Daniel's Story Chapter 1 !!REVISED!!

Chapter 11

Wisps of the warrior’s pure white hair blew lazily in the nightly breeze. The smoldering ruins of Durne reflected dully in his jet black eyes. Great columns of smoke were rising into the darkness of the sky, bringing with them the nauseating odor of burning flesh as they partially blocked the Twins from view, two moons that orbited the planet together. However, their light still showed the surrounding areas brightly, causing his hair to glow. The only sign of emotion came from the warrior’s tightened grip on his staff.2

“They’ll get theirs in the end friend.” The barely-audible voice came from behind, a slightly shorter man with the same white hair tied back neatly. His eyes were a dark, steely grey.3

“Indeed…” The warriors turned from the cliff edge. They knew better than any…war was on the horizon.4

*~*~*~*5

Daniel sat in the back of the classroom, listening to his anatomy teacher drone on about the importance of the year’s final exams. He wasn’t worried though; school had never been a problem for him. He laid his head down on the desk and stared out of the window into the school’s courtyard, his long black hair cascading down behind him. How much longer before he quits talking? He asked himself. 6

“Is there a problem Mr. Wise?” his teacher asked as if he’d heard Daniel’s thoughts.7

“No sir,” Daniel said sitting up. “Sorry.”8

His teacher sighed. “At least you know the material…” he said more to himself. The bell rang and the class began grabbing their bags and heading for the door. “Alright class, don’t forget, study the material. Half of you don’t even know what I’m talking about up here!”9

Daniel grabbed his textbook and exited the classroom. The hallways were just as chaotic as they always were. He slowly made his way down the hall, finding the racket that the students were making to be a headache. Finally making it to his locker, he grabbed his bag and slipped the book back in its place. He was glad his senior year was coming to a close.10

“Hey Daniel.” Someone called as he turned to leave.11

He spun around to see Catherine standing just behind him. “Hey.”12

“So are we still hanging out tomorrow?” She asked, pushing some strands of her blonde hair behind her ear.13

“Of course, why wouldn’t we be?” He asked.14

Catherine smiled. “I don’t know. I was just checking.”15

“It’s your birthday Catherine; I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Daniel said reassuringly. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.” 16

The two of them made their way down the hallway and out of the school’s back doors into the afternoon sun. Daniel took a deep breath and sighed as they walked down the clean sidewalk towards the street. The fresh air always revitalized him after a boring day at school. 17

“So how do you think you’ll do on the exams next week?” He asked casually.18

“Ugh, let’s not talk about exams; I’m stressed enough over them as it is.” 19

Daniel laughed. “Sorry.20

As they went to cross the street to leave school grounds, a car careened around the corner, coming to a screeching halt just in front of them. Daniel had to pull Catherine back; otherwise the car would have hit her.21

“Hey babe, want a ride?” A voice called as the passenger side window was rolled down.22

“Mark?!” Catherine said bewildered. “You almost hit me! What were you thinking?” she screamed.23

“What are you talking about?” he asked, honestly clueless. “You’re fine. Do you want a ride or not?”24

“No, I don’t want a ride.” Catherine said forcefully. “Daniel’s offered to walk me home and he’s more than capable to do so.”25

Mark glared at Daniel for a good five seconds before finally speeding off down the road. 26

“Are you alright?” Daniel asked.27

Catherine sighed. “Yeah, I’m fine. I swear though, he just doesn’t get it,” she began as they continued across the street. “We only went out for one week. And that was months ago!” 28

Daniel couldn’t help but to laugh as she continued to rant and rave about how irritating Mark was. A few minutes later they were coming up to Catherine’s house.29

“Alright Daniel, don’t forget, tomorrow, in the park, under the tree, at four.” Catherine said teasingly.30

“Don’t worry, like I said, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll be there.”31

“Okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow.”32

Daniel watched Catherine walk up her drive way and open the door before heading home himself. 33

When he got to his house, he noticed that his mother was home from work. 34

“I’m home.” He called as he shut the front door behind him. 35

“We’re in here.” He put his shoes in the closet and made his way into the kitchen. Both his sister and his mother were sitting at the kitchen-table having some lunch. “Welcome home, how was school?” His mother asked, tying back her long, dark-brown curls.36

“It was fine,” Daniel said slowly. “Why aren’t you at work?”37

“I’m glad to see you too.” His mother said with a wry smile. She got up from the table and put her dishes in the sink.38

“You know what I mean.”39

Mrs. Wise laughed. “I know. Well,” she began. “I was fired today. They said they couldn’t afford it, so they fired me and three others.”40

Daniel stopped and began brainstorming instantly, answers coming to him as quickly as the problem had.41

“Don’t you even worry about it,” she said, knowing all too well what her son was doing. “I’ve already gotten another job. I start tomorrow.”42

“I can help,” Daniel said. “It’s about time I get a job anyways.43

“Daniel,” his mother began seriously. “I’m plenty capable of taking care of you and your sister on my own. I don’t need your help.” She smiled at her son and gave him a hug. “I appreciate the offer, but I can handle it. It’s my job.” 44

She looked him in the eyes and her features melted into a loving glow. Daniel knew that her soft brown eyes were looking right through him. “I’m not my father…” he said in no more than a whisper. “I’m going to take a shower.” He turned away and went up-stairs, leaving his mother with a brief feeling of loss.45

“Mom,” Emily said, speaking for the first time. “You hurt his feelings when you do that.”46

She turned to look at her daughter. “What do you mean?” 47

“You know what I mean,” Emily said patiently. “Half the times you look at Daniel, it’s like you don’t even see him. Instead, you’re seeing someone that hasn’t been here for seventeen years.”48

“It wasn’t his fault Emily!” Her mother said tersely.49

Emily raised her voice. “I know!” she looked away from her mother as well, regretting the tone she had used. “That’s not how Daniel sees it though.” She said softly.50

Mrs. Wise began to wash the dishes and Emily finished her lunch in silence, both regretting what they’d just done, and wishing they hadn’t.51

*~*~*~*52

Daniel placed his bag against the wall near his door and walked over to his dresser to grab some clothes. He didn’t need a shower, he had just taken one that morning, but he needed a distraction. He put his clothes on the counter and turned on the water in the shower. He took off his shirt and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. 53

Staring back was a well built young man with shoulder length black hair, and glacier blue eyes. He gritted his teeth in frustration. He could hear his mother’s voice in his head. Sometimes when I look at you, I swear I see your father staring back at me.54

“I’m not my father.” He said again to himself. 55

Taking off the rest of his clothes, he got in the shower, standing beneath the icy cold water. Something about the numbing cold relaxed him and he stood beneath the freezing water for a while. When he finally got out, he went downstairs and put his dirty clothes in the washer before heading to the garage. 56

Daniel began to stretch, taking a seat on his weight bench as he did. When he was done, he laid back and began his workout. Lifting weights wasn’t something Daniel did all the time. He mainly did it when he had something on his mind or when something was bothering him. As a result though, he was in great shape. 57

The garage door opened about an hour later and his mother was standing in the door-way. 58

“I thought I’d find you out here.” 59

Daniel put the weights down and sat up from doing his weighted crunches. “Everything okay?” he asked.60

His mother sat down on the steps that lead to the door. “I should be asking you the same thing.”61

“I’m fine.” He replied.62

“Daniel, I don’t mean to look past you. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings.”63

“Mom, I’m fine, really,” he began reassuringly. “I understand, you loved him, he’s our father. It’s okay.” 64

His mother wiped away the tears that were beginning to build in her eyes. “I love you Daniel, know that, okay?”65

Daniel smiled and nodded. “I love you too.” 66

“Anyways,” his mother said getting up. “I’m about to start dinner, just wanted to let you know.”67

The rest of the day was slow. Not much was said at dinner, and it didn’t help that things felt awkward. It was only eight o’clock, but Daniel was already lying down in his bed with the lights off, and it didn’t take long for him to drift off into a dream-filled sleep.68

He was running down a sidewalk, pushing people out of the way with his left hand. He looked over his shoulder to see Catherine right behind him with her hand in his, fear etched into every feature of her tear-stained face. Just a couple of yards behind them was a black giant with yellow eyes gleaming evilly, a long, flowing cape trailing behind. The man was completely masked in shadow, and his face by a large black veil wrapped around his head. Daniel snapped his head back around and saw that a semi-truck had pulled out in front of them, blocking their path. He made a left and found himself in an alley.69

It was a long stretch, littered with trash, dumpsters, and fire escapes covered in rust. Daniel’s legs burned like never before and each and every breath felt like it was being ripped from his lungs. He could hear his and Catherine’s feet making contact with the wet cement, echoing all around them with small hollow splashes. The young man looked back to see the man still hot on their trail. Daniel made another left, and, to his disbelief, found himself face to face with a dead end. He turned around and saw the man slowly moving towards them. Daniel grabbed Catherine and pulled her back. The stench of rotting trash filled his nostrils, and suddenly, the giant rushed forward and Daniel was swallowed by the darkness.70

Daniel woke with a start, a cold sweat drenching his body, his head throbbing. He was breathing heavily and his muscles burned, but he didn’t know why. He looked at the alarm clock near his bed. It was three in the morning. He laid back down and tried to go to sleep, but it wasn’t easy.71

It was after ten before he woke up and despite all of the sleep he’d gotten, he still felt exhausted. He got dressed and went down stairs to fix some breakfast. There was a note on the fridge from his mother. “I’m heading to work and I’m dropping your sister off at a friend’s house on my way. She should be back home around 3 to 3:30. Love you, Mom!” 72

Daniel sat down at the table with his food, but pushed it away after looking at it for a while. He didn’t have an appetite. He laid his head down and just sat there. Something felt very wrong and it was making him sick. 73

He walked to the sink to rinse his face and took a long drink of the cold water, hoping it’d help. After that, he forced a few bites of his breakfast down. He wasn’t going to miss Catherine’s birthday; he had to feel better. Maybe some fresh air and some sunlight will do me some good. Locking up before he left, Daniel decided to walk around the block a few times. The sunlight helped a lot, but something still felt terribly off.74

He went to the only place that had ever helped; his weight bench. Daniel worked out for hours, but never seemed to lose his stamina. Emily came into the garage from outside and was surprised when she saw Daniel still there.75

“What are you doing here?” She asked.76

“What are you talking about?” He asked, confused.77

“Daniel, it’s four o’clock, you’re supposed to be meeting Catherine right now!” 78

Daniel tore out of the garage, cursing as he ran past his neighbor’s house. Time had gone by so quickly. What’s wrong with me?! I’ve completely lost it today. There was something haunting him, and it was in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t get a fix on what it was or even why. He stopped running to looked around and get a grasp on where he was. 79

“Daniel, where are you running off to? You’re not trying to avoid me are you?” 80

He turned around and there was Catherine, standing about ten feet behind him with a look of confusion in her glittering green eyes. Her long brown skirt was gently riding the wind behind her. She wore a white lace blouse with a small carrying bag hanging neatly from her shoulder by a strap. Daniel noticed more than anything that her long dark-blonde hair was let down and was now flowing freely in the breeze. He could only recall seeing her hair down once before, maybe twice.81

Catherine started towards Daniel and stopped just in front of him, searching his eyes for a moment. “You weren’t running away were you?” She finally asked, breaking the short silence. 82

“No, of course not! I just lost track of time. I’m sorry,” he said, slightly winded.83

Catherine watched him closely. “Well, when you ran past the park, you kind of surprised me. I wasn’t exactly sure what you were up to, so I decided to come and see for myself.” 84

Daniel looked behind Catherine and noticed the entrance to the park behind her. “I’ve been kind of out of it today.”85

“Mhmm,” she said, a smile crossing her lips. “Come on, I’ll show you how to get there.”86

Daniel laughed despite how he’d been feeling. He didn’t notice it as much anymore and was already coming to forget about it. “So how’s your day been so far?”87

“It’s been good,” Catherine said cheerfully. “My parents took me to a few places so I could get some clothes, then we stopped at home to have some cake. Shortly after that, I saw that it was already a few minutes ‘til four and asked them to drop me off at the park so that I could meet you. I got here right at four and waited here under this tree,” she said, nodding towards the tree they were now standing under. “But you never came. I looked around to see if maybe you had gone to wait somewhere else, and that’s when I saw you run by.”88

She sat her bag down and kneeled down beside it. A couple of moments later, she pulled out a pair of running shoes and placed them to the side. “Daniel, you don’t mind going to see a movie with me do you?” 89

“Not at all.” The young man replied almost instantly. “Do you know when it starts?” 90

“Yep, I checked this morning before we left. It starts at about four-thirty, so after I get these on, we’ll need to run most of the way there.” 91

“No problem: just let me know when you’re ready.” He replied. 92

Catherine watched Daniel from the corner of her eyes while she changed her shoes. To say the least, she had a bit of a crush on him, but he wasn’t aware of it. She didn’t know when she first realized it or when it had happened, but, what she did know was that she was crazy about him. All of it came down on her in a roaring wave, and since then, she hadn’t been able to get him off of her mind. The most she knew was that she’d felt this way for some time now.93

She stood up and grabbed Daniel’s hand, leading him to the park's exit. “Let’s go.” She said with a smile. The two made it to the sidewalk a few moments later and looked around. Traffic was pretty heavy with people getting off work, but what took them by surprise was how empty the sidewalks were. They were completely void of anything. No one could be seen on the sidewalks in any direction. 94

“That’s strange.” Daniel said. “I’ve never seen it like this.”95

Catherine stared around. “Neither have I.” She said with a slight pause. “It’s kind of eerie seeing the city like this.” 96

“Yeah, I agree.” The young man said, looking to the sky. It was melting into a mass of soft orange with the approach of evening. The clouds were jumbled together in monstrous proportion. Some were darker shades of gray while others were dull greens. “Looks like there’s quite a storm brewing.” He said. 97

Catherine looked up towards the incoming front. “Yeah, we’d better get going before we get caught in the middle of it.” With that, they began to run towards the theater. 98

Daniel had hardly taken three steps before the sickly feelings came back to him. He was anxious and worried but for no apparent reason and it was leaving him very uneasy. 99

Catherine glanced back at Daniel, and when she did, she did a double take and stopped. “Daniel! Are you alright?!” she asked, seriously concerned. 100

He stopped and looked at her quizzically. “I’m fine, why do you ask?” 101

“You’re pale as a ghost Daniel!” She placed the back of her hand against his forehead. “Daniel, you’re burning up. We’ve got to get you home,” she said, grabbing his hand and turning around.102

He pulled back. “No, I’m fine, really, I feel great.” And he did. As soon as Catherine placed her hand against his forehead, it all went away again. Whatever he had, it must be affecting him in waves. “Really, come on, it’s your birthday, and I promised you.”103

Catherine could already see the color coming back to him. “Alright,” she began hesitantly. “But if you’re not feeling well, all you have to do is say so. We can do this another time Daniel. It’s not worth you’re well being.” 104

Daniel could see that she was worried. “Let’s go,” he said positively.105

They were on their way again, but Catherine refused to let him run, so they walked the rest of the way to the theater. 106

They got there about twenty minutes later and were just a few minutes late. Daniel paid for the tickets and when they got inside the theater, were delighted to find that they had only missed some of the opening previews and that the movie just starting. 107

When they exited the theater, the ground was wet from rain that had obviously begun after they had arrived. The remnants of the clouds were glowing a vibrant gold, filled with a purple center, the sun and sky around it a brilliant orange behind them. Individual rays of sunlight could be seen here and there, finding their ways through the clouds.108

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Catherine asked mesmerized by the sight. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it.” 109

Daniel stared at the scene for a second longer before replying with a light grin, his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, it’s quite a sight. I’m really glad that you got a chance to see it.”110

His friend smiled. “I know...I love it…” She took a small step back and watched Daniel from the corner of her eyes again. With the way the light was hitting the young man, he looked quite handsome. The muscle tone of his arms was shaded almost perfectly and made them very apparent, and the small spurts of wind blowing his hair back made him look somewhat perfect in her eyes. “You know Daniel; I’m really liking the view. Would you mind if we stood here for another minute or so?”111

“Sure, we’ll stay as long as you like,” Daniel said without looking back. 112

Catherine smiled. “Thanks…” After about five minutes, Catherine finally gave her crush the okay. Almost simultaneously, a middle-aged man bumped into Daniel rather violently and pushed him into the street. Daniel looked around to see what or who had pushed him, but all he could see was a man in a red flannelled shirt and blue jeans walking away, partially hidden by a small crowd of people. Before the man turned the corner, he looked back and stared the young man dead in the eyes and a short burst of pain erupted in Daniel’s head. As fast as all of it had happened, the man disappeared.113

“Daniel! Are you alright?” Catherine was beside him the following second, her hand on his arm. “I swear,” she said looking to where the man had disappeared. “The nerve of people these days! He didn’t even stop to apologize.” 114

“I’m fine,” he replied. “It’s okay.”115

Catherine looked him over. “Are you hurt?”116

“No, I’m fine, Catherine. I promise.” he smiled at her. “You know, you really do worry about a lot. You should try to relax a little more.”117

She sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. So what’s next on your list of things to do?”118

“Whatever it is that you want to do, I just want you to have a good time.” he said straightening his shirt out a bit.119

“Well, in that case, let’s go back to the park. If you don’t mind, spending time with you is all I need to have a good time.” 120

“Are you sure?” Daniel asked rather surprised. 121

“Absolutely, otherwise, I wouldn’t come around as much as I do,” she said.122

The young man smiled. “After you.” 123

They were at the park for about two to three hours laughing and cutting up before the street lamps began to come on. It was not completely dark yet, but the sun was close to setting and the moon and some stars were already visible, though, it was still fairly bright out. 124

Daniel looked at his watch. “Damn, I’d better be getting you home. It’s later than I thought.”125

“My parents wanted me home by eight anyways, so it’s pretty much right on schedule.” Catherine replied, standing up. The young man stood up as well, stretching his aching muscles. He had definitely worked out too much lately. As he stretched, Daniel noticed a shadow by a tree. At first he didn’t pay it much attention, but when he saw it move, he turned to get a better look, but it vanished. Catherine turned to leave in that direction, but Daniel grabbed her arm. She looked up at him a bit surprised. “What is it?” 126

Daniel eyed the spot by the tree for a few seconds before he said anything. “Um…I was just wondering if you wanted to go this way.” He said, indicating the exit behind them instead. “You know, to enjoy the fresh air before retiring.” 127

Catherine smiled. “Sure.” As they made their way to the other exit, Daniel glanced behind them but didn’t say anything out of the ordinary. 128

“So, was time with me really as fun as you expected?” Daniel asked, still very cautious.129

His friend laughed. “Yes, very much so, I really had a great time today Daniel. Thanks,” she said.130

“I’m glad I was able to be a part of it.” 131

They spent a majority of the time walking towards Catherine’s home talking some more. Daniel was still glancing everywhere for the shadow that he had seen, but was beginning to think that it had been a figment of his imagination. The two of them were about one block from Catherine’s house when the young man spotted the figure again, just across the street. Again, it had disappeared when he noticed it, but this time behind a house neighboring Catherine’s. 132

“Catherine,” he started, running his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, but I can’t take you home.”133

The young woman looked at Daniel with a smile. “Oh? And why is that?” she asked jokingly.134

Daniel knew the second that he had seen the red flannelled shirt, who it was, but he didn’t know why. When he didn’t respond to her question straight away, the look on her face grew a bit more serious, and worry began to become evident.135

“Daniel, why can’t you take me home?” she asked. “We’re practically there.” 136

He answered her right away. “We’re being followed.”137