Drawn to the Darkness (NEW STORY)

chapter one

It's morning and the sun breaks through the curtains in my room. I sit up in bed and hear mom stumbling in the hallway, probably with some boxes. We've moved yesterday to this new town, where the roots of my mom's family are.

I did enjoy my life in San Francisco with mom and dad, but dad left us a couple of months ago. I've never really had a relationship with him, he was always on the road for work as he said. Mom doesn't talk about him a lot anymore, which is fine. We lived in San Francisco for dads work, but now that he had left, mom felt the need to go back to her hometown in Dalry Bridge.

I open the curtains and looked at the view. Dalry Bridge looks like from what you expect from a small settlement, a village midst in nature surrounded by mountains. Some houses look like they're from the Victorian era, not rare considering this town has a lot of history according to mom.

'Eira, are you up yet?' says mom, knocking on my door. I walk over to the white door and open it for her. 'Ah, I see. Good morning.' she looks awake and excited for this day, something I need to get my hands on just yet.

'Good morning, mom. How are you feeling?' Something I have asked a lot for the past months. Mom is convinced she is a roll model, as a mom, and is not vulnerable very often.

'I'm doing fine honey, aunt Althea just called, she wants to meet us for tea this afternoon. Is that okay with you?' Mom says while putting some boxes in my new room. I have a lot of space, compared to San Francisco, and my own bathroom; which is never a bad thing.

'Of course! Would be nice to see her again'. Aunt Althea is one of those family members you don't see that very often. Mom and her are sisters, but they always fought, mom said. Althea is a couple of years older than mom, I believe six or seven, but they don't visit each other that very often. 'Is there a reason she would like to meet?' I ask, seeing the fact that they don't always get along.

'No, not really I think. Maybe she wants to welcome us back in town.' she shrugs. I nodded and with that, mom left the room to get back to work. She's always has been a morning person, so am I, but the jetlag got the best of me. Looking at my phone, I see that its half past 8 already.

—————

'Okay, so where are you from again?' I'm standing against a counter with 'Students counter' on top of it. A rather old lady with bright blue round glasses is trying to find my schedule for today.

'San Francisco, I just moved here. About 2 days ago' I said to her. It would be nice if mom and I moved earlier to this town so I would have more time to adjust.

'Ah. I got it. Eira Cherith is it?' She asked me, I nodded in agreement. 'Great. Your first class starts in 15 minutes, English. After that it's biology, history and chemistry'. She handed me some papers with my schedule on top of it. 'If you have any questions, don't hesitate to come over here. I will be here all day since my kids left the house and I would be lonely otherwise.' She says as it is part of normal conversation. I try not to smirk. 'Oh and this is your locker with the code, you may have to pull it a couple of times to get it open'. I reached for a little post-it note with the locker number written on it and the code. Locker 243.

'Thank you so much. Have a nice day' I waved her goodbye and made my way into the halls. I tried everything not to look like I'm new here, but I think thats hard in a small town like this. I looked at the map that appears to be copied over for ten times, it makes it hard to read the words.

'You're trying your best, but you're not succeeding'. I hear a voice behind me say. I turn around and there is a tall, blonde haired boy smiling at me.

'Excuse me?' I say, pretending I did not hear him the first time.

'Nice to meet you, excuse me, my name is Ethan. Can I help you to find your class?' He points at the map I'm holding.

'Uhm, yeah. Sorry. Got a little lost in my mind. Nice to meet you Ethan, I'm Eira.' I put all the paper in my left hand and stick out my right hand to shake his. He complied. 'I'm trying to find my locker, 243, do you know where that is?' I say pointing at the map, but he was not looking and already walking in another direction.

'This way!' he says with his head up, trying for his words to reach me over all the other students walking around the hall. I quickly follow him. He walks so fast, left, right, straight ahead and left again. 'Here you go, it's kinda at the back of the school, but you'll enjoy the peace'.

'You're very kind, Ethan.' I say smiling, peace sounds good to me. I turned to my new locker, a classic dark green one, and try to open it with the 3-numbered code. I try to open it with charme since Ethan is still there and watching me.

'Here, I'll help.' Ethan said and without my permission he simply put the palm of his hand on the lock for not even a second, and without pulling, it opened. 'You'll get the feeling of it.' I quickly put in my books for after the break and only have an English and biology book in my bag. Ethan grabs my schedule and laughs. 'We both have English now! What a coincidence. Shall we?' I laugh too and walk with him to the classroom.

'Are you from here, Ethan?' I asked him. It would be nice to find an equally new kid to be friends with. To be awkward together at school.

'Not really, been here for almost my whole life. I was one I think, should ask my mom to be sure.'

'You don't need to do that.' I said smiling. Ethan seemed like a bubbly, social person.

We enter a pretty full classroom, around ten students chatting with each other. I walk in and see almost everyone starring.

'Well, look there. A new diamond in town' One jock says with slightly pointing his finger at me. I pretend I didn't hear him. I've met enough nasty jocks at the last school. Some guys are laughing. Ethan sits down and points a seat next to me. Without talking I go sit next to him. I hate it that I get shy when people are looking. I try to cover any red cheeks. I grab my books and with that, the teacher walks in.

—————-

It's lunchbreak and although it's early October, the weather outside is good and Ethan decides to sit outside, so I follow him as he invited me.

'Eira, this is Sierra.' He said as we walked to a picnic table outside. A pink, curly haired girl is sitting there reading a book. Her brown shirt is a few shades lighter than her skin. Sierra smiles.

'Welcome Eira.' She said as we shook hands. 'Did Ethan overwhelm you already?' Sierre closes her book and gets her lunch out of a purple bag she carries.

'Of course not, I'm very happy to find a helpful person on the first day here.' I put my bag down and sit on the bench across Sierra and Ethan.

'So where are you from? What's the reason you're here?' Ethan asked, as he just realized that I didn't tell him that yet.

'San Francisco. My dad works there but he left me and my mom a couple of months ago. Mom is from here so it was a logical move to make.' I said and open my plastic box with a salad inside, I start eating.

'Oh really? Who is your mom? Maybe our parents know her.' Sierra asked and leans forward.

'Daphne, Daphne Cherith.' I said and keep eating my salad. I get no response from them so I look up. They both stared at me with awe and quickly closed their mouths. I raised an eyebrow. 'You know her?' I asked.

'Well not really, not personally, not like linked on social media but-' Ethan said but Sierra cuts him off.

'-But we saw some yearbooks, she's really pretty isn't she?' Sierra said smiling.

'I guess...' I'm still looking at them to figure out their reaction, but I couldn't find anything.

'Anyway, There is a party this friday, so tomorrow. Would you like to come with us?' Ethan asked and looked hopefully at me. I've never been a party girl, but I can hear my mom say that I need to make friends.

'Sure, why not! Where is it?' I asked and start eating my salad again. Ethan took a bite of his sandwich.

'Oh don't worry about that. Whats your number? Text us and we'll pick you up.' Sierra said glancing at Ethan. She hands me my phone. I put in my number and gave it back.

'Alright, great! I've put you in a groupchat with us so Ethan can let his excitement out online.' Sierra says, I felt my phone vibrate as a sign that I'm added.

'I can't wait' I said smiling.