You know those stories people are all so excited about nowadays? The ones that start off with Perfectly Normal main characters who somehow have some Major Event or Major Encounter happen to them and change their lives forever? Like, for example, falling in love with a demon slayer, or finding out they belong to some mythical race? I shut the novel I had picked up with the intention to read - that had turned out to be a prime example of what I had just explained - with a thud.
Don't you just wish that stuff would happen to you?
Well I, Raina Isabelle Carlisle, did not.
In fact, I was quite satisfied with my normal life. I'm an only child, with loving parents who got along pretty well and were neither rich nor poor, but financially stable. I have average looks - brown curly hair, brown eyes, light brown skin, average height - that were neither ugly nor beautiful, but more a normal kind of pretty. I made sure to maintain my average grades and do all the things normal eighteen year old girls did. I was generally friendly and easy to get along with. I was in a local college on a partial scholarship in the small city of Kentson, somewhere near the coastline of North America, where it never snowed. My best friend was a boy I'd met in the sixth grade who lived a five minute walk away from me and shared some of the same interests that I did. I knew how to drive, had just gotten my license a few months ago, and I borrowed my mom's car while she was at work. All of this was perfectly normal.
I have no intention of ever becoming the main character of a fiction book.
"Hey, Girl! Hey, Ponytail!" I ignored the voice that persisted in gaining my attention, instead searching the shelf for something less annoying to read. Why had Shay asked me to wait for him in the library, of all places? "I know you can hear me. Ignoring me won't work. I'll just keep bothering you until you answer", the voice continued, despite my determination to ignore it.
I searched my jeans' pockets for my earphones that I had begun carrying around with me just in case things like this happened. I was determined to maintain my normalcy. Acknowledging that the library had a guardian spirit that was currently addressing me did not go under 'normal', therefore it would not happen. Plugging my earphones into my Ipod, I proceeded to turn the volume up higher than usual and took a seat that gave me a clear view of the library entrance, textbook in hand. The sooner I got out of here, the better. Shutting my eyes, I let my mind wander, wondering why Shay was taking so long. He had only gone four doors down to talk to his boss before we went to the movie he had promised to take me to see.
Supposed something happened? Like four days ago, when he almost died? The mark had disappeared, but suppose it had come back? My eyes flew open in alarm at these thoughts. Movement near the door caught my attention, and my eyes automatically turned towards the person who had just entered and was coming my way.
He wasn't an ordinary person. That's the first thought that entered my head as I took in his lean frame that was probably half a foot taller than mine, his short straight black hair that seemed to do as it pleased, his pale skin, his black long clothing and his black, bottomless eyes. He could not be that much older than me, and was definitely attractive, with a mysterious air. He didn't walk, he glided, and his eyes seemed to take in everything even though he hadn't turned his head to survey the room. His gaze landed on me as he approached and, strangely, in them I saw a brief flare of recognition. Instinctively, I knew that getting involved with a person like this - all dark and enigmatic, drawing gazes wherever he went - would bring changes to my ordinary existence.
This was someone I had a fierce need to stay away from, as if even this moment of eye contact was enough to set in motion an unwanted chain of events that would rip holes in the shield of normalcy I had worked so hard to create.
He had almost arrived at the table where I sat when I spotted Shay about to enter the library. Relieved that I had an excuse to leave - finally - I hastily returned my textbook to the shelf behind me and retrieved my drawstring bag, walking quickly to the door and cutting a wide berth around the strange guy who now stood scanning the bookshelf behind the seat I had just vacated.
"Shay! What took you so long?" I asked as he stopped in the entrance after seeing me headed his way.
"My boss wanted me to fill out a company survey. Wouldn't take no for an answer - after all, she is my boss." He draped an arm over my shoulder. "I promised to take you to a movie, and so we shall go to a movie!" he announced as we began to leave the library, his green eyes sparkling. I knew I shouldn't have, but for some reason I couldn't resist the urge to look back at the pale stranger. He was looking right at me, a curious expression on his face. I shivered a little at the calculating gleam in his black eyes.
Behind him was the transparent form of the - never mind. Those things do not exist, remember, Raina? Shay did not notice my preoccupation, instead happily humming a tune of a familiar song as we left the library.
He was generally cheerful, my best friend Shay Mcallister. A year and 4 months older than me, he had been my constant companion ever since we were forced to be project partners in the beginning of the sixth grade. He had been set back one year because he had missed an entire year of school when his father had decided to take him and his mom along on a trip to help with a charity project somewhere in Africa. He had had a positive attitude even then, and had changed very little in the years since. Shay also tended to space out sometimes - a habit that was both endearing and exasperating. It sometimes felt like he went somewhere beyond my reach, and I hated those times, but had never told him that. I had learned to accept that that was a part of who Shay was. Despite this, though, Shay was actually really smart, a genius, in my opinion, who was multi-talented and had gotten a job at a software company directly after graduation as a graphic artist. They had promised to pay for all his college tuition as well as pay him for his part - time work, which was fortunate for him. His mom had struggled to provide for them as a hotel maid, baking cakes and pastries to sell on the side. His father did missionary work that kept him both travelling and low on funds, and when he was at home, he was always going to some meeting with one sponsor or another or just too tired to help out much. He had a serious side to him that one only got to see when he was hard at work, and Shay was scary when he got really, truly mad - which was rarely. Shay was also very forgiving and couldn't hold on to a grudge for very long, with a good heart and a willingness to see good in everything and everyone.
Shay was undeniably cute, with curly blonde hair and bright green eyes. He had an adorable lopsided smile, a dimple in his right cheek, a round nose, those to-die-for lashes - the kind us girls all desire - thick and just so beautifully unfair for boys to have - and his lips were fuller on the bottom than the top. He was taller than me, probably the same height as the dark haired stranger in the library. There had been many occasions when I had looked at him as not my best friend, but as someone who I could possibly spend the rest of my life with. This was the kind of guy a girl should fall in love with - sweet and understanding. He would have been perfect if only he wasn't so absentminded and somewhat naive.
"Raina, we're late for the show", Shay said when we finally arrived in front of the movie theater, jarring me out of my thoughts. I looked up at the board displaying the movies being shown and the time. He was right. We were half an hour late for the movie I had wanted to watch. I sighed, slightly disappointed.
"We can watch something else instead", I replied. I mean, we'd already walked to the theatre, might as well see something, right? Shay looked down at me, a frown on his face.
"Are you sure? We can see the later showing if you want. I'll walk you home after..." By then it would be dark. I didn't want Shay wandering about alone in the dark. I had always worried about him when he wasn't with me or at home because of his tendency to space out. He easily got lost when he didn't watch where he was going, which happened often. I was even more worried ever since he had almost been crushed to death the other day.
"No, it'll be too late then. We can just watch the one with the man who got transferred to a different planet..." And so we did.
Leaving the theatre three hours later, Shay and I were discussing the movie we'd just watched when I felt someone staring at me. Trying to be subtle, I took out my compact mirror and pausing, pretended to check my appearance as Shay waited patiently. Looking in the mirror, I searched the background until my eyes met a pair of black ones. A smug ghost of a smile graced his lips as he met my gaze in the mirror.
Oh shit, is he a stalker?
YOU ARE READING
Absolutely, Positively, 100% Normal
Teen Fiction(UNEDITED) Raina Carlisle refuses to be anything but normal - despite evidence stating otherwise. She one day helps her best friend Shay narrowly escape death and unwittingly gains the interest of an entity many people fear. When the mysterious Gray...
