Chapter 1
Reality Sucks

I sigh heavily, leaning against the cold rough trunk of the tall oak tree. I look up to see the glowing green leaves as the sun peeks through blinding me slightly. I growl under my breath as a warm breeze blows my hair back from my face. "This isn't right" I grumble. I push myself from the ground and step forward from the tree, my bare feet softly indenting the soft green grass. At first I begin to hum quietly, and then I begin to sing,

"I linger in the doorway

Of alarm clock screaming

Monsters calling my name

Let me stay

Where the wind will whisper to me

Where the raindrops, as they're falling, tell a story"

As I continue to sing the trees turn from fresh green to yellow, red, orange and brown. They begin to fall from the trees littering the dying grass below. Thorned vines encase the trunks of the dying trees, like anacondas. I continue to sing louder,

"In my field of paper flowers

And candy clouds of lullaby

I lie inside myself for hours

And watch my purple sky fly over me"

The sky turns an ire bright orange red; a black moon sets itself where the sun had been. I reach down to the ground picking up a black flower; I put my nose to it breathing in its scent of blood. I press my thumb to one of the thorns of the flower, it punctures the skin causing me to bleed, I lick the small drop of blood from my thumb then drop the rose to the ground.

A raven flies by perching itself on a nearby tree. I whistle softly, calling the bird as I place out an arm for it to perch upon. The raven flies towards my arm its black feathers tinted red reflecting the glow of the bright red sky. He lands onto my arm; I look into its blood red eyes. He stares back at my red eyes and squawks. I wince as the ravens razor sharp talons dig into my pale flesh producing blood which drips down my arm. I slightly jerk my arm towards the sky signaling the bird to flee from my aching flesh. Flying away I stare at its black feathered body as it disappears into the cluster of dying fall trees. I stare into the red glowing, foggy woods, seeing a pair of bloody red eyes glaring at me. I raise my head slightly and howl. In response to my call a black red eyes wolf pup hesitantly pokes its head from the dead woods. I get down on my knees and snap my fingers and whistle, realizing I am no threat the small wolf pup scampers through the litter of fall leaves and excitedly jumps into my arms. I fall backwards onto my back as the puppy licks my pale face. I pet his head, scratching behind his ears. "Hey Scar" I say smiling widely, laughing at the puppies' hyper behavior. Scar jumps from my chest back to the forest floor. I get up swiftly my see through black night gown flowing behind me in the cool fall breeze.

I move forwards running into the foggy crimson glowing woods; my bare feet breaking the fragile dead leaves on the dead forest floor. I run swiftly with Scar scampering behind me jumping in the colorful leaves. I run till we reach a small clearing with a small spring. The water seems red, reflecting the sky's color, making it almost look like blood. I discard my clear night gown, leaving me in my black bra and panties. I step into the bloody water and sigh as my skin touches the warm water. I walk into the center of the spring and dunk my head under water. I let myself sing to the bottom; when I feel myself reach the bottom I just sit there and open my eyes. I look around the water, everything is glowing crimson red. I let the air escape from my mouth pushing bubbles towards the surface. I push myself from the bottom quickly emerging my soaked head from the red water. I swim to the edge of the spring and step out of the warm water. I shake my head, my hair fanning out whipping drops of water around me. Scar shakes his head, irritated when a drop lands on the tip of his nose. I laugh as I watch scar pawing at his face. I walk over to my nightgown and place it back on my body.

I decide to walk father into the woods. I step into a foggy path; the branches of dead trees block the view of the red sky. I walk with Scar; halfway down the fog covered path I hear a loud growl. I look to my right to see once again a pair of red eyes glaring at. I meow loudly sounding similar to a cat. Suddenly a black head pokes itself out from the trees. "Come here Devil" I say putting out a hand. Devil comes out of the woods and rubs her head against my hand. Devil is a similar to a tiger but not quite big enough. I stroke her grey and black striped fur and she purrs softly. Her purrs become louder and louder echoing throughout the forest. She purrs so loud, it begins to sound like bells ringing.

I sit up quickly in bed swiftly silencing my phone alarm. "Yah that definitely is not a soothing tune to wake up to" I complain to myself referring to the false tune I had set on my alarm. I groan loudly throwing my tired body out of bed. I comb my hands through my hair as I walk over to my black painted dresser. I open the top draw, pulling out my Freddy Krueger sweater. Opening the second drawer I pull out a pair of black jeans. I pull off my nightgown and throw on my sweater and jeans. I then walk over to my closet and pull out my cat eared jacket and my lace up red and black shin high sneakers. I put on my shin high sneakers and my jacket. I look into my full length mirror; I love this jacket with a passion, it has red and black striped detachable sleeves, the back had a white painted skull and it says "Angel Love Devil" the hood and base of the jacket are black and the hood has two cat ears with red and black striped on the inside of the ears. I grab my black choker and porcelain doll charmed necklace. I put the black velvet choker around my neck, in the center of the choker it has an F made of cheap plastic red and green gems. I place the porcelain doll necklace around my neck and then grab my IPod and phone and rush into the bathroom.

I look into the mirror looking at my pale face with black makeup smudged all over it. I grab a makeup wipe and clean my face. I open the cabinet and pull out my red contacts. I look to the ceiling placing them into my eyes covering the natural pale blue color of my eyes. I throw on heavy black makeup making me look like a pale red eyes raccoon. I look into the mirror and smile at myself showing off my bright white teach and sharp pointed canines. I pull out a brush from the drawer and brush out my long tri colored hair. My hair has three layers of color, the first long and black grown down to my lower back, the second layer bright red which ends halfway past the black layer, then the third layer it dark green which ends halfway past the red layer. After brushing out my hair I quickly brush my teeth. When I finish up I run out the bathroom and grab my backpack.

I quickly run out the door and too the bus stop just catching the bus. I step onto the bus and walk down the aisle taking the last seat in the far back. Taking my seat I place my backpack next to me and pull out my IPod and my fingerless black gloves. I put my gloves on then plug in my headphones. I blast Marilyn Manson's album Golden Age of Grotesque. "Doll-dagga buzz-buzz ziggety-zag Godmod grotesque burlesque drag" blasts through the headphones. I drift off staring out the window, it was raining lightly and the skys are dark and cloudy. I doze off unaware of everything around.

By the time I snap out of my daze the bus had already been parked at the school. I get up and follow the kids off the bus. I walk into the school and rush into my workshop. I go to a Vo tech high school and this week we have our workshops. I rush into the room with a banner on the door which reads "Visual Arts and Digital Design" I push the door open and take a seat at one of the large drawing tables. I tilt my head back and stare at the ceiling waiting for the bell to ring. A minute or two later the bell rings loudly and the remaining students enter the classroom. We wait patiently sitting at our drawing desks. The teacher walks into the class room and smiles.

"Hey guys how was your weekend?" She asks with a toothy grin.

The class erupts with mumbles of "okay" and "Good I guess" and even "Terrible" I just sigh and stay silent as I lay back in my seat waiting for her to assign us something.

"Today we're going to be working on reality sketches of people, you can pick any person you would like to draw, this assignment may take the full week or even two weeks." Mrs. Cooper says as she hands us back our large sized sketch books.

As soon as she hands me my sketch book I fish into my bag and pull out my supplies holder. I take out three led pencils and open up to a blank page and begin working diligently on the assignment. I zone out unaware of everything and everyone around me as I focus on my drawing. I continue to draw for three hours straight till I hear the bell ring.

I reach into my bag and pull out my lunch money. I walk out of the class room with the rest of the students and head towards the cafeteria. I get inline and wait for my student made meal. I pick up a brownie and cheese pizza and walk over to the table with my 'friends' which are more like acquaintances, accept for Alley and Jake they were closer to me than the others. I sit down and begin to chew on my pizza.

"Yo Blood ya goin tonight?" Alley asks referring to me using my nickname.

"Ya Al after my combat class, I gotta teach the lil kiddies" I say talking about the combat studio I go to and volunteer to tutor kids younger than me, helping them with swords fighting and hand to hand combat.

"And by Kiddies you mean 13 year olds who may one of these days kick your ass. Also you should get paid seriously." Jake says putting his feet on the table and leaning back in his chair.

"Hun I'm undefeated not even my teacher could beat me" I say with a smirk on my face.

"One of these days you're gonna get your ass kicke-" Jake says being cut off as his chair leans backwards and he lands on his back rolling over backwards. "Gerrr" He growls as he gets up and sits back into his chair.

"Ha!" I say laughing hard.

"You know Jake, Mary could kick your ass any day, trust me I've seen that girl at the studio she is vicious!" one of the other girls Melissa says.

"Thanks, but Jake aint no challenge, he's easier to take down than a three year old" I say as Jake glares at me with his dark jade eyes.

"Ya, whatever, meet me and Alley outside the studio at 5 did you bring the paint?" Jake asks, I just nod.

"Hell yeah haha" I reply as the bell once again rings and I get up and toss away my trash. I then head back to my work shop. On my way I pass Samantha, the bitch who absolutely hates me for no apparent reason. She walks by me tripping me purposely, but before I face plant into the ground I catch myself with my hands landing in a pushup position. "Ger" I growl jumping back to my feet as she looks at me laughing in amusement. In return I kneel down and swing my leg hitting the back of her knee causing her to fall backwards onto the hard tiled floor. "Heh, you deserved it bitch, next time, try to pick on someone who can't kick your scrawny little ass"

"Ick, Krueger's Whore" She spits at me.

"Thank you" I reply flashing my sharp canines. I walk back to the art room laughing at myself thinking how pathetic Samantha is. When I reach the workshop I open the door to see the class room completely empty accept for one blue haired boy sitting in the front row of the class room. The boy looks up at me with bright blue eyes. His hair is completely blue with black tips and is cut in an emo style. "Nice hair" I say breaking the awkward silence.

"Thanks, nice eyes" He replies looking into my bright red eyes. "Name's Ace" He says putting his hand out.

"Mary, but friends call me Blood" I say and shake his hand

"Bloody Mary huh?" He says

"Yup" I reply and take my seat next to him. I pull out my sketch pad and begin to work on the sketch I had started. As soon as I found the page with the sketch on it the rest of the class piled into the class room, along with Mrs. Cooper.

"Hey we gotta new student today, why don't you stand up and introduce yourself" Mrs. Cooper says in a happy voice.

"Hey I'm Ace London" Ace says standing up in front of the class.

"Very good" Mrs. Cooper says handing Ace a sketch book. "I have assigned the class to draw a realistic picture of any person of their choosing" She says as Ace takes out his pencils and nods at her, getting to work on his picture.

I turn back to my picture once again dozing off into my own little world making the drawing the center of my attention. I continue to draw till I feel a pair of blue eyes looking at me. I lift my head to see Ace looking at me, when he sees me lift my head and to look back at him he quickly puts his head down. I sigh heavily and continue to draw. I take my time as I carefully sketch out the base of a body in the position I choose and then continue to add detail. I once again continue to draw till I hear the bell loudly ring, signaling the end of the day. I close my sketch pad and hand it in to Mrs. Cooper. I put my stuff back into my back pack and make my way out of the school, not even waiting for the announcements.

I walk right out of the school and walk down the street toward a small cluster of shops. I walk about a half mile before I reach my destination, "Crow's Combat Studio." I walk into the building and go into the girl's locker room and walk to my locker with my name engraved into it. I open the locker and pull out a black sports bra and tank top along with tight black shorts. I also grab some Ace bandages and a hair elastic. I go into a stall and change into my outfit, and wrap the bandages around my bare ankles and wrists. I take off my necklaces and throw my hair up into a loose pony. I walk out of the stall placing my clothes back in the locker and my back pack next to it. I then grab my sword which is in its sheath and walk out of the locker room to meet my class for the day.

Today I'm apparently teaching fourteen year olds, 'oh fun' I sarcastically think to myself. Being fifteen it's almost like I'm trying to teach my grade a lesson, which is impossible because there all obnoxious in their own special ways. I sigh heavily and walk over to the cluster of fourteen year old boys.

"Oh great it's a chick teaching us, we aint gonna get nothing out of this I want my money back!" A blonde boy says in frustration.

"Oh Really?" I ask with a smirk on my face.

"Hell ya I can kick a chicks ass any damn day!" He replies.

"Well then what's your name hun?" I ask trying to keep myself from laughing my ass off.

"Tommy" He says and I wince at the sound of his name, reminding me of so many tragic memories.

"Heh ok Tommy why don't you come up here and prove your point" I offer and he steps up to me and I place my sword to the side. He attacks me first by trying to a kick straight to the head but I catch his leg without effort and flip him onto his back by pushing his leg back roughly. He lands on the mat and grunts as I just laugh at him. He gets up quickly and tries to punch and kick me but I dodge each one with ease. When he finally tires out he puts his hands in the air.

"Ok ok your one badass chick go ahead teach us" he said and walks back the other boys.

"Ok, well since you decided to take up half the class time we won't get through the entire lesson today, so I'll just begin to explain it to you I guess" I say as a few boys glare at the blonde who had fought me. I walk over to my sword and pick it up off the ground. "Seeing as most of you have been here for four to five years I think it's about time you learn swords fighting" I say and take the sword out of its casing. "Yo Bobby!" I yell into the other room.

"Yeah?" Bobby replies entering the room.

"Wanna help me teach these little kiddies a little bout swords fighting?" I ask aching to spar with someone.

"Ya sure" he says and grabs his sword.

"Heh prepare to get your ass kicked hun" I say as we form an X with our swords. He nods to me and I make the first move, I step back and swing my sword towards him, but he blocks it with his blade. We continue to spar, our swords clinking together loudly as we dance around the padded floor of the room. We end with my pinning Bobby to the floor with the sharp tip of my sword pointing at his bare neck. I remove my sword from his neck and help him off the floor. A few of the kids began to clap and others just stared at us. "Thanks man" I say to Bobby.

"No prob girl, glad to know you can still kick my ass" he replies with a small laugh.

"Haha, Ok class dismissed!" I say and they group of teens rush over to the boys locker room. I look over to Bobby and smile.

"You know for a girl who's five years younger than me you can sure kick ass, and I've had several years of training yet you….?" Bobby asks looking into my red eyes.

"Five years haha" I say smiling widely flashing my bright white teeth.

"You're insane girl, what you doing later?" Bobby asks.

"Going to do some 'Creative' vandalism with my friends" I say looking into Bobby's jade eyes. He pulls me into a hug.

"Be careful girl, don't need you getting into any trouble" He says and looks down at me, I giggle lightly as we stare into each other's eyes.

"I'll try" I say and he kisses my forehead.

"Heh good you should probably go get dressed I think I see Alley outside" Bobby says and lets me go. I hurry into the girl's locker room and get dressed. As soon as I had put my school clothes back on, and my necklaces and had brushed my hair I grab my backpack and rush out the door.
"Yo! Blood!" Jake yells I smile and wave at him but something blue catches my eye. It was that kid, Ace 'What the hell?' I ask myself. Jake and Alley notice me looking over at Ace and Alley looks at me.

"Girl what's wrong?" Alley asks looking over at Ace.

"That damn new kid followed me here" I say and walk over to the bench he was sitting at. "Yo why the Hell did ya follow me here?" I ask and he just lifts his head and looks at me flashing me a toothy grin, he flips over the sketch book he has in his hands showing me his realistic drawing. It's Mike Myers holding his sharp kitchen knife in front of his chest, dripping with blood. "Heh Mike Myers…kickass bro come on." I say and lead him over to Alley and Jake.

"Does he really have to come with us" Jake wines like a five year old.

"Jake shut up, we need a new kid in our group anyways since Simon left" Alley says and I scoff at the name Simon.

"That kid was awful" I say.

"Ya none of us like him either" Alley says.

"Anyways come on we gotta get our asses to the clean turf before dark!" Jake says and we follow him.

"Where are we going?" Ace asks.

"We're going to do some 'Creative' vandalism haha" I reply and he just gives me a puzzled look.

"You'll find out when we get there" I sigh as the four of use walk down the street. When we reach a gate Jake sighs and begins to climb it and we follow. When we reach the other side of the gate we land in front of a large clean brick wall. "Finally! Something clean" I say "Now let's fix that" I say and pull out the black chalk and a large variety of colored spray paint cans.

"Oh I get it" Ace says and picks up a piece of chalk and begins to draw.

"Haha I love this" I say and begin to write out my design in black chalk. By the time we finish it's almost dark outside. I step back and look at my art work in admiration it says "Freddy's Coming for you" In funky styled graffiti letters every other letter is painted green then red. I look over at Jakes and all it says is "DEATH" In all black letters "Nice Jake…that's…nice" I say

"Hey I ran out of ideas!" He says and I just laugh. I look at Alley's; it says "ALLEY CAT" in white and black letters with a little black cat underneath the letters.

"Ha I love yours Al" I say and she just smiles then I look at Ace's it's a large Ace of Spades but instead of black it's blue. "Sweet Bro" I say and walk back over to the mess of spray paint cans and begin to clean them up putting them back into my bag. I get my back pack together and we begin walking towards the gate, but we get stopped when we hear,

"Freeze!" we turn around to see a uniformed cop.

"Shit" I say to myself and everyone else's facial expressions say the same.

"Okay kids I'm gonna give you three options here one, Community service , you'd half to clean this shit up, two pay a fine, or three go to jail for three months." He says. I growl at him in anger and turn to everyone else as we huddle in a circle to discuss.

"Okay guys let's take the jail, I got someone who can bail us out, cause we all know we are all pretty much broke and don't have any time to clean this up" I say and everyone nods.

"You sure about this?" Ace asks with a worried expression on his face and I just nod. I turn to the officer with a smirk on my face.

"Yo officer, cuff me."