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mitchy8125

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Love, hope and tragedy.
Chapter One.

The view beyond the window was by far the most dullest the weather had ever set upon the state of North Carolina. Nearly everybody had buried themselves within their homes, shielding themselves from the bleak winds tearing through the towns and cities. As sparks of lightning glinted the murky skies and petrifying roars of thunder halted the slightest movements, dark, looming clouds roamed the heavens above, pouring rain throughout the abandoned streets and over battered buildings.

The sound of birds chirping as they hastily searched for shelter sounded like a helpless cry amid the deafening claps of the thunder. And the sounds of the rain thrashing hard against the windows were slightly frightening, yet incredibly irritating - as thought by the fifteen-year-old mind of Tyler Grant.

His vivid green eyes fixed on the homework sheet in front of him; he struggled to concentrate as the pitter-patter of rain hammering against the roof echoed in his mind. Moonlight that was flooding into the room through the weather-beaten window was reflecting off his pallid white face, giving him the somewhat unhealthy notion of someone who hadn’t seen daylight in weeks.

Resting on his head was scruffy, golden brown hair that was hardly ever combed and on his upper lip, the starts of a rather whiskery moustache. He was clothed in dark wash jeans and a plain white t-shirt that went well together. And on his feet were a pair of black and white, checker-patterned sneakers and, as a finishing touch, a silver chain on his neck, given to him as a gift for his recent birthday.

As soon as he had finished off jotting down the remaining few words on what he was writing, he silently re-read the entire thing, frowning as he did so. But the moment he had finished, he seized the sheet of paper, crushed it into a small, crumpled ball and heatedly flung it across the room, knowing only too well that he would regret it in his Maths class the following Tuesday - three days away. Standing up from his writing desk, he briskly walked over to the door and strode out of his bedroom, and then down the creaky, carpeted stairs.

Reaching the landing, he paced down the ground floor hallway and through one of the three doors, into the kitchen. The first thing he saw once he entered was his mother at the far side of the room, dialling a number into her cell phone beside the counter. The instant she saw him, she gave him a warning look, indicating that he ought to get out. Tyler stared vacantly at her for a few seconds before he did what she wanted him to do, and exited through the door, strolled halfway down the ground floor hallway and through a different door, which led into the living room. Drained, he leaped onto one of the sofas, resting his head against the armrest and his feet on the other. He scooped up the remote from the floor and pressed the activate button, hence switching on the television. Then, he flicked through the channels, trying to unearth something decent to watch.

As he did so, he thought about his mother. Day by day, she was ringing up her new boyfriend, flirting with each him and acting as if she was a teenagers again. In Tyler’s opinion, he thought it was very uncomfortable. Of course, his father wasn’t around anymore. He had left the family when he was ten - and being so young, he didn’t know what was happening. So all he did was watch and cry in the background. From what he had heard, his father married another woman - but that was all Tyler knew, since his mother rarely spoke about it.
He and his mother weren’t the only ones in the family though. Tyler had a younger, thirteen year old brother. His name was Jamie Grant. He wasn’t much of a talker - in fact, he was considerably secretive around Tyler. He didn’t know a large amount about Jamie - just the straightforward. But he had never questioned why Jamie was like this. And that is why he didn’t know that Jamie was a totally different person.

Whilst he sat on the sofa flicking through the channels on the television, Jamie was upstairs in his bedroom, being the person Tyler didn’t know he was.
Jamie snatched his leather jacket from the chair it was lying on and wore it, knowing that he would be taking a risk because of the conditions outside. He glanced over at the alarm clock on his nightstand and saw that it was nine fifteen p.m., then soundlessly tiptoed over to the door, opened it and walked down the first floor hallway. Cautiously, he attentively walked down the stairs, his vivid green eyes sparkling as lightning flashed through the stairway. Once he arrived at the bottom, he heard his mother’s unexpected voice in the kitchen and jerked back. He didn’t want her to see him - and the kitchen door was wide open.

“No, we’re not,” His mother giggled wildly, “Okay, okay. Let’s just meet outside the cinema tomorrow at seven. If the weathers any good.” She paused for a moment. “No, we can’t. My kids are here.” Jamie made a horrified face before he peered into the kitchen. His mother was fortunately gazing blankly at the soaked back garden outside the kitchen window. Vigilantly, Jamie made his way down the ground floor corridor and passed a room where he could hear someone watching the sport’s channel in. Then, he hurriedly opened the front door, scuttled out, and closed it before anybody could notice or hear.
The leather jacket he had put on wasn’t an advantage. The second he walked out into the outdoors, he was bombarded by the sub-zero downpour. He began to tremble hysterically as he walked out of the porch, down the garden pathway and out onto the street. Because of the thick sheet of darkness enveloping him, he was finding it tricky to see the street ahead of him. Lightning was the only thing that showed him where he was. And the frosty rain that was beating hard against his face wasn’t at all helping. Then there were the explosions of thunder that made his heart beat faster and fiercer until it was at full pace beating. A little bit nervous, he broke into a swift run.

It was a while before he had reached his destination. After numerous times of getting lost, he had at long last managed to reach the place he wanted to be. He held the rusty garden gate with both of his hands for a moment and gazed up at the house. Only one light was on; the room that he knew was Amber Melia’s bedroom. Smiling a little, Jamie swung the garden gate open, walked up to her front door, raised his clenched fist and knocked.
Amber, who was in the warmth of her bedroom and watching a horror movie on her television, didn’t hear the knocking as the sound of someone’s daunting shrieks was louder.
Swaying back and forth on her bed and clutching a pillow tight to her body, she yelled, “I knew there was something in that closet!”
Pounding on the door even harder and still getting no response, Jamie hiked back through countless puddles to where the garden gate was. He could feel the icy rain making its way down his back. And he could feel the fringe of his snowy blonde hair glued against his forehead. Trembling, he took one more glance up at the glimmering window. Then, he opened the garden gate and walked off at a snail’s pace down the pathway.

But as soon as he had taken the first few steps, he spotted a tiny pebble on the sidewalk in front of him. Receiving an idea, he seized it, darted back over to the garden gate and lightly tossed it at Amber’s bedroom window.
“No, don’t open that door,” Amber muttered, still rocking back and forth on her bed, “Don’t open it!” Her eyes seemed to be fastened onto the television, her mouth ajar with fear. She gawped as a young lady, more or less in her twenties, torpidly walked closer to a door at the end of a narrow corridor. The golden light from beyond the door was making its way into the passage through the gaps in between the door and the doorframe, giving it an eerie appearance. Bit by bit, she edged towards it. Nearer and nearer, until …
All of a sudden, the door burst open and a clown leapt at her, clutching a gleaming scalpel on one hand. Amber let out an ear-splitting squeal, and tumbled off her bed at hearing an unexpected thump on her window.
Her heart racing, she promptly got to her feet and strode over to the window as if nothing had happened. As she looked through the rain, she could just barely distinguish a boy staring up at her - and taking a closer look, she saw that it was her ex-boyfriend.

“Jamie?” She whispered to herself. Then she realised - the message she had sent him. Her heart, which had decelerated, began to quicken for a second time. Agitated, she briskly walked over to her bedroom door, speedily down the stairs and to the front door. When she grabbed the house key from the coffee table beside the door, a thought emerged in her mind. She gazed up at the mirror above the coffee table and at herself. She honestly didn’t want to look bad in front of Jamie.

She readjusted her shimmering, mouse brown hair out of her face and smelt her breath to check that it wasn’t ghastly. Nodding to herself and beaming, she stepped back to where the door was, unlocked it, and opened it to see the glacial body of Jamie standing there.

“Jamie,” She said, pretending to be surprised when in actuality she had got over the stun in her bedroom, “You must be freezing. Come in,” She added, taking his hand and escorting him into the kitchen. She then took off his leather jacket for him and slumped it on the dining table where it started to trickled water everywhere, “Your lucky my parents are out. They’d have left you out in the rain.”
“Okay,” Jamie managed to make out. He was still quivering non stop. Amber ambled over to the towel rack and grabbed one of the many - which by coincidence was her favourite colour, green. She then handed it to Jamie to dry off.
“Thanks,” he said, steadily beginning to stop shaking, “Sorry about all the water.”
“It’s no big deal. I’ll just tell my mom there was a water spillage,” Amber smiled, sitting down on one of the dining chairs. Jamie gazed intently at her for a second or two before he began to rub his face and hair with the towel. And after a few seconds, he asked the question that Amber feared he would - yet, she knew it was positive that he would ask. The smile fading from her mouth and her stomach cramming with butterflies, he asked, “You do know why I’m here, don’t you?”

After a while, the television began to bore Tyler. He had watched several channels and uncovered none that he actually wanted to watch, so he got up from the sofa and switched it off. He decided he wanted to go to bed, as he had been exhausted all day and staying awake just would drain him even more. He glimpsed up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was nine thirty-five p.m., which was a little early to sleep for Tyler. But he didn’t mind. But just as he was about to walk out of the room, his mother sauntered in, holding a laundry basket in her arms.
“I’ve ironed Jamie’s clothes earlier today. Do you mind giving it to him?” She asked him.
“Nope,” Tyler replied, grabbing the clothes from the basket and walking out of the room.
“Ta,” She thanked him as he left.
“Welcome.”

Regularly, it would take him a couple of seconds to get from the floor of the stairs to the top. But, somehow, this time it took him at least a minute. He thought it was probably due to his drowsiness. Once he reached the top, he walked through the second floor hallway, passed a door that was the entry into his room and into the one next door - Jamie’s room.

Looking around, he noticed that Jamie wasn’t in bed or anywhere else in the room. And, oddly enough, the computer at the far side of the room was left on. Jamie never kept it switched on, as he didn’t want anyone on his account. Placing the clothes down on the bed, Tyler walked over to the computer and put his finger on the power switch, ready to turn it off when a message caught his eye.

Well … This will be a bit of a shock.
Jamie says: What will?
Amber says: This.
Amber says: You now how I dumped you last month.
Jamie says: Yeah …
Amber says: I never wanted to.
Amber says: Because I’m still in love with you.

At first, Tyler didn’t know what to think. Never mind that he’s possibly getting back together with his ex-girlfriend, he didn’t even know that Jamie had a girlfriend in the first place. Motionless, he asked himself - why would Jamie keep this from him?