AN: I do not own or operate the characters from Victorious. I just keep them alive. Someone else owns them and has already made a fortune from them.
I am not that good at containing my writing to shorter stories, but I am working on it. I hope you like it.
Enjoy S.M.
The Gossamer Touch
Chapter 1: The Slow Vanish
Hi my name is Jade West and I am not normal. Well I was normal for a big part of my life, or at least I thought that I was. I went through my early school years just like every other dorky girl. I was a bit smarter than the others in my class and I often wrote stories that were different than the others, but I was still passing as normal. In junior high no one noticed, because everyone is geeky and dorky in junior high school. Then I auditioned for the famous Hollywood Arts School.
It wasn't odd that I auditioned, it was odd that I got in. That is when things started to change for me. That is when others started to think I was weird.
My life was moved by a movie that I snuck in to the theatre to see. The movie was a horror movie called "The Scissoring". I started to listen to Goth music and wearing a lot of black. For me it was a way to keep people away from me. If people stayed away then they wouldn't be able to get close enough to hurt me.
My family was a train wreck. Mom and Dad fought nonstop. They stopped caring if I was around or not so I spent a lot of time out of the house and just being away.
I seemed to scare people. That gave me power over them. I could have them around and then chase them off. I could control all situations, unlike at home. Soon I managed to push everyone away except for a small group of people who I would consider to be "different" too.
I had only one friend and that was Cat Valentine. Well saying that Cat was a friend was really a misnomer. She was a strange girl who had a lot of insecurities. She lived with her mother and brother. Her mother was as messed up as she was and her brother was psychotic.
She died her hair the same color as red velvet cupcakes one of her favourite foods. That was the way she was very spontaneous and very insecure. She was afraid of her own shadow most days, until you got her really riled up. Then she was a stick of dynamite.
Cat is more like a pet than a friend. I spend most of my time trying to keep her out of trouble and explaining things she doesn't understand. A good part of my day is spent doing that.
We have been friends since the second grade. A boy was trying to get her to show him her underwear for a quarter. I beat the crap out of him and took his quarter. Later I told her not to show the boys her underwear anymore. I gave her the quarter and she lifted her frilly dress and showed me. I knew right then and there that my life job would be looking after this crazy girl.
I met the others when I moved to Hollywood Arts. I met Andrè and Beck in my first class. I was forced to do a group assignment with them. They were not that bad as guys go so I kept them around. I found that I was comfortable around Beck and soon we were going out together.
It was a rough ride. We fought a lot and even when we made up we kept score and hurt each other. Truth be known we broke up three times. Most would tell you two times, but there was a weekend where we broke up and got back together before the weekend was over.
Then one week it just fell apart and we both knew it was over and we would never be able to put the pieces back together again. We were done. We try to be friends, but it is a lot of work and takes far too much energy most days. I try to avoid him as much as possible.
I was looking for something or someone. I couldn't even put into words the feeling that I had. I felt like I was meant to meet someone and protect them. I didn't know who or even why.
I started having these strange dreams about the time I turned fifteen. It wasn't every night, but it was at least twice a week. I was running holding the hand of someone dragging them behind me. I was never able to see the person's face.
In my dream I knew that my duty was to protect this life. I never knew what I was protecting this person from, but I knew I would put my life on the line for this being. Sometimes I would find myself fighting back. I seemed to be swinging something, maybe a club or a stick. I had to fight back against something.
Every time I had those dreams I would wake up in a cold sweat. I would be trying to scream someone's name, but I couldn't. For a second I had the name on the tip of my tongue but when I would wake up I lose the name. I dissolved in my mouth before I could say it out loud.
I tried everything to exercise these dreams. I even let Cat talk me into letting this student that creeps on me all the time to hypnotise me. I made sure I took Cat with me so that Sinjin Van Cleef, that little worm, didn't have me undress or something worse.
He was not able to find anything out. It was like it was blocked so that he could not unlock the door that it was all hid behind. I was hoping that he would at least be able to give me a name, but he was not able to do that.
He asked me who it was that I was protecting and according to Cat I told him that he had no right to ask that question and that he should mind his own business. I then supposedly told him that asking too many questions could get him killed. When he asked who would want to kill him. I just laughed an evil laugh and told him I would kill him in a heartbeat and he would never see it coming.
I even went to a couple of different psychiatrists and psychologists but even though had lots of theories they were still not able to stop the nightmares and solve the mystery of the missing name. I was becoming more and more withdrawn and depressed.
I was sure that I would have to suffer this alone and the few friends that I had would slowly drift away from me and I would be alone.
Although I would never admit it to anyone, I spent a number of nights crying in my room in the dark. It was like an illness that I could never be cured of and that I would have to live with this hollowness I felt for the rest of my life.
I stopped enjoying food so I stopped eating. I was living on coffee and junk food. Cat finally told me that everyone was worried about my health. She said that I looked terrible.
When I looked in the mirror I hardly recognized myself. My skin was wrinkled and as thin as paper. I, like my spirit, was becoming transparent. Soon I would disappear altogether. My eyes looked like road maps covered with scattered red highways. Even my gums were bleeding. I was losing ground quickly.
Beck and Andrè soon stopped calling and asking me to join them. Cat was trying hard to be a good friend, but even she was starting to move away from me. I don't blame them. I didn't even want to be around me anymore.
I was failing my classes and I didn't even care. I spent most of my days and nights sketching scenes from my dreams in notebooks. I would draw the entire scene in delicate detail, but when I would go to draw the face of the person at the end of my arm there would be a blank spot.
I had to find a way out of this. I had to find a way to save myself, but how?
AN: Well there you go the first chapter of a story that is running around in my head. I am a bit like Jade in this story. I am not really sure where the words will take me, but I know it will be a fun ride. Let me know what you think. If you liked this story try some of my other stuff. Thanks S.M.
