~~~~
Chapter 1: Not Just a Nightmare
She tossed and turned in her bed. The image of a shadowed figure floated in her mind. It's crimson eyes glowed in the darkness as it bellowed and laughed maniacally. It held up it's arms, grasping in it's powerful claws two high powered sawed off shot guns, as a number of creatures attacked it. Round after round was fired from the guns, the loud noises making the girl shudder and toss in her bed. She clenched her pillow, the nightmare screamed in her mind, the sounds were horrifying and the images were set to match. The creatures, after having bullets buried into their flesh, would fall into a puddle of their own blood, and lay motionless. The girl was amongst the black, and all she could do was stand, helplessly watching the deranged creature as it seemed to slouch when nothing more attacked. "Ohh, a human," It's rough voice echoed throughout her mind. It cackled and cocked it's head backwards, staring at her with slit eyes. It lifted it's gun and pointed it at her. It's aim steady. It grinned, "A weak little human," It chuckled once more, a single finger on the trigger ready to fire...
Before the nightmare could finish. Velissia awoke, panting and sweating, she sat up and looked around frantically for anyone that might have slipped into her room during the night. No one was there besides her few posters that stared at her. At this point, their eyes all seemed to stare at her, and she couldn't help but to curl up in a ball and pull the covers close. Trying to escape the thought of the horrific dream. "What was that thing?" She cringed at the thought as she tried to remember it's appearance, it looked just like a demon. Having crawled it's way right out of hell. She shook her head and took a moment to catch her breath. "It was just a nightmare, everything's ok...," She said, grasping her pillow and hugging it close. Moments passed by, she didn't return to her slumber. Despite the fact that it was in the dead of night, and that she only had a few hours left until school were to start. Even so, she refused to go back to sleep. Instead, she stayed up for the rest of the night. Not wanting to return to the nightmare with the evil creature... she didn't want to know the result. It would pull the trigger, and she would die in the nightmare. There was no doubt about it. It had so easily taken the lives of those other creatures, and it appeared as though it wanted nothing more than to enjoy the pain of others. The beast was dreadful, and struck fear throughout her body. Making her shake, and only hug the pillow even closer to her body. Grasping onto any comfort, but that comfort didn't seem to come as the night went on, and the shadows in her room played tricks on her.
When the morning sunlight seeped through the girl's curtains. She seemed to struggle to get up. She was still tired, sense she had stayed up the past few hours. Not wanting to sleep because of her nightmare. Either, she pushed herself to get up, and finally once her alarm clock began to blare it's annoying buzz. She made herself get up. Walking to the small mechanical device and slamming her fist on the large 'sleep' button. The noise was always annoying, whether she was asleep or awake, it was just one of those noises that made Velissia want to punch an infant. "Stupid clock," She murmured beneath her breath as she walked across her room. Looking around, she made her way to the dresser drawer, digging through it and taking out a bit of clothing. She than made her way out the room and down the hall. Occasionally looking over her shoulder. She felt as though the darkness were watching her. She shuddered and cut on a light as she walked down the hall. Mumbling quietly to herself. She kept her eyes moving, guessing her older brother was still fast asleep. Once she was in the shower, he would probably begin to stir, than finally get up and make some breakfast. Which she would refuse to eat anyways.
Velissia reached the bathroom, removing her clothing and then stepping into the warm shower. It didn't take long, her showers were always quick during the morning. They had to be else she would miss school, which she truly didn't mind, the the consequence meant for her to stay home and be alone. She wasn't in the mood for being alone all day long while her brother, Cino, worked both a day and night shift. Not with the dream still in her head. Once she exited the shower, she gave a sigh. Stopping and staring into the mirror, her midnight gray eyes were blood shot. Showing she was exhausted and begged for nothing more than sleep. She ran her fingers through her snowy white hair, even now, though it was wet. It somehow remained it's beautiful color, and seemed to glow in the light. Her skin was a little pale, the winter never gave her time to get a tan. But, she didn't seem to care. She grabbed her clothing, and dark gray dress over her slim figure. Next she slid on the cut off sleeves, the color matched. But, there was a small design close to the elbow. It look like a small arch, raising up to a small dot. Finally she slid on a pair of white, and dark gray colored shoes before drying her hair with a blow dryer and leaving from the bathroom, heading down to the kitchen where she could hear the sounds of pots banging. Of course she had been right, Cino was up and cooking. The smell of eggs and sausage filled the kitchen room as Velissia entered. She looked to her brother who gave a yawn before looking back at his sister and smiling. "Hey sis! Want some breakfast?" He asked and the girl shook her head, her brother frowning at her reply. "You sure?" "Yea, I'm not hungry," She walked pass him and into the next room. The living room, it was a beige color that had outlived it's excitement and was now nothing more than a dull room with two couches and a love seat, a tv sat across the three and a small stereo was in the room. But, Velissia ignored all this as she walked pass, reaching behind the larger of the couches and pulling out her black and white back pack. She slung it over her shoulder and walked back into the kitchen. "I'm gonna head to school," "Want me to take you?" Cino asked, turning his attention away from the food, Velissia shook her head and he sighed. "Ok, see you when you get home!" The man chuckled and watched his sister walk through the arch of the kitchen that lead out into the hallway. 'Yea, right,' Velissia thought with a snort. Her brother was never home to greet her. Even when he said he would be, he would lie, his jobs were to important. They had to get money somehow and sense both of Velissia's parents had died when she was young. Cino was the only one they could rely on. Velissia shook her head and sighed as she walked out from their apartment, looking around she looked up at the apartment complex and gave a small snort. She started walking down the street. Looking around, she could see that the roads were already bustling with life. People heading to work, or children being taken to school. There were a few kids ahead of her but she couldn't seem to tell who they were. So she ignored them as she walked. Avoid large crowds so that she wouldn't have to go through the fuss of pushing through, she stopped at a corner and waited for the road to clear. Once it had, she started her way across. Staring at the ground in front of her feet, she had lost herself in her thoughts and was unaware of the things around her. "Hey kid!" Someone shouted at her, but she didn't seem to listen. "Hey kid, watch out!" Their voice rang again and she looked up in time to see a car speeding towards her. Apparently someone had ran a red light and not noticed Velissia until it appeared to late. Her eyes widened as she flinched when the car was only feet in front of her. Before it made contact, something leapt from the sidelines and stepped in front of her. The car crashed into it, and it's claws seemed to dig into the front of the car, crushing it from it's high speed. It pushed the man back slightly, and from the view behind. Velissia trembled at the sight. It had a tail... the man had a tail! She fell backwards on her rump as the car was stopped completely. It snorted, standing upright and beating it's fist a few times against the now damaged hood as though it were knocking. "You ok, kid?" It's voice was rough, and it turned and looked at Velissia, who had a shocked expression. Staring up into it's crimson eyes. Her heart raced, 'It's that thing!' She cried inside of her mind. "Kid, are you OK?" The creature asked once again, but Velissia scrambled to her feet frantically looking around before racing across the street. "Hey!" The creature growled, watching as a car slammed it's breaks to avoid crashing into her, but she still made it across the street, and frantically ran across the street. Before it could follow, he heard the man get out of his car and start yelling angrily about all the damage.
Velissia ran and ran. She panted, a cold sweat having swept across her body from the sight of the demon. 'It's real?!' She thought as she whipped around a corner, stopping to check if it had followed. Luckily, no one was behind her. Other than a few civilians who were staring at her strangely, but she ignored their looks, and bent over as she stopped. Her hands on her knees as she panted. She was a great runner, and had covered a large amount of distance. Track and Soccer helped her lung capacity and built up her powerful legs, along with years of martial arts. "Maybe I was just imagining things!" She said, pulling her hand over her mouth and trying to catch he breath. When she did, she stood upright and shuddered. Looking back one last time. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. 'Did it come to try and kill me? Or am I just imagining things,' She thought and rubbed her head, starting to walk once again. She hastily walked the last couple of blocks, finally reaching her school. She had occasionally looked over her shoulder... maybe it had just been her imagination. She hoped it was.
She entered into the school. Making her way to her classroom where she sat at her desk. Overlooking her friends and rubbing her head. She let her backpack slide from her shoulder and onto the floor next to her.
"Hey Velissia!" She heard someone call, looking up she saw a boy with short spiky black hair. His skin was fair and he had a black shirt with a white splat on the left shoulder seeping down, he also wore black baggy pants to match with a few chains here and there that clinked every time they'd hit each other.
"What?" Velissia said, lifting her structure slightly and looking up at the boy. He blinked and smiled, "You seem kinda... blah," He tilted his head to the side and blinked. "Something wrong?" "Just nightmares, some weird stuff has happened to me today," The girl sighed and rubbed her head. "Really, same here! I was on my computer and it just all of a sudden started spazzing out! I ended up shutting it down, hopefully the computer people will have fixed it by the time I get home," He tapped his chin and smiled, looking back down to Velissia who chuckled and shook her head. "What about you? What's up?" "Well, Graf, I've been having these weird nightmares lately with...," She was interrupted by the bell ringing, she sighed and sat back in her chair. "I'll tell you later," She said, he simply nodded and went to his seat.
School for Velissia ran just as normal. She doodled on just about every page she took notes on. Rarely taking the time to actually jot anything down. She'd talk and whisper quietly to her friends, sitting in the back always made for the best at doing so. Lunch was always the best, her and her friends getting together to eat quickly. Than run around the courtyard, laughing and doing just about anything to bother others, and make each other laugh. School always seemed like an escape for Velissia. She had to learn yea, but it was better than being at home and doing nothing. Normally, her exhaustion didn't even seem to kick in during the school hours. But, afterward she was always tired and ready for a nap. She'd wonder home and flop in bed, everyday after school. But, as lunch went on, apparently she would end up taking a different routine. She had decided to meet with Graf, Rinvlix, and Raigne out in the woods in the park to play war with a few air soft guns that Graf would bring from home. Velissia loved rough games, war being one of her favorites. Now, she had something to look forward to besides returning home to nap, and possible nightmares. She sighed happily, and nodded acceptance and the four planned out one time they'd meet. Right after school of course. They'd probably end up staying all the way until midnight. Considering the park was normally always a safe place, and Graf had enough ammo for his air soft guns to fuel a jet. Lunch lasted for a few more minutes before the bell finally rang and Velissia was off to her final class. Physical Education was annoying when you were involved in three activities that easily made you sore. But, it was overall very easy. Especially sense she had taken the Soccer course. It was always one of her favorite sports, and she was already skilled from being on the soccer team, so it made it easy for her to pass the class. Rinvlix and Raigne shared this class with her. They were two of her closest friends, along with Graf whom she had known sense she was a around the age of 7. Raigne was probably the calmest of the entire group, she often wore a light blue arm warmers, with a skirt, and sleeveless shirt to match. Rinvlix, was slightly perverted. But, he was loyal and funny. His his hair was a lavender sort of color and spiked towards the side, he wore a black shirt with white card shark bands wrapped around at the elbow. His pants were made of denim with small patches of white on the hips. She had recently met Rinvlix and Raigne at the beginning of the new school year, and already they treated her as though she were their sister. It was good to have such close friends, she knew she could always rely on them, and she even tended to tell them everything. But, she seemed to hold off on telling them her nightmare... and the possibility she may have ran into the creature in the nightmare, outside of her dreams. They probably would think that she was crazy... of course, they already knew she was crazy, so they say 'Sure' than continue with their business. Somehow though, it seemed as though everyone was having a weird day. As the Soccer class went on, Raigne exclaimed that she had something weird happen with her cell phone, that for a moment while she was talking to her dad. There was another voice that seemed pretty excited about talking to her, but it had quickly faded out. As for Rinvlix, he was at the arcade and the entire place had a blackout. But, the single game he was at seemed to stay on, and a small chibi looking creature had appeared. Bouncing up and down happy to see him. She was actually slightly relieved that she wasn't the only one that strange things were happening to. She gave a heavy sigh and rubbed her head. Watching as her team scored a goal, she smiled, she didn't have to do much work sense for once the good players were on her team. The other team sort of just loafed around like ghosts, talking amongst themselves and ignoring the call for help from their fellow teammates.
"You'd think they'd actually play," Rinvlix said with a snort, walking next to Velissia and watching as the ball was set into play. "Yea, but some people don't care much for sports I guess," She chuckled, looking to the boy. "Well, we got five minutes, we should head to the locker rooms," Raigne said as she approached Velissia. "Yea, com'on let's go, see ya around Rinvlix!" Velissia called out, her and Raigne waved a goodbye as they walked away from the boy. Making their way to the locker rooms where they changed from their PE clothes, back into their normal clothes. They then sat on a bench and waited for the bell to ring. Once it did, they parted ways to head home and prepare for the 'war'.
Velissia was slightly shaky on walking home. She continuously looked over her shoulder. Apparently skeptical about everyone around her. She took a less traveled road, even though it was a longer way to her house. She wanted to avoid people. In fear of running into the figure from her nightmare. So, she did her best to not talk to anyone. When she finally did make it to her home. She simply went inside and dropped off her backpack, immediately leaving to head to the park to meat up with Graf, Raigne, and Rinvlix.
