Elementalists

1) Going Out Was a Bad Idea

I knew it was going to be one of those nights. The ones where you find yourself staring at your reflection when its after the bedtime of children and you just listen to the silence. While peaceful there is the sense of fear attached to every second that ticks by. Endless doubts of dreams you will to come true. But tonight I was thinking of something particularly troubling. Who am I going to ask to Homecoming? Seeing the grey eyes, tall lanky frame and mess of long brown hair that whipped around the head of the sixteen year old boy that stood before me I pictured over and over again how humiliating it would be to be rejected. 

Uncle Hugh would always say you will know "The one" when you see her. There will be a bright light and a sense of clarity to your thoughts. But whenever I went to talk to a girl my mind goes absolutely blank. Then again Hugh never married. He always said that he was too busy to handle the likes of a woman. Though I still didn't understand how a woman never fell in love my uncle Hugh. He was nice, funny, always had a smile on his face, and he was very smart. Whenever I needed help in math, or science, he would practically do it for me. That might explain my D+ in Physics but hey, he said he loved it, and was I going to talk him out of helping me? Not a chance. Still, he couldn't help me get a Homecoming date. I was only at Burnt Ranch High for a couple years and I've never had a "date". My brother Jonah always said it was because I wasn't "putting myself out there". Whatever that means. But I much rather preferred my books, just getting lost in a story always helped cope with whatever was haunting my mind at the time. Still, Every way I pictured myself asking one of the girls that attended Burnt Ranch High School it ended with me failing miserably. All the girls are probably waiting for some bigger, tougher, and way dumber guy to come ask her. 

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a creak of wood splintering outside my second story window. It wasn't a small house. Actually it was one of the biggest estates in Willow Creek California, (My uncle was a lawyer) but I don't know why he picked this house out of all the others in this town, it was very old and yes, very creepy. The lone room window was open as it usually was, and the moonlight was filtering into the room as if a giant bright blue flashlight were being shown through the window frame. I stalked towards the window, avoiding the moonlight as I crept closer. The groaning of the wood became more frequent and grew louder as my mind went through what horribly scary things could happen in the next few seconds. It was quiet for a few moments. Moments where I could hear my heart trying to escape my chest. Then the creaks came again faster and louder, sweat firing down my forehead like torpedoes honing in on a target. Shadows started dancing in the moonlight that shone on the wood floor of my bedroom as I neared the side of the crooked window frame. muffled grunts filled the air, and made me go still. Was there someone trying to break into my house? Uncle Hugh said I had a crazy imagination. Once when I was 9 I came running into his room screaming because I thought I had saw a monster outside my window. I was wondering if I should make a break for it and grab my brother who was only one room over. But my door was on the other side of my room, and I didn't want to risk alerting the trespasser I was in the room. Also the Estate was about a mile from any other residence or public attraction so if someone had come this far, it had not been to just creep around the house. The figure clumsy stuck one foot into the room, then the other, but as he shifted weight he slipped on the pringles bottle that I had forgotten to pick up and tumbled into my bookshelf.

"God Damnit!" A lumped up voice croaked. Then a book fell and hit him squarely on top of the head and hit the wood with a thud. But this boy was no stranger. I could make out this chunky frame anywhere as his chubby face peered up at me. But only one thought went through my mind. My best friend Chad Hurley is an idiot.

"What were you going for there. And would you shut up, my brother is trying to sleep, and my uncle sleeps with one eye open." there was some silence then I added,