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Chapter 1

Jayde Brendyn sat up in bed, panting hard. Her hand automatically went to the bedside table as she switched on the lamp. Taking deep breathes to calm herself, Jayde observed her surroundings.

The room was unusually dark, lacking the conventional moonlight that usually peeped through the curtains. Shadows danced around, forming imaginary figures that seemed to wander around the room. Just then, thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning flashed, then came the tap-tap from the window as rain poured down. Jayde clenched her eyes shut and buried he head under the covers, trying to shut out the horrendous sounds of the storm.

Even at the age of fourteen, she still feared the fluid monster that others called rain. She had heard rumours about how her parents had gotten lost in a storm while visiting the beach. Their bodies had never been found.
All that had happened about twelve years ago and since then, she had been at the orphanage. Her roommate was sleeping peacefully, oblivious to her friends troubles.

Jayde grabbed her ipod from the side table and switched it on. The time was 3:54 am. There was still practically an hour before dawn and another couple of hours before anyone woke up.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to rid herself of the sounds coming from the storm raging outside. For how long she lay there, she knew not, but eventually the firt rays of the sun filtered through the curatins, gradually lighting up the room as dawn approached.
Outside, the rain had slowed to a mere drizzle, the sky clear of the previous nights horrors. Silently, she lifted her covers and climbed out of the bed, padding onwards to the window to see what damage had been caused by the storm last night.

A pleasant breeze ruffled her hair as Jayde observed the sight that lay before her. By now, the sky had turned a pale blue and the grass looked fresher than ever with dew sprinkled on. Trees swayed along with the wind and the sunflowers bloomed with all their might. All in all, it looked like one of those completely perfect mornings when it seemed that everything was perfectly okay.

At these times, Jayde tried her best to forget everything that had happened thus far. All those sleepless nights that she had spent crying and the numerous times she had been woken up in the middle of the night by some horrific nightmare. The fact that she had been living in an orphanage for as long as she could remember didn't help in the least and Jayde felt all the more upset when she thought about it.
For now though, she was going to relax and enjoy the day as much as she could before night once more approached.