Child of the Black Flames

Chapter 1

Ch. I

A cold chill washed over Ash Alexandar as he entered the large building. It was the first day of the school year and already he wished it was over. Too many people, careless teachers, waking up at 6am; what was there to like about school? Well he could think of one thing.

Ash heard his name being called faintly under the music of his iPod. He took off his headphones and turned around to see Veronica Chance, his lovely girlfriend for about four years. She ran down the hall towards him, her long orange locks flowing gracefully behind her and her emerald eyes beaming. She was wearing the blue version of their school uniform. He swore she must have had every color when he was perfectly content with black. A smile grew across Ash's face as she jumped into his arms. He spun her around, her cheerfulness rubbing off on himself. They greeted each other with a kiss and then headed to their lockers and then classrooms.

The typical school day was all too familiar and classes went by in a blur up until the third hour. Veronica sat by some of her female friends, chatting about what Ash assumed was their hair, or clothes, or whatever else girls talked about. He sat in a seat across the classroom from her. He never was fond of all the chatter she loved to do. He slipped in his headphones and laid his head down onto his desk. Moments passed before Ash was startled by someone grabbing his shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his seat, cursing as he hit his head against the wall behind him.

There was a girl standing in front of his desk. She was laughing obviously very amused by what had just happened. "Oh my god! That was perfect!" She had long black hair with her bangs dyed purple. She had dark blue eyes and something about her smile was mischievous and childish; her voice was very similar. She claimed he was in her seat. He looked back at her confused on how, on the first day of school, that any seat could be "her seat".

"Window seat." She had told him, pointing to the window behind Ash. "Always mine."

Ash chuckled, "Oh really now? I don't see your name on it, so-"

The girl tapped a long purple fingernail onto the desk, pointing out an inscription that read, Elektra J, in large artistic lettering.

How did she even do that?!

Elektra began her smartass response but stopped speaking when she looked up into Ash's eyes with a child-like wonder. Ash's eyes were strange; one a dark pool of sapphires, and the other a deep ocean of lavender. She stared in awe for a few moments before Ash asked if she needed assistance with something.

She shook her head and continued, "So as you can see, this is my seat. Get out." After much arguing Ash retreated back into his music, but that didn't stop Elektra from pulling him out of his seat by his long blue dyed hair.

Strangely enough that was the beginning of Ash's first legitimate friendship. As unusual as it sounds they grew quite close after that, sharing music and secrets; eventually meeting up after school to play video games. Elektra Jordans turned out to be a pretty chilled out girl and Ash could get along with chill. By the end of the semester they were nearly inseparable.

The second half of the year started with the teacher, Mr. Samuels introducing a new girl into class. Up until that day, school had been unreasonably mundane, but for some reason this girl had a way of flipping things upside down from the moment her eyes had met his.

Mr. Samuels introduced the young woman as Zane Ctyl. She was at an average height for a girl her age. She was a very pale and slender girl. Her choppy black hair fell disorderly a little below her ears as she stood confidently. Zane wore the black uniform, her black school jacket and skirt complimenting her body nicely. She was a normal girl, or at least that's what Ash would have thought if it weren't for the strangest thing about her; her eyes. Something about them was so off putting that it sent Ash wanting to disappear. For one thing, they were green. Not the normal green that many people had, no, it was the kind of green that glowed in the darkness. It was almost toxic. They made him feel uncomfortable, like something in her gaze took a part of him with her. He hated the exposing feeling as she continued to stare at him. Ash felt her read his soul as if he wore it on the surface. She didn't say a word. She only kept her poison eyes glued on him as she took the seat beside Elektra.

Class went on as Ash's anxiety continued to build up inside of him. He's continuously feel as if the girl was watching him from behind, but when he turned he only saw Zane silently looking down at her papers, minding her own business. Then as soon as he faced forward once again he'd feel her gaze and the image of her brightly radiating eyes burnt into the crevices of his brain. The cycle went on and on making him paranoid as hell. This couldn't be healthy, he thought to himself.

So he tried to put him mind on other things; like cats, or equally adorable, his lovely girlfriend. He turned his gaze to her sitting on the other side of the classroom and immediately he noticed something was wrong. There she was, expressionless, concentrating intensely on the window behind him, Elektra, and Zane. It was almost as if she was making an attempt on telekinesis. It was very strange. A wave of concern washed over him. She looked and noticed him with his worrying gaze to which she made a reassuring smile. He decided to ignore it, no matter how strange of her.

After school he decided to head to his happy place. The old abandoned church. The church stands strong. At least that's how his mother viewed it. Ash's mother was in the hospital rotting away with everything else in the town. Ever since he could remember she had been very ill. She wasn't there as much as Ash was. No one was. The church stood quite the opposite of strong in fact it was very unstable and leaned to the right. It was very unsettling the way it seemed as though a strong wind could blow it down easily. The church stood strong maybe once in a period of time but now it was bound to crash at any moment. The wood was always wet and soft even if it hadn't rained in the god forsaken town in quite some time. The large cross that once stood semi proud just above the large entrance doors now dangled upside down by the remaining assortment of tangled wires. He looked at the doors, boarded and nailed until entrance into the empty church seemed like too much work for anyone to bother. Empty. That is all this place was anymore. The church stood strong. Ash laughed to himself. Was there really that much that she had missed? Had she really though GOD would preserve it? Ha... that's funny. What did stand strong was a large black tree, burnt and charred but still sturdy and tall. Ash had climbed it every day since he was able to stand and still it stood strong. Stronger than the church. Ash sighed to himself as he grabbed onto the first branch, pulling himself up into the tree. From the tree he could see everything. The rotting church, the gravel covered, "death trap to anyone who trips" parking lot that was always empty, its sharp grounds weren't safe for children or anybody else, and finally the small town Ash had grown up in. Jincen, named after its founder Jincen Campton. It was a dark little town that had become known to the locals as "The town that stood still." Very accurate considering no one left their homes, and no one went outside unless absolutely necessary. It was only a grey, quiet town that had been drowned out by society. Ash held it close to his heart, as he did with the tree and even the abandoned church. He did this because it was his understanding that they were one and the same, both misunderstood and ignored.

Ash's phone had rang and vibrated in his pants pocket. It was Elektra. Who else would it be? Veronica was with her family that day. He reached into his pocket and found that he was right. He answered the phone and chatted with her for minutes before she made a touchy comment.

"So that new girl is pretty creepy, huh?" She laughed, "Those eyes made my stomach turn... what a freak."

"I don't know. She's only a little different." Ash leaned his back against the tree.

"Different in a horribly unlucky way, I must say. Seriously, sometimes different can be a little too much. Especially the way she kept staring at you when she was being introduced. What a freak."

Ash drained a flick of energy into his hand, snapping his fingers. At once a small spiral of black fire shot from his hand like a candle flame. "Yeah..." he smirked. "Freak..."