"Where in the self-help section of Barnes and Noble does one find a guide on dealing with a supernatural stalker?"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Ugh.." The girl groaned, swatting haphazardly for the alarm that she knew was somewhere on her bedside table. As she failed to find the damn thing, and it continued to blare annoyingly, she finally had enough and threw the blankets off her head. "Stupid clock." She growled, snatching it off the nightstand, she violently smashed the snooze button. When that fails to shut the accursed thing up, she throws it against the wall where it breaks.

Cursing at herself, she falls back onto the mattress. "Great, now I'm going to need to buy another alarm clock."

After several minutes of contemplating whether or not she should just go back to sleep, the girl finally slides out of the warmth that was her bed. Walking over to the wall, she picks up the sharp pieces of plastic and throws them into the wastebasket next to her desk. Leaving the bedroom proved just as hard as leaving her bed, but when she enters the small kitchen area and opens the fridge, another curse leaves her lips.

"And all of my soda is gone too." Slamming the door closed, she pulls out a glass cup and fills it with tap water. Dumping out what little remained in the glass, she carefully sits the cup on the counter and returns to her bedroom.

With no morning caffeine, she gets ready for what she knew was going to be a terrible day. Picking out a pair of ripped black jeans, and a faded black band t-shirt, she dresses for the day. A pair of mismatched socks and combat boots complete the outfit and as she's leaving her apartment, the cell phone in her back pocket begins to ring to the tune of Game of Thrones.

Without even bothering to look at the screen, she swipes the answer button and places the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Oh!" It was her mother, and she sounded surprised that she answered. "I didn't think you'd actually be awake this early. I was just going to leave you a voicemail."

"I have an early morning class, which I'm actually running late for. What's up, máther?"

"That doesn't surprise me in the least. You never were a morning person."

Rolling her eyes, she presses her mother. "What did you call for mom?"

She heard her mother sigh. "Well, with the holidays right around the corner, I was wondering if you might be coming home this year. It's been years since we last saw you."

For good reason. She thought, answering her mother with a soft, "I don't know, mom. I have a lot going on here right now and I really need to study. I was honestly just thinking of staying here with everyone else. Besides, it's really expensive to travel this time of year."

"Yes, I know." She said, and she could hear the sadness in her mother's voice. "But it's been three years now. Your brother has married and they've had their first baby. Who you haven't even met yet."

She was trying to guilt her into coming home, but it didn't work in the years passed and it wouldn't work now. "Máther," she sighs, rubbing at her throbbing temple. Finally she says, "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not promising anything. Okay?"

Her mother mimics her sigh of frustration. "Okay, I guess that's as good as I'm going to get. I won't pressure you. Just know that we miss you."

"I know, I miss you guys too." And she did. Her reasoning for not wanting to return home had nothing to do with her family, she loved them and missed them dearly. "Mom, I've got to go. I'm really going to be late."

"I won't keep you any longer, I promise. But Ciara, one more thing."

"What's that?"

"I hope the weather isn't too bad up there."

Ciara stops in the middle of the hallway, freezing as her entire body goes cold. Around her, the air begins to drop several degrees until her breath turns to mist. Swallowing back the sudden fear, she quickly tells her mother that everything is under control, and disconnects. With a shaking hand, she pockets the phone and tries to pull herself back together. She's lasted this long without any major issues with her powers, she wasn't about to let her mother's words get to her now.

Closing her eyes, she reigns in her emotions.

She'd been on the verge of puberty when her powers first began manifesting. She remembered perfectly the day she discovered them. She was days away from 13 when her first love had broken her heart. She'd been so scared of the future and sad over losing him, that for the first time ever, it had snowed in the middle of the summer. Thankfully, by morning the snow had melted, and since it had happened in the middle of the night no one in their neighborhood had seen the unusual snow storm that blanketed their home.

The next day, her mother had sat her down and explained to her that every woman in their family went through something similar when they came of age. Each of them gaining their own special ability. Alongside this power, they'd been gifted with longevity. Though they remain "mortal" they aged very slowly; living well into their hundreds. This didn't completely surprise Ciara, especially when her mother told her, her gift was that of mind reading. Now it all made sense. How she and her brother could never lie to their mother about anything.

Unfortunately for Ciara, her powers were over the weather, and were often uncontrollable. Her emotions determining their directions. If she was sad, it often rained, couple the sadness with fear, and it snowed. When she became angry, the air around her would heat. She could even create wind or storms, though they took a lot of energy and could rage beyond what little control she had.

She was outside when she finally felt herself calming down, her emotions once more under her control. Years ago, when she had shown interest in leaving home to further her schooling, she'd learned to control her emotions rather than her powers. She knew eventually she would need to get a handle on her powers, but for now this was the best solution she could come up with.

And so far, it was working.

With her emotions back under her strict control, Ciara walked the short distance from her apartment building to the school campus. Shoving a pair of wireless earbuds into her ears, she drowns out the sound of the city to the drumming beats of Avenged Sevenfold.

She was completely oblivious to the world around her as she let her feet guide her to where she needed to be. Having taken this route multiple times over the last couple years, she knew it like the back of her hand. Could walk it with her eyes closed. Which she was practically doing now. It was way too early for her to be awake right now.

"Need caffeine." She whined to no one in particular.

She was so focused on keeping her feet going in one direction, Ciara didn't realize that someone was calling her name. At least not until she felt someone's hand land on her shoulder. In a flash, her fight or flight mode was activated, and she always chose to fight.

Spinning around, fist in a tight ball, she readied to knock out the idiot dumb enough to touch her without permission. But when she met the shocked brown eyes of her best friend, Ciara quickly dropped her hand back to her side.

Pulling the left earbud out, she glared at the taller female. "Mia, you know you can't sneak up on me like that. I nearly knocked you out."

Mia was a skinny girl of about 5'4, taller than Ciara's 5'1. She kept her brown hair long, leaving almost exclusively loose around her shoulders. Ciara didn't understand how she could deal with it, but since it worked for her, she never bothered to ask. With doe-like brown eyes and a heart-shaped face, and curves in all the right places, she was considered one of the more beautiful girls on campus.

Standing next to her, Ciara always felt unworthy. She never bothered with her own hair, keeping the blonde strands pulled back into a messy ponytail. Ciara didn't have the figure Mia had, or the fashion sense either. Maybe if she wore more color and less black, she could catch the attention Mia did. But color didn't suit her, and black helped her go unnoticed. Her only distinguishing feature was her vivid blue eyes.

"Woah, Ciara." Mia says, taking a careful step back. "Bad morning?"

"You don't know the half of it." Ciara muttered, turning back towards the building.

She falls into step beside Ciara, adjusting the shoulder strap of her messenger bag. "Let me guess, your mom called begging you to come home again?"

"Are you psychic or something?" Ciara joked, knowing very well that the girl wasn't. Sighing, she nods. "Yeah, it's getting harder and harder to tell her no."

"Maybe you should go back." Mia says, glancing over. "At least for a couple days. I know you miss them just as much as they miss you."

"Maybe.."

Mia leans over and knocks her shoulder against Ciara, breaking the tension. "Hey, don't worry about it too much. Holidays aren't for another couple weeks, there's still plenty of time to consider it."

Giving her a halfhearted smile, Ciara nods. "You're right. I need to run though, I'm already late for Professor Miller's class. Meet up for lunch?"

"Absolutely. See ya."

Waving, Ciara hurries ahead, leaving Mia behind.

Three hours later, Ciara and Mia sat outside of the dinning hall, the both of them picking lazily at their lunch; neither one of them really interested in eating. Ciara was too exhausted, and Mia too focused on the book in her hand. They say in silence until Mia gently placed her book on the table and faced her friend.

"We should go to the mall tonight." She said.

Taken aback, Ciara lifted her head from the table with a look of disgust. "Why? You know I hate that place. It's always too crowded."

Mia flashed her a glare. "Have you seen your wardrobe lately? You're in dire need of new clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Ciara looked around at the faded band shirt and ripped jeans. What she had on now was comfortable and she hated breaking in new clothes. "These are fine."

Mia rolls her eyes. "Fine, we don't need to do any shopping, but we do have that assignment from Professor Chatman that we need to do. You know, the one where we're supposed to people watch."

"We can do that anywhere, it doesn't need to be the mall."

"True, but at least at the mall, we can sit in the food court and eat junk food while doing it. Besides, David is working tonight and he promised to hook me up with the guy who works with him."

It was Ciara's turn to roll her eyes. "I knew it. You just want to check out some guy!"

Mia's face turns a bright scarlet as she shrugs her shoulders. "Come on, Ciara. It's been ages since I had a decent date with a decent guy, and David promised this was a good one." She pokes out her bottom lip and bats her lashes, pleading with her. "Please Ciara, you know how much I value your opinion."

Groaning, Ciara shakes her head. "Ah damnit, not the puppy eyes!" Sighing in defeat, she nods. "Fine, but if I get any bad vibes we're leaving. Understand?"

Mia's entire face lights up as she smiles, knowing she'd won. "You got it! Thank you, Ciara."

"Yeah, whatever." Laying her head back on the table, Ciara closes her eyes and tries to reign in her building anxiety.

Closer to evening the two best friends entered the crowded mall. Normally on a weekday such as this, the mall wouldn't be so crowded, but because they lived in an already overpopulated city, it was almost always near capacity. Immediately the loud sounds of everyone talking at once assaulted Ciara's ears, spiking her fear of public places.

Gritting her teeth, she fights back that fear. She didn't need the entire mall freezing over. Despite the death grip she normally had over her emotions, she still had a hard time in places like this. Reaching for the small prescription bottom in her jacket pocket, she pops the lid and taps out a single little blue pill.

Her mother hated that she used medication to keep her calm, insisting she only needed to train more. But Ciara had tried that once, and no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't get control of her powers. So, she bottled her emotions and buried them with the help of these pills.

They were just passed the mall entrance when, out of nowhere, someone rudely bumped into her shoulder; nearly knocking her over entirely. She hissed in pain, her hand going to her already bruising shoulder. What exactly was this guy made of, steel?

"What the hell?" Ciara growls, casting the man a glare. She could feel the air around her beginning to heat as her anger grew.

The man who assaulted her with his steel-like body, looked sheepishly at her from behind a pair of glasses. Shoulder length pink hair was pulled back into a ponytail at his neck. "I'm terribly sorry." He says, pushing his glasses back up his narrow nose. "I didn't see you standing there. I do hope you're alright."

Apprehension suddenly dosed her anger as a feeling of sense of foreboding came over her. There was something not right about this man. Something sinister despite the kind look on his face. Maybe it was the eerie color of his eyes.

Shaking her head, Ciara dropped her hand away from her shoulder. "It's… fine." She says, trying to get a read on the man. "I'm fine. I wasn't paying attention either."

"Oh good!" He exclaims, a smile pulling at his lip. "I don't think I could forgive myself if you'd been hurt."

"No worries." Maneuvering around the stranger, she starts to walk away from him.

"I hope we bump into one another again." She hears him say from behind. "Until next time, goodbye Ciara."

Ciara's eyes go wide, and she spins around to face the man again. Except, he was no longer there. Gone completely. Swallowing hard, Ciara can't stop the fear that bloods her body, causing the air to drop drastically in temperature. Her breath now puffs of mist, she searches for the man. How did he know her name? Was he stalking her?

Fighting for control once more, she briefly contemplates abandoning Mia and running for the safety of her apartment. But when the brunette calls her name, she shakes herself and hurries to catch up.