---

It's been a long ass day. Another day of absolute hell that is high school and people. To make it worse, Aspen was alone with her thoughts. Alec was at work, and Mandy wasn't here for some reason or another. After getting something to eat and finishing homework and whatever, Aspen went to her room and locked the door as she always did. Sitting down at her desk and turning on her lamp, she began to write in her journal.

To whom it may concern, being fed up with other peoples' shit doesn't make me a weak person. She looked at what she wrote. This entry was a long time coming. Damn Riley and the others. She didn't do anything to them. I've never had a single friend ever since I started school. For whatever reason, they've always fucking made everything so much harder than it needs to be. Whenever I enter a classroom or the school in general, there's always whispers. Tripping. Bookchecking. Everything I do is under a magnifying glass. Even when Mom and Dad died, nothing got better. They all blamed me for it. Everyone. And today was finally the day I just...snapped. After all the years of dealing with it, I stepped up. Told Riley's little group off. But now...it's just going to get worse tomorrow. Why can't anyone just leave me alone? I didn't ask for any of it. I just want them all to...well, go away. Forever.

She slammed her pen down. It was really hot in her room all of a sudden, and for some reason, Aspen opened the window for the first time in years. No one was out at this time of night. It was amazing not to have people throwing stuff at her room like they used to. Returning to the journal, she dog eared the page, but in the process of doing so, the page ripped a little at the corner. Sighing, Aspen carefully closed the book. The journal wasn't cheap, and it was also the last gift she had received from her mother. She glanced at the time. Past midnight. "Bed time..." She was already in pajamas, so she simply turned off the light, unlocked the door to her room for Alec, and crawled into bed.

As Aspen fell asleep that night, her mind flashed back to the first day of school, way back in kindergarten. She remembered smiling the whole way to school as her mother drove. As she pulled over by the school, her mother got out and helped her young daughter out of her car seat. “Gosh, you're just all smiles, aren't you, A?” The mother took hold of her child's hand instinctively. Aspen simply laughed and tried to lead the woman into the school. Her silky chocolate hair stood out in the crowd and she got some stares. That was fine, Aspen wasn't paying attention to them anyway.

They were soon to Aspen's classroom. Her mother was reluctant to leave right off the bat, but Aspen seemed fine, so off to work she went. Aspen, being the social kid she was, went up to the first person she saw. "Hey, I'm Aspen! What's your name?"

The girl gave a disgusted look. "What are you looking at, you freckled-face freak?" Aspen's smile fell. This was the first of many insults that would come her way in the next couple of years. Who is she kidding, the rest of her life in Calpin. Shrugging the memories off, Aspen turned away from the window and drifted off into the depths of her mind.

---

As soon as Aspen was asleep, something...changed. It was silent, but devastating. The page that she wrote those angry words on became a...living thing. A shadowy person. Tall, black as night, and with red eyes that stare into your soul. Its voice would freeze you to death if it could. It looked over at its creator, one named Aspen Green. It snickered. "Poor, poor girl. You're such a miserable little wretch. I'll make it all better, don't worry..." The voice was masculine in tones, but still not identifiable. It turned like lightning and out the window it went. It didn't seem like it knew what was exactly going on. Aspen was vague about who this Riley character was. But a man, huh...

It went to a place that was secluded and dark. The darkness was where it could move freely. And low and behold...a single man was stupidly out and about at this hour. He was all alone. It let out a snicker to scare the man at first, and while the idiotic human was distracted, it grabbed him and pulled him away from the street lamp light. The man didn't stand a chance for the shadow. Not when it was in complete obscurity.

Blood seeped into the ground and into the light a few long minutes later. Surprisingly, it could keep the man's screams muffled with its abilities. He was still alive, but it left him to bleed out and die an extremely painful death. It wouldn't be a pretty site for the person who found him, that's for sure. It didn't care about laws. They didn't apply to it. The problems of humans didn't concern it. Well, besides Aspen's. For some reason, she was the only one that mattered. For now, at least. It was nearing morning. It could hear the annoying sounds of another discovering its work. It was followed by a frantic call to the police, or whatever they were called. Sensing...something else in the area, however, it knew it was time to leave. It was starting to dissipate into the unknown. It made a vow to return once the town was enveloped in the comforting darkness again.

"Tomorrow, my dear girl."

Connor's alarm went off, and he was about to smack the poor thing into silence when he heard the words "Murder in Calpin". "I knew it! Tia! I told you the small towns are the ones with the awesome murder stories they show on TV!" He ran downstairs to the main TV, turning it on, letting it ramble as he got ready for school, paying close attention, waiting for a name, to judge whether or not he was screwed and whoever killed the poor sucker had nothing against him or his family. Sure, pretty much everyone there was on a first name basis, but that didn't mean everyone was like family. If anything, he got along with everyone- wait. There was only one person in this whole town whom everyone hated upon for no particular reason.

'Psht, nah, a girl like her? That's...impossible. She couldn't hurt anyone like that...she never talks back or anything.' "But who could be the suspect?"

"Don't start playing detective, Connie, you know how those end up. Leave it to the police in the area."

"Stodn- Don't call me that! I'm a full grown man! And don't sneak up behind me!"

"Whatever you say." Pause. " Connie."

"It's CONNOR, Uncle Daniel!"

It looked like his Uncle was about to repeat his nickname again, so he simply walked out. "I'm getting breakfast at school! Bye Jon! Adios, Rita!" 'And maybe catch a glimpse of the crime scene...be on TV...'

His stupid, darkly humorous attitude dissipated the moment he found out who died. He had been identified shortly after his body was removed. The guy had been dropped from football, despite his talent, due to his grades, so he'd brush by him occasionally, but Connor never exactly bothered to figure his name, despite some moments of small talk. Now he wished he had either had a better connection with the guy or none at all. He felt sick in the stomach, staring at the screen inside the liquor store that sat at the halfway point to school. Now he just wanted to go home, feeling guilty for something other than picking on Aspen.

"...Its too freakin' early for this," he muttered suddenly, leaving without buying what he usually had for lunch, shoving his hands into his pockets, head hanging low. He wasn't even going to bother clearing the cut- wasn't like he cut often, anyway. Or at all. It was incredibly difficult to cut successfully without being caught. Too much effort for a bad record, was his opinion.

Now he was just busy moping on what a crappy person he had become. He would have known the guy better. He would treat everyone better. Now he was just some other bastard in the crowd who spent his free time at school going along with what the masses did if he was caught in the middle of it. Today, he didn't want to put up with fake grievers. He wasn't going to put up with anyone- everyone knew his facade, he couldn't afford to break it due to circumstances.

---

---

They drove through the night. An old man in a mauve crushed-velvet jacket and sunglasses, a woman in a simple blouse and slacks, and a rather talkative parrot. Were it any other person, it would have seemed the setup to a particularly humorous joke; however, the universe isn't so kind, and this situation, however comical it might seem from the outside, was in fact perfectly serious. The man was Mister G. Harlowe, and the woman was Clotilde, and the parrot's name was James, although he was presumed to have another name that only a select few actually spoke. Mister Harlowe was very strict about his secrets, though; and as such, nobody knew whether James the Parrot had any name other than James the Parrot, and to be honest - not too many were inclined to find out.

Mister G. Harlowe had nodded off several times during the rather long journey, despite the animated state in which the odd trio had begun it, no doubt a sign of his age. But when the group arrived at Calpin, at all-too-early in the morning, no less, Mister G. Harlowe was quick to rouse himself, retrieving his oaken cane from where it rested against his thigh.

"We have arrived," Clotilde and Mister Harlowe said, with eerie synchronization. Clotilde would have been startled by this when she had started her service under Mister G. Harlowe, but now, three years after her contract had been signed, she found her reaction dulled to just a blink. Mister Harlowe flashed his odd, thin-lipped smile at her and popped the door of the car open. James, stirred by the bing-bing-binging of the door's alarm, fluttered over from the back of the car to assume his position at Mister Harlowe's shoulder.

They were in a community parking lot in front of a mid-scale motel, Clotilde holding two sizable luggage bags and Mister Harlowe himself unloading a few more from the trunk of their car before hauling it to the lobby, where a half-asleep young man with scruffy hair and a farmer's build was scribbling busily over a set of worksheets on the front desk. Mister Harlowe cleared his throat audibly before walking up to the desk and prodding the young man in the shoulder. "Young man," He said in his oddly soothing voice, "I'd like to rent two rooms for an indefinite period of time. You will be paid very well for your services, I assure you."

The young man stared for a few moments. "... You got a parrot on your shoulder."

Mister Harlowe blinked, then turned to his left, where James rested at the crook of his neck. He appeared to blink behind his tiny sunglasses, then turned his attention back to the young man. "Yes, it would seem that I do. And I believe his name is James, and he's been unusually quiet this whole time." He adjusted his shoulder a few times, jostling the parrot. "James. James, introduce yourself."

"AWWWWWK MOTHERFUCKIN' HELL WHAT"

"This young man's taken notice of you, it would seem." Mister Harlowe grinned at James' outburst.

"FUCKER WOKE ME UP FROM MY FUCKIN NAP I AIN'T FUCKIN INTRODUCING SHIT"

"... Rude, James."

"FUCKIN' SCREW HIM"

Harlowe seemed taken aback. He looked to Clotilde, then to the young man. "... I apologize. My companion is quite ill-tempered at times. You would do best to see that we get our rooms arranged posthaste, sir, or he tends to... Peck." As if to amplify this last point, James the Parrot let out a loud SKWAWK and flailed his wings, as if he were about to take off. Perturbed, the young man went and got two room keys from the back wall of the reception desk and presented them to Mister Harlowe, who smiled his best sweet-old-man smile and nodded. "Thank you, young man." And then he strode off down the hallway towards his room.

'I'm going to have my work cut out for me in this town, it would seem...' Harlowe thought to himself as he walked away.



[RILEY IN PROCESS]