Nessa Monroe
CHAPTER ONE
It was the summer of 2004 when I met him. I was eighteen, and I had just graduated. The town was having its annual softball competition: Harmony against Castleton, under a blue, neverending sky, sun shining brightly.
Good. I could use a tan.
I was up for bat now, scanning the premisis, and my eyes landed on him. Shrouded in black against a tall tree, a good distance away from everyone else. His eyes were on me. I dismissed it, and got a perfect hit; first base, second base...home-run. The Harmony crowd cheered. Castleton booed.
After the game, I got some refreshments from the concession booth and made my way over to Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald. He was a handsome boy my age, but he had a girlfriend. Charity Standish. Perfect, blonde, beautiful. She was one of the popular ones in school.
But we weren't in school anymore.
"What's up," I said as I approached them. Miguel gave me a high-five, and Charity offered one of her perfect smiles.
"Great job," Miguel congratulated me.
"Yeah," Charity agreed. "You did wonderful."
"Thanks." I smiled at them. It wasn't that I was jealous of Charity. I mean, yeah, she had one of the best-looking guys our age, and yeah, she was pretty much the envy of every girl in town, but I could hold my own. And even though Miguel was the perfect catch, they made a great couple.
I had learned to accept that when I moved there two years before, and schemed in every possible way to break them up.
I had grown up a lot through those experiences. Secrets couldn't be kept in Harmony. Eventually my infatuation, and every dirty little trick I had played on them, came to light and blew up in my face. Miguel had stopped talking to me for six months. Charity, sweet Charity, had easily forgiven me. In the wake of that disaster, I grew up, became a much better person, and won back Miguel's friendship.
And at least I had that.
We made our way to the swings on the other side of the field and sat there, talking and swinging for probably thirty minutes. Then he showed up.
He didn't immediately come over to us. Reese Durkee sat down next to me and tried to catch my attention, and it was a good five minutes before I could get him to shut up. Finally, I asked Miguel, "Hey, who is that?"
Miguel shrugged. "Must be new around here. I haven't seen him before."
He looked twenty, maybe twenty-five. Pale skin. All black clothes; a ruggedly handsome face, green eyes, and full lips.
I whistled lowly. "Hello, Brad Pitt."
Reese looked displeased and said, "He looks Gothic."
I glanced sideways at him. "So?"
Having failed at his attempt to dissuade me, Reese turned the other way, hurt.
Reese was a nice guy, and it wasn't that I didn't like him, it was only that I didn't like him that way. I could never seem to get that through to him. We were just friends.
Charity was busy looking at the guy, and she suggested lightly, "We should invite him over."
As if he had heard that invitation, which was in no way possible, he started over to us and sat down on an empty swing next to Reese. Reese fidgeted uncomfortably, looking every bit the angry five-year-old.
His voice was quiet and silky, and seemed to float in the air and caress me like silk. I shivered and glanced at Charity, who only studied him with narrowed eyes.
"Hello. My name is Eamon. I'm new around here." He glanced around and settled his eyes directly on me. "Nice town."
Charity stood and said in a sweet, bubbly voice, "Welcome to Harmony." She offered her hand, and he took it. I saw her glance down at their interlocked hands and then back up to his face, like she was trying to determine something.
Her voice wasn't quite steady when she went on, "My name is Charity. That's Miguel, Kay, and Reese. How long have you been here?"
"I just got in yesterday." He scanned all of us, and then again, his eyes connected with mine. I felt uncomfortable all of a sudden, but I didn't know why.
"What is there to do around here?" he asked, focusing his attention on Charity again, who went to sit back down in her swing.
She grabbed Miguel's hand as if to say, ?Yes, I do have a boyfriend, and answered, "I don't know. Not too much. We usually just stay active in sports and get jobs to pass time." She cracked a smile and continued, "And we have a lot of movie nights with friends. But there are a lot of town events." She said this last bit brightly, and I sighed and started to swing again.
I missed the city. A lot.
"Interesting." Eamon didn't swing. He didn't look like he even belonged on a swing.
"You're welcome to hang out with us any time you want to." I found myself saying the words, and I didn't know why. When I glanced at Miguel and Charity, they were staring at me like I'd made some sort of fatal mistake.
"That would be great. I don't know a lot of people yet."
Eamon smiled a very handsome and somewhat devilish smile, and stood. "I guess I'll be seeing you around. Nice meeting you."
And with that, he walked -- no, more like glided -- away.
"Wow." Charity shook her head and stood up, Miguel in tow. Reese and I kept swinging.
"He's different," she observed.
I nodded my agreement. "Very."
"He's weird," Reese said, and I shot him an annoyed look. He only shrugged and stared in the other direction.
"Why did you tell him he could hang out with us?" Miguel asked, seeming disturbed by this.
I shrugged, not really knowing what to say, and settled on, "He doesn't know anyone."
"Yeah, but he just doesn't seem like he would...fit in."
I stared in the direction that Eamon had gone in. He wasn't anywhere in sight. I couldn't help but agree with Miguel, but that was the thing about me.
I didn't usually fall for the good guys, with the exception of Miguel -- or even the bad guys.
I fell for the worst guys.
~*~
I did my running at night. I liked to stay fit, but felt very uncomfortable working out in front of other people. I don't know why. It was just one of those things.
Tonight, the sky was clear of clouds, and a few shining stars and the bright, full moon provided light as I jogged along the empty streets of Harmony. It was nice out, not too hot -- perfect running weather. I adjusted my CD player and stopped at an intersection to let a car pass, then continued running.
When I decided I'd run far enough, I turned to head back towards home -- and ran directly into Eamon.
"Sh--!" I fell down, hitting the pavement with a thud. Irritated, I took off my headset and checked to make sure my CD player hadn't been damaged.
"Sorry." Eamon flashed a grin and helped me up. "Night-time jog?"
"Good observation," I answered sarcastically, brushing my hands over the back of my sweatsuit. I looked up at him, struck again by how handsome he was. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged and walked with me as I started home. "I decided to take a walk."
"Right," I replied, not quite believing him.
"So how is it that you ended up here, Kay?"
I glanced at him, surprised that he remembered my name; even more surprised that he had somehow guessed that I wasn't originally from around here.
"I don't know. My parents decided to move someplace quiet." I fidgeted with my headset, feeling uncomfortable.
"Mm." He nodded. "So you're what, eighteen?"
He was asking the questions as if he already knew the answers. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
He smiled. "Lucky guess."
"Right," I said again. I looked up, shocked to find that we'd already reached my house. "This is my stop," I told him with a little smile. "I guess I'll be seeing you."
"Wait. Why don't you join me for a cup of coffee?" he suggested.
I contemplated the offer, not sure if I really trusted him, but in the end my curiosity got the better of me. "Sure. Let me just go change."
We approached the door and I stepped inside. He waited outside, however, staring at me expectantly.
"What?" I asked with a confused smile.
"Should I wait outside?" he countered with a smile of his own.
I stared at him. Odd question. "No, you can come in if you want," I finally told him.
He grinned at me, his eyes sparkling, and entered my house. It wasn't anything fancy, really. It had a sort of quaint charm to it, your typical family house. The living-room was done in brown and red tones, a big overstuffed couch and a coffee table in the center, pictures of flowers and fields and family members adorning the walls. The rest of the house was pretty much the same, except the kitchen, which had way too many apple designs in it.
"You can wait in here," I told Eamon, and left him in the living-room.
I changed into a pair of flared jeans and a plain black top and returned to find him examining a photo album that had been left out on the coffee table.
"Your brother?" Eamon asked me when I glanced at a picture of my older brother, Noah.
"Yeah," I answered. "But you seem to have it all pretty much figured out. I'm sure you can guess who the rest are."
He looked at me in surprise. "What do you mean?"
I smiled. I hadn't meant to seem rude. I just said the words without thinking, like I always did. "I just meant that you seem to know everything about me, and I haven't said a word."
He nodded, closing the photo album. "I'm sorry. I do that a lot."
"No, it's okay, I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say. It was kind of disturbing when someone could pretty much guess every detail of your life without you saying a word. I found it much more exciting to tell people about myself, and have them do the same in return, than to have somebody already know everything about me.
I followed him out of the front door and we started down the street towards a local caf�. Beth Wallace owned the coffee shop, and had simply called it The Book Caf�. It was pretty much the teen hangout of Harmony.
"So, Kay. What do you plan on doing now that you've finished high school?"
"How do you know I've finished?" I asked, annoyed again.
He shrugged. "I assumed. You're eighteen. Isn't that the age of most people who graduate?"
"How old are you?" I replied, ignoring the question.
"Twenty-four," he answered, giving me a small smile, as if he didn't really know where all this was coming from.
"Then why are you interested in talking to me at all?"
He shrugged again. "You seem like an interesting person."
I stopped walking, and he turned towards me, a calm expression on his face, like he'd been expecting it all along. "I don't think I'm really comfortable with this," I told him point-blank.
"That's fine." He started towards me, and I found myself staring into his eyes. Green eyes that seemed to shine, despite the dark night.
"You go home then," he continued. "Go home and get into bed and dream. Dream, and dream sweet." He smiled then, and it was an eerie smile that gave me goosebumps.
And that's the last thing that I remember of that night.
~*~
I woke the next morning with a headache, and found myself wondering how I'd gotten home, into my bed. I felt sick and a little scared as I made my way to the bathroom across the hall, stumbling the whole way. Jessica was inside, and I pounded on the door, my voice coming out in a moan when I told her to get out.
"Fine!" she yelled from inside, and the sound of her voice made my head ache even more.
She opened the door, took one look at me, and said, "Jesus Christ, what happened to you?"
"I don't know," I groaned, stumbling into the bathroom and closing the door behind me. I leaned against the counter and looked up into the mirror.
My hair was in complete disarray, my eyes were bloodshot, and I looked paler than I'd ever seen myself.
Lot of good that sun did me.
Splashing some water on my face, I sighed, and somehow managed to conjure the energy to brush my teeth. Then I just sat on top of the toilet and leaned my head back, feeling completely drained. I fell asleep like that, and only woke when someone pounded on the door an hour later.
It was my mother, who looked really worried when she saw the state of mess I was in.
"Good God. Honey, are you okay?"
"Yeah...no...I don't feel good." My voice was barely a whisper. My mother got the thermometer and took my temperature, which apparently was sky-high.
"I don't know if I should take you to the hospital. Let's just get you into bed and I'll call the doctor." She helped me to my room, and once I was comfortable, left to go call the doctor.
I fell asleep, drifting in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day, breaking into random cold sweats and not quite comprehending anything that was going on around me. I vaguely remember seeing Dr. Russell hovering over me, who was my best friend Simone's mother, but I don't remember anything else.
I fully woke up that night, when the sun had fallen behind the hills of Harmony and everything was dark and peaceful. I felt refreshed, my fever had broken, and all I wanted to do was brush my teeth, go for a run, come home and shower. Then watch TV and sip from a hot mug of coffee.
(That's a shitty way to end chapter one, I know, but that's all I have written so far. I will get more out asap.)
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