A Best Friend's Promise - Completed

Chapter 1

His body felt cold and he shivered like only once before. Chris tried to open his eyes but it was like they were glued shut. The darkness scared him and he knew danger wasn't far. He was frozen in his bed and there was nothing he could do to change his current state, it was part of who he was. It was no use struggling against the force that kept his eyes shut or forced him into the bed leaving him with no escape. All he could do was to lie there and wait for the right time. Timing was everything for his kind.

He felt the life returning to his body and he knew he wouldn't make it in time to safe his best friend. Someone would be there, someone that is closer to Jason would feel it too and go to help him. That was all Chris could hope.

1 Week later

He sat in his car staring at the school gate. His mind drifted to the funeral and everything that happened two days before that and the two day after. The fight, the incident in the park of the neighborhood he was sitting in now, the death of his best friend and the funeral. Tears threatened to spill but he would never allow them to.

His eye caught movement at the school gate and automatically searched for the face he had seen every day for the last three days. He found her blue eyes, sad blue eyes that told the tale of a lost and hurt girl. Her blonde hair was tied up in a high ponytail and the ends of her hair swished just below her waist where her school uniform shirt met her skirt. She looked good in the white and blue school uniform. Jason would have thought so too.

He watched her as she crossed the street and made her way to the bus. He saw her fear when someone grabbed her from behind but she relaxed when she saw the younger boy behind her. They had the same eyes, and he knew from the last few days that the boy was her sibling.

He understood her fear. He found her too late to stop it but stopping it would have ruined his best friend's life and a part of what he was. He wouldn't have stopped it even if he was in time. He wished that what happened could have happened differently but it was too late now. What happened happened. She would not understand it now but someday she would.

He followed the bus at a distance even though he knew the route it was taking. He stopped a few minutes later on the corner of her block and watched as she exited the bus with her brother in tow. The girl tried to look happier than she was for the sake of her brother but he knew that it wasn't what she felt.

He was sensitive to other peoples' feelings. He felt what they felt even if he didn't know them. It was stronger with friends and family and with her. He could feel her pain and fear from miles away. Even though he felt her so strong he couldn't break his promise to his best friend.

Jason's plea was a permanent part in his memory. "Take care of her and keep them safe for me please?" Were his dying words to Chris. "I promise Jason. She will be cared for and they will be under my protection. I won't let anything happen to them." Then Jason blew out his last breath and Chris felt the weight of his promise.

She crossed the street again and opened the small gate. The house looked cozy. The white picket fence could have looked better, neglect was a terrible thing. The house looked rundown and he knew that the inside didn't look much better. She disappeared into the house and immediately he could hear a high pitched voice scolding the girl. She didn't belong here and he would make sure she wasn't in this place much longer.

The afternoon passed quickly and soon he was surrounded by darkness. He got out of his car and walked the plus minus one hundred meters to her house. He climbed over the picket fence careful not to break it or to make a noise. He looked in through her window and found her on her bed doing her homework. She was crying and the tears stained the open book, ink running in all directions.