Chapter 1: A Really Bad Day
Damian Azrael Sterling
Now I'm sure some other kid has written this exact warning before, but nonetheless. If you feel any type of kinship with anything we tell you here, then please turn back. Throw this journal out and pretend you never read it. Everything we will tell could trigger something, and once you've realized it and you're aware of what you are, so will they.
Now, if you read this and enjoy it and see it as a fun story, on the other hand? Good, please enjoy this totally fictional story. Don't blame me and my friends. You've been warned.
Our story begins with a really long and boring math class. As usual, I had tuned out of this lesson. The numbers and letters all seemed to blur together. I couldn't seem to focus on them, which was probably a symptom of my dyslexia. The bright side is that no one expects much of me regardless. Public school seems to be better than that of which my mother used to send me to. I hated all those academies and private lessons. They bored me endlessly. I'm glad my mother allowed me to transfer here two months ago.
As I sat, I began to spin my pen around in my fingers, unable to sit still. The teacher Mrs. Jameson was a nice older lady who now noticed my bouncing leg and fidgeting and winked at me. I turned immediately, looking around the class that wasn't all that special. Lexi Baxter was texting as usual, and Bradley Davis was flirting with his girlfriend Jamie. I looked around and saw a girl whose name I couldn't remember, but she tended to sleep through class most of the time. Weirdly enough, the few times she is called upon, she seems to know the answers. As usual, the girl was fast asleep.
As we sat there, bored and watching Max Alviva. I hung out with him all the time, but he didn't talk much about himself. All I knew about him was that he was popular. He had a smile that really did light up the room. I had made a few more friends since I arrived at Westview, but none like him. I think he mentioned a sister once, but I'd never really met her. Anyway, he was struggling through some equations when the bell finally rang, and I got up along with most of the class, and as I walked up to Max, I handed him his bag.
He chuckled and pushed his sandy blonde hair out of his face and whispered to me as he grabbed it. "Saved by the bell. Whose Pythagoras, and why does he hate me?" I laughed with him as we walked out and down one of the halls toward the front gate. Math was our last class for the day, thank god. "Oh, by the way, are we going to the movies later?" I asked him as we walked. "Oh, right. Yeah, that sounds good to me. Oh, by the way. Mind if my sister comes?" I was a bit surprised considering I'd never met her, but I wasn't against meeting her. "Of course, man sounds good to me. Was wondering if you were ashamed of me or something." I joked to him as we walked out the gate. We did a quick handshake, and he turned back. "See ya, man. Try and get some sleep before we go. Ya look exhausted." He turned back to go find his sister. He walked home with her, apparently.
I walked over to see my personal driver. Despite coming from money, I was more embarrassed about it than anything. I walked up to the expensive black car and got inside. "Hey Leon. Mind taking me home for a bit. I'll be going out again later, but I'd like to change first." My personal driver/assistant was a kind man with a long handlebar mustache named Leon, but as I looked up, I realized this was not him. This was a pale man with very calm steel blue eyes, or maybe they were almost purple. He had long black hair and seemed very calm. He smirked at me, and I got the chills.
This man seemed familiar to me, but I wasn't sure why. He had a suit that looked expensive. "Wh-who are you? Where's Leon?" He seemed to smile a bit, but he looked so calm and peaceful while he did. This wasn't a man who smiled much. "Hello Damian. Apologies if I frightened you. I am…Azrael. I'll be filling in for Leon for a bit." I got a weird feeling as he spoke. His voice was calming and made me sit back a bit. "Um. That's a cool name…" I said with a light chuckle. He seemed to be staring at me even while he drove. Then he spoke again. "Same as your middle name. It's a good name….How was school?" He seemed to be focused on me, and I don't know why I began to tell him about my day. How boring classes were. How my friends were. My whole day. As I finished speaking, I realized I had been speaking the whole ride home.
"I got out and walked over where he also got out. He was a fit man and was a bit tall. He leaned down and looked me in the face. "I was happy to see you again, Damian. You seem well. Now one last thing. You must always remember that you are your mother and…fathers pride." He handed me a weighted feather. "With that, you'll have all you need for the coming events. Never let it leave your side, my son." As he said his final words, it all clicked, and the wind seemed to get knocked out of me. "Fath-" I was standing still and in shock when he walked behind me. I felt something in me bubble up, and as I turned, there was no one there. Just a beautiful purple butterfly flying away was all I could see. I stood there for a long while, feeling like my shoes were full of lead before finally my mother opened the door with Leon. "Damian. How did you get home?" She walked over to me, and I turned to point at the car. But Leon held up the keys. "I-..." I couldn't seem to get the words out. What exactly was that just now? Was that a hallucination on a long walk home? What just happened?
My mother looked over and saw a few purple butterflies now, and the look on her face seemed to change before she looked back at me. "Honey. It's okay. Let's go inside." We all walked inside before I went upstairs to my room and sat my backpack down next to my desk. I sat down at the desk and pulled out the feather. It was a beautiful black feather that seemed to shine in iridescent colors when you turned it in the light. For an absent deadbeat father, this was a beautiful gift. As I sat and looked at the feather, my mother came into my room and slowly walked to my bed, sitting down gently. "Sweetheart…we need to talk." I turned my chair to look at her, and she seemed to look at me nervously. "You know that I met him, don't you?" She seemed shocked by my words but then looked down. "Sweetheart
, I wish I could tell you more. But I'm glad you met him. Your fath-" Then the part that bubbled up before came back now and burst out. "My Father is gone! He was never even here! Leon has been more of a father than he ever was! Why now?!" She got up quickly and hugged me and as much anger as I may have felt moments ago melted away as I hugged her back. My mother always had this ability to make everything okay. It always seemed like she could fix anything. Even people. She's a surgeon and a successful one at that. But for me? She's my world.
"I'm sorry, baby. I wish there was something I could tell you that would help. But…just know that he wanted to be here. Truly, he wanted to be with us." She ran her fingers through my hair and held me as I cried into her stomach. When I finally pulled away, she looked at me and smiled, trying her best to show she wasn't shaken up by his arrival. So I put on a smile and got up. "Thank you mom…I need a ride to the movies in a bit. Can Leon take me?" I walked over and changed into a nicer sweater and put on a jacker, leaving my gray jeans and vans on. When I turned to her, she seemed a bit more steady now. "Of course, baby. You look sharp. Is there gonna be a girl there?" She laughed, and I felt my cheeks start burning and get red as I was looking in my mirror trying to fix my hair. "It's just my friend Max and his sister." She smiled and walked over to fix my hair for me. "Well, I'm sure she will like you, my love." She kissed my cheek and walked out happily. I turned to protest, but she was already gone. Why would I care what she thinks of me?
As I turned to grab my phone and house key, I looked over and saw the feather still on my desk. A piece of me wanted to throw it out, but another piece wanted to keep it no matter what. "Ready, sir?!" Leon told me. I grabbed it and put it in my inner jacket pocket. "Yeah!" I yelled before running downstairs and walking out with Leon. He opened the door for me, and I got in. "Thanks, Leon." As we drove off, I watched the sky. I tried to run through everything in my head and couldn't seem to get my father out of his head. I was shaken out of it when I got a text from Max. 'Hey man, we just got here. Where ya at?' I texted him back saying 'Almost there.' I looked out to see we were downtown. "Sir. You seem excited. I hope the film is good. Do tell me about the adventures of the Batfamily later." He smiled kindly. And I chuckled. "You know I will, Leon. Hey…Do I um….look alright?" He chuckled and winked at me in the mirror. "You'll knock'em dead, my boy." We pulled over and looked at me in the mirror and said,"Be sure to pay. A gentleman always pays for a lady." I turned red again and looked, "It's just me and two friends…but I'll pay for them both." I got out and walked across the street over to Max and his sister. "Heyyy Damian. Ya finally made it. I'm glad ya showed up, man. This is Korinne. Just call her Kori." I looked at her and was shocked. She had short hair that was a bit wild, but it worked for her. She was in a blue top and a skirt with a short jacket on. "I-" I looked at her closely and realized who she was. "Sleepy girl? Nice to meet you formally." She turned bright red and said a bit loudly."Don't call me that. You look like a raccoon with the bags under your eyes. You dork."
Max was kinda in shock. "Well. I'm glad that went well. So. Gotham's Knights? Are you nerds ready?" We both turned and answered quickly and in unison."Yes!" I looked at her and back at Max, who just smiled. "You both love this comic stuff, and it should be fun." We went in and watched a whole movie together. And honestly? It was fun. When we were walking out, we were talking about the movie when I got the chills. I felt like something bad was about to happen. I looked around, and the others seemed to be confused. "What's wrong?" Kori said, grabbing my shoulder. I was sweating a bit. There was a cold feeling in my gut like someone just shoved a huge piece of ice through me. I looked up to see butterflies above us, but they seemed almost see-through. "What -" Then I looked back to the hall we walked from to see a beautiful young woman staring at me. And a little boy was standing next to her crying but not loudly. Everyone around them seemed to not notice, but she had a fixed gaze on me. Her eyes are boring holes in me. She smiled and walked the child back into one of the theaters. "What the hell was she doing?"
Max stepped forward and grabbed me. "Hey? We need to go." I felt something pull in my stomach. Pulling towards the theater that she went in. "No way. If she's stealing that kid or something that's on us. We noticed it." Kori said, arguing back with her brother. I felt the pool again, but this time, I didn't fight it and ran over to the door, opening it to walk inside. As I opened the door I saw something I'll never forget. There was a very light trail of blood leading further in. I walked in before hearing my friends show up behind me. I walked in, ignoring the gasps behind me. I felt something different than the pull this time. It felt like a cord was cut. I saw the butterflies above me disappear. I ran in and saw the woman standing in the front row of seats and hunched over. There was blood pouring from her mouth a bit and scraps of clothes around her. "You -" Was all I got out before she turned to me blood caked around her mouth. "Ate the little one? Yes, dear, I did. But he was just bait. Or an appetizer, I guess. You three are the real main course. Not every day I find three half bloods in one place. Mmm, my mouth is watering thinking about it. Or maybe that's the blood." She began laughing as she finished her sentence. "Half- what?" Max said from behind me. Kori seemed to be shaking but not out of fear. Out of anger. She was gritting her teeth. "You…ate him…he was a little boy. And you -"
The woman's shape began to change as she laughed. Her arms and face began to be more reptile-like, and her legs seemed to look more like claws than before. She looked at us with yellow eyes and snarled come little godlings….I hunger." She rushed at us, and Max pushed me out of the way. Kori jumped back behind a seat, and she fell over the seats reaching for me. I jumped up and
ran towards the thing, trying to punch it blindly when it looked towards Max, but it shrugged me off, slapping me into a seat. I hit the seat so hard it collapsed, and I felt a real pain in my ribs. As I looked up, I saw Kori jumping over seats to get away from the flailing monster. Max ran behind, trying to get its attention to help his sister. I coughed in pain and tasted blood in my mouth. When I heard Kori yell, I thought of one thing. The feather. He said it would help in the upcoming events. What…did he mean…i reached into my jacket pocket and pulled it out slowly. I looked at and twirled the feather, and as I did, something happened that shocked me. It spun and glowed purple before turning into a long scythe, and as It did, I used it to help myself up. I turned to see that it had slashed Kori's arm and yelled, "Hey Ugly!" I awkwardly pulled it in front of me and was surprised at how easily it seemed to move for me. I spun it a bit and looked over at the thing. "You wanna kill something. Try me." I said as I moved to the aisle. It ran by Max, knocking him against the wall hard before launching toward me. As it did, I turned and spun the scythe toward it with what strength I had. I was screaming and had my eyes closed but when I opened them I saw the monster had been cut down the side. Kori got up and helped her brother up while holding her arm. "What…the hell…was that?" Max said when he looked at me. "Is that a scythe?" Kori said as she looked at me. I looked at it and saw a butterfly insignia where I was holding it. "I guess so." I thought about how I had twirled the feather, so I spun the scythe in the same fashion, and it returned to a feather. "Wow." I let escape me.