✧ Chapter One: Trio of a Kind
"You're not serious?" Chaise Dystler scoffed, looking at his friend, Daisy, in disbelief. "You actually had nightmares from watching Jaws?" Chaise burst into laughter as Daisy nodded her head in mock shame. Parker guffawed happily alongside them.
"I watched that movie when I was five and I didn't even flinch," he said. Chaise, who had just taken a long swig of his Coke, sprayed brown fizz from his nose as he protested.
"I was with you! You were scared out of your pants!" Daisy giggled and Parker's face turned beet red.
This kind of conversational teasing was common between the three friends and it would take a lot more than such taunts for them to ever separate. Chaise, Parker and Daisy had known each other since they were in nappies, when their mothers had met at the Laundromat in town. There wasn't much they kept from each other.
It wasn't unusual for them to spend the night together at each others houses, watching movies; sharing gossip and of course, mucking around with Parker's Ouija Board.
Tonight, the board had been laid to the side and the trio were playing their favourite party game - Truth Dare Double Dare Kiss Love Torture.
The laughing subsided and they resumed play. Daisy giggled slightly as Parker exclaimed, "Kiss!" and the pair leaned in. Parker enjoyed creating awkward moments and he often succeeded. Their lips touched and Chaise looked down shyly.
A long pink nightgown caught Chaise's eye as it trailed across the floor and into the kitchen. Parker's mum could not have chosen a better time to walk in. She remained unnoticed to Daisy and Parker, who were still kissing as their two minutes were not yet completed, but Chaise smirked at her as if to say, "What do you think?
Victoria smiled and leaned over the granite kitchen bench, her chin resting on her clasped hands. She laughed silently at her son.
"Please Parker, I knew you were a playboy, but Daisy doesn't deserve such punishment," she said.
· • ·
The Bravado.
The Beauty.
The Playboy.
Together they were an invulnerable strength, though they didn't know it. As humans, we have incredible power over the Earth we inhabit. Yet we cannot control ourselves. We hide from our own strength.
It is an invulnerable vulnerability, one that we break only with Friendship, Passion, Understanding and above all, Love.
When we break the harmony, when we turn against each other in the race to find the most eternal power, Love, we risk our own invulnerability.
And only rarely does it pay off.
Chaise stirred, his limbs stretching into the cold parts of his bed where his body heat hadn't yet reached. His eyes ached as he forced them open, and he twisted his neck to look around the room.
Daisy stood, already awake, at his dresser, peering into the mirror and adjusting her raven-coloured locks. Parker lay sleeping, fair hair tousled by his pillow. His breathing was deep and slow as it kept a steady pace. Daisy turned to face Chaise as he let out a yawn.
"Good morning, sleepy head," she said, her voice muffled by bobby pins held in her mouth. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah, fine," Chaise said, rubbing his eyes and picking the crust from around the edges. He blinked, and suddenly his vision spun. A grey, phantom hand shot towards him, only a wrist attached, and he scrambled up against the wall in fear. It was a small, feminine hand, the fingernails long and the knuckles too young to be wrinkled. The hand vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and Chaise blinked several times in shock.
Daisy had turned towards him as soon as he had started moving, abandoning her hair and rushing to his side. Chaise could see concern in her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Daisy asked.
"I don't know. I sort of tripped out," he replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I saw this grey hand thingy. It shot towards me,"
"But are you okay?"
"I feel fine, but I really don't know what just happened."
"Good. Next time, don't disturb me when I'm doing my hair," Daisy stood and walked back to the dresser, smearing sparkly lip gloss over her naturally red lips.
"Since when have you worn lip gloss? Or even put effort into your hair?" Chaise looked disbelievingly at her.
"Since Ethan asked me to the dance," She replied.
"Ethan asked you to the dance?!" Parker exclaimed, sitting up straight as if he were never sleeping. "But that's not cool. You never go to the dance."
"You're just jealous because you've tried to get me to go with you for a thousand years." Daisy frowned.
"Daisy; let me get this straight. You aren't going with Ethan. He'll just throw you away." Chaise said.
"Fine," Daisy pouted.
Parker shook his head in disbelief.
"Wow," He muttered. "I always knew my friends were different but this is plain freaky. First Chaise is seeing things, and now Daisy is taking more than five minutes to get ready. What is the world coming to?!"
Chaise looked at Parker in confusion. He could have sworn Parker was asleep while he'd seen the hand.
"Just let me run my own life, Parker." Daisy said without turning around from the dresser.
"I'm just saying; you don't need that muck on your face. And you don't need a player like Ethan to get you places. You've got me if you need that. I'd be happy to fake date," He said with a sly grin.
Daisy didn't turn around.
"We'll be friends forever, Daisy," Chaise said, laughing. "You make my day." This time Daisy did turn around; she glared at Chaise but he only kept laughing.
