Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Flowers of Occultism ❯ First Glimpse ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

First Glimpse

 

New York City

 

The city that never sleeps. The city that's supposed to have something for everyone.

 

Well, I've been here for over two hundred years, and I still haven't found what I'm looking for. But, I refuse to lose faith in the city that has given me so much.

 

Beautiful New York, I'm begging you. If you can bring her within your city limits, I know I shall find her………

 

***

 

“Hey Hali! Hali! What should I do now?”

 

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I paused my iPod and looked over at the girl I'd been forced to sit next to on this freaking plane. “Celia, it's Animal Crossing. You do whatever you want.”

 

“Yeah, but the raccoon dude told me I'm supposed to find the wishing well, and I don't know where that is.”

 

“Look on the map.” I told her and turned back to the window.

 

“Where's the map?”

 

I bit back my irate comment (but couldn't withhold a slight growl) and calmly took the DS. I led the little character over two acres, with the stylus, and opened the map at the train station. I handed the DS back and turned on my iPod again, satisfied when Linkin Park's “Faint” blared through the earphones.

 

My name is Hali. My full name is Haliara, but it sounds too formal and no one can say it right. And I don't think that there's another teenager more fed up with life. My little personal hell began three years ago, when my mother died. After the funeral came the onslaught on social workers, potential dates for my dad, and all the looks of pity I could stand at my school. My only lights in the darkness were my best friend Jo and two people I considered my family even though we've never met: Mei and Aya. And although they've helped me so much, I was beginning to see that all of heir lives were getting more and more separated from my own.

 

But that's an entirely different story. Now I was on a plane to New York City with my father, my eighteen-year-old sister, a woman named Molly who's been with Dad for a while now, and her two daughters, Julie, who was seventeen, and Celia, who's my age. Molly and Julie were easy to get along with, but Celia had a habit of ticking people off.

 

Anyway, we were going to New York for two reasons. One, to see Molly's brother's wedding (I don't understand why we have to go, but…), and two, to sightsee. The first was for Molly, the second was for my sister, Dad, and I.

 

I'm just a kid from a small town in Iowa, so I have to admit I was a little nervous. The biggest city I'd ever been in was Las Vegas, and the place was all casinos, attractions, and desert. Don't get me wrong, Vegas kicks ass when it comes to cities, but it's still just a tourist trap. New York was a real business city, with sky scrapers and the works. I didn't know if I would love city life or be terrified of it.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are beginning our final descent in the Newark, New Jersey airport. Please be sure your seatbacks and tray tables are in their full, upright, and locked positions and all carry-on items are stowed.” I sighed and held the pause button down on my iPod until it clicked off. Well, looks like I would find out soon enough. At least we wouldn't be actually staying in the city; we had booked the hotel in Newark.

 

***

 

I woke up the next morning inside our hotel room in New Jersey. We were staying in a Hilton that was about forty-five minutes from New York. Cali (my only real sister), Julie, Celia and I all shared one room, and my dad (his name is Keith for the record) and Molly had there own room a short ways down the hall.

 

“So what's the plan for today?” I asked Cali, who just got out of the shower. She's one of those people who need an hour's notice before she can go anywhere so she can get ready.

 

I wondered if she heard me. She had a habit of zoning out on people, especially in front of a mirror. Kind of like my dad in front of a TV. “Sounds like we're just gonna shop around today, and then see Times Square, Broadway, and all that tomorrow.”

 

“Where's everyone at?” It was only me and her in the hotel room. Not that I didn't appreciate it, but it was still a little weird.

 

“Celia's showering in Dad and Molly's bathroom, Julie's down getting pop, and the parents are in their room.” She said all of this fairly quickly, but I'd lived with her long enough to catch every word she said. “Julie said she was gonna shower in the other room when Celia's done, so this bathroom's yours.”

 

“Cool.” One of the things I loved about my sister: she loved to talk, but not to me. And when she did feel the need to talk to me endlessly, she usually didn't need much input on my part. I walked over to my corner of the room, and flipped open my suitcase. Making sure I had everything I would need, I made my way towards the bathroom.

 

When my shower was finished, my sister was sitting in front of a full-length mirror putting on makeup, Julie was texting someone on her phone, and Celia was stretched out on one of the queen-sized beds watching TV. I threw the clothes I'd slept in by my suitcase. “I'm off to go see the parents.” I said over my shoulder. Maybe then I could figure out No one really gave any notice that they'd heard me except for a few `kays.

 

I walked into Dad and Molly's room and shut the door behind me. “They done yet?” Molly asked, temporarily turning off the hairdryer plugged into the wall.

 

“Nope,” I sated simply, using the mirror to slap a ponytail in my hair. I sat down on the couch next to my father, grateful that basketball was on. Yeah, it wasn't anime like I was used to, but at least it wasn't something horrid like golf.

 

Molly groaned. She set the hairdryer on the counter. “I better go move them along then. Any ideas?”

 

“Poke them all with a stick.” My voice sounded bored, even to my own ears.

 

She laughed, a little too loudly and enthusiastically for my tastes. I tried not to grimace. She didn't seem to notice though, and left the room.

 

I looked at my father, which, for a second, I regretted. Every time I repeated this action, a flash of cold fear rushed throughout me. I never have gotten over it. “Please tell me we're doing more than just shopping.”

 

“Oh stop whining, this trip isn't just about you, y'know.”

 

Of course not I thought, but didn't dare say it out loud. There went that stupid attitude of his. That, `You have to listen to me because I'm your father, no matter what age I act' shit always burns me up. Hell, I was more mature than him.

 

But, like always I kept my mouth shut. I reached into the pocket of my sweatshirt and wrapped my hand tightly around my Shadow medallion. In reality, it's just a small metal button I made in tech class with Shadow the Hedgehog's picture on it, but that doesn't sound nearly as cool. The medallion itself didn't really do anything, but Shadow was the one I usually counted on when there was no where else to turn, which was actually quite often.

 

Great, I thought, smoothing my thumb over where I knew the picture was. The day hasn't even started and I'm already pissed off. Just great.

 

***

 

My annoyance was temporarily forgotten as I got my first glance at the Manhattan skyline. The sky seemed to be literally cut and scraped by a countless array of towering buildings. Some looked as if they'd been there since the turn of the 19th century, and others looked as if they had never even glimpsed the twin towers. Some of them I could tell were actually new and just had an older style to them, but I'd have to find somebody who was well informed about the city.

 

In the very least, someone who was more informed than the annoying girl beside me who was trying to get someone to listen to her. “Oh! There's the Empire State building, I almost got to actually go in that one. And over there is where the World Trade Center used to be, I think I saw them once, but I was too little to remember….”

 

As we neared the Holland Tunnel, she eventually took the hint and finally shut up. I saw the gates to the Tunnel and my attention back to my DS. I'd seen the inside in movies, and I knew it wasn't anything special. Unfortunately, one of the trainers in Pokemon Diamond was being too frustrating for me to deal with, so I didn't have much choice but to turn it off and stare blankly as the white linoleum squares passed by.

 

Well, while you're reading about me staring at nothing, maybe I should this opportunity to tell you a little bit more about me. I told you my name and about why I'm in New York. You've pretty much picked up on the fact that I'm really not too happy about my present situation. But don't get the wrong idea. I'm really not a rebel; I don't have the backbone for that. I was raised shut up and obey, so that's what I do most of the time. This griping that you're getting is just what I do in my head most of the time.

 

As for things I like? The supernatural is definitely on the list; I'd brought Stephenie Meyer's Twilight with me to New York, in fact. I absolutely adore history, but I stay mostly connected on the Ancients, like Egypt and Greece. Along that same line I also like architecture, though most of its finer points are just way over my head. I like almost any form of electronic entertainment: movies, video games, and the like. Besides all that, there's really not much more that's important.

 

I sighed, submersing myself in my thoughts. This day sure isn't going to well. Dad ticking me off, Celia's blabbing mouth………wait, who am I kidding? This shit happens every day. It's not this day; my life just sucks in general.

 

I sighed again, and tried to see out the windshield from the backseat, but Cali and Julie's heads were in the way. I gave up and looked back out the side window, and what I saw shocked me so much I blinked several times.

 

A guy was running between the two lanes of traffic. And he seemed to be going just as fast as the cars were. He looked about 17 or 18. His clothing was a traditional tuxedo outfit, except it wasn't the black and white I was used to. The shirt was a deep red, and the tie, which seemed the only normal part of the whole outfit, was black. Both the jacket and slacks were a bright purple. I couldn't really get a good look at his eyes, but I was pretty sure they were some kind of blue. A large red rose was pinned to the front of his jacket like a corsage.

 

But what completely engrossed me was his hair.

 

It was silver. Not like the old person grayish silver either. It was like someone melted down the actual metal, made it into impossibly small and thin strands, polished it so it positively glittered and wove it onto the guy's head. It was styled differently too. It was all completely spiked, but the spikes on the left side of his head (I was on his left side) all slanted downward, and the spikes on the other side gently curved upwards.

 

It was then that he noticed me.

 

He looked as bewildered as I felt, as if he'd never seen a person in the backseat of a car before. Well, how can you expect people not to stare with how odd (Dare I say hot?) you look. He smiled a little, as if he'd heard my thoughts.

 

He turned his attention back to what was in front of him for a moment before jumping sideways and landing on the car next to us. He was smiling more now, and it was so dazzling and genuine that I momentarily forgot how to breathe. He sat down, never tearing his eyes away from my own, bringing one leg up and leaving the other hanging off the side of the hood. His eyes will still somewhat blurred with confusion, but there was something else shining in them as well…

 

The driver of the car didn't even waver. He just kept driving and talking to his girlfriend, and both of them seemed completely oblivious that an oddly-dressed 17-year-old was now seated on their car.

 

I was so busy staring that I didn't notice that we were swiftly approaching the end of the Tunnel. The bright flash of sunlight temporarily blinded me and I was forced to shut my eyes. After much blinking and squinting, my eyes adjusted and fell onto where my mystery man had been sitting only moments before.

 

He was gone now.

 

“Weird,” I whispered unknowingly. There was no dent where he'd been sitting, no scuff marks from his jet black shoes, no sign that he's been there at all.

 

“Yeah, who would drive a convertible with both windows up?” I heard Celia say next to me.

 

Her question completely confused me for a moment, before I realized that she was talking about the car. So absolutely no one else saw the guy besides me.

 

I thought about that for a while. Instead of feeling afraid, I felt mystified, and a strong sense of longing.

 

One thing I knew for certain: I wanted to see him again.

 

If only I knew then what I was getting myself into.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key:

“Celia, it's Animal Crossing. You do whatever you want”—Hali is referring to the Nintendo DS version of Animal Crossing. I know there's a Gamecube version too, but she can't very well take that on a plane, no can she?

 

and two people I considered my family even though we've never met: Mei and Aya—Mei and Aya are Hali's friends who live in Pennsylvania. She can only talk to them through IM, she's never really seen either of them face to face before.

 

I'm just a kid from a small town in Iowa—Hali's hometown is actually my own, Sergeant Bluff. It's a small town right next to Sioux City, with its own school system

 

I woke up the next morning inside our hotel room in New Jersey.—When we went on vacation, the hotel we stayed in was a Hilton. You can picture whatever hotel you want to though.

 

it's just a small metal button I made in tech class with Shadow the Hedgehog's picture on it,--If you really don't know who Shadow the Hedgehog is, do a freaking Google search. Or, you can go here: http://concept-mobius.technoguild.com/info/realcharacterpro filessindex.htm to learn more about him and all of the characters of the Sonic the Hedgehog sires.

 

I'd brought Stephenie Meyer's Twilight with me to New York, in fact.—Most people I know have either read this book or at least heard about it. If you haven't, well…….Google it or something. It's not that hard to get information about it. The book is mentioned several times throughout this story. Twilight and its sequels are the property of Stephenie Meyer and whomever else she decides can stake a claim on it. They are in no way owned by me nor are their characters, plotlines, or related information.