Ultra Special Blah Blah Number One: Brief thanks and immense acknowledgments to reviewers. You have no idea how ecstatically happy that made me. Never heard of Darren Shan to be honest, but I plan to look into it. The web site looked VERY interesting, VERY creepy, and I'm VERY flattered for the comparison. The next two chapters won't have Ryou, the poor duckling, and this one's really short. SO, the next chapter goes up, hopefully, tomorrow. It IS done. (grin).
Shadows-
A small boy shivered, slowly opened his eyes, and then let them slid shut again. With sure fingers, he clenched tight the thin sheet over him and pulled it tighter. In continuing discomfort, the boy rolled from side to side on the rickety little cot.
A cool wind blew through the room, weaving past dusty, filthy and mildew-soaked boxes, piled high as the ceiling. The wind eventually found itself from the single, high mounted window in the very back, to the boy and his cot near the staircase.
Yugi bolted upright, throwing a wild amethyst gaze about the room, quickly scanning each and every corner and shadow. "Hello?" he asked in a soft voice.
"Hello," a dark voice said smoothly. Yugi swirled in the sheets to come face to face with his own double. The figure was taller, more angular, clothed in leather and silver. His eyes reflecting a deep crimson in the scarce starlight, and a fierce smirk alighted on thin, pale lips. He was deeply involved in throwing and then catching a small pocket knife, by the blade.
Frantically, Yugi scooted backward to the edge of his cot. Although it only put a few more inches between them, it still made him feel better. "W-what do you want?" Yugi stammered out.
The figure caught the knife, flipping the blade shut and clenching the device tightly in his fist. He closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh. "Ah, that is the question of the day, isn't it? What do you want, Yugi Motou?" he breathed quietly. Yugi stared at him.
He considered this for a moment. For the man to go away, for the shop not to be closed down by the bank, for his aunt to be a little nicer to him, for mom and dad to come back from America. "For Grandpa to get better," Yugi sighed, staring at his hands.
The figure opened one eye, glancing at Yugi out of the corner of it. "Really? Is that all?" he asked softly, calmly.
Yugi was silent a minute, sucking on his lip,before he nodded. Slow, but sure. "Y-yes."
The smirk returned, madder than ever. "That is hardly anything at all boy," he breathed excitedly. Placing the fist containing the knife on his hip, he leaned over toward Yugi. With his other hand, he pointed the boy's face up to look him in the eyes. This man seemed to have hardly eaten in days, his skin was tight, and the sharp features of his face, the manic glint in his blood-red eyes, were given a wild and almost animalistic quality in the dim starlight. "Pick one more thing and we shall have a deal," the man purred softly. His breath was cold and metallic, like silver.
Partially from fear,Yugi said the first thing that came to his mind. "F-friends. Good friends, loyal friends, friends that will take care of me and I can take care of..."
The figure frowned slightly, let go and pulled back. He sucked softly on his cheek, then shrugged. "All right, shouldn't be a problem." He paused, leaned again to be at face level with the boy, and tapped his lips lightly three times. "Keep quiet, okay?"
And he was gone. Like Yugi'd imagined it, he was lying down again, under the thin sheet, on the tiny cot, in the dark basement. Only the taste of the man's breath in his throat kept Yugi from completely writing it off as a very vivid hallucination.