Cherries in the snow

 

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Introduction

The hunter was out again. The moon was high over the city as its pulsating heart was moving the neon blood through its veins. The muscles were contracting beneath his feet as he moved silently through the shadows, stalking his prey and looking for the next possibility to kill. Humans were so fragile, they were so weak but their life force was strong. It helped him survive in this place. Life in the dimension of humans had helped him adapt and he did not feel the need to hunt as often anymore. The assimilation process of this body had begun when he had found and killed its first owner. What had happened to its soul he did not care and he believed that asking stupid questions might get one killed. Humans said often, that curiosity killed the cat but he was not sure they were getting their facts accurate. He had experienced first-hand that cats were far more superior in their senses than any human and this saying had lost its meaning as had many others. Humans were superstitious and would believe any amount of lies he fed them.

The moon, the mistress had come out of her hiding place behind the clouds but her eternal light was not necessary as the city lights shone brighter and brighter, painting the sky purple. He caught her perfume and the deal was sealed. She was with a bunch of friends laughing about an abominable joke one of them had just offered. Drunk and disorderly, they were moving from one bar to another and he was stalking them. No, he did not care about her companions, but her perfume could not mask her scent. He had marked his prey and now had decided to follow her as long as it was necessary to kill.

Tonight he would feast again to survive the following days. Nights did not burn his skin and did not drain his energy as much as days. It had become easier to survive in daylight but he still slept behind black curtains that were never open during the day. He knew that after a couple of months the day sickness would leave and he would be able to stay in the sunlight wearing just a pair of sunglasses, pretending to shield his eyes from the sunlight. And then nights would be his and days would be his. Unfortunately this body also needed sleep now and then but he was sure that it was just the drain from the city and the hot sun.

Goddess of the silver moon was showing him the best shadows and through those he moved behind the prey. What was one human life anyway? It was a necessary sacrifice for the greater good – survival.

The night had settled down and the crescent moon was up in the navy blue sky
which was getting darker by the minute. The city lights down below were bright as ever. The heart of the city with its bright lights was pumping the neon blood throughout the streets that, despite the late hour, were not empty at all.
A man and a woman were making their way towards the theatre and the wind carried their voices through the night. Her coat was in the colour of a burned rose, her shoes were as red as her lipstick her perfume was strong in the air. The clicks of her heels resonated in the quiet park they were going through and in the distance the city that could never close was breathing in the cold night. He had followed them since they had first stepped into the park. It was all because of her scent. A couple of yellow lamps provided light and drew long shadows in the grass that had turned white in the first cold night of the Autumn. September had come up quietly, destroying the last remains of summer with wind and rain.  His footsteps were quiet in the grass but his eyes, his human eyes were following each and every step the couple took, chatting away about their day. Her scent was coffee and dark chocolate and he had felt hunger rising up from deep inside his now human body. He knew he could not resist it. He did not want to resist.

He was the Nightingale.
And he was hungry.

 

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Chapter 1: cloudy skies

The first day of school usually brought some good and bad feelings. Andrea groaned, trying to supress the annoyed growl towards her phone that was currently also serving as her alarm clock.  Andrea turned it off and sat down on the bed, looking around the room, searching for her bag and all the other things she needed. Meredith, her best friend and partner in all things wicked was going to meet her for the first day of returning to school and Meredith was never late on her first day. Maybe her brother was right and she should start to get back into the normal every day rhythm of the school life, but it was just so tempting to stay up late and watch one more episode, as if that would have ever happened to her. No, she just had to stay up until the clock said that it is 03:00 and the angry groan that had accompanied this discovery had not helped at all.

Breakfast noise from downstairs reached her room and Andrea looked in the mirror one last time before leaving the room for good to start her day. She knew that her younger brother and sister had been woken up before her and now were probably fighting about the best cereal bowl and the best spot at the kitchen table. Mother had put on Norah Jones CD which was their school day morning routine option number one. When music was on, kids were easier to settle down and make them lunch for the day.

 Andrea’s father Anthony was a doctor in the local surgery. He left with everyone else but came home late and sometimes worked nights. Her mother Anna worked in a flower shop and even though she had left a successful teaching career, apparently did not miss it one bit. It offered flexible hours and a possibility to chat with people during the day. Andrea’s younger brother Timothy was in 8th grade and also in the same class as her younger sister Grace. They were typical twins. Sometimes the best of friends and sometimes the worst enemies, they looked up to Andrea to side with either one of them. She did not mind the kids. Most of the time they were fun to be around and did not cause too much trouble but sometimes Andrea was the reason they were in trouble. The image of responsibility had yet to be shattered in their parent’s eyes and Andrea was proud of her own achievement.

She stopped on the stairs, looking at the family picture in the wall. It had been taken last year, after her school play around Christmas. Someone has snapped the photo with her brother’s camera and they all looked very happy and excited. Christian, her older brother was away in university. Of all the family members, Andrea felt closest to him not only in years but in soul. He was six years older and, technically a half-brother only but Andrea had never seen herself as only a half- sister. Before the kids had come along, there had been only two of them. Andrea and Christian had been inseparable. She had joined the family when the boy was six years old and he had taken his responsibility as an older brother very seriously. He was studying law now but Andrea still talked to him at least twice a week. He did not talk to their mother as often as he did with his sister.

Stepping into the kitchen was like stepping into the war zone. Kids were fighting about something, music was on, parents were trying to fix lunch boxes and calm down the fighting and Andrea knew she was almost out of time. Grabbing an apple and a banana to eat later, she drank a glass of juice and quickly moved out the door. Mornings were not the best of times to be around this family because of all the hectic moving around. The kitchen was simply too small to accommodate all the people who needed this or that.

Meredith was waiting on the corner of her street. They lived close to each other and had been friends since both girls were three years old. At least they thought so. Meredith was a very pretty girl, her auburn hair covered her shoulders and Meredith always complained about her curls. Her green eyes were always full of mischief and she was ready to jump into new adventures as soon as they appeared in close proximity. She was the best slumber party buddy and Andrea always went to Meredith with her fashion choices even though both girls were very different with their opinions. She knew that Meredith would always be honest. She would never say bad things without a serious reason and would never dish out praise without a serious reason as well. Andrea trusted this girl who always had something to say.

- Good morning, sleepy head, - yes, this was the first day of school.
- I’m not late yet, - Andrea said, hugging her friend before turning towards the bus stop. – I still have two minutes. –
- Yes, by your standards you are early, sunshine. – Meredith was almost never on time. Except on the school mornings when they had to catch a bus. Then she was never late.

Because even though the school was not that far away, the bus ride was a part of the ritual of school mornings. It had been done from day to day and Meredith was not about to break their unwritten rules. They always took a bus unless there was a better offer. First days were usually filled with new additions to the class, looking at the new kids who were just starting school and the staff changes that took part almost every year. First days were boring and unimportant. 

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Chapter 2: new arrival

The autumn winds had moved in and leaves had started to change colour. Autumn always came with its own smell Andrea loved. She could not explain it but it just made her want to curl up on her windowsill with a cup of hot chocolate and listen to punk rock while reading a good book from her impossibly long list of books to read.

The school was not the biggest one around but since it offered education for kids from several smaller towns around, there were a lot of children. Basically, the morning were filled with screaming. Classrooms were filled up and screaming died down for a couple of hours later on.

Meredith and Andrea were joined by Joshua who was the third member of their little gang. They had met in 1st grade and Joshua had not left ever since even though Meredith had tried to scare the boy away when he had first taken to her. Andrea liked Josh. He was intelligent enough to know when to speak and when to shut up. He knew when to help out and had taught Andrea basic skateboarding. They had a tradition on going to a little café in town whenever a particularly boring lesson was going to take place. And Andrea never encouraged anybody to skip school but sometimes she just did not care enough. As long as it did not happen too often, they were good.

  • Hey, welcome to our new and amazing year. My name os josh and I will be your pilot for today. – He had appeared behind the girls as they were going through the door of the school
  • You are such a silly thing, Josh, - Meredith laughed at Andrea’s startled expression and hugged the young man before he could say anything more.
  • Josh, one of these days you will start wearing your teeth in your pocket because I will punch you out of fear. – Andrea’s voice tried to be all serious and unhappy, but she was smiling three seconds after these words had left her mouth.

She was not able to stay mad for a long period. Especially at Josh who meant well and he was like another brother anyway. You are kind of supposed to hate your brothers a bit, aren’t you? Hate might not be the best description, but certain feeling of dislike must be a part of the life.

  • Do you think we’ll get anyone new? – Josh asked, opening the locker he shared with Meredith.
  • Who knows? We always get somebody new because someone has dropped out, run away or being moved to a corrections facility, - Meredith mused, stuffing her bag in the upper shelf of the locker after she had taken her maths book out.
  • I still don’t have a locker buddy, - Andrea said, opening hers and putting her things inside. – Everybody does so I am assuming that if we get anybody new, it will be my amazing glorious burden to introduce him or her to a locker. Not that I mind being alone in this. –
  • And maybe they will not give you anyone to share with because nobody could match your awesome spirit.
  • Awesome. It’s such an American expression, Josh. – Meredith teased as the group moved towards their classroom
  • Hey, doll, it’s not my fault my pops is from New Orleans. Spirit and everything –

Andrea could only laugh. Their bickering about silly things was a part of her life she would not change with anything. Josh could make people laugh out of nothing and when they caught a laughing bug in class, one of them had to go out of the class because they could not stop. And it tended to be contagious. But these two also allowed Andrea to be more grounded. She could focus her attention to Meredith and not feel all the emotions of people in the classroom. Otherwise it just led to panic, headache and sometimes a nosebleed when all the energy came crashing down on her. Andrea new her empathy was growing in strength but she did not know how to control it around other people. And if Meredith or Joshua was not around and she had to be in a small room with twenty other people, Andrea often felt like she was drowning.

Andrea, Meredith and Joshua shared English, Maths and Science but when Meredith and Josh had French, Andrea either had Music or a free period that allowed her to spend time in the library or sit outside and sip a latte while enjoying the sun. She had friends in different age groups so sometimes the free period was spent helping out younger students or sorting out homework for her friends who also had a free period. Studying was one of the things she kept for home. There were three thousand better things to do during the day than study. And studying was the only thing that worked as an excuse from family dinner and television in the evening. Escaping to her room was the best thing because she could not bear the questions that were usually shot her way during the improvised family time which happened on a rare occasion.

The back of the classroom was vacant and Andrea sat down, looking out of the window, before paying attention to Mister Jackson who was standing in front of the classroom. He was their English teacher and Andrea liked him in general. He was a short and bald man with glasses who had a friendly voice and was always a fair with marking their assignments. He was known to wander off during class with one of his stories and nobody tried to interrupt him to bring the class back on track. His story time usually was used by people who had not finished their homework and it worked every single time.

Today Mr. Jackson was standing in front of the class with a new face. Andrea had noticed another person but had not yet actually paid attention.

-Good morning everyone, please, settle down. Joshua, find a seat and sit down. Annika, stop talking please. Do I have your full cooperation on the matter? Thank you. This is Sebastian. He will be joining us for the year. His family just moved here and I hope you don’t terrorize him too much on his first day.

Andrea had to look. Sebastian was an unusual name and her curiosity got better of her and she looked at the new guy who was now moving to sit down. Dark, shoulder length hair, brown eyes, muscular built and, if she was not mistaken, quite a tall guy. Something was off about him. Their eyes met for a split second and the hair on her neck stood up and a chill run down her spine. Something flashed in Sebastian’s eyes and it made Andrea want to get as far from him as possible. The did not have that certain wave of arrogance about him as many newcomers did but something seemed frightening about this guy. Andrea could not explain it but she also knew that she was not going to be the one who would start talking to the new guy. Maybe it was just the fact that he was new in the class and his posture made him seem intimidating. Yes, it was probably just that.

Andrea looked away. There were other things to focus on. The feeling of being watched did not leave her the entire lesson. It was as if a heavy hand had suddenly landed on her chest and would not let her take a deep breath, nor it would go away no matter how hard she tried. Heavy feeling an unpleasant chill had settled in even though it was not that chilly in class.

The bell rang and Andrea felt the need to get out. She just wanted to get out in the hall and not feel this way anymore. She felt like throwing up or getting impossibly drunk. More like throwing up though.

- He’s cute but kind of creepy, don’t you think? -  Meredith swung an arm around Andrea’s shoulder in the middle of the hall. She had not paid much attention to anything so her friend’s sudden appearing next to her was startling.
-You are so jumpy today, girl. – Joshua’s voice shook Andrea out of the strange trance-like state she was in.
-Oh, sorry. It must be because it’s the start of term and all I want to do is go back to bed and not to come out until it’s July again. – she brushed it off, sending a smile in Joshua’s direction.
-We’ll be off to French now, yes? I’ll see you in science afterwards. And after that maybe we can skip something and go and get a coffee? I’m starving. –

Meredith linked her arm with Josh and steered him away, waving at Andrea who turned to library where she would spend the next 40 minutes pretending to read. The librarian knew Andrea by name and always spent some time talking to the girl and Andrea used to spend time helping around the library from time to time as well. This was a good way how to start the term.

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Chapter 3: adapting

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