The Venabelle Chronicles: Beautiful Poison

Chapter One: The First Encounter

Chapter One: The First Encounter

The porch swing creaked as Briella, a girl with dark auburn hair, sat and swung on it slightly, staring over the edge of the porch. She stared into the moon lit forest, losing herself in thought. The dream had come again that night, the same dream that had been plaguing her for nearly a week and a half. A dream about a black haired, green-eyed boy holding a single, pure white flower with pinwheel shaped pedals.

A set of footsteps approached her on the swing and stopped in front of her, interrupting her view and thoughts. She looked up into a pair of mismatched eyes that mimicked her own, the left ocean blue, the right sea foam green filled with concern.

“Nat…” Sebastian, her twin brother, trailed, “Why are you up? It’s like three in the morning.”

“Sorry,” Briella answered glancing down in shame, “Did I wake you up Sebastian?”

Sebastian shook his head at his sister and grabbed her hand to pull her up. “No Bri. I felt you out here and I came to see if you were okay.” The two twins were not exactly what you’d call normal; they could feel one another in their minds. They always knew the exact thoughts of each other and could feel if something was wrong with the other, He paused as they made their way to the back door, “Did you have that dream again?”

She nodded, “Yeah and I think I figured out the name of that weird flower I was telling you about too.”

“Well can you tell me?” Sebastian asked after a moment of silence, “This anticipation is killing me.”

“Oleander,” She murmured, her voice low, “It’s a flower of beauty, but that beauty is poisonous. It can kill.”

Briella couldn’t help the next thing that rolled through her mind, what if it’s a sign that my end is near? That my death will be because of something beautiful? That something is going to happen?

Sebastian rolled his eyes at the thoughts rolling through his younger-by-two-minutes sisters head, she was an over thinker, but she had a point premonition dreams were common between them. It might be a sign.

Sighing he led his sister to their room and made her lay down and fifteen minutes later she was asleep, but Sebastian wasn’t. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to go down, and that worried him because nothing ever happened in Darkwood.

With one final thought he fell asleep, Things are about to change here in Darkwood.

The next morning Briella woke with a start, her brother standing above her a wicked smirk on his face and a hideous yellow plastic cup of ice in his hand. She felt a hard, cold substance that was leaving a trail of ice cold water on arm, it was ice. Go figure. Briella thought before glaring at her brother and throwing off her midnight blue blanket. She jumped off her bed and onto her brother, who started cackling like a hyena. She yanked the cup away and grabbed a handful of ice, shoving it down his pants with an evil laugh before taking off to the restroom and locking the door.

She could hear her brother’s cries of pain and vengeance as she began to get ready for school. Ten minutes later she walked out of the bathroom dressed in a black pair of skinnies, black converse, and a neon blue shirt. She made her way to the kitchen, finding her brother standing near the counter, waiting for her with her breakfast sitting in front of him.

He glared at her for a second before breaking out into a grin. “That was good Bri; I admit that, the block in your head is getting better. I couldn’t even tell what you were going to do.”

She grinned back at her brother, swiping her bangs out from her eyes, “I know! I’ve been working on it. Now can I have my breakfast?”

He tossed her the cookies-n-cream pop tarts package sitting on the counter in front of him and grabbed his bag, shoving his wallet in his pocket. He glanced over at her as she grabbed her bag and beckoned her to follow him through the door.