London Streets

What would you do, if your best friend was killed? What would you do if you found out your boyfriend happened to be a shape-shifter? What would you do if a thirsty vampire was out to kill you for no good reason? Danielle was a normal girl with a normal life, getting on with her normal duties. When her best ever friend Amelia dies; Danielle moves to London. There, she meets Mitch. Her scepticism is about to be put to the test...

London Streets

Dedication Contents……

Contents

Prologue

1. Clouds

Amelia died from a ruptured spleen at sixteen. I was absent that day; the only day that the gang took advantage of her. My best friend; gone.

And that was the reason why I had moved to the UK with my parents, from America. The dampness fit my mood extremely well. “Darling, are you OK?” my mum asked for the millionth time in a row. “I’m, fine mum,” I groaned. Mum always asked me this every morning, since the day my best friend was killed. The fact that I always groaned and said I was fine didn’t seem to stop her. “Well, if you aren’t, let me know,” she whispered; another thing she always said. “Mum, I don’t need help; I’m only annoyed, nothing else,” I moaned at her, hoping it would silence the forever-asked question. The rain pattered glumly on the windows of the car. My mum was sitting next to me, of course, whilst my Dad drove the old car that we had quickly bought from a second hand store. My Dad had brown hair and my mum had blonde. I had golden, which I suppose was a mixture of both. My mum’s eyes were a crystal green, while my Dad’s were a muddy brown. Mine, yet again, was a mixture of both; I had a sparkly hazelnut colour. Mum used to call me her “diamond princess”, as my hair and eyes would always seem beautiful, lush and shimmering. “We are almost at our new home,” Dad informed us both. I sighed and looked at the dismal setting of the London Streets. It must be magnificent in London, when it isn’t raining I thought glumly. But today, the aura was negative, horrible, and miserable. “I’m sure you will love your new home,” Dad chuckled. “Home” was an overstatement. It was a flat somewhere

randomly placed in this gruesome setting. Every other second it seemed, we stopped for traffic lights, or there were one or two car crashes that held up the other vehicles further on. “You sure we can’t make it straight to school?” I asked; it would have been better than pretending to enjoy our new “house”. “Darling, it’s Sunday,” Mum chuckled. “Church?” I asked. They then both laughed. “You’ve never been the church-goer, Danielle; now just stop being impatient, we will be at our house soon.” Dad grinned and I sighed. The seat material pressed against my skin, irritating me. I needed to move about, but the single movement would cause me even more pain; sitting in a cheap car did those sorts of things. “How soon is soon?” I grumbled. “About… Fifteen minutes,” mum replied, looking at her golden watch. To pass time, I hummed merrily at a tune that was stuck in my head for a very long time; in fact, since the death of my best friend ever. “What’s that song, honey?” My mum asked lightly. “Just a tune,” I replied dismissively. I then shut my eyes, and started humming once more. “Been in your head a while, huh?” mum laughed. She was trying to make a conversation, I could see that, but she was failing. She reminded me of when it started playing in my head, why I was here, and why I had lost the best friend in the whole world. “Yeah, it has,” I whispered through tears, and started humming once more, trying to drown out any memories of the end. I then felt one arm wrap around me, stroking my pale white skin.

As I walked out of the car, I realised that this was a whole new different life. Mum placed a yellow anorak over my head, and rushed me inside the flat. I saw the building as a prison sentence, with graffiti everywhere, and every other window smashed, I noticed that this wasn’t the best place to make new friends. “We are on the fifth floor, Danielle, time to get in this lift!” Dad then pulled me towards the lift. As soon as I stepped into the silver death trap, I smelt a horrible stench of urine. “I am going to take the stairs,” I moaned, running out of the doors and up the steps.

I ran towards a dirty looking door that seemed to be ours (our luggage was placed near it) as soon as I had finished the treacherous climb up the stairs. “Look at the new kid,” a boy sniggered. He wore baggy pants that showed his underwear, and a football t-shirt that was about a million sizes too big. “Uh… Hi, I’m Danielle,” I offered my hand, but he disgustingly spat at it. I squeaked, and shoved my hand back. At once, some more boys appeared before the thug. I decided that the thug was the gangster leader. “I’m Dean. My boys are Marcus, Sam and Jaws,” he sniggered. “Hi… Why Jaws?” I whispered. As soon as I asked, “Jaws” took out a football from Dad’s bag and bit into it. “I see…” I wished that my parents would hurry up. What had happened? Did the lift break? Did the toxic smell kill them? “This is our crib,” The leader went on, “I rule it. You got that?” He then forwarded into me. “Yeah…” I gulped. “Don’t think about taking over, you hear?” He ordered. It took a while for me to find my voice - too long. Suddenly, Dean clenched my clothes, and pulled me upwards with overpowering strength.

“I got it, I got it…” I tried to shove him away, but he wouldn’t be moved. “Let her go! All of you!” Dad shouted. I sighed gratefully; he had appeared, right on time. He ran towards me and pulled the bully away from me. Dean then spat at the floor, sniggered, and walked away with his cronies. “Honey, did he hurt you?” Dad asked worriedly. I shook my head and pointed at the flat door. He also nodded and placed the key in the keyhole. When the door was slightly ajar: I ran inside, looked for the loo, and then puked in the toilet.

I had to get changed early for bed; I was far too weak. My dinner was placed at the bedside table and my parents were rushing around my room: putting clothes in the drawers, placing ornaments around the place, switching the light, on the bedside table, on and off… My bedroom was on the left from the front door (and the loo on the right). The walls were painted a dirty cream colour, and the light on the ceiling was covered in dirt. “OK, so with a little cleaning, this place could be fantastic!” My Dad cheered on, defending this shabby flat; such a shabby “house”. My bed was in the left corner and my bedside table was right next to me, with a clean lamp and my contact lens case. My chest of drawers was on the other side of the wall, and the window was in between. The worst thing was that the food was disgusting. We had yet to obtain a working oven, so Dad had an amazing idea of cold soup. “Dad, I’m freezing!” I had complained as soon as I had been put into my bed. At once, Dad brought me around a dozen blankets, and placed them on top of me.

“OK, all set. Have you finished your soup?” Mum asked quickly, clapping her hands so that the dust would come off. I nodded, so she carried the disgusting meal away with her. Dad kissed my forehead, and then exited my room as well. It wasn’t their fault that our living conditions were so poor; this flat was the only place left in London. All I could do was close my eyes and listen to the pattering outside; it sang me to sleep.

The forest of green was towering over me menacingly, the branches of the trees harassing my shoulders. “Pick me!” I was yelling, raising my hands towards the heavens. “Just pick me!” I carried on screaming. No bird sang; no sun shined. All that was heard was my echoing voice, and the fast pattering of the murdering rain. Slowly, my body was falling down into a messed up heap on the ground. “I’m the one you want,” I was sobbing, “not her.”

2. Rainbows

In the end, it was me that woke me up. My screaming drowned out every happy sound in the world. “What? What’s wrong?” mum shrilled at my door. It took a while to bring my mind back to the present day. “It’s… It’s… Mum I miss her so much,” I cried, whilst mum spooned me up to stroke my delicate golden hair. She couldn’t do anything, or my Dad. “Well, it’s five in the morning; let’s get you dressed for your first day of school,” she kissed my forehead, and ushered me towards the chest of drawers. “What colour top, sweetie?” she asked quietly; probably holding back the tears because of me. “You choose,” I mumbled, gazing out of the window. The sun, for once, was beating down on the glass pane, reflecting last night’s dew onto my creamy wall. “Are you sure the same year in America is the same year here?” I pondered, whilst watching the sparkling diamonds dance. “I don’t know, to be honest, but I bet they are,” she reassured. “Toast is ready!” Dad yelled out towards us; I guess my screaming was louder than what I first thought. “Get changed, I’ll see you in the kitchen,” once more, she kissed my brow, and rushed to my Dad’s aid. The clothes that she had lay out for me, were in top fashion in America. I was wearing a rose red top with white trousers that had a lot of strings hanging down. I deliberated on whether or

not I would do something with my hair, but decided against it as the smell of heated bread wafted into my nose.

“Well, don’t you look beautiful?!” Dad exclaimed as I rushed over to the counter. He and mum were spreading what looked like peanut butter onto their slices of toast. “What spreads do we have?” I asked, ignoring my Dad’s compliment. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him, but he always went over the top. For example, thinking this flat was a house. “We have Jam, and peanut butter,” mum replied. If it was possible, I bet that my parents swapped souls. Mum was more like Dad, and Dad was more like Mum. “I’ll just have normal toast, then,” I grinned; I didn’t like either of the spreads. “We will be cleaning up the house,” Dad stated, as he bit into his toast, “Can you get yourself back home?” I ran to my room and came back with a bag and brush. “Yeah, of course I can,” I smiled, and kissed both of my parents on the cheek.

The next hour of waiting was far too short. I had decided to pass time by watching TV on the small set, whilst my parents busily tidied their room. We all had decided to take the stairs down today, much to my amusement. Our car was in a small garage, just outside of the flats. When we pulled out of the drive, it hit me; I was starting a new life, a new school. What could happen? Would others like me? When we arrived at school, my stomach flipped three-hundred-and-sixty degrees: First off, everyone seemed to have friendship groups; secondly, it was both boys and girls; and thirdly, no one wore casual clothes. I stared at their uniforms and squeaked. “Don’t worry, Danielle, just go to the nurse and she will give you your new uniform,” Mum reassured. I nodded, and edged out of the car.

“Mum, can you come with me?” I whispered to her. I didn’t want Dad, as he was far too optimistic. Mum nodded, took my hand and proceeded with me to the nurse.

The uniform didn’t fit that well. The skirt was a dark grey, and the shirt was a sky blue; I looked like an air hostess. “Do you want someone to take you around the school?” The nurse offered. I shook my head and clung on to my mum’s arm. It was so childish of me to be scared, but I was. I was terrified that I was just the new girl; did they have a clique for that? “I have to go, Danielle,” mum whispered. I sighed and nodded. With that, mum let go of me and rushed off. “Uh… do you have a timetable?” I asked nervously. “Of course, here we are; a map of the school, and your timetable,” the nurse grinned, and passed me the sheets of flimsy paper. “Thanks,” I murmured, walking to my first lesson. Drama; woo.

The room was dark, with long black drapes sprawled in front of props and clothes. I could see the cliques from where I stood: on the left were the Goths; on the far right the girly girls; the nerds were left centre; and the Jocks the right centre, near the girly girls. “Take a seat wherever, Miss Green!!” The drama teacher sang, too happy for any normal teacher. Where would I fit in? With that, all the students were staring at me. I was the new animal in the zoo. By their expressions, it seemed like I wasn’t invited. “Don’t be shy!” She carried on, still as light as air. I moved forward, and sat next to the nerds. The horrible stench was unbearable and it seemed as though their white tops (boys had to wear white) were far too dirty. I was then tugged away from them, into a far corner.

“You just saved my life,” I joked, then looked up. The boy that saved me had jet black hair, with golden brown eyes to die for. He stood upright and smiled. “Any time; life gets tough here; I’m trying to make a new clique,” he laughed, “So you’re the new girl, huh?” I nodded at his question. “I moved here from America.” “Why?” I froze. All at once, I started to feel tears slide to my eyes. “Something happened,” I snapped. “Did you get expelled?” He pondered. “No; I didn’t get expelled,” I inhaled and exhaled quickly, “So where shall we sit? The whole floor is kind of taken,” I chuckled. The mysterious boy took my wrist, and sat me on the right of the teacher. It was ok, I guess. The floor was clean, and I had made a friend; but I was in a new clique, and I knew what this new clique was now; teacher’s pet. “So what’s your name?” my new friend asked. “I’m Danielle; you?” I pondered, trying to hide my eagerness to know his name. “I’m Mitch,” he grinned a toothy grin. “Nice to meet you, Mitch,” I smiled as well, although my smiles were shamefully shocking. “Nice to meet you, Danielle,” He mimicked playfully. The teacher clapped her hands to make everyone stop chatting. “Alright! Alright! Now today, we have a new member; Danielle!” She chirped; I really hope all teachers weren’t this cheerful. I smiled slightly and then scooted behind Mitch, much to his amusement. “Today, we will be doing improvising! Won’t that be fun?!” She clapped her hands again for emphasis, but it made me shudder, “Pick a partner, everyone!” I silently squealed, “Danielle,

you go with Mitch!” She, yet again, clapped her hands gleefully. I got up at exactly the same time with Mitch. As I viewed the room, I saw that the Jocks paired with the Girly Girls, the Goths were paired (boy and girl), and the nerds were paired together (the only ones with boyboy, girl-girl). “OK now, here is what we will do! All of you, your scene is your friend has broken a vase! Now... go!” She sang loudly. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Mitch grinned. “I don’t mind,” I shied away. Mitch carried on grinning, and ushered me towards a corner, away from the too-positive teacher. “So?” Mitch pushed me to speak. “Why are there cliques here?” I spoke quickly, eyeing the Jocks and Girly Girls (who had much fun in “making up”). “London isn’t exactly that safe; they group together for protection,” he explained. “Then why aren’t you in a clique?” I asked “Well, it’s a bit immature, don’t you think?” he laughed, “And why aren’t you in a clique?” He got me on that one. “I don’t know really; I’m not a girly girl... definitely not a nerd... and a Goth?” I then laughed to show that being a Goth definitely wasn’t me. “Same here,” he chuckled, “You can count me out of all of those groups,” he grinned. For once, I felt whole with Mitch; a feeling that didn’t come often. I sighed, and decided to sit down, which he did also. “So, what have you got next?” He asked. I took out my timetable, and showed the lessons that I had. We had PE, Chemistry, Maths, English, and drama together, which pleased me greatly. I

only just noticed how well I felt when I was around this strange boy that entered my life; I felt whole. “I can meet you after Biology if you want?” Mitch offered. I grinned and nodded; at least I wouldn’t miss two out of five lessons. “We should get to work,” I sniggered, as the teacher closed in on us. The rest of the drama lesson soared by with flying, vibrant colours. Every time Mitch laughed, I couldn’t help but smile; I could have sworn that Mitch did exactly the same. It seemed that he placed his heart in the deep dark hole that was eating my insides; where Amelia stopped, Mitch started. I waved goodbye at Mitch as he left the drama room. The jocks left, then the Goths. I waited for the Girly Girls to leave, but they seemed to be going the opposite way. The leader, with bleached blonde hair, walked quickly towards me, with the rest of the crew behind her. “Give me my Candy back,” she pouted; she sounded exactly like the artificial Barbie voice. “I don’t have any Candy…” I whispered; I wasn’t scared, but I wasn’t going to antagonise either. “You do!” She screamed in a dramatic, high voice. “Why would I have your Candy?” I asked defensively. I realised that the nerds were staring at this now. “You do! Give her back!” She squealed. I didn’t know whether or not I would be saved from this short-skirted crowd. Help me…I thought. The princesses had their sharp, red nails out that were about to dent my face in a way that I wouldn’t like. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain; it never came.

Instead, I heard a high squeal. What had I done? I opened my eyes and saw that Mitch had shoved the girls away from me; I stood, gasping. “Get lost!” Mitch shouted at the Girly Girls. I watched in awe as they moved away from me; but I couldn’t help but notice that they looked scared. “How did you do that?” I whispered “I’m a fast runner,” he shrugged, with a slight smirk across his face “You saved my life again!” I spoke sarcastically at Mitch. “Any time,” He laughed, “Now can you keep safe until break?” He chuckled “Oo I don’t know,” I placed my finger on my cheek and looked up, which made him laugh harder. “Ok, well I’ll see you then,” He patted my shoulder, and ran to the door; exiting in grace and perfection. The Girly Girls had long gone; same as the nerds, but there was one girl left. She had bouncy brown hair and mud brown eyes. Her files were between her crossed arms. “Are you Danielle?” She asked quietly from across the room. I picked up my bag and moved into her. “Yeah, I am. Who are you?” I responded pleasantly. “I’m Michelle. What do you have next?” She questioned softly “Biology,” I smiled. “That’s my next lesson too!” She grinned, and showed me to the door. I found out that Michelle was a nerd, but denied the stereotypical character. “No way am I being classed as a girly girl!” she had laughed when I asked her, “My friends are nothing like the nerds, though, so you’ll be ok; unless… you don’t want to sit next to us?” She offered. I had laughed and then nodded. Michelle loved to play with her hair, I had noticed. Whenever she got nervous, she would stroke her hair and when she was excited, she

would plait her hair. She had very nervous giggles, though, which I found extremely annoying. When I entered the Biology room, it was too stereotypical for words. The Black board was at the front, with the teacher’s table on the left. There were bottles on each desk, and in the middle of each table was a tap. By the windows, there were side tables, where there were stuffed owls, stuffed frogs, and what looked like a model of an atom. “Welcome, Danielle!” The teacher greeted me with a Scottish accent. She wasn’t too happy and jumpy, so we would definitely get on well. Her hair was tied tightly into a bun, and her pointy glasses were almost hanging off her nose. “Hi,” I whispered, clutching onto Michelle’s arm; which made her giggle annoyingly. “Your desk is over here; I see you like Michelle, so you can sit next to her,” she forwarded me to a desk near the front, where Michelle sat, along with her friends. I was sandwiched between the nerd-posers and the teacher. Michelle’s friends were almost exactly like her: long hair, neatly ironed shirts, long skirts, and a sweet aroma. “This is Georga,” she pointed at a girl with long black hair, “This is Hannah,” she pointed at the girl who had freckles and blond hair, “And this is Natasha,” the last girl smiled pleasantly and waved. She had ginger hair, with pale white skin. “Hi,” I murmured, opening my books to get prepared for the lesson. “She doesn’t talk much,” I heard Georga whisper to Hannah. “She’s just nervous,” Hannah replied. “She seemed shocked after Mitch did that cheetah lunge on the girly girl,” I heard Natasha speak clearly. “What?” I replied, “What do you mean cheetah lunge?”

3. Locked Treasure Chest

“Oh… uh… it’s nothing,” Michelle answered me. “Tell me!” I ordered quietly; I didn’t know what to expect. “Well… hasn’t he told you?” Natasha asked. “No,” I responded, “What happened?” “Well…” Michelle gulped, “There was this incident… He used to be in with the Jocks, you see. Then one day, he… did something.” “What? What did he do?” I asked as if I was a five year old waiting for the next section of a bed time story. No one seemed to respond. The murmur of the teacher was blocked out, as I was attuned into this story. The girls eyed each other, pestering each other to tell me. It was Natasha who spoke out. “It was during a basketball game, and the Jocks were heading for the winning goal. Everyone thought Mitch was fantastic, he always seemed to be the best defender. Then, something really weird happened; he turned into this… this… animal! I don’t know how he did it. He turned into a cheetah and pounced onto one of the other players; everyone was speechless. The next day, people kept pestering him, asking him how he turned into a cheetah, how it was possible. Well, he suddenly shouted, “fine! You want me to become a cheetah?!” and he turned into the cheetah and pounced on the same girl that he pounced on today,” She hung her head. “You think Mitch is an animal?” I sniggered, “That’s ridiculous!!” “I thought you would say that,” Michelle added, “He confided in us, and only us. He told us that he ruined everything. He has never been the same since. You see Danielle, he didn’t just

start a group; he got kicked out of everything. He is the killer in this school,” I couldn’t respond to what she just said. “But… I’m in his group…” “Yeh, he said that he has to make a friend, or he will never live with the guilt,” she whispered. “Why aren’t you all in his group then?” I murmured. “Like I said, he is the supposed killer in this school; going into his group is like… like signing a petition of death,” I glared at them, but then started laughing. “You really believe it, don’t you?” I giggled, “He seemed fine when I spoke to him!” I laughed. “Do you think he wants you to know?” Hannah argued harshly, “Do you think that maybe, just maybe, you won’t like him if he suddenly turned into a deadly animal and tried to kill you?” She seemed offended. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, “I just… don’t believe it,” I peered out of the window, where the green trees where swaying gracefully. “So what made him loose it?” I sighed, trying to play along with the childish game. “Well, he said that he was new to the whole changing thing, and he couldn’t control it, so he formed…” Natasha started. “He’s never been the same, poor guy,” Georga sighed “Girls, have you finished talking?” The teacher asked us loudly; I squeaked. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “Don’t make a habit of this; class dismissed!” The bell then erupted into a high pitched tune, as I gathered my belongings; I had to talk to Mitch. “I will see you soon,” Michelle murmured. I smiled, and walked to the door. I only had to wait by the window ledge for a few moments, when I saw Mitch.

“Hi again,” I smiled, but not too sweetly “Hi Danielle,” He smiled also, but brighter than my failed attempt. “Where shall we go?” I sighed, still lost in thought. “The canteen?” He laughed. I shrugged and proceeded with him to the canteen. It was a quiet journey.

The canteen was filled with the stereotypical pupils. Each year had four tables, and I could see where each group sat. The room was a creamy white, and the tables where a scarlet red. As all of the tables were full up, we decided to enjoy the pleasant scenery outside; the trees where still dancing around happily, and the grass had that summer-cut smell to them. “You seem really quiet all of a sudden,” Mitch observed, as we sat down. “I’m lost in thought, that’s all,” I murmured. “What’s wrong?” He asked, concerned. It took me a moment to reply. What would I say? “Some people said you turned into a cheetah”? He would think I was insane. “Well… You’re going to laugh,” I chuckled for emphasis, “But some people said you were a cheetah,” I stopped giggling; it sounded worse out of my mouth. Mitch stayed perfectly still also, his statue body not even breathing. “Breathe!” I shouted, hesitant to find out what was wrong. “You don’t believe them do you?” He asked through a very tight jaw. It made me laugh harder. “Of course not! You really think I believe that you pounced onto a girl, using your all magical cheetah powers?” I chuckled as Mitch relaxed, “Why are you so annoyed about a stupid rumour?” I asked as he grinned.

“Yeah, just a rumour,” he spoke out to me. I didn’t like his tone; it was like there was something he wasn’t telling me. The bell then harmoniously rang. “Where are you next?” I asked after a while. “Chemistry,” He murmured. He got up and I followed his lead. We moved silently towards the next lesson.

The rest of the day went slowly, wordlessly slowly. Mitch hadn’t spoken to me since I had told him of the rumour; why was he so upset? The flat where I lived towered over my body, as I walked up to the graffiti door. The hallway smelt worse this afternoon, more urine. I gave a heavy sigh, and climbed up the staircase once more. “Well, look! It’s Jenny from the block!” Dean sniggered as I shoved the key into the key-hole; I had almost escaped the wrath. “I’m Danielle,” I responded, venom filling my mouth. “Yeh, I know, Blondie,” Dean replied. I turned around. “So where are your cronies?” I spat at him, “Did they finally realise that you’re horrible?” He started sniggering. “No, they have after school detention,” I squeaked at what he said; this wasn’t my fight! I spun round again and started to fiddle with the key. It happened extremely slowly, again. Dad opened the door, I stepped inside… But I was on the ground with a horrible headache. “What the hell did you do that for?” I heard my Dad screaming at Dean. My vision was blurring in and out. “Let it be a warning,” he cackled, running.

“Dad?” I moaned, as he brought me to the kitchen. “I just cleaned that floor!” He joked around, whilst trying to find the first aid kit. I couldn’t see what was happening. “What’s going on? Danielle!” Mum shrieked, “Are you OK?!” I heard a shove; most likely my mum trying to take control of this unknown situation. “What happened?” I whispered, trying to focus my dizzy eye-sight. “He punched you,” Dad replied, stroking my cheek. “You’re bleeding a lot, Danielle, we should take you to A and E,” mum ordered, but I shook my head. “Just give me a bandage for my head, make sure you have disinfectant first,” I instructed them. They were very responsible, but they didn’t know a thing about medical treatment. “Let’s lay you on the couch,” Dad murmured as he lifted me and took me to the sofa; I could feel that he was shaking a lot. “Dad, lie down, you’re in shock,” I smiled slightly. I was becoming weaker by the second, but I didn’t want my mum to be responsible for my Dad as well, who knows what would happen. Day fell to dusk, as I awoke from a slumber that I couldn’t remember happening. As my vision became clearer, I noticed there was a glass next to me, with some spaghetti Bolognese. “Are you up, honey?” Mum whispered; I nodded. “You got an oven?” I asked weakly. “Your Dad went to our next door neighbours to talk about the fight, and they gave you some of their dinner; lovely people, they are! We should get them a gift…” She rambled on; there was no hope in keeping up with her rants, as they would last about half an hour. “I see you’re up!” Dad proclaimed as he walked into the living room, he started eyeing mum, the signal he always gives her to shut up. I giggled.

“Thanks Dad,” I murmured, as I reached for the dinner. “Oh don’t worry about it,” he laughed, “Oh, and a friend called,” He finished, as he chucked me the phone. I couldn’t remember telling anyone my number? “She seemed a bit upset,” Mum added, sounding too concerned. “Excuse me,” I murmured as I took myself, the dinner and the phone to my room.

“Heya, you called?” I spoke out loud, when I was in a comfortable position on my bed. “Yeah,” a voice sobbed. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Mitch…” She started. I instantly went back to the vision of my best friend laying there on the New York road. “What? What’s wrong with him? Please don’t tell me-” “He’s OK!” She yelled. “Who is this anyway?” I asked quietly. “It’s Michelle,” Michelle cried. I wanted to comfort her, but I was a few miles away. “What’s wrong, Michelle?” I asked, trying to soothe her with my voice. “Mitch… ranted at all of us; about us telling you,” she stated, “He doesn’t want us to be friends,” she gasped suddenly and shouted, “What do I do?!” “Okay, okay, calm down Michelle! Deep breaths!” I heard on the other end an attempt to breathe calmly. “O-okay…” “Mitch can’t tell you what to do, and can’t tell me what to do either, okay? You can be my friend, and I can be yours,” I proclaimed, trying to make my words form into a shoulder, so she could cry upon it.

“He said some horrible stuff,” She started. “So I will kill him tomorrow, okay?” I laughed, “If you want to be my friend, then he can’t stop you,” I grinned; I heard a distant laugh in the receiver. “Thanks Danielle,” she praised, “I didn’t know what to do.” “It’s alright. Now go eat,” I giggled, as I heard a loud rumble. “Haha, alright,” she sighed and then hung up the phone. I also sighed. How could Mitch overreact so much to a silly, stupid rumour? Or was it? Did he react so much because… because it was… true? The door creaked open, as my parents entered to hug and kiss me goodnight. I didn’t listen too well to them, as I was lost in thought. Was that rumour real? Was he a shape-shifter? No… he couldn’t be… I quickly dialled several numbers “Michelle?” “Heya Wuzup?” I heard Michelle giggle. “Is he a shape-shifter?” I whispered, so I wouldn’t wake my parents up. “Yes, he is,” she sighed. “But… it can’t be; that stuff isn’t real is it?” I pondered at her. “I guess you’re a sceptic,” she sighed, “Well just look at what he does tomorrow; he lays it all out in front of you, but hides it as well,” “Thank you,” I responded softly. “No problem! Oh and Danielle?” “Yeah?” “Please don’t tell him I had these conversations with you,” she begged; I laughed. “I promise I won’t,” I confided. “Good,” she then hung up the phone.

Was it real? Was shape-shifting real? Was Mitch real? Was I mad? The questions haunted me to sleep.

“Danielle! Danielle!” A herd of gangsters were shouting as they were running. They had obtained a small video camera. We were in a teenage play park, near a forest not so far away. “What did you do this time?” I groaned, “If you stole that camera, I’m not interested!” I was giggling. “No! We didn’t steal it!” They had closed up on me now, and they had formed a circle. There was no escape from the wrath of the imbeciles of this school. It took five minutes for me to gasp at what I had just seen in this memory. “She’s dead,” the leader smirked. “She’s dead?”

“Wake up Dannie! It’s just a dream!” I prized open my eyes to see my mum shaking me. Sweat was covered over my face. “S-sorry…” I murmured, wiping the water “Don’t worry darling. Just don’t think about her,” She kissed my forehead and left the room. Stop thinking about her? How could I stop thinking about her?

“Hi Mitch!” I was shouting. The forest was protecting us from the sun, “Mitch? I’m talking to you!” I was laughing, as I ran towards him. His figure was statue-like, his face staring into me.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered, as he snarled. It was so cheetah-like that I gasped. Suddenly, a gigantic cheetah was on top of me, his fur brushing against my skin. His teeth opened and suddenly shot into my face.

“Danielle, get up!” Mum screamed, trying to shout louder than me. “Mum, Mitch shape-shifts!!” I cried to her; it made her laugh. “Oh Danielle, you’re so full of imagination!” She kissed my forehead, “get ready for school darling, I let you have a lie in,” she giggled as she closed the door on me. The blue and grey clothing stared at me in the face. I was going to hang around with a shape-shifter!! The words baffled me, as I changed, un-ready for a new day. I decided to style my hair in bunches, which pleased Dad immensely. “Looking more beautiful every day,” he had complimented. “Yeah, thanks Dad,” I had groaned, cringing. We were now all sat down on the sofa (a tight squeeze, but we accomplished it!), eating our cereal quickly, the crunch awakening our minds to the morning’s song. The news was blurting out of the small TV we owned: “Welcome to six o’clock news with Melanie Barker and James Perry,” the hostess shrilled, “first off, tragic murders in the east; over to you, James,” the plastic doll turned her head to the man on the right, who too had a lot of make-up on. “Thank you, Melanie,” he seemed to be flirting with her, which annoyed me slightly, “In the east of London, many murders have been reported. Many think the murders are from one killer, as they all have the same mark on them. The dock area has been taped off, so all watertransport for this week has been cancelled,” the reporter sniffed, “Over to you, Stan,” He then swirled his chair, looking in the direction of the huge box behind him. “It’s tragic, isn’t it?” I murmured, half listening to the news now.

“It sure is,” Mum sighed, “Hopefully they find the mass murderer,” she stroked my arm and kissed the side of my cheek. Her touch made me feel like butter on a hot slice of toast. “What kind of mark is it?” I pondered. Dad then put his two fingers up to his pulse. “All of them, exactly there,” he then sighed as well, “I saw a picture; looks like they are completely drained of blood, poor things,” I gasped and immediately thought of Mitch. He’s a killer I remembered Michelle warning me; something along those lines anyway. Did he… kill them? My stomach flipped over. “I have to go to school,” I whined through clenched teeth. “See you honey,” Mum and Dad both said at the same time, also kissing me at the same time. Any other day, I would have been freaked out; but today I had to talk to Mitch. The door slammed behind me; it was lucky that Dad had made it stronger.

“Was it Mitch?!” I demanded off of Michelle, panting as if my breath had disowned me. “Okay Danielle, sit down,” her eyes glowered at me, so I did as I was told. The school bench was too wooden for today, too cosy… too nice. “He killed them, right?” I asked, concerned. “No he didn’t,” she grinned, producing her annoying laugh again, “he is a shape-shifter, not a vampire,” she chuckled, but then immediately stopped. “A vampire? Oh you’re kidding me,” I sighed, but realised that she wouldn’t respond; she had gulped loudly, “what’s wrong?” I then turned around, and saw that Mitch was there. “Why do you keep telling her this?” He accused, “I’m not a shape-shifter,” it seemed as though the rumour was really getting to him. “Calm down, Mitch,” she ushered him, but it was not working. She got up and walked him over to the field. They were talking extremely quickly, so I decided to edge nearer.

“Stop telling her!” I heard Mitch whisper to Michelle. “She will find out sooner or later, Mitch!” she responded, also very quietly. “When that day comes, I’ll talk her out of it!” He argued. “You can’t hide her away from the truth, Mitch, what if you suddenly form? What if she gets put off by all the secrecy?” I could feel that her words had stabbed him, painfully, in the heart. “She is not going to find out; do you understand?” He demanded. “YES, father,” she huffed, walking to her next class. Mitch stormed off the other way. How was I going to get to my class?! I had no idea where… History was. I couldn’t decide whether to turn to Michelle, who was probably crying by now, or Mitch, who was probably stressing out about a sad rumour that could possibly be true. “Lost in thought?” Georga giggled. “Yeah, kinda, what do you have next?” I asked, still staring into space. “History,” she shrugged. Oh thank goodness! I didn’t have to decide between my two best friends. “I have that too!” I grinned, “I don’t know how to get there,” Georga smiled, and pushed me gently towards the classroom. The room was exactly like the Biology room, but instead of plastic bottles, there were fake artefacts sprawled everywhere. The teacher (who I found out was called Miss Mandeline) shook my hand and walked me towards the table near her. “Hey,” I whispered to Michelle. She nodded, but carried on wiping her tearful eyes. “I’ll talk to him, don’t worry,” I tried to reassure. “How could Mitch do that?” Hannah blurted out, “He has to know what’s what and who’s who!” I didn’t really get what she said, but I nodded anyway. “Did you hear what he said?” Michelle sobbed, I nodded again.

“He was saying that he wanted it to be a secret,” I clenched my fist. “Girls, do you want to take it outside?” The teacher asked quietly. “Yes please,” I murmured, getting out of my seat with Michelle. Hannah and Georga traipsed behind us. As soon as we were near the window sill, Michelle broke down into tears. The window behind us was smudged already, so I leaned upon it. “Don’t worry, Michelle,” Georga was trying to calm her down. It was failing. “Shall I get Mitch?” I tried to add, but it didn’t work. They had completely blanked me out. “I’ll be right back,” I shouted, running, trying to find Mitch. I peered through the tiny squares on the doors, but he was nowhere to be seen. A giant sour orange was wedged into my throat. How could he do this? How could he hurt Michelle? Why would he want to hide this secret? “Ah hah!” I proclaimed, seeing Mitch in the far corner of a classroom. I looked around, and guessed that I was in a completely different area. I pushed the door ajar, and tried to think of what to say. “Uh, the head wants Mitch,” I lied. It worked though, Mitch was allowed outside. “I have no idea what’s wro-” “How could you?” I accused loudly, pushing him outside. “What do you mean?” He smiled. “Michelle is crying because of you!” I shouted at him, flames flaring inside my lungs. The sour orange in my throat was about to burst, spurting thousands of water droplets down my face. “Calm down, Danielle!” He ordered lightly.

“I will not calm down!” I stamped my foot for emphasis. I was becoming a total girly girl. Mitch was statue like once more, not daring to move. As if I would break if he so much as breathed. I walked over to the window sill and cried small cries. He did not move, still. “I don’t care,” I started, thinking about how I would word it, “if you are a different creature. You are Mitch. You’re letting a silly rumour get to you.” I sighed, getting up to try and make him breathe, at least. “It is just a rumour,” he whispered to me, “nothing more,” he snarled, scaring me silly. “How did you snarl like that?” It sounded stupid saying it out loud, but I had to. He paused. “You know what, never mind,” I put my hand up to my shoulder as a “whatever” gesture, and started to run. The thing was, he had caught my hand. “Do you believe them?” He asked. “Partly,” I confided, “and just so you know,” I shoved my hand back to my side, “I hate people keeping secrets,” I ran again, with both hands by my side.

The lessons went extremely slowly; I ended up completely blanking out both Michelle and Mitch. I went to all classes with either Hannah or Georga. When lunch finally came, I was starving. Georga, Hannah and I sat on the grass outside, with a fruit salad in hand. “You okay, Danielle? You’ve been quiet,” Georga asked. “Yeh, I was just thinking,” thinking was an understatement. I was deciding between the normal, and paranormal. “Oh my god!” Hannah screamed. “What?!” I asked loudly as well. “You have a bruise! I just realised!” she shrilled. “Oh, guess it was when I fell down from the punch,” I shrugged.

“Domestic violence isn’t good-” “Don’t worry, it wasn’t my parents,” I reassured, “there is this gang around the block, and they decided to take their anger out on me,” I snarled, but it wasn’t as realistic and fearful as Mitch. “One second,” Hannah stood up, and ran to the canteen. As I thought, she was running towards Mitch. “Oh no don’t…” I cursed under my breath. “Hannah knows what she’s doing, don’t worry,” Georga sympathised. I watched as Hannah poked Mitch, probably saying something along the lines of “grow up” or something. They both started walking towards me. “Ugh this is going to be awkward,” I groaned, moving behind Georga; she giggled. I wondered where Michelle was. “Are you okay?” Mitch asked, concerned. “Yeh, but you might want to ask Michelle the same thing,” I argued, but I didn’t raise my tone. He edged closer towards me, probably inspecting the wounds of last night. He caressed my skin, looking saddened, as if he was taking on my pain and agony. “I’m going to teach them a lesson or two,” he proclaimed. “Its fine,” I tried to defend myself. He raised one perfect eyebrow. “No it isn’t,” he argued, slightly smiling at my poor attempt. I sighed, and gave in. “So where have you left Michelle then?” I blurted out, as if I was just trying to make a normal conversation. “She didn’t come to lunch, actually,” Georga replied, “she felt bad,” she then eyed Mitch, who didn’t catch on that he should feel guilty.

“I’ll talk to her,” Hannah replied, getting up. She probably was heading for the loos, most girls hid there when they were upset.

The day trudged on, with no words, no thoughts, no Michelle. “I still don’t get why you need to teach them a thing or two,” I groaned at Mitch. We had got to the garages close to the flat. “Because violence isn’t good,” he replied assertively. I squeaked. The gangster leader was only a few yards away, “and being scared isn’t good either,” he grinned. The leader, once again, had the annoying baggy pants on, but this time had a Manchester football top on, instead of Chelsea. He was now almost an arms width away now. “What happened, your favourite team lose?” Mitch insulted, pestering the bull towards the red cloak. “No, Dad decided I had to wear this,” he mumbled, then turned to me, “I see you tried to get a body guard,” he leaned closer, “this will be fun,” I squeaked yet again and gulped. “I-I don’t need a body guard,” I stuttered. Mitch held my hand, my guardian. I instantly felt warm and loved. “You should,” Dean replied. “I won’t,” I argued, but I was scared. My jelly fingers gripped on tighter to Mitch’s hand. “Well then, best get your friend away then,” he sniggered. “Come on, let’s go,” Mitch whispered to me, pulling me along. “You’re an animal!” Dean shouted to us, when we were at the flat doors. I felt Mitch shudder, and stand his ground. I let go of his iron hand, and turned to Dean; I had to find out what he meant, I had to find out if the rumour was true. “What do you mean?” I asked, trying to hide a smile.

“Hasn’t he told you yet?!” Dean laughed, “Hasn’t he told you about him being a monster?” he laughed harder, clenching his waist in sheer enjoyment of annoying both of us. He wasn’t a monster, he was Mitch. If he was a shape shifter, that would be awesome; but a monster? “Just… go,” Mitch whispered, but Dean seemed to realise that he had gone too far. The bull had gotten bored of the red cloth, and was moving away. I turned to Mitch, and held his hand. His warmth was welcoming. “Mitch, he didn’t mean it; you’re not a monster,” I tried to soothe. Not a monster, but a possible creature, would have been a better way to put it. “I’m not a monster,” he replied. I was slightly perplexed, as he had not relaxed, “but an animal,” he shoved my hand away, and started to run. “Mitch, wait!” I ordered, but he carried on walking away. Walking, then sprinting, then a full blast run. “Mitch, stop!” I demanded, whilst trying to run after him. The streets where full of Londoners doing their daily shopping; as I ran past them, there were either gasps, or shouts of anger. We ran past expensive stores, and ended up at a park a few blocks away from the flat. “Mitch, please stop!” I begged, panting. My legs where going against me, forcing me to stop running, “Mitch, I can’t keep up!” It seemed as though he couldn’t hear my cries. I crawled back into action, running after the angel of my dreams. We ended up at the forest-edge; Mitch had stopped running. “Mitch, please!” I begged, “Just tell me what’s wrong!” I had nothing else to say, nothing I could say. Suddenly, there was a loud rip of a snarl, making me shiver as if I was electrocuted. “Mitch, I’m scared,” I shrieked, he didn’t move. There was yet another large rip. Mitch did not move for a second. His stillness scared me further.

“Talk to me,” I grovelled. Suddenly, the air particles around him seemed to shudder, forcing my eyesight to become blurry. “What’s happening?!” I shouted. I didn’t know whether or not I was blinded because I was crying, or what.

4. Perplexity

When my view came back, Mitch was gone. I ran towards the space, and wondered where he was; I then gasped. At the corner of my eye, I saw a cheetah tail running into the forest. I quickly dialled Georga’s number. “Georga! Mitch just turned into a cheetah! I swear he did! I think I’ve gone mad! And I don’t know where I am, I’m lost…” I then realised that I wouldn’t be able to return home, as I hadn’t gotten used to the surroundings. “Michelle, calm down,” she ordered me, although her voice seemed strained for answers, “he probably did form; what happened?” “Well, Dean said he was a monster. Georga, what happened?” I sat down and leant on the tree behind me. “He got angry, that’s what happened. Where are you?” She then asked. “I’m in some park near the flat,” I looked around, wondering what to do. “I know where you are, Michelle, just stay in the play ground part and I’ll take you to your flat,” she soothed. I nodded, and shut the phone. I got back onto my trembling feet, and started to walk towards the metal gates. I felt my way to the graffiti swings, sitting down onto the charcoal covered seat. My trembling moved the swing slightly, which made me feel more ill than expected. “Danielle?” I heard Georga ask me. “Yeh,” I groaned. “Your skin is so pale,” she sighed, holding onto my shoulders, trying to lift me off of the swing. We settled onto the cold park bench, where my lungs split into two. She shushed me, calming me.

“Is he?” I asked quietly. “He is,” she replied, slightly louder than me. “But… it’s not real… It isn’t…” I gazed at Georga, “but he hasn’t told me that it’s true yet…” I started talking to myself. “He will tell you when he is ready,” She soothed, cradling me, “I’ll call your mum, you can’t walk home like this,” she grinned, finding me slightly amusing.

When I had arrived home, I was greeted with a hot chocolate. “Another present from the next door neighbour,” mum whispered. “I’m tired,” I lied. I wasn’t tired, but I needed to rest. To think about everything that had just happened. Mum lifted me up, and took me to my room. I guess my parents had decided that I wasn’t able to tell them everything. When they had both kissed me goodnight, my phone rang. “Hey, you alright?” It was Hannah, and she seemed concerned for once. “Yeh, I’m okay-ish. Did you find Mitch?” I asked. “No, we haven’t yet; I think he went home,” She answered. “Well I’m tired, goodnight,” I whispered, hanging up the phone. I suddenly felt awful. Maybe if I didn’t try and run after him, it wouldn’t have happened. Maybe if I never came here, he wouldn’t feel that he should keep a secret away from me. Once more, my phone rang. “What?” I groaned. “Hey Dannie,” It was Georga. “Oh, sorry. You okay?” I asked quietly. “Yeh, I’m okay. What about you?” I groaned again.

“I am absolutely fine! I am going to sleep now,” I proclaimed, slamming my phone shut. This time, I switched it off.

“Come look!” The gang was pestering me again. “Alright, if you insist,” I was sighing, directing my eyes towards the deadly silver camera. “You’re going to love it!” The group of “friends” proclaimed. There were tiny figures in the video. There was Jake and Amelia next to the road, whilst others had taken a step back. “Go on; do it, and the tickets are yours,” Jake was chanting to Amelia. “Is there any other way?” Amelia was urging at the leader. He shook his head. A boy with frizzy blond hair stepped out of the crowd, and gave Amelia the cloth, of which she had to tie around her eyes. The camera then zoomed to the other side of the road, where a boy with curly ginger hair was laughing, waving the tickets around. “Do it, do it, do it, do it…” the crowd chanted. Amelia gulped, and placed the band around her eyes. I didn’t want to watch any more, but I was. I was watching the death of my dearest friend. “Alright, alright!” She yelled, making the dozen people stop. She turned, and proceeded into the road. “She’s doing it!” I heard whispers around, spilling into my clammy body. “Are you sure there is no-” BANG. Within two seconds, there was havoc. The camera was chucked from left to right, making my head even dizzier. “Oh my God!” were the only words any one could scream out loud. A yellow sports car had hit Amelia right in the waist.

“What did you do?!” I was screaming at the boys around me, “What did you do to Ams?” “She wanted to do it,” the leader was shouting back at me. “This is for her,” I was whispering. I had lifted my fist up, and hit the boy in the nose. A fountain of demon blood poured down. “I hope that hurt!” I was screaming, whilst kicking the boy. I was fading in and out of consciousness.

There was no need for my parents to wake me up anymore, especially not at three AM. I got out of bed, took a shower, and dipped my head in the water, hoping that I would finally just drown in the tears of life.

5.

6. Hoping I decided that trying to fall asleep would be hopeless, so I slowly prepared breakfast. When the mountain of cereal was coated with milk, I slouched on the couch and turned on the TV; then turning the volume down. I watched as the mini-cartoon creatures bashed each other with wooden planks, laughing at the pure stupidity. “I’m sorry for hitting you,” I then heard the cartoon cat say to the other cartoon cat. “It’s OK, we are best friends after all,” I watched as the creatures hugged each other. As I sniffed, I quickly changed channels. “I love it!” I heard one of the actresses speak out, hugging the man. “I love you,” the man grinned, accepting the hug. I groaned, switching to the news; I really hoped that the programme wouldn’t make me upset. “Many people upset,” the man informed me on the TV. I averted my eyes to the bottom of the screen, hoping that the writing there would make sense. “Police have yet to find a suspect to the crimes” It read; I instantly froze in my seat. Well this is bad I thought in my head.

7. Good Friday

The days ticked on murderously, until Saturday finally arrived. “We have to go sightseeing!” Michelle ordered me on Friday; I was going to be dragged around the shopping centre of London today. There still was no sign of Mitch, so hopefully I could persuade Michelle to try and search for him.

“You ready?” Michelle asked, as I brushed through my hair. She was wearing a pair of torn, skinny jeans and a pink t-shirt which had “eat me” written on it. My favourite outfit was on (red top, white cargo trousers) after a miserable few days of wearing the ugliest school uniform in history. “Yeah, I’m ready,” I tried to smile. Wednesday’s dream still haunted me. Walking down the streets seemed extremely slow and boring, but we were able to peer into loads of shops. The sky was decorated with tiny birds flying south, whilst the ground was drizzled with many people, rushing around, trying to get to point B in a matter of seconds. “Can we go to the park?” I asked quietly; Michelle sighed. “He will come when he is ready,” she murmured. “It’s my fault,” I blamed myself. If I had never come to London, then he would have never seen me, then he wouldn’t have gone off. We carried on walking in silence, as if the subject was forbidden. The sinking feeling still clutched onto my stomach. “No, it isn’t,” another sigh came from her innocent face; I guess I asked that question alot too. I wondered whether he would return; school was extremely boring without him.

“What if he doesn’t come back?” I pondered, sure that I had never thought of this before. It took Michelle a while to answer. She tilted her head and put one finger up to her mouth. “Hmm... I don’t know,” she smiled, trying to brighten the mood, “now we need to do some serious shopping!” She annoyingly giggled, tugging my arm towards the main shopping centre. The entrance had big silver letters above, naming the centre “The Brunswick”. The shops where shielded from the rain by a transparent canopy, whilst in the middle were a beautiful fountain. Near the fountains, many trees stood proudly. “This is amazing,” I whispered, dazzled by the centre. I never realised that London could be so magnificent, maybe even better than America. “What did you expect?” Michelle laughed. “Well,” I started, walking into a fashion store, “my American… friends… told me that London was polluted, and full of trash; I never expected this...” I waved my hand around for emphasis. Inside the store were thousands upon millions of clothes, and a neat rack of yellow high heels. I ran over and picked some shoes out, slipping them on. “Never thought you liked shoe shopping,” she laughed. I laughed with her “No, I like shopping; if I’m not doing anything else that is,” I grinned. Looking at the price tag, I squealed and shoved them onto the rack again, “let’s go somewhere cheaper,” I laughed, clutching onto my friend’s arm. We ended up going to many shops; I loved “New Look” the best, as it was cheapest. We sorted out our prom dresses, and bought lots of little accessories. Deciding that our feet where aching too much, and our stomachs where rumbling too loudly, we sat down in a cafe called “crussh”. Our bags were dropped by our sides, as we ordered out drinks. “Two tuna Swiss melts, and two energy explosions, please,” Michelle asked the waiter as he came around. He scribbled on the white note pad, nodded, and scurried off.

“Energy explosions?” I chuckled. “Yeh, they are amazing!” She laughed. We sucked thirstily at our smoothies as they came around; toasties took longer to cook. The whole atmosphere was amazing, with lights dazzling your eyes in the most wonderful way. “I’ll pay,” I murmured, taking out my purse. “No, no, it’s fine,” she insisted. I swear she grabbed my wrist, but on close inspection, her hands where by her side. I turned around, and Mitch was there. “Mitch?” I whispered, “Where... how...” I couldn’t say anything; my mouth was dropped too low. My heart was thumping dramatically inside my chest; I had not seen him in ages. “Don’t worry,” I heard Michelle say behind me. My wrist was then pulled, so I followed. We ended up sitting at a table further away from Michelle. Mitch seemed duller, more faded. His eyes had dark, depressed loops underneath, and his hands looked as though he had held onto something extremely tightly. “What happened?” I asked quickly. He didn’t reply, he only stared; his eyes scanning my face. I lifted my hand and held his, the coldness making me shiver. “I won’t believe it, unless you say it is true.” I proclaimed, “It probably is blown out of proportion,” I tried to smile, but the heaviness of my heart tugged my mouth down. He nodded, and also tried to smile. “Why were you away?” I asked. “I couldn’t see you,” he whispered, in pain. “What’s wrong,” I asked sternly. Mitch was my friend; I needed to look after him. I needed to tell him it was ok.

“My father doesn’t agree that I should see you anymore,” he hung his head down, “that is why I couldn’t come to school; he hoped you would go,” he snarled, whilst I gasped; I had no answer. “Are you coming back on Monday?” I asked; but there was no response, “Please Mitch, I can’t bear it...” “What do you mean?” he pondered, a confused expression on his face. “Well... it’s like America all over again. You basically are my best friend, and if you go... it’s like...” I couldn’t talk any further, tears were accumulating. His fingers stroked my hand. “Well, Amelia died because of these people... I moved here because I couldn’t bear to be alone at school,” I spoke quickly, tears trying to force themselves out of my eyes. “I am going to come if it is the last thing I do,” he promised. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t move. It was like there was nothing to say to the angel opposite me. After a while, I heard a couple of bags thud on the ground. “Ok, I’m moving over here; it’s too lonely!” Michelle laughed. I grinned with her, noticing that Mitch was too. “Do you want to come round mine?” I asked them both, “my parents wouldn’t mind; besides, they need someone to comment on how clean the house is,” I laughed. They both nodded. I slipped my hand back to my side, knowing that maybe everything would be OK again. In an instant, it was like everything was back together; all the pieces were put into place.

It felt better to know that I would have two very good friends walking me to my flat. As I opened the door, I was showered by hugs and kisses from my parents. “Mum! Dad!” I hissed, trying to make them stop, “This is Mitch, and Michelle,” I blushed. “Nice to meet you,” Mitch spoke pleasantly.

“Clean house,” Michelle laughed. I also laughed, getting the inside-joke. “Thank you,” Dad said, with his head held high. “We already ate, so we are gonna head to my room,” I smiled, whilst Mitch and Michelle dropped the bags by the front door. My room was much cleaner than before, especially the light. My bed was made, and the white carpet was vacuumed. Even the walls seemed a completely different colour! “Nice room,” Michelle complimented. I smiled, falling gracefully onto the bed. The room did seem nicer, especially with the blind installed. “I had a room like this in America, except I had a double bed,” I chuckled. “America must be awesome!” Michelle laughed. “Yeah... great,” I sighed, walking over to the window. “Has anyone contacted you? What about your best friends!” Michelle asked. I noticed Mitch whisper into her ear, “oh, sorry,” she murmured, coming over to place an arm around my shoulder. “It’s okay,” I smiled, “the move was what I needed.”

His head was bleeding now, his legs where bruised; but I was still kicking and punching. “Woah!” the head was trying to pull me away from the injured demon, but I resisted. “You took Ams! You took Ams!” I was shouting. The teacher’s wrists were acting as restraints. I was trying to force them off, but they wouldn’t be moved. I had stopped, and was now on the ground. “You took Ams... You took Ams...” I was sobbing. “Let’s get you to my office,” the head whispered, dragging me to his room.

A sudden white flash appeared, and I was upright in an arm chair, with my parents by my side. The room smelt like man-odour, with lots of golf trophies everywhere. “I know you are upset,” he was saying to me calmly. “Upset?” I was screaming. “You need to stay calm,” mum ordered, clenching my hand. “I don’t want to be calm, I want Ams back!” I was crying out. “How do you think you are going to do that?”

I gasped and shot out of bed. The sudden whisper jolted me upright, waking me from the dreaded sleep. “I don’t know, but I’m going to make them pay,” I answered quietly to myself, “I will make them pay for taking Ams.”

8. Edwards

The eggs sizzled maniacally in the pan, whilst the toast was burning in the toaster. “No Dad, you let them cook too long!” I shouted, running out of my room, saving the breakfast. I flipped the egg over, and turned off the toaster. Carefully, I placed the toast onto a plate and chucked the egg on top. “Thanks Danielle,” he sighed, “I knew I smelt something wrong,” I rolled my eyes. My mum was out searching for an oven, so I was left on my own with Dad. “Don’t worry about it, just remember to flip the eggs,” I peered towards the toaster and turned the knob, “and not to put the heat on full,” I laughed at his idiocy. I usually wouldn’t, but this time it was hilarious. I gave him the plate, and got ready for Sunday. I wore just normal jeans and a white top, as I wasn’t in the mood to go overboard. The radio started blasting out at full volume; Dad must have been in a turn-knob-up mood. “Welcome to Ten o’clock news. Our main headline today; killers have struck again in a shopping centre,” I gasped. “Same type of murder?” I asked my Dad; he nodded. I switched off the radio; I couldn’t bear to hear any more sad news. The clanking of Dad’s plate most likely meant that he hated sad news as well. “You seemed to have a more peaceful night last night,” Dad spoke out, trying to make a conversation. “Really? I was remembering about how I got here...” I trailed off, adding another batch of eggs into the pan. I then opened the stiff windows, to let the burnt smell out into the open. “Do you want to talk about it?” he murmured, I shook my head.

“I’m not in the mood at the moment,” I sighed, making a mental note to buy some oil, for the windows, “Maybe some other time,” I sighed sadly again. “Oh, and Mitch rang whilst you where asleep, he will come over in a while,” Dad added quickly. I glared. “When where you going to tell me this?” Before he had time to reply, I was off, to get ready. Grudgingly, I pulled on a sparkly pink top over my white t-shirt, and then pulled some ripped jeans on. It would have to do; the doorbell had rung. “I’ll get it!” I squeaked. Quickly, I forced lip-gloss onto my face, and put my hair into pink bunches. “Hey Mitch,” I sighed, creaking open the door. He was wearing a leather jacket, which made him look breathtakingly gorgeous. “Hey,” he smiled back. I clutched onto his hand, and ushered him forward. “Dad, we are going out,” I spoke out, reaching for my handbag. “What?” He gasped. I sighed. “To the shops,” I rolled my eyes whilst he positioned his mouth in an “Oh” position. “Come on,” I pushed Mitch out of the doorway, laughing at my Dad’s crazy antics that had occurred today.

“So, where to?” I asked Mitch as we walked towards the park. It seemed strange that I wanted to go shopping; again. “How about,” he paused to ponder, “How about you come round my house?” He grinned. “Sure,” I replied, smiling, although deep inside I was afraid. So far, all I had heard about his family was that he had a Dad, who hated me.

“That wasn’t a ‘sure’ sure; more of a... ‘Okay’ sure,” he wavered his arm, and then tied them around my hand. “Well... your Dad doesn’t seem to like me,” I shrugged, strolling along carelessly. “I don’t just have a Dad, Danielle; besides, my sister has been nagging to see you ever since you got here,” He smiled, as I gasped. “You have a sister?” I laughed. “Yeh, and a brother,” it was his time to shrug now. “How old are they?” I asked, surprised and enthusiastic at the same time. “My sister is... six,” he laughed, “she has quite a character, and my brother is twenty-one, and he likes to joke around alot,” he chuckled. “What are their names?” I asked happily. “Abbie and Aaron,” he smiled, but I was confused. It was completely different to the name “Mitch”. “Abbie means ‘Father’s Joy’... which is true. And Aaron means ‘a mountain of strength’, which is also true,” he grinned, “you should see the fights he has with us,” He rolled his eyes. “What about your name?” I asked, intrigued. “Something about God, I think...” He paused, probably thinking about what it meant. We strolled along, past the shopping centre that I went to yesterday. Past the park that held many different secrets. A few blocks further, I saw the most amazing house. It was painted all white, and it had windows that must have just been cleaned. The door was a sky blue, inviting you into the magical wonderland.

“Wow,” I smiled, as we walked onwards. As he opened the door, the aroma of love hit me. It was amazing, it was a new experience. To the left, I saw a music room. Further forward was a kitchen, and in between must have been a living room. “Father said that he was preparing lunch,” he grinned, “and I think I forgot to tell you, my last name is Edwards,” he laughed. Mitch Edwards... It was a perfect name, for the most perfect guy in history. Suddenly, a loud and echoing scream balled down the stairs. The bouncing ball of energy was wearing a pink fairy dress, with one cute pink wand in her hand. “Hello!” I smiled, trying to act childish. It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to act when there was a child present; I had done baby-sitting. “Heyo!” The little girl jumped up and down, dancing to a tune I didn’t know. Her springy ginger hair waved around her face magically, as if she really was a princess. The only thing that looked like Mitch was the brown eyes that she also possessed. “This is Abbie,” Mitch whispered beside me. “Hello, Abbie,” I chuckled, feeling hyper. “Heyo! I want to show you my dance! I’m a princess!” I laughed at how free she was; somehow, making me feel light as well. “Not now, Ab. Go help Daddy with the lunch,” Mitch ordered with a sigh. The fairy princess groaned in a high-pitched voice, skipping towards the kitchen. “We’ll meet Father later,” Mitch whispered. We went up the stairs, up towards the heaven that was his house. We walked to the right, where there was one door. Inside it, were alot of cars and trucks; everything a stereotypical boy would have.

“Aaron, lunch,” Mitch groaned, “And this is Danielle,” he tightened his grip on my hand. Suddenly, a guy appeared from the corner of my eye. He looked abit more like Mitch, with a more darker-ginger hair and hazelnut eyes. The difference that was almost astounding was his strength. Visually, it looked like he could lift around ten cars at once. “I would get changed first, though, Father wouldn’t enjoy seeing that on your shirt,” Mitch pointed at the orange-y stain on Aaron’s top. “Sorry, dude, I was attacked by Abbie,” his low pitch voice apologized, “and hi, Danielle,” he reached out his hand, so I accepted. I was waiting for the ear-splitting snap of my hand, but it never came. In fact, he was gentler than what I first expected. “Nice to meet you,” I responded pleasantly. When my hand was given back to me, I was taken to Mitch’s room. It was amazing. There were so many nature pictures. There was one picture of a cheetah just above his bed. “This is amazing! You must love nature,” I laughed; he snorted, rolling his eyes as if I had made a joke. There was so much stuff. I ventured the room, seeing animal pictures such as: wolves, white horses, Golden Eagles, bears, tigers and cheetahs. “Ok,” he sighed, “Let’s go downstairs. But I must warn you,” he took my hands, “my Father is abit... well... judgmental,” he grinned anxiously. “Let’s go!” I chuckled, waiting for my knight in shining armour to take me away. I left the animal-centred room, and proceeded towards the kitchen. I was speechless. The walls had black tiles around the edges, and fancy wooden cupboards above the work-surface. It would have been stereotyped as “Goth”, but the light deemed it otherwise. The bright sun sparkled down onto the tiles, making the room feel very disco-ey. I

turned around to see over the fridge, and there stood Mitch’s Dad. He didn’t seem happy, I could see that. “Nice to meet you, Mr Edwards,” I tried to speak very politely, but my American accent was no match for the poorly played London talk. He sniffed. His hair was more like Mitch’s; it was a very dark black. As he cut the white sandwiches, he crouched over into a position I wasn’t sure that I could do. “Let’s sit down,” Mitch forwarded me to the table in the middle. It was covered with a cloth, which had an assortment of greens scrawled over it. “Sit next to me!” Abbie squealed, so I sat in between her and Mitch. It was slightly nice, seeing an oven. I hoped that mum would get one exactly like the one here. “You have to eat all your sandwiches,” Mitch lectured Abbie, “or it’s no make-up; mum’s orders,” he then curled his fingers around my hand. I then started to hear banging; it was Aaron. After a few moments, there was one huge thud; he had landed on the ground. The strange thing was, he didn’t fall; he was perfectly balanced. “What’s for food then?” He asked, smiling at himself. He had a new top on; it was a clean white. “Sandwiches,” Mr Edwards replied, “Danielle, have you eaten?” He turned to me. I was surprised he even would address me. “Uhm... yeah I have,” I lied, “I didn’t want to bother you too much,” I grinned politely, but I was actually very scared. His eyes seemed to dig massive holes into my neck. “Oh, well,” he shrugged a tiny bit and turned around. Aaron sat opposite us; it made me feel better that someone strong was near me. “Mum is out shopping, she won’t be back,” he sighed when I nodded. It was hard to make an effort to be polite, especially when you are afraid out of your skin.

The day walked on by, slowly. Abbie had also attacked Mitch and me with make-up, which was annoying as my mascara had to be rubbed off. As soon as we were allowed to exit the castle, we surrendered to the outside. “Nice family,” I complimented, with a slight tone of sarcasm. It wasn’t that I hated them, it was just that they seemed to perfect. “They like to show off abit,” he answered my invisible question, making me grin. To people around the London Park, we would look like we were dating. My arm was wrapped around his securely, whilst we walked into the forest. “It’s so beautiful,” I smiled, watching the sun sprinkle gold and green glitter to the earth from above. We didn’t talk for a while, just enjoyed the moment. All too soon, hell broke loose. An imaginary hell, I think. One second I was chuckling with Mitch, the next second there was a black fog. But the black fog moved. “What the hell was that?” I screeched, turning my head quickly to see the rest of the forest. “Uhm, I don’t know,” he replied, but he seemed awfully tense. We stood still, silently, listening to the forest sounds of creasing paper. “Ah!” I yelled, when the black fog pounced on me. The fog then turned into a man with coal black hair and blood red eyes. This isn’t real... This isn’t real... I then heard a hiss, so I decided to open my eyes. Both the strange being and Mitch were gone. I had to think quickly on what to do. I had no idea how to get back home from the middle of a forest! I ended up trying to retrace my steps, luckily that worked. It was like I was on alien ground, my jelly legs hobbling over the London Streets. When I finally reached my place, Dean was waiting for me.

“You still here? Where’s your friend?” He sniffed as if I smelt of BO. I turned around quickly and headed for the door. “I asked a question,” he demanded, grabbing my arm. So close, yet so far away! I lectured myself. “He isn’t here at the moment,” I told him strongly. The best way to fight a bully is to show strength; luckily I had some left. “Why has that monster left you alone then?” he asked. I was surprised at his tone; it was more affectionate than beastly. “Uh... I don’t know,” I murmured, still confused. He let go of my arm, and allowed me to stumble nearer the flat. “Wait,” I stopped him, “what did you mean by monster, anyway?” I asked him again. “He hasn’t told you, has he?” he tutted, “suspense is the best way to kill someone,” he laughed like a mad scientist, leaving me alone in the hallway.

I opened the door and saw both my parents on the floor with a huge box. “Is this the oven?” I asked sarcastically, “It looks too small,” chuckling, I sat by them. My mum was covered in sweat, whilst my dad drank some sort of soda that I had never tasted. “I’m tired,” Mum moaned. “Go take a shower, Mum, Dad and I can handle this,” I got up and tried to pull mum off of the ground. It only took a short time for her to get a shower and lie on the bed. Heaving an oven up the stairs must be tiresome. “I saw Dean today,” I informed my dad, as soon as I was sure that Mum could get to sleep.

“Really?” Dad huffed, either because of my statement, or because he was trying to lift the oven. “Yeah. We actually had a good conversation, sort of,” I then started to help Dad place the oven in the kitchen. “Did you have fun with Mitch?” Dad asked as soon as we had dumped the oven with a thud. He started stretching, his back letting tiny castanets playing simultaneously. “Yeh, we had a great time. I saw his family today,” I started to pick up all of the bubble wrap and place it in the box, “He has a brother, Aaron, and a sister, Abbie. They are really nice,” I chuckled at the memory of wearing Abbie’s purple lipstick. The echoes of laughter trilled inside my ear. “What about his parents? You should invite them round so we can have a chat,” I was surprised that Dad had a good idea, but it was. Maybe, that would be how his Father could get to know me more. “That would be amazing Dad,” I smiled, trying to hide my shock. He started tapping his head. “We should get this downstairs, it takes up too much room,” I then lifted up the box and handed it to Dad. In true “Dad” fashion, he pretended that it weighed a ton, whining whilst he opened and closed the door. I was alone again. It felt alright, but also felt abit dismal. I ran to the sofa, and jumped onto it, kicking my shoes off. My eyes suddenly started to droop down involuntarily.

“Danielle, I can’t find any houses for sale,” Mum was moaning at me. We were back in my old house in America, with all the fineries: Amazing golden chandeliers, tempting to swing on; old swirly stairs that had you running up and down them all day; amazing laminate floors that responded to your high heels...

“Just find something,” I was moaning, “I can’t stand it here anymore,” I shoved my hands in the air. My dad then came with his laptop into the room. “We could get a flat,” Dad offered. Mum winced. “We have all this, and you are saying we should get a flat?” She was demanding, trying to get an answer off of Dad. He shrugged. “It’s a shabby flat... But I know Danielle hates it here...” Mum was looking at the laptop, contemplating. “Don’t think of it as a flat then! Think of it as a house!” Dad was smiling. “It’s in London though,” Mum was murmuring. “Danielle would soon forget about this all, if she is that far away,” Dad was reassuring Mum. I was an invisible figure in the picture, yet still the main character. I didn’t have a choice, in the disturbed portrait, I needed to move. “Where would you go?” The same eerie whisper from last night asked.

I opened my eyes quickly and jumped out of my bed. Somehow, dad had moved me from the couch to the bed. It took a while for my surroundings to sink in. “I don’t know where I would go,” I spoke out to the invisible being, “but wherever I go, I hope that place is nice,” I sighed, and tucked myself into bed again. “What does it look like,” the whisper spoke in my ear. My eyes shot open, afraid that someone was in here. “Who was that?” I asked no-body. After about half an hour of waiting for a response, my eyes drooped down into a paranoid slumber.

9. Phone Calls I abruptly woke up, remembering last night’s mystery. Once again, the smell of burnt toast was filling the air. I fluttered towards the kitchen, my soul trailing along behind me. “Can you please not make the flat burn down?” I argued jokingly, pulling out the toast from the oven. I didn’t know why Dad had put it in there; I didn’t want to know either. “Sorry darling,” Dad kissed my forehead. It was amazing how he could make me feel better with just two words and a kiss. “It’s okay; although the inside of the oven begs to differ,” I sighed, trying to evaluate how much cleaning equipment I would need to buy, “Where’s mum?” I asked, chucking the burnt bread in the bin. “She is still in bed,” Dad whispered. I nodded. “Take something from the fridge, or have cereal, I’m going to get changed for school,” I kissed his cheek and skipped towards my room. As I placed a blue Alice-band around my head, I started to wonder. Was Mitch going to come back to school? He had run off again, last time I saw him. What if he decided to not attend? What if his Dad pulled him out? “Come on, Danielle, your cereal is going to get soggy!” I breathed in then out, and headed towards my Dad. If Mitch didn’t come to school, it would be my fault.

It was great that my dad could take me to school; it gave me those extra few minutes of quality time. It was strange how I wanted more time to spend with them, as if there was no more time left in this world. “See you at home,” I kissed Dad on his stubbly cheek, and then left the car, swinging my heavy bag onto my back. What may have been even stranger was that I actually took a second

glance as he left the parking lot. I shook my head. Stop acting like such a baby, Danielle, he promised to be here. I told myself over and over. The white halls seemed too wide for me, too spacious. I was anticipating Mitch to be here, but then feeling disappointment each time I turned a corner. Eventually, I had reached the drama studio. The bleak drapes were still hanging awkwardly around the room. The teacher was not here yet, but the Goths were. I checked the time anxiously; twenty minutes. I scooted to the opposite corner, and started to delve into the depths of my bag. I stared again at the clock; eighteen minutes. Had two minutes really passed? It seemed like two hours. As I moved my eyes to my bag once more, I noticed the Goths were staring at my neck. “What?” I murmured, trying not to notice them, I carried on checking my bag. I pulled out my phone, and started checking my messages. But they caught my eye again. “What is it?” I asked them slightly louder this time. They did not reply. I focused my angry energy onto my phone. It didn’t help, really. The texts on there weren’t pleasant. They were the last texts from America. Pleading messages, like “Come back, Danielle. Please!” I quickly deleted them all, before the wide-eyed Goths would notice I was about to cry. “What the hell is wrong?” I demanded, switching my phone off and chucking it in my bag. Like all the other times, they had no answer. They sat there and stared like a pack of maneating wolves. I slanted my eyes sideways; fifteen minutes left. Torture. How long could I stand this staring? How long before they would let me go? “I am not a meal. Can you please stop staring?” I ordered the clique. It must have clicked, because they were coming forward. I silently swore. There gothic glares pierced into my eyes, engulfing all of my happiness from inside of me.

“You need a make-over,” a girl with spiky black hair informed me. She wasn’t as tall as me, but I was still afraid. “I am fine,” I murmured. The crowd was laughing now. “You should be a Goth. You hang around that animal; you’re basically asking for death,” she sniggered, touching my hair in ways I hated. I flinched, shoving her hand away. “He isn’t a shape-shifter,” I told myself. “In what parallel universe?” she rolled her eyes. It was strange that a Goth smiled, but she was. It made her more mystical. “If he was, he would tell me,” I informed them, posing as a teacher. I wouldn’t stoop down to their level. “Do you know why there are groups, and why he is out of all of them? Oh, I thought not,” she started to turn back. “Wait,” My traitor voice spoke out, “what happened?” The Goth girl grinned eerily again, staring at me. “You really want to know?” She pestered. My traitor neck moved up and down. “Where shall we start?” The girl turned to the others, giving them the glare that I hated. “Before he formed, everything was fine. No cliques or anything,” the girl with red hair spoke out. “There were the cheerleaders, now the girly girls,” a girl with piercings in her nose (which made me that bit more scared) told me. “The basket ball team are the Jocks. Like now,” the spiky haired girl told me, “The nerds, they were left out anyway,” she moved her hand in a “don’t care” expression, “Us? There are always Goths in a school. Live with it.” She almost seemed to demand that I lived with it. I squeaked.

“Mitch turned into an animal and pounced on a cheerleader,” a girl with chewing gum told me. “Do you honestly believe it?” I whispered. I didn’t like that they were edging closer. “No,” the girl with red hair smirked. “He is probably brought up to make illusions like that. Or there was some sort of outfit,” Chewing-gum girl said. I was almost relieved that there was a reason for the happenings I had witnessed. “But there is still the danger,” the leader leaned into me. “There isn’t any,” I hoped that I would scare them off, but nothing happened. The smell of mint gum slithered into my nose. “Danielle!” I sighed happily as Michelle ran into the room, arms wide. The great thing was that it made the Goths back off, but the bad thing was that Michelle was hugging me like I was her best friend forever, making me a tiny bit more uncomfortable. “Oh, sorry,” She apologized. I guessed that she was still trying to be careful around me. “Don’t worry, Michelle, I’m fine with the death now,” I reassured. I wasn’t completely fine, but it would make Michelle feel better. I didn’t quite know whether she fell for it or not. “Are you sure you’re ok with it?” She pestered, I groaned. “You’re sounding like my Mum, Michelle! I am absolutely fine,” I smiled. I subconsciously looked at the clock; five minutes. Had time gone quicker by just talking to Michelle? I scoped the room, trying to find my Mitch. “OK, class, sit down!” The teacher sang like a bird as she entered the room. I sighed, walking with Michelle to the lonely floor. I wondered where Mitch was...

“OK, class, settle down!” The teacher chirped. The awful din of the class then slowed down to distant murmurs, “Today, we will be writing some scripts! Won’t that be fun?!” I sighed at her enthusiasm. “You’re sighing a lot, Danielle,” Michelle pointed out to me. “Yeah,” I replied dismissively. I wouldn’t tell her that I was waiting for Mitch to come, and that I was love-sick... “Well, whatever it is, I’m sure it will work out-” “Yeah, okay!” I interrupted, for she was really starting to get on my nerves. All I wanted to do was talk to Mitch... “Get a partner, everyone, and start role-playing!” The teacher instructed. I silently stood up, waiting for Michelle to follow my lead. “Hey Danielle,” I suddenly spun around, and noticed Mitch was there. I exhaled happily, like I was seeing the sun for the very first time. “You came,” I noted happily. “Yes,” he laughed. “I thought you wouldn’t,” I mumbled. As I gazed up at Mitch, his perplexed expression mirrored into my eyes. “Why wouldn’t I?” He asked. “Well, you went off yesterday...” I glanced back down at the floor. “Didn’t I promise you I would be here?” He chuckled. A pair of warm hands touched my cheeks, lifting my head so that my eyes could see his beauty. “Yes,” I added softly. I held his hands, and kept them near the ground. “Good work you two!” The teacher cheered at a pair opposite us.

“She’s too happy,” I smiled, rolling my eyes. Our hands were still touching each other romantically; I wanted to cherish this moment with my life. “She is,” Mitch agreed, “I can’t ever seem to annoy her...” he grinned. I eyed him doubtfully; as if someone so sweet could annoy a teacher! “I have tried, believe it or not,” he smirked, making me explode in a fit of giggles. “You?” I eyed him suspiciously again, “You can’t hit a fly,” I pestered. “Oh yeah?” He teased, pretending to punch me. I squeaked, pretending to punch him also. We stopped as our sides were hurting too much from the laughs that shrilled into the air. Giving up, we dropped onto the floor gracefully; it was like the sun was up in the gloomy city; sparkling its ever graceful light into me. Suddenly, there was a round of applause. “Wonderfully done!” The teacher cheered, clapping as if we were toddlers that had just learnt to walk. We stared at her in confusion, wondering if she was sane enough to realise that we weren’t role-playing. “Uhm, thanks?” Mitch kept glaring at her, trying to burn a giant hole into her skinny neck. “Keep up the work!” She giggled, walking away to another group. “I don’t know what’s worse: The Girly Girls, or that teacher,” I laughed, leaping back up in the air. Mitch swiftly ascended, much more graceful than me. Getting on with work was much harder than we first expected; there were many distractions, such as Mitch… The bell trilled its forever happy song, so we proceeded to our next lesson. “I will see you at break,” Mitch smiled. “Don’t miss me,” I joked, hugging him tightly. It was a natural response, I guess; his aura eternally pulling me inside his arms.

“Don’t miss me,” he repeated, pulling away. Delicately, he moved towards the door and exited. The next sound I heard was the annoying laughter of Michelle. I clumsily walked towards her, trying to smile at the irritating noise. “What?” I asked, as we proceeded towards Biology. Our shoes bounced from the floor to the walls, making the corridors that bit bigger. “You so have a crush on him! Mind you, he has a crush on you too…” She told me in hysterics. “He does not!” I argued. “He so does! Seriously Danielle, you practically are a couple! You always hold hands, and I saw that hug at the end!” she clicked her fingers, trying to emphasise her point. I shrugged. “Well… so what if I do… and so what if he does…” I grinned slightly. Mitch and Danielle… Danielle and Mitch… Michelle shrugged and ushered me towards the biology door. The wooden rectangle slowly creaked open; I instantly noticed our small gang that was near the teacher. Natasha’s springy hair was dangling from her head freely, as she got on with some work. Hannah’s vibrant smile matched her sunny complexion, as she nodded, as if we will do. Lastly, I saw Georga, fiddling with her black locks. I sighed, and walked with Michelle over to our places. It wasn’t that I didn’t like hanging around with them; it was just that Mitch wasn’t here. “Miss will find it annoying if we talk again,” Georga informed me, so I nodded and headed for my bag. I grabbed my books and placed them delicately onto the desk. After writing the title, I noticed that Michelle had given me a slip of paper. Has he told you? I scanned the four words over and over, and then it clicked what she meant.

“No,” I whispered back, “but don’t you think that it could be an illusion?” I repeated from the memory of the Goths. I turned, and saw that Michelle looked slightly glum. “The Goths talked to you, right? Well, no one really believes them,” She told me, glancing down to write some more. Well I believe them I told her in my mind. The time ticked tentatively as I scribbled down notes that I would never need later in life. As soon as the bell rang, I ran towards the door. “Hey,” Mitch greeted me outside “How did you get here so fast?” I asked, astounded that he beat me. “As I said, a fast runner,” he chuckled, wrapping his arm over my shoulder. We slowly walked towards the cafeteria. It was glorious how close he was. I was hypnotised by his very presence. The last few moments were all that I could think about for the rest of the day.

“Danielle, I’m over here!” Dad waved enthusiastically from his car window. I could see him, of course, but I was too occupied in gazing at Mitch. “Please come,” I whispered, trying to be the slightest bit romantic. “I have to go home, though,” he laughed. I showed him that I clearly was disappointed. “No, you don’t. You have to come with me,” I took his hand and tried to pull him to the car. “I will call you, Danielle,” he chuckled, pulling me towards him. I gave up, surrendering to his might. “Don’t forget,” I grinned, hugging him closer. Fifteen seconds later, I walked to the car. “You really like him,” Dad observed, as I slammed the door shut. Danielle and Mitch… Mitch and Danielle…

“Yeh, I guess,” I murmured, hoping that he wouldn’t give me a talk about boyfriends. We drove on, the car engine roaring as it zoomed across the London Streets. I wondered why it was so deserted today. “Well, don’t ruin your friendship with him,” he lectured, I groaned. “I’m not,” I hissed, “It’s just a stupid crush,” I fumed. How could I become boyfriend and girlfriend with him anyway? He is much too angel-like. “Alright, alright!” Dad defended himself. I glanced out of my window, watching the park whoosh past us. I closed my eyes, and wondered if my wish could come true. What it would be like to have Mitch... If my life would revolve even more around him, if my heart would officially belong to him... “Danielle, snap out of it,” Dad laughed as I fell back to earth. Our silver vehicle stopped inside the claustrophobic garage. We stepped out (with much difficulty) and stalked towards the door. I didn’t really want to say anything, as I was still lost in thought. It was amazing how I could tell where our room was; the lavender scent made a change to the urine smell. “We will clean outside this house tomorrow,” Dad grinned as the key was pressed into the hole. I grinned, thinking about how much cleaner this place could be. “I made ratatouille!” Mum exclaimed as I dropped my bag by my room door. I quickly started to get changed into pink no-sleeved top and white shorts. “Great, I’m starving!” I shouted from my bedroom. I rushed back out, grabbing the phone on my way to the couch. I slumped onto the couch happily. Mum then came to me with the source of the mouth-watering smell. I held my plate as she sat underneath my feet, followed by Dad going underneath my head. I munched down my dinner as I watched the silly characters dance around on the TV. I sighed happily as the phone rang.

“This will be Mitch,” I giggled, skipping towards my room. As soon as I closed the door, I pressed the green button. “Hey, Mitch!” I laughed into the phone. “I’m not Mitch,” a solemn voice replied. It seemed slightly French, but I hardly noticed. “Who are you then?” I asked in an ambient voice. “Your nightmare,” the man replied. “W-what do you mean?” I shrieked quietly. “I’m going to get you,” the French accent propelled into a mad-scientist laugh. I squeaked and hung up. Inhaling deeply, I ran towards my bed and dialled Mitch’s number. “Hey, I was about to call you,” Mitch told me, but he didn’t sound happy. “Someone just called me,” I squealed, “and they said they were going to get me,” I shrieked. “First, calm down, Danielle,” he ordered. I instantly obeyed his command. “Now, tell me what he said,” he whispered calmly, trying his best to make me stop hyperventilating. “Well, first he said that he was my worst nightmare, then he said that he was going to get me,” my tone slightly raised at the end, making him “shh” at me. “Do you want me to come over?” He asked softly. “Yeah,” I responded weakly. I listened to Mitch hanging up the phone, then sat there and waited for him to come and rescue me. “You okay, sweetie?” I heard Mum ask from the other side of the wall. “Yes, I just... got nervous. I need to get changed, because Mitch is coming around,” I informed her, getting up to put something suitable on; jeans and a shirt would do.

“Wow, he is quick,” I heard mum exclaim as there was a knock on the door. The front door was opened, then mine. His graceful stride towards me rendered me speechless. His arms wrapped around me, soothing me gently. “What’s wrong, honey?” Mum asked as she entered the room. Go away I shouted in my head at her. “Some person prank called her,” Mitch responded. OK, I guess I over-reacted. It could have been a prank call. “Gah, I’m so stupid!” I moaned, but stayed in the grasp of Mitch. “Why?” Mitch asked quietly. “It was a prank call!” I sighed happily, but Mitch was still looking at me glumly. “Wait...” I let go of Mitch and glared at Mum. “C-could they have gotten my number?” my voice split at the end, shrilling up loudly.

10. America It made sense. The gang in America was out to get me; of course. It all totally made sense. But what about those innocent lives? Why did they have to suffer? Mitch’s silk hand clutched onto mine, his confusion sending little signals into my mind that I had to explain. “It couldn’t be, sugar. We left almost immediately after...” Mum stopped in her tracks; she knew this conversation was forbidden. “But what if they found out?!” I shrilled, tightening my grip on Mitch. It was moments like this when I would wish he was a shape-shifter. So he could shift into some sort of animal and take me away from the danger. But where would I go? “It would be impossible, honey,” Mum tried to reassure, but it was failing. The huge space where Amelia left was growing, engulfing me. “Danielle!” I heard a shriek, between my gasps for air.

I woke up to stroking on my face. My eyesight was coming back into focus; that was when I realised that Mitch was there. I quickly sat up and composed myself. “I’m glad you’re awake!” Dad came over with a glass of water, “we were about to call an ambulance,” he didn’t seem to be joking. “H-how long have I been gone for?” I asked quietly. “Well, its midnight,” Mitch grinned down at me. My stomach churned with the guilt. “Mitch, you didn’t need to stay here, your dad will be worried sick-” his beautiful fingers pressed down onto my lips. “It’s all cleared with my Father. Your parents were kind enough to let me stay here,” I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Mitch would be here all night.

“Dan, I think we should tell him about your American friends,” Dad whispered into my ear, “I think he has a right to know,” he then winked at me. He was saying that I should tell him because of my “crush”, of course. “What friends,” I snarled, but then sighed, “OK, but I’m not saying it,” I snuggled up into Mitch, tiredness washing over me. I was going to stay awake, but if I started crying I could go to sleep quicker. “It started when Danielle was ill for one day. She said she woke up with this horrible gutfeeling. It was so intense, that we let her stay away from school,” Mum then sighed, “At about ten o clock at night, we heard the news that Amelia had died. We didn’t tell her, because we didn’t want to worry her. The next day, we have a call from the head; she had got into a fight in school. We came in, and we decided there and then that we would move house. It was a stressful twelve hours, because finding a house in a short amount of time isn’t easy. She didn’t want to move states; she wanted to move country all together. We found a flat here...” I felt that my Mum was looking at me, maybe hoping that I was falling asleep. “We are actually quite rich people, Mitch,” Dad proceeded, “her Mum is a lawyer, and I am a detective. We lived in a huge house, better than this pathetic flat,” So that was what he really thought. “But she insisted, so we went ahead with it.” “When she was in bed, we got a call from the head teacher. He told us that the gang that killed Amelia were put in prison for murder. We never told her,” I heard Mum’s voice croak. I really hoped she wasn’t crying. “She was out of it, I mean really out of it. She wouldn’t talk to us at all. When we asked if she was OK, she would just reply “I’m fine”; nothing more. When we moved to this flat, she started to perk up abit. I guess she has told you about that youth that lives around here,” Dad asked Mitch.

“Yes, she has told me,” Mitch replied, “She said that Amelia had died, but that was about it. It must have really hurt you to see her like that,” Mitch started grooming my hair with his fingers. I didn’t want to hear anymore, not another sound. But sadly, I could no longer block the sound. “Yes, it was hard for all of us. We both have no jobs at the moment, currently finding some,” Dad sighed. “My Father owns a restaurant, I can fix something up temporarily, if you like,” Mitch offered. “That’s very kind,” Mum cried out to him. I knew she was crying. I shuffled out of Mitch’s sleek body and turned towards them. They were shocked that I was still up, but I didn’t mind. I needed to talk. “Amelia was my best friend ever. I couldn’t have ever wished for someone better than her,” I sighed. “What about your friends here?” Mitch asked quietly, still stroking my curly hair. “They aren’t as good as Amelia. I’m sorry Mitch, but they aren’t. You have no idea how much she meant to me,” I shook my head and buried my face in my hands. I couldn’t let him see me cry, it would be embarrassing. “It’s ok, Danielle, I understand,” he soothed, plaiting my hair. “I think the gang is coming for me. In fact, I know it. It wasn’t enough just to kill Amelia; they needed to kill me as well,” I sobbed. “Why?” Mitch asked curiously. I sighed, trying to put my answer correctly. “We were kind of... different. There were no cliques, but there were certainly groups. We were allowed in groups, but we never liked them. I hated being classed as “cool” when we joined that group. So we kind of just made our way through without other friends. It was quite good actually: we didn’t have to worry about gossip, no boyfriend break-ups, no nothing. But

Amelia decided to go into the cool group, as we do every so often. She decided to go out with the gang leader,” I sighed, “I guess they broke up. Or it was a really medieval way to break up...” I snuggled back into Mitch, trying to hold back the tears that were welling up inside of me. It was silent for a few moments, the only sound being our breaths and heart-beats. I was almost certain that Dad and Mum were asleep, but I wasn’t sure about Mitch, I gazed up, and noticed that he was gazing down; his eyes reflecting in the moonlight. “You can cry if you want,” he whispered, “I would have,” I nodded, but did not cry. I shut my eyes tightly, hoping that morning will bring its sunlight quicker. Just before I slept, I felt lips kiss gently on my cheek. I sighed happily. “Sleep well,” I heard a whisper in my ear. I subconsciously nodded at the angel.

The short sleep was sort of strange. I wasn’t actually anywhere; I was floating in a pool of black. “Where will you go,” I heard a voice. I turned around in the water, and saw my Mum. “Back in time,” I replied. “When,” I swam around, and saw my Dad. “Before Amelia died, so I could warn her,” I answered back. “Why?” Michelle floated around the pool. “Because I miss her,” I replied. Then, behind me, Mitch came. But he was not floating; he was in the pool with me. He was gently massaging my shoulders. “Don’t you like me?” He asked, hurt. “I love you,” I told him. “Then stay,” A whisper shocked me back into the reality.

I gasped, and shot up. “What, what’s wrong?” Mitch asked quickly. I breathed quickly. “N-nothing; just a bad dream,” I replied, sitting back down. I want Amelia and Mitch. I would turn back in time and move, with Amelia, to London. I told myself in my head. Mitch delicately wrapped his hands around my waist. “It’ll get easier, I promise,” he told me. “You have no idea,” I rolled my eyes. “I do,” he told me, “I’ve lost something before. It was a different something, though. It took a while to adjust,” he yet again kissed my cheek. I loved the vibrant warmth that he was projecting out towards me. I loved him so much. “I hope you’re OK, then,” I whispered. “I am now,” he whispered back. I couldn’t help but smile.

11. Chinese Whispers My eyes fluttered open, feeling the warmth of the sun beating down on my face. “Rise and shine,” Mitch chuckled by my side. I turned my neck and smiled. “Don’t you ever sleep?” I asked, stroking back my hair from my fore-head. “I do, but less than you,” he tapped my nose and started to get up. I then squealed. “Oh my God, it’s seven o clock!” I shrieked, running into my room to get my uniform on. I heard a distant laughter, but I didn’t care. I threw on my uniform and rushed towards the kitchen. “What?” I moaned, as Mitch was still laughing. He shook his head and started to pour some cereal. “My mother is taking us; we won’t be late,” he grinned; I sighed. I proceeded slowly towards the cereal cupboard. “Don’t you realise that my parents could take us?” I asked him as the cereal was falling into the bowl. “Don’t you want to see my mother?” He asked, trying to put on a sad voice. “Yes, I do,” I reached out for the milk, “But my parents are in the other room,” I smiled whilst smothering the cereal with the white liquid. Mitch shrugged, and then placed his arms around my waist.

“I don’t think your parents will mind,” he smirked, “they were exhausted last night,” he told me, whispering into my ear. I dropped my spoon into the bowl in defeat and turned around.

“OK, you win,” I smiled. It was sort of uncomfortable, having him this close; but I still enjoyed it. He must have noticed that I was going red, so he pulled away. I wanted to reach back to him, but I knew that would be wrong. “Uhm, so… when will she be coming?” I whispered. “Very soon, so eat up!” He half smiled. “What about you?” I grinned, waving my spoon at him. “Oh, I ate before you woke up,” He shrugged. I grinned and started to munch down on the cereal. I felt bad; horrible. Every minute of the awkward silence, he just stood there, just watching me. I couldn’t say anything; what could I say? “Oh I really liked that?” no. I remembered Michelle’s words… Mind you, he has a crush on you too… you practically are a couple… Mitch and Danielle… Danielle and Mitch… “Mother is here now,” he murmured, so I nodded and took my bag. We walked silently outside. I should have known that Dean would meet us up. “Well, well, well… Jenny and monster from the block,” he sniggered. “So where are your cronies then?” I sighed, feeling slightly stronger than the past experiences. “Suspended,” he shrugged, “luckily, I’m not,” he edged closer. “Back off,” Mitch warned, moving in front of me. I held onto Mitch’s hand, scared that he would run off again. “What you going to do? Turn into a monster?” He laughed. “Dean, shut up,” I snapped at him, “He isn’t a monster,” I moved to the side of Mitch. Once again, Mitch was still; I tightened my grip. “He is. Hasn’t he told you?” He smirked.

“No, he hasn’t, because there is nothing to tell. Now if I were you, I would get lost right this instant,” I glared at Dean, slightly aware of Mitch’s stillness. “Who’s backing up the monster?” He sighed like an adult, “Kids. They never learn,” he laughed, running towards the flat entrance. I stayed rooted to the ground, until his mum got here. “Don’t listen to him,” I murmured towards Mitch, slightly gripping tighter, “You’re not a monster, and I believe you’re not a monster,” I sighed, noticing a car pulling up. It was a small, purple pouch. The woman inside wound down the window; I noticed the fiery hair in an instant. “Come on! What’s wrong with Mitch?” She asked. I peered up at Mitch for the first time then. “There was a guy that called him a monster,” I informed her. She gasped, and started to get out of the car. Her elegance was mesmerizing. She had sleek brown trousers on, matching a silk cream top. Her high heels added to her sheer height. “Come on, Mitch,” she wrapped her arm around Mitch and took him to the car. I followed on, watching Mitch’s stiff movements. What was happening? What was wrong? I never had seen someone react so badly to a stupid guy’s words… Slowly, Mitch relaxed back into a normal stance. I wondered what would have happened if I didn’t stop Mitch from moving… “You OK, Mitch?” I whispered, looking worriedly at my angel. He still did not say a word; instead, he closed his eyes. “Give him a minute,” Mrs Edwards told me, “He will be fine once we get to school.” We drove on; I then realised what Mitch meant. Her speeding reached up to eighty miles per hour; we would make it to school, maybe even be early.

“So did you two have fun last night?” She smiled, trying to distract me from the obvious tension that was floating around aimlessly in the car. “Uhm, yeah, I guess…” I was too occupied in making sure Mitch wouldn’t jump out of the car window to really talk back. “Cool,” she murmured to herself. I hope I didn’t hurt her feelings; she seemed really nice. We screeched to a halt by the entrance. “Have fun at school, kids!” She smiled at both of us. “Thank you,” I murmured, opening up the door. As I was still holding Mitch’s hand, he followed on. We walked silently towards the first lesson, which just happened to be P.E. “I’ll meet you out here,” I told him, letting go of his hand. I was worried the whole time of changing that he would run off. As I edged out of the room, my thoughts were confirmed; he wasn’t there. Don’t be silly, Danielle. He is just changing. I nodded at my new thought. “Hey Danielle,” Michelle grinned, running up to me. I spun around and saw her. She was also in our disgusting PE kit - A horrible blue and black - ugh. “Oh, hey,” I whispered. “What’s wrong?” Her eyebrow shifted upwards in a questioning position. “Well, there was an incident,” I bowed my head, “I’m really worried. Dean decided to call Mitch a monster and he seriously over reacted. I am even considering going into the boys room and checking he is there, instead of running off,” I placed my back onto the wall and stared upwards. “Well, he usually does run off, to be honest. When he is mad, he forms,” She informed me; I groaned. “This is great,” I chucked my hands in the air in defeat.

“If he got here, then it would be a slim chance that he ran off,” Michelle reassured, “Well, let’s move onto a lighter subject. Are you and Mitch… you know…” “No,” I groaned, “but it is close,” I grinned at myself, “he stayed at my flat last night, because I overreacted about a prank call. Ended up telling him about America… but at night, he kissed me on the cheek,” I sighed happily whilst Michelle squealed. “Anything else?” She jumped up and down happily. “Uhm, well… not really,” I lied. I wouldn’t tell her about the embarrassing moments this morning… My friend started to jump up and down and giggle, talking at around one hundred miles per hour, about how cute Mitch and I are together and how I should ask him out… But my attention was diverted from her. I was looking for Mitch. “What was that?” Michelle suddenly asked. My hearing suddenly became more attuned to the low-pitched screaming. There were cries such as “animal!” and “creature!” Michelle suddenly ran into the boys changing room. I edged towards the door, hoping for something different to what I felt was there. “No, Danielle, stay out!” Michelle shrieked at me, so I stayed up against the boy’s door. Around a dozen men suddenly rushed out of the room; but no Mitch. “What’s going on?” I asked Michelle from the side of the door. “Nothing, nothing, just stay out!” She shouted at me from the mysterious room. My adrenaline was churning inside of me, influencing me to go into the changing room… Do it, you will see who he is… My mind told me. “What’s happening in there?” I asked loudly, placing my hand on the door. “No, don’t, Danielle! Ow, Mitch!” I heard Michelle yell from cubicle. “Are you hurt?” I shouted, leaning slightly on the door. “I’m… fine…” She murmured.

That was when I decided to make the hugest mistake of my life. “I’m coming in, Michelle!” I screamed, hoping that she was OK. I wasn’t expecting what I saw in there, though. The lockers, that were meant to be by the sides, were overturned and on the floor. The only thing normal was the bench in the middle. “Michelle?” I whispered, hearing my echo. Nothing. My feet urged me forward, towards the end of the room. What was I doing? Where was Michelle? “Ow!” Michelle yelled from somewhere across the room; I started to run. “Michelle, where are you? What’s wrong?” I panted, looking through each locker, hoping to find her somewhere. “Danielle, go away!” She ordered, but I kept moving. A snarl ripped out from behind me. I stopped. “Danielle, move forward, just move forward!” I heard the shriek from somewhere; I did as I was told. The snarl was getting closer, making my heart beat faster. “What’s going on?” I whispered. It happened all at once. Michelle came at me from the front, whilst two rods came from behind; the impact was unbearable. The rods behind me didn’t give way, so Michelle and I had fallen onto the ground. “What is behind me?” I cried through tears. Michelle’s breathing was disfigured, as if she was hyperventilating. “He doesn’t want you to know,” she whispered, also in tears, “he doesn’t want you to know.” It was too late for that; I was in too deep. I suddenly knew what she was talking about. “It’s true, isn’t it?” I whispered into Michelle’s ear, “It’s all true,” I never anticipated her nodding. My heart sank to my stomach, as I was drowned with tears. “M-Mitch?” I murmured, not daring to look behind. The response was a whimper.

“I-I don’t care if you c-can shift,” I lied. Of course I cared; I never believed in such a thing. “J-just shift back and we can talk about this,” I whispered to him, still not daring to turn my neck. What was the time? Was everyone in PE now? Did anyone realise that I was face-toface with an unknown animal? “Mitch, if you don’t sh-shift back, someone will come in and take you to a zoo or something,” I spoke out through tears. “I think it’s working,” Michelle murmured. There was only a slight pull now. The rods were replaced by hands. Ever so slowly, we all started breathing again. Mitch pushed away from my back and sat on one of the benches, whilst Michelle and I eyed each other. What was going to happen? “M-Mitch?” I whispered, still not moving. “Danielle,” Michelle whispered. I nodded, letting her go. She shuffled away from both Mitch and I; what was she doing? I needed moral support. “Mitch?” I asked again, trying to sound strong. My jelly legs turned back to normal as I stood up, still not looking at him. It was childish, almost babyish, maybe, but I couldn’t deal with it. “Why did you hide this?” I asked him slowly; the last question that I needed to ask. Still not a sound. “Mitch, I am talking to you,” I moaned louder, “Tell me.” I turned around, and noticed that Mitch had his head in his hands.

12. Secrets I sat down next to Mitch, not daring to touch him. “Mitch, let’s talk,” I murmured, trying to find the strength to carry on talking. “I don’t really mind if you change into an animal, really, I don’t. But the fact that you tried to keep a secret away from me; that’s what I’m not getting, because I don’t like lying,” I sighed; he still had not moved. Did strong guys cry? I didn’t know. “Danielle, we should go,” Michelle spoke out from the other side of the room, “Just leave him here,” I rolled my eyes. “Michelle, the secret is safe with me now; I’m not running from it,” well, I wasn’t running yet. “OK, but I’m going. Shall I get the nurse to get you two home?” She offered, so I nodded. She shuffled out of the room without a second glance. “Can you say something? Anything?” I whispered to Mitch, still not daring to touch him. It was true that I was scared, but I also wanted my Mitch back and smiling. All I got in reply was a sigh. “Do you want to come round mine? Or go to the park? Or go to your house?” I gave him choices, hopefully meaning that he would stay with me. “No,” He finally replied; I sighed with relief. “You talk,” I chuckled slightly, but then stopped, “What do you mean no?” I asked. “No, this was supposed to be a secret. Hidden from you; you were never supposed to know, Danielle,” he leapt to his feet. What was so bad in me finding out? “Mitch, I don’t like secrets,” I shook my head, slightly annoyed at what I was hearing. I stood up and walked over to him, with an angry expression spread across my face. I guess it hurt

him that I was angry, as he had looked into my eyes. The Mitch I knew was locked up inside somewhere that I could not reach. “No more secrets,” I ordered from where I stood. Could I somehow find the right key to unlock my Mitch from his heart? Could I find the right words to tell him it’s alright? “Wait,” I gasped, as I remembered last night... I lost something before... a different something... This was what he meant; he lost being a human... “Mitch, you meant about this, last night, didn’t you?” I sighed as there was still no response. What else could I do? I was talking to a brick wall. “If you aren’t going to talk to me, then I’m out of here,” I waved goodbye, walking out of the room. No... I shouldn’t leave him there; should I? I should tell him it’s alright... shouldn’t I? I would... wouldn’t I? Michelle kept her promise; she did send the nurse. As soon as I was outside of the room, I noticed the chubby woman in white. She didn’t ask anything, she just sent me to her car so I could go home. Was home the best place to go? Shouldn’t I be helping Mitch? “No, I need to go and help Mitch,” I whispered as I was put into my bed by my parents. “Danielle, just rest. Michelle said you had quite a shock, so just rest,” Mum kissed me on the forehead. This was my entire fault; if I didn’t go into that stupid room and seen what I had seen Mitch wouldn’t feel so bad. I sniffed back the tears that were starting to stream down my face: for Mitch... For Michelle... How could I hurt so many people at once, over one stupid secret? “Danielle?” Dad’s voice called from the bedroom door, “can you can come into the living room for one moment?” He sounded serious, so I nodded and started to get up. As soon as I sat down on the sofa, I knew something terrible had happened.

“There has been another murder, Danielle, the school has been shut down,” dad sighed in a monotone that made me shiver. “What happened?” I gasped; it must have been tragic if the school was closed. “As soon as the teachers were told about a mysterious animal roaming around, they told everyone to leave the premises. A few moments after everyone left, the school was vandalised, and an unexpected care-taker was killed,” mum sniffed. Dad had his head in his sweaty palms. “I’m sorry,” I closed my eyes. I knew I should have stayed with Mitch; but would he do such a thing? I was getting more and more afraid now: the first killings were near where I arrived in London; the second in the shopping centre; now the third was in my school. I heavily inhaled and exhaled. “What’s wrong?” Mum asked, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It’s them! They are coming to kill me! They are searching for me! They flew from America!” I shouted in a sudden burst of panic. I stood up, running to my room and slamming the door. I closed my eyes and tried to picture Amelia “What would you do, Ams? What would you do…” I wondered to myself, as my hyperventilation subsided, “I hope you hear me…” I sighed, turning over so I could see the ceiling. “Maybe if there was one being on this earth that could protect me… I am so sorry for not being there for you…” I closed my eyes, and sent a prayer out to Amelia. I suddenly gasped; a huge golden eagle was by my bed. “What the-” The animal screeched loudly. Keep calm, keep calm…I told myself over and over. I shot out of my bed, running towards my mobile phone. I pressed the numbers extremely

quickly. From the corner of my eye, I could see the eagle moving around the room. It suddenly jumped onto my bed. “Oi! Get off there!” I demanded the creature. The room started to spin again, the gust of wind forcing my eyes shut. My hair was whooshed above my head, twisting angrily. “Hi,” the eagle spoke, perched on my bed. Open your eyes, open your eyes! My mind now chanted. As I opened my eyes, I gasped. “M-Mitch?” “You were right, Danielle, I shouldn’t keep secrets,” He sighed.

13. Alone

I stood my ground, too shocked to even breathe. “Don’t freak out, Danielle,” he ordered lightly. “How did you do that?” I whispered, finally remembering how to breathe correctly. “It’s complicated, we don’t have time,” the pain in his eyes reached to mine, forcing me to move forward. “Mitch… Tell me the truth,” I demanded, still trying to control my breaths. “We don’t have time-” “Now” I shouted, pointing my shaking finger at him. I didn’t care if my parents came in. “Sit down,” he whispered, I obeyed. I sat gently next to him, but still kept my distance. “I’m going to break all my Father’s wishes,” he murmured, “But it is mandatory,” he glared into my eyes. There was pain, definitely pain. There must have been angst as well. “Just tell me,” I whispered. “I… I…” he tried, but failed. “A shape-shifter?” I contributed. He nodded, but kept his head bowed. “There isn’t any other way to keep the secret,” he stared at the wall, talking to air. The silence seemed almost unbearable. “Ok… So what was the news?” I questioned him; if I didn’t stop asking questions, I would never be able to re-surface in this treacherous fight with sanity. “The vampires are trying to kill you,” he cried silent tears, “I don’t quite know why, though,” he then gazed into my eyes.

So Mitch was a shape-shifter, and a few dozen vampires were out to get me. I could deal with one, but definitely not both. We stared into each other’s eyes for eternity, not daring to blink, not daring to breathe. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?” I whispered after a while. “My father thought you wouldn’t react well, and you then would go against me, like everyone else,” I scooted over to be close to him. “I wouldn’t tell your secret, Mitch. And yes, I am a sceptic, but I think the supernatural world is winning over me,” his head tilted to the side, confused. “I have been a sceptic all my life, Mitch. I never believed that there were even spirits; never been to church either,” It confused Mitch further. Thinking about it, my life must have been pretty bland. “When Michelle told me you were a shape-shifter I actually laughed. I don’t believe in stuff like that. Then dad talked about how those people were murdered… and I started believing. I first thought it was you, but Michelle told me it was most likely a vampire,” I breathed, holding onto his soft hand, “It was actually you who made me think that something was up; you always reacted… badly when I told you what she had said or something. When you walked me to the flats, then Dean said about being a ‘monster’,” I felt him stiffen, “I wanted to know more, just to see if I could fix the puzzle together. You went off, so I ran behind. Suddenly, we were at the park and you formed… Well I think you did…” I paused, contemplating on whether or not he was what I saw, “You didn’t return to school, and I was scared. On the one hand, you could have just run off and maybe was ill; on the other you might have got hurt. When I said that I wanted you to tell me if you were a shapeshifter, I really meant it; I didn’t believe anything, and I knew that if you had an explanation for the bizarreness, I would have believed it. But… well, it was all true,” I paused; there was nothing else to say. All there was were the steady breathing and the racing of our hearts. He

caressed my arms slowly; time was standing still. Ever so slowly, we both leaned in to each other. The next few moments, we were one. The passionate kiss could have lasted forever, but it didn’t. Too soon, Mitch pulled away. “I have to show you,” Mitch whispered, either to me or the floor. With one swift shift, he was a cheetah. This time, the deadly sucking was different. It was more quick and discreet. I gasped, as soon as I had noticed that the animal was no longer there. I was alone with the haunting flashbacks, which clung onto me with no intention of letting go. So I finally knew what Mitch really was, no more lies. I knew that he could shift into animals, but I also knew he showed me because of the danger I was in. I stared out of the window, my sanity shattering under my nose. He could leap down amazingly tall, flat buildings, and fly into windows. How, if he shape-shifts, would I be safer? Maybe, this was a trick. Maybe, if I called Michelle, she would tell me it was “all a prank,” and we would laugh about it. But something told me that this was no joke. If the worst came to the worst, would he protect me? Do I still love him? Does he still love me? I walked to the window and peered down. The tiny toy cars were being pulled along by invisible, childish boys. Four knocks shocked my body into reality, as I twisted to glare at my door room. “Hi, Mitch,” Dad’s voice murmured, “Danielle is in her room. But I must warn you, she thinks that the attacks are from her American… friends.” I felt that Mitch nodded. “Don’t worry, Mr Green, I can assure you that the murders aren’t centred on Danielle,” they both sighed at Mitch’s words. His voice was so elegant and smooth; I must learn how to lie as good as him. “I hope so,” Mum replied, “she seemed to really believe that it was her fault,” no one responded. I walked towards the talking door; it was harder to move than what I first thought. After an eternity, my hand opened the door.

“H-hi,” I stuttered. “Hi Danielle,” he smiled. It was as though he never did what he had done five minutes ago. “I was wondering if Danielle wanted to come round my house today. I will keep her safe, don’t worry,” Mitch asked pleasantly. What was he playing at? It is dangerous! “It’s unsafe though,” both Dad and I spoke out. “If you want, I can ask my parents to collect us,” he offered. My Dad nodded, moving towards the kitchen. He then returned with the house phone that was given to Mitch. As my strange saviour moved to the sofa, Dad offered me a knife. “A knife?” I confirmed slowly, clutching onto the cutlery. “Yes, Danielle, a knife,” Dad gave me a glare. “It is illegal to carry a knife,” I informed him. I was surprised that he forgot, being a detective and all… “Would you prefer a gun?” I was about to give him a snotty come-back, but he was being dead serious. I squeaked. “Dan, your Dad just wants to protect you,” Mum reassured, as she dropped a bag by my feet. Her shaking arms wrapped around my shoulders soon after. I placed the knife in my bag and sighed. “If they render me a suspect and put me behind bars, you are toast,” I warned, mostly directed at my Dad. I knew that I had to be safe, but being near Mitch ruled out all of the danger. At least, nearly all. I squeaked as Mitch suddenly took my hand. I instantly regretted it, though; the warm fuzzy feeling soon kicked in. “My mother will be here very soon,” Mitch told my parents. Mum slithered her arms away from my shoulders. I gripped my leather bag and proceeded out of my comfort zone. It was starting to rain outside now; once again it spoke out my mood extremely well.

“I wanted my mother to come so that she could show you her power,” he explained. We slowly walked down the stairs, our echoing feet bouncing off of the walls. I did not speak a word, as I was still battling with the right and wrong. “She is elemental. Mostly fire,” he added, as we walked down to the exit. The door was opened courteously for me, his jacket placed gently over my hair. We kept the slow place going; any faster, or slower, I wouldn’t ever make it. A purple Pooch skidded to a halt in front of us, making me squeak for the second time today. Mitch opened the back door and ushered me in. We both sat there, the only thing holding me to the earth was his soft delicate hands. “Shall we go to the forest, mother? We can show her the whole truth,” Mitch calmly spoke out. “Of course!” She chuckled, grinning in the rear view mirror. Her green eyes were witch-like, hypnotising me to move further away from the world. “I just told her about how I am a shape-shifter,” he explained. His voice was quieter than usual, the car noises also dimming down. “So that’s why she looks so pale,” she tutted. I felt both their eyes on me now. “Danielle, are you alright?” Mitch asked quietly. His hand was nudging me, I could feel it. I could feel every movement in the world, but I wasn’t there. I was lost in space. Mitch placed his lips onto my cheek; I gasped. “You got lost in thought,” he mumbled. “Got lost in space, more like,” I groaned under my breath. “What’s wrong, dear?” his Mum asked me delicately. “I’m just… thinking…” “You aren’t put off, are you?”

“No!” I snapped back, but kept keeping my breathing steady, “I just… need time for it to sink in,” I sighed. It wasn’t as if he was going to fall for that dreadful excuse. I wasn’t ever going to let it sink in, that just wasn’t me. “Danielle, you’re lying. You had lots of time to think over this. Remember the first day when Michelle told you?” “Yeah, but I didn’t believe it!” I moaned, “I thought she was just pulling my leg, and I just went along with it! I thought you just wore some sort of… I don’t know… Some sort of supernatural costume…” I trailed off. My glossy eyes gleamed into his. “I knew you were freaked out,” He huffed, “this is why I didn’t tell you before. This is why-” “Mitch, be quiet!” Mrs Edwards lectured, “You can’t expect to put something this big on her and be OK with it,” she then sighed, “Dear, you can ask us anything.” I thought of what to ask. There were so many questions that were whizzing in my head like bees; stinging each part of me as I swatted at them. “Well…” I gulped, “I was sort of wondering why the wind isn’t as violent when you form into a cheetah,” I shied away into the corner, but surprisingly, Mitch was laughing. “Because I can form into cheetahs easier than eagles,” he smirked. “What about that day when I first saw you form? When Dean called you a monster?” “I did form into an eagle, at first. But I knew you would open your eyes and see me flying off. So as soon as I shifted, I turned into a cheetah,” he smiled, stroking my hair gently. It did make me feel better; one less bee stinging at my sides. “Ok… what about the vampires,” I asked “That’s not about me-” “But I need to know,” I interrupted, “I need to know why now; what was so wrong,” I sighed. I noticed that Mitch and his Mum were glancing towards each other.

“Well,” his Mum started, “It is a long story, but the brief is that there are some vampires that are trying to get you, sweetie.” “Why?” “We don’t know as yet,” Mitch murmured, “but my father has been getting visions constantly of your death,” he snarled. I gasped. “He gets visions?” I rolled my eyes, “Should have guessed.” It made Mitch laugh, thankfully. “Yes, he gets visions. The only reason he didn’t like you so much at the start was because he saw me shifting in front of you, and you had reported to the police. It was interesting, trying to change the future!” He grinned. I nodded. “Now can I please show you my power?” Mrs Edwards moaned like a child, as we pulled over into a forest. “If the rest of the family is here; I need a proper fight!” Mitch laughed maniacally as he pushed me out of the car friendly. “Yes, they are here,” she smirked, “And just because you lost, doesn’t make it an improper fight!” She giggled. It was funny to watch them argue; it was the way things should be. Suddenly, the air sucked inwards, and Mitch was a cheetah. I gasped. “Oh come on, Mitch, she isn’t used to it yet,” she reached out to hold my hand. My feet were planted firmly onto the ground, my hands by my sides. By the reaction of his Mum, my face must have been pale white also. The gentle purring of Mitch’s cheetah voice soothed me, though. I edged closer, using Mrs Edwards as a support. I was staring into his deep black eyes, feeling his pants on my face. Slowly, I placed my hand onto his fur. The softness was surreal. Each gentle stoke was like touching his smooth spiky hair in human form. Each delicate sigh was like eating candy floss. Mitch suddenly pounced into a mud pile, and started

to write. The words “Get onto my back” were indented into the brown bath. I chuckled; it was kind of awesome. I jumped upwards, and edged onto his back. “Make sure that you have a firm grip,” his Mum informed me. “OK.” “Three! Two! One! Run!” she squealed, running with her son; it was magical. His light paws pawned the earth below him, as he sprinted faster than Mrs Edwards. Her feet snapped on twigs, as she over-ran Mitch. My voice ripped into a hysterical fit of giggles. “Don’t be too overwhelmed,” Mrs Edwards sang out towards me, “if you want us to stop, just say so!” Within a few seconds, she overtook Mitch once more. I couldn’t believe it, but I enjoyed riding on Mitch’s back. It seemed like we were running so fast, that we overtook my worries and fears. “This is amazing!” I screamed out; my reply was an ear-splitting roar. An hour ago, I guess I would have been scared; but right at this point in time, my adrenaline was pulsating around my body. Too soon, we reached to a halt near the centre of the forest. The arena was massive; and all of the Edwards were there. “Ok, Danielle, you’re going to stay over here,” Mrs Edwards told me, whilst pulling me off of Mitch’s back like a small child. “Don’t get in the middle of this,” Aaron shouted, “Or you’ll get hurt.” I nodded, and leaned against the tree bark. For once, I felt at home; it was rather strange. “Danielle! Danielle!” Abbie shouted as she ran over to me; she still wore her princess dress, “watch what I can do!” I did as I was told, and watched the small girl clench her fists and tighten her jaw. After a few moments, her hair was alight. “Oh my God!” I screamed. What should I do? Shall I call the ambulance? Or the fire station?

“Don’t be scared, it doesn’t hurt,” she told me, a concerned look sprawled across her tiny face. I nodded, and carried on looking around. Mr Edwards seemed to be coming over. Great, what was he going to say? I would keep the secret, I knew that. I wouldn’t hurt them, I also knew that. “Hello, Danielle. I’m not fighting today,” he slouched on a tree next to me, staring into space. “Hi,” I grinned, watching as the four members of the family started to prepare for battle. “You must be very lost in thought at the moment,” He mumbled, but I could hear it. “I am, but I will be OK,” I sighed, “I will keep the secret, I promise,” there was no reply from the man that hated me. Was the vision that bad? “You see,” he turned towards me, “that’s not it. It isn’t the vision I was worried about, Danielle,” He edged closer to me, “it’s the fact that you now know. It took a lot of power to erase the minds in school from ever knowing about his secret,” he sighed, “and already, too many people know and remember,” I instantly understood; I was the cause of this: at the start, with the girly girls, he cheetah lunged on them, making them remember. Earlier today, with the sports room… I shuddered. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. I wanted to apologise to all of them for creating this huge mess. “It isn’t your fault,” Mr Edwards comforted, “It’s partly mine.” I gazed into his dark eyes with a questioning look across my face. “What do you mean?” I asked quietly. “I have been forever protecting Mitch from disaster; this little battle here is where they all take their anger out on each other,” we both gazed at the fight; Abbie and Mrs Edwards were doing noogie-fights, whilst Mitch and Aaron were forcing each other to the ground. “What powers do they have?” I asked, mostly to myself though.

“My wife is very elemental. She controls mostly fire, but can control the others too. I can see visions, spirits, all that nonsense…” He then watched Aaron and Mitch fight for abit longer. Mitch was doing the cheetah-lunge, which from a distance looked breath-taking. “Abbie is mostly water, but she can turn her hair into fire with ease,” he chuckled slightly, “and Aaron? I guess he controls earth. Such a strong man,” he whistled. I watched as Abbie made water appear out of nowhere, dousing her mum. “And Mitch, well you might have guessed,” “A shape-shifter,” I mumbled, but it seemed to make Mr Edwards concerned. “How can you say it so smoothly?” He asked. “Well,” I shrugged, “I guess I had time to realise,” I sighed happily, watching as Mitch won the fight between Aaron and himself. The sudden pull shocked my body, but I reminded myself that the man I loved was about to form into an eagle. It was so bizarre how I could think it and not freak out. “It’s a misfortune, though, Danielle. He isn’t like us,” He sighed deeply, taking in the misery for Mitch. “I don’t think it is a misfortune,” I argued, “It makes him unique,” I shrugged, watching Aaron jump onto the eagle’s back. “He is alone in this world, Danielle,” Mr Edwards said lowly, the tone making me shiver. I glanced back to look at his eyes. “I know how that feels,” I told him, “and I guess I still am alone. But I moved on, and I feel that he moved on as well,” I smiled. I’m OK now His words shrilled into my ear, making my mouth grow wider. “You have been alone?” Mr Edwards whispered. It made a lump grow into my throat. “Yeh... Still am,” I sighed, trying to compose myself, so that the tears wouldn’t stream down.

“Who did you lose?” he asked, surprised. “A best friend,” I squeaked. “Oh, I’m sorry,” He patted my shoulder, and then I realised that my tears were running down my face. “It’s OK,” I sighed, as I felt the instant pull of the wind again. I looked at human-Mitch through blurry eyes. My hero was running to save me. “Danielle, are you OK?” he hugged me tightly. “Y-yeh,” I stuttered, trying hard not to cry another tear. It was nice to have Mitch there, cradling me like a small priceless gift. “You want to go home?” Mitch asked quietly after a while; I nodded. The tears were still treacherously accumulating, rolling down my soggy cheek. “I-I’m sorry. I g-guess I still m-miss her,” I sobbed as he walked me towards Mrs Edward’s car. “I understand Danielle,” he soothed, kissing my forehead lightly. He swept me off of my feet as we ducked into the car. “S-sorry,” I murmured; he did not reply. He let me cry into his shirt, which I felt even guiltier about. “It’s OK,” he chuckled slightly, caressing my hair. It was crazy how I overreacted. Why was I suddenly so upset? “I-I overreacted. Sorry,” I whispered. “Sometimes it’s like that,” he murmured back, kissing me on the forehead. “I miss her,” I sobbed, closing my eyes tightly, hoping that he would stay here with me. The car started to drive slowly, probably by Mrs Edwards. “I r-ruined your time,” I sighed sadly.

“No, I’m OK with you ruining,” he laughed, kissing me once again on the cheek. “Aaron was playing unfairly,” he grinned. “I did not! You just hate losing,” I heard a gruff voice. Was Aaron allowed to drive? I gasped as I saw that yes, Aaron was driving. “I don’t mind losing, I just don’t like losing to cheaters,” Mitch pestered. “Me neither, but a different sort of cheater,” I saw Aaron smirk from the rear view mirror. Of course I got what he meant; he meant a “cheetah”. I laughed slightly at the play on words. “We made her laugh, hallelujah!” Aaron chuckled, watching me smile slightly. “S-sorry,” I murmured again. “Don’t sweat about it,” Aaron grinned, “I was getting bored anyway.” Another wave of arguing played at the mouths of the brothers, followed by alot of laughing and pestering. “You want to come round mine, or you want to go straight home?” Aaron asked me, “I haven’t seen your house yet; I probably would give your parents something to look at though,” he grinned, showing me a lump of muscle on one of his arms. I giggled. “I can make it move, as well,” he smirked as he made the muscle move slightly, making me laugh even more.

“They don’t mind, I promise,” I smiled, knocking on the door that was keeping the nice smell inside. As the door waved open, wafting lavender into my face, I saw my parent’s shocked faces.

14. Spindles

“Oh, hi Danielle,” Mum glared at me. “C’est moi!” I grinned, walking into the small corridor. “This is Aaron, Mitch’s brother,” I smiled, waving my hand in Aaron’s direction. They weren’t pleased, that was for sure. But for a moment, Dad smiled. “Nice to meet you,” he grinned, shaking hands with Aaron. “You too,” Aaron’s low voice shrilled into the atmosphere. It was too awkward, so I held Mitch’s hand and directed him to my room. “You can come too, if you want, Aaron,” I smiled. His booming chuckle must have meant a “yes”, as he was already walking to my bedroom door. My parents definitely had done something to my room. As I scoped the room, I noticed that there was a small chandelier hanging from the ceiling; I loved it. “Wow,” Aaron whistled, walking around like it was his own room. “Thanks,” I chuckled, still holding onto Mitch’s precious hand. Suddenly, I was pulled out of my room; I guess the grip wasn’t that firm. “Aaron?!” Mum snapped, “He is huge!” she tugged me over to the sofa. “Yeah?” I replied when I was forced down onto the sofa. “Stop freaking out, Jess,” Dad ordered, “I mean, he would be great as a body guard!” I squeaked. Did they really think I would use him like that? “But he could crush her too!” Mum shrilled into the air. “Keep it down,” I whispered, but they didn’t realise. “He is Mitch’s brother, that would be unlikely,” Dad smiled, winking at me.

“Maybe Mitch is in on this as well then,” Mum’s voice moved up several tones. I then felt footsteps walking towards us. “Look you two, shut up!” I whined. “You can’t be so paranoid,” Dad moaned. “I’m not paranoid, I just want her to be safe,” She informed. “I am safe,” I screamed, but they were still ignoring. “You can’t keep protecting her, Jess, as I said; Aaron would be great as a bodyguard. Nothing will happen,” Mitch, Aaron and I all gasped. “Dad!” I screamed, getting up off of the sofa, “I am not using my friends like that!” It seemed to catch their attention. “You know what I mean though, Danielle-” “No I don’t know what you mean, please explain!” I yapped at them like an angry dog. “Well, what with the murders-” “I don’t mean that,” I whispered, “I mean explain how you think I would use someone!” I raised my hands in the air. “Shall we go?” I asked Aaron and Mitch; Mitch nodded. “Don’t go out, honey, it isn’t safe,” Mum pleaded. “Oh don’t worry, I have a body guard,” I hissed back at them, as I stormed out of the flat; Mitch and Aaron trailed behind. The doors crashed shut as I stomped out of the flat, smoke fumed out of my ears as I arrived at the car. “I can’t believe them!” I screamed as we clambered in, “I mean, how could they?!” Mitch chuckled slightly at my reaction. “You took it worse than Aaron!” He laughed at my side whilst shutting the left hand door gently. “Well, I don’t like it when people insult others,” I murmured in defence as the car drove on.

“You OK now, Aaron?” Mitch asked Aaron smoothly, but there was no sound. “You want to go to the arena again?” I smiled, knowing that would do something. “No point, I would beat everyone anyway,” Aaron moaned. “’Coz you cheat!” Mitch pestered; it did make Aaron happier. “I don’t cheat, you just lose,” Aaron grinned. “I don’t lose, you just cheat,” Mitch laughed whilst placing his arm around my waist. It was glorious how they squabbled; it seemed to make a rather homely vibe. “So where are we going?” I asked lightly, whilst placing my head on Mitch’s shoulder. “I don’t know; where do you want to go?” Aaron asked. “Well, I haven’t done any sight-seeing,” I shrugged. Aaron then pressed on the accelerator, smiling as we sped along the London streets.

As we swerved round a corner, I noticed a huge circle and a huge tower by the side of it. “What the hell is that?!” I asked in amazement. Aaron and Mitch laughed loudly. “Haven’t you ever read about the London Eye and Big Ben?”

15. Birthday surprises It was strange how one guy could make the days tick on quickly ahead of me. The weeks of school where gentle and care-free, jokes and laughs all the way. It only started to get more interesting, on January 24th; the date of my birthday. “Happy Birthday!” My mum and Dad cheered. I groaned, trying to lift myself up. Of course, I couldn’t; my duvet was weighed down by a stack of presents. “Your friends came a few minutes ago, we gave you a lie in,” mum grinned, stroking my hair. With that, my friends Mitch, Michelle, Hannah, Natalie and finally Georga entered my bedroom. Mitch came over and kissed me lightly on the cheek, making me feel better already. “Open mine first!” Michelle ordered happily, hopping about by my side, holding a very square, pink wrapped box. “OK,” I sighed, grabbing the pink present. Underneath the pink wrapping, was a cute pair of yellow shoes; I laughed happily. “These are the ones from the shop when we went sightseeing! Oh thanks, Michelle!” I giggled, hugging my extremely special friend. “OK now mine,” Hannah proclaimed. I was still slightly scared of her (due to the random bad moods) so I nodded, smiling, clutching onto purple-starred wrapping. Carefully, I opened the paper to see the gift inside. I was holding onto the most beautiful peach hand-bag. “Hannah, this is amazing!” I sighed happily. “It can go with your yellow high heels!” Michelle grinned by my side, lifting up the shoes and putting them near the bag. I nodded happily. “I’m guessing I am going shopping today,” I smiled, the three girls all nodded making me chuckle with glee.

“Here,” Natasha whispered, handing me one small, neatly wrapped silver present. Inside were beautiful dangling diamond earrings. “Wow!” I exclaimed happily. “And you can get your ears pierced now and not worry about earrings,” She smiled. “They must have cost you alot...” I murmured, feeling slightly guilty. “Well, they are fake,” Natasha told me. “Oh. Well, they look real,” I smiled at her. It carried on for a while; especially as my parents had given me alot of gifts. There was a wide range: such as cream coloured clothes, manicures, rings, glittery objects, and some DVDs. The most beautiful one of all must have been Mitch’s; his was a diamond necklace. “It’s beautiful,” I had whispered, as he tied the string around my neck. When the dazzling diamond heart was attached, he kissed my cheek softly. “OK, I better get changed now,” I grinned, shoving Mitch out of the room jokingly. I breathed out, deciding to wear the gifts I got today. I looked like a spoilt girl, but I didn’t really mind today. I wanted to please everyone else by wearing them. “Oh honey, you didn’t need to,” Mum grinned as she noticed I was wearing the cream skirt, white top and cream jacket. “No, they are wonderful,” I shook my head, smiling. I sat down next to Mitch, who was grinning also. I loved to see him smile like this; my perfect guy. I clutched onto the heart. “It really is beautiful,” I whispered, gazing into his coconut eyes. I suddenly felt a kick on my shin, so I glanced away, slightly embarrassed.

Mitch suddenly burst through the door, in an eagle form. “What’s up? I was about to call you to go out somewhere-” I was interrupted by an earsplitting shriek. “Write it down,” I ordered, reaching for the notepad and pen. I then shoved the pen into his beak. “Vampire back quick,” It took me a while for the three words to sink into my head. The vampire was coming to get me. I had to fly away with him, and fast. I inhaled extremely quickly, whilst jumping onto his furry back. The golden eagle then pounced out of my window. “My parents are out, so we are ok for a few hours,” I shouted into his small ear. His huge wings were like discs, playing horrible music that hurt my sides; spinning wildly towards never-land. What was happening? Was the vampire this close? What is going to happen to Mitch? What about my friends? We suddenly swooped down into a church yard. With another immense pull, Mitch was a human again. In another second, he was kissing me urgently. So many questions swamped my mind, but this moment was for us; I didn’t quite know if it was the last. I reluctantly pushed him away. “What do we do?” I cried to him, still clutching onto his delicate arms. “I don’t know,” he definitely was scared, “my father just said that the vampire was very close to you, so I formed to save you. It won’t be long…” he kissed me once more. Tears started forming from my eyes. “Don’t go away,” I begged him after he released me.

“Never,” he groaned. Hugging me tightly, he sighed, “There was so much I wanted to show you, Danielle. I am so sorry.” We kept holding onto each other tightly. “Well… All that I know, is that garlic defeats vampires,” I whispered. “No, that’s a myth. The only thing that would work,” he cringed, “Is if the victim’s blood is placed on a knife, and then shot into the vampire’s heart.” Surprisingly, I laughed. I tugged away, aiming to stare into his eyes. “That’s fine! I have a knife!” I rummaged around in my coat pocket, finding the sharp blade. I swiped it out and smiled. “No,” he groaned, taking the knife out of my hand, “There must be another way,” The happiness melted out of me, being replaced by terror. I breathed in and out quickly, holding onto him once more. I didn’t want to argue with him, especially with no time left for us. The door was being barricaded by a mouth-watering vampire that longed for my blood. I squeaked. “There is no time left,” I cried, kissing him yet again. He pushed me away, and formed into a cheetah. His roar filled the whole church, making my heart skip a beat. “Danielle,” the vampire whispered, but he seemed to shout it into my ear. Slowly, I turned around. The first thing I saw was Mitch curled up in front of me. The second was the vampire.

CHAPTER NUMBER – Finding hope

I stayed, statue-like, behind Mitch. A roar snapped out of his tight jaw, echoing against the church walls. I was surprised that the tainted windows hadn’t shattered yet, even though my life was in danger. “Danielle,” The French vampire whispered from the entrance. I gazed into the blood red eyes, whilst he was feasting on my soul. “That’s me,” I murmured. Mitch yapped in front of me, as if my words signed the petition of death. “I am here to kill you,” he laughed, imitating a mad scientist. The cheetah in front of me stood up on his hind legs, ready to pounce. The wind started howling, I shut my eyes. Eventually, I opened them slightly; big mistake. With a crash, Mitch and I were flying through the stained glass, hopefully away from the danger. The crashing screamed into my ears, scraping my face and shattered onto the cold ground. We were flying. The wind brushed vigorously at my hair, as we headed for somewhere far, far away. “Mitch, he is underneath us!” I screamed, but it was too late. The harassing vampire had thrown a rock up, which hit Mitch in the chest. We were plummeting down into the pits of hell. “Mitch!” I cried out, clamping my hands onto his feathers. How fast were we reaching the ground? Twenty miles per hour? Thirty? With a crack, we landed. I was thrown to the muddy ground, a few metres away from my personal miracle. The vampire was right in front of me, and it was thirsty. It hissed harassingly, preparing for a lunge that would kill me.

“Mitch!” I cried, trying to find him with the corner of my eye. His lifeless body was extremely still; the feathers sprawled around the dismal place. I had no tears, I had no fears. “What do you want?” I hysterically cried out to the monster, “What do you want from me?” I edged back slowly, delicately. The blood-thirsty leech was ready to pounce, killing me. “Your blood,” he replied, smiling manically, leaning forward towards me. I couldn’t scream and I couldn’t talk. All I could do was, wait for some miracle that would take me out of hell. “Go away!” I ordered the beast; as if it would work. He edged closer. I was still, extremely still. He kept edging closer… What could I do? Kick him in the middle? Do vampires even endure that sort of pain? What else… Kick him in the shin? It was too late for that now… What about spitting in his face like Dean? What if, all along, Dean was teaching me how to shove a vampire away? “Well look, it’s vampire from the block,” I mimicked in the gangster’s tone. I hated it, but it was working. “What are you on about?” He paused. “Th-This is my territory, so back off,” I warned, still imitating the boy that once scared me. The vampire hissed. “What are you trying to do?” He shouted, spurting venom onto my cheek. “Uh…” I whispered, thinking what else I could possibly do. I breathed in quickly, and spat. “Ugh!” the vampire winced, rubbing his wet eye. I was running now. I didn’t know where, but I was running. I had to get help for Mitch, I had to get help for me, and I had to get help for my family... “Michelle, you must help me!” I screeched down the phone, panting for my life. “What, what’s wrong?” Michelle asked calmly.

“Vampire… Mitch… Do something! We are in the park…” The vampire then had leaped onto me by surprise, the heavy weight thrusting me back to the muddy floor. My phone was forced out of my hand, snapping in two. “That was disgusting,” the vampire lectured, “I hope your blood tastes better,” he laughed menacingly. I was trapped in fate. Maybe, just maybe, life would be better in heaven. I would meet Amelia again, hopefully. I would be with Mitch as well. It was slow motion; the demon was leaning down towards my neck. The kiss turned into a bite, and the bite turned into a million injections at once. I couldn’t and wouldn’t struggle. Maybe, it would be better to be dead… Mitch might not make it, and if he did, he would have a happy life without me being involved. My parents wouldn’t care; Mitch can take care of them… “What about your friends,” the eerie whisper spoke in my head. They will make do without me I replied back. “What about me?” the whisper carried on. Who are you? “Amelia,” the spirit replied. I gasped. Not because of the venom that was shocking my body, but because I had been talking to my best friend all along. Amelia, is this it? I asked through imaginary tears. “No,” she replied strongly, “keep fighting,” I couldn’t fight, but I had to find the strength. I was nudging the vampire, trying to get him off of me. Strangely enough, the ton of weight was moving. “You can do it!” The angel voice cheered; I screamed, pushing away the vampire. The venom was circulating through my veins; I could feel it. I sighed, and dropped onto the ground.

“Dannie!” I heard a cry, “Mr Edwards said this would happen, but we never believed it!” The hysterical voice was shouting. I felt two cradling arms around my waist. “Mitch,” I groaned. “He is fine Dannie, he heals quickly,” I opened my blurred eyes, trying to find the piece of gold. “It hurts,” I moaned, “I want Mitch,” I shut my eyes tightly, and screamed. The fire was exploding into a raging war; the opponent was my life. “He isn’t conscious yet Dannie,” she whispered. At least, I think she did. My senses were deteriorating into a black hole. “Come on Hannah, make him heal quicker; she needs him!” I heard her screech at a distant friend. I screamed loudly, hoping that my spirit angel would stay here. “I’m here,” I heard the whisper clearly. I smiled, but still panted for breath, “Cough!” I heard the angel order. With all my energy, I coughed. I felt something slither up my throat. “Carry on coughing!” “What are you doing Dannie?” “Just keep coughing!” “What’s going on?” “You can do it! Get the venom out!” the voice whispered, I screamed; it was no use. I closed my eyes in defeat. ---------------------

It was hard to take that first breath. It was that sort of breath that would make you think that life was going to be ok. It was better, death. I would have been with my angel, Amelia. Too

soon, I was waking up from a long, deep sleep. “No…” I groaned to myself, “Let me stay with Ams…” Suddenly, I saw Amelia. Her perfection was smiling at me. “You did it, Danielle. I’m proud,” she laughed happily. “Ams?” I whispered. Everything was white, everything was too happy. My sides ached, and my head spun three-hundred-and-sixty degrees per second. “Yes,” she whispered back. “Don’t go,” I whined. Amelia winked. “I never left,” she was coming closer to me; she was too real.

“Dannie?” I suddenly heard a shout. I was on a hospital bed, with a lot of spaghetti tubes down my arms and throat. I stared at my friend, as my vision started to un-blur. The heartmonitor was what I heard first, the beating trying to drift me to sleep. “Michelle…” I croaked. “It’s ok Dannie, just stay still, I’ll get a nurse to pull the tubes out,” she patted my shoulder (which hurt immensely) and left. I was alone, again. My only friend was the monitor, chatting away at me. I was trying to remember the breath-taking moments: Mitch falling; acting like Dean; the vampire bite… I yelled. Was I a vampire?! “What?!” I heard another shout. Mitch burst into the room, “I was just coming around and I heard a yell!” He grinned, but with sincerity. “Mitch, am I a vampire?!” I asked in hysterics. The tubes argued with my throat, but I was too worried to care. He started laughing, whilst coming towards me. “No, you coughed the venom all out,” he kissed my forehead, “How did you do that, anyway?” He pondered, holding my hand. I cringed. He lightly let go.

“Amelia told me to,” I told him quietly, still croaking, “She guided me… But what happened?” I asked, as I didn’t want to talk another word. “Well, when I woke, you were almost dead,” The prince kissed my forehead again, “The vampire was going crazy; you were utterly defenceless… “Hannah decided that she would cut her arm, to try and distract the vampire, and it worked. Michelle tried to keep you awake, whilst I tried to kill the vampire. It was slightly easier than expected; shape-shifting came in handy,” he chuckled at his own joke, “Because you were losing a lot of blood, we held the knife up to the wound. Eventually, there was enough to kill the vampire. After I had… killed him… I shifted into an eagle again, and flew to my Father’s house. He got the car and took you to the hospital. You were almost dead, Danielle. We were scared…” He stroked my forehead. He must have presumed that that was the only part of me that didn’t ache; it was true. “What are we telling my parents?” I whispered. “Well, you lost a lot of blood… And you’re aching all over…” he ‘hmmed’ as he thought, “motorbike accident? Car accident? Take your pic,” he grinned. “I’ll think of something,” I spoke out, sarcasm filling the room. If I told them that I was in a car crash, it would be almost certain that my dad would throw a law-suit on someone. “Time for your tubes to be removed!” The happy nurse sang, as she entered the room. As soon as the thick ropes were removed, I instantly felt OK again. “Your friend Michelle is spreading the word that you are awake,” she whispered, closing the door behind her. “Do you feel better?” Mitch asked after a few moments of just looking into each other’s eyes. “Slightly,” I replied. The croak was gone, but I still whispered. “Lot’s of ice-cream for you,” he grinned.

“With a cherry on top,” I whispered back, smiling also. Time seemed to always just wash away when I was near Mitch; this case was no exception. We either joked around, or gazed into each other’s eyes; it was magical. It seemed like I was safer now more than ever. The odd kiss or stroke gave me heaven in the pit of hell. “Danielle!” I heard a cry; mum had entered the room. Her heels clicked and clacked on the hospital floor. “Mum,” I whispered. “Don’t touch her, she is aching all over,” Mitch glared at mum, but he sounded concerned. “Oh my little baby…” she sighed, giving me such googly eyes that I cringed away. “I’m fine now, mum, don’t worry,” I murmured. Mitch seemed to enjoy my embarrassment. “What happened, baby?” She asked quietly, stroking my forehead. I glanced at Mitch, hoping that I could read his mind on what to say. “It’s… a long story. The murderer… found me, but we fought him off. We are all safe now,” I nodded, but instantly regretted it. “You are aching all over, princess.” Another round of googly eyes swiped across her horrorstruck face. “We don’t know how to tell her father,” Mitch said, fiddling with my hair (at the end, so it wouldn’t tug on my head). It would only be a few minutes until my Dad would come in, all hot and flustered about the incident. “Let’s tell him the truth,” I suggested, “I mean, he will already be angry, so we have nothing to lose,” I shrugged, then winced. I had to remember not to move… “If you are sure, baby,” Mum whispered. Before I could nod, Mitch stroked my forehead. I grinned.