Beyond Good and Evil

Chapter 1: Robert

"Alicia! Turn that racket down!"

Alicia immediately stopped jumping on her mattress, the sound of heavy guitars and passionate, emotional vocals filling her small room. She had been listening to Phantom Shadow on repeat ever since she had received the album. It was her new favourite thing in the entire world.

There was a knock on the other side of the door. Jody's voice boomed, louder this time: "Alicia!"

Sighing, she crouched, sliding off the side of her bed. She padded over to her nightstand, pressing pause on her iPod dock. The room fell into silence, unnerving Alicia. She had grown accustomed to the loudness penetrating the walls, but forgot how paper thin they could be.

The house she and her parents shared was small. Two bedrooms, a small bathroom, and a lounge and kitchen. She sighed, pulling a dressing gown over her low-cut denim shorts and ocean blue strap top. Stockholm was beginning to warm up. After months and months of the bitter, unforgiving cold, Alicia was relived.

The door to her room opened, and Jody stepped in, her bronze hair pulled back into a bun with chopsticks intercepting through it. She was still dressed from work - wearing her damp dark blue waitress top and a white waist apron. Her almond shaped eyes glistened green in the sunlight filtering through the bedroom window.

"I don't see how you could like these... People," Jody sighed, retreiving Alicia's copy of Phantom Shadow from the nightstand. She gave the album a concerned, thoughtful gaze, narrowing her eyebrows. "The things they sing about aren't very appropriate."

Alicia groaned irritably, rolling her eyes. She hated fighting with Jody, but she could not conceal the exasperation taking her over. "They sing about death, hurt, and redemption, not about sex, mum, like a million other artists out there."

Jody pressed her lips into a hard, thin line, studying Alicia's face with her eyes. "You certainly don't take after me, music wise." She sighed, shaking her head. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

Alicia's stomach grumbled. Flushing, she folded her arms across her chest at her mother's amused look. "Okay, mum."

Jody left without another word, leaving the door ajar, a habit she seemed to do a lot. Alicia threw herself onto her bed, sighing wearily into her pillow. She had not been sleeping well as of late. Ever since she had met Robert - briefly - he had consumed her thoughts. Every time she closed her eyes to dream, he was there. Every time she sat in class, attempting to focus on the lecturer waving his hand at the white board, her thoughts were focused solely on him. He was everywhere.

Was it her being starstruck, or something more?

Before Alicia had time to analyse her feelings, her bedroom door burst open. The mattress weighed down suddenly, and a pair of flawless skinny arms laced around her neck. Alicia inhaled her best friend's familiar scent - vanilla, strawberries and kiwi fruit.

"Hello Elsa," she grumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"It's time to get up!" Elsa beamed, pulling at Alicia's shoulders.

Reluctantly, she allowed Elsa to drag her from the bed until they were both standing face-to-face, nose- to-nose. Being the same height as Elsa meant that Alicia never had to feel short, or like a giant.

Her best friend wrapped her up in an embrace, inhaling her hair. She had showered earlier, in a desperate attempt to scrub away every molecule of her that yearned to see Robert again. She knew as well as Elsa that it was a fantasy, just a stupid, pointless, teenage girl fantasy.

"We'll see them again next year," Elsa shrugged, holding her at arms length. "They're not gone forever. Besides," a smirk found its way to her lips, "I want to plot mine and Andreas' future."