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    Kaige

    “Max,” I shook my best friend’s shoulders and pointed ahead of me, “did you see that?”
    Max yawned and glared at me with deep brown, slumber deprived eyes, apparently faintly irritated that I had shaken him out of his much desired snooze. “Did I see what?” he inquired and when I didn’t reply he then proceeded to brush a strand of dark brown hair out of his similarly tinted eyes and attempted to plunge back into sleep once again by reclining back in my crimson sofa and snuggling against a fluffy beige pillow.
    I rolled my eyes and shook him again. “There was somebody outside my window.” I muttered, cocking my head to the side so that some of my wheaten blonde hair grazed my collarbone and cheek. “And I could’ve sworn they were staring at me.” I glanced at my friend and for an instant he appeared to be genuinely concerned until he blinked and gave me an aggravated frown.
    “It was probably just your imagination, Kaige.” said Max, exasperated. “I mean it’s way past twelve in the morning, your brain is probably just playing tricks on you. Don’t you think I would’ve seen them if they were there?”
    “You were asleep. How can you see someone when you’re asleep?” I asked, refusing to believe that I had actually managed to dream someone up. And by Max’s expression I could see that I had made my point clear to him. “Here,” I tugged on Max’s sleeve to catch his attention because he started to doze off again, “I bet you Lee saw it.” I gestured at my thirteen year old brother who was currently flipping through the channels on my flat screen television in a futile attempt to find something interesting to watch.
    “I saw what?” Lee responded almost immediately, placing the remote down on the coffee table. He had finally decided on watching some cheesy horror flick from the late sixties.
    “That person outside the window!” I stated, “Have you even been listening?” I couldn’t help but remember what I saw, ice blue skin and irises, short, snow white hair. The figure was definitely male but the sight scared me. He looked as if he froze to death. But the boy was obviously neither dead nor frozen, not to mention that August nights in northern Illinois weren’t exactly cold enough to murder anyone. Plus he looked like he was merely lusting for a kill, and that’s what really got me frightened.
    Though I wasn’t about to deny that I felt much safer surrounded by my best friend and younger brother, even if neither of them seemed to believe me.
    “I didn’t see anything.” Lee answered, leaning against the couch’s arm and giving me a questioning glimpse.
    I narrowed my eyes. Truthfully, I felt envy for the good looks that both boys possessed. With his wavy golden hair that nearly reached his collar and ocean blue eyes, my little brother looked like a younger version of some movie star in a drama. And Max, with his shaggy dark hair, lazy smile, perfectly angular face, and careless attitude was someone that most girls my age lusted after. And unfortunately that majority included me.
    Then there was me. I was nothing special. My hair was naturally the ugly brownish-blonde color of wheat, my colorless grey eyes were too big, I had a sloped nose, and I was too short for my own good. It wasn’t like I wasn’t pretty, I just wasn’t gorgeous. Not someone like Reece Johnson or Trisha Holmes or someone that was bleach blonde, tall, gorgeous, in other words, actually worth Max’s time. So, for the moment, I was content with keeping our best friend status and wishing upon every star I could see in the night-time sky that he would eventually notice me like I noticed him. Not that I believed that would ever work, I was much too rational to think it would.
    Max furrowed his brow and waved his hand in front of my face, snapping me back into reality. “Kaige, are you all right? You had the expression on your face that John,” one of our friends, “gets when Reece shows up at my house wearing a bikini.” Reece was also Max’s twin sister Lola’s best friend, along with Trisha… So I had no idea what went on around his house while I was absent.
    I tried my best to conceal the pink that was spreading across my cheeks, “And that is?”
    “Like someone hit in the back of the head with a sledge hammer and your brain fell out your right ear.” Max stated with a nod and his expression remained completely straight.
    I sighed, “Yeah… I was just thinking, that’s all.”
    “About what? If it was the dude you think you saw, then I’d recommend letting it go. It’s late, cloudy, and Lee’s watching… Well, Lee, what exactly are you watching?” Max sounded confused as he watched a horribly costumed vampire dig into some bad actors neck.
    “I don’t know,” Lee shrugged, “Something about vampires.”
    “Nooooooo,” Max rolled his eyes, and added sarcastically, “I couldn’t tell by the fake blood running down that’s persons neck.” He shuddered momentarily. “Personally, I think those things are disgusting. What kind of person thinks that drinking someone else’s body fluid is appetizing in the least?”
    “I don’t know,” Lee replied, “an undead person?”
    Max just shook his head but didn’t respond. “Either way, that movie is probably a factor to your hallucinations.”
    “That movie wasn’t even on when I saw that person.” I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “Besides, you didn’t see what he looked like.”
    “Oh, so now you decide to give it a gender.” Max noted jokingly.
    “Shut up.” I snapped, not appreciating his humor. “He looked like he froze to death. He had blue skin, ice blue eyes, snow white hair. He also looked murderous, that’s what scared me the most.”
    Something seemed to go off in Max’s brain and his expression changed for less than a second and before I could read it, he shifted it to faux amusement. “See? No one can freeze to death in the middle of August.”
    I let go of a breath. There was no way I was going to win this argument no matter how hard I tried so I simply gave in. “You’re right. It was probably nothing.”
    As soon as I said that, rain started to make a beat on my house. “Hey, look, it’s raining.” Max decided to state the obvious.
    “I better close the windows before the floor gets all wet. My parents will kill me if that happens.” I pointed out, ignoring Max’s previous comment.
    I got off the couch next to Max and started towards the window in the other room.
    I couldn’t help but think about how ominous this scene was. I was entering into a dark space and screams sounded in the room behind me. Not to mention the rain. Max is right. I thought to comfort myself. It’s nothing but you’re imagination.
    I nodded, finally convincing myself of that fact and shaking any fear that I still held out of my head so when I finally reached the window I felt much better. I grabbed the top portion of it, preparing to tug it downward when suddenly lightning stuck outside and I gasped, backing away in terror.
    Staring right at me outside my window, were two icy eyes.



    Lian

    “Lian? Lian wake up.”
    “Don’t hurt him!” I woke with a scream as a pair lotion tainted hands were shaking me from my shoulders down.
    “I’m not hurting anyone, what are you talking about?”
    I rubbed the fog from my eyes with the back of my hand feeling heavy of sleep, “Mm nothing just a bad dream is all.” I yawned and rested my head back down shutting my eyes hoping to return back to an un-peaceful slumber.
    “Lian, you keep having these nightmares even more now, something’s up. I mean you’re jostling around and muttering things like, ‘Don’t die’, ‘Don’t hurt him,’ and the one I personally find abnormal, ‘I love you.’” I could feel the brush of Ana’s soft pink bunny slippers against my arm as she sat down with a light thud. “Wake up; we’re going to talk about this, whether you like it or not.”
    “Nothing’s up. Nightmares are normal for the human mind, plus it’s three in the morning I want to sleep.” I buried my face deeper into the pillow, taking in the scent of the familiar laundry detergent, and pulled my sleeping bag over my head. Trying to seep into the darkness was worthless as Ana pulled the back of my sleeping bag out from under me.
    “But these nightmares aren’t normal. I’m really worried that there may be something messed up about you.” I looked up at her caramel hair and deep emerald eyes filled with concern. “So tell me about all the weird dreams you’ve had, especially this one.”
    “Ana, no I-” I stopped and looked away pulling my fingers through short black choppy hair. “This new one was really weird. I saw this boy, but I couldn’t see his face and I just had a feeling he was going to get hurt.”
    “So you don’t know who it was,” she said grabbing my hand with rainbow nails and pulling me up off the ground.
    “Not at all, I’ve never seen this boy before in my life.” I stretched out my arms and laid back against the coffee table placed in the center of the room.
    “That’s a bit weird, any other dreams?” Ana fiddled with her big clunky necklace.
    “Lots. There’s one where I see a girl with blonde hair and the only part of her face I can see is her lavender eyes, and she’s holding her hand out in a way that makes it look like she’s raising a body. In fact I think that’s what I saw; a dead body.”
    Ana let out a sigh, “The things that go through your head. And you don’t see any of these people in real life.”
    “Not in real life but in dreams only at night, never when I fall asleep in class or something. I see them over and over. Sometimes the blonde girl is with a couple of boys talking. One had blue eyes, gold, and orange. They just talk.” I paused a moment to gather my thoughts, “Actually now that I think about it I have seen that boy before, in a different dream. He had these bright yellow eyes and had a little girl on his lap and she had dark purple eyes. And he pulled out a dagger and showed it to her, which I find strangest of all. Then the little girl takes it and he guides her hand like he’s teacher her to kill someone with it.”
    “Really weird Lian. They only have unnatural colored eyes, nothing normal like brown.”
    “Mhm.” I hugged my knees to my chest starting to feel uneasy.
    “When’d they start?”
    “When Zumu died two years ago.” I found it abnormal that when my grandmother died I started having these dreams that reminded me of the stories she told me about. The stories of seven angles and gifted humans, Nephilim. And their eternal battle against horrid creatures, having to help the dead cross over.
    “What about when your Mom died?”
    “Nothing, but please can we not talk about that.”
    “But it was never this bad, when did it get worse?”
    I looked away and muttered, “When that strange fire happened in New York. After that my dreams got worse in a way I can’t explain. Everything is just going downhill for me.”
    Ana looked at her feet and whispered, “People are starting to think you’re crazy. They think that you’re depressed or just mental all together. Some joke around and say you’ll be sent to the loony bin and stay for the rest of your life.”
    “When did that start?”
    “When you cut your hair off funny, that’s not something normal, Lian; so tell me why you did it.”
    I bit the inside of my cheek as hard as I hoping that I wouldn’t have to answer. But as the moments dragged on and silence hung heavy I mustered the courage to reply. “Because my hair won’t burn as easy if I’m in a fire.”
    “I think you need to see someone about this, those thoughts aren’t typically average thoughts for an everyday fifteen year old girl. I actually am worried that you’re… mental. So please go get help. For me?”
    “Oh so now you think I’m crazy!” My voice got higher as I snapped and snarled at Ana’s words. My hands shook angrily as I wanted to get away from her and everyone. “I’m not crazy Ana! I don’t need help I’m perfectly fine! Now let me go to sleep!” I lay back down in one quick volatile motion that most likely sold the whole mental bit I was trying to get away from. Nobody would ever believe I was fine. Not as long as I had these dreams or cut my hair off with a butcher knife. And it would probably get worse wouldn’t it?
    “Lian please get some help I’m really worried about you.”
    “Then leave me alone because I’m not crazy.” I growled under my breath. A clash of lightening outside the window with a hurl of thunder shattered the silence to pieces and fall like smashed glass in front of my face. “I’m not crazy.” And thus went the hope that maybe I wasn’t crazy.
    “You’re different. You went from wearing bright colors to mainly black. From drawing flowers and hearts in notebooks to flames and black shadowy figures. What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing is wrong, I just grew up.”
    “People don’t grow up like that.” She widened her green eyes and gave a pleading look, “What’s wrong?” I couldn’t answer due to the fact that it was a moment where I disdained Ana’s good looks. Her eyes were big and beautiful; she had flawless skin, and hair that required no attention. While I on the other hand was anything but beautiful; my hair was jet black and cut of short and jagged, I was too thin and frail, and I only looked somewhat Chinese because my skin was too pale and my plain brown eyes weren’t anything special, they weren’t pretty and big like Ana’s.
    I snapped back to reality, “Nothing is wrong, I’m fine. Can I just go to sleep now?” But I didn’t wait for an answer I just laid back down, shut my eyes, and slowly felt myself drift off into a heavy dream-filled sleep as I listened to the next crash of lightening and roll of thunder.



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    Kaige is the blonde one and Lian the black hair one