Horror Fan Fiction / Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadowlander's Dream: Book 1 - A Tale of Shadows ❯ Part 1 Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Shinigami_Shimai 
Miscellaneous: Horror Fan Fiction / Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Shoujo-ai | Uploaded On: 11.12.2005 | Updated On: 08.29.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.4K | Visits: 651 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Horror Fan Fiction / Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Shoujo-ai | Uploaded On: 11.12.2005 | Updated On: 08.29.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 6.4K | Visits: 651 | Status: Completed
A Shadowlander's Dream _ Book One: A Tale of Shadows
Story written by Kathryn K. Williams
Part One: Dawn's Break
Prologue to a Dream
Delicate bare feet cautiously slip out from under the warmth and protective feeling of the large comforter that covered a small bed. A bed that sat snug in the corner of a tiny room, covered in the many stuffed animals that proudly guarded their princess throughout the night. Beady eyes watched the girl as they wondered which would be chosen to accompany the girl on her journey to the washroom on that dark night. Not even the moon’s light was present through the child’s window on that night and this meant that a special guardian would be needed for the journey down the long hall outside of her room. A raccoon that was almost the size of the child’s upper body was plucked out of the rankings next to the wall and dragged into the girl’s arms awaiting arms. The other animals watched in envy of the raccoon’s newly appointed duty and others preyed that tonight a guardian would not be needed.
Carefully the girl opened the door to her room a crack; a deep red eye peered through a veil of firey red hair into the darkness of the hall. A small nightlight could be seeing winking in the washroom at the end of the hall, as if its light would protect her if she got there quickly enough. Taking another deep breath the girl darted out of her room, being sure to run on tiptoes as to not make too much sound, and quickly closed the washroom door behind her. With the door shut she flicked the light switch, flooding the room with blinding, yet welcoming, white light. Relieved to make it without an encounter with monsters, or wetting herself along the way, she quickly moved to the toilet to relieve her bloated bladder, setting the raccoon across from her so it could protectively watch over her. Its master did not speak aloud to it, but the raccoon heard her words clearly. It listened to her silent worries and nodded ever so slightly to show the girl that it was there for her and would do its duty to protect her in any way possible. It laughed at her stories and forced itself not hide its own worries on that night.
When finished she stood upon a small purple plastic stool and washed her hands before picking up her protector and preparing the journey back to her room. Now that her business was done she did not feel the same fear as she did on the trip to the washroom and nearly forgot about her reason for worrying that was until she opened the door and was confronted with it face to face.
He stood towering over the girl, large glasses sitting upon his red nose; glowing white glasses peered upon his red nose above a bushy blonde moustache. Although she could not see his eyes with the lights of the washroom reflecting off of his glasses she knew what they looked like. Eyes as blood shot red as his nose and squinting out of wrinkles of skin at her. She quickly backed into the washroom, hugging the raccoon close to her body. The raccoon shook in fear, it was prepared to battle any of the night monsters that might threaten his princess throughout the night, but this was one beast that he could defend the girl from. The man stepped into the washroom, causing the girl to shuffle to the other side of the room and coward against the bathtub. Slowly the door to the room began to close and tears tumbled from the girl’s eyes. This was one nightmare she would never be able to escape.
Chapter One - A New Morning
"Rise and shine!"
A voice cut through Jennifer North's sleep, startling her out of her slumber. She blinked while shielding her eyes against the bright new day's light that flooded into her room, squinting in search of the person who invaded her dreams. Her search didn't go without avail. Before her stood Ann Emery, a young woman in her mid twenties who was hired by her mother to keep an eye on the house and her daughter while she was away.
Jenn rubbed her eyes at the sight of the woman, "Did you hafta open the blinds?" Jenn inquired groggily, pulling the blankets over her head, only to have the blankets torn off of her, "HEY! Why'd you do that?" Jenn yelled as she tried to reach for the blankets, which were now being neatly folded.
"Because you have school today, young lady." Ann reminded the girl as she set the now folded blanket at the end of Jenn's bed.
Jenn brushed her dark bangs out of her eyes to get a better look at the digital clock that sat upon a small desk next to her bed. Its red lights blinked at her reading twelve o’clock over and over again, "OH NO!! The power went out again!" She jumped out of bed and frantically glanced across the room in search of her school uniform. "What time is it anyway?"
"It is about_" Ann started to look at her watch when a voice called from outside.
"HEY!!! JENN YOU THERE!!!" The voice yelled out.
"Kris is here already?" Jenn scurried to the window and flung it open. She poked her head out the window to see a tall thin girl in navy blue school uniform, "Hey Kris!" She waved enthusiastically to her friend.
"What are you doing up there?" Kris called out from the sidewalk, "Dreaming of the perfect girl?" She grinned.
Jenn grabbed a large crystal dragon off the nearby desk and pretended to throw it at her friend, "Why you . . . " The dragon nearly slipped from her hand. She regained her senses before dropping the dragon out the window and set it back down on the dresser, "I'll be down in a moment." She shouted through the window once more before turning around to see that Ann had left, the began to strip off her pyjamas and prepared to get dressed.
She stopped for a moment to look at herself in the mirror that stood over her dresser. Her sleek, black, bob cut hair hung over the left side of her face, a face that leaned heavily towards her mother’s Asian features, her eyes the only thing showing her father’s British side. No matter how much she struggled with her hair it always fell back in place, obscuring her bright green eyes from the world. She tried to fight it all the same, finally giving up a sigh of defeat she grabbed a hair clip and snapped the right side in place so she could see at the very least. Then opened the dresser to find a clean bra when something moved in the corner of her eye. She quickly looked up only to be greeted by her own reflection in the mirror. Rapidly she scanned the room in search for something out of place. Her bed, which was small, but comfortable, was set in the far corner under a tiny window, one of the two that covered the corner wall. A desk sat next to her bed and held the clutter of the paranormal and dream books that she had been leafing through the night before. A poster of Chloe Sevigny, dressed in her black leathers from "If these walls could talk 2", hung above the desk. On the back of her door hung yet another poster, this time of Melissa Etheridge. Clothes were scattered all about the floor and furniture and if Jenn knew Ann they would be in the wash the moment that Jenn left for school. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary she relaxed ever so slightly and began once again to prepare for school. She was not really sure what she expected to find upon her inspection of her room, but as she prepared to gather her clothes she felt a need to made sure to check under the bed and inside the closet at least once, just to be certain that nothing hide within their shadows.
Only when she was sure that nothing was about to jump out at her she began to dress. She was not sure where this irrational feeling came from; she was sixteen and had not needed to search for ghosts and spectres since she was very little. She pushed the sensation from her mind as she moved about the room scooping up articles of clothing from where they hung and pulled them on. She buttoned up her stark white dress shirt and flipped up the collar as she draped a black necktie around her neck. A navy blue blazer, identical to the one the girl waiting out front wore, was draped over the back of her desk chair and she found herself briefly gazing upon the crest on its right breast pocket, still overjoyed to be able to wear the academy’s shield upon her cloths. She had to fight long and hard to get into this school and she was proud of herself for not backing down or becoming the failure her mother took her for. It was proof that she could achieve anything she put her mind too and wearing the blazer empowered her in some small way. She scanned the rest of the room as she pulled the blazer over her arms and finally found the matching pleaded skirt lying on the desk chair then stepped into it, zipping up the side, forgoing to tuck her shirt in. Lastly she picked up a black vinyl case off the ground and searched through its contents. Satisfied she had everything was as it should be she swung the bag over her shoulder and ran down the stairs to the front door, where she tried to hunt up her shoes in the closet near the entrance, "Ann, did you move my shoes?" She called out into the reaches of the house as she fought with her necktie.
"They are sitting next to the door where you can find them." Ann's voice called out from somewhere in the house.
"Where?" Jenn repeated before actually looking, then turned around to see a pair of small black runners off to the side, under one of the long frosted windows that ran along either side of the front door, "Never mind, I found them." She grabbed her shoes and began to pull them on when Ann entered the front hall.
"Your mom asked me to make sure that you remember your psychotherapist appointment this evening." Ann reminded as she came down the hall with a brown paper lunch bag in hand.
"I know, I know." Jenn replied unconcernedly, "I don't know why I have to go, I mean they are only dreams after all." Actually, they were more than just dreams. These dreams felt like something else entirely. If it weren’t for the fact that one of them left her with such an unsettling feeling in her heart, enough to keep her up the rest of the night, she probably would have just ignored them entirely. If she had known that telling her school counsellor about them would end with some psycho doc appointment, then she would have just kept the dreams to herself.
"That may be true, nevertheless the school is concerned about you."
"Yeah, whatever." Jenn uttered as she tapped the toe of her shoe on the ground. She glanced up at Ann as she took her lunch from the woman, "Oh by the way, I asked mom and she said Kris could stay over tomorrow night." She stated as she took a quick peek inside the bag then closed it.
"She did?" Ann inquired sceptically, "I haven't heard a word about this from your mother."
"I talked with her on the phone last night and she said-"
"I don't care if you talked to her.” Ann returned sternly. “Until I hear from her then the answer is no!"
"You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do." Jenn could feel herself getting frustrated with the woman; she was simply a maid and had no right to order her around like this. "If I want Kris to stay over, then she will."
"If that is the way you want to play things.” Ann countered, “I'll just make a call to your mother while you are at school."
"Please do!" Jenn almost spat, getting increasingly irritated. She shoved her lunch inside her school bag, then quickly opened the door and slammed it behind her.
Outside Kris patiently waited for her friend. Her eyes closed lightly as she faced the sun, letting its warm light wash over her body. It felt nice to be able to just stand there and let time pass on by. She heard the sound of the screen door and opened her eyes to greet her friend with a smile that quickly faded at the sight of irritation on her friend’s face.
"Kris, I'm ready!" Jenn called out as she stomped across the front porch and jumped down the steps that led to a small path through the cramped front lawn. She swiftly hopped over the short iron gate, a fence that isolated her home from the rest of the world, and came to land beside her friend. "Blue, Kris?" She inquired with curiosity, blinking at her friend’s hair in disbelief.
"Oh, a failed experiment." Kris pulled at one of the bangs of her short curly hair and stared at it with crossed eyes, "I meant it to be silver." She let go of the strain to watch as it spring back in place then turned to face Jenn as the two of them began to walk to school. "What do you think?" She asked with another, slightly nervous, smile.
"It's you." Jenn concluded with a laugh. Kris’s grin brightened and once again Jenn noticed how boiishly [1] cute Kris was when she smiled at her. Kris was taller than Jenn and a year older than her too, Jenn being in grade ten while Kris was an elevener [2]. Kris tended to keep her hair cut short and roll her the sleeves of her blazer up in a manner that made her look more like a boy then a girl. When she wasn’t in a skirt many would question the girl’s gender only to get a broad grin as a reply. The two has only met less then a year ago and quickly became close friends. If Jenn had not known better she would have thought that they had been friends in another life, maybe even more. She pushed the through from her mind and forced herself to return her friend’s smile. "Sorry I made you wait." She apologized as she fixed the collar of her shirt and tucked the left side of her hair over her ear, only to have it fall back in place again.
"Problems at home again?" Kris queried with concern for her friend.
Jenn let out a sigh as she kicked at the ground. "Same old stuff. Ann is being a pain. Just because Mom asked her to look over the house doesn't make her my boss."
"Your mom away on business again?"
"When is she not away on business? And when she is home, I never get to see her anyway. So what difference does it make?" Jenn kicked a rock as hard as she could and watched as it skipped down the street and come to a stop at the foot of a small girl with blonde pigtailed and sporting the same school uniform as herself.
"Hey Tanya!" Kris called out to the pigtailed girl.
"Jenn! Kris!!" The girl rejoiced at the sight of her friends and rushed over to join them.
"What you up to?" Kris inquired as the girl fell into step beside them.
"Nothing muuuucch." Tanya yawned, "Is it just me or does it seem more like Saturday than Thursday?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I know what you mean." Jenn agreed, then was infected with Tanya's yawn, "I… hate it… when… that happens..." She stated between the yawn.
"What?" Tanya glanced at her friend with her head curiously cocked to the side like a playful kitten.
"Have you ever noticed that when someone yawns everyone around them yawns too?"
"I've never had that problem." Kris remarked with a laugh.
The two other girls stared at Kris then glanced at each other, "Kris is not normal." Tanya mumbled into Jenn's ear loud enough for Kris to hear.
"In this world who would want to be?" Jenn marvelled with a snicker.
"Yeah," Kris agreed, "If normal means drooling over boys all day long, then I don't want it."
"No, you would rather be drooling over girls." Jenn teased with a broad grin.
"So would the both of you, so you are not in any position to talk." Kris reminded Jenn with a smirk, "And speaking of girls, how are things with between you and May, Jenn?"
"Don't remind me." Jenn answered irritably. May was an old friend who has been acting rather strangely towards Jenn recently. Tanya, May and Jennifer had been friend since Kindergarten and had always been together as long as any of the girl’s could remember. The fact that all three of them ended up in the same academy was a happy surprise at first, but over time Jenn began to wish that May had gone to a different school. Jenn could not understand why May would start showing feelings for her and the more May continued to show her affections the more uncomfortable Jenn felt around the girl. She was not even sure why so many of the girls at school blushed when Jenn looked their way, however only a select few really knew Jenn well enough to call her a friend. It is not that Jenn was hard to get to know; she was just very closed off and planned to keep it that way.
"She still not letting go?" Kris worried.
"Have you told her how you feel?" Tanya suggested.
Jenn’s head lowered and stared down at her feet. "I don't know what to say." Jenn remarked as she watched the road move under foot, "I can't just tell her to go away, can I?"
"I guess...." Tanya admitted, feeling a bit guilty. She had in fact told May on more then one occasion what she thought of the girl, which was far from liking, and she made sure that May knew this. She would be more the willing to talk to May on Jenn’s behave but decided it best to not get in the way. Jenn was not a little girl and everyone knew she could take care of herself just fine, when she needed too.
"Listen ... Can we not talk about May right now?" Jenn pleaded, having heard enough about her problems, "I've already got a headache and I don't need to be reminded of the bigger headache I'm going to have." She stated as she rubbed at her temples.
“Sorry.” Both girls said in unison and quickly fell into silence. The rest of the walk to school was spent in speechlessness as none of the girls could think of anything else to talk about. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally arrived at the school ground and the girls began to break off onto their separate paths.
"Jenn, we'll see you at lunch, right?" Tanya inquired before taking off down the hall to the right.
"As always." Jenn answered with a grin.
"The club just wouldn't feel right without our president." Kris stated, patting Jenn on the head.
Jenn batted Kris's hand away and gave her a glare, "Since when am I the president? You are the oldest."
"But the club was your idea after all." Kris recalled beaming at her friend. Suddenly the school bell rang, "I guess we will have to leave this discussion for a later time?" Kris half asked before moving down the hall, "See you at lunch."
"Kay!" Jenn called out as her friend started to disappear into a crowd of girls, "And there's nothing to discuss!" She yelled over the crowd.
"That is what you think." Kris teased as she waved behind her, "I'll talk to you later." And with that she vanished into a classroom.
Jenn shook her head, then ran up a set of stairs and headed into her morning class, "Morning Jennifer!" Called out a couple of girls who were already seated. Jenn nodded and returned the greeting as she wove her way through the rows of desks until she found her seat in the back of the class, next to the window, and sat down heavily upon the hard wooden chair.
"You look tired." A voice sounded from behind Jenn.
Jenn leaned backwards over the back of her chair, "Morning May." Jenn greeted the girl upside down. May was a rather beautiful young girl with long wavy golden blonde hair that ended in large curls, even her bangs curled around her large light blue eyes, that nearly looked white in the fluorescent lighting of the class, if Jenn didn't know the girl as well as she did she might have felt an attraction to her, however years of experience had proven to Jenn that although May could be a good friend she was not someone Jenn would date.
"Morning!" May greeted playfully as she sat in the seat across from Jenn, "Did you sleep well? You don't look so good." She frowned when she saw the long look on Jenn's face.
Jenn lifted her head upright, closing her eyes tight against the headache she could feel growing in intensity just being in the presence of the girl, "I'll be fine. I just missed breakfast because a power outage knocked out the alarm clock again."
"That has been happening a lot recently, hasn't it?" May remarked curiously, "The lights flicked a few times last night at my home too. I wonder if it is related?"
"Who knows?" Jenn set her chin in the palm of her hand while staring straight ahead at the blackboard, "No one will come to check on the wiring at home until mom comes back so I have to live with it."
"Is she coming back soon?"
"I have no idea." Jenn sighed, shifting her eyes to the trees outside. Something inside her stirred, like a flickering memory trying to break through and she thought she could see a pair of eyes staring at her in the reflection of the window. Spinning around she was only greeted by May’s eyes, which looked nothing like the ones in the reflection, but she knew those eyes from somewhere before. Her own eyes moved from one girl to another as she searched for the owner of those eyes, eyes filled with such sadness and pain.
May worriedly reach out towards Jenn, “Are you alright?” She inquired cautiously, lightly touching the girl’s arm.
Jenn pulled away as she shook her head, “It is nothing.” She stated, rubbing her temple in an attempt to push the image out of her mind.
At that moment the classroom door opened and a large man in a brown suit entered, "Morning class." He greeted the class as he walked towards his desk at the head of the class.
“Morning Mr. Johnson.” The class replied in unison.
Mr. Johnson gave the class a quick smile, "Would you please take your seats now?" He requested lightly, a request that was quickly answered by the rustle of movement as each girl hurried to their proper seat.
May got up to move to her seat at the far side of the class. On her way passed Jenn she gingerly ran her hand through the back of Jenn's hair causing the girl to pull away from her. The two girls exchanged glances as May continued across the room.
As the class began Jenn prepared for a very long day as that feeling simply grew with every passing minute filling her head and heart. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on her studies her mind kept turning back to those eyes and slowly the feeling worsened until it was a throbbing ache within her chest, followed quickly by a pain that emerged behind her left eye. She leaned over her desk and set her hand over her eye, letting her hair fall over her face. Her eye throbbed with such intensity that she could feel a tear welling up in the corner of it. She glanced up at the clock to find that time was not moving nearly as fast as she would like it to. Her eyes fell on May across the room. It was as if May could sense Jenn's eye upon her for she turned to return the girl’s gaze and gave Jenn a small wave and a smile.
Why was May suddenly having this attraction towards her? Jenn wondered to herself as she pressed the palm of her head tightly against her eye and stared down at the book before her. Why were any of the girls in school attracted to her for that matter? It was not like she was very special. Sure she was only one of the very few girls that not only accepted her sexuality, but was open about it too. She always knew she liked girls since she was very little. Hell, almost everyone in school knew, but then again, many were like herself; she just happened to be a little more open about it. It wasn't like it was her choice. If she had it her way she would be able to hide her feelings as easily as the others around her. She clenched her head with both hands as thoughts crashed through her mind.
There was even a small school club for the few girls like herself. Club Hen, as it was called, which was sort of a joke that only Jenn truly understood, being that she was part Japanese and her mother always called her "Hen" or strange. One day she was watching a Japanese television program and noticed that many times people also would refer to a gay person as "Hen.” As a result the teachers were lead to believe that the club was for students who felt "out of place,” when it was actually a lesbian gathering. She was not trying to stand out by creating the club. She just felt so alone, and knew that there had to be more girls like her seeing as this was an all girls’ school after all. She knew that creating such a club would out herself to the school, however she was not expecting to become titled as one of the "Princes" of the school. She was expecting to be hated and maybe feared, not receiving random love letters in her locker.
As her mind roamed over the past she felt something trickle down her arm. Pulling her hands away she stared down at her palms in disbelief. Blood was smeared across her fingertips and pooling up in the palms of her hands. She lightly touched her face in search of the cut to find none. Droplets of crimson dripped between her fingers to her book, creating large circles upon its surface. Terrified she began to slowly stand as she realized that the blood was coming from under the sleeves of her blazer, soaking it to a deep purple colour.
"Miss North, are you alright?" Mr. Johnson inquired, glancing up from the book he was reading.
Jenn lifted her head and glanced around to see that the entire class was now staring at her. She had not realized that she had fully stood and shakily she held her hands out towards the teacher. "I… I…" She could not find the words to express the fear that had risen inside of her mind. Abruptly she was hit by a way of dizziness and her eyes began to shift out of focus, a wave of heat rushed through Jenn's body making it feel as if her neck was on fire, followed by a sudden feeling of nausea and she buckled over as she fell to the ground, only to be caught by the girl in the desk next to her. Mr. Johnson dropped his book to his desk and ran to Jenn's side.
"JENNIFER!!" May cried out as she jumped from of her chair and rushed to her friend’s side.
"Steady now." Mr. Johnson helped Jenn to her feet and started towards the door when May arrived at Jenn's other side and wrapped the girl's arm around her neck.
"Teacher, I'll take Jenn to the nurse's office, okay?" May pleadingly requested.
"That would be great." The teacher handed Jenn over to May and watched the two girls carefully leave the classroom. The moment they disappeared from view, the class became a bustle of activity. Everyone seemed to have their own answer to why their classmate would collapse so suddenly, "Now class if we could get back to the assignment?" Mr. Johnson demanded, giving no room for any gossip to grow, before returning to his desk he picked up Jenn’s belongings and brought them back to his desk. For a brief moment he though he saw circles of blood upon the pages of the book, but upon second glance there appeared to be nothing and closed the book figure it was just a trick of the light.
Down the hall Jenn could feel the dizziness beginning to subside. She looked around disoriented and it took her a moment to recall how she got into the hall when she noticed she had her arm around May and quickly pulled away causing herself to stagger into the wall.
"Jenn, what's wrong?" May inquired, alarmed by her friend's sudden actions.
Jenn stared down at her hands for a moment only to discover them clean of any signs of blood ever touching them that day, "N… nothing!" Jenn said with a sigh of relief as she rested her head upon the brick wall, attempting to regain her balance. The cool bricks soothed the throbbing in her head ever so slightly; causing the dizziness she felt to subside. "Just go back to class. I'll be just fine." Jenn assured, waving a hand at the girl, although she was not sure if that was really true or not. That image of blood was like something from her nightmares, but why would it be invading her waking life? She didn’t know the answer, but the thought of her nightmares intruding upon her daily life frightened her and she did not know how she would even begin to explain this to her friend.
"But . . . " May began to reach out for Jenn again.
Jenn pushed May's hand away, "Just leave me alone." Jenn snapped and started to walk down the hall, sliding her shoulder along the wall for balance, holding her arms tightly around her waist. She felt tired and wanted nothing more than to be left alone.
May, dumbfounded, staggered backwards. Jenn had never snapped at her before and the sound of the girl's voice stung May's heart, "O...okay . . . " She began to turn back towards class then stopped, "I'll see you at lunch, alright?" She forced herself to smile.
"Whatever." Jenn waved a hand in May's general direction before slipping around a corner. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She could hear May's pacing in place before she ran off up a set of stairs. Jenn let out a deep sigh. She hated herself for snapping at May like that, but she just didn't feel at ease with the girl around her. Again she felt her headache strengthen and staggered to the nurse’s office.
The nurse, a woman in her mid twenties wearing a long white coat and thin rimmed glasses, greeted Jenn at the door, "Well, good morning Miss. North. How can I help you today?" The nurse inquired with a welcoming smile.
"I don't feel so good, Miss. Emery." Jenn complained as she sat upon one of the small beds that were closest to the nurse’s desk, "My head hurts and I feel sick." She explained weakly, she wanted to tell the woman about the blood, but held back. The last time she spoke up about her dreams she ended up with more attention then she wanted so decided it would be best to keep this new occurrence to herself.
"Hmmmm." Miss. Emery got up from her swivel chair and placed a hand upon Jenn's forehead, "You don't seem to have a temperature." She pushed Jenn's hair back and gazed into the girl’s eyes eyes, "You still having those dreams?" She inquired concernedly.
Jenn fidgeted in place. How many people knew about her dreams? "Not really." She answered trying to think of how to dodge the subject. Yes, she wanted to scream. I see things in reflections and blood on my hands, what do you think of that? She bit her tongue and kept her thoughts to herself.
"You are seeing someone about them?" The nurse probed as she shone a small flash light into Jenn's eyes.
Jenn batted the nurse’s hand away and gave her an irate glare, "Why’s it any business of yours? My dreams are my own and I'll deal with them in any way that I wish." Jenn barked at the woman, "Now if you don't mind I'd like to lie down for a bit before heading to my next class? I'm just a little tired is all." Wearily, Jenn curled up on the bed.
"Alright, alright." The nurse raised her hands defensively, "You rest up then. I have some work that needs to be done. Sleep well." She returned to her desk, grabbing a couple of folders and leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
Lying back on the pillow Jenn stared up at the ceiling. What was wrong with her? She was never this cranky, not even on her period. She held her hand up in the air to better inspect them. Where had that blood come from and why now? Miserably she folded her arms behind the pillow, closing it around her head. Her breathing came out in erratic heaves as tears welled up in her eyes. This was not like her. She just wanted to be normal. Wanted to be left alone, but no one would let her. She rolled over to her side and curled her knees close to her while kicking her shoes off, letting them fall to the ground. Slowly she drifted into a fitful sleep.
Notes: [1] Boi - Referring to a girl who acts and appears more like a boy then a girl, but still wishes to be female.
[2] - Elevener - A term used to describe someone by their grade, Grade nine is a niner; Grade ten is a tener and so on.
*****
To be Continued . . .
*****
Note: The world of the Shadowlands, Its stories, Characters and ideas are a copyright of Kathryn K Williams.
This story is based upon my manga of the same name. If you wish to view art from this series please visit my deviant arts page at: http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/
For more of my stories visit my deviant hearts page at: http://www.devianthearts.com/viewuser.php?uid=159
Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me at katwilliams @ rogers.com
Story written by Kathryn K. Williams
Part One: Dawn's Break
Prologue to a Dream
Delicate bare feet cautiously slip out from under the warmth and protective feeling of the large comforter that covered a small bed. A bed that sat snug in the corner of a tiny room, covered in the many stuffed animals that proudly guarded their princess throughout the night. Beady eyes watched the girl as they wondered which would be chosen to accompany the girl on her journey to the washroom on that dark night. Not even the moon’s light was present through the child’s window on that night and this meant that a special guardian would be needed for the journey down the long hall outside of her room. A raccoon that was almost the size of the child’s upper body was plucked out of the rankings next to the wall and dragged into the girl’s arms awaiting arms. The other animals watched in envy of the raccoon’s newly appointed duty and others preyed that tonight a guardian would not be needed.
Carefully the girl opened the door to her room a crack; a deep red eye peered through a veil of firey red hair into the darkness of the hall. A small nightlight could be seeing winking in the washroom at the end of the hall, as if its light would protect her if she got there quickly enough. Taking another deep breath the girl darted out of her room, being sure to run on tiptoes as to not make too much sound, and quickly closed the washroom door behind her. With the door shut she flicked the light switch, flooding the room with blinding, yet welcoming, white light. Relieved to make it without an encounter with monsters, or wetting herself along the way, she quickly moved to the toilet to relieve her bloated bladder, setting the raccoon across from her so it could protectively watch over her. Its master did not speak aloud to it, but the raccoon heard her words clearly. It listened to her silent worries and nodded ever so slightly to show the girl that it was there for her and would do its duty to protect her in any way possible. It laughed at her stories and forced itself not hide its own worries on that night.
When finished she stood upon a small purple plastic stool and washed her hands before picking up her protector and preparing the journey back to her room. Now that her business was done she did not feel the same fear as she did on the trip to the washroom and nearly forgot about her reason for worrying that was until she opened the door and was confronted with it face to face.
He stood towering over the girl, large glasses sitting upon his red nose; glowing white glasses peered upon his red nose above a bushy blonde moustache. Although she could not see his eyes with the lights of the washroom reflecting off of his glasses she knew what they looked like. Eyes as blood shot red as his nose and squinting out of wrinkles of skin at her. She quickly backed into the washroom, hugging the raccoon close to her body. The raccoon shook in fear, it was prepared to battle any of the night monsters that might threaten his princess throughout the night, but this was one beast that he could defend the girl from. The man stepped into the washroom, causing the girl to shuffle to the other side of the room and coward against the bathtub. Slowly the door to the room began to close and tears tumbled from the girl’s eyes. This was one nightmare she would never be able to escape.
Chapter One - A New Morning
"Rise and shine!"
A voice cut through Jennifer North's sleep, startling her out of her slumber. She blinked while shielding her eyes against the bright new day's light that flooded into her room, squinting in search of the person who invaded her dreams. Her search didn't go without avail. Before her stood Ann Emery, a young woman in her mid twenties who was hired by her mother to keep an eye on the house and her daughter while she was away.
Jenn rubbed her eyes at the sight of the woman, "Did you hafta open the blinds?" Jenn inquired groggily, pulling the blankets over her head, only to have the blankets torn off of her, "HEY! Why'd you do that?" Jenn yelled as she tried to reach for the blankets, which were now being neatly folded.
"Because you have school today, young lady." Ann reminded the girl as she set the now folded blanket at the end of Jenn's bed.
Jenn brushed her dark bangs out of her eyes to get a better look at the digital clock that sat upon a small desk next to her bed. Its red lights blinked at her reading twelve o’clock over and over again, "OH NO!! The power went out again!" She jumped out of bed and frantically glanced across the room in search of her school uniform. "What time is it anyway?"
"It is about_" Ann started to look at her watch when a voice called from outside.
"HEY!!! JENN YOU THERE!!!" The voice yelled out.
"Kris is here already?" Jenn scurried to the window and flung it open. She poked her head out the window to see a tall thin girl in navy blue school uniform, "Hey Kris!" She waved enthusiastically to her friend.
"What are you doing up there?" Kris called out from the sidewalk, "Dreaming of the perfect girl?" She grinned.
Jenn grabbed a large crystal dragon off the nearby desk and pretended to throw it at her friend, "Why you . . . " The dragon nearly slipped from her hand. She regained her senses before dropping the dragon out the window and set it back down on the dresser, "I'll be down in a moment." She shouted through the window once more before turning around to see that Ann had left, the began to strip off her pyjamas and prepared to get dressed.
She stopped for a moment to look at herself in the mirror that stood over her dresser. Her sleek, black, bob cut hair hung over the left side of her face, a face that leaned heavily towards her mother’s Asian features, her eyes the only thing showing her father’s British side. No matter how much she struggled with her hair it always fell back in place, obscuring her bright green eyes from the world. She tried to fight it all the same, finally giving up a sigh of defeat she grabbed a hair clip and snapped the right side in place so she could see at the very least. Then opened the dresser to find a clean bra when something moved in the corner of her eye. She quickly looked up only to be greeted by her own reflection in the mirror. Rapidly she scanned the room in search for something out of place. Her bed, which was small, but comfortable, was set in the far corner under a tiny window, one of the two that covered the corner wall. A desk sat next to her bed and held the clutter of the paranormal and dream books that she had been leafing through the night before. A poster of Chloe Sevigny, dressed in her black leathers from "If these walls could talk 2", hung above the desk. On the back of her door hung yet another poster, this time of Melissa Etheridge. Clothes were scattered all about the floor and furniture and if Jenn knew Ann they would be in the wash the moment that Jenn left for school. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary she relaxed ever so slightly and began once again to prepare for school. She was not really sure what she expected to find upon her inspection of her room, but as she prepared to gather her clothes she felt a need to made sure to check under the bed and inside the closet at least once, just to be certain that nothing hide within their shadows.
Only when she was sure that nothing was about to jump out at her she began to dress. She was not sure where this irrational feeling came from; she was sixteen and had not needed to search for ghosts and spectres since she was very little. She pushed the sensation from her mind as she moved about the room scooping up articles of clothing from where they hung and pulled them on. She buttoned up her stark white dress shirt and flipped up the collar as she draped a black necktie around her neck. A navy blue blazer, identical to the one the girl waiting out front wore, was draped over the back of her desk chair and she found herself briefly gazing upon the crest on its right breast pocket, still overjoyed to be able to wear the academy’s shield upon her cloths. She had to fight long and hard to get into this school and she was proud of herself for not backing down or becoming the failure her mother took her for. It was proof that she could achieve anything she put her mind too and wearing the blazer empowered her in some small way. She scanned the rest of the room as she pulled the blazer over her arms and finally found the matching pleaded skirt lying on the desk chair then stepped into it, zipping up the side, forgoing to tuck her shirt in. Lastly she picked up a black vinyl case off the ground and searched through its contents. Satisfied she had everything was as it should be she swung the bag over her shoulder and ran down the stairs to the front door, where she tried to hunt up her shoes in the closet near the entrance, "Ann, did you move my shoes?" She called out into the reaches of the house as she fought with her necktie.
"They are sitting next to the door where you can find them." Ann's voice called out from somewhere in the house.
"Where?" Jenn repeated before actually looking, then turned around to see a pair of small black runners off to the side, under one of the long frosted windows that ran along either side of the front door, "Never mind, I found them." She grabbed her shoes and began to pull them on when Ann entered the front hall.
"Your mom asked me to make sure that you remember your psychotherapist appointment this evening." Ann reminded as she came down the hall with a brown paper lunch bag in hand.
"I know, I know." Jenn replied unconcernedly, "I don't know why I have to go, I mean they are only dreams after all." Actually, they were more than just dreams. These dreams felt like something else entirely. If it weren’t for the fact that one of them left her with such an unsettling feeling in her heart, enough to keep her up the rest of the night, she probably would have just ignored them entirely. If she had known that telling her school counsellor about them would end with some psycho doc appointment, then she would have just kept the dreams to herself.
"That may be true, nevertheless the school is concerned about you."
"Yeah, whatever." Jenn uttered as she tapped the toe of her shoe on the ground. She glanced up at Ann as she took her lunch from the woman, "Oh by the way, I asked mom and she said Kris could stay over tomorrow night." She stated as she took a quick peek inside the bag then closed it.
"She did?" Ann inquired sceptically, "I haven't heard a word about this from your mother."
"I talked with her on the phone last night and she said-"
"I don't care if you talked to her.” Ann returned sternly. “Until I hear from her then the answer is no!"
"You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do." Jenn could feel herself getting frustrated with the woman; she was simply a maid and had no right to order her around like this. "If I want Kris to stay over, then she will."
"If that is the way you want to play things.” Ann countered, “I'll just make a call to your mother while you are at school."
"Please do!" Jenn almost spat, getting increasingly irritated. She shoved her lunch inside her school bag, then quickly opened the door and slammed it behind her.
Outside Kris patiently waited for her friend. Her eyes closed lightly as she faced the sun, letting its warm light wash over her body. It felt nice to be able to just stand there and let time pass on by. She heard the sound of the screen door and opened her eyes to greet her friend with a smile that quickly faded at the sight of irritation on her friend’s face.
"Kris, I'm ready!" Jenn called out as she stomped across the front porch and jumped down the steps that led to a small path through the cramped front lawn. She swiftly hopped over the short iron gate, a fence that isolated her home from the rest of the world, and came to land beside her friend. "Blue, Kris?" She inquired with curiosity, blinking at her friend’s hair in disbelief.
"Oh, a failed experiment." Kris pulled at one of the bangs of her short curly hair and stared at it with crossed eyes, "I meant it to be silver." She let go of the strain to watch as it spring back in place then turned to face Jenn as the two of them began to walk to school. "What do you think?" She asked with another, slightly nervous, smile.
"It's you." Jenn concluded with a laugh. Kris’s grin brightened and once again Jenn noticed how boiishly [1] cute Kris was when she smiled at her. Kris was taller than Jenn and a year older than her too, Jenn being in grade ten while Kris was an elevener [2]. Kris tended to keep her hair cut short and roll her the sleeves of her blazer up in a manner that made her look more like a boy then a girl. When she wasn’t in a skirt many would question the girl’s gender only to get a broad grin as a reply. The two has only met less then a year ago and quickly became close friends. If Jenn had not known better she would have thought that they had been friends in another life, maybe even more. She pushed the through from her mind and forced herself to return her friend’s smile. "Sorry I made you wait." She apologized as she fixed the collar of her shirt and tucked the left side of her hair over her ear, only to have it fall back in place again.
"Problems at home again?" Kris queried with concern for her friend.
Jenn let out a sigh as she kicked at the ground. "Same old stuff. Ann is being a pain. Just because Mom asked her to look over the house doesn't make her my boss."
"Your mom away on business again?"
"When is she not away on business? And when she is home, I never get to see her anyway. So what difference does it make?" Jenn kicked a rock as hard as she could and watched as it skipped down the street and come to a stop at the foot of a small girl with blonde pigtailed and sporting the same school uniform as herself.
"Hey Tanya!" Kris called out to the pigtailed girl.
"Jenn! Kris!!" The girl rejoiced at the sight of her friends and rushed over to join them.
"What you up to?" Kris inquired as the girl fell into step beside them.
"Nothing muuuucch." Tanya yawned, "Is it just me or does it seem more like Saturday than Thursday?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I know what you mean." Jenn agreed, then was infected with Tanya's yawn, "I… hate it… when… that happens..." She stated between the yawn.
"What?" Tanya glanced at her friend with her head curiously cocked to the side like a playful kitten.
"Have you ever noticed that when someone yawns everyone around them yawns too?"
"I've never had that problem." Kris remarked with a laugh.
The two other girls stared at Kris then glanced at each other, "Kris is not normal." Tanya mumbled into Jenn's ear loud enough for Kris to hear.
"In this world who would want to be?" Jenn marvelled with a snicker.
"Yeah," Kris agreed, "If normal means drooling over boys all day long, then I don't want it."
"No, you would rather be drooling over girls." Jenn teased with a broad grin.
"So would the both of you, so you are not in any position to talk." Kris reminded Jenn with a smirk, "And speaking of girls, how are things with between you and May, Jenn?"
"Don't remind me." Jenn answered irritably. May was an old friend who has been acting rather strangely towards Jenn recently. Tanya, May and Jennifer had been friend since Kindergarten and had always been together as long as any of the girl’s could remember. The fact that all three of them ended up in the same academy was a happy surprise at first, but over time Jenn began to wish that May had gone to a different school. Jenn could not understand why May would start showing feelings for her and the more May continued to show her affections the more uncomfortable Jenn felt around the girl. She was not even sure why so many of the girls at school blushed when Jenn looked their way, however only a select few really knew Jenn well enough to call her a friend. It is not that Jenn was hard to get to know; she was just very closed off and planned to keep it that way.
"She still not letting go?" Kris worried.
"Have you told her how you feel?" Tanya suggested.
Jenn’s head lowered and stared down at her feet. "I don't know what to say." Jenn remarked as she watched the road move under foot, "I can't just tell her to go away, can I?"
"I guess...." Tanya admitted, feeling a bit guilty. She had in fact told May on more then one occasion what she thought of the girl, which was far from liking, and she made sure that May knew this. She would be more the willing to talk to May on Jenn’s behave but decided it best to not get in the way. Jenn was not a little girl and everyone knew she could take care of herself just fine, when she needed too.
"Listen ... Can we not talk about May right now?" Jenn pleaded, having heard enough about her problems, "I've already got a headache and I don't need to be reminded of the bigger headache I'm going to have." She stated as she rubbed at her temples.
“Sorry.” Both girls said in unison and quickly fell into silence. The rest of the walk to school was spent in speechlessness as none of the girls could think of anything else to talk about. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally arrived at the school ground and the girls began to break off onto their separate paths.
"Jenn, we'll see you at lunch, right?" Tanya inquired before taking off down the hall to the right.
"As always." Jenn answered with a grin.
"The club just wouldn't feel right without our president." Kris stated, patting Jenn on the head.
Jenn batted Kris's hand away and gave her a glare, "Since when am I the president? You are the oldest."
"But the club was your idea after all." Kris recalled beaming at her friend. Suddenly the school bell rang, "I guess we will have to leave this discussion for a later time?" Kris half asked before moving down the hall, "See you at lunch."
"Kay!" Jenn called out as her friend started to disappear into a crowd of girls, "And there's nothing to discuss!" She yelled over the crowd.
"That is what you think." Kris teased as she waved behind her, "I'll talk to you later." And with that she vanished into a classroom.
Jenn shook her head, then ran up a set of stairs and headed into her morning class, "Morning Jennifer!" Called out a couple of girls who were already seated. Jenn nodded and returned the greeting as she wove her way through the rows of desks until she found her seat in the back of the class, next to the window, and sat down heavily upon the hard wooden chair.
"You look tired." A voice sounded from behind Jenn.
Jenn leaned backwards over the back of her chair, "Morning May." Jenn greeted the girl upside down. May was a rather beautiful young girl with long wavy golden blonde hair that ended in large curls, even her bangs curled around her large light blue eyes, that nearly looked white in the fluorescent lighting of the class, if Jenn didn't know the girl as well as she did she might have felt an attraction to her, however years of experience had proven to Jenn that although May could be a good friend she was not someone Jenn would date.
"Morning!" May greeted playfully as she sat in the seat across from Jenn, "Did you sleep well? You don't look so good." She frowned when she saw the long look on Jenn's face.
Jenn lifted her head upright, closing her eyes tight against the headache she could feel growing in intensity just being in the presence of the girl, "I'll be fine. I just missed breakfast because a power outage knocked out the alarm clock again."
"That has been happening a lot recently, hasn't it?" May remarked curiously, "The lights flicked a few times last night at my home too. I wonder if it is related?"
"Who knows?" Jenn set her chin in the palm of her hand while staring straight ahead at the blackboard, "No one will come to check on the wiring at home until mom comes back so I have to live with it."
"Is she coming back soon?"
"I have no idea." Jenn sighed, shifting her eyes to the trees outside. Something inside her stirred, like a flickering memory trying to break through and she thought she could see a pair of eyes staring at her in the reflection of the window. Spinning around she was only greeted by May’s eyes, which looked nothing like the ones in the reflection, but she knew those eyes from somewhere before. Her own eyes moved from one girl to another as she searched for the owner of those eyes, eyes filled with such sadness and pain.
May worriedly reach out towards Jenn, “Are you alright?” She inquired cautiously, lightly touching the girl’s arm.
Jenn pulled away as she shook her head, “It is nothing.” She stated, rubbing her temple in an attempt to push the image out of her mind.
At that moment the classroom door opened and a large man in a brown suit entered, "Morning class." He greeted the class as he walked towards his desk at the head of the class.
“Morning Mr. Johnson.” The class replied in unison.
Mr. Johnson gave the class a quick smile, "Would you please take your seats now?" He requested lightly, a request that was quickly answered by the rustle of movement as each girl hurried to their proper seat.
May got up to move to her seat at the far side of the class. On her way passed Jenn she gingerly ran her hand through the back of Jenn's hair causing the girl to pull away from her. The two girls exchanged glances as May continued across the room.
As the class began Jenn prepared for a very long day as that feeling simply grew with every passing minute filling her head and heart. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on her studies her mind kept turning back to those eyes and slowly the feeling worsened until it was a throbbing ache within her chest, followed quickly by a pain that emerged behind her left eye. She leaned over her desk and set her hand over her eye, letting her hair fall over her face. Her eye throbbed with such intensity that she could feel a tear welling up in the corner of it. She glanced up at the clock to find that time was not moving nearly as fast as she would like it to. Her eyes fell on May across the room. It was as if May could sense Jenn's eye upon her for she turned to return the girl’s gaze and gave Jenn a small wave and a smile.
Why was May suddenly having this attraction towards her? Jenn wondered to herself as she pressed the palm of her head tightly against her eye and stared down at the book before her. Why were any of the girls in school attracted to her for that matter? It was not like she was very special. Sure she was only one of the very few girls that not only accepted her sexuality, but was open about it too. She always knew she liked girls since she was very little. Hell, almost everyone in school knew, but then again, many were like herself; she just happened to be a little more open about it. It wasn't like it was her choice. If she had it her way she would be able to hide her feelings as easily as the others around her. She clenched her head with both hands as thoughts crashed through her mind.
There was even a small school club for the few girls like herself. Club Hen, as it was called, which was sort of a joke that only Jenn truly understood, being that she was part Japanese and her mother always called her "Hen" or strange. One day she was watching a Japanese television program and noticed that many times people also would refer to a gay person as "Hen.” As a result the teachers were lead to believe that the club was for students who felt "out of place,” when it was actually a lesbian gathering. She was not trying to stand out by creating the club. She just felt so alone, and knew that there had to be more girls like her seeing as this was an all girls’ school after all. She knew that creating such a club would out herself to the school, however she was not expecting to become titled as one of the "Princes" of the school. She was expecting to be hated and maybe feared, not receiving random love letters in her locker.
As her mind roamed over the past she felt something trickle down her arm. Pulling her hands away she stared down at her palms in disbelief. Blood was smeared across her fingertips and pooling up in the palms of her hands. She lightly touched her face in search of the cut to find none. Droplets of crimson dripped between her fingers to her book, creating large circles upon its surface. Terrified she began to slowly stand as she realized that the blood was coming from under the sleeves of her blazer, soaking it to a deep purple colour.
"Miss North, are you alright?" Mr. Johnson inquired, glancing up from the book he was reading.
Jenn lifted her head and glanced around to see that the entire class was now staring at her. She had not realized that she had fully stood and shakily she held her hands out towards the teacher. "I… I…" She could not find the words to express the fear that had risen inside of her mind. Abruptly she was hit by a way of dizziness and her eyes began to shift out of focus, a wave of heat rushed through Jenn's body making it feel as if her neck was on fire, followed by a sudden feeling of nausea and she buckled over as she fell to the ground, only to be caught by the girl in the desk next to her. Mr. Johnson dropped his book to his desk and ran to Jenn's side.
"JENNIFER!!" May cried out as she jumped from of her chair and rushed to her friend’s side.
"Steady now." Mr. Johnson helped Jenn to her feet and started towards the door when May arrived at Jenn's other side and wrapped the girl's arm around her neck.
"Teacher, I'll take Jenn to the nurse's office, okay?" May pleadingly requested.
"That would be great." The teacher handed Jenn over to May and watched the two girls carefully leave the classroom. The moment they disappeared from view, the class became a bustle of activity. Everyone seemed to have their own answer to why their classmate would collapse so suddenly, "Now class if we could get back to the assignment?" Mr. Johnson demanded, giving no room for any gossip to grow, before returning to his desk he picked up Jenn’s belongings and brought them back to his desk. For a brief moment he though he saw circles of blood upon the pages of the book, but upon second glance there appeared to be nothing and closed the book figure it was just a trick of the light.
Down the hall Jenn could feel the dizziness beginning to subside. She looked around disoriented and it took her a moment to recall how she got into the hall when she noticed she had her arm around May and quickly pulled away causing herself to stagger into the wall.
"Jenn, what's wrong?" May inquired, alarmed by her friend's sudden actions.
Jenn stared down at her hands for a moment only to discover them clean of any signs of blood ever touching them that day, "N… nothing!" Jenn said with a sigh of relief as she rested her head upon the brick wall, attempting to regain her balance. The cool bricks soothed the throbbing in her head ever so slightly; causing the dizziness she felt to subside. "Just go back to class. I'll be just fine." Jenn assured, waving a hand at the girl, although she was not sure if that was really true or not. That image of blood was like something from her nightmares, but why would it be invading her waking life? She didn’t know the answer, but the thought of her nightmares intruding upon her daily life frightened her and she did not know how she would even begin to explain this to her friend.
"But . . . " May began to reach out for Jenn again.
Jenn pushed May's hand away, "Just leave me alone." Jenn snapped and started to walk down the hall, sliding her shoulder along the wall for balance, holding her arms tightly around her waist. She felt tired and wanted nothing more than to be left alone.
May, dumbfounded, staggered backwards. Jenn had never snapped at her before and the sound of the girl's voice stung May's heart, "O...okay . . . " She began to turn back towards class then stopped, "I'll see you at lunch, alright?" She forced herself to smile.
"Whatever." Jenn waved a hand in May's general direction before slipping around a corner. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She could hear May's pacing in place before she ran off up a set of stairs. Jenn let out a deep sigh. She hated herself for snapping at May like that, but she just didn't feel at ease with the girl around her. Again she felt her headache strengthen and staggered to the nurse’s office.
The nurse, a woman in her mid twenties wearing a long white coat and thin rimmed glasses, greeted Jenn at the door, "Well, good morning Miss. North. How can I help you today?" The nurse inquired with a welcoming smile.
"I don't feel so good, Miss. Emery." Jenn complained as she sat upon one of the small beds that were closest to the nurse’s desk, "My head hurts and I feel sick." She explained weakly, she wanted to tell the woman about the blood, but held back. The last time she spoke up about her dreams she ended up with more attention then she wanted so decided it would be best to keep this new occurrence to herself.
"Hmmmm." Miss. Emery got up from her swivel chair and placed a hand upon Jenn's forehead, "You don't seem to have a temperature." She pushed Jenn's hair back and gazed into the girl’s eyes eyes, "You still having those dreams?" She inquired concernedly.
Jenn fidgeted in place. How many people knew about her dreams? "Not really." She answered trying to think of how to dodge the subject. Yes, she wanted to scream. I see things in reflections and blood on my hands, what do you think of that? She bit her tongue and kept her thoughts to herself.
"You are seeing someone about them?" The nurse probed as she shone a small flash light into Jenn's eyes.
Jenn batted the nurse’s hand away and gave her an irate glare, "Why’s it any business of yours? My dreams are my own and I'll deal with them in any way that I wish." Jenn barked at the woman, "Now if you don't mind I'd like to lie down for a bit before heading to my next class? I'm just a little tired is all." Wearily, Jenn curled up on the bed.
"Alright, alright." The nurse raised her hands defensively, "You rest up then. I have some work that needs to be done. Sleep well." She returned to her desk, grabbing a couple of folders and leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
Lying back on the pillow Jenn stared up at the ceiling. What was wrong with her? She was never this cranky, not even on her period. She held her hand up in the air to better inspect them. Where had that blood come from and why now? Miserably she folded her arms behind the pillow, closing it around her head. Her breathing came out in erratic heaves as tears welled up in her eyes. This was not like her. She just wanted to be normal. Wanted to be left alone, but no one would let her. She rolled over to her side and curled her knees close to her while kicking her shoes off, letting them fall to the ground. Slowly she drifted into a fitful sleep.
Notes: [1] Boi - Referring to a girl who acts and appears more like a boy then a girl, but still wishes to be female.
[2] - Elevener - A term used to describe someone by their grade, Grade nine is a niner; Grade ten is a tener and so on.
*****
To be Continued . . .
*****
Note: The world of the Shadowlands, Its stories, Characters and ideas are a copyright of Kathryn K Williams.
This story is based upon my manga of the same name. If you wish to view art from this series please visit my deviant arts page at: http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/
For more of my stories visit my deviant hearts page at: http://www.devianthearts.com/viewuser.php?uid=159
Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me at katwilliams @ rogers.com