• Dear Ashley,

    I have been watching you for some time but have never enough courage to speak face to face. I hope you will consider this letter and at least meet me at the abandoned church after school at 4:00. I’ll talk more there.

    Sincerely,
    ~Your secret admirer~

    I read it over and over, shaking my head in disbelief, shock plastered on my face.
    It’s not possible, maybe they got the wrong person, yeah, they MUST have! Though, why at the church? Weird place to talk… I thought, fumbling through my locker as I sighed. “But it is addressed to me, hope it’s not a joke” I mumbled, I folded it into squares and slipped it into my tight blue-jean pocket.
    I grabbed my binders and folders and ran to class, the bell chiming as I huffed to my seat.

    I was a great student, always listening and participating. I had straight blonde hair, shades of brown growing into them. My eyes an ocean blue, freckles here and there on my rosy pink cheeks and a skinny frame to go with it all. It was l like I had a sign that said “Breakable! Watch out!” because some people felt as though they could push me around in the hallways, “saying” it was an accident or “Oh, I didn’t see you.”

    Though, I wasn’t what you called ‘popular’. Maybe you would call me a teacher’s pet, or something like that? Anyways, I always had my work done, not terrible grades but not perfect 100’s either. But today, my mind just focused on the letter. The teacher called on me as usual, I didn’t even raise my hand as she had expected me to reply the answer. Sometimes being a teacher’s pet wasn’t all that great. I stared dumbfounded at her, wondering what I had missed. She scowled. The other kids just laughed as I stuttered and a bit of color came to my cheeks. I hung my head in shame, hiding my blush that started forming.

    “Pay attention!” she snapped and called on another innocent victim that didn’t have their hand raised. It took a moment but he answered; “Correct!” she smiled and went on with her lecturing. The teacher didn’t call on me again, she just lectured on and on until the end of the period. Everyone was packing up minutes before the bell and she glared at the students, returning to her desk to grade homework papers.

    The bell rang and the room was a wasteland before the bell had a chance to stop its ringing. I slumped over to grab my stuff, and it all spilled into the aisle. I groaned and quickly picked up all the loose papers, stuffing them back into my folders and binders before they got trampled. I then grabbed my supplies and trotted out of the room. Could this day get any worse? I grumbled, setting my heavy items at my desk for my next period and sprinting off towards the cafeteria.

    Yes, yes it could.

    I was the last one to grab my food, which meant everything good was gone and most of the table space was occupied. I was lucky to have found some decent food and a seat near some of my friends. Though, I didn’t really feel like sharing anything as they raved on about boys and how cute they were. “Guess what? I got asked out!” a girl screamed in excitement. “Really? That’s great! I’m planning on asking somebody soon” another one replied. They both giggled together. It made me sigh as I remembered that I was about to be asked out, or so I thought I was.

    I munched on some potato chips and sipped my water, throwing the wastes into the nearby trashcan. My chin was propped on my hand involuntarily; one of my friends noticed me looking glum. She slid over and copied what I was doing, though; she had a large smile on her face. Jessica was her name, long dirty blond hair-that went down to her ribs-that looked like she had dyed it over and over and finally decided on one color. Her eyes were a dark brown, if you looked closely in the light, there were tints of yellow-from what it looked like to me at least. She was always smiling, well; she always tried to have a happy face on in front of larger audiences. “I heard, new boyfriend? Think it will last long?” I questioned, my voice was low as usual. She normally went from guy to guy; never serious with any of them, mostly because she didn’t think they were serious with her. She giggled like before, her voice was high and piercing, “I hope so. Prom is coming up you know!” Her face turned more serious, her voice lowed a few octaves, “Same with you?”

    I nodded without emotion, picking at the crumbs on my tray from the potato chips.

    “Don’t give up, I know someone will ask you soon, besides, prom isn’t far away. A month or so…” she paused as she did her math.

    “It’s next month,” I reminded her with a small laugh, my left hand coming down to lie flat on the table. I knew she knew when it was; she was not too bad in math and what girl would forget prom? She was just trying to make me feel better-it worked to some length- a reason why we were friends.

    Her eyes were twinkling, giving off an “out of Earth” type look. I knew this look and I said in unison with her, “I’m going to help you look for a boyfriend!” I sighed again. “Thanks, but no thanks” I replied. “I believe you when you say someone will ask me.” She made a face, disappointment in her eyes, but nodded and we continued to talk about other various things and what we were going to do over our weekends.

    After the half hour lunch period, it was off to classes again. I waved to Jessica. She smiled and waved back enthusiastically and literally jumped to her next class, a bunch of guys on her flanks.

    Come on! Come on! I thought; the clock hands ticking sluggishly as I was bouncing up and down in my chair. Few people stared but most were chatting with their friends, one or two actually doing their homework assignments.

    Ding, ding, ding!

    FINALLY! I sprang from my chair at full speed, racing through the jam-packed hallways and to my locker. I neatly placed the useless binders in an organized fashion and grabbed the needed ones. Wasting time, I fiddled with the objects in my locker, putting them first in alphabetical order, then by my class schedule. Stalling, it was horrible but I had to admit, I was terrified as to what might happen next today.

    Glancing up at the clock, I calmly shut my locker door and walked down the near empty hall and through the main entrance. When I got there, almost everybody was outside, sitting on benches, leaning against trees and bike rails. I could see why, the parking lot was a jumble of cars, honking at each other as they waited for the car in front to turn and leave. I didn’t have a car and I didn’t feel like chatting, so I turned right on my heels and headed off towards my neighborhood.

    My house was within five minutes of the school. Not huge, but it was decent enough for three people, not including my brother who had left for college. It only had two floors, the first floor and the basement. It always amazed me at how much junk was in our house, how I could even walk into it and not suffocate! I threw my books on the white kitchen counter, told mom where I was going, though not giving her a chance to reply, and I was out the door. I was just strolling, trying to look normal on the outside. Inside I was a boiling pit of lava, nervous as someone who had stage fright and forgot his or her lines in front of millions.

    I glanced around, my eyes darting from one object to another, my hands clasped behind my back. I tried whistling but failed horribly, I wouldn’t try again. I took my time getting to the abandoned church, twenty-minute walk, fifteen-minute run and ten-minute drive-more or less. I chose the longer route, ducking under trees and jumping over rocks. A few deer dashed further into the forest in fright. The church was-of course-near a forest, kind of eerie if you ask me. It hadn’t been used and was fairly close to a graveyard, which made it even more frightening to walk to. It was rundown, from the looks of it; it may have been used over a hundred years ago but whoever used it, never came back to hear another sermon. Moss and vines ravaged the outer grey concrete walls, bugs and insects invaded the inside, termites drilled holes through the wooden benches used by the congregation to sit on, and other such damage nature threw at it though the years.

    I sighed as my long walk started coming to an end; the church was in sight but no one was there, just trees swaying in the wind. I stayed near a tree, giving myself a moment to stop my trembling and face whatever was out there. How strange. I came closer-my body was more under control-still no one there. My head was turning left then right then left again, still no sign of human life. It was just the trees, the church and I.

    Yeah, it was a joke I thought sadly. How cruel. I should have never come in the first place. I knew this would happen! I turned around, my head hung, my eyes starting to glaze in tears and my legs somehow moving myself forward. They felt too heavy to move, like iron blocks had been attached. Rejection was the worst and I didn’t know if I could even leave now.

    “Wait!” A voice called out to me, or at least I thought it was directed to me. But there was no one else there, right?
    “Don’t leave. I’m sorry, come inside the church” the voice instructed, echoing off the walls of the empty church, which made it quite convincing someone was in there- at least, that’s what my pitiful human mind thought. I deliberated for a moment and then stepped onto the old concrete doorway, there was indeed someone there. It made me curious, my legs felt like they were being controlled, they just moved a few feet inside the abandoned building. Shrouded in black and grey near the wedding altar stood a man about six foot one. Rather tall. There was a hood over his head so I could not see any part of his body except his hands, which were pure white.

    “I’m sorry,” he repeated, his fists balling up nothing but air at his sides, which made them even whiter. The door just closed like magic. It was then that I knew I shouldn’t be here. My human survival instincts were screaming at me to run, yell for help, to get away, but I couldn’t. His voice was drawing me in, his soft smooth voice that seemed to be able to persuade anyone with just a few words. I was trapped, no possible escape.

    The man in black turned to meet my gaze, a smile on his face. His teeth were pearly white, shiny like diamonds. His eyes were piercing light blue crystals, almost too bright to stare at for too long, midnight black hair that went down his neck but didn’t hit his shoulders, and porcelain white skin. This was someone you didn’t see everyday; he was too perfect, too mesmerizing.

    “Don’t leave. I wrote to you that I wanted to talk, correct?” his thin black eyebrow arched, his lips moving in a blur. I could only nod; I was too sucked in to open my mouth for fear I would blurt out something stupid. Correction, I would have blurted out something stupid if I hadn’t kept my mouth tightly shut. He nodded as well. “Right” he paused and took a breath. He released it a few moments after. He started out slowly, saying each word carefully. “I am-“ but he couldn’t finish what he’d barely started. I blacked-out, the dots of black getting larger and larger along with my hearing that started blocking out sounds. Was I too scared, nervous? How embarrassing to faint in front of him! Now I was the one shrouded in darkness, literally.
    Yes, the day just kept getting worse.