omething

Chapter One

lowly, she turned her head around the corner. Her eyes glowed brightly as she scanned the scene. Her eyebrows came together, as confusion over took her cautious face. The scene before her was nothing less than ordinary. The parking lot was lit by the overhead lamps and was emptied of cars. Even though the girl knew little of this place she knew that at this time of night, nothing was in the wrong place. Confusion over came her. She had followed the man here, he could not have just have disappeared. She turned around; ready to leave when she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. She threw herself to the ground as a knife quivered behind her, where her head had been, into a wood pole. The girl slowly straightened up and faced the man. The light cast a shadow over his face but his features were still distinct. He was slightly over average height, but with a slim, athletic body. Oddly for this time of night, he was wearing sunglasses. He grinned down at her.

"You thought you could find me? Let me guess, to bring justice to this cruel world?" He took a step towards her. With fear in her eyes she turned and ran.

The bright eyed girl burst into the house, the door slamming shut behind her. "Nicole?" A groggy voice called. A teenage boy, also with bright eyes, dragged

himself off of the couch. He took in her appearance as she stood there panting slightly with her hands on her knees and a scared look in her eyes. He leapt up and rushed over to her. "Are you okay? Did something happen?" She stood there looking uncomfortable about his question. He groaned. "Please, please tell me you did not go after that man?"

"Daniel, I had to! You know what he did!" Nicole said, frustrated at his lack of understanding.

"So? He committed a crime! Someone got hurt. It happens all the time! We can't save everyone! You need to think these things through!" Daniel said, exasperated at her.

"If we don't do something now, more people, innocent people, will get hurt!"

"Nicole, if we get caught, then no one else will be saved! Don't you understand? We need to think these things through," She looked down, frustrated. "Okay?" Daniel said.

"Yeah," Nicole gave in. "You're right." He laughed.

"Of course I am! I'm your older brother!" Daniel said.

"You're only older by a year," Nicole replied. "But we don't have time to argue now, that man is still out there."

"You didn't get him?" He sighed. "Great! I was trying to get some sleep in, since we've been pulling a lot of all-nighters lately." He grabbed keys off the table next to the couch and they walked out of the house. As they got into the car, he turned and looked at his little sister. Her bright eyes glanced up to his face and she smiled. He smiled back and turned on the ignition.

"I don't understand! We looked all night," Daniel groaned. "What did we miss?"

"I told you. He's not the same as the others. I was chasing him, but lost him, and somehow he snuck up on me!" Nicole's bright eyes scrutinized her brother. "What is so different about him than the others?"

"Well, let's think about it. What happened the night he attacked the man?"

"It was pretty much the same as any other night. I was at home and suddenly I saw a man walking down a road in the city," She said.

"Where was I?" Daniel asked.

"I think at the bank," Nicole said. "Anyway, I saw another shadow approach the man. He attacked the man and killed him, but he did not take anything from the dead man," Her face furled as she concentrated. "Why would he kill the man for no reason? He did not seem angry, like he had a grudge or something," She finished.

"Is that everything that you saw?" He asked.

"Well, after, he turned around and it was like he was looking at me. But that's impossible. I was still here, at home!" She looked worried as she thought about this last piece of information.

"He looked at you? But Nicole, that's impossible!" Daniel said. "I've had just as many, even more, visions than you have. And no one, no one, ever knew I saw them! Our visions don't work that way. We can see when something bad is happening to someone else while it is happening, but we never move! We are miles away, people can't see us too!"

"What if he has visions too? Maybe it works two ways!" Nicole said, excited about her break through.

"No, he could not have the eyes," Daniel contradicted. "It's more of a family thing."

"Did Mom and Dad have them?" She asked.

"Dad did, but not Mom. He always said he liked her eyes how they were, though. They were green…" He seemed to have lost his trail of thought.

"But what about our extended family? Maybe one of them turned bad! You have to admit, it could happen!"

"I guess it could," he finally agreed. "I never knew about them, Mom and Dad never mentioned them." There was a loud clanging as the clock chimed six times. Daniel groaned. "Another all-nighter! I'm going to bed. You too, kid."

"You know I can't stand when you say that. I'm seventeen!" She muttered. Daniel laughed.

"But you're still so short! It makes you seem younger." He ruffled her short chocolate brown hair. They trudged up the stairs as a shadow passed across the window.