Ebony Hills

She wiggled her fingers, her bright purple eyes flickering to the computer screen again. The bright light illuminated her face in the thick darkness that folded over her, her dark black hair braided in a low French braid that ran down her back. Her pale skin seemed to have an eerie glow in the light, her left leg bobbing a bit in annoyance. She narrowed her eyes at the screen as her computer made some clunking noises, the internet taking a long time to load. Finally, the homepage of 'Ebony hills' came up, her website she created dedicated to all things supernatural and superstition.

Her name was Angelique Arnauld, a young girl of seventeen. Her skin was paper white due to the lack of sunlight, and the simple word 'genetics', her hair dark as the midnight sky, and her eyes shaded with an odd color never seen on humans; purple. She let people believe they were contacts, but really they weren't. She was obsessed with everything superstition and supernatural; werewolves, vampires, black cats and voodoo dolls. Cruses and charms, witches and everything in between. That one fact made many people intimidated by her, or simply thought she was weird.

Her only friends were online on her website, and her friend Magdalene, who had started off on her own journey just weeks before. So now all she had was her Umbreon, and her online friends who were probably old weirdoes who had no life. Her parents were never home; her dad was always on business trips, and cheating on her oblivious mother, who was always out on business trips as well. They always left Angelique alone to watch over the house, so to her it felt like living alone. She sighed, arching her back and letting her slim fingers fly over the keyboard as she signed in as 'DarkAbyss', her username on her website.

She waited until the black home page popped up again, and clicked on 'chat boards' instantly. She saw many people were on, but one topic caught her eye. She clicked on it, and realized everyone kind of stopped when she, the admin, entered. She saw they had been discussing the amount of flesh a werewolf eats in a day. Some said they killed once, like wolves, others said whenever they got hungry.

Angelique herself always thought they killed once or twice, mostly at night, and typed that. She saw people rear up again, some supporting her, and others debating it not true. She was an expert at all this stuff, thus she saw the reluctance of the others when they heard her explain it in vast detail.
Hm. Now she was beginning to see why people avoided her…

Angelique eventually grew bored, and updated a couple of her pages and such, and then signed off after bidding goodbye to the chat room she was in. She turned the computer off, and walked to the couch in the living room, flopping onto it and bringing her arm over her face, sighing as she shut her bright purple eyes. She was tired…and tomorrow was Monday. She groaned, and rolled onto her stomach, crossing her arms on the arm of the couch, putting her chin on it, and peering over at the wall. She got decent grades in school, but she hated it with a passion. She would much rather stay at home all day. But she had to go, since she wanted to go to college like any other sane teenager did. She rolled onto her back again and flicked the TV on, settling on 'A Haunting' after channel surfing for a couple minutes.

She was amused by the show for a while until she grew restless and bored, so she left the soft couch to get a drink. She turned to water on and listened to the water splash into the sink as she pulled a plastic cup from the cabinet and pulled it under the faucet, the cup filling with cold water. She pulled it away and brought the cup to her lips, tilting her head and cup back, gulping down the water until she tossed the cup away into the trash can, easily growing bored. Angelique walked back to the couch but took a detour when she heard the sharp noise of the phone ringing, her eyes flickering towards it, lips parted in surprise. She shrugged and grabbed it, bringing it to her ear and asking hello in a bored manner.

"Hello, this is the president of the Psychotic club. We voted, and you were chosen to be out next president!"

It didn't even take minutes for Angelique to know who it was.

"Magdalene!" She cried happily. Her old friend always called her Crazy despite the fact she was obviously not, yet she never shut up about it. Angelique didn't mind much since she knew her friend was kidding, so she never fought much about it. She wondered how she was calling her since the phones she had to use were those weird computer ones, but she didn't say a thing as she listened to her friend talk about how she as traveling with some new friends. Angelique smiled as she shot off into her usual rants about pokemon rights and how pokeballs were wrong, and so on. She felt bad for whoever traveled with her. Angelique set off on her journey when she was ten, and returned with all badges by the time she turned sixteen. She wanted a break, so she spent a year home, despite her family's issues, though they themselves were unaware.

"You have to come and travel with me, Angel!" Magdalene whined lightly. Angelique bit her bottom lip and glanced at Umbreon, who suddenly looked eager. She didn't even have to take another look to know he wanted to go. Umbreon was her first pokemon, and she always kept it out by her side. She had other pokemon and loved them equally, but Umbreon always had a special place in her heart. She glared at the begging pokemon, and ignored him as she focused on chatting with her friend.

"Sorry Maggie but you know me. I paid my dues, beat every gym out there, and aced every contest in between. Me and my pokemon want a break. Maybe next year I'll join you, but not now, because—"

"Because what?" She snapped. She blinked at the anger in her voice, and went rigid as she continued sharply. "Angel, you're scared aren't you? You don't want a break, or to be with your messed-up family, nor do you want to forget about all you've seen. Angel…" Her voice softened. "I know what happened scared you, and you left because of it. But it's all behind you now. You need to get back out there, or else you never will."

Okay, so the rest part was a half lie. Something happened that year of her sixteenth birthday while she was traveling. Something horrible and terrifying; something Angelique never wanted to remember or experience again. It was just like Magdalene to analyze and break down every thing she said, using her past to mingle with the preset.

"Maggie…" She trailed off, her throat clenching up. What was there to say? She struggled for the right words but came up blank, her tongue seeming thick ad she couldn't get any words out. Her mind flailed for understanding, but she felt numb. Umbreon nudged her lightly and whimpered, red eyes glowing with sympathy. He was there, with her when it happened. Yet here he was, wanting to go back out there. What did that make Angelique? A coward. She was so happy, with all those badges and that reputation, where everyone knew her name. And then she ran; fled the life to cower at home, the place she escaped from.

"What?" Her friend's soft voice jarred her from her thoughts. She gulped down the word no, and gathered up all her courage. One look at her faithful Umbreon and the words slipped from her lips freely, jumbling into her friends ear. The word she wanted to say so long ago but couldn't bear to. All those years coming back to her in a flash.

"Yes." She whispered. It was now or never. "Yes, Magdalene. I'll come with you."