The town of Rollen

Bryce waited, trying to simply be patient until the nosebleed stopped. As he sat there, he wondered how many times he had gotten nosebleeds in his life. Actually no- forget life- How many times he had gotten nosebleeds while at this school. One... Two... Three- He started a bit when he heard an unfamiliar female voice. He watched her as he came close, telling him how to make his nosebleed stop quicker as she reached forward and demonstrated. Bryce watched her cautiously, but seemed almost distracted. Pretty girls didn't usually talk to him! Let alone come near him unless they wanted his genius for something... What was her name? Ah, right. Claire.

"Hey, Thanks." he called after her once she had decided to walk away. However, he found himself surprised when another boy approached him, asking if he was alright. If he remembered correctly- and he always did - the guy's name was Lucien. The guy was supposed to be one of the rare popular goth kids, or at least he was to his understanding. "Uh, yeah, i'm okay. Just got a good hit, or two, or three, or whatever in a little failed crowd control. S'all good, man."

Suddenly, Bowling For Soup's 'High School Never Ends' began to play and Bryce put his free hand up. "Sorry 'bout that. My phone." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and flipped it open. It was a slim black phone, not one anyone had seen before. Chances are, Bryce had taken his cell phone and built on it with his own two hands until it was half as capable as a small computer. Pressing it against his ear, he chuckled. "Hey, man. What's shakin'?" A pause before he nodded, seeming a bit deflated. "What? .... Dude, we seriously just got moved in, bro. Yeah, i'm fine - Andrew Colt popped me in the nose, but when i get back i'mma load up a bowl of some Grand Daddy P and take a dragon, ya dig?" Bryce laughed, a light, joyous sound. "Yeah, well, Cool, man. I'll fix it when i get back. See ya, Spence."

As he hung up, he put his hand up. "Sorry about that," Slipping his phone into his pocket, he continued. "My roommate broke the satellite dish on the apartment we just moved into. Gotta fix it when i get back. Speaking of, if no one's busy we could sit up on the roof at my place to watch that meteor thing and pass a bowl around? I got some good stuff man, make ya forget all your problems. If ya don't want though, no prob, ain't for everyone."

"Alright, Ms. Fisher. I'll help you file out an excuse for an early dismissal. " he complied as she agreed, he then looked at the other 2, as well as the 2 newcomers. Claire Valiant and Lucien Delacroix. The tall goth, of course, set an imposing look that even Joke would be shaken by. But once again, a professional barrier was pulled up and he smiled at the both of them.

"Now then, if you guys would like to join us in our...early escapade, then I'll be more than willing to file excuses as well. " Joke winked at Paige and waved the dirty sketch of him so that she knew what he meant, before returning his 'Vice-President' gaze back to the others. "I'll only be doing it today, since I'm in a rather good mood. Take the chance now. "

Then he cracked a real smile. He'd always wanted to sound like some kind of double agent. Now he could... in a slightly smaller scale though.

"Sure, I'm glad to come, if you guys aren't scared of me making everything all depressing," Lucien joked, his lips curling up into a grin. Lucien always had the strangest grin. It was somewhere halfway between a smile and a grimace, and he never showed his teeth. Ever. It was as if he expected his teeth to suddenly turn into fangs or something. Of course, with Lucien being the species he was, that wasn't too unrealistic of a fear, so, he decided to always play it safe, and just not show his teeth when he smiled, no matter how curious his facial expression ended up turning out.

"Bah, I don't need any excuse," Lucien stated with a carefree wave of his hand and a harsh laugh. "The teachers have been expecting me to cut school ever since I started showing up in these clothes. How 'bout I finally confirm their suspicions?" he joked with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Then again, yeah, an excuse would be lovely. I can't ruin my perfect attendance streak now, can I?" he decided, in a similar joking manner. Leave it to Lucien to never actually take anything seriously.

Claire had only waved easily back at them when the boy thanked her for what she did. Not looking back or stopping, she had no intentions on getting to know them. Not yet anyway and she didn't have the time now. She knew she couldn't just skip class but she had no other choice, well ofcourse she had a choice but she felt out of place now. Like she wasn't really here and it bothered her like hell, she may be Fey Born but she was human. Right?
She sighed deeply and blinked a few times when she walked out from the entrance doors to the school. The sunlight had hit her in the eyes and that was freaking annoying. She looked up at the sky and bit her bottom lip. She knew where she should be this night but she sure didn't want to, but again and this time she had no choice. The thought was pushed away with a scream that made her chill right through her body, she knew that it was in her mind and that it was a warning.

Claire pressed her keys into the car to unlock it and then sat down in it. It was her, she had earned her own money, well half of it and she loved it. She had found her outside a old selling place and then she hadn't looked like much to the world. But it was her. Her '69 Mustang Mach 1, a black one because she had it painted, before it had been in an ungly beige colour and it looked like hell. But she had worked hard with her, when they moved around, she took all the time she ahd when she wasn't in school to finish it. Ofcourse she had help. She did have a few friends that still contacted her and they had been more then happy to help her. She leaned back in the seat and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Where should she go now? Her dad was still working, she hoped and she didn't know anyone here. She tapped her finger at the wheel a few times, thinking of what she would do next. She hated this feeling, restless and annoyed by everything.

Paige smiled at everyone warmly.
"I'm going to leave now." she said quietly then gestured to the crowd who were staring from a safe distance. "Don't worry, I wont get mugged or anything." she tried to joke of it but it didn't really work. She shrugged and pulled her bag on tighter. "I'll see you tomorrow." she said quietly again and turned to leave. She waved at the guys and started to weave through the crowd. The crowd let her pass willingly except for Sarah who smiled and started to walk with her. She gave a giggle and talked to her until they had made it out of the school.
"So what are you a witch? You just cast your stupid spell and suddenly you have Joke Bryce and Malcolm all hanging out with you?" she scoffed and two other girls flanked her. She blushed and took a picked up her walking pace. "Why don't you just go die? No one wants you here!" she shoved her and Paige fell to the ground, some books going out of her bag. No way. She sighed and stood up picking up her books carefully and putting them back in her bag. "You know they only pity you!" Sarah said and Paige glared at her before taking a fighting stance. Sarah laughed.
"1 against 3? Yeah right! You'll turn and run the moment we try anything. You're a pathetic girl." she sneered. "You'll never accomplish anything." Paige dropped like a rock and used the momentum to swing her leg around and knock Sarah's legs out from under her. The girl let out a screech and fell flat on her back. Paige shot the other two glares before turning on her heels and starting to walk down the street towards her house.
She didn't need anymore crap today.

Bryce felt around in his bag for a moment, trying to make sure certain things hadn't been broken when he fell against the locker. After realizing they were fine, he offered everyone one of his relaxed, chill smiles. As Paige dismissed herself and reassured them that she wasn't going to be mugged, he sighed and shook his head, having half a mind to follow her. However, never having lost that tranquil look on his face, he waved by and called after her a brief 'Catch ya laters!'

"Hey," he started, one of his hands slipping into his pockets as she shifted his weight from one foot to he other. "I'm gonna head out to. I got a laptop to build sitting around at my place, not to mention lots of... you know." he chuckled, making a smoking gesture. "Take it easy, guys." he said, walking down the hall and waving over his shoulder. He was quick to leave the school, wanting to get home and finish up his built-from-scratch laptop. He could imagine it now, every detail. The phantom feeling of wires and circuit boards against his fingertips, the scent of oil and metal mixed with the odor of the pot lying about his room. He'd connect the wires to the main board before attaching the socket to the battery. He felt a high just thinking about it.

"Hey," Blinking, Bryce turned. "You gonna stand there all day and stare or what?" There saw Spencer. Right - He was gonna meet him halfway. "You thinkin' 'bout girls or something? You had that kind of pervy look to ya." Spencer chuckled, throwing his arm around Bryce's shoulders. The genius laughed and shook his head.

"Nope," he replied, catching the scent of some Razzle Dazzle on Spencer's jacket. He and Spencer were both pretty intense and hit the the weed hard, and most people knew it. The teacher didn't do much about it, both keeping up with their studies - Bryce obviously doing more than expected of any student. Secretly, some believed it helped even, even if it made little to no sense - But it could be possible, seeing as no one remembered what sober Bryce was like after so many years. Spencer punched Bryce in the shoulder, making the genius grin.

"You don't mean your electrical genius making shit stuff, do ya?" Spencer gaped, seemingly incredulous. Bryce shrugged, nodding a bit. "Shit dude, you know this is why you never meet chicks."

"I don't really chill with lotsa girls. If you haven't noticed, i'm the stoner kid at school now. Besides, i'd scan my papers and upload them to facebook if i wanted people to copy off me, man." Spencer rolled his eyes at Bryce. Bryce knew that Spencer simply assumed he hated people copying his work and just didn't seem interested in other people, but it was almost the opposite. Bryce didn't like being used, not a bit. He perhaps would on occasion, but didn't enjoy it. As for not being interested in other people, working with machinery usually kept his mind off of how lonesome he was half the time. "Welp, there it is."

Bryce looked up, noting that the Satellite dish was misangled and clearly not functioning, part of an exposed wire popping out of the dish itself. "Dude, how'd ya manage that?" Bryce laughed, almost as if he found it more interesting and amusing than irritating.

"Dude, i was way up there after some R'n'D, i don't even know."

"That's crazy, man." Bryce chuckled softly, raising his hand to high five Spencer. "I just hope you didn't cash it all, Spence."

Claire finally descided that she had nothing better to do to actually get home. She couldn't sit in her car forever and wait for something to happen. Well ofcourse she knew something was going to happen but she didn't know what and it almost drove her crazy. She let out a deep sigh, turned the key and started to drive home. It didn't take long before she parked infront of the garage at her house. She turned her love of her live off and felt a bit sad at the quiet surrounding but got out from her car. She was just about to take up her keys to unlock the door when this major headache hit her. It came with such a sudden force that it made her press her hands to her head and knee down infront of her door. It felt that someone was screeching or hit her several time over and over again at her head, her nose started to bleed. She shut her eyes and tried to breath slower but it hurt to much, she thought she was going to pass out or something. Right infront of her door when suddenly she heard something above the screeching or whatever it was.
"My children, all of my lovely and miserable children. To night, exactly this night at midnight. I am going to arrive at this world. So prepare for my arrival, for your Queens arrival! Do not let me down, because it is thanks to me you all exist peacefully in this world." Claire couldn't set a finger on how the voice sounded like. It was too much. She felt all of her blood leave her head and the dizzyness came closer. She manage toforce herself to stand up, open the door and get in before everything went black and she fainted in the hallway. The sound had left as soon as the Queen stopped talking. Everything was spinning around and around. So the Shadow Queen is coming here? No wonder she had felt all wierd these days. The Shadow Queen was coming and she knew it wasn't anything good that would happen..

Joke smiled at the rest of the others before stepping out. He sneaked his way past the students in the courtyard before coming to a spot he was all too familiar with. His favourite place to be honest. The shortcut to his house, filled with all shorts of obstacles, ranging from trash cans, waste containers, fallen trees and branches, abandoned bicycles, fences, etc. He grinned to himself and looked around to see if anyone was around. When he was absolutely positive that no one would see him... he ran straight toward the obstacles, undoing his school uniform to allow him freedom of movement. And he leaped across the first waste container he came across, clearing the entire length of the large,green metal container.

Joke gave himself a small laugh as he did a small wall flip and landed on top of a trash can with good balance before jumping down and running again. If the other students saw him doing this, his entire 'Vice-President' image would diminished and he would be considered an actual fun-loving person, which he actually was. But images had to be kept up sometimes. He continued to clear the obstacles with amazing ease, with the final one being a fence. He kicked off from one wall to the other wall, kicking off one final time to clear the tall fence and broke into a roll as he landed on his feet. He stood up quickly and brushed himself down.

"Hoo! Good work out. " he breathed out, wiping sweat from his forehead before walking down the street to his house, the sun beginning to set.

"Home!! "

"Welcome home dear! Dinner will be ready soon. " his mother called out. Joke gave his father's newspapers a small tap and laughed when his father's head popped up from the papers, as it usually did.

"Hey! Nice to have you back with us Joke! " his father greeted.

"It's good to be back Daddy~ I'll be up doing some homework, then I'll be up even more. It that okay? " he motioned by pointing his finger upwards.

"Oh? On the roof? "

"Yea, can I? "

"AH, right! The meteor showers yes? Just make sure a rock doesn't end up smacking your handsome face son. "

Joke laughed and nodded, jogging upstairs and into his room. Homework was done swiftly and he took a shower before picking up his dinner from his mum and excused himself to the roof. He chewed on a piece of steak, mushroom sauce dripping down the side of his mouth as he stared up at the night sky. And the first meteor fell. But it was super puny... Joke finished his dinner and stood quickly, patting his stomach.

"Think I can make it on a full stomach...?...Yea. " he said to no one in particular and leaped onto the roof of the other building. And he kept on going, scaling higher and higher until he made it to the tallest building he could find. By then a couple of other meteors had fell. He sat down staring at the sky and closed his eyes, memories of his deceased baby sister flashing through his eyes. He opened them again, greeted by the sight of meteors hailing down from the sky in multitudes in a beautiful display.

"It's beautiful...wish you could see this Sees..." he mumbled, his eyes glassy as the meteor shower appeared to reflect off from them.

Paige arrived home shortly after her 'encounter'. Their house was a two story blue brick house. It had a large window out front which you could see the family room. The doors were french and she pulled out her key
"Sissy!" Called her youngest brother and she grinned.
"Zeke! Have you been good?"
"Look Sissy I can draw too!" he beamed holding up a picture of a girl with white hair and a boy with black hair holding hands. "That's you and that's me!" He grinned and she laughed.
"Big deal!" Came a sarcastic call from the living room. "Drawing isn't a real talent. Besides, what good is it if you never show anyone?!" Sneered her brother and she rolled her eyes.
"Don't listen to Derek. He's just jealous because all he can do is play football, which isn't a REAL sport." she shot back and Zeke stuck his tongue out at another black haired boy who entered. Zeke had Green eyes like Paige but had inherited their mother's black hair. When their father had died he had taken his white hair jeans with him, constantly reminding their mother of Ryan, their father. Once she remarried to Ted Derek became surly and didn't talk much while Zeke became attached to Paige. She smiled at them
"I'm going to set up my easel for the meteor shower tonight. Mind not telling the Rents about it!" She called to Derek who just waved.

She lead Zeke to her room. Outside her window was the overhanging roof of the house, it faced the opposite side of the house so her mom and Ted wouldn't be able to criticize. Zeke sat on her windowsill while she set up her painting supplies comfortably on the roof.
"Why can't I stay up to watch the meteor shower?" he whinned and she gave him a pitiful smile.
"I'm sorry but you just can't. I'll paint you a picture though." she promised and he sighed.
"Fine. Ah! I think I hear mommy!" he smiled and exited. Paige sighed and climbed back through her window. Time to pretend.

Hours later, after her mother and Ted left for their date again and Paige made herself and the boys spaghetti for dinner, Paige finally finished her homework with a sigh. She stretched at her desk and got up going over to her window, she was just in time to see the remains of the sun leave the sky and the first meteor fall. Smiling to herself she crawled through the window again and closed her eyes picturing how she would draw the painting before opening her eyes again. Sparkles and glints flashed through the sky and she grinned. She set herself to painting. I wish . . . She thought as she drew. I wish . . . The phone began to ring and she closed her eyes. It would undoubtably be her step father scolding her to do more chores. She closed her eyes, echoes of laughter rang through her ears and all the names she had been called shot through her mind. I wish I wasn't so helpless. she thought bitterly and she opened her eyes to see something flash brightly.
"That was a big one!" she said outloud getting up and all the blood rushed from her head. Her stomach twisted in her gut and she covered her mouth as a dry heave came to her throat. "No." she thought horribly and crawled back through the window. "No. I can't get sick." she thought and nearly threw up again. She closed her eyes. Pain shot through her stomach and her head. It felt like she was not only being torn apart but also dipped in acid. Ringing came to her ears and she heard something whisper through her mind. She clutched her head in horror.
MAKE IT STOP!

Bryce and Spencer continued their walk home. It was somewhat funny really, whenever Spencer wasn't around, he was finishing his last year for his Computer science degree, and they had originally decided to room together so they could learn from one another. Now, the funny part was that the college student was getting tutored by Bryce, the high school kid. Rarely did Spencer ever teach anything new to Bryce, but it didn't stop them from laughing and having fun with one another like they were just ordinary people. Bryce would joke, Spencer would joke, then they'd laugh - Pretty normal for a college student and a genius.

As Bryce and Spencer approached their apartment (which was actually a Duplex, but because they shared the duplex, they called it an apartment), he glanced back up at the satellite dish again.

"Dude, why don't we just get cable. Satellite sucks." he muttered, Spencer's only response to Bryce's question being to shrug and keep walking. They passed the cars in the driveway (Hyundai Sonata which was Bryce's, and an Oldsmobile Alero which was Spencer's) and made their way to the door. Spencer reached about in his pockets for a moment until his fingers traced the familiar shape of the house keys.

"Open sesame!" Spencer laughed as he pushed the door open. Bryce laughed and playfully shoved Spencer, although the college student stumbled into the wall. "What, you know i'm fuckin' hilarious." Spencer added as he followed Bryce inside. As always, the house smelled faintly like weed and strongly like lemons and/or limes. They were both responsible for the strangely pleasant smell in the house, the weed was just there, and Bryce greatly enjoyed eating lemons and limes. There was a barking and Bryce chuckled, kneeling down as a small border collie puppy dashed at him from where it had been hiding behind the sofa. Picking up the small pup, he made his way upstairs to his room.

Closing the door, he set the puppy on the floor. After all, he knew Fluffy Destroyer of Worlds wouldn't break anything in the room, ironically. Setting his backpack on the floor, he looked around the room. The room was a disaster. His bed was a mattress set on the floor in the corner of the room, he had two chests of drawers, on against the wall at the foot of his bed and the other next to the computer desk, which was covered in wires and circuit boards. Random books about technology and advanced mathematics and sciences lay all around the floor of his room between the various pieces of notebook paper with hand drawn equations and diagrams that littered the floor until you couldn't see what color the carpet was (It was a light gray if anyone cared to know, though). Looking over to above his bed, where a small alcove was, he made his way over and stepped up, opening the window and looking outside.

Oh yeah, that meteor shower was supposed to be tonight! Wasn't it supposed to come soon, too? Well, he might as well fix the satellite with a view! Taking a quick detour to the drawers next to the computer desk, he fished out a small box of tools before pulling himself out of the window and going out on the roof. As he made his way to the satellite, he could see the shower starting. With a small smile, he began working. He began to open the dish up and mess with the writing, able to see the reflection of the flashes in the sky in the wires.

Just a moment later, he glanced up and as particularly bright flash caught his eye. Suddenly, Bryce blinked. The flash kept catching his eye... but there wasn't any flashing anymore in the sky! At least, not like the big one! He stared at nothing, realizing the glow in his vision began to grow larger and brighter. Starting to become worried, he looked back at the dish, eyes wide. Yet there is remained. Then, a blast a blinding light whited out every bit of his vision. With a gasp, he reached up to his eyes and tried to rub it out, but realizing that all that happened was that a terrible pain began to throb inside his skull. He pressed his hands over his ears and pressed hard, eyes wide and his green eyes glowing a very subtle emerald color as he cringed.

Suddenly, more flashes. There was the school, there was the lake just outside town, there was his broken metal sculpture peeking out of the pocket of his bag, a flash of Paige writhing in what seemed to be pain, then Virgel gazing up at the sky - Flash after flash after flash, picture after picture, image after image. Abruptly, he stood and let out cry of surprised, panic, and a bit of pain. What the hell was happening!? He struggled to keep his balance on the roof as he made random, flailing movements in attempt to find something to relieve the agony and terror running through him. Oh god, he hoped it wasn't that crazy genius syndrome he'd head about! Someone becomes a genius abruptly and then suddenly they die just as randomly - Oh dear lord! With another thrash, he fell back onto the roof, barely managing to not roll down, but having to remain careful.

What was happening to him!?

Claire woke up with a flinch and blinked a few times before sitting up. She groaned and held her hand to her head, it felt like she had been run over by a train or something, it hurt like freaking hell. She took a few breathes to remember where she was. She looked around and saw that she was at home, in her bed. When did she go to her bed? She slowly got of the bed, waiting for her mind to be less dizzy before taking another step toward her door. The whole room felt like it would fall apart at the same time it was spinning around. She placed her hand on her door, taking a few breathes. Trying to focus better but it wasn't so easy. She knew that she had to hurry, to go to the woods and wait for the call of her.. No not her Queen. The Shadow Queen will never be her queen. She bit her lip hard and opened the door.

"Honey? What are you doing up, are you okey?" Claire could hear her dad say behind all the annoying roaring in her ears. The headache she had felt before slowly made it's way and it felt like her stomache twisted. She feared that she would throw up but manage to calm her stomache down with a few breaths.
"I'm okey dad, just been a tough day at school. I haven't felt so good in a few days.." She admits and looks at her dad who stood infront of her now.
"You look all pale, honey.. You should go back to your bed." He said with a worried voice and it actually made her smile. He still cared, he still did.
"I know.. I need to get some air. I'll go for a walk. My phones with me." She said as she walked to the hall, taking her jacket and took on her shoes. Her dad watched her with still worried eyes.
"Are you sure? I mean.. I found you unconscious, on the floor. When I had to walk home." He said to make a point for her not to go out. But he sighed when she gave him a look that told him that she needed to be alone for a bit and he gave up. "If you don't answer when I call, I'm going to ground you or something. You can't worry me like that." He said as she closed the door.

Claire took a deep breath of the a bit cold air and felt the headache ease. The roaring in her ears where still there but she didn't feel as sick as she did before. Her steps hurried, no she ran towards the woods where she knew the Shadow Queen would arrive. She ahd no idea what to do, she always were silent about herself. What she was, no one knew about her. Ofcourse she knew what she was, very well. She had used her.. Magics against people before and to help her in diffrent ways but not lately since she knew very well that it's wrong. She ran along a street, just thinking about being there in time. But she would come late, the meteor shower have already started. She looked up at the sky with a bit of fear. Oh she didn't want to be here, she didn't want to be what she is because of this. The roaring started to get higher as closer she got to the forest.

She stumbled on a stick or a rock, she couldn't tell but recovered her balance when she grabbed a tree and fell to her knees. She was here but the roaring became worse and worse, she held her hands over her ears hoping it would get better but it didn't. This was it, this could mean the end. Her blood screamed, she could feel her magic tear apart. It felt horrible, she was terrified by everything right now. She have no idea how the next days will be, or the weeks. Or the coming years. Everything could change, she never thought that the Shadow Queen would come back to earth. But she was clearly wrong.

Paige came in and out of consciousness. Images flashed through her mind as she lay where ever she was, panting. It hurts . . . she thought and tried to pry her eyes open. Her brother Derek stood over the bed looking annoyed while she could hear Zeke's worried voice.
"Is sissy okay?" Zeke asked.
"She's just faking." came a deep voice. Ted. Her mind retched to slap him but someone else did. She could hear it.
"She has a fever of 105*F, she's been puking up anything we give her and she can't even move! How dare you accuse my DAUGHTER of faking!" screeched a womans voice. Mom? Paige thought trying to sit up.
"Mommy?" she called as she got an image of Virgel Bryce and Malcolm. She let out a cry and fell back on the bed starting to cry. I don't want to be sick. She thought refusing to move.
"I'm here, Paige. I'm here. Mommy's here." she assured Paige. The white haired girl felt something freezing grab her hand as she gasped.
"Cold . . ." she rasped and her mother kissed her hand. Everyone is so cold. She thought and could feel her heart suddenly match pace. She whimpered in pain as more images flashed through her head. My picture . . . she thought trying to reach for the window. I need to finish my picture. She closed her eyes. I need to finish my picture for Zeke. More images and she slipped back into unconscious.

* * *

She wasn't sure what day it was when she woke up again. Slowly opening her eyes Paige blinked at her surroundings and looked around. Zeke had somehow gotten her easel inside again and her throat was nearly wasted away.
"hello?" she called, her voice so raspy it was nearly inaudible. "Anyone?" She looked around to see a card.
Get Better Sissy! said the scribbles. Some of the letters were comically backwards and she smiled. Even when Derek was being sweet he tried to hide it. Below was a picture of Zeke Derek and herself, all eating what seemed to be spaghetti. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and grabbed her phone. It was tuesday. She had been sick for 4 days. She rubbed her throat and pushed herself off the bed, trying desperately to find some sort of water. She trudged down the hall, stumbling carelessly and knocking a picture off the wall.
"Crap!" she shouted but to her surprise she naturally caught it like nothing. She frowned at the picture before putting it back on the wall. "That was weird." she murmured and continued down the stairs. She glanced back at the picture, making sure she had really caught it, but while she was she tripped on her own feet. "No!" she shouted but as she fell forward her feet kicked her farther out and she twisted through the air landing quietly on her feet. She sat down panting as her heartbeat sped up.
"What's going on?"

About an hour after she could force herself to stand up, eat, drink and go to the bathroom Paige sat down at her desk glancing at the clock. About 4 hours until anyone got home. She sighed and started to draw. I have to draw that ipod for Sarah. She thought bitterly then smirked. It wouldn't have Sarah's songs but Paige's instead, and it would be a different model, the teacher would then ask her to draw something else when Paige could say no. She didn't need to do what Sarah asked her . . . She slumped back in her seat, heaving a sigh.
"Who am I kidding?" she mumbled and started to draw. In the end Paige drew both. On the page were 2 ipods. One to give Paige the satisfaction of going against Sarah and the other for Sarah's homework.
She touched the picture of her ipod circling her finger where you would usually to scroll and there was a clicking sound. She froze looking at her finger. The songs she originally drew on the ipod were replaced by other songs she loved more. Her eyes widened and she reached her hand forward more. There was a strange sensation as her arm went inside the picture and she pulled out the ipod. It was green, like her eyes, and the headphones were dragon design buds. She turned the ipod over and ran her hand over it. Her eyes widened. "What the hell?"
"PAIGE?!?!?" Boomed a voice from downstairs and she dropped the ipod and it vanished back inside the paper. She was left feeling weak and like she was going to be sick again.

Bryce gasped in his breaths as the pain in his head intensified, feeling like his brain was swelling and pressing hard against the insides of his skull, threatening to burst out at any moment. He gasped for air as he felt the headsplitting pain get even worse, which he hadn't even thought was possible. His emerald green eyes opened wide and flashed again more, glowing brightly as more and more images came to him. He could hear people's thoughts, and he rolled on the roof, barely managing to now toss himself right off. In his thrashing, he kicked the toolbox, sending it flying off of the roof and towards the driveway. Bryce couldn't let but let out a loud, agonized cry of pain, and if he had been looking, he would have seen the toolbox stop in mid air before being thrown with quite a bit of force against the ground - straight down.

'Bry!?'

He could hear someone yell and try to open his window, but as if did when you tried to force it open too fast - It jammed. His name was yelled again, and there was a flash of Spencer's face. The prodigy let out another bloodcurdling cry of pain before thrashing again as his entire body throbbed painfully. This time, however, he was not so lucky in his flailings. Suddenly, there was a feeling of falling and someone screaming his name again before there was the sound of shattering glass and hollow metal, accompanied by a crushing impact. Bryce could see the world slowly slow down and he was looking up towards the rooftop where Spencer was looking down at him in horror. Slowly, the pain subsided as Bryce's eyes slowly closed and he just lost consciousness right there.



Slowly, Bryce opened his eyes, eyelids heavy. His emerald eyes were dulled with sleep and confusion. Slowly, he could make out the shape of Spencer. Was Spence talking to him? Yeah, he was. Why couldn't he hear him though? Bryce continued to give his friend a look of confusion until his hearing started to gradually return to him.

"Spence? What? Where did-?" Bryce cut himself off as he felt a small throb of pain go through him. Slowly, he turned his head side to side. Well, he was in his room. That meant he wasn't too messed up then, right? What had happened? He remembered... going up to fix the dish, then his head started to- He fell off the roof! As he made a move to jolt up, he became dizzy and nausea overtook him. He retched once and lay back down.

"Dude, chill! You're alright. You're kinda bruised up, and ya sprained your wrist pretty bad from the fall - but you're good other than that. You're like, burning up, man. Look, i'm gonna get you some pills, okay?" With that, Spencer excused himself and left Bryce alone in the room. With a heavy sigh, Bryce turned his head to the left side and raised his arm. It was in a splint, great. As he tried to bend his wrist up against the wrappings, he gasped as pain shot up his arm. Great, now how was he gonna finish up his computer? He just... needed something to smoke.

Looking around the room, he spied his favorite pipe - All loaded up and ready to go next to a lighter. It was almost convenient, if it wasn't for the fact that it was practically torture due to one certain reason. Whatever divine power saw it fit to offer him a chance to smoke, also saw it fit to put it on the top shelf of his bookcase - Across the room. With a heavy groan, Bryce reached out, as if he believed the force was going to bring it to him. After several minutes of wishful thinking, he just groaned and closed his eyes. Being forced to be sober after so long was weird for him, everything was just too real.

After a moment, he let out a growl of frustration. After several moments of stewing his frustration, he snarled. "Dammit!" he swore, and suddenly something hit him in the stomach and something else hit the wall with a dull sound, a combination between a 'crack!' and a 'thud!'. After recovering from the shock and pain, he looked down and realized his pipe was resting in the folds of the blanket covering his stomach and his lighter was on the edge of the bed that was pressed against the wall. Then, there was a flash of Paige, looking down at some paper and holding an iPod, which went as quickly as it came.

As Spencer entered, he was nonethewiser, but Bryce's eyes were wide. What had just happened? After several moments of ignoring Spencer, he just took this as some kind of merciful, divine act - despite him being far from religious. Right now, he was just too out of it to be upset about not understanding something, not caring in the slightest.

Sarah groaned and rolled out of bed, reaching for a banana as she did so. The banana, once in her hand, twisted itself and grew into a crutch for her to lean on, and she got up, making sure not to put weight on the prosthetic foot she had, or else it would hurt a lot. As she went outside, she grabbed a second banana, and the two bananas she now had changed into an exoskeleton from the legs down for her to walk on. She then made her way through the woods, constantly alert for any who might attack her.

((Thundergod . . . might want to make your posts a little bit longer than that.))

Paige didn't mention what had happened to her when she got sick. She noticed her mother was being kinder and didn't go out that saturday.
"I think I'll be good enough to go to school." Paige said finally. She wanted to meet with the guys again and tell them about what happened. "I feel much better." she said and her mother checked her forehead.
"Well, I suppose. But I don't want you staying out to long." her mother insisted. "There have been people cursed by the meteor shower!" Paige froze at these words and looked at her mom.
"Wh-what happened?"
"Well, Jim Randolph went into his son, Erick's, room and found Erick had been possessed by a demon and could change form! Other parents found out THEIR children could do the same things and . . ." she stopped then sighed. "I don't quite approve of their methods but . . . Jim shot his own son." Paige gaped at her mother.
"Shot him?"
"He's leading a band of watchers to go hunt down the rest, some have hidden in the forest." She exclaimed, "But I'm glad all the cursed are gone, I couldn't stand to have one around. It gives me the shivers!" She shuddered for effect and Paige stared blankly at her mother. "Ted said he wanted to protect us from them and he's off during the night watch." Paige felt her stomach drop and winced.
"W-well . . . Nothing weird has happened to me so I'm fine." she muttered and her mother smiled.
"I know sweety. No one in THIS house is going to be Star cursed." she opened the fridge and sighed. "I've got to go to the store, be sure to rest and I'll let you go back to school on monday." she nodded curtly and opened to the door enough for Paige to see a boy who used to bully her. He lay on the ground with a look of terror on his face. She stepped closer but her mom closed the door behind her. There was no shot, no scream, but that image was seared into her brain. She ran upstairs and drew the scene on a sheet of paper. Suddenly, like a movie, the picture moved. She could see him, shaking a little, the people pointed their guns at him. He said something and the leader said something back. He started shaking his head again then started to beg. The crowd seemed suspicious but nodded and he stood. Someone punched him in the gut. The boy doubled over but did nothing. Everyone nodded then started to disperse. The boy was crying now. He wept and rubbed his eyes. Paige felt a little sorry for him, she pressed her face to the paper and suddenly was over the scene. She could see and hear everything. A girl approached the boy.
"Are you alright?" She asked but he shook her off.
"It's your fault they think I'm a starcursed." he choked and turned to storm away. She sighed and sat on the curb, her hair was golden and her eyes blue.
"I just wanted you to love me." she muttered and started to cry herself. Paige frowned and pulled her head out of the picture. Everything about this made her feel uneasy. She had to talk to someone she could trust. But she couldn't even trust her family. Who was left? She closed her eyes and an image of the guys flashed into her head. She gaped and pulled out a phone. Maybe Bryce would know what to do. She flipped through her directory and found his number at last. Bryce Riggs. She dialed and pressed talk.
"Please pick up." she whispered and after afew rings it did.
"Yellow!" said the unfamiliar voice and she froze. "Hello?" It asked again.
"Um . . . hi." she whispered, "Can you put Bryce on the phone? I need to talk to him." she said very urgently. The guy chuckled, as though she had said something funny.
"Lady, if he got you prego-"
"NO!" she shouted. there was silence. "Tell him It's Paige and it's absolutely crucial I talk to him!" she said forcefully and the guy sighed.
"Fine. But if he doesn't want to talk I'm hanging up." he went away and she waited in fear. What if he didn't want to talk? Do I call the others? What do I do? she awaited, paranoid and afraid and worst of all, alone.