Cars sped past Brennan, gently lifting the tousle of his brunette hair. He sat on a bench outside Pitt Airport, praying that he had missed his taxi to Trinity Heights. It was cold outside, blizzard cold. Brennan hugged his arms around his thin chest, feeling the sharp ridges of his ribcage. His parents had told him he needed to eat more. Grief made that impossible.

In fact, it was grief and his parents that got him here in the first place.

"Hello! Is this seat taken?"

Brennan looked up. A massive girl hovered over him, wild black hair framing her olive face. A jagged scar ran from underneath of one greenish-gold eye. She looked like some kind of Amazon warrior woman from myth.

"Uh... No," Brennan muttered, hoping that the girl hadn't caught him staring.

"So you're stuck here too?" The girl asked, stretching out her long legs.

Please go away, Brennan thought, hoping by some divine act that the girl would leave or get picked up or something so that he could mope in solitude.

"Yeah. Waiting for the taxi," he replied after a long and very awkward silence.

"Me too!" The girl exclaimed. She had a gravelly voice; not unattractive, but almost like a purr... Or a growl. "Where are you headed?"

"Some party," Brennan mumbled.

The girl placed a hand on Brennan's shoulder. "No way! Trinity Heights?"

Brennan nodded, keeping his gaze locked on his feet and the ground.

"You know that place used to be a looney bin? They say a lot of people died there. Mostly of tuberculosis and other nasty diseases. Oh! I almost forgot," the girl said, smacking her hand to her forehead. "I'm Dana."

"Brennan," the pale boy muttered.

"Oh, also, my friend should be here any minute. Well, 'friend'. I just met her on the plane on the way over. Her name's Calida. She's going to the party too."

Great, Brennan thought. More people.

"You know what? Why don't we all take the same cab over? That'd be fun, huh?" Brennan could feel Dana smiling. "Fun. Yeah," he mumbled, rubbing his hands together. It was a habit Brennan had picked up to occupy his time and distract himself from unpleasant situations; usually the pain of remembering, but not always.

"There she is. Cali! Come over here and meet my new friend," Dana shouted, waving Calida over. Brennan looked up and turned around.

Cali was an attractive girl, like some kind of island princess. Her skin was a bronze color, her eyes almond shaped. She wore a thin red t-shirt, as if she couldn't feel the winter chill in the air. Brennan was wearing two layers, a tank top and a black sweater, and he was still freezing!

Dana shoved her hands into the pocket of her leather jacket. "This is Brennan. Brennan, Cali."

"Hey," Calida said, nodding curtly.

"How's it going?" Brennan replied.

A car horn honked.

Startled, Brennan jumped out of his seat.

"You kids goin' to Trinity Heights?" The cab driver was an older woman, leaning out of her open car window to shout to the trio.

"Yeah!" Cali shouted back, a little forcefully.

"Hop in," the woman said, jerking her head towards her car.

Dana shrugged and grabbed her suitcase, followed by Cali. Brennan seriously debated just staying where he was on the bench and finding somewhat to catch a flight home, but he thought better of the ludicrous scheme. Grabbing his own luggage, the scrawny boy followed the girls to the cab.

"Wait for me!"

The trio turned to look behind them.

A young man ran to catch up, dragging behind him a large suitcase. He was tall, about as tall as Dana, with a mop of purple hair.

"Cool hair, dude!" Dana called to the young man as he caught up. "Y'know, I've always wondered what I'd look like if I dyed my hair."

"How are you all doing?" The young man asked. "My name's Elijah. You can call me Eli."

"Hey! I'm Dana, that's Cali, and that's Brennan."

Brennan averted his gaze.

"Nice to meet you all. I hate to rush things, especially introductions, but it would appear that we are running late for the party. Shall we?" Eli gestures towards the cab, and while he loaded the trunk with his suitcase, everyone else took their seats.

Brennan tried to claim shotgun, but he was beat by the ever assertive Cali. Instead, Brennan was forced to take the center back seat, sandwiched in between the giants Eli and Dana, making even the average sized boy look small as the car zoomed off.

"I've heard some creepy things about this place. A lot of murders and stuff. There's this one story about a guy who killed a whole bunch of people with a shovel," Cali said, looking back over her shoulder.

"I heard it was a trowel," Dana said, tilting her head.

"Whatever. Anyways, there's another story about a bunch of nurses who killed themselves in the chapel. They went crazy taking care of their patients," Calida tossed her hair. "Then of course there are all the stories of the inhumane treatments... Shock therapy, ice baths, lobotomies. Trinity Heights was pretty messed up."

"Sounds like a very pleasant place," Dana scoffed.

So much for forgetting about death, Brennan thought to himself, sighing.

For the duration of the car ride, Eli read a book, Calida and Dana gossiped about the hotel, and Brennan sat and rubbed his hands, trying to tune them all out.

It was a mercy when the cab driver finally gave the five minute warning, and when the cab pulled up to the gates of the hotel, Brennan let out another sigh; a sigh of relief.

"I want to check out that chapel," Dana said as soon as all the luggage was unloaded.

"What? But the party's starting," Cali protested.

"It will only take a few minutes. I just wanna peek inside."

"Why don't you just wait until tomorrow? We are slated to stay here for the entire week," Eli said. Brennan agreed. Silently, of course.

"Because I want to know now. And nobody said you had to come."

Eli shrugged. "You're going in alone?" He asked.

"I'll go with her," Cali said.

"Alright then. I guess we will see you at the party," Eli said reluctantly.

And with that, it was settled. Brennan watched the two girls wander off in the snow, into the darkness and away from the safety of the hotel.

XxXxX

Hello again, and Merry Christmas to all my readers! Only two more intro parts to go until Chapter 2! Hurrah!

That also means that I only have a few spots left open, and only 1 spot left for men! In super excited for the upcoming chapters; things are going to get dark fast.

Soon I will be asking for your guys' characters' reactions to the other OC's, so keep an eye out! Also in chapter two will be teams!

Finally, big thanks to reader "Cream of Ice" for the new cover pic! I am so grateful

Thanks for reading, and, if you feel so inclined, please critique or review!