Angela Stephens's Story

Angela sat in front of her flowery vanity mirror, pictures of her lining the edge. She dabbed on mascara as she curled her blonde hair and brushed it out, letting the soft waves fall over her shoulders all the way down to her thigh when she was sitting, and top of her hips when she stood. She pulled on a Prussian Blue sweater and a white skirt with native american black designs on it, black nylons, and black sneaker wedges with gold gems on them. Grabbing her black school purse, she was hit with a sudden wave of depression and pain. She faltered, leaning on her bedpost.

A woman was approaching her, thorns extending from her head and long blonde hair curling around her waist. Angela looked at her as tears began to fall down her face. "No, no, no..."

Angela took a shaky breath as the dream receded. She hadn't felt that pain since her parents died. She knew what that...that thing was, and she wasn't going to let it ruin the image she had in place. Angie straightened, put on a sardonic smile, and strutted down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Morning, sweetie," her aunt said, tossing her a muffin.

"Yeah, whatever," Angie took a bit and rolled her eyes, her aunt's cheery expression dropping almost imperceptibly. Angie pretended not to notice, and gave a little wave as she walked out the door towards her cherry red VW bug.

When she arrived at school, she walked through the halls confidently as her ladies followed behind her. They ruled the school and Angie was at the head. She saw a little freshman looking at a picture in her locker and she laughed. "Please, that boy is way out of your league," and the young girl flinched, closing her locker and hurrying away. Angie's girls laughed behind her as Angie continued her patrol down the hallway, passing along crude comments to anyone she saw worthy of them.

She arrived in the classroom and looked around at the people, spotting three of her old friends from childhood, and practically gagging as she walked past them, making sure it was noticed. She trailed her fingers along Taja's desk, smiling sweetly.

"I'm looking forward to seeing your performance, Taja...I hear it's supposed to be particularly...interesting." Angie planted that thought in the girl's head as she took her seat. Maybe she would actually do something to screw the girl over. It might be fun. Until then, she settled in her seat and let the people in the room bask in the glory of her presence.

Something seemed...different. Max could easily blame it on the fact that he hadn't been sleeping well, or maybe he was on something that was making him paranoid (wouldn't be the first time), but when Helena sat down...she seemed to look right at him. That in itself wouldn't have been so weird...if he and his old friends hadn't spent the last ten years thoroughly avoiding each other, despite being in the same building for eight hours everyday of the week.

Her attention shifted to Taja, and his followed hers for a moment, but he didn't give much thought to his old friend. Instead, he huffed out a breath of annoyance for being so thoughtful about his surroundings before sinking lower in his seat, pulling his hood down over his eyes. No one would bother him, they knew he didn't have much potential. But as the class wore on, he found himself absentmindedly playing with the blue bracelet around his wrist. He had dozens, on both arms, well worn from never taking them off, but that always caught his attention without him even realizing it.

When the bell finally rang he was the last one who managed to drop his feet to the ground and push himself up. For his age, the struggle of standing was ridiculous. But he was running off maybe four hours of sleep for the past three days, and a handful of uppers that probably weren't doing anything good for his motor skills. Second period was another one of those classes they had all together, another one where the seat in the very back had been spared just for him. People had learned, by now, which seats were his.

He trudged in just before Angela Stephens made an appearance, making sure to spare each of them a general gag. Usually the queen bee of bitches left Max alone, he didn't really make it on her radar, but at the gag that was directed towards him he made a definite show of grabbing his crotch, telling her to 'suck it' more or less.

But, like usual, he wasn't worth her time, she went on to bugging Taja after that. What was it with people to day, being particularly obnoxious? Man, he needed a fix. Maybe someone was carrying...he'd figure out next period, or ditch lunch, one of the two.

As usual, Joe was late to school. Dealing drugs was a time consuming business at times. Once you built up your reputation, you needed to stand in the same place every day at regular periods of time. If you weren't there when one of your customers was craving a fix, then they would be easily picked up by a rival drug dealer. Personally, Joe dealt drugs near the back of the high school building an hour before school started, but today, a few of his usual customers were late so he was obliged to wait for them. Not that he minded too much. The smoke from the marijuana cigarette he was smoking kept him warm. Nonetheless, when he entered the building, he knew he had missed his first class. No matter.

He trudged in a classroom, noting the appearance of several of his old friends. He raised an eyebrow. Helena was oddly focused. He wondered if she was going through withdrawal... No, she didn't do drugs. At least, not recreational drugs. He snorted as Angela tried to intimidate Taja. He walked past her.

"Good morning, Angel. How was your test? Did it turn blue?" he told her with a smirk. He elicited a few giggles from her cronies. That was loyalty for you.

Angela smirked as Joe walked past her, silencing her ladies with a wave of her hand. "I'm sorry, was that meant to offend me? The only thing offending me at this moment is your god-awful taste in cologne. Girls, perfume!" She and her girls sprayed a fine wave of Cherry Blossom spray throughout the room and turned back around in their chairs.

Angela tapped her long fingernails on the desk, ignoring those around her in the haughty way she did. She had thoroughly managed to cover the fear from her dream this morning, and she was positive no one saw the effects. Luckily for her, Joe had no basis to accuse her of drug use, and if anyone in the school threatened to do so, she saw that they were taken care of. No one messed with Angela Stephens unless they wanted to be publicly humiliated.

The teacher walked in then and began the lecture, and Angie found herself zoning out as she took down notes robotically. When the bell rang, Angie turned back to her girls as she stood. "Well, ladies, I suppose I'll see you at lunch. Kisses!" She air kissed and walked out of the room, making sure her hips swayed seductively as she went. She wanted everyone to notice her. She made her usual rounds, passing insults as she went. Third class meant she was alone, except for a few of her nemesis', Max and Helena (OOC: Sorry, I just did this. You can change it if you want). Angie laughed at the small redhead.

"So, Helena, what do the voices say today?" Angie had noticed Helena speaking to herself at some point, and hadn't let it go. Helena had seemed to hold on to her childhood imagination, but Angie refused to believe that that place still existed. The dreams she had been having did not mean anything. They were just dreams, after all.

Angela was slipping. She didn't like to think she was, but it was there. The thread in her mind reminding her not to care, not to think about Snow...it was going away, little by little. Once, Snow couldn't feel her...couldn't see her, touch her, smell her, anything. She was just gone, and Snow was dying...all alone.

But desperation turned people into the most twisted of creatures. They clung to what they had...even if that meant dreams, the whisper of a memory, anything they had left. They hated each other equally, but the more humanistic side of Snow still craved her presence...still felt like she belonged there. Perhaps now it was more out of possession than love.

All it took was a thought...a dream brought into the waking mind, and Snow would feel that pull. It wasn't enough for her to be seen, it wasn't enough for her to speak or touch, but it was enough to call her presence. And then she would feel like she was straddling two words. The coldness never faded away, it still clung to her skin and wrapped around her heart. She couldn't feel anything in Angela's world...she couldn't really see either, everything was masked in a heavy fog.

Everything but Angela. The girl was like a golden drop of sunshine, but Snow knew better. She knew ice laced the teens veins just as much as they laced her own. But where could she go, now? Each time she thought she'd disappeared, be called back home, a thought slid into Angela's mind that kept her there. There, but not belonging. There, but not acknowledged. So she'd stay, freezing to her core, and watch the ice seep out from Angela's lips.

By then Helena Neverwinter was sat in her seat over near the wall, the seat next to it unoccupied, with her book in front of her and the ratty old toy pulled close beneath the curve of her ribcage. It took her a few moments to realize that she was being addressed, but upon realizing, the girl turned and smiled at Angela, with a cerulean gaze that was perhaps a bit /too/ intense.

Angela and Helena had a...difficult relationship. A lot of that was to do with it being quite hard to actually have anything on her.
The threat of ruining someone socially only worked if they had anything to lose, and on the social pyramid Helena Neverwinter was right at the bottom...actually probably not even at the bottom but several feet away drawing unicorns in the sand.
Most people were certain that she either had some kind of serious mental issues or was taking something rather heavy duty. So rumors regarding drug taking or mental illness was not surprising enough, and the fact that she hadn't ever had any relationships anyone knew of made any rumors involving illicit sex activity too implausible... besides it was not as if she had any real interest in what anybody thought of her.

"They say that you need to come back to otherworld." she replied, getting to her feet.
"I should be mad you know..for all the stuff you've said to me over the years, but I'm not anymore...not if you come back."

Angela stiffened, stepping back slightly as Helena stood to her feet. Angela knew, somewhere deep inside, that Helena was right. She felt a cold chill shift through her hair, and shivered slightly. It reminded her of the feeling she had that morning, when the dream had overtaken her.

Angela smirked at Helena, hiding her feelings behind a mask. "Still talking to ghosts, Helena? It's time to wake up. You're just as crazy as we were kids," Angela took a step forward, obviously invading the smaller girl's space. She leaned her head close, making sure her eyes looking straight into Helena's soul. "You're going to wind up in some white room with padded walls, talking to ghosts and wandering through endless caverns of imagination. And me? I'm going to be a star. And you know why? Because I stopped believing in fantasies, just as you should have done."

With that, Angela smiled cruelly at Helena, doing her best to frighten her. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, straightening, and took a seat in the desk in front of Helena, unable to erase the chill of pain and despair that still sifted through her hair and around her shoulders.

Taja watched as her old best friend was approaching her desk. It's funny when Angela tries to intimidate Taja. It simply never works. It's true, it hurts Taja every time she tries to intimidate her, but in reality Angela doesn't have anything on Taja. To end the awkward silence, Taja simply replied, "Yeah, you're right, it should turn out interesting. We'll just see what happens." With that she gave a nice grin. Angela was taken back at that. Probably wasn't expecting such a response. With that she left her desk and took her girl possy with her as she was heading out the door. In the meanwhile, Joe walked by. He was funny. The things he would say to make Angela show any emotion was priceless. She continued to tune in.

Angela retorted back insulting his smell. She wasn't too awfully off. Joe did send off quite a smell, and it was a good smell but he applied way too much. After the whole episode the teacher walked in. She told everyone to quiet down so he could take attendance and begin the lecture. Taja was having troubles concentrating on the English lesson, since her mind was full at the moment. Her old friends fighting, a weird feeling that Otherworld is trying to connect the six again, and her violin lesson. Only 4 more classes until that happens and Taja isn't quite sure if she can make it.

Class ended and Taja decided to head to her locker to pick up some things for her next class. As she started walking she heard a heated conversation coming from the next room over. It wasn't a big surprise to see Angela being part of it, however Taja wasn't expecting Helana, of all people, to be talking back to someone like Angela. TO be quiet honest this conversation was interested, and she was willing to skip her next class to see where this was going to lead.

At the answer from Angela; She let out a shrill giggle, clasping her hand over her mouth.

"You're funny." she remarked, after a moment, something quite devoid of anything really resembling sarcasm. She seemed really hysterically amused by the matter and went to sit down, grinning like her stuffed animal. Then she stopped, appearing to visibly pale as her eyes tracked over to the small door in the corner used to contain supplied, that had swung slightly open. She backed away, registering a sudden alarm, and knocking a chair back onto the floor. She then shook her head a good few times, as if trying to remove something from her vision.

"Can't get me...not now...not in the day..." she mumbled, loud enough to be audible, causing a few people to laugh.

Angela threw her head back in a shrill laugh as Helena stumbled backward and started talking to herself again. "Look, everybody! Helena...sees...dead people!" Angela said in a jokingly eerie voice, causing everyone in the class to rock in laughter. Angie smiled maniacally at the girl, looking towards the closet where Helena had fixated her gaze. The door was slightly ajar, but there certainly was no one standing there.

Angela made a sarcastically sympathetic pout face at Helena, but couldn't hold it for long before escaping into raucous giggles yet again. "Alright, Helena, shows over. We get the fact that you're insane. Now, please, you're just making yourself look like the fool you are inside! Hurry back, everyone, I hear insanity is contagious these days." Angela chuckled, making a big show of fanning the air away from her, and other people in the class started to mimic her. Angela almost felt bad for the girl, but her icy exterior covered that very well, and the presence she had felt earlier flitted away, leaving Angela as ruler of the school with no emotional baggage.

Joe ignored Angela for the moment. He had been watching her and Helena, but he grew concerned as Helena had what he could only call a drug trip. He stood up from his desk and approached his former friend, holding her still before she could do something she'd regret later. He checked her pulse. Her heart was beating rapidly. What was she on? He checked Helena's pockets for prescription bottles or baggies, but found nothing. He knew she couldn't be on recreational drugs. They worked to quickly and she was normal this morning.

"Damn, Joe. What'd you give her?" someone asked him, cuing several people to laugh. He glared at them.

"Nothing. Now, go get the school nurse. Now," he demanded before turning his gaze on Angela.

"Keep your tongue behind your teeth. I don't have time to cut it out right now, but if you bother me enough, I will make time."

The room fell silent. Sometimes, it paid to have a vicious reputation.

Helena didn't really care about all the fun Angela was having at her expense. She had not even noticed Joe walking up and grabbing hold of her. Her gaze was fixed on the door, and then the floor before the door, then craning upward as if staring down something that was....impossibly tall in its stature. She attempted to reach out for something but Joe had her arms at the time, then with a sudden alarming sound she screamed and arced her body like she'd just been stabbed, before falling completely limp, likely to have smacked her head on the floor had someone not been trying to stop her at the time.

By then people had pretty comprehensively decided that it was beyond a joke, and some people had run to go find a responsible adult.

She was lying on her back on the smooth, damp, very hard ground. A pike had gone through her shoulder and collided with the surface, and blood was sstarting to seep through the leather vest she wore and onto the ground.

The sentinel stood over her, tall and spindly wearing a long patchwork coat of regal purple, its elongated, horse-like head comprise of gears and cable and rusted metal turned onto its side to properly view her, the insides of its skull carapace lit with red heat from its core.
"I'm going to be most handsomely rewarded for bringing you in." it stated in an eloquent, aristocratic tone.

"That's n-not fair." Helena replied, struggling to plant her feet and hands and take deep breaths despite the pike.
"You can't just attack me while I'm not...here...this fight is forfeit. You have t-to let me go."

"We're changing the rules." it replied, long teeth clacking together as it spoke.
"While we can't hold onto you for long now, soon you and any of the creators will be pulled in whenever we want, taken out at our leisure. Of course my current time restrictions on the subject are nor really in your favour....because I can't take you in alive...I will simply have to bring them your head..."

It reached a taloned metallic hand forwards, and that was when she seized the pike in both hands, springing up to her feet and ramming the blunt end into the thing's chest, making it stumble long enough for her to rip it out of her shoulder and make a run for the trees.

Angela laughed some more at Helena, particularly when another of her clique, a boy this time, made a joke about Joe' drug distributing habits. It was then that Joe approached her, and Angela feigned fright, even though it was obvious she was only amused by the debacle going on in front of her.

"Keep your tongue behind your teeth. I don't have time to cut it out right now, but if you bother me enough, I will make time." Joe said, and Angela giggled.

"As if you'd do that to your former friend," Angela said amidst her laughing. She only ever associated herself with them when it would make good for her, and this time she supposed it would. "You stand there holding her as if it wasn't your fault, but we all know the truth. You're just as bad as she is, doling out prescriptions like cand--" Angela cut off as Helena arched her back and screamed, falling limp in Joe's arms. What the hell? Angela thought. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped.

"Jesus, Joe, whatever you gave her I suggest you lay off." Angela said as she watched Helena just lay there, but if you looked closely enough, you could see her eyes flitting quickly, almost imperceptibly, as if she was in another world. No, it can't be...

Elarius watched as Max came to school, danced around him as he thought about the law and ways to break it. Elarius was quite proud of Maxy, doing what he wanted. Then again, no one could resist Elarius's mind compulsions. He could influence anyone's mind, with no error. It was what he had been doing to Maxy for years.

Elarius looked on as Max walked into class, noticing most of the six that they had been called to obtain. The one ice girl made a rude noise, so Elarius came close to Max and whispered, "Something vulgar. Now." Elarius smiled behind his lips as Max did what he wanted.

Elarius drifted throughout the room, catching eyes with Snow Bison and giving her a petrifying glare. If only he could influence those of the Otherworld. It would make things so much easier. He floated above everyone's heads, finally coming to rest around Max's body, letting his head rest as Maxy's did, waiting for the moment when Max could see him again.

Taja continued her eavesdropping as the fight escalated between Helena, Angela and Joe? What is he doing there? Was he always there? She thought to herself as she continued to watch. Nothing much was happening as she only heard laughing and a couple gasps from the other students. She got bored and slowly turned to walk away. She got a couple steps away from the room when she heard this screech from the room she was listening to. She recognized that screech; it being Helena's. Taja got worried that Angela would go as far as hurting Helena. Taja was got into the room and saw a few things that shocked her. Helena was on the floor and Helena was in his arms. Knowing Joe's history, Taja wondered if he drugged her. "Joe, did you drug her? Did you get her like this?" She asked as she couldn't believe her eyes. "Or was it you Angela? Did you hit her? Was this your fault?" Taja exclaimed as she turned her attention from Angela to take a closer look at Helena. Her eyes. What's wrong with her eyes? She thought as a look of panic took over her whole face. I've seen that look from her before. This cannot be happening. No. Not now! She thought as she shut her eyes. She then turned to look at Angela. Their eyes met and emidietly they both knew that "it" was happening again.

"I haven't given her anything," Joe growled. He glanced at Taja. It was like they were having a reunion or something. He glanced down at Helena, his eyes widening when he saw eye movements. He had seen her this before, but, no, Other world wasn't real. She wasn't real. Helena must be hallucinating.

"Damn it, Helena. Wake up," he told her.

Max felt his blood boil the moment Angela made Helena her target. Honestly, Helena had done nothing wrong except for exist to get under the queen bee's skin and it irked him. Wasn't like Helena was going looking for trouble, Angela just gave it to her without warning. It bothered him. Bully's bothered him.

Just as he was dropping his feet to the ground to put in his two cents, Helena had...some kind of episode. She looked legitimately frightened, sounded it too, and the reply of laughter Angela gave only angered him farther. He had to admit, if he was put in a situation, he'd take Helena's side over Angela's any day. Damn who may or may not have been his best friend when they were six.

Joe was at her first, obviously Max was thinking along the same lines. Why wouldn't it be drugs? Except, as far as he knew, the redhead was clean. Angela was still talking, the only one not freaked out enough yet to be shocked into silence. Then Helena screamed, her body arching, and Max shot into motion.

Most of the class had already spread out, looking for a teacher or a nurse or something. "Hey, go get some wet paper towels," he snapped at some cheerleader standing by the door. She nodded quickly, probably too shocked that he'd said anything at all, before disappearing around the corner.

Max hit the ground next to Joe, shaking his head. "You didn't find anything on her, right?" his pushed at the sleeves on her shirt, looking for needle marks, anything. Max had to admit, he didn't know a lot about the drugs he didn't take himself, but they needed to cover their bases. If she was on something, they'd lock the school down, try and figure out where she got it.

He pressed his fingers to his eyes, trying to shake the selfishness off and remind himself that spells like this didn't often appear for no reason at all. If it wasn't drugs, her life could very well be in danger. He could hear someone else talking behind them...Taja? He didn't take the time to look. The girl returned with the paper towels he asked for and he nodded his thanks, ripping them out of her hands before pressing them to Helena's face. She was sweating, nearly shaking. "Come on Lena..."

Angela looked away from Taja, not willing to subject herself to whatever feelings the girl was projecting. After all, Angela had planned to sabotage the girl's career as a violinist later, and this wasn't going to make her change anything. Joe snapped at her and she sneered. Helena was twitching and it was definitely freaking her out. The cold presence around her shoulders was back, stronger than ever, filling her heart with despair.

Suddenly then, Max jumped out of no where and started checking her arms, surely for needle marks. Angela snorted, looking at her old friends like they were idiots. "Don't you all see? She's a lunatic, having a seizure or something. The world will be a better place without crazies like her infecting our hallways." Angela crossed her arms over her chest, seeing the cheerleader that Max had sectioned off as his personal errand runner huddling in the corner. Angela was definitely friends with the cheerleaders, they didn't dare cross her.

Angela saw the situation with Helena get worse as Max pressed paper towels to her face. "Oh, for Gods sake. Do you wall know nothing? That won't wake her up. Give me that." Angela commanded to a junior student, holding her hand out for the ice water bottle he was holding. When she touched the freezing liquid, it was as if the presence around her got stronger. The ice making the despair grow. Angela shut her eyes against the feeling, willing herself not to show weakness. The presence faded, shifting to an idle draw around her shoulders again.

Angela huffed, walking over to the desperate boys and obviously insane girl, before dumping the bottle of water on her head. "There. That should wake her up."

Helena hid out in a patch of dense woodland, having covered the distance well enough whilst the equine headed bounty hunter was recovering its composure and cleaning its pike.


She leaned on the tree, listening out for its approach.

Upon hearing the footsteps she tensed, but soon determined that they were far too close together to be the sentinel. She looked round to find herself facing Jack, and gave a sigh of relief.
"I am at school...I was...something just. I did not come here willingly." she replied.
"...if...if nothing else I should not be here long."

She pushed herself forwards and walked after him, still on high alert. Jack was a welcome sight, but would not necessarily save her.

"Everything's after me." she remarked, splashing some water over her shoulder.
"Last night it was the serpents, today it's the sentinel, everything wants to murder me...more that usual..."

She unwound a band of fabric from her leg and tied it round her shoulder as a makeshift bandage. Her arm was not too strong, but it prevented to blood trail for the moment.

The girl looked over at him and pursed her lips. He was such a pessimist. All the talk about dropping her plans. She'd barely started them. Perhaps it was because the young man had never met any of the others that he was lacking faith in them. He would see though.
"And I will get them to come back...I just need more time."

Time though, was clearly not on her side, as the sound of foot steps and metallic grunts issued from the trees closeby. Helena was on her feet as the sentinel burst through the undergrowth, pike in hand, and she bolted for the trees. She would have been concerned for Jack, but the things did not pursue him. He seemed to exist in a curious state of immunity to many of the horrors. Helena was not nearly as lucky.

She ran as fast as she could toward the trees, doing her best to disregard the pain the vibrations caused her. Darting round a corner to take advantage of the tall beast's enormous strides, it allowed to her escape its sight line for a few moments, sufficiently time to leap up into a tree and clamber a ways up before it thundered into view, snorting.

She crouched in the fork, watching it hesitate, casting its head round back and forth as it tried to come to a conclusion regarding the disappearing girl.

Soon it was going to discover the perch.

Then a slight glimmer caught her eye.
A vine grew round the tree, a bright vermillion lined with sickle leaves...that were sharp as razors. Daggervines. Just what she needed. Silently, Helena reached over with her free hand and grasped a hand full of it, just as the metal head tilted up toward her.

She jumped.

Using the momentum she sung over, round in an arc and clashed the sharp vine into the spine of the hunter. There was a burst of fire and oil, a screech of metal, and the body collapsed into a burning heap as its core melted its shell.

Helena herself landed on both feet on the floor, flexing her sliced and bleeding hands before walking over toward the head, which rocked gently.
"Oh...um...hello there. Now..I hope you didn't take what I said earlier...about the head thing as real...it was..merely a figure of speech...I did not mean your actual head...oh no not at all!" it exclaimed.

The girl took the ridge along the top in hand, lifting it from the floor.
"Now...now you wouldn't do anything untoward whilst I'm helpless would you? " it asked.


She looked around until she caught sight of a creature burrow between some tree roots, and walked over to it, turning the head face toward the hole and stuffing it inside with force.
"Oh now that's just petty." came a muffled retort.


Helena turned and walked away. She was still dripping small splatters of blood onto the ground behind her. Brilliant, she would be much too easily tracked like that. But she had a feeling that she was going to have to deal with that lat-

Helena's eyes snapped back to focus and she coughed, spitting out some water onto the carpet.
"...uh...hi?" she greeted after a moment, realizing that she was lying on the floor, and everyone was very much staring at her.