Fractures
Prologue
“She’ll be here soon.”
I watched as two people, one man, one young girl, discussed someone I knew only as “she.” I saw this in a dream, but it didn’t matter; I knew this was real. Somewhere, this was happening.
Suddenly, the girl tensed. “Someone’s here,” she hissed, alarm in her voice.The man looked around, and then his gaze pierced where I stood. “So,” he murmured, “she is listening.”
BEEP… BEEP… BEEP…Groaning, I threw out my arm and hit the “off” button on my alarm clock. Sitting up, I felt for my lamp, then slid my hand up it and turned it on. My room was a mess. In the short time I had been living in it, I’d managed to scatter clothes, books, and small boxes all over the floor. The only semblance of order was my table, which housed my TV, my PS2, and an ancient Nintendo 64. My mother was going to kill me.
“Katryna! Get down here! You’re going to be late!”
Cursing, I quickly got dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt, grabbed my backpack, and ran, with only a quick “Love you, Mom,” as I ran out the door.
The sunlight outside was overly bright, but I just squinted against it and kept running. Soon, my destination came into sight. As I approached the doors of Eltonia High School, something made me stop and look back. There were still a few students flowing in, but none of them struck me as particularly unusual.
Then I saw him.
He wore a black sweatshirt and blue jeans, with the sweatshirt’s hood up so I couldn’t see his face. He gazed around slowly, like he had all the time in the world. He looked up and met my gaze. A chill went down my spine when I saw his eyes. Even at this distance, I could see an overwhelming sorrow. I wondered what could have happened to give him such sad eyes.
A sardonic grin inched its way across his lips. “Hello,” he mouthed.
The other students had vanished. The only ones here were me and this boy. I had to know who he was.
He slowly stepped closer, until I could smell a faint hint of lavender. I couldn’t move as his eyes searched mine. “You’re new.” It wasn’t a question.
I couldn’t find any words.
He chuckled. “You can find me on the left-hand side of the courtyard from the main entrance. I’ll be there if you find your tongue.”
He walked past me, and I finally forced out a question: “What is your name?”
He paused. “Call me Drake.”
Hunter Lloyd was born in Springfield, Oregon on March 8th, 1996. He enjoy writing in his free time and playing all sorts of video games like Final Fantasy. His favorite books are Eragon and its sequels. Ask him about anything to do with the gaming world and he’s your man. The piece featured here is an excerpt from the novel he is currently working on, Fractured.
