Chapter 1
All that I got for my fifteenth birthday was a calligraphy set and 20 bucks. I thought it would have been the most disappointing birthday of my life.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
While deciding what to do with my sudden fortune, Kevin turned on the news. Kevin is my new stepfather. I say new because this is the fourth one I've had this year. My mother had gone a little estranged since my father died and he died five years ago. He's nice enough- blue eyes and overgrown stubble on his chin. But he could use a little muscle. The locals news talked on and on about the raised gas prices when suddenly, the topic switched. "John Hunter, aged seventeen, was found dead in his home earlier this evening. Police are currently investigating the scene."
My blood immediately went cold. I shot up from my chair and ran to meet my family in the living room.
John Hunter? Dead? I could not believe it.
He was a senior at my school, Middlebrook High, with a bright future. Gray eyes, blond hair, pale skin. He exuded a type a confidence most people would dream of having. I knew John like a brother. He had been president of the literature club of which I was so dearly fond of. How could he have died? My knees buckled as I fell to the couch.
I don't let myself cry. Crying is a form of a weakness.
Instead, I ran to my room, closed the door and laid flat on my bed. The memories me and John had together ran through my head like pages turning in a book I wasn't quite ready yet to finish.
My heart broke into a million pieces.
Desperate to numb the pain, I attempted to distract myself. Seeing as my birthday was now a sore subject, I decided it wouldn't hurt to open my calligraphy set. The pages, white as snow, whispered to me words of a certain cadence- they were speaking of desperation and regret.
I went through every page one by one, taking in the new page smell. I came across one page that shook me to my core.
The page was filled in calligraphy pen with one simple sentence.
Dear Emerald.
John Hunter wasn't the first person I've taken from you
And he won't be the last.
Your move. :)
HERE ARE THE CHARACTERS (updated as I go)
Emerald:
Julian
Paige
