Thriller

17 year old Alex Campbell draped the blanket across her legs and settled down on the couch to watch a little TV. She had shoulder length brown hair with golden highlights and brown eyes. "This is going to be the most boring night in the history of ever!" she said falling back onto the couch. Alex was alone that night. Her father was out working late as usual and she stuck at home all by herself. She flipped through the channels before finally settling on an old cartoon. Before she knew it, however, she had fallen fast asleep. Outside, the dark night sky was steadily growing darker. The distant thunder suddenly boomed, waking Alex from her slumber. She fell from the couch completely surprised. "Great." She said groaning. She sat up and rubbed her head. Thunderstorms already freaked her out. And the knocking on the door wasn't making it any better. She walked over to a window and peeked outside. Laying on the stoop was a small boy wearing tattered clothes. He had a book over his head to shelter him from the pelting rain. "Oh goodness." She opened the door and the boy fell into the house.

"Hey! I was taking a good nap! What the heck did you wake me up for?" the boy yelled. His black hair was matted to his head. Rainwater was sliding down his pale skin and the only visible green eye looked so tired.

"Well it was raining on you. You could've caught a cold sleeping out there." Alex said, "Now come in out the rain." She stood and shut the door behind the boy. She took his hand and led him into the living room.

"Here's a blanket." She said putting it around his shoulders, "Now you wait here while I find you some dry clothes."

He settled on the couch under the blanket while Alex searched through some old clothes in the attic. After a few minutes she returned, "Here. These are my cousin's old clothes from when he was about your size." She handed him the black hoodie with the Hurly logo on it a pair of blue jeans, "The bathroom is right upstairs to your left." She said pointing toward the steps. When he returned, Alex smiled, "Hey you look good." She said smiling, "So what's your name?"

The boy looked at her suspiciously, "Shade."

"I'm Alex. Now about your hair…" she said putting her fingers through his tangled mass.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Shade asked pulling back.

"You were all alone outside. I couldn't just leave you there. Now how do you usually wear your hair?"

"Spiked."

"Have a seat. Let's see what we can do for you." She stood in front of him and pushed his hair away from his eyes. She gasped when she caught sight of his left eye. A scar was over it and she could tell he was blind in that eye.

"Well are you going to fix my hair or are you going to stand there and stare at my eye?" Shade crossed his arms and looked at her.

"I-I'm sorry." She said completely embarrassed. She went to work on his hair and after awhile, it was in its normal spiked position. "There now. All done." Alex set the comb down and smiled.

Shade slid out of the chair and looked in a mirror. He picked up the comb and began combing part of his hair down, covering his bad eye. "Now it's done."

He turned to Alex who was staring at him, "What?" he asked.

"What happened?"

"I knew you were going to ask." He said shaking his head, "I was just a kid back in the mamodo world. I was playing around with another kid and he hit me in the eye with a spell."

"Spell? Are you some kind of witch?" Alex asked.

"Are you?"

Alex shook her head, "Are you hungry?"

"No."

"I guess you can stay here tonight." She said standing, "I'll help you find your parents tomorrow."

"I don't have any parents." Shade said simply.

"No family at all?"

He shook his head, "Nope. Don't look so sad. It's okay. I'm used to being alone." He said.

"Well, Shade. You're not alone. Not anymore." As soon as she finished speaking, the navy blue book Shade had earlier begun to glow.

"What the heck is that?" Alex turned to the couch and picked up the book. The navy blue light grew brighter as she opened it.

"Hey, don't mess with that!" Shade said reaching for it. She pulled the book away from his grasp.

"I can read it." She said, "K-keazuk…"

"No!" Shade yelled but it was too late. His green eyes glowed brightly and he gathered a large amount of black energy in his hands. He fired it at the wall creating a large hole.

Alex looked at the little boy startled, "What was that?"

Shade's eyes returned to normal, "Why did you do that?" he demanded.

"I-I didn't know that would happen." She said closing the book and hugging it close to her chest, "What are you?"