*Hey! So here's the next update for this story :) Um, a couple people were asking if Trent would be in this story because of the last line of the chapter, well, I'll tell you right now that considering he would have no role in this story, he isn't. :) The thing about the eyes was the guy with the green hair that was staring at her earlier and creeping her out, remember? Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D*

Upon getting home from school, I walked right into my new home, stormed into my new bedroom, and slammed the door behind me. I didn't want to be disturbed as I studied the stolen amulet. I pulled it out of my black messenger and sat with it on my sheet-less bed to try and further examine it. The symbol itself appeared to be a sort of skull. It wasn't like a hard-core death metal skull, though, it was actually very cartoony. If I couldn't tell how beautifully and deeply engraved the black lines were on the hunk of silver, I'd say someone hand-drew it on there with a Sharpie. I pulled the item close to my face to get a close look at the two shiny green diamonds that served as the skull's eyes. Ten seconds was all I needed to figure out the diamonds were real. Girl's intuition I suppose. The green was probably reflective or something, because whenever I would hold, touch, or even so much as come in contact with the piece of jewelry, the two tiny diamonds would glow, light up like two little lights on a Christmas tree.

"Trick of the light." I muttered, rubbing the trinket with my index finger and thumb. I realized something strange, then. There was an inscription on the back of it! I turned the talisman around, not even caring that the long, silver chain smacked me in the face and probably ripped some little hairs out of my head in the process. On the back was a word, or a name possibly, written in the most perfect, but still simple cursive writing I've ever seen. Written on the back was one thing: Duncan. "Duncan." I breathed. I felt compelled to wear the charm, to keep it with me at all times, to keep it safe. From what I didn't know, but with these types of things, I usually gave in to the urge, much like this instance. I looked at myself in my newly installed vanity mirror as I plopped the necklace over my head. I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself unsurely. The glow in the skull's eyes shimmered more than I had seen it do in the last four hours, and I suddenly felt a head rush. I had to lean on the counter of my vanity, but the flickering status of my consciousness was distracting me. I could see things. Lights and shadows. I could hear things. Shouting and loud cracking noises. I could smell things. Raw sewage and the downright sickening smell of freshly shed blood. It was becoming too much, the rank smells and deafening noises invading my mind, that's when...I snapped out of it.

I was thrusted back in reality; the noises reverting back to just silence accompanying my ragged, panicked breathing. My sight was back to just staring back at myself in the mirror, and the only smell I was inhaling was the Chinese food Mom had ordered for us waiting downstairs. My breathed regained its confidence, and I steadied myself once more, before looking at my disheveled appearance in the mirror. The silence was making me feel better, but jumpier all at the same time.

"You called?" A voice from behind me asked. I wasn't prepared to hear any voices at the time being, and I freaked out like the dumb girl that always goes towards the twisting doorknob in horror flicks and ends up getting murdered.

"Ah!" I screamed loudly, whirling around on the spot. A teenage boy about my age, and with a style rather similar to my own was sitting on the pane of my open window right next to the black painted vanity. He was casually perched there, leaning his neck on one side of the window, his bright red Converse pressed up against the other. A ghost, no doubt. "Who are you?" I demanded, then added, "And how did you know I can see you?" I asked in a quieter tone of voice. He laughed heartily at my question.

"Well, you called, that sort of gave me the idea." He responded. His voice sent shivers throughout my body; it was so odd. I regained my composure, intent on not letting this kid know he had gotten under my skin already.

"Who are you?" I blurted out. Idiot! Why did I ask that? He responded anyways, which secretly made my heart leap.

"You should, know, you are the one that called me, Sweetheart." He answered. I thought about it for a moment, staring at the ground.

"Duncan?" I asked.

"You've got it, Swe-" I covered his mouth with my palm. A common misconception about spirits is that they're holographic all the time, when really they only are when walking through stuff. They can still pick things up and sit down and be touched by human beings, just with the ability of walking through anything they wanted.

"Don't call me Sweetheart." I ordered. He didn't even so much as blink at me as I removed my hand from his face.

"Anyway, Darling, which one of my buddies did you jack that from?" He asked, pointing to the chain around my neck. I clamped a hand around the chain part of the piece and stammered for an answer. I should've known it was his the second he showed up here. The skull is an exact match to his black T-Shirt design. I looked sheepishly at the floor as I answered his question.

"I...didn't. I just-Well, see, I sort if...took it." I replied. He didn't seem to understand, so I further explained. "They had left it with a bunch of your other stuff in the alley outside of the school?" I phrased as a question, waiting for a nod which I only slightly received.

"Should've known they'd do that. We did the same thing for Dagger and Riff-Raff when they got offed." He said all in one, exasperated sigh. Now I was my turn to look puzzled. "We're delinquents. We run around the streets at night, and it's dangerous. A lot of times we'd get offed by gangs or dealers. It happens." He explained without little effort, apprehension, or strain. I wish I could do that, but I'm not as good at venting my feelings as most people are especially considering the one big secret I could never vent. The one thing that was letting me communicate with Duncan.

"Sorry." I said with genuine sympathy.

"Like I said, it happens." Was his response. Another question popped into my mind then, and there was no stopping my mouth from relaying it. "How did you...you know, end up like this?" I asked nervously. He opened his mouth to answer, but for some reason my mother's voice came out. Well, technically, my mom yelled to me from downstairs.

"Sweetie! Chinese is here!" She called.

"Coming!" I said while a faulty and nervous laugh escaped from my lips. I then looked back at the former troublemaker. "Uh, want this back?" I asked, holding up the chain around my neck.

"Keep it." He whispered seductively. Then, he winked and disappeared within the blink of an eye. And so ends my first encounter with Duncan, the boy of my dreams if he wasn't such a nightmare.

*Alright, so the last line basically means that Gwen concluded that if Duncan didn't have the whole "obnoxious dead-guy" thing going on, she would totally be head over heels for him...(like she isn't already ;) Nah, haha, please review! :D*