The Demon Inside

Chapter 1

The sky was overcast as I pulled my hood up and trekked down my 2 mile driveway. It was my first day as a senior here at Cheboygan High School. This michigan weather in this honky town was something else, the august air had quite the nip to it; but it was also 5:00am and was so dark I could barely see. The winding two mile gravel driveway surrounded with tall, dark, lurking trees was an eerie scene. I put my ipod on shuffle and plugged my headphones in and avoided stepping in some stray puddles.

This was my last year and my main goal was to not attract attention and get this final year of mandatory hell over with, then I could start getting a degree something I actually wanted to learn and work in. The nights at the bar were fine but I wanted to be someone; I wanted to chase my dreams and stop struggling so much at home and help my foster parents so they didn't have to help me pay for college after I graduated high school. I had my life planned already at 17 what my house would look like, what my dream man would look like, how many kids I'd have, how many animals I'd have. I wasn't your average teenager in this town. I didn't smoke, didn't party, didn't get into trouble with the law. I was however addicted to piercings and tattoos.

I popped my black hood over my dyed silver hair and impatiently played with my snakebites and waited for the bus. I bit my lip a little eager to get to school so I could talk and gab with the one friend I had, Dexa LoveLac. We were definitely the wallflowers of the school both of us addicted to black and angry music filled with a lot of meaning.

I pulled out of my deep thoughts as the bus came roaring up to my stop splashing puddles angrily as it made its way to my stop. I turned my music up and made sure my headphones were all the way in and pulled my backpack up more on my shoulder. I slowly exhaled as I entered the bus that would lead me to hell.

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I groggily shifted upright in my seat as the bus stopped and started letting kids off at the main entrance of the school. The middle school was on the right and the high school was on the left. It started to rain as I entered the school and I pulled my hood back and fixed my straight mid-back length hair. My hazel eyes searched the hallways for Dexa but I didn't see her anywhere so I silently trudged my way to the hallway to the far right then followed it down and took another right and went all the way down to the end. My locker was all the way in the corner by all the obnoxious preppy girls and football players that couldn't handle real world situations unless it had them by the balls and money was involved.

I grabbed all my art stuff along with everything for my first four class periods and started on my short way to the art room. Mr. Ignesio was sitting at his desk and gave me a kind easy smile as I walked in. He was an older man mid-sixties at least, he was tall and lanky with half glasses perched on the bridge of his nose and gray eyes that reminded you of cold ice. He was one of the most-loved teachers in the high school ... as long as you didn't piss him off.

"Phinia how is your artwork coming along?" I took my seat and got all my art supplies neatly arranged on my desk space.

"It's going good, I'm in the final stages of the project." I smiled at him and held up my black and white sketch of a man that was roaring at a sky full of stars with a dragon behind him in the same pose but breathing fire. It was a drawing but there was an emotion of frustration portrayed in the drawing. I'd seen him a few days before and he had asked me if I had been working on anything, and this was the piece I had been working on

"Once it is colored it will look astounding Phinia, you never disappoint with your creativity." He smiled kindly at me and went back to reading a book. Today it was Harry Potter.

I picked up my pencil ready to make the edges a little more drastic when Dexa came running in her purple and pink hair in a messy bun and her slender figure wearing black jeans, black shirt and stark blue eyes glued to mine.

"Phinia, why didn't you seek me out this morning?" She was distraught like she always was.

She was like an over-protective mother with me. Her dialect was always a little foreign and off. She had been with me since I was a baby, she had been through all the foster homes with me. We were always shipped off to new foster homes away from each other but in the same county. I always wondered how that kept happening but I never really gave it much thought. Just good luck I guess.

"I figured you wanted a day off, not like you ever take one though." I started to shade my drawing as she set all of her stuff down and got all her first period art books out. She was also in the same classes with me. Dexa couldn't draw to save her life, so I honestly didn't know why she kept choosing this class all these years. But she was my best friend and I was glad I had her in all of them. I didn't talk to anyone else.

"No. I don't take days off Phinia. Give me a call on the phone next time. Thank you." I nodded at her as she scribbled in her sketch book.

Lately Dexa had been on edge and I had no clue why. Maybe she was going to fight some other kid that had started rumors about me. She always beat them within an inch of their life. Since the second time had happened whatever people were saying had been kept on the down low and highly secretive. Mr. Ignesio walked around with his attendance clipboard as the bell rang. Everyone that casually walked through the door was marked tardy. I never understood how that was a "cool" trend. I thought it was the stupidest thing imaginable. I put my headphones back in and turned my music up to drown out the noise of everything so I could concentrate on my drawing. Dexa did the same, but gave up on trying to draw and pulled out a book instead. Mr. Ignesio always let her read because he knew she couldn't draw, and she was always early and always helped with classroom cleanup or errands when asked.

The hour crawled by as I started to color my drawing to life with vibrant colors, drastic edges and just the right amount of life-likeness. I always felt like I had seen all my drawings alive and in action, real. I had drawings of almost everything imaginable. I sighed as I made the finishing touches and put my name, hour, date and title of the drawing on my masterpiece. I was a bit crestfallen as I turned it into this hours slot knowing I'd never get it back because Mr. Ignesio was an art thief. There was so many art pieces I haven't gotten back. They ranged from oil pastel drawings, to clay sculptures to good ol' sketches.

As soon as I put my artwork in the drawer Kianna Lawton bumped into me with so much force it made me stumble. Dexa was at my side instantly crouched and ready to pounce on Kianna. She was one of the biggest snobs in the high school with her pale gold blonde hair and her skinny figure and crappy attitude for people who didn't fit society's "standards".

She huffed out a snotty. "Watch where you're going and took her seat at the end of the group of tables with her lackeys, snickering and shooting looks at Dexa and I.

I gave a deep sigh and went back to my seat Dexa giving me an incredulous look. "You're just going to walk away from that?"

I sat down and looked at her arching an eyebrow. "Don't I always?"I packed all my items back into my binder. "The day she hits me is the day I will acknowledge her stupidity and small minded nature Dexa."

She tightly pursed her lips and nodded as she shot a quick menacing glare at the ever-smirking Kianna. I felt like today was the day something was bad was going to happen in gym, Kianna would pull a stunt on the first day of school for sure, I huffed already exhausted with this rude day. Then as the bell rang and it was time to head to second period gym.

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