A/N: This is a bonus chapter! It is Blank: Chapter One: First Sight in Sam's point of view. Please comment and tell me what you think! Oh, and if you see any grammar mistakes or anything of the sort, point that out too. I kind of rushed writing this and didn't give it much of a once-over, yah know? Anyway, I'm sure you're tired of reading this. I'll stop now. Here's the BC.
P.S.- The end of this chapter also runs into Chapter Two. If you need a refresher, just re-read chapter 1 & the beginning of chapter 2, links in the sidebar to the right, under February!
“This is your fault, Beth!” He shouts, flinging his hands in the air, seething. The man’s wife opposite him points to his face and screams, “My fault? How is this my fault, Howard!? You’re the one who’s the freak! You’re the one that’s made our child a freak!”
I cover my ears and squeeze my eyes shut, but I can still hear their shrieks. I cower on the other side of the couch, my head in full view of their argument, but they ignore me. My body is shaking, and I’m sweating, but it’s cold.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your wife, Howard!”
“I couldn’t! Do think you would marry me if I told you the risks it would be towards our children?”
“No, of course I wouldn’t marry you if I knew it would be like this! Do you think I like being stalked by those things? Do you think I like knowing that they are tracking you, me, our son everywhere we go?”
“I love you Beth, I didn’t want my past to get in the way of my life with you.”
“The only thing wrong is that it isn’t your past, Howard. It’s your present and future too, and you know it. I just don’t understand how you didn’t have the nerve to tell me until now. It’s over.” My mom suddenly notices my presence behind the couch. I’m whimpering and shuddering, still covering my ears but able to hear every word.
Beth gives Howard the darkest look she could manage from her pretty face and strides over to her only child. She picks me up and holds me in her arms, rubbing my back in soothing circles.
“I’m leaving you, Howard.” She states curtly and goes outside. It’s raining heavily, and the water quickly saturates my mommy’s pretty hair as she carries me out to the minivan sitting outside of our house. She opens the sliding door and places me in my car seat, locking me in.
“Mommy will be right back, Sam.” She states and goes back into the house. My daddy is standing in the open doorway, leaning against the frame. She slides past him without a word. A few moments later she comes back with two full suitcases and my Toy Story backpack. She hands my backpack to me and I clutch it to my chest and start to cry. My mom stuffs the two big suitcases into the trunk and then slides into the driver’s seat and turns the key in the ignition. At the sound of the engine revving my daddy finally starts to break down. He slides down the door frame, to his knees, with his head in his hands. His glasses are dotted with the rain.
“Mommy, where are we going?”
“We’re going to your grandma’s house, sweetie. You’re not going to see Daddy anymore. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I nod, even though my daddy has never hurt me. Ever. I unzip my backpack quickly and take out my blanket, it’s blue and pretty and I like to hold it on rainy days like this. The van is slowly backing out of the drive way, through the dense mud and onto the street. I turn around in my car seat to watch my daddy crying in the rain. I thought it was the last time I was going to see him. Little did I know it would be the last time I saw my mother.
A few minutes later mommy came to a 4-way stop. My mom saw a truck farther down the street so she went first through the intersection, at twenty-five miles an hour. My mother hadn’t noticed how fast the truck was going- eighty-five. The driver was drunk. The truck T-boned our minivan on the left side, sending a piece of metal crashing into my mother’s skull, killing her instantly. My car seat was on the right side, and the truck missed me by three inches. My neck was sprained from the impact.
Then I teleported. It was the first time I had ever used my Blank powers. I didn’t know how it happened, but I imagined being outside, away from the death trap van, and I felt a pressure, and then I was there, ten feet away from the burning mass. I still managed to hurt myself though. Glass punctured my skin and my left arm broke in three places. By now I’m screaming. I can see that my mother’s foot is on the gas, her hands still on the steering wheel. She looks alive. But she’s not. It’s then that another car hits her. It’s my dad’s. He had followed us closely without his headlights on, so mommy couldn’t see him. He wanted to make sure I got to grandma’s house safely. He didn’t have time to stop; the van flipped over twice, before landing on its top and spinning. It crushed her body to unthinkable angles. By the time the van stops spinning, my father’s head had connected with the steering wheel of his car, hitting a spot in his brain. My dad passed out three seconds after he hit mommy’s van.
The police came five minutes later. My mommy was dead, along with the drunk driver. They took me and daddy to the emergency hospital in the nearest town. The doctors said it was a miracle that I was alive. Their reasoning for me being ten feet outside of the van was that my mom must not of buckled me in and I was sent through a window on impact, even though I know that wasn’t the case.
I stayed in the hospital for eight days. I slept for three days straight. When I woke up I told them my daddy had been in the other car. They told me my mommy was dead and my daddy’s brain had been hurt. Daddy’s brain had forgotten how to hear. I stayed with my grandma until my daddy was released from the hospital two months later.
This is my nightmare.
My scream drowns in my pillow as my eyes snap open and I clutch the fabric beneath my palms. Sweat is glistening on my naked chest as I sit up, hands shaking, wrinkling the white cotton sheets. I pray to god that my dad didn’t feel the vibrations from my scream. I’ve been having the same nightmare for eight years. My father insists but I absolutely refuse therapy. I don’t want anyone in my head. What if they find out who I am? I tear the sheets off my body and hop in the shower before getting dressed in a dark navy t-shirt and jeans. I rake my fingers through my hair but I know it’s hopeless to keep it tidy and settle for an air-dried look.
“Hey, dad.” I sign to my father as I enter the kitchen where he sits at the table, eating a plate of eggs. He grumbles a morning hello as I sit down at the table with a bowl of Cheerios. Normally, I would just pop up in Paris for a quick pastry, but I want to spend some time with my dad this morning. My father quickly signs to me: “Did you sleep well?”
“Yah, I slept well.” I say, letting him read my lips because my hands are busy with my cereal.
Lie. My subconscious glares at me, crossing her arms possessively and raising her eyebrows.
“I know when you’re not telling the truth, Sammy. It’s in your eyes.”
I glare at my father and finish my cereal hastily. I don’t want to sit with him anymore. Although I would like to ask him for advice. Aside from the nightmare, there is another travesty on my mind. There’s this strange pull in my chest, trying to lead me somewhere. I try to ignore it, but I just can’t. It feels almost instinctual, like some kind of Blank 6th sense or something, pulling me north.
“Sam-” My father grabs hold of my arm in a vice grip, and I let him. He’s surprisingly strong for a middle aged man. “Don’t get into trouble.”
“I’ll do my best,” I sign to him.
“Which school are you going to today?” He mumbles back, his eyes downcast. He loosens his grip on my arm before letting go completely and returning to his eggs.
“I’m not sure. I was thinking of going to Brown today, but I feel like going… north?”
“Whatever you want, son, just make sure you get a few classes in today.” He drops his fork and signs to me. I nod and grab my tan leather jacket and backpack before I disappear, heading north of Connecticut. Since I didn’t put an exact picture in my mind, I end up just going north a few miles. I land in a small wood, surrounded by trees. Holy shit, I need to be more careful. What if had landed in the middle of a busy intersection…
I shake my head. Don’t think about fucking accidents. In intersections. I decide to head for Boston. Hell, maybe I could sneak into Harvard and study law for a few days. No one would notice. I imagine Harvard’s bathrooms, and pick out the stall farthest from the door. A few moments of pressure and wind and I’m there, standing on the toilet. I chuckle and jump down from the seat. Luckily, it’s too early for classes, so no one is in the bathroom. I head out, nod to a janitor waxing the floor who gives me a beguiled look, and walk out the front door. I’ll just lay down on the lawn until the first class starts, then I’ll go into the bathroom again and-
I feel that pull again. I sit up quickly, my eyes wide. The pull is stronger. I’m either farther away or closer to it.
From what? My subconscious scoffs and flips through her Seventeen magazine.
I don’t know… it.
Before I know it my feet are taking off running. I won’t teleport because I have no idea where I’m going, and I do not want to pop up somewhere I don’t want to be. I run for what seems like hours, until I find myself in front of a high school. My brows knit together. The pull is the strongest that it’s ever been, practically moving my feet for me in a certain direction. My eyes scan the school lot, that filling with preppy students. A gray pickup truck idles in the school lot, not ten feet away from me. An unusual looking girl steps out. The truck is twice as tall as she is. It towers over her. She’s wearing skinny jeans, a Beatles shirt and converse. I fucking love converse. The pull has me going toward this strange girl with the midnight hair. I can’t stop my feet. The small girl waves to someone in the truck as it pulls away and she puts on her jacket and slings a backpack over her shoulder. Shit, I’m going to run over her, shit.
Her back turns to me right as I make rough contact with it, sending her sprawling, I reach down to catch her, dropping my bag in the process, but she’s already on the ground on her hands and looking up at me like: “why?”
“Sorry.” I tell the girl, my hand out to her. The pull is gone.
She stares at me blankly before grabbing hold of my hand. I hoist her up off the ground. Damn, she’s so light. Then it could just be my strength.
Her eyes are a lovely, almost golden brown. Her midnight hair is accented by deep amethyst and her dark mauve nails create a delicious contrast with her almost-translucent skin. The soft pink curve of her full lips opens slightly.
“Um, thanks.” She hikes her backpack strap further up her shoulder and turns her back to me again. Walking away from me. But she’s the reason for the pull and I can’t just let her go. I wrack my brain for an reason to talk to her.
“Hey wait.” I catch up to her easily, what with her short little strides. I grab her forearm, wanting her to turn and look at me. She flinches at my touch and twists her arm out of my grasp, surprised. My forehead scrunches I and watch as she glares at her shoes, takes a deep breath, and then finally looks at me.
“What?”
Come on, think of something.
“I’m new here and terribly lost,” I breathe. She raises one eyebrow at me, skeptical. Her fingers fidget with the black backpack strap on her shoulder. “I was wondering if you might show me ‘round.”
The girl stares down at her shoes again, deliberating for a moment, and then her golden orbs flick back up to my face. I’m sure the look on it is ridiculous. I have no idea what is running through this girl’s mind.
“Sure.”
I’m a bit baffled by her response but I reveal my best smile and scoop my up my bag.
“But I have to warn you,” she lingers “I’ve only been here a few weeks, so don’t expect me to tell you all about this place.”
Understood.
It baffled me that I hadn’t felt that fucking pull until about three weeks ago. “I understand…uh… what did you say your name was?” I imagine her having a run-of-the-mill name like Ashley or Brittney, Stephanie, or-
“I didn’t. My name’s Eneile.”
Huh. Not what I expected. I wonder what her parents were thinking when they named her. Is enough else named Eneile on this earth? Probably not.
“Sam.” I give my name, and smile.
“Nice to meet you, Sam.” My name passing through her lips sends a shiver through me, and it’s not from the chill outside. She starts speed walking away from me and for a moment I think she’s going to abandon me, but her head twists around to glance at me over her shoulder.
“Come on, it’s cold out here.”
I catch up with the little midget easily. Eventually we reach the front steps of Airway Prep. I hold the door open for her. “So where do we start?” I ask as she slips past me and rolls her eyes.
“Well,” She mumbled, “We have ten minutes until first period, so we won’t be able to get to do much.”
I bet she doesn’t even know the way.
Shut up! Don’t be a dick.
Whatever you say.
The words “Follow me” escape her pink lips. She leads me into the school cafeteria, which is packed with the student body. I automatically scan the people, looking for anything suspicious. A black cloak. Red eyes. A rumbling voice. You-
Never know when they’re watching.
` “Hmmm,” I start. “Do you know where the library is?”
A shocked look graces her features. “Of course. Do you like books?”
“I find them irristable.” I murmur, although I could think of a few things that are even more so. “Some more than others.”
Like the Blank book your father showed you when you discovered your powers.
Yah, that one. My father said he had put the book with no title in library somewhere. It could be anywhere.
“This way.” Eneile led me up a beautiful curved staircase with mahogany wood railings and marble stairs. The staircase was a long one, and soon the silence grew to be uncomfortable. I coughed awkwardly and glimpsed at a window set in the wall. “So… nice weather.”
“Hah,” She laughs, the sound forced. “Quite. For Boston, I guess.”
The silence stretched again. So I broke it. “You mentioned you’ve only been here a few weeks?”
“Yup.” She stares at her shoes and not at me. What a bad habit.
“Where did you move from?”
“Juneau.” She surprises me again. What about this girl makes her so different? She’s totally normal, and yet she’s… she’s-
The pull.
“Alaska. Wow.” I manage to say and rub a hand down my neck nervously. Why am I so anxious around her? I feel like she’s in some kind of danger. I want to take her somewhere safe.
“You?” she questions, taking the steps ever so slowly and gracefully.
Hah. You’re from everywhere.
I know. “Oh, I just switched schools.” Not a total lie.
“Why?” If I could see her face, I’m sure Eneile would be raising her eyebrows, being skeptical of me.
I can’t answer that without flat-out lying to the girl, and I just don’t want to do that. My mouth stays a firm line, revealing nothing. I stare out the window instead, watching the slow drizzle patter against the window pane.
“Yah… nice weather.” Eneile jokes. She reaches the end of the hallway to a massive set of double wooden doors. I resist the urge to look at her ass when she walks ahead of me so I glue my eyes to her pretty hair instead.
“Well here’s the library.” Eneile reaches for the knob and tugs but the door looks exasperatingly heavy so I open it for her. She stares at me for a minuet second before walking through the doors to the small library. This is a prep school and the library is small. I don’t even get it. I grimace.
A sudden whisper kisses my ears. “Hello, Eneile.” An elderly woman waves behind the counter. She has the classic librarian look, with a prairewinkle sweater and a collared shirt underneath. Her hair is pulled back into a tight bun and the woman’s glasses hang by a chain around her neck. There’s even a fucking book in her hand.
“Hello, Ms. Crout.” Eneile passes her an awkward way back. I resist the urge to smile like an idiot.
“And who’s your friend?” Crout gives me a once-over, and I’m about to die. She’s at least thirty years older than me. I shiver a bit but put on my best smile for Eniele’s sake. Speaking of which the dark-haired raven blushes continuously.
“This is Sam, he’s a new student here.”
“Welcome to Airway Prep, Sam.” She fidgets with her glasses. I smirk while she shuffles through some papers on her desk.
“Thank you, Ms. Crout.”
“Yes, okay, um.” She slides the glasses onto her thin nose. “Would you like to check out some books?”
“Not for me, thank you.” I glance at Eneile out of the corner of my eye, silently asking if she wanted any.
“I might enjoy one or two.” Eneile sashays to the novel section of the small library, her eyes inaudibly scanning the dusty book’s spines. I let my eyes wander around the library. There are a non-fiction, biography, education, bestseller, and manga sections. I think about heading over to the Bestsellers when Eneile picks up a very recognizable black hard cover book. She makes her way to the librarian’s desk as my eyes practically pop out of my skull. I follow Eneile, who is oblivious to my stalking. I’m breathing down her neck. This can’t be it. This can’t be the book.
It is.
No, it’s not. I can’t be.
It’s black, hardcover, and has no title.
But she couldn’t…
I’m interrupted by a bleeping sound of a book being checked out. She’s fucking checking out the book! I want to rip the book out of her hands and ask her why she picked it out. Any normal person wouldn’t have. Even if they did –by very slim chance-, it would be disguised with words or pictures like any other book. If she’s a Blank, she’ll see blank pages. What if-
She’s just like you?
No-
“Is it?” Eneile asks as she punches in her student ID, confirming the check-out. I watch her purple finger nails fly across the keypad, unable to speak, to reach out and snatch the book and make a run for it.
“Certainly,” Ms. Crout whispers, “I’ve read it about three times myself. It’s very intriguing.”
Ms. Crout isn’t a Blank. No, she would recognize me. Or sense me at least. But why would she pick it out?
Crout’s probably read every book in this library. I mean, look at her, she’s ancient. Keep it in your pants and calm down.
I glance back at the dusty, empty place The Book should have been. So this is where my dad put it. He’s the last one to have it in his possession, if I recall. But why would he pick this library? Ms. Crout answers a ringing phone, whispering hello, and I hear Eneile turning towards me. My face must look concerned because Eneile opens her lips to speak.
“What?”
I put on my best poker face. “Nothing.” I force through my teeth. This little girl doesn’t deserve to be dragged into this life. She’s kind and uncanny and different. The questions stirring in her mind are clear in her eyes when she stares at me. I’m about to tell her to open the damn book and ask if she can see anything when the school bell rings, stopping me short. I glance to Ms. Crout, who’s still mumbling into the phone, wondering if I would have the guts to force Eneile to open the book in front of the librarian.
“Sam? Is there… something wrong?”
Fuck. I can’t do this. I can’t even look at her. Turning on my heels, I run. I know I can’t teleport in front of her, it would leave her with too my questions that I don’t want to answer. My hand grasps the doorknob tightly. I have to focus very hard so not to crush it with my fingers.
I need to know. I need to know for sure.
Marching back to Eneile, I demand her to open the book. I hope my eyes are fierce enough to scare her into doing it.
“What? Why?” Her hand is in her bag; probably holding on to the book that is causing me so much torture.
Of course she’s rebellious.
“Just open it.” I feel a sliver of self-control peel away; I fight to hold it in, the demon inside.
“Ms. Soole? And- um, Sam?” The stupid crow of a teacher interrupts us. “You’d better get to class. You’re already late and the clock’s ticking. I’ll write a pass for both of you. First period, correct?”
“Do you want me to walk you to your first class?” Eneile looks up at me through her long lashes.
Shit. The demon is smiling at her, wanting her, to rip her apart. I growl inwardly at myself and my hands shake. I need to get out of her before I lose my sanity in front of this innocent girl. “No. I’ll find my way alone, thank you.”
And then I run down the stairs as fast as my legs could carry me. When I’m out of her sight, I imagine the place I want to go in my head, and dissolve, leaving no trace. A few moments of intense pressure and wind and I’m in Paris, leaning against a dirty brick wall in an alleyway behind a dumpster. I think back, back to Eneile who is probably shaking her head at my callousness and walking to her next class all alone. It’s then I realize that if the book is Blank to her, and it most likely is, then they will be tracking her soon. I’ll have to watch her, make sure she is safe until I can prove she isn’t like me.
I lounge around in Paris for the rest of the day, calming myself down enough to imagine Airway Prep. I pop into one of their bathrooms, surprising a janitor as I tumble out of the stall. I give him an uncomfortable smile and a quick wave before heading out of the building. Luckily, school has just ended and there are still some students crowding the school’s yard. Then I see a shock of midnight hair. It’s her. She’s getting into the same gray pickup truck from this morning. I break into a run, pushing past unsuspecting students who gawk and stare at me like I’m some kind of lunatic. I run, and I run fast, but I barely keep sight of the truck.
What if it’s her boyfriend giving her a ride?
I scowl at the thought for some reason but my legs keep pumping. I couple cars honk at me as I sprint down a crosswalk and I ignore them. In the corner of my eye, I see a tangle of bushes. I immediately duck into them so nobody can see me transport to a tree two block away. I take a quick look around-
Good. No one saw you.
The truck is in sight.
This pattern goes on for a while. Me, ducking, hiding, teleporting, checking, ducking, hiding, look for gray truck, duck, hide, appear- until the gray pickup truck pulls into the driveway of a modest one level home with a green yard and a garden gnome. Not what I would expect from Eneile at all. A breath I didn’t know I’ve been holding escapes my lungs when a blonde girl gets out of the driver’s seat of the truck.
Not her boyfriend. They disappear into the house together. Conveniently, there is a massive oak tree in the middle of Eneile’s front yard. I hide behind it and wait for nightfall. When the light escapes from the sky and the horizon mixes with the sunset to create a deep purple, I uncurl from my sitting position behind the tree and check all the windows, searching for her. All of them are dark. But then I hear something. Whimpering. My ears twitch as I pick up the sound coming from a window at the side of the house. I put my nose up to the glass, and watch as a sleeping Eneile tosses and turns in her bed. My eyebrows raise at the sight of her hands, which are forming into fantastic shapes while she dreams. A scream break through from her mouth and I jump back as her window shatters into pieces. They clatter against the grass and dirt beneath my feet.
What the hell was that?
I stare at the leftover glass on the ground. No force had acted on it. Yet it shattered. Eneile is a different girl, indeed. I’ll have to keep a close watch over her, and confront her about being a Blank later. It’s too soon to tell her now. She’ll think I’m crazy. It would be best if she discovered her powers by herself, so she’ll believe me.
I smirk, and walk down the sidewalk, looking for a good shrub to hide in so I can go back to my dad’s house in Connecticut.
End of Bonus Chapter.
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