Finally have this up. oh and 16 remember when you said that Z's bit reminded you of Kristina a bit well this one should remind you of her. OK, this might be a little to focused on Rephaim but in this story he is what leads her down a path of distraction, this is just leading into that. Plus after she meets him in the book she does focus on him a lot. Sorry if it seems awkward I'm still getting used to writing in Ellen's style. Oh and for the Ayeliski part I added that because Rephaim doesn't have a last name and it seemed awkward saying "that's Rephaim, favored son of Kalona" well in itself it seems like a normal sentence but we're used to people having last names when we introduce someone so I thought he should have a last name. And the Cherokee word for Raven Mocker is Kalona Ayeliski.

Disclaimer: The characters belong to P.C. Cast the writing style belongs to Ellen Hopkins.

Read...review...enjoy

Stevie Rae

Mind numbing boredom

That was my life before I met him.

Before he came into my life, I was Miss Goody-two-shoes.

Doing whatever Mommy and Daddy tell me to do.

Taking care of my little brothers,

getting straight As and making friends with all the teachers.

I hated it!

I hated doing everything my parents told me to do.

I hated being the good child.

It was so boring!

My friends were nice

but they were so boring and petty!

All Erin and Shaunee care about is shopping and boys.

Damien's cool but he's such a nerd.

My life was just an empty cycle of routine before I met him.

He showed me what it was like to take a trip down the dangerous side of life.

What it was like to take a hard turn left off the dirt road;

speeding away not caring who you leave in your dust.

He showed me what life can be like if you just don't give a damn

he demonstrated how life can be when you embraced the monster.

I saw how life could be when you dive head long into the abyss.

Not caring about your own distraction or what waited beyond.

Falling away… losing yourself…being ebbed away

…into oblivion.

I first saw him during school

A rather boring place to meet someone like him.

But that's how it started.

I was sitting in the middle of Lit class dutifully paying attention.

When he burst from the door way.

I looked up at the clock.

Holy crow, who comes to class 30 minutes late!

He was leaning against the door jamb carelessly

holding an amber bottle that smelled suspiciously like alcohol.

He wore a black vest and black deer skin pants and knee-high buckled boots.

His skin was a deep tan and he had high cheek bones that defined his face.

His hair was long and as black as the night sky or the raven feathers that were tied into it.

But it was the eyes that drew my attention.

I'd never seen eyes like his before.

His eyes reminded me of an open flame or a wild animal's.

They were a deep ember and when the light reflected them just right they looked bloody.

Like someone sliced open a freshly cut wound and poured the blood into his eyes.

It looked like somebody struck a match and ignited a flame in his eyes.

But despite their penetrating depth there was something off about them.

His pupils were dilated for one.

And they held no real emotion.

It was almost like the life had been drained out of them.

People always said that the eyes were the window to the soul.

Well if that's the case then his soul…was dead.

The teacher didn't even look up when he walked in.

Take a seat

That's it? Out of all the things to say to someone who walks in late he says that?

Taking another swig of his (illegal) drink the boy took a seat two desks in front of me.

Now let me explain something, I was in the back row, there was a person seated in front of me.

Just thought I'd mention that in case anyone got confused on the seating arrangement.

I turned to the person seating next to me, Kramisha, and asked

"who is he, the guy who just walked in?"

She looked at me like I was insane.

That's Rephaim Ayeliski, favored son of Kalona Ayeliski.

Don't mess with him he's family is really dangerous and powerful, you know a mafia.

They rule this town with an iron fist I don't know how you don't know about them.

Kalona is also a rapist, every one of his children are bastards.

And all the mother's died in child birth.

I also heard-eep!

Before Kramisha could finish her sentence she locked eyes with Rephaim.

He wasn't looking straight at us; his head was slightly cocked listening carefully.

You could see a malevolent gleam in his eye.

There was also a guarded warning look as well.

It was obvious that Kramisha was to shut up, and shut up now.

Which she did immediately.

In fact she turned around and proceeded to ignore me completely.

The way she was acting I might not have even been there.

Rephaim nodded in approval taking another swig of his amber bottle.

It was a long English class.

It seemed to draw out forever.

It was almost like it wanted to torture me by never ending.

And the more the class seemed to draw out the more awkward it got.

At least to me that is.

I couldn't believe the things Rephaim was able to get away with.

He even pulled out a cigarette and lit it in the middle of a lesson.

And the teacher didn't even look up!

And whenever he did look up at Rephaim he cringed in fear.

He wasn't just afraid of Rephaim, he was terrified.

He also kept looking like he expected to be hit, a teacher!

And Rephaim didn't seem to notice it.

Or if he did he ignored it.

Finally the bell rang and I was set free.

That is until I ran into Rephaim on my way to forth period.

Hey watch where you're going!

I stumbled back and nearly missed stepping on his toes.

"I'm so sorry it was an accident."

Rephaim glared at me in annoyance so I started to walk away.

"Well I'll see you later."

I ran off before he could say anything.

Or worse try and catch me.

And raced off to forth period; unable to breathe until I was safely inside the classroom.