Perditus Cantio

A/N: Haha yeah. Henry is a dog. I don't know what my logic behind that is, but it's probably because I didn't want to use Henry as a human for the scene I have planned. And, I just really, really like dogs. So there. Logic. Yes, pretty much everyone in this story will be OOC. Also, there will be character death. Scratch that, there will be A LOT of , okay, pretty violent character death. Maybe not in this chapter. Sorry. In case there were any people wondering, Perditus Cantio is Latin, in English it roughly translates into Outcast Song. I friggin love Latin. Thank you very much to my lovely reviewers. I love you guys. Now on to le story!

CHAPTER 2

VLAD'S POV STILL!

It would seem that I have met my first friend. Every day after our first encounter, the puppy, (I had decided to name him Henry. Don't know why, just liked that name) had kept coming over to the side of the orphanage to play with me.

I would give him half my lunch, (I didn't eat much anyway) but the glutton never seemed to stop eating! It was almost comical how fast he scarfed down his food. After that he'd bark at me, run in circles, and then beckon me to come closer before bolting off. We'd play a game of tag, (well kind of) until we were both winded, or until I had to go back inside.

One day, when the skies were particularly grey, I came outside struggling to hold back tears and limping. D'Ablo was still holding up to his promise of trying to get a reaction out of me, and had hit me in the shin with a brick. A BRICK! I don't have any idea how he got a hold of it, but he was all too pleased to hit me with it when my back was turned.

I didn't react in front of him, instead just went straight outside to the clearing where Henry and I would play.

It would seem I haven't been too specific about the looks of this place, so I'll explain that now. The orphanage itself is a large, old grey gothic-style stone building with spider-web cracks in some places and ivy creeping along its sides. It's in the middle of a dense green forest, on top of one of the many forested hills that occupy the area. The clearing Henry and I would always play in was about 500 yards away from the back door of the orphanage, which hardly anyone ever used. There was an odd statue here that no one would go near on account of them thinking it was creepy. In fairness it sort of was, but at the same time I found it cool.

The statue was of a girl, about 14 years old, with gothic clothing and an intelligent expression. Her right arm was broken off and the whole thing was weather worn, yet her piercing eyes seemed to look right at you, hence why people found the statue unnerving.

The worn words on the base said that her name was Em, the daughter of the person who had founded this orphanage, back in god-knows-how-long-ago. Apparently she died at 14 years old, after being accused of witchcraft.

I would talk to her sometimes, when I felt particularly lonely. Even though I knew she wouldn't respond, (hell I'm not that stupid) it still felt good to tell someone what was on my mind.

Anyway, back to the present.

Presently, I had collapsed on the solid, chilled dirt ground at her feet, and was trying hard not to cry. Sudden drops of water appearing on the ground told me that I was failing horribly.

It wasn't just my leg, (though that hurt to) all the pain, both physical and emotional, had come crashing onto me at once in a tidal wave of misery, and I felt like I was drowning. Most present of all was the crushing loneliness. I wished… I just wished so badly…

A bark snapped me out of my thoughts.

I lifted my already tear-streaked face to see Henry staring at me, a look of what could have been concern on his furry face.

Sniveling, I lifted my hand to pet his gold-furred head, before burying my face in my hands and crying again. Thank god-or-whoever-was-up-there that Bill, Tom, or D'Ablo wasn't here to see me like this. Henry whimpered, and nudged my face. His wet nose was cold.

I knew he couldn't understand me, but I began talking to him, more out of desperation and crushing loneliness than out of rationality.

"I-I'm not lonely! I'm not!"

Was all I managed to get out before just breaking down in tears. Henry whined slightly, and nudged me again, this time nuzzling up to me, possibly in an attempt for comfort. Whatever it was, strangely enough it worked.

I felt a smile creep on to my face and I pet Henry's soft gold fur. He barked at me, wagging his tail, before jumping to his feet, and play-bowing.

Giggling, I chased after him as he ran off, playing our game of tag again.

After roughly 45 minutes of tromping around the clearing, I collapsed near Em's feet again, this time out of exhaustion. Henry whined impatiently at me, and if he could speak I was pretty sure he'd be saying something along the lines of;

"Dude, are you serious? There is no way you are tired out this fast already!"

The thought made me giggle again.

LINE BREAK TO THE NEXT DAY AT ABOUT LUNCH TIME!

"Hah! Howdya like that, freakazoid?"

D'Ablo said as he shoved me into the wall. Again.

I don't know what it was, but this boy seemed determined to break me. Of course, all that did was make me even more determined not to.

Just as he was about to hit me again, a girl's voice called out.

"Stop that! That's not nice you jerk! Quit picking on him."

I turned my head only to have my heart stop a little. Stomping towards up was a girl dressed in pink with long chocolate brown hair pulled up in pigtails, and a noticeable pout on her face. I had to admit, she was pretty cute. And by that I mean seriously, SERIOUSLY cute.

Scowling, D'ablo backed away from me and left, but not before shooting me a death glare. I ignored him.

The cute girl made a face of disgust at him, before turning to look at me with concern in her pretty eyes.

"Ugh! That guy is such a meanie! He should know better than to pick on people by now!"

She stated. Even her voice seemed to be pouting. I had to smile at that before answering.

"Yeah, well. HE does that to me a lot." I stated somewhat sheepishly.

She looked scandalized.

"Seriously?! Oh my god! Ugh. Well, my name's Meredith, and if you ever need anyone to talk to, you can talk to me. I promise you'll feel better! What's your name?"

I was a bit taken aback, so it took me a minute to answer. But when I did I could feel myself smiling.

"I'm Vlad."

(A/N: Ya, so this may seem kinda filler-like, but I promise that it will be important, very soon. Yes, I know we all hate Meredith, believe me, I despise her too, but we have to remember that Vlad liked her. But don't worry, I have something very… "interesting" planned for her, that will make ya'll hate her even more I think. So don't worry, Meredith won't be here long. PLEASE REVIEW!)