Hello to all readers who still read this story. I apologize for not uploading a new chapter or even responding to most of the messages, I really needed to get a fresh start on this story because it was, unfortunately, adding to the stress of exams and college applications. So I know that it's been almost a month since I've been heard from but fear not, I won't delete the story. I just needed time to relax and just think.
Just as a warning again, swear words are starting to become consistent.
Please enjoy and I do not own anything but plot and few characters.
"Ahhh!" Her brown eyes opened wide and her ear piercing scream could be heard from the halls of her home. Two figures burst the door open; they were quick to be by her side. One tugged on the cord of the small lamp on her bedside as the other wiped the sweat that was rolling down her temples.
"Cross, darling. Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Cross brushed her black bangs from her face and looked up into the eyes of her brother.
"Kuya! I had another nightmare," her voice trembled. "There were ghosts and blood! I don't know why!" Drake embraced his younger sister in his arms, gently stroking her hair. "It's alright now, you're safe."
David, sighed in relief and straightened out his platinum blond hair. "Madam," he spoke up, "Would you like a drink?"
"No thank you, David. I appreciate it though." She wiped away her tears and laid back in her bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Once Drake and David left, David turned to his master. "Sir, is there any particular reason as to why the young Madam has been having nightmares? This has been happening for the past few weeks."
Drake frowned. "If you do not wish to be burdened with my sister's condition then you have my permission to leave."
"I did not mean that, Sir. I am just horribly worried about her."
"One day when I have to leave this place, you will be the one to look after her, and you will know everything by then."
Drake left his butler in the darkness of the hallway, going to sleep himself.
"Stupid winter, why did it have to be so damn cold?" Brian sneezed into the chilly air. The streets were bright with a few shops opened late but Brian could barely see anybody out in this weather.
"And why did she have to call me now? She could have called in the morning," he said to himself.
As Brian shuffled his way through the snow, his mind was elsewhere. 'Why does she like him? Why is she engaged? Fuck it all, I want to help but I can't. What can I do?'
Brian recalled the memory after the Christmas party at his friend's house. He remember his voice being as cold as the ice freezing over some of the parked cars, and his eyes were almost shooting daggers towards the girl he loved.
'Loved? I'm still in love with her. Right?'
He came to a house that was on the outskirts of town. It was a beautiful American Foursquare house, with grey bricks, and two white pillars on each side. It was bordered with white and black and had a well-trimmed lawn.
Brian rang the doorbell and a familiar face appeared. "Hello Brian, how have you been?"
"Just fine Mrs. Rose, how about the family?"
Just on cue, a little Oddish waddled its way into the doorway. "Oddish!" It gleefully called out. Mrs. Rose invited Brian in and closed the door behind him, picking up the little grass-type Pokemon and setting him away from the door.
A slightly older man came down the stairs, he put his glasses on and smiled at Brian, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and giving him a friendly hug. "Hello Mr. Cartwright, how have you been?"
"Just fine, how is your new place? Is it settling in for you?"
"It's holding up well."
Mr. Cartwright smiled as Mrs. Rose spoke up. "Now Jake, don't be too easy on him, he's an independent young man and needs to learn his own way."
"Very well Eva, I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything." He turned and headed straight for the kitchen, grabbing a cup of coffee and enjoying the soft tunes playing on the radio.
"Follow me, Brian. The kids are sleeping so it'll be easy getting to my office.
"How are the twins by the way?"
"They're very good. Lani has been getting into volleyball and Devin is taking up soccer."
"So both on their way to becoming athletes?"
She nodded. "Though they still miss you. You are like a brother to them."
"I'll visit them when it's a better time, but I still can't thank you and your husband enough for taking me in all those years ago."
Eva smiled at the boy and opened and dark brown, wooden door for him. Brian stepped forward and saw a wooden desk, a small coffee table, a few file cabinets, a sofa, and many framed sheets of paper. The papers all had some kind of congratulations for an achievement, all dedicated to Evalina Rose.
Brian took a seat on sofa and watched as Mrs. Rose opened a small notebook. "So Brian, how is everything?"
"Fine I guess."
"I'm going to have to remind you that this is part of your assessment."
"I still don't see the reason."
"Hush now, mister. Now, what have you done the past few weeks?"
"Study, eat, clean, sleep. Mainly those things."
"Any special event happen?"
"Yeah, a nice little Christmas party at Mason's house. Nice place, everyone pitched in."
"And was she there?"
Brian bit his lip before answering. "Yeah, she was."
"Tell me, did you feel anything negative? Any kind of anger? Hate?"
"Why would I think that? I love her."
"I know but you know it's normal to find a little negativity about someone else, it's only human."
"Well, I guess I got annoyed. I mean, she used to hate her brother because he helped in their mother's death. And now she's suddenly acting like he's her best friend." He frowned and hid the tear that was daring to slip from his eye.
"Have you tried talking with her?"
"No."
"Well that's productive. You're going to hurt her if you distance things without a warning. Talk to her like you used to and, if you want, ask her calmly about the situation."
"But-"
"No buts. Now that's all I need, you can go now." Eva dismissed him with a smile. Just as Brian was about to step out, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Hi there, sir." Brian said.
"Bri, how have you handled your stress?"
"I have a punching bag at my place, the walls and floors are thick so no one would hear me. Or I use the one at my friend's place."
Mr. Cartwright smiled at him. "That's good to hear. Off you go then."
Brian left quicker than he expected and found himself sitting on the park bench. His breath was ragged from the running he did to get there and looked up at the night sky.
He couldn't see any stars out that night. 'Must be all the light pollution here.' He thought. He was completely silent except for his heavy breathing. Brian dug a hand in his coat pocket and rummaged through the old candy wrappers and small change, he pulled out a small box.
"Am I really this stupid?" He talked to himself.
Brian stuck one side of a small stick in his mouth and lit the other until it was starting to burn. He breathed in the toxic fumes. "I'm doing the last thing I'd ever do in my life, fucking hell. This shit is bad for me and I'm still doing it."
He felt a small tear roll down the side of his cheek as he kept smoking.
Stacy slammed the door to her friend's wide open and stepped in. She immediately saw her friend Annie and a boy she did not recognized was there. After dropping her beige, faux fur coat, Stacy stood in front of them; her bleached blond hair was curled and bounced as she towered over the two. Her skirt was tight around her legs and only came down halfway along her thin thighs. She seemed to have no shame in revealing her unnecessary cleavage to the two people in the room.
"Alright, now this is our goal. Lil Miss Goody-Two-Shoes' guy." She wrote on a dry erase board that was placed on the wall behind her. "Annie, who is this guy?"
Annie flipped her brown hair back and looked up at Stacy with hazel-coloured eyes. She uncrossed her legs and stood up beside the boy. "This is Sky, and he'll be perfect in our little plan."
Stacy looked over at the brunette boy, his eyes twinkling with a bit of mischief in them.
Maikee was at the café downtown called 'Little Eats'. The night shift wasn't always her favourite time of work.
"Can't I go home, boss? No one's here and it's late." Maikee slumped onto a bar stool and laid her head on the counter.
"Buck up, Mai!" Her supervisor's high voice penetrated through the walls. "I can sense a customer!"
"You always sense things and ya know they ain't happening!"
Maikee looked up once she heard the little bell attached to the door ring. There in the doorway, covered in snow, was a tall figure. He had blond hair and familiar eyes.
"Can I help you?" she asked once he got up to the cash register.
"Yeah, I'm looking for my aunt. Black hair, black eyes, eccentric in a way? In other words, the owner."
"Oh so you're related the boss? How come you ain't as crazy as her?" Maikee wondered.
The young man laughed. "Even I don't know. The name's Eric."
"Eric… Eric… You're that guy from the bus! I knew I remember you form somewhere." Maikee snapped her fingers.
"Oh that was you? I didn't recognize you without the wound on your head." He joked.
"Haha, very funny. Wait here a sec, I'll go get the boss." Maikee disappeared between the red double doors and into a hallway, taking a right and stepping into the office.
Meanwhile, Eric waited patiently at the counter. 'Cute girl,' he thought to himself, 'Maybe I can get a shot at her. Yeah, she's too easy. Just a little nice guy routine and she'll be wrapped around my finger.'
His thoughts were interrupted when his aunt came in through the door. Her waist-length, black hair flowed gracefully down her back and over her shoulders; her onyx eyes shimmered with delight at seeing her nephew. Her face was flawless, purple eye shadow with black liquid eyeliner and dark red lipstick. She hurried to him despite the hem of the long purple dress she wore was already on the floor.
"Eric darling!" She happily exclaimed.
"Hello Auntie, how are you?"
"Just dandy, why are you here at this time?"
"Just had to check up on you, Dad's orders."
"Ugh that father of yours really can't get the fact that I'm old enough to take care of myself. Anyway, do you need a job?"
"Yes but I'm really busy with my studies."
"No need! If you want, I can pay to just spread around the city about our little shop here. We might close down soon." She put on a sad face.
Eric sighed. "Alright then."
"Good! Now Just go about your life but talk about us as well."
"Sure thing. I'll see you later, Auntie. And tell Maikee I say bye as well."
The boss waved her nephew goodbye before going back to her quarters.
Mimi was busy giving her Umbreon, Nyx, a late night snack. She tiptoed to the kitchen making sure not a sound would be made. To her misfortune, the wooden floor squeaked even under her light weight and a light immediately turned on. Mimi could only freeze in her place. She heard a groan and held in her breath.
"I know you're there, just come out." A voice said.
"Andy, it's me, Mimi."
Andy came around the corner and wondered why his girlfriend was walking around the house in only one of his shirts and a pair of light pink underwear.
"Nyx wanted a snack so I don't see any harm in getting him one."
Andy sighed. "Jeez, you know I get woken up easily. I thought there was a murderer in the house or something. Besides," he picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, "You should be in bed, with me. He can wait."
"You're a very greedy boy."
"Hey, can't blame me if I don't want to share someone like you."
She giggled and he smiled slightly. Damn he loved that voice of hers. She brushed some of brown hair from his face and gently kissed him.
"You are so lucky Percival isn't here."
"He's just your roommate. He has no control over me so he can suck it."
Andy quietly chuckled. "Don't you go saying things behind people's backs now, you hear?"
"Oh so you say I shouldn't talk about you behind your back?"
"Depends what you say."
"Little things like," she whispered the rest in his ear.
Andy felt his spine shiver and immediately carried the girl back to his room. Nyx, on the other hand, went back to bed after eating half of the treats from the Pokemon treats bag.
So this is all I can type so far. And just a heads up, LeafxGreen and I are planning to continue one of our stories on our other account so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
Well goodnight one and all, I must sleep, eat, and study for my upcoming exams next week but I do have a four day weekend so I may just sneak in little fillers here and there to keep you a bit occupied while the main plot thickens slightly.
Next chapter may or may not have something you were expecting, but it actually helps make things a bit easier for me. I'm pretty sure you will all enjoy as well.
See you all later.
