text: Autumn Eve Poore Fallen Angel Not everything is as it seems... 
   
   
   Prologue 
   
  Duh-dump, duh-dump, duh-dump. The sound of my heart was all that filled my head. As the blood and adrenaline pumped through my veins, I stood there, looking Death in the eye. Yet still I didn’t fight back, I didn’t move, I just stared. In awe of this presence, in awe of the way Death looked, in awe of the sanity that Death held. Breathing slowly, a sweet sent rolled over me, a scent so sweet it was nauseating. As Death stared me in the face it to just stood there, as if in awe over me. Me, just a puny little speck on Death’s list and it looked as if it was in awe of me. Death, as mesmerizing as it was, moved, making my heart jump start into panic mode. My skin suddenly felt cold, my breathing got quick and shallow, my heart sputtered and my blood ran cold. It was only until now that I realized who Death was. Death was the person I held most dearly to me. Whoosh! Death was gone like that, leaving me empty and scared. A single feather floated down and landed on my stomach, a feather that was black, with a red tip. 
   
   
   
   
   Chapter One: Did It Hurt? 
   
  “Did you get your book report done?” Stephanie asked, as if I was paying attention. An absent nod was all she got back. 	“Hey, will you get out of that book and actually listen to me for once in your life?” Stephanie said this while snatching my latest addiction out of my hand.  
  	“Hey! I was trying to read that!” I said in shock, the only reason I didn’t punch her is because of the fact that we have been friends since kindergarten, and the fact that she had my book. She just smirked, put my book mark into place and read the cover. 
  	“My Blood Approves? What kind of book is that? It’s probably some vampire book isn’t it?” She remarked as she flipped the book over and scanned the back. She tossed the book back at me, and I nearly tumbled backwards trying to catch it. 
  “So, have you finished your book report?” She asked again. 
  “I’ve done told you yes.” 
  “No, you nodded as if I were just some little kid asking if my picture was pretty.” “My bad! It’s not my fault that I like to read,” I grumbled, getting slightly irritated. I shoved the book into my bag as the bus pulled up to my house. Stephanie got up and pushed past the people that were in our way while I just followed. Some jerk football player tripped me while I walked past. I fell and hit the ground hard. I landed on my elbow and my stuff scattered everywhere. Stephanie stopped and turned around. 
  	“What the-” Is all she got out before the jock asked if I had a nice trip. Jessica stepped around me as I fumbled to get all of my stuff picked up. Jessica stood in between me and the tripper. 
  	“Stand up,” She ordered in a stern, kinda scary tone. 
  	“Why should I listen to a shrimp girl like you?” He retorted. 
  	“Stand up,” She said again, but this time in a low growl, she even narrowed her eyes at him. You wouldn’t think she could sound that creepy and murderous because she was only five three, and me, well I was five foot ten and I couldn’t beat up a marshmallow. 
  	“Okay then,” the jock said standing up and fixing his jacket into the right place, “So, what’re you going to do? Hit  me and leave a red mark?” He smirked. Bad mistake. Right at that moment Stephanie reared her arm back as far as it would go and let loose. She hit him with only half of her strength and still managed to knock a few teeth out. She put her foot on his chest and bent down to look him in the face. 
  	“Oh, I’m sorry! Did I leave a mark?” She said sarcastically, “Maybe next time you’ll think twice before messing with me and my friend, Pretty Boy.” Stephanie turned around, helped me up, and we left to go to my house. It was raining hard outside, so me and Stephanie booked it toward the house. We flew in the door laughing so hard the we fell. As we giggled non-stop, we took off our wet shoes and stumbled into my room. She plopped on the bed and sighed.  
  	“I think I just got abs from laughing so hard,” she said, kind of breathless. I tossed her some dry sweatpants and a shirt and got some out for myself. We got dressed and lingered into the kitchen. 
  	 “So, what do ya wanna eat? We have left over mexican food,” I said, knowing her knack for foreign foods. 
  “Nah, no mexican, the tortillas get all soggy if they’re left in the fridge over night,” she explained. 
  	“Good point.” 
  	“Got any candy?” She asked. I turned around slowly with a sly look on my face. 
  	“Since when did I not have candy?” I said slyly. She formed a devilish smile on her face and we both ran for my room. It was hard though due to the fact that we were running on linoleum while wearing socks. We slid into my room, and since my bed was high enough, I went halfway under it. I wiggled the rest of the way under, nudged a board loose, and grabbed the bag of candy. I peeked out from under the bed.  
  	“Shut the door! You know how Mama is ‘bout candy,” I said in a whispery tone. My mom had this weird thing about no sweets unless on occasions. She was a real health head... if those even exist... Stephanie shut the door and pulled me out from under the bed.  
  	“What do you have?” She asked 
  	“What don’t I have?” I said with a smirk. I pulled out a ton of candy, set aside six pieces and put the rest back in the bag , and set it on the bed. We started eating the candy like there was no tomorrow. We were on our third piece when my mom opened the door. I turned around and threw my hand in the air, throwing my candy. Stephanie, on the other hand, dropped hers and dove for the bed. She landed on the bag and turned sideways. 
  	“Hi, Katheryn!” She  said in an shaky voice. My mom’s stern look made it obvious that she was a little ticked off. With a deep sigh I picked up the candy that had fallen on the floor and got the bag out from under Stephanie.  
  	“That’s what I thought,” my mom said as she took the candy from us. She walked into the kitchen and chunked it in the trash, brining back some carrots. 
  	“If your hungry eat these,” she said handing the carrots to me. After that she left. 
  	“Dang, this sucks!” Stephanie said as she poked at her carrot. I opened my bedroom window, and chunked it out towards the woods. It had stopped raining and I saw a little bunny run up and take the carrot. 
  	“Cool,” I said as the bunny hopped back into the woods. Stephanie tossed her carrot out the window and hit the bunny in the back. The furious little fuzz ball dropped my carrot, turned around and attacked the thing that hit his back. After realizing that it was a carrot, he looked at the sky as if it would drop more carrots. It grabbed the two carrots and struggled to drag them back to his home. I plopped down on the bed next to Stephanie and we looked at the ceiling, talking about random teenage junk. She said something about GreenDay and how she like Evanescence more. That brought something back from my memory, something I had forgotten. I jumped off the bed and rummaged through my CD’s, half of them falling to the floor.  
  	“What’re you doing?” Stephanie asked me in a puzzled tone. I ignored her question and continued to rummage. When I found what I wanted I stood up, opened my CD player and popped in the CD. We sat there for what seemed like hours listening to endless songs from Depeche Mode. We sung along to songs like “All I Ever Wanted” and “Precious”.  I stood up and started dancing around my room when my mom came in. She went from having a confused look on her face to having the biggest smile ever. She came in grabbed my hands and we started to dance. Stephanie laughed as she watched us make complete and utter fools of ourselves. After the song was over, my mom laughed and told us that supper was ready. Stephanie and I raced to the kitchen and we slid halfway past the table trying to stop. We sat down at our seats and Mama joined. Tonight we were eating salad with grilled chicken, and all those other good toppings that you eat with salad. After we all ate, we piled up in the car to take Stephanie home. The car ride was fun and consisted of the ‘Men are the Lower Species’ speech from my mother. When we got home, me and Mama curled up on the couch and watched TV until I fell asleep, then my mom woke me up and I went to my room and fell asleep. Sometime during the middle of the night, I heard a scuffling sound at my window. It sounded like someone was trying to grab the edge and hang there. I opened my eyes and looked toward the window. I saw a piece of what looked like a giant bird wing. I jumped up and turned on my light. I ran over to my window and flung it open. On the edge of the window was a rather large black feather with a red tip. I picked up the feather and strolled over to my desk. I sat the feather down and walked back over to the window. I looked out to the woods and saw the little bunny from earlier. 
  	“I don’t suppose you put that feather there, did you?” I asked the rabbit. In return the bunny stood up and twitched its ear. After that It scurried away. I shut my window and turned off the light, sinking back into my bed. I slept some what peacefully for the rest of the night.  
  	“Ugh, where am I?” I said out loud as I awoke in a dark forest. The sharp cold, and the smell of frost woke me almost instantly. As I gasp from the shock of the cold; I looked around. The moon shone brightly through the leafless trees, and a large crow flew by me. I stood up slowly and realized the clothes I had on. I had on a dress that stopped an inch above my knees, with some kind of weird shoes on. My arms cover in thin, black, see through sleeves. It was embroidered with great detail, plus my hair pulled back except for my bangs, which I struggled to keep them out of my eyes. I heard the heavy beat of wings and looked toward the sky. “Is that a huge bird?” I wondered out loud to myself. As the bird looking ting got closer, I realized that it was no bird; but a man with beautiful wings. Then something hit me. The wings were black... black with a red tip. 
   
   
   
   
   Publication Date: January 17th 2012 https://www.bookrix.com/-autumneve131997