A Shadowed Apparition

Chapter one: The boy with Silver hair

She gazed out the window and watched the trees fly by in a blur of muted color. An extremely unhappy and bored expression was plastered on her face. Normally she would have loved to stare in awe at the beauty that the Earth created, but today just wasn't one of those days. She was feeling too depressed to even care.

She liked her old home way better than she did this new house they were moving to. It was someplace totally unfamiliar and different to her, and knowing this made her uneasy and almost sick to her stomach. She sighed and continued to stare emotionlessly out the window.

"Isn't the scenery just gorgeous?" her mom asked a little too cheerfully. She looked up at her mom who was staring at her through the rear observation mirror (A/N: hehehehe….rear observation mirror…. ….author explodes ).

Rin looked up at her mom and responded rather monotonously, "...yeah….whatever…." Slowly averting her gaze from her mother's irritating exuberance she glumly carried on with staring out the window of their green Honda Sivic.

"Come on Rin, you love nature," her mom paused as she turned a corner. "You should be loving this!" she finished excitedly. She looked at Rin through the rear observation mirror again and smiled so dazzlingly it almost blinded Rin making her positively nauseous. She just shrugged and looked out the window again.

"Oh Rin, you'll just adore the house! The realtor said it was built in the mid 1600's, but it's been remodeled so it has all modern appliances like chrome sinks and dishwashers and toilets!" her voice squeaked with insane excitement.

'Well at least I don't have to bathe in some wooden buckety thing or have to "relieve" myself in some old smelly outhouse….' Rin thought to herself only slightly appreciating the wonders of modern technology. Suddenly Rin's younger brother Miro squeaked loudly, breaking her train of thought.

"WOAH!……the house is like…" he had to stop and count on his fingers because he was a mathematically challenged doofus before he could continue, "It's about….450 YEARS OLD!" His voice cracked erratically due to his extreme excitement, but Rin knew that the real reason was because he was currently going through some drastic changes in his body…otherwise known as Puberty. She had to stifle the maniacal laughter that was threatening to escape her mouth.

She didn't want to laugh. She couldn't. She was doing such a good job of making her mom feel as guilty as possible by acting as bitchy and depressed as she could. If she laughed now all her hard work would be for nothing. She didn't even know really why they were moving. Her mom just said it was time for a change. So, they sold most of their old furniture because the new house still contained its original furniture or the exact replicas of the original ones. They only saved the things that were still in relatively good condition and their bed mattresses. Rin begged her mom to reconsider moving, but her mind was set. They were moving to the country and there was nothing Rin could do about it.

An hour and a half later they turned onto an old dirt road littered with golden foliage. Some of the trees bloomed with strange purple flowers and the 450 year old pine trees swayed in the slight breeze. Rin's face was plastered to the glass of the window as she looked at the breathtaking beauty that the Earth was offering her. The view was so enthralling and captivatingly beautiful that she just couldn't seem to pry her face off the glass. She was in complete awe. The old oak trees seemed to hold each a story of their own and the dirt road seemed to go on forever, winding lazily through the thick forest.

Suddenly something caught her eye; a blinding patch of white that stood out from the neutral green and brown tones of the forest. Rin squinted her eyes as she tried vainly to see what it was that had blinded her so. It was a boy with hair as white as snow that shimmered with the slightest hint of silver. He was sitting on the limb of a tall oak tree. His eyes were closed as if he was sleeping, but suddenly they opened and she gasped in surprise.

They were the color of the leaves in autumn and they sparkled in the little sunlight that there was like a fiery ball of amber sun. She noticed that he was looking directly at her, causing a slight blush to creep into her cheeks. A big fat pine tree suddenly blocked him from her view and when it had passed he was no longer there.

"Did you guys just see that?" Rin asked incredulously. She looked first at her mother and then at Miro.

"What are you talkin' about? I was staring in the same direction as you and I didn't see nothing," he said with a my-sister-has-finally-lost-it expression on his young face. Rin's eyes widened in shock.

"Your telling me that you didn't see that boy with hair so white it impaired my vision for more than 5 seconds sitting in one of those trees? How could you have not seen him he was right there!" she said loudly in utter astonishment. She looked at her mom who just shrugged and smiled meekly as if to say "Sorry, I missed it but I still believe you."

'How could they not have seen him sitting there….his hair was so white my eyes where almost scalded and they're telling me that they didn't see him just sitting there?' Rin thought to herself. She was dazed and completely confused. Her eyes suddenly got so wide that they looked about ready to fall out of her head. 'Great…so now I'm seeing things.…I really am going crazy!'

"Rin…you ok? Your eyes are like about to explode out of your cranium," Miro said feeling Rin's forehead to see if maybe she had a fever or something. She swatted his hand away and glared at him.

"I'm fine," she said still glaring menacingly at him. Finally they pulled into the driveway of their new house.

"Oh look, the moving van's already here!" Her mom exclaimed excitedly. She parked the car behind the van and got out. Miro got out after her. Rin stayed in the car pouting for about a minute before she decided being pissed of just wasn't worth it. The house was massive and was surrounded by a mysterious forest filled with ancient stories and tales of battles fought long ago.

Rin was irresistibly drawn to the dense forest. The trees whispered to her. Every single blade of grass sang to her. She got out of the car slowly, letting the door close with a muffled thud. She just stood there, staring into the thick woodland….listening to the trees that gently coaxed her to enter. The trees welcomed her. They liked her. They were her friends.

Come my child, do not be afraid. You are most welcome here. One of the oak trees seemed to extend its branches out to her as if beckoning her to enter.

"Oh great," Rin said. "Now I hear voices in my head. Could this day get any weirder?" Putting the fact that she could hear the trees talking to her aside, she enter the forest.

Soon she found herself in a small clearing. She stopped walking and looked around her. Strangely this place seemed vaguely familiar to her.

"Why do I feel as if I've been here before…..?" she said out loud tapping her chin with her pointer finger. As she tried to think of why she remembered this place, something distracted her. It was a lock of silver-white hair that was tangled high up in one of the tallest oak trees branches.

'It's so…shiny…so soft…I have to have that lock of hair.' Rin thought to herself and began to climb the tree.