Blood of Prophecy Lines

Chapter1: Something isn't right

Blood of  Prophecy Lines
    Bus windows clatter against their thin aluminum frames, chilled by winter’s breath. A girl watched as the bus lugged passed shuttered houses and skeleton trees, filled with thousands of icicles. White blankets laid over each branch, taking beastly forms of creatures in the trees. Snow flooded the road, slithering in waves. It curled and whipped in different directions, such as a sea carried by the wind. Slowly, fog began rolling back to the defrosted smear left by a warm hand. Alaina pressed her face into a tatty old scarf. Taking a deep breath, glassy blue eyes were staring back at her through a refracted reflection.
    “How childish.”A voice over her head, grimaced, referring to the game of keep away that was going on in front of them. Behind Alaina, sat Daniel Torch, perched over the backing of her seat. Certainly, the most important person in her life. He was quiet, but temperamental. Daniel and Alaina were a cliché boy-girl friendship. She’s dragged him all over this secluded town, looking for something to do. To say their ‘get out of dodge’ day hadn’t really gone to plan, was of the least. Blizzard warnings meant all the specialty shops closed their doors early.
    She replied with a garbled groan, exhausted by the day's end. Her eyes dragged down, positioning her backpack as a pillow. Mindless chatter filled the air. All was quiet between the two as sleep’s seducing voice, calling for her to crawl in those arms once again.
    It was a gentle sound, just barely there. Upon approaching, they would coil around her prey subduing any thoughts of fighting for consciousness and now she had a delicate blue eyed girl cradled in her grip with eyes fluttering, setting silence to the world around Alaina. She wouldn’t wake up until the rocking stops and people exit from their benches.
      It was snowing heavier now as the moon rose from the dusty mountain ranges. Two sets of boots crunched in the snow. Daniel placed his arm around Alaina, jostling her with a warm smile. “ Don’t think to much on it. We will have other opportunities.”
    Alaina looked up no higher than his collarbone. Snow gathered on the lips of her eyelashes and kissed her blushed cheeks. “That’s not what I’m worried about.” Her voice was groggy with sealed lungs from sleep. “We are graduating soon. Where will we go? I’m afraid we wouldn’t be seeing each other as much.”
    He blow into his frigid hands. “We don’t need to worry about that now. I’m not going anywhere,” he confirmed.  The crunching had ended as the two bodies stepped onto the fluorescent lit porch. Daniel arched his head back, snapping his head over toward a clearing between two junipers.
    “Danial, what is it?” Alaina had looked out over the hill where her eyes caught on a crisp moon cascaded over a rigid mountain.
    His eyes came back to her, such as they always did.“Stray cats in a fight.”  Daniel turned to step off the pouch where the crunching commenced. “I’ll see you tomorrow Alaina.” Soon the luminous touch could no longer hold him, and his body was consumed with the dark night. Flicks of the moon’s silver light would reflect on the curly ends of his hair. It left a trail that she could easily follow if she so dared to. Her heart stuttered at the image. Better to leave the thought where it had formed. The door closed behind her, locking in the warmth of the house.
Darkness roamed around her as Alaina stepped into the non-existing landscape. Ripples protruded  from from her feet, creating reflection before them. The girl she saw before her carried herself differently, but there was no mistaking that this was here face. Every inch of the being was refined with beauty. Her hair was brushed with gold, dipped in silver where is tapered to the ends, meeting at her thigh. The dress she wore was white with a blue ribbon. It moved without weight. Her eyes zeroed in on Alaina. They glowed, presenting their feline pupils. She was captivating. Alaina watched her for a moment, joining in on her line of sight. Standing in complete darkness, a white tiger ignited into icy blue flames, baring its teeth with a snarl. Its stripe held a rising flame.The beast stepped forward, shooting another wave of cold flames into the atmosphere. It held a throaty growl before charging toward the two girls. The reflection vanished in panic. Alaina was left alone, paralyzed and defenseless.
Suddenly, a mass burst through the hollow shadows. A bright, winged lion blocked the tigers assault. Soon he was on top, pushing it to the ground. The tiger wailed in pain as its neck was pinned. Alaina crumbled with a spiking migraine. The lion released a victorious roar which shook the plain of darkness and light. Light bursted over them.
When Alaina woke, she was nauseous. Pain bit at her temples. Sweat kissed her face, leading to chilled running over her feet. A resisting, heavy weight sat on her chest. The blankets were twisted and ripped from the night-terrors she had experienced. Dull sunlight gathered at her shades, refusing to come in.
Indeed, it was Monday; the most dreaded day of the week. Having been dressed and ready, Alaina trickles down the steps of her uncles second floor farmhouse. The air was dense, entwined with the smell of caramelizing bacon. Breakfast was being prepared by Matthew. Her uncle stood over the stove nudging intricately lain pieces of bacon. He glanced up at me with a distraught smile. The expression was not unusual; nothing really excited him.
The sizzling meat crackled and spit onto the counter tops when the dials were adjusted. “Good morning Matt.” She said with docility, gathering herself into a padded dining chair. Alaina sloped into it. It was stiff until molded by a warm body.
A canine, named Mackenzie, approached her. The border collie had plopped her head down on the girls leg to beg. After Matthew brought the breakfast to the table, he to crouched into a seat. Mac, the dog who continued to beam at me, wagged when the over cooked pork was presented to her under the table. Uncle Matthew, however, was hunched over an old newsprint and a cup of black coffee. It was odd to know he had such taste for something so bitter and strong.
Alaina turned to a crystal, grandfather clock that sat on a fitted shelf, against the wall in the corner of the room. The pendulum suspended to each side; it was about time to go. “I’ll see you tonight,” she hugged his shoulder and drifted away. “ I don’t want to be late.”
The man nodded. “ Have a good day; say outta trouble.” It was his morning ritual to announce these lines to her every morning.
Mackenzie loped after her with a seriousness. She was a driven, intelligent dog; though, she was not playful. Mac squeezed out the closing screen behind Alaina. A cold winter breeze slapped her lungs when she fell out the door.
After a while, there it was; an occasional shuffling of the gravel. She had come back; trotting alongside; once again escorting Alaina. 
They met at an old fur. Its dark image loomed over a cracked road. The road rolled on winding and twisting through the valley that never seemed to end. The morning began to wake, bring the word to life. Bird’s orchestrated their songs as the world came to life once more.  The sun’s light pierced through the cloud, filling them with an orange glow that dripped to the ground in golden rays. The rays glittered the hill sides, washing away the glooming shadows.
Alaina pressed her hand to the edge of its trunk. It sat cold, stiff, and still. By now, Mac had trotted back home after releasing me to the landscape. Chilling ran deep into her bones. This caused her to shiver, tightening her coat inward.
The wind continued to push and pull at her weight. Her eyes faltered and twittered. The grogginess had her now, and she wasn’t about to fight it. There was no reason to stay awake.
Some time had past when a faint humming, off in the distance grew louder. A rickety, yellow school bus traveling up the road. When it rolled to a stop, the doors swung open in an uneven motion. The bottom step was scattered with mud and broken leaves. Grabbing the rail, Alaina pulled herself up the first two steps. The driver was slumped over the wheel. The woman was well aged and not at all the conversation type.
The bus was crowded with chitchat, some kids where paired within the seats and others sat alone. Watching over their heads, Alaina counted down the rows for her spot or perhaps Daniel's face. None places recognition. She exchanged a few quick glances among each student. It was unusual to see so many kids riding this particular bus. In surprise, her fixed seat was filled. The seat held a short, well-built girl. Her hair was a short in a ratty bobbed cut. It was feathered off into fine stripes at the bottom. Faint streaks of crimson, ran down her scalp to the tip of her fringed ends. The girl’s eyes pierced with emerald, yet her gaze never shied from the window. Around her neck, she wore a faded pendent of an eagle.
“Well, you’re not Daniel,” Alaina muttered. 
“C’mon take a seat!” the bus driver began to bark.
Avoiding conflict, she slid in along beside the girl. Her gaze shattered, suddenly aware of me. Alaina  met her eyes.
“Who said you could sit here?” Her eyes changed in warmth, flashing a poisonous grin. "You must be new here?"
Before she opened her mouth, the girl turned back to the window and slipped her headphones on, drowning out any possible response. She seemed to be a frivolous and rude girl.With a sigh, Alaina rocked her head on the back of a bus seat. She watched the same view rolling as she did every morning until the bus screeched to a halt. School had arrived.
The concrete was hard beneath her feet. Small groups of teenagers that decorated the lawn. Looking around, Alaina’s eyes locked with another’s. The missing man, Daniel. His eyes were a milky brown. His hair was made of flossy, blonde curls that caught in the sun's light, amplifying its rays, causing an explosion of dancing sparks. His skin was the absence of color. He wore an ironed white shirt with a royal blue sweater vest over the top. The boy also wore tan dress pants with checkered high-tops. He gave an effortless glance of a smile as he turned back to a group of boys, whom which were unfamiliar to her. It was best not to pry.
Finally, a small corridor approached just inside the building. It branched off into three halls. Flags and banners had been draped from the ceiling soliciting a local dance. The strip had vending machines that were set in a row. The halls were filled of laughter and loud talk. Groups of girls and guys stood lining the walls.
Alaina entered a classroom, greeted by a click of exiting girls. The bell had not rung yet, so there were only a handful of students in the room. She eventually perched in a suitable desk.
“Hey, again Alaina.” A palm was planted on her desk beside her open book.
She jerked her head up, startled. It was Daniel.“Oh, howdy stranger.”
“Sorry I didn’t ride the bus this morning. I had to take care of some stuff earlier than usual.”
“Oh-okay.” Her smile was forgiving.
Daniel’s eyes were gazing, watching for something.
“It wasn’t my intention to leave you out on your own.” His smiled disappeared when he talked. He must’ve found something that she had overlooked; or maybe it wasn’t what he was looking for at all.“I trust the commute wasn’t to terrible.”
Daniel was a different person when he wasn’t around Alaina. When she asked him about it he’d always played it off or tell her it was none of my business. I quickly learned it was useless to try to chip away at him, no matter how close we were.
“Psst, Daniel come on. You’ll have time for her later. There’s an urgent meeting happening. Now.” A very squirrelly girl stood in the doorway. Her last word rung as a demand.
How pretty she was. The girl had rich dark fawn hair, touched with burnt sienna streaks; it hung high in a ponytail. The girl’s eyes were the color of sapphires and twinkled like stars. She wore a white summer dress with a black over jacket. On her feet were black flats with a strip of rhinestones over the toes.
Daniel looked back at Alaina; she eagerly returned to her book. He thrusted himself away from the giving weight of the desk and turned away from her.she hadn’t given her a second thought; neither of them were now in sight.
Daniel and his girl friend had not been seen throughout the morning. Alaina was finally fed up with looking by lunch’s bell. Her locker was two floors up.
Three, twenty-one, five, eleven. It clicked and opened; she shove my backpack tightly into her tiny half locker and slam the metal door until it stuck. The sudden dread had fallen when Alaina remembered a sack lunch was in the locker under her bag. After undoing the lock, an attempt was made to open it, no use. It was stuck. In her jean pocket laid some spare change. There was a dollar, a dime, two pennies, and a tootsie roll wrapper. It wasn’t enough for a lunch but maybe it was enough for a snack bag of potato chips from the snack machine down the hall. 
A machine sat in a quiet parts of the upper level school. She punched in coordinates  bowing down to the vending door.The machine’s lights flickered rapidly, shooting sparks over the snacks. Stumbling backward, suddenly the whole machine shut down and a small puff of smoke crept up the glass into the machine. “Enough of this,” she groaned.
The halls were virtually empty halls. So many corridors along the main hall. The tiles were scuffed and unkept. Dust lined cracks and corners. A dark passage way came into view on her left. It was an old hallway belonging to the original structure of the old school. It was rare to see students in this part of the school. It was a forgotten piece of history; Even the school’s master had overlooked it.
It was with little light and all the bulbs had been out for at least a decade. Giant window panes lined half the wall  carving out a group of chairs that leaned against the chipped paint.
A silhouette had appeared, stepping further into the shadows to hide his face. A wave of light caught over his spiky obsidian hair. His eyes opened striking the darkness like two golden stars. The slits of his eyes grew as their light faded into darkness again. Alaina’s heart jumped with a racing pulse. "Who are you? You have no business scaring people like this," she snapped.

A white Styrofoam box shot from the silhouette. It slid to a stop at her feet. “You’re hungry, aren't you?" the voice was soft and shady. "It's not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking." he continues.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry." her stomach began to rumble softly, begging to differ.
"We both know that's not true." He began to snicker.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because you need to eat and I have debts to be owed." his searing eyes could almost be seen though the endless abyss.
Alaina picked the box from the ground. It was warm between her fingertips.
"What debts?" the hall was quiet. I approached the darkness, but the old corridor was empty.
Looking down at the box, Alaina ran her fingers over the markings etched into the box resembling a crown. Releasing the tabs, the lid flips open to reveal its content. Alfredo noodles raveled into a swirl, layered with creamy sauce. Small slices of chicken laid parallel to each other. Along the side, a gold fork was tied with a red ribbon of silk. Inside the lid, a note sat and "Enjoy Alaina Moriah,"had been written with a fine ink pen. It looked like it was from a different era. A mark of a dragon was drawn as a signature at the bottom. Sitting on the floor now, her legs were folded. Where poked tenderly at the chicken intimidated by the gift. The noodles and chicken were most delectable.As she closed the box, the bell began ringing, warning for the end of lunch. The box was discarded, but she kept the fork tied with ribbon.
How often are you given a real golden fork? Where in the world do you even get a gold fork... 
Folding the strange note, it was slipped into her pocket along with the remaining two pennies. To her surprise, the stuck locker popped open with ease. Everything remained untouched; nothing was stolen. Her next her class, presented in another building, was approaching quickly.
Alaina charged out the fronted the science building. The steps were rhythmic as she dropped down each one.
“Insolent girl. How are you to be the next?” A voice spat and hissed over her shoulder. Alaina had darted into a cross walk. Something was there with her. Not a someone, but a something. Her concentration had wavered when she hit the ground. It felt as though the motion was taken out of her. The muscles quit contracting; Alaina’s body had been highjacked. She dropped, hard. Drumming, the same slapping of concrete as on the steps. Smack, the dragging of rubber soles. Wheels crept forward when the light changed. Her body wouldn’t move. Dazed, Alaina watched the truck lurch from its halt and speed for a barreling speed. She could only watch the tracks of the tires until it was over.
A hand tugged on the collar of her shirt, at her clothes, at anything grazable. They were hands of desperation. There were sounds, words. Where they for her? She was there only for a second. Alaina’s body was thrown back onto the sidewalk.
“Are you Insane?!” A voice squawked.
She was still handling the task of figuring out were she was.
The emerald eyes of that girl stared into Alaina’s. The girl from the bus was reared over her waiting for a response.
This struck a train of thought in Alaina. It was her. Why was this girl here? Had she been saved? She had caught a grip on reality. “ I’m sorry; Who are you again?” Alaina was sitting up now. She felt the gash on her head before she touched it.