Wanderer (On Hold)

Chapter 1

~Onyx~

Onyx peered into her trashed closet looking for something relatively good to wear. Black, black, black, black, white, she scowled and pulled the offending article out. Why there was a white sweater dress in her closet she knew instantly; her stepdad must have gotten her and her twin's clothing mixed up, though how he did that was anyones guess. Ashlyn was sunshine and rainbows while Onyx was skulls and studs. She pulled a black band t-shirt from her closet and slipped it on in place of her night shirt. She then went over to her dresser and grabbed her favorite pair of jeans, dark gray with leather laces up the side to her knees. After skipping down the stairs she swiped her backpack off of the hook at the bottom and walked into the living room.

Setting the bag down on the love seat she went off in search of her mother. Onyx found her in the kitchen making coffee. "Morning." she said and reached up into the cabinet to grab a pop-tart.

"Good morning, how are you today?", asked her mom.

"Tired."

Onyx's mother smiled, "Seems to be a permanent condition for you teens." Onyx nodded and unwrapped the pop-tart, cookies-and-cream, yum. Onyx's sister Ashlyn bounded down the stairs and danced into the kitchen. She wore a bright yellow t-shirt over white skinny jeans. The t-shirt had a large smiley face smack dab in the center.

"Looks like I'm going to need to get a pair of sunglasses just to look at you today Ashlyn." said Onyx.

In response Ashlyn stuck out her tongue,"Aw, miss doom and gloom made a funny." Onyx took a bite of her pop-tart; it was almost as good as it looked.

"I can't see why don't like the strawberry pop-tarts, Onyx," said Ashlyn," They are clearly better than those." she made a vague gesture to Onyx's pop-tart. Onyx opened her mouth to make a cutting response when the girls' mom stepped in.

"Now girls, each of you their own taste and you shouldn't try to change each other." Dissuaded the girls went their separate ways, Onyx to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth and put on eyeliner, Ashlyn to her room to grab her backpack which she had forgotten. Satisfied with her appearance Onyx settled on the love seat to watch TV. Glancing at the clock however, her eyes widened. It was 7:13. She had forgotten that she needed to be to school early this morning. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder she shouted goodbye to her mother and her twin sister and went out the backdoor. She ran through the small backyard to the garage to grab her helmet. After putting it on she wheeled her bike up the driveway. She hopped on it and peddled as fast as she could to school. It took her at most five or six minutes.

Reaching the the school Onyx parked her bike and walked into the lobby. A large group of her classmates awaited her and she skirted the edge and went to wait in an isolated corner. Turning toward the door she saw her best friend Jezebel walk through the door. Onyx waved her hand above her to get Jez's attention. Jez, seeing her hand skirted the crowd as well and came to stand by Onyx. "Are you looking forward to the field trip?" Jezebel asked.

"Yeah I can't wait to see all of the art."

"Me neither."

"So what music do we have for the bus?" asked Onyx. Jez rummaged through her bag for her Mp3 player.

"Where is it?" muttered Jez under her breath. "Oh, here it is..." she scrolled through the playlist, "We have, Evanescence, Avenged Sevenfold, 3 Doors Down, and," her cheeks burned, "One Direction."

"One Direction, are you serious!? You like that silly boy band? That s almost as bad as you having Beiber fever." Onyx took a deep breath and smiled, "I really don't care as long as you don't make me listen to it."

Desperate to change the subject Jezebel said, "Well what do you have?"

Taking her mp3 from her pocket Onyx turned it on and scrolled through the playlist as her friend had. "I have Disturbed, Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, Linkin Park, Chevelle, and Three Days Grace."

Jez smiled,"Cool, though I admit I was hoping you would have, like, Taylor Swift on there or something." Onyx, shook her head and turned off her Mp3.

As she shoved it back into her pocket a teacher walked into the lobby. "Students, please in an orderly fashion make your way to the buses outside."

The students left the room in a style akin to a stampede leaving Onyx and Jezebel standing in the corner looking dazed. They slowly walked out to the buses; there was no point in hurrying, all the good seats were already probably taken. Climbing aboard a bus they found a seat near the back of the bus. After a few minutes the same teacher who had caused the mass exodus appeared in the door way and began calling out names. When she reached Onyx and Jez's they raised their hand and called,"Here." like everyone else. The bus started its engine and the teacher got off.

Soon they were on their way to the Cleveland Art Museum. It was to be a two hour long bus ride and the students got bored quickly. They sang annoying songs like 100 bottles of pop. Jezebel got out her Mp3 player and the girls listened to her music for a half an hour then Onyx's for a half an hour and so on. They did this so that they would not run down the batteries too much.

Upon arrival, they disembarked the bus and the mass of students streamed toward the doors of the museum. As usual Onyx and Jezebel fell a few steps behind the crowd talking and as a result were the last ones into the museum. Onyx was left alone when Jez darted off to look at this or that piece of art while Onyx strolled slowly through taking in the details.

Out of the corner of her eye Onyx thought she saw the figures in a painting move. Turning to look at the painting in question she examined it thoroughly. It was a painting of a group of fantasy figures such as fairies, elves, and dwarves joyously dancing and singing around a fire. It appeared to be a festival of sorts. Satisfied that it had been a trick of her imagination she straightened her backpack and turned to the to the next work of art. Again she thought that she saw figures in the painting move. Shaking her head she returned to the painting she was looking at. After glimpsing again what looked like a movement on the figures of the painting she looked closely at the "moving" painting. Staring at it she swore that the figures were moving, maybe it was just that good of a painting, maybe it was more. In one single movement every figure in the painting turned to look at her. Onyx's vision swirled colors running running together in one long spiral, like paint running down a drain. She blacked out.