Story of the Night Children
1st Story!
The Story of the Night Children
By David Gary Chapter 1
I knew from the first moment she saw me that I would never be good enough. My name is Simon Michael Kane and I can remember the very first time I laid eyes on Alicia May Ravenwood. My family and I had moved from New York to a small town called Bloom Blossom in northern Delaware. It was just my father William, my mother Sarah, my little brother Charlie, and I. My parents loved being in a nice quiet town and were getting excited about their new jobs. My mother was a pediatrician and my father was a librarian. Charlie and I happen to be in my junior year of high school; we were not excited about anything. Charlie was especially not happy with the arrangement. He went on and on about how unfair it was, while I was content to put on an act of happiness for my family so they wouldn't have to deal with my unhappiness. As we got situated I looked out from the porch of our small two stories home and saw a very nice car pass by slowly. It looked like a very clean convertible sky blue mustang, but it wasn't the car that made me stare. It was the girl inside. She seemed perfect in every aspect. She had black hair that was cut shoulder length and seemed to have a luster all in its own. Her face seemed almost too angelic. It seemed soft and kind. In that moment when she paused at the stop sign at the corner, it never occurred to me what I was doing. This was a bad idea because I accidentally dropped mom's favorite glass. There was no shatter or breaking, because luckily dad was right there to catch it. "Easy sport, we don't exactly have a lot of these," my dad spoke jokingly. I chuckled and gave dad a look of false amusement, and then I went about helping mom bring in the rest of the furniture. The last thing to be brought in was my mirror; the one mom gave me for my last birthday. Charlie and I brought it upstairs and placed it in the corner of my room. Upon his leaving I looked at the reflection that was on it. Nothing special was all I saw. There was a very tall very lanky young man staring at me with bright green eyes. His hair was a dark brown color, and it was long enough to come over his eyes which made them seem a bit brighter. His face was a normal oval shape that wasn't super long. Here in my room I was looking at a seventeen year old young man whose life was over in the drollest way possible. Tomorrow was to be the start of school, and the only thing I was looking forward to was the lack of uniforms. I got my clothes ready for tomorrow, nothing fancy, a simple grey T-shirt, and a pair of faded blue jeans, my solid black Vans, and my black leather jacket. As I finished piecing together my outfit my mother came in with her sunny disposition pouring out. "We have guests Simon," she nearly sang. All this meant to me was that I had to act nice and happy to be here. I chuckled at the thought. Mom and I went down stairs where we found dad entertaining our guest with the usual story of "now your library is nice but not better than where I've been". Dad could be a bit much when it came to libraries. As we entered the living room, I got a better look at our guests. There was one man, a young girl and a young boy. The man was of average height no taller than six feet. He had very strong Native American features and yet he wore a business suit. He looked up at me and had a very odd expression on his face. At first he seemed very polite to see me then his expression changed to being very serious. He then got up and shook my hand happily, as though the thought that he had was just a phase. The girl was about my age and waved at me. She was rather short and petite. Her hair was long and seemed to flow down to her shoulder. Her eyes were a soft chocolate color that made me feel a little safer. Then I looked at the boy, he was towering over me by a good five inches. He was very lean looking though, like he never ate much. His eyes were like then man's very fierce yet kind. "You must be Simon," said the girl. Her voice was like a mockingbird's song. I almost didn't answer. "Uh...yeah that's me," I finally mumbled. She giggled at my shyness, while the man shook my hand. "Very nice to meet you, my name is Joseph Blackpaw," spoke the man, nearly crushing my hand. "This is my son Nathan and my daughter Meadow," the girl giggled while her very tall brother smirked. I waved politely and looked at the floor, not sure of what to say or do. Then Meadow broke my shyness. "You're going to the high school right? What year?" she asked in a way that made me smile. "I'll be starting my junior year," I spoke feeling strangely loose and comfortable. She giggled again "Oh goody, me too." I then noticed that Nathan was looking rather upset at Meadow. Joseph then spoke up. "Well I believe that is all the time we have my friends, if you need any thing just call." He started ushering his children out the door. Before he left the house he looked at me and smiled. "Oh and Simon don't be a stranger come by my shop any time. We'll talk about a car for you". He left quickly leaving me in a bit of a confused calm. Mom asked if I was hungry and I said no. I went back up to my room and slept, dreading tomorrow and what it held. I dreamt of something bizarre. I was running through trees and stones, leaping over rivers and bounding up mountain passes. I felt hungry and alive. I finally arrived at a rock formation that was only a few feet over a river. There were no trees in this area, it was the perfect clearing. I looked up at the moon and woke up in my room. I scratched my head and looked at my clock. Ten minutes before I was to be at school. I quickly ran into the bathroom and showered. I sped out back to my room and threw on my outfit. I then zipped down leaping over Charlie and in the car passenger seat. I sighed in relief and watched Charlie laugh at my racing around the house. What I found strange was how Charlie was not ready. I got out and laughed back at him. "You better get ready, unless you want to start off making this the new fashion statement," I cackled at him. He looked back and smiled a mischievous smile, "I have all the time in the world; it's you who got up a whole hour early." I looked at him and glared. I then shook my head and walked back up to my room and laid there for an hour hating Charlie. We arrived at the high school and I was surprised. The campus was amazing. It was clean and the school itself was very large. As I left the car and said good bye to Mom I felt very intimidated as I walked up the steps into the front building. I walked in and saw various teens walking slowly to no where talking about nothing. I walked in to the front office and registered they seemed anxious to know me. They talked to me then about me and then sent me onto my homeroom. I walked the white halls a little nervous about the attention I was getting. Charlie seemed to thrive on it, he was randomly waving at most girls who passed by whispering and gawking at us. He went across the hall to his home room and I went to mine. I walked in and there was Meadow, sitting as happy as can be. "Simon" she sang joyously leaping up out of her desk to hug me. "Uh hi" I said taken aback slightly. As the rest of the kids walked in we sat down and talked some more. "So what do you think of our little school?" she laughed. "Oh it seems very nice" "See any cute girls?" "Hmm....just one" "Really? Who?" "You know I'm not really sure" I then went on to describe the girl that drove past my house when I first arrived. As I was talking Meadow became very quiet and evasive. She then proceeded to stay quiet the entire period of homeroom. The bell rang and Meadow almost ran out of the room. I chalked it up to nothing, and went on to my next class. It was my algebra two class. As I went in the teacher at the door stopped me. "You must be Mr. Kane? Right?" he asked me curiously. He was a short man with a shaven head, and bushy eyebrows. "Yeah" I mumbled not really looking at him. As I entered the class my eyes caught her immediately. Her eyes were what captured me first. They were very dark lavender. She seemed almost unreal as I sat down behind her. Her perfume was very intoxicating it smelled of apples and some kind of candy. "Alright class we'll now select partners for the year" the teacher announced smiling. He paired every one except me and the girl. "Alright Miss Ravenwood and Mister Kane you to will be paired together" he said almost laughing at the thought. She turned to face me and I nearly wept inside. She was smiling a dazzling perfect smile as she spoke to me. "So you're the new guy?" she said as her eyes danced and sparkled. I couldn't really speak; I instead uttered an unintelligible mumble. The kids began to laugh one of them exclaiming "poor boy...maybe he's gay". She then whipped around to the boy and gave him a dark and stormy look of fury. She went from being a bombshell to a very beautiful angry goddess. The boy who made the comment went pale and looked at his desk quietly. The teacher then quickly got every one back on task, that was when I found out she was as brilliant as she was pretty. I felt very foolish trying to do math next to her, she had every answer correct. The class bell rang and she left quickly, leaving only the smell of her perfume and lingering thoughts of her smile. I moved on to my next class and couldn't bring myself to pay any attention. I was then snapped into bittersweet reality by Nathan waking me. He and I were due in our next class. As we entered zoology we were greeted by Meadow and her friend. She was a very curvy, very pale girl with gray eyes and pitch black hair. She seemed to have excessive mood swings, one minute she would be fine and content then randomly sad and crying. As class progressed we were assigned lab partners. Meadow was very pleased when the teacher assigned me to be her partner. I noticed across the room that there was the girl from my math class. "Meadow who is that girl?" I asked awestruck. Meadow followed my gaze and then gave me a look of frustration. "That girl is Alicia Ravenwood" she said sourly. "Alicia" I whispered, the name left a sweet feeling in my soul. As the bell rang I was packing up my bags when I heard a pleasant ringing voice. "So it would seem as though fate is pairing us together" I turned around to find Alicia looking at me smiling. I wasn't sure how or why I did it but I smiled back and spoke clearly. "Well I think it is more in my favor that I am graced by your beauty" upon actually hearing myself my insides churned and flopped. I sounded like a fool, or an arrogant jerk neither of which was what I wanted. She then giggled and smiled her perfect dazzling smile. "That was very cute Mr. Kane" she spoke softly her voice harmonious and sweet. She looked at Meadow, who was standing at the door. The air between them was electric and terrifying, it was as though they were mortal enemies. Meadow walked off and then so did Alicia, leaving me feeling even more out of the loop. After school Charlie said he would be busy escorting a young lady home and then some. I could always count on him to make do in any place. I decided to head for Mr. Blackpaw's shop, it happened to be only a couple blocks away. I reached his shop and much like the school I found it surprisingly clean. It was supposed to be a used car lot and yet it looked more like a new car dealership. I saw him talking a couple into buying a minivan that was in amazing condition. He finished with them and looked at me; his face went from its usual bright smile to a joyful look of surprise. "Well I'll be...I did not expect you this soon boy" he spoke with a booming voice. He led me into his comfortable office. "So I imagine you here to take me up on the car deal, right?" he asked excitedly. We talked for about an hour then walked out to the car lot and looked he said I could get any car that was under five grand. There were three, a red truck, a blue car, and a brown van. I was not a huge fan of the red truck. It didn't seem like something I wanted; I doubted I was going to have to use the towing capability. The van was a huge no in my mind. It screamed of bad taste and embarrassment, and I was not about to put my self through that. I took the blue car earnestly and did not pay anything for it. It was strange just to be given a car for free, so I asked "Mr. Blackpaw why did you just give me a car?" he looked at me with a sly grin on his face "I give nothing to no one; you're going to earn it." I looked at him strangely and asked how. He gave me a card and took off only saying "just show up and all will be explained." I drove home and got the over celebrated congratulations fro the parents. The brotherly jealousy phase from Charlie and the strange then after where he tries to get to let him borrow it. I went to bed looking at the card.
Moonsmile cliff at 8:00 Be there if you want to pay for your car!!
I fell asleep with the card in my hand and knew that tomorrow night was going to be interesting to say the least.
I awoke the next morning in a bit of a mood. I was to go to the ridge tonight and I wasn't any closer to finding out why. I figured it was just a party for my peers, but that really didn't seem likely. I got up and showered then got dressed for the day. I left my room and bumped into Charlie. "Hey Simon...I need to borrow your Metallica shirt." I looked at him and was very confused. "Where is yours?" I asked him. "Well before we moved I gave it to a girl..." he then had an embarrassed sort of smirk. " What girl would that be?" I winced and rubbed my forehead. "Elise Darrel" he grinned, crossing his arms in achievement. I groaned and he laughed. Long story short that girl was the biggest slut I have ever known. He followed me to my room and would not shut up about her. I threw the shirt at him and yelled "You have sex wearing my shirt tonight and I swear there won't anything left of you the next morning!" I hoped my point hit him as he cackled off to his own room. I finally had a chance to get dressed. I put on a band shirt one of the many I kept in a drawer of their own. This one happened to be a Wolfmother shirt. I threw on a pair of grey jeans I had, then my black jacket. I biked my way to the edge of town; past it I could see nothing but trees and dirt roads. I waited for any familiar faces to show up. I was not sure of where to go and was a little nervous showing up by myself. I looked at my pocket watch and sighed it was almost time. "HEY Simon!" I looked up and saw Meadow running up to me. I smiled in relief as she approached. "Your not lost are you?" she giggled at me. "No just rather not look like a loner my first night out." I said quickly. She walked toward a really nice car and opened my door. "C'mon Mr. Loner man" she laughed at me. I got in with a smirk, and then she got in and drove. We past lots of wilderness and finally reached a clearing. It was a large clearing on a cliff side. I got out of the car and was shocked by how many people were there. I saw Mr. Blackpaw sitting on the edge looking out into the sky. I walked up and sat next to him. "Well I'm here sir, now how do I start paying off my debt for the car?" I asked him not really knowing what else to say. He never turned to acknowledge me; instead he just sat there gazing at the sky. I walked off toward Meadow "I'd like to leave Meadow, please." I asked feeling put off. "But why?" she looked genuinely sad. I felt a little bad for saying it but I wasn't going to lie. "Your dad just sits there and would not answer my question". She looked at me and smiled "he'll snap out of it soon I promise" she smiled sweetly. I nodded and sighed "okay, not sure what to do, I don't really know any one". She took my hand and her smile widened "come with me I'll show you the ropes at these kinds of parties". She pulled me off into the woods and then stopped when we were out of site. "Uh, Meadow?" I mumbled out. She put a finger to my lips and put a hand over my eyes. I tried to say something but couldn't. For some strange reason I couldn't speak. I then began to feel my self get very drowsy. I tried very hard to fight the feeling of sleep coming over me, but the harder I fought the faster I fell 0into it. This happened for what seemed like hours, until I blacked out. I awoke in blue tent, and I felt like my head was filled with cotton. I tried to get up, and as I did this I was hit with a massive amount of pain. I lay back down and the pain was kind enough to leave me for now. The tent opened and in came Meadow with a sheepish smile on her face. "Hey listen you can't really speak right now, so please just listen" she sat down next to me and sighed. "You're going to be experiencing some changes in the next week starting tomorrow. All these people that you have seen including me and my family are special." she pulled up her sleeve to reveal a strange mark on her arm. It was a purple moon shape. "See you may not believe me, but we are all werewolves" she looked into my eyes and I noticed hers were a bright yellow. I wanted to scream, but as she said I couldn't even talk. I just laid there with questions firing off in my mind at hyper speed. "Now I don't want to be afraid Simon, I mean your going to be fine. Better than fine in fact" she smiled sheepishly. I felt my motor functions come back. I sat up and looked at her. "What will happen to me?" of all the questions I had, I decided to be selfish for my well being. "Oh sweetie you'll be fine, I promise. Your just going to go through some new changes, and we will be here for you" she took my hand and gazed into my eyes optimistically. I knew then that life had just gotten more complicated. I left the tent and looked around; everyone had packed up and left. I got into Meadow's car, although at this point I wasn't sure why I did. I mean it was so strange being radically changed by a girl and now being driven home by her. She got in and drove me home. We said nothing to each other the whole way there. I got out and walked in to the house. The parents were gone and Charlie must have still been on his "date". I walked up stairs and looked in the mirror. On my neck was a half healed gash, looking at it made me feel queasy. I walked to my room and collapsed, I couldn't fight off the sleep this time. I fell into a blissful sleep.