Part One

Gaily I lived as ease and nature taught,

And spent my little life without a thought,

And am amazed that Death, that tyrant grim,

Should think of me, who never thought of him.

René Francois Regnier

The Voice

There was a loud buzzing sound that seemed to pierce through Reimi’s dream forcing her to open her eyes to the light of another early morning. She could hear her mother’s feet pound up the stairs and make her way to the foot of her room. She banged on the door and yelled through it, though her voice was usually too soft to be heard most times, she made sure that Reimi could hear her clearly in the mornings.

“Reimi! For the thousandth time, get your butt out of bed!” Reimi’s mother was a writer and she was often lost in another world without the necessary care in the world for her own children. Her characters were her children, at least, that was Reimi’s thought. Though, every morning on a school day, Dawn would wake up early and make sure to get the kids off to school in order to have that quiet time for herself to start writing another novel.

Reimi turned over in her bed, her soft down filled covers reluctantly moved away from her small frame, a body that still clung to the last years of her childhood as it began its metamorphosis into her teenage years. She sat up and aimed her hand at the alarm clock still blaring its mind numbing buzzing. Her hand fell hitting the snooze button with a well practiced aim making sure that the blasted alarm would never awaken again, at least until the next school day. She raised from her bed like the living dead, dragging her feet to the door and opened it to the sight of a red-faced and frustrated Dawn.

“I’m up, I’m up!” Reimi yawned and pushed past Dawn toward the bathroom only a few feet away from her room.

“Make sure you’re downstairs in ten minutes, your brother is already ready to go and you’re still in your pajamas’s. Unbelievable!” Dawn rolled her brown eyes and tilted her head off to one side before uncrossing her arms and making her way to the nearby stairs. She left Reimi to her business with a huff of distaste and ventured down the stairs to where Alex was waiting patiently fully clothed in a navy blue uniform.

Just another day at the Keyes residence Reimi thought as she entered the bathroom and began her morning routine by combing her hair, washing her face, and brushing her teeth. Reimi finished her routine with a final look in the mirror before turning around to face the bathroom door but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next. It stunned her, turning her blood to ice with chills running down the back of her spine. Her heart pounded violently against her chest at the horrific sight of a skeletal figure draped in robes of different shades of black and grey. A dark fog seemed to envelope the creature as it raised a bony, ashen colored hand at her and pointed. Unable to muster a scream, Reimi turned away and grasped the bathroom sink before bolting for the door, but it didn’t matter, wherever she turned, whenever she blinked, the figure was within her sight, always. Finally her scream forced its way out of its cage and filled the hallway. Alexander came running up the stairs and found Reimi curled in a corner, sobbing.

“Reimi?” his tender voice made her look up and as soon as she saw him, she ran to him and let her arms wrap around him. He embraced her with scrawny arms and tried his best to sooth her despite his baffling disposition.

Dawn was partially up the stairs when she asked, “What’s going on? Is everything alright?” with a small look of concern mixed with confusion.

“I s-saw-“ Reimi trailed off trying to find a way to explain what she saw when suddenly she peered over Alex’s shoulder and the shadowed figure was only inches away from her face seemingly staring at her from underneath a shadowed hood. A harsh whisper filled her head as it called out her name, REIMI! She pushed Alex away and fell to the floor and moved rapidly away as far as she could before hitting the end of the hall, and screamed in terror, “LEAVE ME ALONE!” The figure started to float toward her and then it disappeared into thin air.

Reimi was visually frightened but her pride tried desperately to suppress it, yet her body betrayed her as she continued to shiver.

“Reimi? Honey? Tell me, please, what’s wrong? Dawn pleaded.

Reimi looked hesitantly around the hall but the figure had disappeared and her heart slowly started to return to its regular rhythmic beat. “It was just my imagination…a daydream…” She finally said after a moment’s pause, mostly trying to convince herself of the possibility. She often heard adults saying this of their children. You have a very active imagination! They would coo. It seemed like a good enough excuse even though her mother wasn’t fully convinced, and yet, she begrudgingly accepted it and motioned for Alex to move downstairs.

“Well, try and hurry up and get changed. I don’t want you guys being late for school another day…I hate trying to explain our tardiness to that school’s secretary…that woman is a beast from hell. I’m telling you.” Alex looked over his shoulder at Reimi and even though he didn’t say a word she could hear him asking if she was going to be alright with just the look of his eyes. She looked back at him and nodded and then made her way back to her room, fearful to open the door to another horror, but there was nothing. After changing into her uniform she grabbed her school bag sitting next to the doorway and ran down the stairs to catch Alex and Dawn in the plain silver SUV in the driveway, waiting for her in an echoing silence.

The drive to the Saint Jean-Paul’s Preparatory School was only a mere 15 minutes away, and they were just in time before the school bell rang. The school was located in the heart of the town, a small nook at the mouth of an ocean and nestled in the arms of a mountain’s ridge. From the school you can see a park that was the town’s core, and expanding from that there was the Town hall and other businesses that lined the park’s edge’s. Behind the businesses were where the residents of Sherbrooke Valley that lived in the homes that spanned from the old Victorian style to a modern appeal depending on the tastes and money of the owners. Usually the people that lived on the mountain side were the richest. Their views were the best as they overlooked the entire valley and ocean. Reimi often wondered what it would be like to be so rich to afford a lovely home on the hillsides, especially the homes closest to the beach where you could easily see an old lighthouse resting on a small island that can only be reached by boat.

When the SUV stopped in front of their school, Alex opened the door in the backseat and jumped out onto the side walk. Reimi was about to do the same when Dawn reached out and touched her shoulder. She looked back to see her mother staring at her insistently.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She managed to say.

“I’m fine,” Reimi lied. She felt far from okay and in fact felt a sense of dread at any corner she turned. Will she see that thing again?

“Because, you know…I’m here for you…if you want to talk.”

“I’m really fine. Look, I have to go, the bell is going to go any second.” Reimi opened the door to the front seat and jumped out where Alex was waiting patiently for her. They slipped on their backpacks and ran inside the building without once looking back. Once inside, Reimi could see Alex staring at her from the corner of her eye.

“What did you see?” he asked cautiously aware that he might spark another attack or something.

“I don’t know how to describe it, but I was so scared…” she admitted.

The school bell rang out and all of the students in the halls cleared out of the hallways into their designated class rooms and Reimi and Alexander parted ways for the remainder of the day.

Over the course of the day, Reimi never once saw the image of the cloaked specter again. It was like some horrible nightmare manifested before her and she soon became to believe that sentiment. Finally, the last bell rang and school was dismissed for the day. Reimi quickly gathered her books and hurriedly stashed them into her book bag. She left the class room without stopping to chat with the other students as she normally did. No one ever bothered her because they saw her like the school misfit, an outsider, a nobody, and it suited her just fine.

Once she reached the freedom of the outdoors she saw the park just across the street and longed for a chance at the swings. Alex was suddenly at her side bright-eyed and cheerful.

“Looks like you had a good day.” Reimi observed and then began walking toward the park. Alex followed her, like always, and began the play by play of the day’s events and as usual Reimi barely listened. She was instead lost in the happenings from a group high school students near the park’s center fountain. As the group of students circled another one of their peer’s, they waited for the right opportunity to attack, and threw a series of slurs curses while pushing him around.

Alex stopped talking, they were almost within ear shot of the group of students and Reimi could see the face of the target. He was pale, unnaturally pale, and his hair was pure white with hints of silver that flickered in the light of the setting sun. He looked straight at Reimi for a quick second with a pair of piercing grey eyes when one student, a stocky boy with broad shoulders slid out his foot and tripped him.

Reimi had had enough and forcefully removed her bag throwing it to the ground. Alex looked at her with surprise and remained motionless as she briskly made a few strides toward the stocky boy and kneed him in the groin. The boy fell to the ground with a hard thud and his class mates all backed off completely knocked off guard.

“You’re such a loser if you think picking on someone is cool!” Reimi hissed and stood over him as he rolled around in brutal agony, “Dick-wad!” She said spitting.

His class mates were so surprised they didn’t know how to react and instead they offered to pick him up.

“What the hell!” He yelled, “Who the-” his sentence cut short and Reimi turned around to see the school’s principal looking in their direction. He hissed something under his breath and he and his gang went off in another direction.

Reimi smirked gleaming with victory while turning to the boy she said, “And that’s how you take care of a bully!”

They boy on the ground was older than her by at least a couple of years as he wore a uniform to the sister school Saint Vincent University Preparatory school. She helped him to his feet but he said nothing.

“Holy cow!!” Alex exclaimed, “You took that guy down and he was way bigger than you!!”

“You should be more careful, I had it under control,” the boy finally spoke while dusting himself off.

“Getting tossed around and having your books flying in the air is not a way of control,” Reimi retorted.

Alex held out his hand and stood as tall as he could bearing a huge grin, “I’m Alexander Keyes!”

The boy hesitantly accepted the hand and shook it, “Haydn…Haydn Laurich.”

“Nice to meet you! This is my sister and your defender Reimi Keyes. We go to Saint Jean-Paul’s.”

“Uh, I go to-”

“Saint Vincent’s, we can tell by your uniform. Are you new to the neighborhood? I’ve just never seen you before, like ever. Where are you from?” Reimi picked up her bag again and pulled one strap over her shoulder.

“Well, I live in the mansion at the top of the hill that overlooks the beach and ocean. My, uh, family…never saw a need for me to leave. I am different…” he started walking through the park and both Alex and Reimi followed in stride.

“You never left the house? Not even once? Jeez, no wonder you’re so pale. Our parents are always pushing us outside of the house, they say it’s good for us to get a little fresh air from time to time,” Reimi look toward the swing set in the park, “You wanna swing?”

“What?” Haydn looked at her puzzled as if he never knew what a swing was.

“Swing,” she pointed toward the swings, at the moment, no one was occupying them, “We have to hurry because otherwise someone else is going to want them,” she said while walking briskly backward toward them. She turned away from him and began sprinting for the swings. Alex was running right behind her but Haydn only kept a mildly fast walk.

Reimi was already on a swing giggling with Alex as they swayed back and forth trying to see who would be was first to reach the highest point.

“No way! I was first!” cried Alex in protest.

“Uh uh!” Reimi countered.

Haydn only watched out of curiosity but that didn’t last long. Reimi was already beckoning him to have his turn.

“I’ve never been on one of those,” he said waving his hands in front of him.

“Come on, it’s easy!” She smiled at him and in an instant, his whole demeanor seemed to change as he smiled back at her and made a move for the swing.

They were at the park until the sun receded over the horizon and the street lamps came on. Reimi felt good for the first time all day since meeting the mysterious figure. It never showed up again that day, just once in the morning which made her think that maybe it was all just some random dream.

Alex began grabbing his things and motioned to Reimi that it was now time to go home. She sighed not really looking forward to parting ways with her new friend.

“I should get going,” Haydn finally said after an awkward silence, “If I stay any longer, my family will send the cavalry.”

“Do you really live in that big mansion? You must get lonely.” Reimi lingered with Haydn while Alex started walking away from them.

“Lonely? Not really, it was just a way of life. They want to protect me…I suppose you can look at it like I’m an heir to a big corporation or empire.”

“That much?”

Haydn paused for a brief moment before replying simply, “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Wow…I saved the life of a prince! Does that mean you and I are now destined to be together like in the fairy tales? You know when the prince saves the princess, they live happily ever after?” Reimi bashfully smiled because when she looked at him after finishing her sentence she saw his face in the failing sunlight. It seemed to glow and his eyes were soft and reflected the sun’s glow making them appear to lit up. It took her breath away, if only for an instant. “I was just kidding.” She quickly said after and went back to walking toward Alex who was waiting for her at one of the Park’s entrances.

Haydn laughed heatedly before speaking and his laugh drew her closer to him, it was almost an effort to step back. “A prince? Well, who knows, maybe we will end up together at the end of our story!”

Reimi’s eyes widened a bit and immediately she found herself backing away feeling her heart thud against her chest, “Look, Alex is waiting for me, I really gotta go!” She turned away from Haydn and started jogging toward her brother. “It really was nice to meet you!” she called out back to him. Haydn smiled and waved in acknowledgement and started his own way home. Alex smirked and was full of teasing remarks for the rest of the way home.

That night they got home later than usual and dinner was already waiting for them on the kitchen table. It had gotten cold by that time but it wasn’t an unusual occurrence. Reimi and Alex were often at the park playing around and getting home later. Their mother was always too busy lost in another world to notice.

“Reimi found her prince charming!” Alex was singing quietly to himself as he ate trying hard not to giggle.

“Shut up!” She hissed at him.

“Never!”

“You’re too happy for your own good.”

“You should have just asked him out, instead you practically asked him to marry you!”

“No I didn’t!”

“I heard it clearly. You said, Haydn, will you marry me and make me your princess forever and ever?”

“If you don’t stop, I’ll…I’ll…”

“What? Condemn me to hell? Ha!”

“You don’t even know what that word means, condemn.”

“I do…” he whined and stuffed more tomato casserole in his mouth.

Just then, Dawn walked into the kitchen mumbling to herself and when she saw them she spoke, “Oh! You’re home? Make sure you guys clean up after yourselves and don’t forget to do your homework. We don’t pay for your education just so you can flunk out.”

“Yes ma’am.” They both chimed in unison.

“And don’t call me ma’am. Makes me sound a lot older than I actually am.” She poured herself a glass of wine and left the kitchen to go back to work.

“So…” Alex started, “What happened this morning?”

Reimi stopped eating feeling the dread form a solid lump in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want to think about this morning, the image was still so vivid in her mind.

“I guess I was just still half asleep…” she said not fully convinced herself.

Alex reached out a hand and squeezed hers. “If you’re fighting monsters by yourself, you don’t have to. You have me…and Haydn!”

Blushing, Reimi swung at Alex and smacked him in the arm. He yelped but still giggled at the expense of his sister. She moved to the counter to clean her plate and placed it in the dish rack to dry. She went back to Alex, who still had a mountain of food on his plate and hugged him from behind.

“Thank you…” she whispered and wandered up the stairs to her bedroom.

Her room was decorated in an array of pink and white. It was the epitome of girly and yet she welcomed it. The stuffed animals, the lamp fixtures, the small knickknacks, no one at school would believe that she was just another girl. Instead they saw her as a tomboy her took on bullies double in size and fought for justice. When she came home, her room was her sanctuary, her escape from the everyday life she lived.

She moved to her desk located in front of her bedroom window and sat in the tall chair. She had to use the step to sit properly and she turned on her computer. The fan started to roar to life and while she waited to pulled out her school books and began her homework, but it was a lot more difficult than anticipated. Her mind kept drifting to Haydn and when she saw him in the sun’s orange and yellow glow. She couldn’t deny it, he was good looking. Her cheeks flushed and she tried desperately to think of something else, to concentrate on her math homework but to no avail.

Frustrated, she closed her books and started playing around on her computer.

Haydn…what was his last name? Her fingers began typing his name into the search engine and she paused searching her mind for his last name. He did say it…I’m sure of it…Haydn…

Just then, the same sharp whispered entered her mind and goosebumps prickled her skin. Laurich!

Reimi spun around in her seat but saw nothing or nobody. Her heart began pounding hard enough for her to feel it in her ears and she said the name out loud as if by saying it, she would strike up a random conversation with the cloaked figure. “Laurich?”

There was nothing, just the sound of her heavy breathing.

“Relax Reimi,” she said to herself, “It was nothing, just my imagination…”

Facing the computer screen she nervously typed in the name, LAURICH.

A number of results appeared, most of them were about his family. He wasn’t lying about being an heir to a huge empire. His family owned much of everything, to say the least. There was nothing they weren’t involved with. They were a highly distinguished family. Reimi stared at the screen in awe as she clicked on the links to learn more about his family.

In one link, she found a family picture. It was a news article. The heading read, “Wife of Laurich Empire goes Missing.” The article was written the same year Reimi was born.

Reimi saw the accompanying family photo showing the man standing tall and proud with a half smirk, Haydn resembled him in many ways from the way he stood to his looks. They both had the same piercing gaze and silvery-white hair. The wife, Adelynn, was beautiful and she held a three year old Haydn in her arms lovingly. She looked like a life-sized doll and her hair was also silvery-white. Her eyes were shining but still the clear grey color stared back at her. It was a strange photo, Reimi concluded.

After awhile, her eyes began to get tired of looking at the screen and she still had homework to do. She stared at her books that were just off to the side, piled up on each other like the leaning tower of Pisa and finally reached out to grab one. It was getting late but if she worked hard, she would be able to get some sleep. Each night was the same routine. She would get distracted and it would almost be too late to do her homework. Yet every night, it was nothing short of a miracle for her to finish it all and she did manage to nab just a few hours of sleep. Her mind always looked forward to the weekends when she could sleep off the exhaustion.

Hours past and it was just after midnight when Reimi finally got up from her desk and fell onto her bed, still fully clothed. She was too tired to even change and she past out.

The clock kept ticking, and Reimi concentrated on the darkness inside her eyes. Her mind slowly drifted into an empty dream.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Reimi looked around the darkness and wondered where the ticking was coming from. There was nothing in sight. She was alone. Then, her skin began to prickle and chills creep down her spine. The hair on the back of her neck began to rise as the darkness began moving around her. “Hello?” she called out, hoping that it was nothing more than her imagination. “Hello?” She called out again and suddenly the moving object in the dark rushed toward her and stopped right in front of her. It was the face of Death. A scream came pouring out of her and she fought her covers that seemed to entangle her.

Alex ran into the room and he freed her from the tightening of twisted sheets. Reimi woke up abruptly and wrapped her arms around him. There were tears in her eyes and they sat there quietly, with her whimpering and trembling from fear. He patted her gently on the head, moving his fingers through her hair. “Shh,” he whispered in her ear.

“I’m scared…” she whimpered, “He won’t leave me alone!”

“Who?”

“The grim reaper…”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s my time?”

“But we’re still kids!”

“It won’t stop him…”

Alex got up from the bed and closed the door to the dark hallway and returned to Reimi. He made her lay back down and he crawled into the bed next to her. For the rest of the night, they slept there with his arms around her. Reimi couldn’t imagine her life without him.

Reimi awoke the next morniwith Alex’s arms still wrapped around her. The night was filled with haunting dreams but having Alex for comfort kept the terrifying bits at bay. She sat up and Alex opened his eyes and sat up to.

“I’m going to get ready…” she said to him barely audible.

“Okay,” Alex was always looking out for her. She used to think that she was looking out for him but that wasn’t true anymore.

“Thanks…for last night.”

“You know,” he started, “If you think about the future, you can always imagine Haydn wrapping his arms around you!” He winked and giggled.

Reimi’s mouth fell open as she looked at him with bemusement and her arm just reacted by grabbing the nearest pillow and throwing it at him with a playful force. He raised his arms in defense and continued giggling.

“Reimi and Haydn, up in a tree!” he chimed as he picked up the pillow to throw it back at her.

REIMI!

Reimi immediately sat straighter at the sound of her name. The pillow smacked her in the face but apart from falling back from the impact she was barely phased. Her heart started to race but she never mentioned anything. Was she going crazy? She thought.

“Earth to Reimi, if you want to see Haydn before school…you should probably get ready. Just saying.”

“Huh? Oh yeah… I’ll be downstairs in a bit.” With that Alex nodded and left the room closing the door behind him. He knows, she thought.

She got out of the bed and made the covers fully aware of the sudden change in the atmosphere. Her heart was racing and preparing for the moment when it would appear. Breathing deeply, she embraced the darkening room as the black fog rolled in from behind her.

Never turning around she asked, “What do you want?” Her voice quivered.

The whispers filled her head, it was like a million voices speaking at once and it was barely understandable. The sharpness of them sliced through the air and pierced Reimi as she felt their every meaning.

“Why? Why do I have to make a choice? Why me?” She asked as her body started to shake and beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. She felt cold and hot all at the same time.

“Please!” She begged while quickly turning to face the figure but then it vanished back into thin air. The room was just her room, pink, frilly, with the friendliest of faces from her stuffed animals staring back at her. “Just leave me alone…” she whispered.

The voice, she thought, it spoke to her. It asked her a question and she just wasn’t ready to answer.

How could she possibly be ready to answer something like that? She was just a kid for crying out loud…Still, the question lingered in her head and would continue to linger there for the rest of her life. Reimi, had a sinking feeling, she already knew the answer, that her future was not as cloudy as it should have been. That is, if she was just another average girl, from this day on, she knew that she was different and that her purpose would affect everyone she knew and didn’t know.