A/N: As promised, here is the first proper chapter. I hope you like it! :-)

Big thank you hug to CharlieMelissa for the first review, and an extra big hug for your compliment, it made me so happy to be told I have a talent for writing.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Lost Boys, sadly, but I do own the OC's you are about to officially meet. Be nice to them, okay guys? They so badly want to be liked!

I.

Santa Carla, 1986.

There are days when there are so many people in this place you lose count of the faces that come and go. Then there the slow days when one face is a lot. This was one of those slow days.

It was Wednesday, the middle of summer vacation with the town flooded with tourists, and so far there had been three customers. And it was nearly two in the afternoon. I was dying in the shop, the heat from outside was forcing its way into the room and it pressed itself on me, the fan behind me doing pretty much nothing to cool me down. Being here since eight and having to stay till seven I was in a pretty foul mood.

But I had chosen this life, sort of, so I had no choice but to suck it up and wait for the next soul to wonder in through the doors, knocking that damn bell.

My name is Sarah Kessler, I love music, candy corns and chocolate milkshake, and I hate bananas, cheesy romance movies and bugs. Damn it, I hate bugs. I think I'm okay looking, I have dark brown hair that comes to my waist, dark eyes and tanned skin from a life at the seaside. Do I have a past, kind of, I mean who doesn't? Has it turned me into a resentful, bitter social outcast that hasn't seen the sun for years or goes around screaming, "Screw the world!" Thankfully not.

I am also lucky enough to be able to live on my own legally. When my parents decided there was more to life than Santa freaking Carla, I, a newly eighteen year old, jumped at the opportunity to make it on my own for a while. So my folks sold the house, bought a small apartment above a Laundromat and wished me good luck. That was six months ago and so far I loved being on my own. I loved going to a quiet home every night, it was my safe place and in Santa Carla having a safe place to go was a miracle.

I don't really know why my hometown is called the murder capital of the world. While catchy, it's not a title a town can be proud of. Do we even have a mayor or something?

Where was I?

Oh yeah, mass murder. As always, it hadn't always been such a dangerous place, in its prime this town was amazing and while tourists still flood the place every summer, it's lost some of its wow factor. I think it started about ten years ago, when people started going missing more and more. First it was just a few every month or so, no more than any other place in the country.

Then the rate that people disappeared became just plain ridiculous, to the point where a week didn't go by with at least five people being reported missing. And in Santa Carla, if someone you know went missing, the chances of you finding them were nil. And still no one knew why the hell this is happening. Serial killer my ass the guy would have died of old age by now. Personally I had no theories of my own, I was just glad to get home every night still breathing.

"Sarah!" My grim thoughts were thankfully interrupted by my lovely colleague shouting from the back room, Alexia. No sarcasm, she was a peach, mad as a hatter but still a darling in her own twisted way.

"What's up, Lex?"

"Can you come help me?"

I called to my other co-worker Shane, Alexia's boyfriend, to man the cash register and trudged to the room where Alexia was trying to pick up a box of new records. The girl was a stick, so she needed either me or Shane to do the heavy lifting for her.

I gazed longingly at the box, knowing what was inside. "Just released?" I said grinning at her.

"Yep, most of them came out last month."

I speed walked back to the front of the store and dumped the box on the counter, going to the turntable behind it and tossing out the old stuff.

Shane came over as I was looking through the new records, my excitement increasing with every sleeve I pulled out. This was why I had gotten a job here, at the great Simons Records.

It was about the only decent record store in Santa Carla and it stocked everything. It was ambrosia for me, a fanatical music lover. And today was just one of the many days I got to enjoy good music.

When I came across a particularly juicy record, I let out a triumphant whoop and took out the LP.

Shane grinned as he looked at the sleeve. "Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet."

"Doesn't it sound freaking awesome?" the music started and I immediately loved it.

"You know one of these days I'm going to get you to swear properly." "Shut up." He just grinned and went back to work, while I busied myself with looking through the rest of the records in the box.

"What have we got here then, Sarah?" Alexia came and stood on the other side of the counter and looked at the sleeves I had just put down, saying the names out loud. "Bon Jovi, Fleetwood Mac, The Smiths… you know what, life sucks!"

I looked up at her outburst in shock, "Why, Lex?"

"Because, when are we ever going to have enough time to listen to all of this?"

"Good point… oh man, now I'm depressed!" Alexia giggled at me and left the counter to go keep Shane company.

Since there were no customers in the store I cranked the volume and danced in my chair. The three of us spent the next hour just listening to music and dancing when there were no people to bear witness to the embarrassing spectacle, and by three o'clock I was quite tired.

However not long after that I received a visit that sent my mood straight back to depressed.

I had been sorting the first box's stock onto the shelves after adding notes for songs I wanted to listen to, when a slimy voice sent shivers up my spine. It was a voice I hadn't heard for nearly three months, and I had hoped to never hear it again.

"Hey there, Hotstuff."

At first I hoped I was just hearing things since I had the music turned up pretty loudly, but when a hand touched my arm I knew there was no escaping the fact that he was here.

I didn't turn around to look at him, he didn't deserve it, so I just walked back to the counter with my hands clenched into fists.

"So it's gonna be like that now, huh?"

"Yeah, it is."

He followed me to the register and stood with one elbow on the counter, looking for all the world like he did when we first met. His dark eyes were still shining and, while a bit bloodshot from whatever he was on, beautiful and his black hair was a little longer.

I still couldn't help remembering threading my fingers through it. "What are so mad for, Sarah-bell?"

"Don't call me that."

He laughed at my rising temper, "Oh, come on. I miss you, babe."

I tried to calm myself down before I attacked him in the middle of the store. It wasn't working. "Look, Mitch, if you're not here to buy music then I suggest you leave."

"Why?" he reached out and took my hand, making my whole arm tingle. And not in a good way. "I miss you, Sarah. I miss the way things used to be."

As close as he was I could smell the sweet scent of crack on him. He may not have smoked or injected it, but he'd been handling it recently, and it made me want to throw up.

My eyes narrowed at the gentle tone in his voice, "Tough."

I saw the muscle on the side of his head twitch, a sure sign he was getting mad, but his face remained the friendly mask he lured me in with way back then. "Come on, Sarah. I know you miss us too, come have some fun after you're finished here."

I yanked my hand away from him and took a step back, I would have taken more than one step but the damn wall was behind me. "I don't do that shit anymore, okay."

"Too good to hang out with your old buddies now, are we?"

"No, I just realized that I don't actually have to deal with you or your jacked up bullshit."

His voice took on a lilting tone, "You used to like it."

I smiled sweetly at him and leaned on my forearms on the counter, putting my face close to his, "Mitch. Sweet, full o' shit Mitch… I also used to like pink, but things change." I gave him my worst look and nodded my head to the door, "Now leave. Go find some other naïve girl to screw around with, because I'm through being your little play thing."

Shane took this opportunity to appear next to Mitch and place an arm casually on the counter, giving him the good old mess-with-her-and-I'll-mess-with-your-face look. Shane was a giant, and with tattoos and long black hair that he let hang over a very scary looking, but somewhat handsome, face, I think even Mitch was smart enough not to test him.

Mitch glanced between us once and said absentmindedly, "If you change your mind, you know where to go."

"I'll be sure to forget that, honey." He smirked wickedly as he left the shop, and I realized I had been holding my breath. Shane gave me a concerned look and I waved it away, hoping he didn't see just how angry I was just then.

Scared? Never.

Just spitting, psychotically mad. "Do I want to know who that was?"

"Short version, Shane. I am the typical rebellious, however reformed, teenager just trying to escape their past, no big deal."

"Ah, you too, huh?"

I grinned at him and he shrugged, "I've yet to meet one person around here who hasn't had some kind of trip before."

I just nodded, and Shane knew it to be the end of the conversation. Before he left he turned back and said playfully, "Told you, you would swear properly soon. I should wash your mouth out with soap."

I laughed halfheartedly, and turned to gaze out the front windows at the sea. I could still feel the heat in my face and neck, my own little tell tale that I was severely PO-ed.

That scumbag! I mean, yeah okay, I wasn't a model kid, but since my parents left I had cleaned myself up pretty nicely. I hadn't ever done anything besides the occasional joint and it was mostly who I hung out with that was the problem, but now I was trying to be a responsible adult. I was getting it right too and then Mitch-bitch shows up and it's like I've taken two steps back.

I cannot believe I ever liked that guy! Shamed as I am to admit, but I would have walked off a cliff for that guy from the first moment I saw him when I was fifteen. Even when he took me to his house the first time and I saw exactly what it was he got up to in his spare time, which was all the time, I was too infatuated to believe he was bad.

Typical, huh?

I don't deserve anyone's pity, and I don't want it either. I got out, I cleaned myself up and even though there are reminders all over town of what my life used to be like, I am happy. And that, if you're still listening to this, is why I got in even deeper shit than before. With another someone I never should have even looked at. But I did, and he just happened to notice me too.

But I won't tell you about that just yet.

All in good time.

A/N: Sooo, things are starting up now... like it?

Reviews send me to my happy place!

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WAIT! Don't go yet I almost forgot to tell you: I'll be posting a list of songs on my profile that I think will go perfectly with this story after I've gotten a few chapters out, so keep an eye out for them.

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HANG ON! Last thing I promise: As each chapter is posted, I'll also reveal which song goes where in the story, but not just yet cos I don't want to give anything away. So for now lovelies you'll just have to use your fabulous imaginations.