Laughter and Linger

Chapter 1

"Mhmm I got here safe and sound,"
"Well, dear if you need anything just give me a call,"
"Thanks Joanne, sure thing," I answered, hoping the call would be over soon. Although she was kind and doting I wanted to put my two days in the hospital behind me, which included talking to the nurse on my cell phone like we were old friends.
"Just remember not to fall asleep until your parents get home, sleeping while having a concussion can cause serious damage—" I zoned out until she had made her final farewells. At that point I curled up under my duvet and laid my head on my pillow, the comfort of my own bed was more than enough to lull me to sleep. 

Three men crowded around me, despite the differences in appearance each one had similar glow about them. As if energy was pulsating off of them. "She's awakening," An angelic man murdered excitedly his black curly was combed back into a small ponytail and his sky blue eyes lit up with joy. With a somewhat proud demeanor he turned to the other two, "Her hearts pure as gold, so I get to take her." 
"Bullshit," The man in the middle rolled  his eyes, he smiled devilishly and caressed my cheek, his touch was filled with dark intent that the other two could clearly sense. The third man glared daggers at the two and moved away from me and walked past the IV and two my heart monitor. Heart monitor? Hospital, I was in a hospital, why was I in a hospital and who were these guys?! My heart monitor began to go ballistic as I tried to recall how I had come to be here with these strangers!  The third man tensed up, his forest green eyes flared angrily.
"Give her some space you're scaring her." He growled, his long slender hands clenched into fists.
"Oh come off it Jasper, we might as well have fun with her when she's in this state," 
"Lucius, you have three seconds to get away from Bradley."  The angelic man immediately walked, well more like floated, a good five feet away from me. Lucius on the other hand moved even closer, I could feel his hot breath against my neck. I clenched my eyes shut, the only part of my body that I could control.
"1." Lucius murmured in my ear. "2." His hand was on my neck. "3— shit!" Jasper stood over me and Lucius was laying on the floor, there was blood on his lip but no apparent wound. "Oh you are going to regret that!"
"Shut up." Jasper snapped. "She's not dead yet so neither of you can have dibs on her soul. Lucius if you lay another finger on her I'll personally get you demoted, and Isald it is unclear if she has a heart of gold. So will you two go bother some other Grim Reaper until I finish up here?" The two of them nodded in agreement before dissipating into nothingness.  Jasper bent over me his lips only millimeters from mine. "This won't hurt a bit." The kiss of death. This was it, no last words, no final heroic act, I was 18 years young and the world had nothing to remember me by. So I did the only brave thing I could think of. I stared death in the face, my eyes bore into his as I accepted my fate, except he faltered.

I woke up with a start and tried to shake the peculiar dream from my mind but I couldn't get rid of the image of his face. His pale skin was a shocking contrast to his dark brown hair and his solemn green eyes, it was an image that I was sure would be etched into my memory for years to come. My bedroom door opened and my mother walked in carrying a tray with two mugs on it. She sat down on the edge of my bed, I was a carbon copy of her. We both had the same long auburn hair, pale complexion and coffee brown eyes. The only difference was I towered over her like a skyscraper.
"How are you doing?" She asked between sips of the chamomile tea.
"Fine, a little dazed I suppose,"
"Well you need to be more careful you're lucky someone was kind enough to bring you to the hospital."
"Yeah, very lucky." I mumbled into the mug, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You could at least be grateful that your father and I cut our vacation short to come and check on you." She huffed, I could feel one of her guilt trips coming up so I quickly changed the subject.
"You know, I have school in the morning so I should probably get some rest, wouldn't want to fall asleep in class." Her eyes moved from my messy hair to the dent in the pillow where my head had been but she refrained from commenting.