Okay, here it is… the chapter before Amber's demise! I hope you like it, as I had fun writing it.
No, I don't own Danny Phantom and I never will. It belongs to Butch Hartman. All I own is this story.
Please read and review!
GhostWriterGirl out!
Like Dead Trees, In Cold December…
The school day was over, at last.
I was now walking back to my house, after having said goodbye to Laurie back at school; her aunt was picking her up, but my mom had to work a double shift at her work so I had to walk back home. And it was freezing.
It was winter, and as such, it had been snowing all. The. Time. The powdery white drifts reached up to my knees, making it difficult to walk, as if I was walking in mud. My breath came out in puffs of visible air, and I was shaking with cold, my hands jammed firmly in my jean pockets, despite that I had five layers of clothing on; Amity Park winters were some of the coldest winters ever.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of walking(and where I had been doused in ice-cold snow-sludge on the road from a passing car twice a minute so that I now looked like a shivering, miserable, drowned rat), I was at home. With trembling fingers, I unlocked the front door with my house keys and headed inside.
It was dark, and cold(Mom always turned the heater off when she left, so that the house didn't burn down while we were out), but I didn't bother to turn the heater on. Stomping my shoes on the mat to get rid of the excess snow, I trudged towards my room and dumped my bag next to my bed, before grabbing my winter pyjamas and a change of underwear and headed towards the bathroom next door. Stripping out of my sodden clothes, I shivered as I turned the taps of the bathtub on, with hot water pouring into the porcelain tub, steam wafting up. When I was satisfied with the level of water, I turned the taps off and climbed into the bathtub, sinking into the water, moaning as the welcoming warmth washed over my skin and seeped into my bones, restoring the heat that had been replaced by numbing cold while walking home.
This. This is luxury, I thought.
After a couple or so minutes of soaking in the bathtub, I washed myself before stepping out, letting the water to be drained away before changing into my toasty winter pyjamas, my fluffy bunny slippers included.
Heading downstairs, I made a beeline for the basement, where I turned the heater on. Almost immediately, heat filled the house, purging the arctic cold air that previously resided in the house. Sighing, I headed out of the basement and back up to my room, kicking off my slippers so that I could snuggle underneath the covers of my warm bed. Looking at the calendar beside my bed, I noticed that this was the week that Christmas break would start, and that in a couple of days not only would it be Christmas Eve, but also Pam's birthday(I made a mental note to call Pam to wish her a happy thirteenth birthday on that day), before I grabbed some music sheets, turned the radio on low, lit the candles on my bedside table and began writing those weird lyrics down…
…
Later
Almost two hours later, I had finished. My neck ached as I stretched from leaning over the sheets, and I had to admit, they were great lyrics. So much so that…
Hmm… maybe. But…
Ah, what the heck. It's just an outfit, and they're just lyrics, right?
Right?
Despite my warring thoughts, I climbed out of bed and made a beeline to my closet, where I opened it and chose the outfit that I wanted to wear, but was unsure:
The rockstar outfit Kitty had given me for my sixteenth birthday.
Making sure my door was closed and the blinds were down, I changed out of my pyjamas into the rockstar costume. After that, I went to my vanity and applied a layer of dark purple lipstick and some eyeliner, which turned into the signature design that I envisioned when I fulfilled my dream and was doing my own concerts. Next, I grabbed my guitar-a fire-shaped guitar, with red flames painted on the teal body of the guitar-before returning back to my bed to grab the lyrics, propped them against my mirror by using my jewellery box, after grabbing some silver bangles and a white choker for accessories, tuned my guitar, and was about to start playing when I saw myself in the mirror.
My auburn hair was in an unruly high ponytail, kept in place by a white elastic band, with only my two bangs free, framing my face as they made a sharp "M" with my widow's peak. My signature eyeliner, which was a sharp line down underneath my left eye and a curl underneath my right eye made my blue eyes pop, and my purple lipstick was a dark slash of colour against my fair skin. My white choker stood out oh my neck, and complimented my one-shouldered, sleeveless white leather top that exposed my midriff and my matching white leather pants. On my left wrist I wore my silver bangles and on my right I wore a white glove that reached to my shoulder. On my feet, I was wearing silver platform boots that reached to my knees and looked like skulls at the toe and heels of my boots. My guitar, slung over my shoulder and ready for me to play it, completed the look, a look I knew I would be seeing when my dream became reality.
I looked like a badass rockstar.
Grinning, I placed my fingers on the right chords and strings, and began playing the melody that had become stuck in my head since that day in September, as easy and as familiar as if I had been playing this tune since forever.
My fingers struck the right chord and I began to sing.
"Yeah, yeah!
Ooo-oh, oh!"
"It was, it was September
Winds blow, the dead leaves fall
To you, I did surrender
Two weeks, you didn't call."
"Your life, goes on without me
My life, a losing game
But you should, you should not doubt me
You will remember my name."
"Oh Ember
You will remember
Ember, one thing remains
Ember, so warm and tender
You will remember my name."
"Your heart, your heart has rendered
Your loss, now bear the shame
Like dead trees, in cold December
Nothing but ashes remain."
"Oh Ember
You will remember
Ember, one thing remains
Ember, so warm and tender
You will remember my name."
"Oooh-whoa-ooh-oh!"
"Oh Ember
You will remember
Ember, one thing remains
Ember, so warm and tender
You will remember my name
Yeah
YOU WILL REMEMBER MY NAME!"
My fingers stilled and I stopped singing. I looked back at my reflection, and for I second, I almost screamed.
For a second, I saw myself… but not myself.
The girl I saw in the mirror had blue hair that seemed to be on fire, chalky pale skin, eerie green eyes that seemed to be glowing, and a black version of my outfit. In her unnaturally pale hands she gripped a fire shaped guitar with blue flames on the purple body and a knob that seemed to swing to five icons on the guitar's body. A thin white light lined the girl's body, which made her appear to be glowing with her own light.
The glowing girl looked at me and whispered, "It's nearly time."
Time? I thought, still staring in shock and terror at the girl in the mirror, my breath coming out in short bursts. Time for what?
The girl in the mirror grinned and spoke again, "Make them remember, Ember McLain. Make them remember your name, and only your name. Make them remember."
And then, she vanished.
With eyes that wouldn't look too out-of-place on a bug, my heart rate rapidly escalating and my breaths coming out so short and fast I was fearing I would be hyperventilating, I stared at the mirror, the cold terror I had felt at seeing the strange girl in the mirror still gripping me in its icy grip, until I frowned as I thought back to what the girl had said:
She called me Ember.
Still feeling creeped out, I gave my mirror one last look as I backed away, my mind warring against the rational side and the not-so-rational side. Eventually, I decided that I must have been tired and seeing things. With a yawn, I trudged back to my beckoning bed and collapsed onto it, falling into a deep sleep, unaware of what was going to happen in just a few short hours…
BAM!
I am so, so sorry that this chapter took so long! I just had a MASSIVE case of writer's block and was stumped for a while. But, I hope you like this chapter, and yeah, we're getting closer to the inevitable chapter…
REPLIES TO MY AWESOME REVIEWERS:
GirlFish: Oh, you should be worried… I am not going to say anything, but I can confirm that Terri has NOTHING to do with Amber's demise. She's a bully, but she's not a murderer. And who knows, she may or may not have changed in the chapters that we haven't seen her…
EleahBlue: Thank you! I was trying to be realistic, but to be honest that would be MY reaction if my cheating ex-boyfriend decided to come up to me and apologise. And yes, we do. Yeah, me too. I think we all forget how this ends and wish it has a happy ending, when we all know it won't have one. Well, I can't answer that one. You'll have to be left to wonder how long it will be until Amber dies…*evil smirk*
RememberMyName: Well, here it is! And I will try to have the next chapter updated faster than this one. But thank you! I'm glad that you think this story is good.
I will try to update the next chapter faster, but no promises. But even though I won't confirm when Ember's death happens, I can say that the next chapter will be dramatic and will be plenty packed with feels. So hang on, and whatever you do, don't let go.
Please read and review!
GhostWriterGirl out!
