I'm an original hardcore fan of the books. It's been a while since I read through them, but I still consider the Darren Shan Saga as one of my favorite series of books of all time. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Darren Shan Saga nor any of the characters in it.
Just a curious fanfic writer asking 'What if?'
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For whoever gets a hold of this diary, I want you to know:
This is a true story.
I don't expect you to believe me—I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't lived it—but it's true. Everything in this diary has happened, just the way that I described it. I bet you're expecting a happy story, am I right? About a little girl like me, growing up to become something amazing—to grow up and change the world and to live happily ever after with a knight in shining armor. But, in all honesty, this story isn't happy. Real life is cruel—in real life, bad things happen. People die. Fights are lost. Evil often wins.
I just wanted to let you know, before I began.
Oh, by the way, my name is Annabelle Shan-- but I usually just go by Annie.
As for the other names in this diary, I made them up. None of them are real. Not my family. Not my friends. Not even the cities or the streets or even the country.
Anyway, that's as good of an introduction as I have. If this was a made-up story, it would all have began at midnight under a bloody, full moon in the darkness alone to deal with the monsters under the bed and the shadows on the walls. But, this is a real story, and I have to begin where it really started.
It all started in an apple tree.
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When my brother, Darren, and I were little, we used to climb up in this old tree in our backyard and pick apples. Everything to us was a contest. We tried to see who could pick the most apples, who could pick the reddest, who could climb the highest. We were adventurous little kids, just like everyone else. One day, as we climbed up the tree, Darren decided he wanted to be braver and travel up a few more branches. Even then, at such a young age, I knew it was a terrible idea. He didn't listen as I begged him to come back down with me. Instead, he climbed up and up and up. He disappeared among the leaves. I was scared.
But even in my fright, I could feel the challenge. Gripping to what little courage I had, I scaled the limbs. I pulled myself up and up and up until I couldn't even see the ground anymore. I began to forget about my worry over Darren, and focused myself on proving that I was a lot more courageous than he was. As I began to see patches of clouds and sky through the leaves, I felt a swell of accomplishment. I must have lost focus for a moment, because I stepped upon a rotting branch and—SNAP!—my little body tumbled from the tree. I hit many branches on the way down, each new one numbed the pain of falling a story or so even more. I struck the ground with a large THUMP! and my parents, and even Darren, were sure that I was dead.
Actually, though, the branches cushioned my fall, sorta. I walked away with a few cuts and bruises and a broken wrist. It was later that I found out, Darren whussed out of climbing to the top and hid behind a large limb before climbing down a different way we came up.
My parents were furious. With me, of course, but more furious with Darren and how he tricked me. He swore from that day never to tease me with tests of bravery. From that day, he began to treat me how an older brother treats his little sister. He protected me from everything. From spiders, from other kids, from movies that weren't even that scary. He did his job flawlessly.
That was, until he told me of this mysterious circus that came to town.
And in a subtle unknowing way, he set up for me a blind test of bravery.
And in instinct, I accepted his challenge. If only I would have known—if I would have just let Darren go—or maybe even told Mom and Dad on him—things would have turned out different. Much different.
But, in my stupidity, I climbed those branches and I looked at the trophy of bravery that I would achieve if I made it to the sky. I reached for the unachievable and I fell. Harder than I ever fell before. But this time, there was a much higher price to pay:
My life.
R&R! This is just sort of the introduction, I guess. It's not much, but if people like it, I'll write more. I might write more anyways. ;D