Cursed Element

Takipi (Talk-e-pie) has a secret. One that keeps haunting her in her sleep that wants to kill her and her world. Will she survive or perish within her flames?

 

Part 1

                                    

 

            It always began with Takipi on foot in a mysterious, desolate forest that surrounded the area. Enormous trees were scattered and overshadowed by night. They were so colossal that they were reaching for the stars above. The air was cold and bitter, a murky fog moved in covering the pathway around her. Pounding on the earth’s floor her feet progressed abruptly among the woods, stumbling over roots that were crawling out of the ground. She ran, breathing heavily.  It felt like her lungs were going to collapse, and her heart aching from its rapid pulse. Cold beads of sweat ran down her cheeks.  She was lost in this darkened world. 

            While running Takipi’s foot became tangled in roots causing her to lose her balance. She stumbled to the earth’s surface, her chin length golden red hair flew across her flushed pale cheeks.  Takipi raised herself up gasping for air, she stood up trying to dash off but she tumbled to the dirt.  Her fingers clenched the dead grass as she pulled herself forward. Eerie sounds growled in the bitter night. Scratching of claws, hollers in the distant, even the snapping sounds of twigs being crushed as others walked around lingering close.  Unaware of where she was, she became frantic, terrified of the gigantic gloomy forest. 

            As she continued through the mist a radiant light began to shine, unaware of what the light could be, she continued forward.  Believing it was a sign of help and shelter from the cold. Takipi’s fingertips sheltered her eyes as the light hit her face. She could barely see what lurked in front of her, but she could hear the footsteps crunching down onto the rocks and dirt of the land.  It was a man dressed in a cloak, his face hidden underneath his hood. Slowly his hand commanded her to follow him.

            Without any questions or doubt of this man, Takipi felt as though she could trust him, for which he was going to guide her to where she was meant to be. They continued to walk through the seemingly endless forest. There would be gusts of wind that would pick up and twirl around the forest. The trees would whisper and sing through the wind as their leaves clashed together. Soon the trees began to fade out, and they grew smaller, and the grassland came towards them.  It was tall and lush as they ambled through it.

            Suddenly the man came to a halt and pointed out into the distance. Beyond the misty air, and the pitch black night, a yellow light appeared in a two story house in the distance.  The man continued forward on the road that was sloped downhill. It was steep and it seemed like an eternity just to reach the end. The muddy concrete steps were hard to follow since most of it crumbled away. Mold filled the cracks with small strands of grass poking through open areas. Each step made Takipi slip since the ground was so slick.  She landed on her bottom twice, but the man who she was following never observed her mishaps. He glanced back every few minutes to see if she was still there but on no occasion did he say a word, he was silent.

            Reaching the last step, Takipi realized she was lead to the old house that she had seen many times before. It was the same old house that was a pile of junk waiting to come rotting  to the earth. Its roof gave the impression that it used to have paneling on it but now it was destroyed. It had three holes visible from where she was standing. Burned trees surrounded the house. There was a broken gravestone leaning against one of the tree trunks that was in the shape of a cross. Holding still Takipi recognized the perplexing place, she knew the house very well but she couldn’t reckon where she had seen it before. The house was fascinating to her, and she could remember that the house was real, and not a figment of her imagination.  Only one question remained, and that was where and when she had come into contact with the house before?  She couldn’t answer these questions because she had no idea where she saw this house, she couldn’t remember it.

            Takipi looked around for the man who brought her there, but she didn’t see him anywhere. He had vanished into thin air.  She had no idea where this man could have gone. Taking a deep breath, she took a step onto the porch. Wood creaked as she sauntered forward and everything became silent and motionless as she reached for the door.  Turning the knob leisurely the door swung open, crashing into a side table. It fell over and pieces of wood were all over the tiled floor. There was broken glass from a vase or maybe a coffee cup.  Takipi examined her surroundings seeing it was lackluster and filthy. There were cobwebs hanging on the ceiling, and she swore she saw a rat run across the floor. Takipi didn’t scream, but she was startled and wanted out of the room.

            Examining the other rooms, she discovered that they were vacant.  What appeared to be the family room was dusty, a maroon couch appeared gray from the layers of dust.   Crumbled papers blew around with the small breeze coming in through the broken windows.  They had a slight yellow tint from the blistering rays from the sun. They had been fading for years possibly. The kitchen was just as lifeless. There was a pot on the stove, grimy dishes in the sink.  It appeared this abandoned house was once a home to a family.

        A spiral staircase caught Takipi’s attention. It led to the second floor where she might find the person who brought her here to the house, so she climbed to the upper level. As she reached the final step she saw the yellow light crawling out from under a closed door.  Strolling closer towards the door, she spotted the man, he was leaning against the wall staring right at her, his eyes were a brilliant blue, and they were cold and unfeeling.  His arm lifted up and he pointed towards the door that Takipi was heading for. Consciously she passed him looking back only once seeing his eyes follow her.   

           Opening the door slowly, she peaked in and she saw a girl sitting on the floor, she was softly mumbling through her tears. They were words that were not understandable. Takipi noticed that the girl’s appearance was her own, the same golden red hair.  It was the same style as hers, the layers were uneven and her bangs were pulled to one side covering part of her right eye. The fascinating thing was that she was wearing her favorite blue jeans that covered her shoes and dragged on the ground, and her favorite shirt that was a tank top with a light purple tint to it.

            Speechless and motionless Takipi speculated why she was brought here in the first place.  Why did she have to come all the way to this place? Why was there a replica of herself in front of her and why was she sobbing?

          “Hello,” Takipi spoke softly trying not to startle the girl.

            The girls head turned slowly towards her, bulging flaming eyes gawked at Takipi staring her straight down. A bitter snarl lingered on the girls face, and tears slowly dripped off the edges of her cheek and nose. The girl lifted upwards not even blinking or taking her eyes off Takipi for a split second.

            “You must get out of this place before he harms you!” she hollered loudly as she marched forward pushing Takipi towards the door.  Shocked Takipi’s had no idea what this girl was talking about, and was offended that she was being physically forced to leave. The girl was hostile and wasn’t afraid to express it.

            “What are you talking about?” Takipi was confused with what was going on.  She gulped as she could feel her heart beginning to quiver. Her hands were growing shaky in fright.

            “I told you to get the hell out of this place before he kills you!” the girl shouted as her hands entwined down into Takipi’s skin, she was forcefully plunged backwards and a loud bang encoded through the room. Takipi felt a sharp pain ripple through her back as she collided with the door frame, she squinted clenching her teeth.

            “Get off me!” Takipi hollered. She raised her hands and with all her might she pushed the girl, watching her tumble towards the floor

            “What’s your problem?” Takipi asked her shaking her head. She never met anyone so vile before.

            “Leave you meddling fool!” The girl screeched at Takipi, as more tears began to fill her eyes and fall down her cheeks. 

            “No I didn’t come all this way for nothing, so you better tell me what is going on.  I’m not leaving unless you kill me yourself!” Takipi snapped back at the girl.

            “No get out of here! The less you know the better!” The girl snapped at Takipi.

            “I said I wasn’t leaving!” Takipi fists tensed. She wasn’t getting anywhere with this.  Had she come all this way for a snobby girl to tell her make a hasty retreat because someone wanted to assassinate her? This wasn’t aiding her.

            “I was brought here for something so you might as well explain to me what is going on.” Takipi said calmly.

            “Like I said the less you know the better.” the girl explained.

            “Can I at least know who you are?” Takipi asked the girl not expecting an answer from her since she denied everything.

            “You, another side of you. I am the flame inside you.” Takipi’s mouth dropped in bewilderment.   Backing away she hit the door that was behind her, she took a deep breath letting it out to relieve her shock. She was flabbergasted, but it did make some sense based in how the girl appeared as her. 

“Ok, who is this man you are talking about, is he cruel? Who is he? I just want to know and then I’ll stay away from him.” Takipi told her.

The girl ignored the question and paid no attention to Takipi, her eyes only stared out the window were a breeze gradually swirled in and out.

 “Leave this place.” the girl muttered.

“I’m not leaving until you explain to me what is going on!” Takipi hollered once again.

“You foolish child, what must it take for you to understand the danger that lurks so close by.”  The girl lifted off the floor began to pace herself around the room turning off the small bits of light that lit up the room. She blew out candles and turned off switches until the room was completely gloomily inside.  The strange woman’s fingers wrapped around the candles and she threw them out a small window.           

“Why did you do that?” Takipi asked as she walked towards the window trying to find where the candles landed. She didn’t see them it was too dull for her to even spot a single candle. A force pulled on her shirt causing her to fall backwards.  She landed on her bottom wondering why the girl pulled her back. Before Takipi could ask, she saw that the girl had her finger up towards her lips telling her to hush.

 “He’s here,” she whispered, she turned off the last light and she pointed towards the window, Takipi placed her hand on the floor lifting her body up and she slowly made her way towards the windowpane.  Her interfering eyes gaped out seeing something move through the scattering trees, there were five dark figures making their way out of the forestry. They began to tromp towards the house one was ahead of everyone and Takipi’s became overwhelmed in horror when she saw him glance up at her. His eyes were a radiant yellow and his face was not vivid from the torn cloak he was wearing. Takipi watched him as he ambled up onto the porch. She could hear him as he barged into the house, there was a piercing crash,  it was the sound of shattering glass and other objects being thrown around. Footsteps beat their way up the staircase and down the hallway.

“Takipi jump out the window!” the girl hollered.          

“No you’re coming with me!” Takipi hollered back and she snatched the girl’s hand and pulled her forward but her grip was forced to let go, the girl yanked her hand away. She held out her palm and a burning string of fire that was red and orange wrapped around Takipi and it jostled her towards the window.  Slipping as her face felt the breeze that whistling outside. Takipi turned her head around, wanting to grab the girl and throw her out so both of them could escape, but she was frozen and could not move an inch.        

“Takipi, if you don’t disappear now then you’re trapped in your dream. This is a forewarning, if he kills you in your own world then you will be stranded in the shadows, and you will die.  Don’t let him get what he wants!  Run!” She shrieked at Takipi.        

A deafening batter smacked on the door.  They were hammering and pounding on the door until it collapsed to the floor. Dust flew everywhere as men began to crowd in the room, they pulled out sharp blades and they began to swarm around the girl. Takipi saw the man who was after her saunter into the room and when his footsteps were heard everything grew silent. His men moved aside as he marched into the room heading towards the girl. Holding out his hand he grasped the girl and snatched her shirt stretching the thread. He harshly pulled her forward towards him. A wicked chuckle came from under his breath as he pulled out a long curved blade, he brusquely jammed it through the girl and yanked it out. There was a smoldering redness that concealed the blade and when droplets of it fell to the ground. It burned holes in the wooden floors leaving black edges of ash.

“No!" Takipi cried out, she hurried over as the girl plunged to the floor, but it was too late the girl was already dead.  She had a dark wound in her chest where the blade penetrated her heart. Takipi only had one choice now, it was to run, and she had to leave, there was no time for despondency for the demise. Holding in her tears she swiftly sprinted towards the small window.  She leapt on the railings and she took one final glance at the man observing his torn cloak, his devilish yellow eyes, and a wicked crooked smirk. Takipi took the only the specifics in his appearance and the essentials that she knew about him, and she locked them inside of her mind. She soared out slipping on the panels of the roof, breaking them loose from underneath her feet flipping off the edge.  As Takipi came closer towards the perimeter her body twirled over.  Knowing it was a long way down and she was bound to injure herself in some way or another but that didn’t happen. She landed on the ground unharmed. She felt no discomfort at all.  Turning her head she intently stared back at the unnerving house and the immoral man was gawking at her. She watched him hold out the palm of his hand and blackness came spurring out, but it never came close to her. Takipi closed her eyes, a red barrier formed, and it flickered away as flakes of darkness drifted into the air until it faded.                      

Takipi crawled her way into a run, dashing up the stairs heading towards the top of the cliff. This wore her out rapidly, but she reached the top sooner then she expected.  She gapped back seeing the man strolling out of the house, they were perusing her every move. Takipi didn’t even look to see how many were stalking her she just dashed she sprinted remotely and as precipitously as she could. Hearing the men’s footsteps behind her, she kept going through the gloomy woodlands, hurdling over the large roots trying to cling onto her. She came to an exposed field where the grass was tall and golden, she kept running as fast as she could until she finally ran out of breath, she took a glance of what was behind her and the man was glaring down at her.   Squealing from trauma she fell down upon the grass crawling away frantically from the devious man who followed her. He kneeled to the ground and placed his hands over her chin, his face materialized with a beaming smile.  He had blue spectacular eyes and his hair was a thick and black.  It was the man who led her towards the house in the first place.

“It is ok, I am going to help you get home. I will not let him harm you,” He said pleasantly trying to calm her nerves.

“Whatever!  You’re just one of those grotesque men who wants to butcher me! You’re a stalker! One of those monsters!” Takipi shrieked as she smacked his hand away from her precious face, petrified of the man who apparently wanted to assist her.   

“No I want to help you,” he said in a calm voice trying to not sound misleading.

“Stay away from me!” Takipi’s eyes filled with tears of terror, she crawled away from him trying to get herself back up but he snatched her arm before she could get away.

“Let go of me you maddening freak!” Takipi squealed as she kicked him in his knee so he would release her scrawny arm. The man had let go and collapsed to the ground holding his leg.

“What was that for? What did I ever do to you?” He asked her as he rubbed his knee trying to make the throbbing pain go away.

“Get away from me!” Takipi hollered again scampering away from the enigmatic man. A flash of light flickered in front of Takipi.  Gasping in fear she quickly came to a sudden halt as another cloaked figure emerged in front of her. It wasn’t the man she kicked because he was still sitting in the grass comforting his delicate knee. Rising to his feet the blue eyed man pulled out a short blade, he curled his fingers around the handle ready to fight.

“Takipi!” The blue eyed man bellowed as he hustled forward. He immediately moved to strike the creature in its face.  This gave Takipi an instant to back away from danger. The black hooded creature snarled and its teeth showed through the moonlight. They were rotten and sharp as they became visible.  It snicker cocking its head to one side and the monster pulled his cloak back and drew two other blades ready to slaughter both of them. The blue eye man took a few steps back, grasping onto Takipi’s arm.  Instantaneously he zigzagged around the creature and dashed off keeping a tight grip on Takipi.  It was like a flash to Takipi, almost as quick as a flicker of lighting in the distance. 

  They rapidly were back into the forestry, there was a light that started to shine just ahead of them and it became intensely dazzling as they got closer. The man knew it was the way out. It was the portal to where Takipi could safely reach home.  The malevolent force was catching up with them, it had no moral and the stench of death reeked upon them.  Their hostility filled the air as birds began to scatter as they became closer.

 The light was only yards away now.  Once they arrived at the blinding light it vanished and everything became murky once again. The beaming light was only a mere blade shinning in palms of the perturbing demons hands. It was the monster who eradicated the innocent girl.  It had been a trap to bring her to this exact spot. The blue eye man cradled Takipi in his arms only wanting to protect her from the dismay and ill man.

“Takipi you can wake up from this nightmare now and no one will get hurt and he won’t be able to pinpoint your location, you must wake up,” the man whispered in her ears so she would listen carefully.

“What will happen to you?” she asked grasping into his arm firmly shaking uncontrollably.

“Don’t fret about where I linger, we will discover each other in the near future. Just know I promise to protect your life even after my death” he told her. Takipi nodded her head. She began to see the sunlight of a beautiful sunrise appearing around her.

“You’ll see me soon enough,” his voice faded and whiteness filled Takipi’s mind she held out her hand as she saw the demonic creature and the man clash into a fight. He disappeared without a trace, and she fell back into her bed.

Blinking her eyes the white began to clear and a warm sun hit the side of her face. The morning had arrived as Takipi awoken from her nightmare, but she was waking up to another one.  The sun was already up and it clicked in Takipi head that she was late. Far beyond late for her job, it was something that was becoming a problem over the summer. Quickly she kicked the blankets off her and onto her messy floor where her dirty laundry lingered all over her room. 

“Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!” She panicked as she dug around her room looking for clean pair of clothes.  She smelled her skirts trying to determine if they were clean or not.   Soon she could hear the vibration of her phone, it was buzzing in the distance and she knew either that call was from an angry boss or maybe she was lucky and it was one of her close friends. Unsure she searched to find her phone. Frantically Takipi was throwing her shirts and socks around, even throwing her blankets off the bed.

Finally she found the blasted thing hiding under her pillow and she answered it fearful of who was on the other end.

“Hello.” Takipi answered as she scurried around the room finding a clean pair of pants.

“Why hello there beautiful, finally decided to wake up I see.” It was Shane on the other end. One of her best friends, he lived right next door to her and they practically grew up together.

“Oh my god, they are going to fire me!” Takipi exclaimed as she kicked off her pajama pants.  She tilted her head to phone side holding the phone in place while she jumped up and down trying to get her tight dark blue jeans on.

“You are a lucky woman, the owners haven’t showed up yet, I’ve been working extra hard to pick up the slack since someone wanted to sleep in, again.” Shane told her. In the distance she could hear the clashing of pots and pans and the loud commotion of the restaurant.

“You guys are busy too!” Takipi hollered as she dug through her mess still trying to find a clean shirt to wear. She felt horrid for constantly being a burden at her job. She could not be relied on, at least for this summer.

“Give me ten minutes and I will be right down!” Takipi threw her phone on the bed. The café was right down the street from where she lived. Takipi of course lived in a very small town in the name of Plumfield. It was right off the east coast next to the Atlantic sea. It was a huge tourist attraction town during the summer. Everyone came from all over the world for the fresh sea food, the wilderness and all its beauty. There was fresh grown produce that was used in most grocery stores and restaurants.  Takipi loved this about her home town.

Takipi hurried as she finally found a clean shirt in her closet. Her hair was a matted mess it was frizzy and knotted and completely unable to tame. She quickly brushed her hair and shoved it into a pony tail. It didn’t hide the fact she hasn’t showered or that she had just woken up.  Takipi hurried and put on her worn converse sneakers. She rushed out of her bedroom and down the wooden stairs of her home rushing out the front door slamming it behind her.

Still in disbelief she was mad at herself for constantly running late, she was always on time until these dreams started to catch up with her. They have been bugging her and concerning her. It was slowly becoming an obsession. Takipi continued running down the sidewalk.  Taking her mind of her dream she noticed how beautiful of a day it was. Not so many clouds were in the sky, the grass in the neighbor’s lawn was glistening from the morning dew. A breeze hit her face and a wonderful sent of the salty ocean consumed her.  She knew the sun wouldn’t last long for which a rain storm would soon be coming through making it foggy and chilly.

Takipi could see a line outside the café door as she rushed towards the entrance. There was a wait for seating and that wasn’t good. How could she do this to her fellow comrades? Her best friends worked here as well. As she hastily squeezed through the hungry crowd, she slipped through them into the front door. Shane was running out food from the kitchen. The plates were steaming with hot freshly cooked eggs and ham, homemade batter pancakes and deliciously cut Texas French toast. Takipi’s mouth was already watering   from the aroma coming from the kitchen.  She raced back there seeing Katherine putting more orders up for the chefs working.

Katherine was also              one of Takipi’s closest friends. Unlike Shane Takipi was able to talk to Katharine about all the girly stuff she was into. Boys and clothes, they always went shopping together. Katherine was one of the prettiest girls in the school, she had long brown curly hair, and she has perfect bright brown eyes.   She always had the softest looking skin. She wore a lot of makeup that suited her. Takipi could never understand the concept of how she got her eye shadow and eye liner to go on so perfectly.

“Takipi you look dreadful!” Katherine exclaimed as she came over. She stared digging through the pockets of her black apron.

“It’s those dreams again. I sleep through that alarm clock every time I have that dream.” Takipi mentioned as she reached for her apron hanging on the wall.  It had her notepad for order taking and a sharply pointed pencil.

“I guess I will have to fix you up. You are not going to get any good tips with hair like that and your face looking oily. Gross. You are a lucky women I carry the goods with me.” Katherine said as she pulled out a hair brush and some hair pins.

“It’s really not that bad, I showered last night, I just went to bed with wet hair and you know how that works.” Takipi nodded with a small chuckle.

“Yes but if we are going to get boyfriends for our senior year we got to remain flawless.” Katherine said she pulled the hair tie out of Takipi’s knotted mess          .

“Some boys like the grunge look.” Takipi slightly smiled.

“Oh my god you didn’t brush your teeth either.” Katherine said in shock as she pulled out her portable tooth brush and miniature tooth paste. Quickly she shoved it in Takipi’s mouth forcing her to brush her teeth.

“Go to the bathroom!” Katherine yelled pushing Takipi towards the bathroom in the kitchen that was used for employees.

“Ladies come on we have customers,” Murky said behind the warmer in the kitchen. He was one of the chefs in the kitchen, she usually only worked the weekends helping the staff keep up with the extra work. He was also part of Takipi’s best friends list. Murky was always the dork, the class clown mainly.  He was a tall guy standing at least six feet tall, he had green eyes and messy curly hair that he never would cut.

“Shut up, we have grooming that needs my attention!” Katherine hollered shoving Takipi into the bathroom.

“Some men like the out of bed look!” Murky winked at her.

“It is quite the turn on, especially if it’s Takipi.” Shane chuckled sending over air kisses. Now Shane on the other hand had a lot of girls who flirted with him, he was the type that worked out. He was fit for his age, and he always had the spikey hair style. His smile stood out more than anything, his teeth were bleach white and straight.

Katherine shut the door behind them as Takipi was rinsing off the tooth brush spitting the toothpaste into the sink. Katherine handed her the hair brush.

“Get your hair wet I can fix it.”  Katherine said she hurried Takipi to do so.

“Shane is being kind of pushy lately trying to get with you.” Katherine mentioned. Takipi shrugged as she had her hair mainly wet. Katherine began to play with her hair braiding parts of it.

“Come on Takipi you know what I am talking about.” Katherine said shaking her head.

“I know I’m not interested though, he is like my big brother who hit the friend zone at age five.”  Takipi sighed. She knew Shane had some form of feelings towards her. It was never something she could return to him though.  Takipi never had feelings like that towards him, for the fact she never had those feelings go towards anyone in her high school years. She was about to be a senior in high school and was not interested in anyone.

“Well you better let him down soon before it gets out of hand. You probably don’t want to lose that friendship.” Katherine mentioned as she finished a nice French braid for her. Takipi’s bangs remained covering part of her forehead.

“My mind isn’t exactly on Shane and his behavior towards me.” Takipi mentioned as Katherine pulled out her makeup from her apron. It was like an endless hole on how many items she could fit into those pockets.

“That dream about the dreamy man.” Katherine chuckled.

“I doubt he is real.” Takipi chuckled as Katherine finished putting on a small coat of foundation on her face.

“I’m not so sure if you are having that exact same creepy dream every night. I mean I am sure that there is a doctor that can give you an explanation about it and give you medication to make it stop but how many weeks has it been now?” Katherine questioned.

“About a good month now,” Takipi sighed again in disbelief of it honestly.

“Did you tell your parents about it?” Katherine asked,

“Yeah right, like that’s going to go anywhere. If they can ship me off to a nut house they would in an instant.” Takipi raised her eye brows knowing it shouldn’t be a surprise to Katherine at all. All her friends knew she wasn’t close to any of her family. She was an only child living in a world where her parents didn’t care much about her future or wellbeing.

“Well just think of it this way, we have one more year left in high school and we can get that apartment together like we have been discussing.” Katherine smiled at her.

“Come on before we get you into any more trouble.” Katherine chuckled pushing Takipi out of the bathroom.

Takipi knew her last year in high school was coming up, she had been working hard on honor classes so she could go straight to the university campus and have a bachelor’s degree in four years. Her focus was to get out of her home and make something of herself. Takipi yearned for her parents praise but they were very much focused on their own lives and careers. It was Almost as though she didn’t exist half the time. There would be times her mother was away for over a week on business trips. She leaves money for Takipi to order pizza and get food from the store. Takipi finally got her license last year and was saving money for a car. She had almost five thousand dollars in tips saved she wanted to purchase a really nice, and well maintained car.  Something that would last her awhile, most used cars were rusting from the salt being put on the road during the winter.

Shaking her head Takipi realized her thoughts were drifting off course she needed to get focused and make some money with the shift she had remaining.

“Takipi are you coming to the beach with us later tonight? Its bon fire night and Shane has a surprise for you.” Murky winked as she placed up orders onto the stainless steel warmer.

“Great what kind of surprise?” Takipi questioned as she headed out towards the busy dining area were Katherine had slipped into. 

“A first kiss kind of surprise.” Murky chuckled. Takipi rolled her eyes and went into the busy dining area. She tried to keep her mind off the life that was overwhelming her. The dream was the biggest issue. She couldn’t shrug it off her knowing that it had to mean something.  Deep inside of her she felt that maybe the dream was a warning of some kind that maybe someone was after her. The man in her dreams could not be much older than her and thinking about his bright blue eyes and dark hair made her flush.  The man wasn’t real though, he couldn’t be.  Takipi thought even deeper, knowing that a secret she had might be a reason for the dream.

With a big smile hiding all her problems, Takipi made it over to her first set of customers waiting for their order.

“Alright ready to order?”

 

                        ~

 

That night came swiftly, large bonfires were scattered across the beach as teenagers and newly love birds strolled down the soft sand letting the cold foaming water hit their feet. The stars were out. You could see every inch of the Milky Way. Shadows formed over the stormy clouds that were passing through. The air was warm and salty and Takipi was drinking with her friends

“Come on guys we should do it!” Murky chuckled with a beer in his hand. He had been drinking a lot since they had arrived.

“I am not getting naked for you so we could all go skinny dipping there are a lot of people here.” Katherine giggled as she pushed Murky.        

“What about you Takipi?” Murky asked slurring his words with another chuckle.

“I’ve never had a boyfriend or kiss so we all know what my answer is.” Takipi smiled as she sipped on her fruity cooler.

“We are going to have to change that! Takipi over here is an available woman!” Murky hollered as she stumbled across the smooth soft sand. You could hear other people cheering in the distance asking for her cell phone number.

“His parents are so going to kill him.” Katherine murmured into Takipi’s ear.

“ I’ve never really been into this whole drinking thing but this taste good, all that other stuff is disgusting.” Takipi smiled and giggled with her friends.

Shane came walking over in his bathing suit he had six pack of beer to share with him and Murky. They were all underage how they were getting away with this they would never know.  The bonfires were big and smoking, other people on the beach were throwing more wood into them to keep the flames going. They were cheering and laughing listening to music as the night rolled on.

Takipi was never much into the drinking with her friends, she never liked the idea going to parties and getting trashed as one might say. She was still more into her academics and focusing on college.  Tonight she was letting it slide, her first drink in the history of her life.  She could only feel herself remaining quiet as her brain was slowly turning into mush. Of course she barley turned seventeen only a couple months ago. As the summer was continuing on she was watching her friends get more into these fun habits of staying out late and breaking the rules. They all wanted  to break free from their homes lives.          

Shane came stumbling over towards Takipi, his breath reeked of beer. Takipi leaned away from him as he breathed on her. Slightly smiling at him knowing what he wanted to talk to her about. She wasn’t looking forward to it because it was a deal breaker of their friendship. Something that they had since they were little, she grew up with him playing every day after school. Her heart didn’t feel warm for him in that way, she only wished that it did. Knowing deep inside he would treat her right, it would probably work out greatly since they always got along. Instead she held back because there were secrets that she didn’t even tell him.

“Wonderful night isn’t it?” Shane asked her as he drank more of his beer.

“It is, soon it will disappear.” Takipi mentioned trying not to make any eye contact with him.

“Fall is coming soon. School starts in less than two weeks. Isn’t the end of august the best time of the year?” Shane asked her trying to get her attention.

“I hope so,” Takipi smiled rubbing the top of her empty bottle feeling anxious.

“Would you be willing to give me a chance?’ Shane went straight to the chase.

Takipi could feel her face growing red, of course she feels flattered but she kept quiet not wanting to answer his question. Letting him down is so hard for her to do. Inside her she believes it’s the best.  Takipi is trying to control her feelings she could feel her blood boiling with her anxiety. Her fingers tips felt like fire she could see them beginning to glow a bright yellowish orange. The sparks inside of them were flickering.

“Takipi,” Shane reached out to touch her hands to get her attention.

Quickly she crossed her arms so he wouldn’t see the secret she was hiding, she enclosed her fingers under her arm pits in hopes of no one noticing.

“I’m sorry. I can’t give that to you. I just want to be friends.” Takipi stood up backing away from him. She kept her chin down not wanting to make any eye contact without any hesitation she walked away swiftly. Takipi was practically running away with her fingers winched inside of her arm pits. She kept moving until she saw the bonfire pits at a distance were they would not see her.  Her eyes gazed around her making sure no one followed her.  Removing her finger tips into site they were still glowing slightly igniting into flames.

This was her secret she was keeping from the world, the past seventeen years she managed to keep it under control with cool calm and happy feelings. Since the dreams have been hitting her at night she hasn’t been able to keep her emotions and the fire inside her under control.  She wants to deny the fact the dream has any importance but she feels as though it may be. There was something happening in the darkness around her, and she truly believed there was someone out there in her world that was slowly trying to hunt her down.

          

Author's Note

Names may seem strange. Takipi is pronounced as (talk-e-pie) Bakuru is pronounced as (buh-ku-ru) Grammar issues are being taken care of by someone else. Feel free to point out any mistakes though. This Is only part one, the whole book as been finished.