To My Darkside

1

The doorbell rang, its cheery tone making its way through the tidy house. Aunt Katherine's knife paused mid-chop, a smile blossoming across her face. She knew who the visitor was at the door and, placing the knife down, went to greet them.

Upon opening the door, the pretty blonde was met by one quite familiar face and two totally unfamiliar faces. The gorgeous redhead she knew to be Page Williams, a classmate of her niece Rykel. Recently and quite unexpectedly, Rykel and Page had formed a friendship while working on a class report project. It had surprised Katherine, but she supposed they had just bonded over their homework and by being together.

The other two visitors were male. The redhead was shorter, leaner, and had a youthful and innocent look on his freckled face which Katherine saw as kind of cute and endearing in a way. The darker haired man looked to be about her age. Unlike the redhead, he was tall, broad-shouldered and had a handsome and intelligent face. He had an air about him also, almost as if he was in command and running the show.

As far as she could see, Katherine had never seen these two boys before. For all she knew they were classmates of Rykel's.

"Hey, glad you're here, come on in," she greeted with a smile, gesturing the three invites inside.

"Thank you," Page smiled as they did so.

"And who are you two handsome men? Part of Rykel's class?" Katherine wondered curiously. The dark haired one chuckled a little.

"No, we're just acquaintances," he replied with a smile. "I'm Mitchel Quill and this is Ryan Rudd. But you can just call us Quill and Rudd."

"Pleasure to meet you," Katherine mused, shaking both of their hands in turn. She turned to Page. "Rykel is upstairs if you're wondering. She... hasn't been having the best time."

"Exactly why we came over," Page informed.
"We wanted to see how she was doing and cheer her up."

"I don't understand it," Katherine sighed, shaking her head. "She took her medication yesterday, so she should be fine." Quill glanced at Rudd who just shrugged a little.

"We'll be down in a little bit," Page smiled as they headed towards the stairs.

Rykel lay in her bed, blankly staring up at the rotating fan in the dark room. Her mind was void of thought, emotions erased, dull, dark and cold. She felt nothing, nothing but deep, endless pain and sorrow.

She didn't even turn her head when the door opened, allowing the three friends to enter inside. Page hesitated but Quill nudged her forward. Rudd stood a little further behind Quill's elbow, his large brown eyes taking in the scene carefully.

"Rykel?" Page called softly. Nothing. Page turned back to Quill and Rudd, the older of the two making shooing hands and mouthing the words "keep going". Page sighed and turned back to the pitiful spectacle of the perfectly made bed with a sad and depressed Rykel laying down in the middle of it.

"You want to talk?" Page asked tentatively.

"No," came the flat reply.

"That's okay. We were just wondering... if you would want to come with us to the mall. Quill and Rudd need some more clothes and I'd thought you would enjoy coming with us."

Silence. Then Rykel shifted slightly, rolling to face the window with her back to them. "It's fine. You can go without me," she mumbled.

"Rykel, come on. I know we just got back and there's the whole thing with the... Listen, the point is, I can't stand to see you like this. I don't know how to make you feel better, I just want you to be happy."