. She placed it on the frosted glass. A chill was sent up her spine. She gritted her teeth and forced her arms into the window. At first the glass was thick and her arms slid. She fell forward, cheek pressing against the frigid glass. She pulled her body back and dove at the frosted aperture. The ice cracked and the panes split open. A gush of snowy wind swooped into the room. She clinched her teeth harder as she set foot on the edge of the window. There was a small four foot drop which continued to the ally way.
A raucous alarm blared. She became wide-eyed and quickly scrambled out the window and took off sprinting. Her heart raced as she lunged herself at a wire fence and screeched around a corner. Come on, Come on. A voice whispered. She ducked behind a wall and pressed her back against it. She breathed heavily. She glanced back around the corner. Lights lit up throughout the entire building. Shadows of tall figures moved swiftly about and through her room. A head popped out her window and peered around. Soon, the head returned in doors. The shadows left the room and soon the lights blacked out. Rafaela sighed as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She left the corner and ran to the end of the alley. Tall buildings surrounded the streets around her. She ducked out of the glare of streetlights. A sharp sting gripped her right hand. Without a thought, she clutched it tightly in her left. Blood covered her hands as the pain increased.
Come on... She thought to herself. I have got to get out of here.
"Hey, Rafaela!" a male voice shouted from the balcony of one of the tall buildings. "What are you doing around here at this time of night?"
"Can I come in?" the black-hared girl shouted.
"Sure thing, Romeo," the slender, creamy blonde-haired guy replied. "Let me just let down my hair."
"Quit joking around," Rafaela grunted. "And just open the front door, Rupunzel."
"OK, OK," The guy disappeared. A few moments later, the same guy appeared at the front door. "What do you..." His voice was cut off when Rafaela blew past him. "Uh... Come on in... it's not like my parents aren't home or anything. But..." His eyes widened. "Is your hand bleeding?"
"Congratulations, Ian," Rafaela muttered. "You actually paid attention to details and not your graphing calculator."
"Haha, very funny," he said as he slid his bulky glasses farther up on his nose.
"Oye, Ian, who's at the..." another male voice sounded. "Woah... Uhh... Hi... We heard about the incident. We thought you finally had done it."
Rafaela glanced up the stairs and peered at a tall guy wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. The guy blushed as he glanced at the girl. "Hey, Ace," she giggled. "I didn't know you were that sexy."
Ace, a tan male with short, messy brown with black streaks in it, and light, honey-colored brown eyes, growled. "Ian," he roared. "You idiot! Why did you let her in here?"
"I didn't, Ace," Ian retorted. "And why are you practically naked? Especially in front of a girl!"
"It wasn't my fault that I didn't know you let a girl into the house." Ace grumbled.
"Go put some clothes on!"
"I was just about to do that," Ace uttered under his breath. He disappeared.
Rafaela winced some more.
"Are you OK?" Ian questioned.
"I'm... fine..." the girl grunted through gritted teeth.
"Come here," the seventeen-year-old motioned to the girl. She followed and they went deeper into Ian's home. The walls were from floor to celling with myriad pictures hanging on the walls. Each photo was practically the same as the next with the commonalities being Ian holding a gold medal or trophy.
"Why's Ace here?" Rafaela asked as they kept walking. They appeared in the dining room and kitchen combination. The only thing that separated the two rooms was the countertop that hooked around in a half oval shape. In front of them was a fairly small table, probably big enough to seat four or five bodies. The girl sat at the far end of the rectangular table, her back to the porch window. In front of her was a laptop resting next to a few textbooks. A gray graphing calculator was sitting open on top of one of the books, closest to the closed laptop. Ian stood, leaning against the refrigerator.
"It's," he paused trying to find the words to say. "Complicated."
"What's so complicated about explaining why you're harboring a criminal in your home?" Rafaela retorted.
"Still as hot-headed as usual, I see," Ian sighed as he glanced down at his brown loafers. "He's not just a criminal, you know."
"Yeah, so?" Rafaela slammed her fists down onto the table. The table shook violently.
"He's my brother." The tall boy argued.
"Yeah, a brother that ran away." Rafaela scolded.
"So? You tried to run away too." Ian countered.
"You think I don't know that?" the girl roared.
"No, it's just..." his words were left hanging.
"Ian, just shut up and let the girl do her thing. There's no reason to start an argument." Ace commanded as he strolled in. Rafaela smiled as the shaggy-haired boy had appeared in actual clothes. He whore black jeans, a black t-shirt with a picture of a skull on it, and black black shoes. "What happened to your arm, Rafeala?"
"It's nothing," she muttered.
"It seems a little more than nothing." Ace attempted to get a closer look. "The scar seems quite deep for nothing."
Ian gasped, "You're trying to run away again, aren't you?"
Ace crept back slowly., making barely any sounds.
"Yes, and hopefully get out of this Hell-hole once and for all."
"Where, you gonna go?" Ace asked. "It isn't safe out there."
"And where's your right to say that? You ran away too." She growled.
"Well, I didn't go in the direction of where you're going." The brown haired boy sneered.
"Of course," the black haired girl said through a creepy grin. "You're all just a couple of wimps."
"What did you just call me?" Ace growled. His eyes flashed as he flung out his arms on either side. "I mean I can understand why called that big idiot a wimp, but why me?"
"Isn't it obvious?" She sneered. "It's because you are."
"Ugh! Ian," Ace hissed. "Finish cleaning her wounds up and then let her go on her way." The boy stormed off, muttering curse words beneath his breath.
Ian leaned in and carefully wrapped some gauze around the girl's arm. Moments after he finished he stupid back up and leaded against the refrigerator door once more. He sighed. "Well, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know," Rafaela breathed as she pressed her fingers against the gauze. "Live off the land, I guess."
"Look, I'm sorry for what my brother did to you."
"No, it's OK," she said sweetly." I have to go anyways."
"Well," Ian sighed once more. "I guess this is goodbye."
"Yes, this is." The black haired girl replied as she stood up. The blonde haired boy stepped in front of her right as she was about to leave.
"Will I ever see you again?" He asked. He forced his crusty lips from quivering.
"I don't know, man," she responded in an awkwardly manner.
"Well, God bless."
"Yeah," Rafaela sighed. "See ya."
With that, she quickly flung her hand up. Ian took a pace back and watched the tomboy slowly plod to the front door. He snuffled and his eyes filled with water as his friend left the apartment.