The Preternatural Shadows

Chapter I

My eyes fluttered open as streaks of sunlight penetrate the window, blinding me. Somedays, waking up can be really harsh for me and today was one of those days where my eye bags felt like ten gallons of water. I glanced over my alarm clock to check the time. 6:59am. I waited for it to ring any moment now, but the pleasant smell of scrambled eggs and toasted bread changed my mind. I gathered my courage to turn the alarm clock off, sit up groggily and drag my feet off my soft sheets. I stretched my arms above my heavy head and let out a loud pathetic yawn.

It was the first day of summer holidays, and that meant it was my first day of work in Cedric's Library. I walked towards the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. Despite the balmy weather, I decided to put on a knitted beige sweater and a pair of ripped jeans to go with my converse. I stared into the mirror encircled by a frame of threadlike strands of cheap, fake gold; the kind you can easily find in a dollar store. My fingers traced the outline of my face in the looking glass. My long tousled ginger hair and fair skin reminded me of the beautiful lady from the photo frame placed on my nightstand. The beautiful lady, who died after giving birth to a child. The beautiful lady, who was my mother. My grandparents always say that I looked very much like my mother and I had my father's blue green eyes. But I didn't agree with the mother part, because she was so much more beautiful than I was.

My footsteps followed the aromatic smell of food down the stairs willingly, only to find my grandpa sitting one leg crossed over the other on the couch, reading the latest newspaper.

"Good morning, grandpa!" I kissed my grandpa on the cheek and he greeted me back with a charming smile on his wrinkled face.

I skipped to the kitchen and started drooling over the plates of scrumptious food served on the dining table. My grandma honestly makes the best breakfast and no other diner can beat her excellent cooking skills in my opinion. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to inherit the genes for culinary arts.

"Good morning, dear. Did you sleep well last night?" my grandma asked while pouring me a glass of milk.

"Yeah." I replied. I took a sip of the milk and quickly dig into my hearty breakfast. Oh goodness gracious! The feeling of warm food entering my stomach literally made me feel like I was on cloud 9.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and I opened the door to see who was it. A young gothic teen with brown hair and a streak of pink highlight yelled, "BOO!"

"Jesus!" I jumped in shock. The newspaper slipped between my grandpa's fingers and my grandma immediately rushed out of the kitchen with a spatula in her hand. Their heads turned to look in my direction.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Chloe Rose Winters, but it's just me." the gothic teen said and crossed her arms over her chest.

I took a closer look at the gothic teen's hazel eyes. She sure looked like someone I know... "Prue?!" I guessed, finally recognising that familiar face. Prudence Jones had been my best friend since we were 4 years old. I can't exactly remember how we first met but I'm pretty sure we clicked instantly like magnets with opposite polarity. Speaking of opposite, you can easily tell the differences between us. Prue is the definition of loud and friendly; an obvious extrovert. I'm much more of an introvert and socially awkward. She was the first person to call me 'Clo', short for Chloe, and I was the first person to call her 'Prue', which she thought was cool. Before we were allowed to have sleepovers, Prue would secretly climb into my room from my window every night and we would talk so much till we lost track of the time. One morning, my grandma found us sleeping on the floor , because we were too exhausted from all the tittle-tattle the night before. Of course, we were both grounded promptly after that incident.

"Hey Nana & Papa Winters!" Prue shouted across the room. What a social butterfly.

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