1

Jenny Thornton ran her brush through her long silky hair and took the bowl of popcorn from the microwave. Sighing sadly she sat on a sofa in front of the T.V, wearing her fuzzy pink dressing gown and dull grey sweat suit pyjamas she felt anything but glamorous. Wistfully her mind trailed to thoughts of Julian, how he had made her feel so wild and sexy no matter what she was wearing. She turned the T.V. on with the remote control and dipped her hand into the popcorn, shoving it into her mouth greedily. Thinking about Julian always made her depressed; she was surprised she hadn't gained weight with all the extra food she ate…

I wish Tommy were here, she thought sadly missing her boyfriend, or Dee…or anyone for that matter. It had never occurred to her how weird it was that all of her friends had suddenly made plans to go away for the next few weeks. Even odder was that her family too had made plans; none of them included Jenny though.

The wind outside started to pick up, turning from a small eerie moan into a full blown terrifying howl. All at once the lights flickered on and off and the T.V. switched itself off completely, jumping up startled Jenny stood in the middle of the blackened room trying to figure out what had happened.

"It's just a power cut," she tried to reassure herself, "nothing more…just a silly little power cut." She crept to the window – why she crept she didn't know – and peered out off the curtains. Bile bubbled and rose in her stomach; none of the other houses seemed to be suffering from power cuts. She could see lights blaring in the window and the flickering of a T.V changing channels; if she listened she could hear the faint drumming of someone's sound system.

"Jeeeeeennnnnnnyyyy," she spun around hearing the faint whisper, "Jeeeeeennnnnnnyyyy." Still she could see no one and she began to perspire in fear. "Jeeeeeennnnnnnyyyy." This time the whisper filled the room, coming at her from all sides; front, back, left and right.

"Go away!" She screamed helplessly as a shadow within the shadows loomed towards her. "Please! Leave me alone!" But the shadow ignored her and stepped closer, reaching out as if to touch her. "Noooooooo!" Jenny screamed helplessly and fell back against the wall, the lights flicked on and the room was filled with canned laughter. She looked over and saw the T.V. too had switched itself on, she stood up straight and her foot brushed against something. Looking down she found a silver rose lying at her foot, she picked it up with a scream of disgust and shredded the petals. She stalked into the kitchen and threw them into the bin, too angry to think about what was going on. She looked around the dark kitchen stonily trying to make out if the shadows were just shadows or if they were something more sinister. "Whoever you are…" she said quietly, "just fuck off."

Julian watched Jenny sleep a few days later. She was curled up into a tight ball, her hands shielded her face and the blanket was wrapped around her securely. Smiling grimly he reached down and brushed a lock of her silky hair away from her face. Her skin was slick with sweat and she was shivering despite been wrapped up in the warm blanket. She stirred and her eyes flickered open, she gazed up at him as if in a dream.

"No…" She whispered shaking her head in fear; Julian smiled gently and kissed her cheek. He touched her forehead and whispered words in a lost language; she closed her eyes and fell back into her slumber.

Julian placed a single silver rose on her pillow. And left.

Like the first rise she had received Jenny shredded this one up and hurled it into the bin, sobbing quietly. He was dead, so who was leaving her these roses and why? She grabbed some clothes and changed under the duvet, afraid that someone – or something – may be watching her.

The weeks crawled by, every morning Jenny would wake up to find a single silver rose laying next to her on the pillow. At first she would shred them up before throwing them away, now though she simply placed them in a drawer. She didn't know why, but there was no point in destroying the beautiful things, she would just accumulate more the next day.

Later that same day, during the evening, Jenny sat in front of the T.V. clutching a mug of hot chocolate. She was back in her sweat suit pyjamas and fuzzy pink dressing gown, staring glumly at the moving images on the T.V. The silver roses were fresh on her mind, no matter how much she tried to push them away they always came back.

"Jeeeeeennnnnnnyyyy," she clutched the mug and looked around, "Jeeeeeennnnnnnyyyy." She jumped up; it now took nearly all of her strength to not drop the hot chocolate. She spun around looking for the source of the room wildly, when her eyes rested on the kitchen doorway she let out a scream. A boy around the same age as her stood there, he wore a pair of black jeans that hugged his hips and legs. He wore a black shirt unbuttoned and had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, under the shirt was a black vest that showed of a flat stomach that led onto narrow hips and a well muscled chest. His hair was a pure white colour, like freshly fallen snow that had not yet been disturbed. "Hello Jenny," he smiled lowering his eye lashes over impossibly blue eyes.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a frightened whisper as he stepped closer to her, his soft black boots not making a sound. "I watched you die," that bit came out as a choked sob and a tear trickled down her cheek, "I held onto you!"

Strong hands held onto her and she leant against the familiar form crying quietly into his chest. Gently he plucked the hot chocolate out of her grip and set it down on the floor and gently moved her over to a settee. Again she was enveloped in strong arms and lips brushed against the top of her head, soothing her gently.

"No," she said gently as if waking up from a trance, "please Julian…I don't want this." It sounded like a lie, even to her – but it was part true. This is a dream, she told herself staring up into those soft blue eyes, I'll wake up any minute now and there'll be a silver rose on my pillow. Something soft stroked her cheek and she closed her eyes dreamily, she felt Julian moved closer – as if to kiss her – and she quickly opened them. She looked at what he was holding and shook her head dazed. A silver rose.

"This isn't a dream," Julian said in his cool silky voice, "this is real Jenny. I'm here for what rightfully belongs to me."