The Night Everything Changed
Chapter One
Smoke billowed out of the manhole just ahead of the girl as she strolled slowly down the strip; sodium yellow infused lights casting an eerie look upon her as she raised a cigarette to her lips and inhaled. Her scuffed combat boots hardly making a sound on the broken pavement. The girl's normally beautiful brunette hair hung in disarray around her face, causing the circles around her light green eyes to appear darker than they were.
A sigh escaped from her puckered lips after she stubbed the cigarette out with the heel of her boot. The leather jacket clung tightly to her body and pulled upwards as she jerked her fingers through the mess called her hair and then shifted back down after pulling her arm to her side. Her eyes lacked the luster they once had. She was broken and felt completely disconnected from this world. Every waking moment she felt like letting go, giving in to the dark part of her.
She sighed again as she finally appeared in front of the beaten and battered building that she had been calling home for the last ten years. The building was in shambles. Trash threatened to overtake the alleyway, the gargoyles that once adorned posts at the end of the stairway had long since been busted up and broken, and the apartments themselves were generally just filthy and nearly all of them were owned by dealers, addicts, or people that were just stuck with no where to go; like herself.
She walked up the stairway and with contempt opened the door and stepped through. Without even glancing at the elevator, the girl strode to the stairwell and began her ascension. Her apartment resided on the fourth floor and was thusly dubbed apartment 1402. In her opinion, her apartment was by far the worst one. Her parents, if you could call them that, were addicts who placed their lives above her, so she was left to wonder the streets looking for a job in order for her to finally get away from this life that she currently lived. The only thing stopping her was the lack of money and transportation. She had no other reasoning.
Balling her fists up in the pockets of her leather jacket, the girl silently made her way up the dingy, not so well lit stairwell, only stopping to open the door that led to the fourth floor. She pushed it open with a long creak and with a reluctant drag of her feet, made her way down the hallway. She pulled that key that she always kept on a chain around her neck off and unlocked the door. Inside, there were people milling about. She knew they were either fellow addicts or dealers all waiting to get their cut, so she stealthily moved around them and made her way to her room, the only one that had no one person in it. She always kept her door locked, even though she knew anyone could bust the door open and retrieve whatever they wanted. Pulling the second key from around her neck, the girl unlocked her door, opened it, and closed and re locked it just as some tweaking creep made his way down the hallway.
Sighing at her narrow escape, the girl made her way over to the window on the other side of the room. It had a pretty cool view of the city block. Placing her arms on the narrow windowsill, she looked up at the night sky, not being able to see much due to the building lights and the amount of smog. Breathing in deeply, she silently wished for something more, something better than the situation that she was in; something that she did every night just before allowing unconsciousness to overtake her.
Without even bothering to take off her boots or leather jacket, the girl silently went over to her bed and crashed onto it. Her room was the only thing that she held even just a little bit of pride in. The books that had obtained with what little money she earned, were stacked alphabetically by the author's last name on a small shelf just opposite the bed. A snow globe or two were tucked safely behind her on the minuscule shelf that had been drilled above the battered head board. A Gibson Les Paul guitar lay safe and secure in a guitar case up underneath her bed. It was the only item she had that she truly cared about. Her brother had given it to her shortly before he "died".
Staring up at the ceiling that she had long ago decorated with glow in the dark stars, the girl allowed her eyes to slowly drift shut, her mind fixated off of her problems. The only thing that she thought about before letting herself fall into unconsciousness, was the fantasy world that she had created.
The persistent thumping of tweakers in the apartment should have kept her up, her senses on high alert in the case that someone were to bust into her room and do whatever their filthy minds concocted. But she chose to allow sleep to steal her into a different world, one far from the one that she lived.
In this world, she could be whoever she pleased. If she wanted to be a swashbuckling pirate, so be it. A princess, a witch, a superhero, or even a bad ass detective who could figure out any case that she was set on, but was socially awkward. Whatever her heart desired is what she could be. In this world, she wouldn't have to deal with people like her "parents" who only used her to get money and drugs. She could have a new life; that is until she awoke once more.
The girl's chest heaved slowly up and down with each breath she took. Her brunette hair lay in perfect shambles around her slightly gaunt looking face. She wasn't the most beautiful person ever, but she was fairly attractive in her own way. Her fingers twitched and the movement made the bracelet that she always wore to be exposed. It had four charms on it. All of them had been bought by her brother, who had been her only reason for staying in this godforsaken city of the damned. And now even he was gone. The girl's breaths evened out and her eyes began twitching, indicating that she was in the first state of R.E.M. The darkness of the night slithered into her room via the window. It rolled over her sleeping form and rested on her, before moving over her the small collection of items that she owned and redirecting itself back over to her. The dark mass swirled and pitched before settling and rolling back out of the window.
A sigh escaped from her puckered lips after she stubbed the cigarette out with the heel of her boot. The leather jacket clung tightly to her body and pulled upwards as she jerked her fingers through the mess called her hair and then shifted back down after pulling her arm to her side. Her eyes lacked the luster they once had. She was broken and felt completely disconnected from this world. Every waking moment she felt like letting go, giving in to the dark part of her.
She sighed again as she finally appeared in front of the beaten and battered building that she had been calling home for the last ten years. The building was in shambles. Trash threatened to overtake the alleyway, the gargoyles that once adorned posts at the end of the stairway had long since been busted up and broken, and the apartments themselves were generally just filthy and nearly all of them were owned by dealers, addicts, or people that were just stuck with no where to go; like herself.
She walked up the stairway and with contempt opened the door and stepped through. Without even glancing at the elevator, the girl strode to the stairwell and began her ascension. Her apartment resided on the fourth floor and was thusly dubbed apartment 1402. In her opinion, her apartment was by far the worst one. Her parents, if you could call them that, were addicts who placed their lives above her, so she was left to wonder the streets looking for a job in order for her to finally get away from this life that she currently lived. The only thing stopping her was the lack of money and transportation. She had no other reasoning.
Balling her fists up in the pockets of her leather jacket, the girl silently made her way up the dingy, not so well lit stairwell, only stopping to open the door that led to the fourth floor. She pushed it open with a long creak and with a reluctant drag of her feet, made her way down the hallway. She pulled that key that she always kept on a chain around her neck off and unlocked the door. Inside, there were people milling about. She knew they were either fellow addicts or dealers all waiting to get their cut, so she stealthily moved around them and made her way to her room, the only one that had no one person in it. She always kept her door locked, even though she knew anyone could bust the door open and retrieve whatever they wanted. Pulling the second key from around her neck, the girl unlocked her door, opened it, and closed and re locked it just as some tweaking creep made his way down the hallway.
Sighing at her narrow escape, the girl made her way over to the window on the other side of the room. It had a pretty cool view of the city block. Placing her arms on the narrow windowsill, she looked up at the night sky, not being able to see much due to the building lights and the amount of smog. Breathing in deeply, she silently wished for something more, something better than the situation that she was in; something that she did every night just before allowing unconsciousness to overtake her.
Without even bothering to take off her boots or leather jacket, the girl silently went over to her bed and crashed onto it. Her room was the only thing that she held even just a little bit of pride in. The books that had obtained with what little money she earned, were stacked alphabetically by the author's last name on a small shelf just opposite the bed. A snow globe or two were tucked safely behind her on the minuscule shelf that had been drilled above the battered head board. A Gibson Les Paul guitar lay safe and secure in a guitar case up underneath her bed. It was the only item she had that she truly cared about. Her brother had given it to her shortly before he "died".
Staring up at the ceiling that she had long ago decorated with glow in the dark stars, the girl allowed her eyes to slowly drift shut, her mind fixated off of her problems. The only thing that she thought about before letting herself fall into unconsciousness, was the fantasy world that she had created.
The persistent thumping of tweakers in the apartment should have kept her up, her senses on high alert in the case that someone were to bust into her room and do whatever their filthy minds concocted. But she chose to allow sleep to steal her into a different world, one far from the one that she lived.
In this world, she could be whoever she pleased. If she wanted to be a swashbuckling pirate, so be it. A princess, a witch, a superhero, or even a bad ass detective who could figure out any case that she was set on, but was socially awkward. Whatever her heart desired is what she could be. In this world, she wouldn't have to deal with people like her "parents" who only used her to get money and drugs. She could have a new life; that is until she awoke once more.
The girl's chest heaved slowly up and down with each breath she took. Her brunette hair lay in perfect shambles around her slightly gaunt looking face. She wasn't the most beautiful person ever, but she was fairly attractive in her own way. Her fingers twitched and the movement made the bracelet that she always wore to be exposed. It had four charms on it. All of them had been bought by her brother, who had been her only reason for staying in this godforsaken city of the damned. And now even he was gone. The girl's breaths evened out and her eyes began twitching, indicating that she was in the first state of R.E.M. The darkness of the night slithered into her room via the window. It rolled over her sleeping form and rested on her, before moving over her the small collection of items that she owned and redirecting itself back over to her. The dark mass swirled and pitched before settling and rolling back out of the window.
♠ ♠ ♠
Alright, so this is the beginning of what I'm hoping to be a very successful story. So please be patient with me on updating chapters. It's writing in progress.