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I sat on my bed, slowly and carefully painting my toenails black. A soft, dark lullabye cooed out of my radio. The breeze blowing in through my window, the white lace curtains waving gently, in a disturbing and graceful motion. I sat up straight as I heard shuffling outside my window down on the ground. I looked that way, staring into black night air.
"NIKKI! Are you awake?!" I jumped hearing Vick's voice. I suddenly jumped to my feet, knocking the nail polish in the floor with a breaking of glass on the wood floor. I winced, waiting for someone to burst through the door. When I was sure no one was coming I glided to the window. Vick was standing below, staring up at me.
"VICK?! What are you doing here?!" I whispered down to him. He shuffled his feet and tucked his hands into his pockets.
"I hadn't seen you in a while. I was wondering how you were doing." he replied. I leaned on the windowsill.
"I'm doing fine, just got back from Underland. And you?" I asked. He half smiled.
"I'm good. My house is all hustle and bustle because Mum is in an uproar about thereturn of Emily from,..... wherever she went." he replied and we chuckled together. "I missed you. We haven't spoken since school." he stated in a grave tone. I cocked my head at the change of tone he had. What was up with him? He seemed antsy about something. He kept looking around like somebody was coming for him. He should've understood why we hadn't spoken though. He stood me up at Prom. I came home and bawled in my father's arms for three hours straight. Tabetha sweared she would murder him and David had it out for him also. I sometimes wondered if Tabetha and David had something going on, then I would picture them together and it didn't fit.
"You know why we haven't talked Vick." I said gravely.
"I thought we worked that out Nichole." he offered. He was trudging on dangerous ground, and he should've known it. Should've. Yet he kept on. "I had something come up, I told you that! Why don't you believe me?!" he snapped.
"Oh don't gripe at me! You didn't have the guts to apologize until Tabby and David were on your sorry butt!!" I growled.
"Yeah, I'm scared of a mad girl and a skeleton man. Please, there is no way-" suddenly David came stomping into my room. My hero. He marched right up next to me and leaned out the window.
"My sister doesn't have time to talk to scum like you! Just go home!!" He snarled. Vick huffed and hesitantly walked away. I stood straight and went to the spot where the nail polish bottle busted on the floor. I slowly cleaned it up as David shut my window. He ruffled my hair and paused in front of me.
"Go to bed kiddo. I'll clean that up for you in the morning." he said as I swiped a sneaky tear away from my eyes. I sniffled and stood. David had a gentle face. I did go lay in my bed and before David left he kissed my forehead and told me he loved me. When I was in total darkness, I got up and reopened my window. Then I went to bed for good.
"HE DID WHAT?!?!?!?!" Tabetha all but whispered making me wince as we walked down the halls of Nightmare High.
"That sorry sucker came to our house and harassed MY Nikki." David growled. I sighed.
"Overeacting much? Guys, he came to apologize! That's it! No biggie." I said with a shrug.
"Nikki,.... poor, sweet, naive, Nikki,..." Tabetha trailed off with an exasperated sigh, "MEN DO NOT APOLOGIZE!!! They are usually to LOW for that! The only men girls can count on is their Daddies!".
"I am standing here you know that, right?" David said with disgust. Tabetha waved him away passively. "I PROTECTED her!".
"You're such a baby! Fine, big brothers too,..... BUT my Daddy and YOUR Daddy are the best at what they do." she said. I felt confused. She obviously sensed it because she quickly added, "They protect their own and love you NO matter what! That's what makes dads special.". I rolled my eyes, yet another Mad Hatter rambling from her, but, it wasn't COMPLETELY mad.
"Hmmmmm,....... Okay." I finally agreed to what she was saying and kept my mouth shut the rest of the day.
I had decided to walk home by myself that day because Tabetha and david decided they needed a "study" session. I was walking past Nightmare Hill when I heard a rustling of leaves. I turned and saw nothing, so, hesitantly, I kept walking by the brick wall. Suddenly, something dropped in front of me. I crouched to only to see a tiny caterpillar writhing like it was dying. I stood and smelled the foul stench of decay and rot. A giant shadow cast over me and I looked up. I screamed and took off in a dead sprint towards my home. The shadow jumped over me and landed in front of me. A tall, rotting, scarecrow stood slowly, a disturbing smile on his face. I slowly backed up.
"Nichole,...." his voice guttural and almost too hard to make out. "You are much prettier than I remembered,..." I tried backing up some more, but only backed into a wall. He slowly reached out a rotted hand and caressed my face. I tried to scream but he covered my mouth quickly. "Shhhhh, we wouldn't want for you to get killed now would we?" He asked. My eyes widened in horror. He removed his hand and I screamed the first thing that came to mind,...
"JACK!!!!!!!!!" he cursed long enough for me to make my getaway, with him close behind. Suddenly, my shoe caught in a crack in the cobblestone and I fell faceforward. shadow overtook my body and I rolled onto my back. The scarecrow glared daggers at me. I saw, in his hand, a knife,..... I gasped and he poised to kill,....... Suddenly another shadow stepped over my form and was quickly stabbed in the rib cage. "DADDY!" I shrieked, forgetting my father was already dead. With one swift blow from my father that scarecrow was on the ground, unconcious. He turned to me and kneeled, commencing to inspect me.
"Nichole, dear one, are you alright?" Dad asked. I stared up at him in shock, not sure WHAT to do. I realized the knife was still in his ribcage and I stared at it in horror. He followed my gaze and quickly tugged it out, tossing it away.
"Daddy,..." I gasped, throwing my arms around him. He held my shaking body as I cried on his shoulder,.............
"Nikki, dear, are you okay? You're as pale as a ghost, and not in a good way." I heard my mother say. I shook out of my daze and looked at her. Her ragdoll face stared at me awaiting a reply. David was standing against the wall, anger emanating from him and Dad was pacing. Mom touched my forehead and I blinked.
"So who the frick is this punk?" David finally asked looking at Dad.
"Jack, she has fever." Mom stated, obviously trying to keep my Dad and my brother from thinking about tonight's incident. David was scary when he got angry and Dad was ten times worse. I played along with Mom.
"I do have a headache." I lied. Dad strolled over and placed a freezing hand on my face. "And my ankle hurts from when I tripped." that part was true.
"You fell hard dear. Had I not shown up that-that-that,.... THAT-"
"JACK!"
"DADDY" Mom and I said in together. His face had contorted in a hellish rage that was horrifying if not stopped. There was a ring of the door bell and I, happy there was reason for distraction, jumped up and ran to it. I yanked it open and Emily was right there, all five foot six of her.
"Nichole, I heard what happened! Are you okay? I heard your father was stabbed! Is he okay?" flashbacks tortured my mind and the familiar fear that I might lose my Dad came back.
"Emily! So good to see you again!" my mom's voice cheery and soft. I decided to retire to my room.
Long one, no?
Chapter:
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