I Used to Steal Hearts

Part 1: The Benefit of Failure

Chapter One:

Failure

The road out of Monster High was straight and marked equally with trees standing like guards before the king's throne, culminating in an iron gate about a hundred yards from the school. A second iron gate stood before the wide, circular courtyard with the crest of the school emblazoned into the stone, the school building standing tall and ominous behind this. Its gothic towers were raised high into the air, the clouds appearing to circle near them like vultures waiting for some dead meat to flop onto the earth. The windows penetrated the dark rock with bright green lights and black window frames, the tall spires of each tower pushing up as if they were jousting lances opposing God. Normally, Monster High was a welcoming, inclusive place for everyone to feel joy, acceptance and be themselves-not the case this time. It stood forbidding as if it were an accusatory pointing finger. Almost being restrained by the wall from unleashing its gothic nature onto two bashful figures trudging down the road out of the school.

One was a vampire male and the other a werecat female, the former looking more dejected compared to his bitter companion. They moved at a relatively slow pace, in no hurry to leave but also not wanting to stay. The man kept looking at his hands in horror, balling them into fists and grasping them and clutching them in the vain attempt they still did something otherworldly. The one thing they did in equal regard apart from their pace was regard their bodies.

Wet, caked in olive green sludge.

Smelling horrible.

"Ugh, I can't believe that didn't work!" the girl spat, inspecting her body as if it were an unsavoury exhibit in a court case, examining her mottled fur and her now stained attire. Struggling to come to terms with the situation.

"Neither can I", replied Kieran Valentine mournfully. He was of a slim build with an attire that was meant to make him appear majestic and perfect on a normal day. But this was no normal day. Now, the innards of his consciousness were on display. And they made him look like he felt-a defeated, weedy, pathetic little boy.

The stench surrounding their bodies was one that can scar the mind more than any mental or physical trauma, it could make its unfortunate subject go mad by having to deal with the putrid sensory mixture of dog vomit, food waste and rotten cheese until they jumped gleefully into their graves just to stop thinking about it. Both of them tried desperately to be rid of their slimy shackles by attempting to wipe it off, but to no avail. Indeed, as time solemnly marched on, they only seemed to smell worse. Alas, it could not be helped, and so the girl tried to distract herself by doing the only feasible thing for her-complaining.

"We had everything set up just so. You had everything set up just so! And then, just then, he had to come with that box of old crap and-UGHHHHHH!"

Kieran was debating whether or not to say anything. It was taking nearly all his strength to keep a tsunami of distress inside his body until the girl left. It would make a bad situation worse should he tell her how he was truly feeling. That was the way for him. A sad way, perhaps, but the only way he saw. The total absence of his powers further flustered him-he needed them. He could not-

His melancholic express train of thought down to the bowels of hell was stopped by the gates creaking open, and the dull hum of a car engine. The two of them looked back, eyes widening as they saw the black and pink livery, the bat ornament on the front like a harpy preparing for the kill. Kieran backed further into the side of the road, allowing the car full of its joyful giggles and piled high with presents to pass. With a jolt of fear, he realised that the side of the road still had some muddy residue water left from when it last rained.