Chapter 1
I had woken up to the sound of constant knocking and the loud groan of my irritated mom. Not only had I gotten no sleep but I had the same sickness from earlier but more brutal than usual. I rolled out of my bed and onto the floor. Last time I checked the floor hadn’t been so hard when padded in carpet. I picked myself up and answered the door. I was quickly attacked by a smiling Kiyo.
“I’ve done it,” he shouted but not too loud because he knew how I hated loud noises in the morning. .
“What have you done,” I sighed as he dragged me out my house into his car. “And why didn’t you let me change out of my pajamas.”
His smile only got wider and he dangerously sped down the street. He over excitement was beginning to piss me off and But I could tell he knew since he shut up as soon as I gave him a hard glare.
When we finally arrived at his house he parked outside and quickly led me to the garage. Inside were tables of papers and maps. There were pumps and water railings that leaking constantly. Old tools, past failures and diagrams scattered the floor so it was awkward to step on the floor. It felt more like a cave than a garage. What drew my attention away from all the mess on the ground was a black orb sitting on the table with a glass covering protecting it.
“What’s that?” I asked never taking me eyes off the pearl.
“THAT’S what I wanted to show you,” he said smirking at me reaction. In normal circumstances I would have punched him in the arm but the orb seemed to be calling me. “I found it when I was looking for parts in the junkyard,” he said removing the glass. The orb slightly glowed and before I knew what I was doing I grabbed onto it and everything became powerfully bright then dark with the same intensity.
Now I’m nowhere. At least nowhere I know of. It’s strange in this nothing place. As I opened my mouth to speak a voice interrupted me.
“Looks like a new Carrier has been chosen,” Then there was annoyed groan of exasperation. “And I had just fallen asleep.”
“Um… Where am I?” I questioned the darkness around me.
“Well that’s hard to say,” It replied. “But you have been chosen.”
“You keep saying that! Chosen for what?” I questioned slightly annoyed. I felt the darkness chuckle.
“Yes, you have been chosen to be the new Carrier the element of darkness.”
“Darkness? B-but I don’t think I’m that kind of person.”
“I don’t see why not. Is your heart so clouded that you can’t even read it anymore?”
“Well…I…I just can’t be darkness.”
“Why?”
“Darkness is evil and I’m not,” I said confirming my statement. The Darkness sighed.
“You humans have clouded your meanings. Darkness is not evil.
“But-”
“NO! You have been chosen and once one of celestial orb chooses there is no escape.”
“Wait… one of the orbs. Does that mean that there are more?”
“Why yes. One for every element: earth, wind, fire, thunder, water, light, and of course darkness. “
“Are there others out their like me?”
“Sadly no; there are no others that have connected with their orbs.”
I sighed as I thought about it. I wasn’t alone. There were others who are going to have to go through this. I slightly smiled thinking that I was one of the lucky ones. My thoughts were interrupted by the darkness once again.
“I have a favor,” It demanded softly making it more like a question.
I stared suspiciously at the darkness. “What is it?”
“Can you… match the remaining orbs with their Carriers?”
I blinked and almost laughed. “WHAT! Are you crazy? Those pearls could be anywhere and belong to anyone,” I said trying to reason with the darkness whose anger was rising. “It’s impossible.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way and since you won’t find them I’ll just have to threaten you.”
“HUH?”
“If you don’t find those pearls you’ll disappear into something worse than a painful death”
~O~
When I woke up I was laying down on what seemed to be in Kiyo’s room on his bed. I pushed back the one blanket and rubbed my forehead. So it looks like I’m back I thought to myself. As I was about to lay back down I heard laughing from two familiar voices. I crept to the end of the hallway so that I could hear more clearly.
“So do you agree?” Kiyo’s voice asked.
The other voice was feminine but slightly haunted. “When you put it like that I’m happy to have you come along.”
I stepped softly down the stairs, but of course Kiyo doesn’t take care of his house so the stairs creaked underneath my weight. They both looked up and abruptly stopped speaking. So feminine voice from earlier was this girl. She had her eyes focused on me as if she were trying to memorize everything she saw. Parts of her skin were stitched together as if she were a life-sized ragdoll. Her canines where unusually long like you the ones would see during Halloween when people who dress up as a vampire; they hung off her bottom slightly. She smiled crookedly.
“Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up,” she said. The realization hit me so heard I probably gained a bruise somewhere.
“You’re the D-Darkness,” I stammered out. So it wasn’t a dream?
Her only response was nod. Kiyo stood from his chair and came over to me. I must have looked like I was going to pass out because he had a worried look on his face. He guided me to the couch like I was mentally impaired, but I suppose that I was in such a shock that I let him. When I sat he sat next to me.
“So I was filling in your friend here about you being the new Carrier and--”
“I never said I accepted.”
Darkness shrugged silently while she drank her tea. “He has decided to join us on our journey.”
I glared at Kiyo. “You agreed?” I almost screamed.
He looked at me embarrassed. “Well it sounded cool and I could be one of the Carriers too so-“
When I glared at him, he immediately stopped talking and laughed nervously. “I hate you so much right now.”
Darkness chuckled. “So it’s settled. We shall all work together to find the orbs.”
“That’s great and all but we’re going to be late for school,” I said still pissed at Kiyo.
Kiyo sighed and Darkness looked at both of us. “What’s school?” she asked confused.
~O~
By the time I was done dressing Kiyo had finished as well. I decided to where my school jacket instead of the vest. Mostly because it was going to get hot later on. Other than that I wore the same black pant and dress shirt as everyone else that had to wear this uniform. We walked back to the garage to find Darkness asleep on the couch. I pause from buttoning my jacket to push Darkness off so that she woke up abruptly.
“GAH!” she screamed before sitting up. “What the hell was that for?”
“You’re going to school.”
“What!?! NO WAY!!” she exclaimed before climbing back onto the couch and curling up into a ball. “I’m not going to that place. There could be a demon lurking around the corner waiting to suck out my remaining energy making me disappear for good.”
I rolled my eyes at Darkness’s rant while I looked for my spare uniform. It was the only one I had left. I inhaled and shouted breaking off her rants. “I AM THE NEW CARRIER SO THAT MEANS YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME!! IF I SAY YOU’RE GOING TO SCHOOL THEN YOU’RE GOING TO SCHOOL!!!!”
Darkness stared at me for a long time before picking up the uniform and heading toward the bathroom to change. Kiyo stared at me, slightly impressed by my outburst.
“Now that’s my tough darkness carrier,” he said lightly punching me in the shoulder. I was going to glare but instead I let it slide. After all he was driving.
~O~
I defiantly learned 3 things before lunch:
#1: my cousin visiting from Florida, Aka Darkness, is here for an extensive visit.
#2: She has been here for 3 hours and is already know as the hot-new-girl-who-can’t-speak-English-right
And #3: I leaned how to lie for 10 straight hours with a straight face.
By the time I got to our secret meeting place, known as the back of the cafeteria, I had become exhausted. I slumped down against the cool concrete steps as I heard feet approach me and looked up to see Kiyo sitting down next to me. He placed his bag to the side. After splitting a sandwich Darkness appeared. She was constantly pacing back and forth angrily. Her scares and stitches where covered earlier by my sister’s makeup.
“Would you stop pacing, you’re giving me a headache,” Kiyo said at Darkness.
She only glared at him and kept pacing. “I shall no stop until I find a way to stop those humans from following me everywhere.”
“That’s probably because a lot of them have a crush on you,” Kiyo said casually. I nodded my mouth full of sandwich.
Darkness stopped. “They want to crush me?” she said, “Well I would like to see those puny humans try.”
“No, it means that they really like you.”
“Like me? They don’t even know me!” she shouted frustrated. She threw her hands in the air and started speaking some other language and by the sound of it, she was probably cursing. As she kept going I felt a gust of heated wind that felt my shoulder feeling wet.
“Hey , Darkness!?” I asked after she stopped cursing. “Can I sense the orbs?”
Darkness looked at me and smiled. “Of course. Why? Did you sense one just now?”
“Yeah … I think.”
“Well … what did it fell like?”
“It was just a gust of hot wind making my shoulder feel soaked and then callings of some sort.”
“Looks like we won’t have to travel the world yet,” Darkness said as she sat down on the first step of the stairs, “Because it seems most of the orbs are hidden in the city.”
To be continued...
