Heaven or Hell?
Chapter 1:
The cold night air is nipping at every part of my exposed body. I pull my jacket up tighter around my neck in an effort to keep myself warm. It's not doing much good though, the temperature is below freezing. I won't be surprised if it starts snowing soon.
I'm new to this town. I just moved here a couple of days ago with my family. I'm fifteen years old and I'll be starting school soon. I'm in grade ten but we didn't see much point in starting at the end of the week. I'm a fairly weird person…I guess. I don't much care for my family but other than that I'm a pretty optimistic person. I like to look for the lighter side of every situation. Don't get me wrong, I am nervous about going to a new school-you're crazy if you're not!-but I love meeting new people and making new friends. I'm not sure what else to tell you about myself…Oh well, I guess you'll find out along the way.
It feels like I've been walking for ages. I don't even know where I'm going. It's really cold. I hope I find a café, or arcade, or a theatre somewhere. I turn into an alley way-only because nothing horrific ever happens in that scenario, right? I get about halfway down the alley when I hear footsteps behind me. I stop to listen but the footsteps stop too! I turn around to face my follower…there's no one there. "Strange" I think to myself. I shrug and turn around to continue on my way. I only get a few steps further when a man steps out from behind a dumpster. He just stands there, watching me, with this creepy little grin playing at his lips. I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do so, in my nature, I merely smile at him and say, "Sorry if I bothered you. I was only passing through. You know, shortcuts are important on chilly nights like these."
The man grins and nods, "Yes…they are."
Figuring he understands, I jam my fists in my pockets to keep warm. "I'll be on my way then. Sorry for disturbing you." I continue to walk and as I pass him, he sticks out his arm to stop me. "Yes?" He grins down at me. I open my mouth to ask why he stopped me, but he speaks before I do.
"You haven't told me your name," he says.
"Oh," I reply confused, "I'm Alicia."
"Alicia," he repeats and appears to be pondering, although I'm not sure what about. He smiles at me again, but this time in a friendly way, "You are new here, yes?" I nod. "I thought so. I am Naraku." He holds out his hand to me and I shake it. "Alicia, you shouldn't be walking about in dark alleys. You never know who could be lurking in the shadows."
"I know," I say with a weak smile, "but I'm freezing here and I really want to get inside."
"Who wouldn't," he replies. "There's a café near by, I'll take you there."
"Thanks," I smile up at him.
We arrive at the café five minutes later-we had walked in complete silence. Naraku opens the door and motions for me to enter. I nod my silent thanks and enter the café. Naraku enters behind me and guides me to an empty booth. We sit down across from each other and a waitress walks over to take our order.
"Hello, what can I get you?" she asks.
"I open my mouth to answer but Naraku is quicker. "Two hot cocoas, please." He says and I just look at him.
"Will that be all?" the waitress asks.
Naraku looks at me and asks "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"
"No thanks." I smile.
"That'll be all, then" Naraku says to the waitress, who nods and leaves to get our order. Naraku never looked away from me after ordering. I pretend not to notice his eyes tracing my body-thanks to my cheeks being rosy from the cold he buys my act. Naraku slides out from behind the table and sits down next to me. He slips his jacket off and gently wraps it around my shoulders. "You look so cold" he says quietly. I smile at him and put my arms through the sleeves of his coat. He cups my chin in his hand and turns my head to meet his gaze. "You have beautiful eyes." He says.
"Uh, thanks." I smile shyly and stare down at my hands. Naraku watches me for a few seconds more then returns to his side of the table. The waitress comes back with two steaming cups of cocoa.
"Thank you," Naraku says as she places the cups in front of us.
"You're welcome, dears." She smiles. "if you need anything else just give me a holler.
"We'll bare that in mind," Naraku smiles at her and, one again, she leaves.
"Naraku…" I start to say.
"Mmmm hmmm?" he asks as he sips from his cup.
"You say I shouldn't walk through dark alleys…"
"And I stand by that. Every town and every city has bad people that like to lurk in the shadows and make unsuspecting by-passers their victims of whatever they please. This city is no exception." Naraku states matter-of-factly.
"But then…what were you doing there?" I ask, keeping my cold hands on the hot mug in front of me.
Naraku looks at me over the rim of his cup and drinks. When he lowers his cup he answers me, "My business in that alley is my own."
I look at him through widened eyes. I can't help but feel a little upset with myself for being so rude and a little sad that Naraku seems mad at me-I don't like people being mad at me. "I'm sorry," I say quickly and drop my gaze to my hands again. "I didn't mean to intrude."
Naraku must sense my sadness for he reaches his arms across the table and takes my hands in his own. "It's alright," he says gently. "Please don't be sad, I'm not angry with you. I want to tell you why I was there, but I can't. Not yet, anyway." His large, warm hands rub my cold ones and I can feel his body heat start to warm me up. I look up at him and he flashes me a half grin, then he raises an eyebrow, "You know you haven't even told me where you're from yet."
"Oh," I smile weakly, "I'm from Summersville."
"Summersville, eh?" Naraku takes his hands away from mine and I sip at my cocoa. "It sounds like a nice place."
"It is," I sigh, "or at least it was."
"Was? What happened?" he asks with mild confusion.
"I left," I say, "I've no idea what it's like now." I answer and we share a quiet laugh.
We spend the next twenty minutes chatting about nothing in particular, then Naraku asks for the bill. I offer to pay for my own cocoa but Naraku refuses to let me.
"It's my treat," he smiles and hands the money to the waitress. We stand up to leave and I give him back his jacket. "You'd better be headed home hadn't you?" he asks as we walk out the door, back into the cold chill of the night.
"Nah, I try to stay away from home if I can…I don't like to go home until I absolutely have to." I answer.
"Okay," he smiles, "we can just walk around for a while I guess." I smile up at him, glad that he still wants to hang out. "So what grade are you in?"
"Ten, what about you?" I say thinking that he looks like he could be in grade eleven or twelve.
"Same…How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
"Cool…I'm sixteen."
"Cool."
We walk in silence for about five minutes when suddenly Naraku stops and frowns, looking around.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he says still looking around, "I wasn't paying attention to where we were going. This is a really bad part of town…Stay close to me, don't wander off too far by yourself."
"Okay," I say, obeying his orders. He sounded serious and concerned.
"Come, lets get clear of here," he says grabbing me around the wrist firmly and walking faster. I obey. We turn around a corner and run straight into a broad, burly figure.
"Well, well…it seems this kind stranger has brought me a nice tasty treat…I've always had a thing for young girls." The figure chuckles evilly.
"Leave her alone," Naraku snarls through gritted teeth, gently pushing me behind him to act as a shield.
"Who died and made you boss?" the figure says smoothly as they step out of the shadows. It's a man, of course I could already tell that from the voice, but now I could see his face and it was a face of death. He had evil business written all over his face and the gleam of a serial killer in his eyes.
"I told you to back off!" Naraku growls.
"Now, now, lets not get hostile…Who am I kidding?" the man laughs and swings his fist out at Naraku.
I hear the sound of flesh connecting with flesh and Naraku grunt as he struggles to regain his balance. The man darts for me, grabbing me around the waist. Naraku hollers and charges the man but he's too swift and steps out of the way, sending Naraku crashing into the brick wall. He sinks to the ground, blood covering his pale skin. The man chuckles and turns his attention to me.
"So, my young cherry blossom," he says "shall we get started?"
"Don't touch me," I warn him in a low menacing voice, keeping one eye on Naraku.
"You're in no position to be giving orders…then again it might be fun if your feisty…"
"I'm about to get a lot feistier…"
"Mmmm," his arm tightens around my waist and his other hand slips down to my ass.
"Bastard!" Naraku screams, trying to stand up.
I bring my right fist up to meet the strange man's jaw and he stumbles back in surprise.
"You're a little bitch aren't you," he smirks and advances again.
Again, my fist connects with his jaw and before he has any time to counter attack my other fist meets him between the eyes. He howls in pain and pulls out a gun, aiming it at me!
I stand still, shocked, knowing that the end was near.
"Any last words whore?"
"Yeah. Look behind you," I smirk evilly.
Behind him Naraku pounced, and brought his fist crashing into the man's face. I dart forward, jerk the gun away and unload it. The man turns around and the backside of his hand knocks me into a dumpster. My head collides with the corner and I fall unconscious.
I'm not out for long. I open my eyes and hear the shouts of the fight. I try to move but my body is stiff. I keep struggling. I make it to my knees, my head spinning. My eyes focus…fists are swinging. The strange man pulls a knife out of a sheath around his ankle. He lunges at Naraku and misses. I feel the anger rising in my body. Looking around I find a steel bar next to the dumpster. With a great deal of pain I grab it and hurry to help Naraku. I wait for my opening. The man's back is to me and he's moving in for the kill. Ahead of him Naraku stands backed up against a wall. NOW! I raise the bar high above my head and bring it crashing down. I hit my target. The man sways a moment, then slumps to the ground and I sink to my knees, breathing heavily. I'm bleeding and I'm sore, but I don't care. I hear footsteps rushing and a figure appear next to me. Looking up, my eyes meet Naraku's.
"Are you alright?" he asks worried.
"Oh…I've been better," I grin. "What about you?"
"I'll be fine. Come on." He hauls me to my feet and starts half dragging me. I struggle to keep on my feet.