Shadows in The Dark

Chapter 1

This was my very first book that i wrote...it took me like a year to finish becuase i was just writing for fun. So this is how i started off and i've grown in my writing style. So sorry if this doesn't seem like the best story, i did write it when i was like 14. Oh and an interesting fact is that i wrote this whole book w/o even knowing the title and i just spent the last hour figuring it out, doing a cover, and looking for character pics. I'm poo poo out of energy lmao XD

----->To the right is Jaci (pronounceed like Jace) who is played by Cassie babe. Anywho on to the story!!

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Dark

            It’s suffocating and tight in here. Where is here now that I think about it? It’s cramped; my arms and legs feel numb. My skin is infested with goose bump running up and down my slender body. My body threatens to shiver violently from the barren cold. I clutch for any radiant heat that penetrates my confined space.

            My lungs start to heeve in and out at an inhuman speed. Air wasn’t filling my lungs fast enough. Gray spots began to crowd my vision as the seconds ticked by. My body felt like dead weight.

            “Jaci,” a vague voice said from a distance.

            “Help,” I barely choked out. My insides seemed to be caving in on each other.

            Suddenly I was able to stand straight and take big deep breathes. My body was flooded with relief, but every inch of my being was tense with suspicion. Suspicion was something I was very familiar with, since nothing is ever that pleasant.

As I gaze into the darkness for any sign of movement I spot a gleaming light. The light was so bright I cried out for the darkness to take me once more. The light drew near as the voice manifested again.

“Jaci,” the voice said. The voice was somehow clearer, deep, and richer. It was obvious that it was a boy’s voice or a messed up chick. The glowing light began to take the form of a teenage boy. 

He was drop dead gorgeous. His jet black hair with golden brown streaks running through it completely blew my mind away. That caramel skin tone reflected off the glow his ripped body gave off. What really took my breath away were those golden eyes that looked as if they knew the answer to everything that went wrong in my life.

            I was gazing at his flawless looks as his hand begun to stroke my cheek with such gentleness. “You’re in danger. You have to get away, before it’s too late,” he said with a deep voice that shook my entire body. His fingers began to trail the outline of my nose, mouth, jaw, and down to my birthmark.

“What do you mean? I’m perfectly fine now that you’re here,” I said barely comprehending what was coming out my mouth as I leaned towards his warmth. My black hair tinkled forward and into my face as my head laid restlessly on his broad shoulders. I knew I couldn’t stay like this forever, because with good there is almost always bad. Even though I knew that my body was saying something completely different.

“Please wake up; I can’t bare to loss you. Your loved ones need you right now,” he said as he tilted my head to the left exposing my neck and kissed my birthmark with love.

Then everything went red.

                        ***

Flames

Smoke filled the air of my small room. The roaring flames ate at my desk, dresser, and practically everything else in my room. Fear of death stopped me from screaming for help or running away.

My brain started to become a jumbled mess as questions roamed my head.  What’s going on? When did the house become prisoner to fire? On no, Betsy and Aunt Rachel are probably still sleeping!

I scrambled out of my bed and ran for the door. Fighting the smoke filled coughs and the splitting headache I was experiencing I sprinted down the hall.  

I began to bang on the door leading to Betsy’s room, when it crumpled into little pieces on the floor. Betsy’s bed was engulfed with flames as I yelled in terror, “BETSY! OH. MY. GOD!”

“Jaci,” Betsy said from the closet. A second later she emerged from closet with tear stained eyes. “I’m scared. What’s happening,” she said as she clung to my side.

“We’ve got to go get Aunt Rachel. Everything is fine; we just have to get out the house.” We raced down the stairs, before it gave way and exploded into flames. Sparks flew into the air at the speed of light.

I began to hear sirens in the front yard as we reached Aunt Rachel’s room. Before we could even open the door Aunt Rachel ran out the room with fire covering her right arm.

With bulging eyes she ran out the front door and passed the firefighter that were coming in screaming, “FIRE!”  She ran in circles for a while, before she was attacked with the water holes.

Meanwhile Betsy and I were being carried out the house by buff firefighters. Betsy had no bruises, just a little shaken and a few burn marks. I had cuts that needed some stitches, but I was to busy watching the camera crews and noisy neighbors gather around our house.

“What are we, the circus,” I mumbled under my breath. Well, Aunt Rachel did seem like a crazed zoo exhibit. I turned my attention to what was left of our burnt home. The frames and structure of the house was completely gone and the only thing left was scorched rubbish.

Auntie was hollering about her house, the money it would take to fix this, and where her husband was. Uncle Ben was a security guard at the airport and sometimes worked over time for extra money. Aunt Rachel knew perfectly well that he was working the night shift, so there was no need for her arguments.

The police were trying to ask her questions while the ambulance service tried to doctor-up her bloody arm. Even though her flawless face was smudged with ash and her amber eyes flared with anxious she still looked beautiful.

She is a strong woman even though I know she just wants to curl into a ball crying in her husband’s arms. I really wanted to comfort my lost aunt, but I knew it was best to be quiet.

“As the adults say ‘kids are to be seen not heard’,” I quoted as I pulled Betsy into my lap and wrapped the fire blanket around us. Betsy was a petite eight year old and had the biggest chestnut eyes that could make you fall in love with her at first sight.  “You okay kiddo? You were really brave back there,” I said softly into her ear.

            “Yea, I just want to sleep now. I’m really tired and shaky,” she mumbled sleepily as she nuzzled farther into my lap. For a pint size eight year old she was something special, I thought.

            She was the first person to make me feel like I belonged with this overprotective family. I gazed at the full moon thinking, maybe this time it will be different. Nothing is ever this good to be true, Jaci.