Chapter 1

Once upon a time, there lived a barbarian called Dave. Dave was a very playful, naughty, stinky, ugly, rude and barbaric barbarian. Well, he's a barbarian, of cause he's barbaric.

One day, instead of staying home to do his homework as told by his mum, Dave left the cave and wandered around the jungle instead. While Dave was busy stuffing his mouth with poisonous berries, a Tyrannosaurus Rex happened to pass by. Dave the air-head picked up a rock and aimed it at the Rex's head. Dino's eye. The rock hit the Rex right at the head in between the eyes. Of course, the dinosaur got very angry and started chasing Dave around the jungle. Dave ran on his feet and proceeded to swing from branch to branch on the trees like his super cute cousin brother, Tarzan. Though, Tarzan did a better job at this. Dave had no skills at all. Instead of surfing on the branches and swinging through the air with the vines, Dave bumped his way around the trees and got tangled in the vines 8 out of 10 times.

The humonguous, ferocious and hungry Rex was catching up with Dave. Suddenly, 'plop', Dave missed a branch and fell into the quick sand. As he felt himself being pulled deeper and deeper into the sand, Dave closed his eyes and thought about his life. How he chased after crocodiles, how he climbed the Apatosaurus (also known as the long-neck dinosaur), how he hunted for bones to use as accessories. How he spent most of his time eating slugs and doing nothing. Dave thought he was gonna die. He waited, and waited, and waited. After what seemed like an hour to him (it was only 7 seconds), Dave opened his eyes. The first thing he saw right on top of his head was a big, fat dinosaur butt. 'Wham!' The Rex sat right on his head. Ah, sweet revenge. This is what you get for making a dinosaur angry.

Dave sank deeper and deeper into the sand. There was no end to it. It was a bottomless pit. Dave could not hold his breath any longer. His lungs were burning. His chest felt like it was going to explode any second. Just as he was going to give up and let go his last breath of precious oxygen, 'BEEEEEEEEEPP! TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!! BEEEEEEEEE..!!' Dave was terrified. He was wondering what animal could produce such an ear splitting sound. What was that? Is it a monkey? Was Mojo Jojo trying to attack him? Or was it the evil ninja monkeys? Or were the dinosaurs planning a war against mankind? Or maybe Chicken Little brought the aliens back to Earth to steal all his poisonous berries? Dave didn't know the answer. He had no idea at all. Dave climber out of the stinking man-hole onto the bustling streets of New York.

Chapter 2

Good News

"Omigosh! You can't be serious!" Carrie screamed. Loud enough for all the students down the hall to hear. Loud enough that some of them were staring ar us. "Sheesh Carrie. Calm down! You're gonna get us sent to the nut house if you keep screaming like that!" I hated it when everyone stares at my direction. Doesn't matter if they're staring at me or not. If I'm anywhere near that place, they should find another spot to lay their attentions on.


"Okay, okay. I'll pipe down a lil'. But, are you serious? We're going on a vacation together? Down by the beach? In a resort? With no adults? Together? For free?"


"Yes." I could see that she was going to let her imaginations run wild again. I've only known her since forever. Carrie is the type of person that gets really excited easily. It's probably a good thing, especially if you had to get a whole group of people to respond to your crap. I remembered there were a few times when I tried to stuff the right amount of enthusiasm into everyone's head. Unfortunately, people these days are just too hard to please. All I got in response was the 'stare'. Carrie was the only one who hooted and jumped around. I'm not sure if she was doing it just to save me from the humiliation of being ignored infront of almost the whole student body or because she really thought that my crap was going to work out and be fun. But, it could be a bad thing too. Imagine someone next to you jumping up and down for nothing. Okay, maybe it's not for nothing, almost nothing would sound better. All the stares you get from people you know and you don't know. Imagine the lines running through their head, the mental notes made. Do not get too close with these creeps. I could just hear it screaming inside those heads when I pass by. But still, Carrie's the best of friends you can find.


"Bree, this is so awesome! I can't wait to tell my Mom. She'll definitely say yes. Oh, this is gonna be great! I can imagine it already." Bingo. Carrie was already staring into space, imaginations running wild. She's a wonderful friend. But, sometimes, you have to stop her from becoming too imaginative. Usually, I have to do that job.


"Carrie, snap out of it. We're gonna be late for class. Josh, are you there?"


No response. I really wonder what's up with Josh these few days. Sometimes he's so alert, and sometimes, he's so zombie-like. I was still trying to wake him up when suddenly, BAM. He hit his face at an open locker door. Everyone down the hallway were laughing. I would have laughed too if I hadn't known him. But, he was my friend. Swallowing back our laughters, Carrie and I helped him up and stand on his feet before we moved on.


"Sheesh Josh. What's up with you these days? You look like you've been abducted by aliens and lost all your...Josh? Hello? Can you hear me?" Alright, this is really starting to annoy me. I may not like attention much, but I definitely do not like being ignored by my best friend.


"Maybe he really was abducted by aliens from Mars!" snickered Carrie. Carrie's trying to make it seem like she's joking around, but behind those eyes, she's really worried. I mean, who doesn't? Your best friend who is usually a chatterbox is acting weird lately. Wouldn't you feel worried?


Josh was totally blank. Nothing at all. No response. No nothing. Just blank. It was as if we didn't existed. Like he was the only person in the hall. "Hellooo? Earth to Josh." I cupped my hand to make it look like I'm speaking through a walkie-talkie. Still no response. Irritated, I looked around, searching for whatever he was so focused on. That's when I saw it. Finally. A rational answer to his weird behaviour. A girl. Georgina Raveolli. The new transfer student from Atlanta. I don't really know her yet, but they say she's really smart. A genius. Beautiful, attractive, tall, slim and a genius. No wonder Josh's been a zombie. He's been hypnotized. I made a mental note to myself. Get to know her. We have a few classes together, maybe I should get to know her more. Maybe Josh would finally be human again instead of zombie. That is, if I had enough details to wake him up. Carrie understood immediately when she met my gaze. This is an emergency. It's time to de-zombie-fy Josh!


"Josh, if you don't snap out of it now, we're gonna tell her." Carrie said in a threatening voice. That did the trick. Josh was finally awake. Fi-nal-ly.


"Hey there, we thought we lost you for a while. When did this start?"


"Start? When did what start?"


"Oh, you know what we're talking about."


"As a matter of fact, I don't"


"Yes you do. Better spill it before Bree goes over there." Carrie's head was pointed at Georgina's direction. She's such a good actress. Maybe she should audition for the next school play. But, no matter how good her acting is, I'll always know if it's realy or not. Apparently, I have telepathic senses.


"Seriously, guys, I mean girls, I don't know what you're talking about at all!"


"Oh really? Carrie, why don't we invite Georgina to sit with us during lunch today? I'm sure Josh is fine with it. Right, Josh?" I could feel the smugness on my face. This may sound cruel, but I'm actually enjoying doing this. Really. We should do this more often. Josh is such an easy target. All you need is just a little threat and you'll get the info you need. Just a little more, and he'll spill the beans.

"Sure, no prob. I'll ask her later after class. Bye guys, gotta run. Seeya at lunch!" With that, Carrie ran down the hall, laughing.


"Carrie, wait! I.."


"What's wrong Josh? Can't wait to see Georgina?"


"Bree, I.."


"Don't worry, we'll make sure everything goes well. That's the only way to keep you alive."


Uhm, thanks. How'd you know?" See? I told you so. He always tell after a little threat.


"How'd I know what?"


"That I uhm, I, er, er, have a crush on Georgina?" Bingo. Again. My telepathic senses are working better than I thought they would. Which is great. I felt like laughing, but it would be really rude, and that would only hurt his feelings. But, seeing Josh stutter the words out was really funny. Too bad Carrie's not here. She would have enjoyed it. "Oh, I just know. Girl instincts. Besides, you've been my best friend ever since goodness knows when. Of course I know what you're thinking."


"Thanks Bree. But, can you do me a favour?" A favour? If it doesn't involve assassinating anyone or doing things I don't like, sure.


"Sure. What is it?"


"Don't tell Georgina that.."


"Oh, don't worry about it. We're not telling her anything. Yet. Relax. She won't be here during lunch. We'll find another time for you."


"Thanks. You can't imagine h-..wait, hang on a sec. Georgina's not gonna have lunch with us? Why?"

Boys. When will they ever learn? That move will only frighten her, which will probably end with bad results. Really. Guys should really learn more about girls before doing anything they might regret. "Because we barely know her yet. And, it would frighten her if we suddenly drag her to our lunch table and try pairing the both of you together."

"You told Carrie to invite her to sit with us for lunch. Not drag her over to our table." Sheesh, he sounds so sad. Maybe, if I said hello to her in class..Ugh. Cut it. No way. Too soon.

"Invite or drag, it's still gonna be the same. So stop complaining. We'll ask her when it's the right time. C'mon, we're gonna be late." Hmm, scratch that. We're ALREADY late. Mr. Barks should be in class by now. I wonder if there's a way we could sneak into class without being noticed. It's only the beginning of the day, and starting it with some lecturing from Barky is not what I intended to do.

"Okay then. But you promise that you'll ask her tho?" Josh sighed.

"Yes. I promise. Now let's go, Mr. Barks is so gonna bark our heads off this time!" And we started running all the way back to class.

Chapter 1

A Letter

“Bree! There’s a letter for you!” I skipped down the stairs happily to the living room to get my mail. “Thanks Mom!” I couldn’t wait to open the letter. It’s been a long time since I received mails from the mail box. In this modern century, almost everybody uses e-mails and IMs to communicate. So it’s quite rare if you receive a snail mail from a friend or family. I ripped the envelope open and read the letter.

Dear Bree,

Hey, how’re you doing so far? Just to let you know, this is gonna be a really really short letter. Guess what? I’m inviting you over to my dad’s resort for a holiday! Remember the beach we used to go to when we were young? There was an empty land for sale, so dad bought it and built his resort there! Isn’t that cool? And, I’m inviting you over for the opening ceremony. It’s during the summer holidays. It’s gonna be a blast! Don’t forget to invite your friends too. Carrie and the cute guy. What’s his name? Josh, is it? Anyway, I can’t wait to see you guys again. Tell Aunt Cecil I said hi, k? Love ya!

Lotsa love with a whole bunch of hugs and kisses,

Liz

I smiled upon reading her letter. Liz is my cousin. Her name’s actually Elizabeth, but we all call her Liz for short. She’s a year younger than me. Liz has two younger brothers, Alvin and Evan. Both of them are ten. They’re adorable yet extremely disgusting twins, especially during meal time. From past experiences, I’ve learnt to keep a three meter distance away from them when they’re eating. Once you see the way they eat, you’ll know why. During my last visit, my favourite blouse was covered with potato gravy. It’s been hanging in my closet since then. My poor blouse. I only got to wear it twice for goodness sake!

Oh, I forgot. Let me introduce myself. My name’s Brianna O’ Conner, but I prefer Bree. Brianna sounds a little too old-fashioned to me. Bree is nice. It’s short, casual, easy to pronounce and a little sophisticated in a way. Anyway, I’m still studying at Pullman High School. My brother’s still sending his applications for college. Yes, I have an older brother. His name is Brad. Most of my friends think that he’s good looking and all, but to me, he’s just plain annoying. When we were younger, we used to fight a lot. Usually, when I’m close to losing the fight, I’ll just scream and cry. Then our parents would come rushing towards me, checking if I was alright. And that means I’ve won the fight. I always feel smug after winning a fight between Brad and me. Of course, Brad would get some scolding from them. But he doesn’t really care that much. Most of the time he’ll just stand there while they lecture him and then walk away when they’re done. Now that we’re older, we don’t really fight that much anymore, though we still argue with each other over little matters. I still win most of the arguments, but I sometimes feel like Brad’s just giving in to me, letting me have my way. Although we both squabble a lot, we still love each other. I guess it’s the blood-tie that keeps us together.

Both of us live with our mother. Her name’s Cecilia, everyone calls her Cecil for short. We don’t see our dad anymore. Not since I was in first grade. He died in a car accident. Some drunken driver was speeding down the road at night and ran over him. It was a hit and run. The driver isn’t caught yet. I still remember how much I fidgeted on the couch while waiting for him to return that night. Mom was pondering around the room and Brad was watching TV. Finally the phone rang, and it was the cops. They were the ones who told us the news. Mom rushed us to the hospital immediately after the call. Of course, we had no idea what was going on. Mom was too distressed to explain. When we reached, they took us to dad. He was lying on the hospital bed; his clothes were stained with blood. We only had a few minutes with him before he drew his last breath. We were crying by his bedside for hours. Even after we went home, it was still hard to accept the fact that dad was gone and never coming back. I used to cry every time I thought of him. That was nine years ago. Now, I’m somehow stronger. I don’t cry that often anymore. It’s not that I don’t miss him; I still miss him a lot. We all do. Once in a while I’d shed a few drops of tears when I think of him. Life goes on no matter what happens. So mom had to take over the responsibility of raising both of us all by herself. Luckily she had both her family and dad’s to support her. It’s not easy raising two little kids alone, especially when they fight a lot. Which is so true in our case.

When I went into the kitchen, Brad was there with his head stuck in the refrigerator. Searching for food, as usual. “Ow! Damn, that hurts.” I was so excited to tell mom about Liz’s letter that I didn’t see where I was going. I accidentally hit the table leg with my big toe. It really hurt a lot. “What’s wrong? Did Lil’ Miss Clumsy hit her toe?” Brad was looking at me with a sarcastic smile plastered on his face. With milk around his mouth, it’s obvious that he’s been drinking cold milk out of the carton again. I frowned at him.

“No. The table came alive and stepped on my toe. What do you think?”

“Oh, how very interesting. I wonder when will your bed come alive and swallow you whole.”

I wanted to snap right back at him. As I opened my mouth, I shut it back. It’s better not to start a fight now. I wouldn’t want mom to be in a bad mood when I tell her about the letter. So, instead of snapping back at him, I stared at his milk moustache and teased him back. “Brad, why do you always have to be so disgusting?” As usual, he looked at me with that innocent face, making me look like the evil villain next to him. “Haven’t you looked into the mirror yet, Santa?” Then he understood. Without answering my question, Brad went to the sink and washed his mouth, and then looked in the mirror. He always repeats the same sentence after styling his hair in the mirror. “Yo Brad, looking good.” Brad always thinks that he looks like Alex Pettyfer because they both have blonde hair and dreamy eyes. But the fact is, Brad is nowhere near to Alex. Sure, he’s slim, tall and has six packs with many girls crazy over him, but Alex is so much hotter than him. And cuter too.

“Where’s mom? I need to ask her something.” He ignored me. I was starting to get impatient. “Hello? Can you stop drooling over yourself in the mirror and tell me where mom is?” He finally turned his head and looked at me. “She’s out in the backyard, Bree-an-na. And, if you’re smart enough, you would take my advice and wait for her in here.” That’s weird.

“Stop calling me that. You know I hate it when you call me with my full name. And why would I wait here for her?”

“Mom’s keeping the laundry. If you go out now, she’ll ask you to mow the lawn.”

I was a little confused. I’ve never mowed the lawn. “Mom has never asked me to mow the lawn.”

Brad sighed loudly and said “Yes, she doesn’t ask you to mow the lawn because she always asks you to ask me to mow it instead. I’ve got a date with Michelle later, and I don’t wanna get all sweaty and smelly. So can you please just wait for her here?”

“Michelle? Who’s she?”

“Oh, nobody. Just my new daughter. What do you think?”

“Okay, now you’re just being sarcastic. What about Rose? I thought you

liked her.”

“We broke up.”

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. We broke up."

“What?! Why? You just started dating her 3 weeks ago!”

“Yeah, but we don’t get along that well. Besides, she bores me to death.”

“Oh, sure. Next thing you know, you’ll think that Michelle is boring enough to be your grandma.” Without waiting for him to answer, I went out to talk to mom. I ran as fast as I could across the yard.

Most people think that running is not a problem for me since I have slim and long legs. But they’re wrong. Unlike athletic Brad, I can’t even run for a hundred meters without stopping to catch my breath. And, most of the time, I trip over my own feet when I run. So, running was never my kind of sport. In fact, if I had a list of my favourite sports, running would be way down at the triple digits. By the time I reached my mom, I looked like I’ve just ran for 10 miles. Mom looked up at her red-faced daughter in surprise. “What’s wrong? From the way you ran, you looked like you were being chased by a ghost.” Ha-ha. Very funny. “No. The letter’s from Liz. She’s inviting me to her dad’s new resort on the beach during the summer hols. Can I go? Please?” I said everything in one breath.

It took mom a while to think my words over. Finally, she looked back at me. “Are you sure it’s safe? I mean, going there alone without Brad and I. It could be dangerous. What if you got lost in the woods or someone caught you?” This was expected. Their kids going somewhere away from home, every mother’s nightmare. “Don’t worry mom, it’ll be fine. Nothing’s gonna happen.” I urged. “Besides, Carrie and Josh will be going too, and Liz will be there, and her family, and…”

“Okay, okay. I get it. Many people are gonna be there.” She looked thoughtful for a while. I put on my most angelic face and looked at her with my puppy-dog eyes. “I’ll have to talk to Celine about th-”

“Yes!” I pumped my fist up in the air. “Thank you mom, I love you!” I started jogging back to the house. “Wait! That’s not a promise! I said I’ll talk to her first.” She called after me.

“Okay mom!”

“Oh, and ask Brad to come out please. The lawn really needs some mowing.”

“Sure. No problem.”

When I opened the back door, Brad was nowhere to be seen. I could hear heavy rock music blasting from his room. I dashed up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, and burst into his room. It took my eyes some time to adjust to the sudden brightness of the room. Brad’s room window was open, and the blinding sun light shined directly at his door.

“Geez, haven’t you ever heard of knocking before you enter someone’s room?”

“It’s not like you’re undressed or something. By the way, mom wants you to mow the lawn. Now.” I pressed my lips together to stop myself from smiling. Brad looked frustrated. He gave me the you-are-so-annoying stare as he slowly got up and reached over the bed for his shirt. “Good luck mowing the lawn. And, have fun on your date with Michelle.” I turned to leave and headed for my room.

I reached for the phone and dialed Carrie’s number. After three rings, someone picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, Carrie! Can you wait for a minute? I’m gonna put Josh on the other line.”

“Sure. I’ll wait.”

It took Josh seven rings before he picked up the phone. From the sleepiness in his voice, I guessed that I must have woke him up from his sleep. Glancing at my clock, I didn’t feel bad. It was almost 12 noon; he should be awake a long time ago. After connecting all three lines together, and making sure that Josh was wide awake, I asked them to wait for a few seconds. I could hear the anxiousness in their voices as they answered me. I was so excited. I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths, calmed myself down, and slowly opened my eyes.

“Guys, we have a holiday planned.”

Preface

Thinking back, everything has changed. Life would never be the same again, ever. After what I've gone through, nothing makes sense anymore.

In this century, curses don't exist. At least that's what everyone thinks. But, they do. Curses do exist. They're just buried somewhere deep within, waiting for the right time to emerge. Waiting for the right generation. The right person.

It was probably the best way to die. Dying for everybody else. For the ones I cherished and loved. Sacrificing myself was the only way. The only way to end the curse.

I fell onto my knees, waiting for the arrival of my death. Somewhere across the room there were flickers of lights. Blinking slits of lights in red. I could feel the cold wind on my face. Death was just a whisper away.

I closed my eyes, and waited.

Intro

Okay. Basically, im trying to write stories in this blog. That's the main point. But, dont look forward to frequent updates, k? Im not a writer. I aint Stephenie Meyer or J. K. Rowlings. Im just a girl named Nicole who just so happened to hit her head real hard and got the crazy idea of writing a story. So, for now, just give me some time. Im still trying to figure out what to write. I know, i know. Why in the world did i start a story blog when i dont have a story yet? Beats me. I dont know why either. But, I still believe that the ideas will come to me sooner or later. Though I dont know when is that. Whatever it is, just wait for a while, k? No promises for frequent updates. Hopefully some ideas would come to me when im dreaming. Or you could give me some ideas too. I'll come up with something, soon. Hopefully. Thanks.

ps: feel free to comment on the stories, k? if there's any mistake, dont be afraid to let me know. I wont eat you up. I have no idea how to create the chat box thingi, so you'll just have to write at the comments section. thx.

Love
-nic-