Mated Human

P R O L O G U E

I met Grayson when I was 8 years old.

My mom had just moved us to the small town of Operose. My dad and her had just gotten a divorce and she decided we needed a "fresh start". I wouldn't learn it until a couple of years later, but my dad had been cheating on my mom for the past year from a woman he met at work. So, there I was, leaving my father behind to be with my mom.

We moved to a small neighborhood, our new house at the end of the street. It was idealistic with the white picket fence and wraparound porch. The kind of house my dad would have hated, which is probably why my mom picked it.

She decided we needed to get out and see the new town we now called home. "Hop in the car, Brielle! The day isn't getting longer, ma chéri!"

"I'm coming Mama!" I ran out of my room and down the steps to meet her.

"Where are we going Mama?"

"We're gonna go to the park for a little bit. Maybe you can meet some kids and make some friends before you start school next week." my mom said. I nodded, not wanting to tell her that I probably wasn't going to talk to anyone at the park.

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the park. It was surrounded by forest, but it was nice. It had everything any 8-year-old would like. There weren't that many people there, maybe 5 or 6 kids with adults next to their kids or on benches like my mom.

My mom sent me off to the swings while she sat on the bench, fiddling with her phone even though she had brought a book to read.

I walked over to the swings and noticed no one else was on it. This made me happy because I didn't want to socialize even though that's supposedly why my mom brought me here. I jumped onto the swings and began to kick.

I liked to jump off the swings once I was able to swing really high. I repeated this process over and over again. On the last time, I didn't realize how high I had swung and ended up face planting in the grass. I was holding in my tears the entire time because it hurt like hell.

Then this boy ran over to help me.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up and it was strange. I was only 8 years old so I probably shouldn't have been thinking, "Wow, what a beautiful boy". But he was. He was taller than me, probably by a foot. He also had dark hair, like the color coffee and his eyes were this deep shade of green, like sea glass. He looked perfect.

I was still holding in my tears, my lower lip wobbling. "Yeah, I think so. My face just really hurts."

The boy got really close to my face, eyes frantically looking everywhere as if he was checking for injuries. While he was looking at me for injuries, I scanned his face quickly. God, he was even pretty up close. I noticed a small scar on his upper lip, barely noticeable if I wasn't so close. His hair had some while curls in it, as if he forgot to brush his hair this morning. But the most noticeable thing was the way he smelled. He smelled like the forest right after it rained. It was the most inviting smell ever and I couldn't help but inhale deeply. Ouch, that kind of hurts.

"You're not bleeding, but your nose looks a little red. Does it hurt?" he spoke. I nodded my head. He grabbed my hand, but then he stopped and stared at our hands conjoined with a slight frown on his face. He mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't hear. He then looked up to me and I felt my breath catch. He was staring so intensely at me. His frown then spread into a wide grin to which he began practically dragging me over to the slide. He then made me sit and let go of my hand and told me he would be right back. No longer with his hand in mine, I realized that my hand had felt all tingly and warm when we held hands and now that we weren't, I felt colder all the sudden.

A few minutes later, he brought back a bag of ice. "Here you go, put this on your nose." He said this as he was handing me the bag of ice. I looked at him confused, "How did you get this so fast?" Was he the Flash?

"I live not too far from here, so I just went and grabbed it for you." He said this while shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

My eyes widened, "Your mom lets you go off by yourself?" He replied, "Yeah, I'm ten and my parents know I'm not stupid and can protect myself." He puffed his chest.

My mouth dropped. "Wow! That's so cool! My mama would never let me do that; she thinks I'm too klutzy to go off by myself."

The boy laughed and I smiled. I really liked his laugh; it made my tummy warm. "Your mom is right because you faceplanted!" He was laughing so hard that he was holding his stomach.

My face got all red and I looked at the ground, holding in tears again. I didn't want this strange, older boy to think I was klutzy; it made me feel embarrassed. I always got embarrassed too easily.

I guess he noticed because he stopped laughing and said "I'm sorry, it's not funny. I like that you're clumsy because then I get to save you, like a knight in shining armor." He put his arms up and did a weird flexing thing.

I giggled but didn't say anything.

"What's your name?" the beautiful boy asked.

"I'm Brielle."

"That's a cool name. Do you go to Operose Elementary school?" His voice sounded all excited. Did this boy want to be my friend? I've never really had a friend.

I nodded my head. "I will next week. My mom and I just moved here."

This caused a smile on his face. "I like you, let's be friends." I got all warm inside. Finally, a friend! It surprised me that this pretty older boy wanted to my friend. It's like he really did want to be my knight in shining armor, coming to save me. Save me from being alone always.

I didn't have any siblings and now that it was just my mom and I in a new town, I had felt even lonelier. I wonder if the beautiful boy has other friends. Maybe they could be my friends too.

I smiled back at him and said "Well, what's your name?"

"I'm Grayson."

a/n: hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! this book won't be too long because i like books that move pretty fast paced! don't forget to vote and comment!