Dark Angel // Austin Mahone *REWRITING*

Chapter 1: Kickball

The room was filled with laughs, my best friends and I enjoyed our night to its fullest. It was one of the final weekends we had together before our freshman years of college would be starting. As anxious as we were to become full-time college students, we knew of the disadvantages that would follow.

Kiki managed to have the highest GPA I had ever seen in my life, a four-point-five. I wasn't even aware it could go that high, but she did it. She was so wanted by some of the top schools that they even personally offered to pay for everything she would need to have her education there. It blew all of our minds but didn't surprise us entirely. Kiki had always been the best student, mostly because the rest of us had different mindsets.

Sadly, every one of the schools was out of state. The state of Ohio only had so many well-known schools, but none matched Kiki's criteria. The same went for Jessie, who didn't have as high of a GPA as Kiki, but still had offers from out of state. This left me and Audrey back home where we would be attending a local college to receive our bachelor's degrees.

The night was still young as we sat around the TV debating what horror movie to watch. We were stuck between two, arguing back and forth on what we had seen in the trailers to determine which was the better pick. The argument continued as we heard footsteps coming down the basement steps of my house.

"Insidious is better." Laughed my dad as he made his way into the den. His old, worn down slippers nearly causing him to trip as he walked. "Honey, I am already in my pajamas. Is there any way I could talk you girls into running to the convenience store for me, we need milk."

My eyes rolled as I laid my head back onto the soft couch, the rest of the girls perking up at the thought of getting out of the house for the first time all day. "Only if we get extra cash for snacks, Dad."

He nodded, already handing the twenty-dollar bill over to Jessie as he made his way back towards the stairs. My dad had grown accustomed to our ways as a group, mostly because we had been so close since second grade.

We all met on the field one day at school. It was the last three days before summer, and they had let us play kickball after lunch. The classes would line up one by one; One out on the bases preparing to catch the kicks, the rest awaiting their turn to kick and run. My class was the one on the bases, and I was playing catcher. It was Audrey's turn, and I could tell by her face she was way too into the game. She reared her entire body back, taking two running steps up to the ball before kicking it. It flew.

Directly into my face.

As I hit the ground, Audrey, Kiki, and Jessie made a run for me to help. They hugged me while I cried and poured blood from my nose all over them while they walked me to the nurse's office. It was that day we knew we'd be best friends, and we haven't left each other alone since.

With smiles on our faces, we made our way out of my house and onto the sidewalk. We lived in town, and because of the old Ohio setting that never seemed to advance, everything stayed door-to-door. The store was only a few blocks down, but the night sky still gave the walk an eerie feel. The clouds in the sky promised rain later in the night, so we attempted to hurry as fast as we could.

We strolled down the road, taking in the fresh air. The street lamps were dimmed, and barely lit up the dark corners of the path. Because of our town being so close together, it was connected by alleys, that way people had back ways into their buildings instead of having to walk all the way around to the front. We learned from an early age to never walk around on the streets alone, but in a group of four, we were never scared.

As we neared the store, a dark alley appeared in my peripherals. The steps toward it gave me chills down my arms and spine, a bad feeling in my gut. I noticed a dark van parked exceptionally close to the alley, so I quietly uttered it to the girls.

"Incoming." I said, the girls following my eyes to the dark van. We braced ourselves, knowing that this was one of the most dangerous streets of our town.

Part of me wanted to believe that because there were four of us, that we would go unharmed, but that's not always the case. Jessie had recently gotten me into too many crime shows, and I had begun feeling paranoid as they ran through my head.

We were almost at the alley-way when we heard footsteps closing in on us. Multiple seemed to echo through the dark alley, causing me to cling onto Audrey's arm. The steps gained momentum, coming at us faster. I could feel Audrey shaking under my touch as we all tried to move quickly. Just as Kiki was about to pull out her taser on her keychain, a man with his Great Dane stepped into the light from the street.

"Okay, okay! Slow down!" he called to the large breed as it pulled him around the corner and down the street. Audible sighs were heard from all of us as we relaxed, having been startled from the man and his dog.

Just as we passed the alley, the van started up causing us to jump. The door slid open as two men jumped out, snatching me off my feet and pulling me into the vehicle. A piece of fabric was placed over my mouth as I fought the person, but I soon felt tired from the chemical scent. I heard pounding and screaming outside the van before it spun, screeching away and down the road just before I fell into a slumber.