.Halloween's Secret



Chapter 1- Ice Water Eyes

It was a cold, and windy evening the amber leaves of the trees rustled in the autumn wind. The few leaves that broke free from their mother tree flowed lazily around a lone figure on a bridge. Hours passed and the figure did not move even when dark clouds began to roll in. The clouds covered everything in their dark and gloomy haze and their tears also called rain fell down upon the land. Rain came down like water from a faucet in the sky was turned on and still the figure did not move. The concrete of the whole bridge was slowly darkening as the water flowed over it. The long, soaked chestnut tresses that were braided down to their knees and their slender body revealed the figure to be a young woman. She was soaked to the bone, but her mind seemed to be wandering. Her icy blue eyes stared menacingly at the river water below the bridge. She was so engrossed with the swirling rapids beneath her, and she did not notice the young teen approaching her. The said woman peeked out from under her pink floral umbrella her shoulder length scarlet hair slipping over her shoulder as she looked at the soaked chestnut haired teen before her. The flowing light hair, icy blue eyes and the black clothing greatly contrasting with the teens sickly pale skin. The red head wondered if someone could even be that pale though her own complexion was fairly tan so perhaps it was an unfair comparison in her mind. However, the girl appeared to be about the same age as her possibly older so around 16 to 17 years old and was about 5 inches taller than she. Also, the girl’s clothes screamed Goth or Emo to the other girl, a maroon Sum 41 tank top partly covered with a tattered black denim jacket, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Black denim caprees with skulls on the edges of the legs, a loose black studded belt and black combat boots. A black army style cap sat atop the chestnut locks and the red head was surprised it wasn't blowing away in the wind. Noticing the scarlet teen's examining eyes, the Goth girl glared at her out of the corner of her eye. This made the other flinch from the animosity of the gaze.

"Excuse me . . . ," The red head whispered.
Upon receiving no answer from the glaring teen she decided to ask again.

"Excuse me . . . Miss?" She called louder.

"What?" The other girl hissed.

"Ummm . . . Are you all right?" She asked meekly. The other merely snorted before turning her gaze back to the water.

"I'm fine . . . Now go away!" She barked. The red head visibly flinched from the harshness of the tone, but held her ground.

Minutes passed and neither teen said a word nor moved an inch. It was on about the eighth minute that the blue-eyed Goth became annoyed with the persistent red head.

"I thought I told you to beat it!" She growled once again turning to face the girl.

"Well, before I go may I at least know your name? Mine is Claire . . . If you wanted to know," The teen now known as Claire whispered.
"Fine . . . 'Claire' . . . ," The girl groaned through teeth gritted in frustration, "My name is Ivy." She finished still looking very pissed off.

"That's a nice name," Claire chirped politely.

It was at that moment that an incessant dripping noise registered in Claire's ears. Her vision dropped to the thin trail of pale red liquid running between her feet. She gasped as realization hit her, it was blood! Her eyes followed the trail to it's originating pool at Ivy's feet. The rain was slowly washing away much of the blood, but more would quickly replace it. The wound seemed to be along most of her back.

"Oh my god! What happened to you?!" Claire shrieked fearfully.
Ivy did not seem to even acknowledge much less care that she was bleeding profusely from her back.

"We need to get you to a hospital!" Claire continued to shout.

Ivy then began snickering which quickly turned into a gut busting laugh. Claire just stared in confusion before becoming very upset. She marched right over to the teen and brought Ivy's laughter to a crashing halt as she gave her a hand slap across the face. Ivy just stared blankly at the clouded sky since the force of the slap had pushed her face in that direction. However, Claire took off running in the direction of her home.

"Does she think pranks like that are funny?!" Claire sobbed quietly as she finally reached the front porch of her home.

Meanwhile, at the bridge, Ivy reached up to touch the crimson hand mark currently occupying her cheek. No one had ever had the gull to slap her before.

"That girl is interestin' . . . I'll have to find out more about her."

At that moment the ring tone of her cell phone went off blasting a depressing heavy metal song into the now quiet night air. She calmly fished it out of her pocket flipping it open beside her ear.

"What?" She hissed angrily.

"Ivy, you have work to do! Where are you?! You best not be goofing off!" A squeaky voice screamed from the receiver.

"I know, I know . . . keep your pants on, I'll be there in a sec . . . I just gotta take care of somethin' real quick," Ivy groaned switching the phone to her unabused ear.

"Well hurry up! You know the Boss does not like to wait," The voice replied before abruptly hanging up.

Ivy stared at the phone before shutting it and shoving it into her pocket once more. She leaned her elbows on the concrete railing of the bridge.

"Gods, they are such hard asses . . . ," Ivy groaned before beginning to follow the path the red head; Claire, had taken. Several minutes of walking landed her at an old, blue, Victorian style house. The window shutters were a baby blue while the rest of the house was painted a navy blue hue. The front yard had perfect green grass and was freshly cut and the bushes were trimmed to perfection as well. Off to the right was an old oak tree with an ancient looking tire swing swaying slightly in the wind. However, the thing that sickened Ivy's stomach the most was the perfectly maintained white picket fence surrounding the small yard. This house screamed, spoiled family!

"Maybe I should just leave . . . Is this even worth my time?" Ivy mumbled rubbing her temple. She had bothered walking the whole way here, and she might as well give that red head a piece of her mind. Quickly jumping the picket fence, she sauntered over to the backyard gate. She didn't even bother trying the lock she just hopped over that gate as easily as the first. She looked around her new surroundings.

There was an old swing set and plastic slide to her left by the fence and an above ground pool that needed to be taken down. Other than that the yard was bare. She looked up at the house, there was a light on in an upper room which told her that at least one occupant of the house must still be awake at this hour. She knew she could not jump that high and began looking for some way up to the window she spotted one in the form of a thick tree branch that had come over the fence from the neighbor’s old birch tree. With no trouble what so ever she ran into the neighbor’s yard and scaled up the tree and over to the window. She stopped when she was right beside the edge of the window thinking it would be safer to first check if this was the right room before barging in. So she peeked around the frame of the window into the room. The room was colored with lavender walls and a white ceiling with violet carpeting on the floor. Off in the far left corner was a television and a DVD player on an old maple table. In the center of the wall on the right was a large queen-sized bed. The bed was covered with indigo sheets and a purple comforter and had about six pink pillows piled on it. In almost every corner of the room were piles of various stuffed animals of all different colors. Also, in the middle on the left wall was a polished oak desk and matching chair. The desk was cluttered with papers and several large books. Ivy once again thought of just turning and leaving. She glanced at her cracked Nightmare Before Christmas watch. She was already late to meet with her Boss so now it didn't matter whether she stayed or not she was still going to get an ear full. She tapped the faded pink hand print on her cheek as she re-weighed her options.

At that moment the pink door on the far wall swung open as someone entered the room. Ivy ducked back behind the wooden frame to conceal her current position. After a few moments of silence she decided it was safe to take another look. She leaned over and spotted the figure sitting at the desk. She wore a white bath robe and had their hair wrapped up in a matching white towel.

"Damn, I can't tell if that's her!" Ivy cursed quietly so as not to be noticed.

She then noticed several locks of curly, red hair sticking out of the towel. Also, the person had emerald green eyes and looked to be about her age.

"Well, it could be her . . . but if it's not--," Ivy's mind went over the scenario of it not being Claire and then trying to explain why she was outside that person's window. "Rather not go about that route . . . ," Ivy sighed as she continued staring into the window calculating other options. She didn't get time to finish her thoughts though as the person at the desk spun around to look out the window directly at her. There was complete silence as blank, icy blue eyes met with shocked emerald green. Ivy just sat there expressionlessly as the red head began having a panic attack.

"Who the hell are you?! You freakin' pervert!" The girl screamed as she waved her arms around wildly and now from hearing her voice Ivy was able to confirm this was the right girl.

"Hn, this is interestin' and fun to watch . . . ," Ivy snickered as she leaned her elbow against the outside wall of the house.
It was then that Claire started to take in the details of the supposed stalker outside her window.
"Oh my god it's you . . . The girl from the bridge!" She declared pointing at the still bored looking girl.

"Yea and you're Claire the dumb ass . . . ," Ivy sighed, though Claire couldn't hear her through the window glass.

Ivy started tapping on the glass to indicate to the girl that she wanted it open. Claire then quickly unlatched the window allowing Ivy to slide it open. Ivy opened the window but did not actually enter the room staying on her perch on the tree branch beside the window in the pouring rain. Claire was beginning to feel very uncomfortable at the stare that Ivy was continuing to give her.

"Well, you can come in . . . If you want . . . ," Claire mumbled.

"I don't want to..," Ivy said nonchalantly as she turned back to the rain pouring down on the backyard. "You need to take down that pool . . . The water is starting to turn green," Ivy said still with no emotion apparent in her voice.

"How did you--?...Wait! You came in through my backyard didn't you?! That's trespassing!" Claire shouted pointing an accusing finger at Ivy who still looked like she couldn't care less.

"It took you that long to realize that?...How else could I have gotten up here?...Besides it's not like I stole anything . . . nothin' but junk down there," Ivy said brushing a lock of soaked chestnut hair out of her face. Now Claire was starting to get even more pissed at this girl and was on the verge of having a repeat of the incident on the bridge.

"Why you little--!!" Claire shouted, unfortunately she shouted just a little too loud which caused her mom to burst into her room.

"Claire! What on earth is going on in here?!" Her mother demanded looking around her daughter's room. Claire looked back toward the window to tell Ivy to hide but the girl was already gone.

' Where did she go?' Claire thought as she turned to face her mother. "Nothing mother, I was just talkin' to someone on the phone . . . "Seeming satisfied with the answer her mother left after telling her to keep it down because she had to get up early for work tomorrow. Claire turned back to her window and slid it shut assuming Ivy was not coming back here. What she didn't know was that Ivy was only not seen because of pure dumb luck, she had fallen backwards off the tree branch from the surprise of her mother entering the room. Now she was just getting up from her spot on the wet lawn of Claire's house.

"Damn, that fricken hurt!" Ivy cursed as she wiped off some mud that had somehow stained her black denim jacket. She glanced back up to the window to see that Claire had shut it. "That little prick! She locked me out!" Ivy grumbled not knowing the real circumstances behind the situation. It was not so much the fact that Claire had shut the window that pissed Ivy off it was the fact that she had not been able to accomplish her whole reason for being there. "Oh well, now I know where she lives I'm just going to have to keep my eye on this girl . . . ," She sighed before quickly and silently exiting the yard and wandering down the dark and gloomy streets she was so accustomed to.
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The night had passed far too quickly for Claire's liking as she walked down the street on her way to school the next morning. She tried to keep her mind attentive as she walked down the sidewalk, but this proved to be rather difficult as she kept thinking about the events of the previous night.

'What did that girl want? Why did she even come to my house?' Claire wondered as she stopped at an intersection and waited for the crosswalk symbol to come on. She lifted her head to glance at the opposite side of the street and the people standing across from her. She gasped aloud as she spotted a girl with brown and blue eyes. However, upon closer inspection she realized that it was not the same black clad teen she had become paranoid of. The girl's hair was more of a chocolate brown not the light chestnut of Ivy's hair. Also, her eyes were more of a grey-blue not the vibrant and clear ice blue that was held in the depressed teens liquid depths. Ivy's eyes definitely made Claire wonder she didn't understand how someone who seemed to be such a problematic punk could have such clear and bright eyes. Yet, at the same time they were cold which is why the adjective; icy, fit them the best. Though Claire was sure that there was something behind those eyes and that Ivy was not as bad as she seemed. 'Wait, but this is insane! Why am I so curious about this girl?! Especially her eyes!' Claire was so busy that she didn't notice the light had changed until the people behind her had started walking across the street. As she passed the Ivy lookalike she couldn't help but stare for a few lingering moments before turning her eyes back to her current path. 'Yup, I'm paranoid alright...,' She sighed and shook her head back and forth as she walked not even noticing that she was straying off her path to school. She was walking straight toward an old dark and dirty alley. She glanced up just as she was about to collide with the wall and jumped back at the unfamiliar surroundings. The old muddy bricks surrounded her on all sides and the ground was littered with trash and tattered bags as well. Yes, this was definitely not the place she had been wanting to get to. She glanced at her purple watch and saw that she only had ten minutes to walk the rest of the way to school. She quickly turned on her heel and headed for the exit only to find it was blocked by three men and one woman.

"Well, well look what we got here...a little whelp gone and lost her way...," A tall man with black hair slurred clearly drunk.

"Yeah, we can direct you home for a small fee of course...,!" Another man whom had long chocolate hair tied back in a pony tail.

"No thank you, I can find my way myself...Now if you will excuse me!" Claire said sternly as she tried to push past the four people, but they quickly pushed her back.

"I don't think you understand...We weren't askin' for it!!" A man who had greasy blonde hair sneered down at the red head grabbing her wrist with enough force to bruise.

"OW!" Claire yelped at the pain surging up her arm. The man did not pay any attention to her cries or the fact that he was nearly breaking her wrist. Claire was about to start screaming for help when the pressure on her wrist suddenly disappeared. The sound of a body colliding with the pavement filled her ears along with cries of pain. She had not even realized that she had closed her eyes as she opened them to see a person holding one of the men down on his knees his arm bent behind his back.

"This is just sad...I wanted to let off some steam, but you small fry aren't even worth it...," A very familiar voice sighed. Claire stared up to find the figure was none other than Ivy, the very person she wanted to both avoid and find.
"Ivy?...," She whispered but the other did not hear her and simply continued to bend the other man's arm.

"See how much it hurts? You ass!" Ivy said angrily.

"AHH! I'm Sorry!! Please Stop!!" The man pleaded trying to wrench free from her iron grip. Now if his arm was not being twisted behind him he would be thinking about how unnaturally strong this girl was, but that was a thought for another time.

"Hmm, I don't think you are...maybe we should find out just how flexible a human arm really is?" Ivy smirked as she bent the arm a little more and heard the satisfying cracking of bones and the man's horrible wail.

"Stop! Don't Kill Him!" Claire finally shouted at the girl. Ivy looked over at the girl beside her.

"Who do you think you are tellin' me to--?!" Ivy froze mid-rant at realizing just who she had saved and this didn't make her any calmer. Dropping the man onto the ground unceremoniously she let her temper get the better of her. "It's you! You got a lot of nerve! Makin' me fall out of your window like that!" Ivy shouted though she knew that she had fallen from her own actions and not this girl's but it would have hurt her pride to take it back now.

"Well, it's not my fault your so clum–! Wait you fell from my window?! I'm on the second floor! Are you alright?!" Claire panicked as she began looking the girl over.

"I just kick a muscle head's ass and she's worried that I fell out of a window?" Ivy mumbled quiet enough so the other girl didn't hear her.

"What did you say?" Claire asked after she was satisfied that the girl was not injured.

"Nothin'...," Ivy said as she shoved the girl back with her hand. "Anyway your welcome...Now beat it!" Ivy sighed as she started heading out of the alleyway.

"Hey wait! Where are you go?--"

"You're gonna be late...," Ivy said nonchalantly as she continued walking not looking back. Claire glanced at her watch and realized that Ivy was right, though in truth she was already late by five minutes.

"Oh my god! I'm in so much trouble!!" Claire took off running in a panic down the alley and down the sidewalk earning several stares from people. Ivy could not help but snicker at the other girl's antics.

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Claire had made it to her class but that still did not change the fact that she was twenty minutes late for class and the teacher was less than thrilled about it.

"And where have you been Miss Silverwood?" The teacher asked sounding very annoyed turning around from her place in front of the black board. Brushing a lock of short blonde behind her ear as she locked her dirt brown eyes with Claire's emerald ones.

"I'm very sorry Mrs. Taller...It won't happen again." Claire said softly as she took her seat in her desk on the far left of the room. Mrs. Taller continued on with her lesson but Claire's brain was not there to listen to it. She was busy wondering why Ivy had saved her. She did not seem like the heroic type, she seemed too arrogant and cold to do something like that. Her mind came back to reality as the teacher started handing out an in-class assignment for them to do. She decided to think about the depressed, gothic teen later and worry about her school work for now. After all she wanted to go to college and live a successful life.

The class passed very quickly and Claire soon found herself filing out of the class with her fellow students. Her next hour was gym so she exited the building to head to the track field where they were supposed to meet. Unfortunately her luck seemed sour as of late and she spotted a black clad figure sitting on top of the bleachers by the soccer field.

"What are you doing here Ivy?!" Claire demanded stomping up behind the teen.

"I'm sittin' what's it look like!" Ivy sneered back looking over her shoulder down at the red headed teen.

"Do you go to this school?" Claire asked though she could not remember ever seeing Ivy around here.

"Nope . . . ," Ivy said laying down on the bleacher she was sitting on as she stared up at the clouds.

"You're such a delinquent." Claire huffed crossing her arms across her chest.

"What did you say?!" Ivy growled sitting back up to glare down at the girl.

"I said you're a DELINQUENT! You're skipping school, don't you even care about your future!?" Claire shouted her glare just as powerful as Ivy's.

"I don't need school I have a job I need to do unlike you!" Ivy said poking the girl on the forehead.

"I've had a part time job too! And your's couldn't be that much tougher than mine was!"

"I highly doubt that . . . ," Ivy groaned rolling her eyes, at that moment Ivy's cell phone went off its new punk rock song ringing out loudly from Ivy's pocket. Ivy grabbed it and flipped it open now ignoring the red head. "Yeah . . . Yeah . . . Got it . . . I said I GOT IT! I'LL BE THERE! YES I WILL!! I KNOW I BLEW YOU OFF LAST TIME!! This time I WILL be there!!" Ivy shouted hanging up the phone though the other person was not through talking yet. "Damn slave driving boss . . . Can't get a break for one second . . . ," Ivy sighed swinging her legs over the edge of the bleachers and dropping to the ground before starting to walk away. Claire merely stared at the other's retreating back and decided that it did not matter if she wanted to ruin her whole life by not attending school, though she knew she was lying to herself. She turned back to the direction that the track field was located in and ran over to where the other students were gathering for class.

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The rest of Claire's school day had been boring and uneventful. Said girl was now walking down the sidewalk in the direction of her home. She smiled and adjusted the strap of her back pack as she passed a group of gossiping girls that she recognized from her school and decided to join their little group.
"Hi guys!" She chirped happily as she trotted up beside them. Upon recognizing the girl they showed her warm smiles and several gave her a friendly wave. Claire was very grateful for the fact that she got along with people very well. She hated to be alone, she preferred to surround herself with others and loved making new friends. Suddenly, it hit her why she wanted to keep running into Ivy perhaps she wanted to try and become friends with the girl and then possibly make the depressed teen a little cheerier. After all she had already managed that with several other friends she had. She suddenly realized the other girls were leaving and heading their own separate ways. She stood on the empty street curb for a few moments before turning and heading her own way. She felt very lonely now and she was sad that because she had spaced out she had not even talked to them.

"Well, well, well . . . if it isn't Clay . . . ," Sighed a voice that as of late was becoming more and more familiar to Claire.

"That's CLAIRE!" The girl shouted angrily up at the tree branch above her that held the ; in her opinion, ever annoying gothic teen that she was starting to think was stalking her.

"Whatever . . . ," Ivy sighed nonchalantly as she leaned backwards until she flipped so she was hanging upside down from the tree branch in front of the upset red head. In her anger Claire grabbed Ivy's braid and yanked her the rest of the way out of the tree and unto the unforgiving and hard concrete. "You BITCH!!" Ivy hissed as she rose up from the sidewalk with an over flowing temper and a scraped and bleeding forehead.

"It was an accident . . . ," Claire said feigning innocence as she turned her head to look away from the pissed off teen.

"Like hell it was!" Ivy continued to rant as she wiped some blood away from her face. However, at this point Claire was just ignoring the chestnut haired teen. She looked up at the sky there were big rain clouds rolling in.

"Looks like it's going to rain . . . ," Claire groaned re-adjusting her backpack strap.

"Are you even listenin' to me?!" Ivy huffed putting her hands on her hips. Claire gave the girl a bored glance and started walking away this made Ivy a little more ticked off. "Where the hell are you goin'?" She called walking after the red head.

"What does it look like? I'm going home." Claire said speeding her pace up. Ivy did the same to keep up with the girl. "Why are you following me?"

"I got nothin' better to do . . .," Ivy said shrugging her shoulders.

"What about your job?" Claire said putting some sarcastic emphasis on job.

"I'm takin' a break . . .," Ivy said shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. Claire was tempted to ask Ivy exactly what her job was, but she didn't want to pry. They had been walking along for about five minutes before Claire felt the slight prick of a rain drop hit her nose. Apparently Ivy had felt it too as she was walking towards what appeared to be an abandoned old warehouse. The old cracked cement walls of the building looked very ominous to Claire, but she followed anyway. As they drew closer Claire could see that the walls were covered with the grafiti of various gangs of the area. The very few windows the building had had long since been boarded up with plywood which was also covered with the spray paint signatures. The warehouse was about average size with three floors. They reached the door and after Ivy tried to turn the handle they discovered that it was locked.

"Brilliant idea . . . the door is locked." Claire grummbled as she wiped some rain droplets from her cheek. Ivy stared at the door for a few moments with a blank look before she kicked it and knocked it right off its hinges. Claire's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and her mouth dropped open at Ivy's audascity and strength. "What are you DOING?! That's breaking and entering!" Claire screamed pointing at the fallen steel door.

"It's not if the building is abandoned . . . ," Ivy said casually walking into the interior of the complex without a second thought. Claire followed though she was very reluctant to do so. She had always been raised to obey the law and here she was breaking into a building, abandoned or not it was still against the law. The inside of the building had just as much grafiti on the walls if not more than the outside. There were a few scattered wooden crates lying on the floor, but other than that the room was bare. Stray beams of dim light were leaking in through the cracks and the holes in the wood blocking the windows. Light streamed in through the now empty door way and onto the broken steel door. She felt a little unsettled when she thought she saw a cockroach scurry across the floor. Ivy sat down on one of the crates about five feet from where Claire was standing. She reached into her pocket and produced a pack of Marlboro cigarettes and a silver lighter with a green flame design on it. She placed the stick between her lips and flipped open the lighter. Her hand hovered over the end of the cigarette to protect it from stray winds as she lit it. She then tucked the pack and the lighter back into her pocket. She took a small drag of the cancer stick before blowing the smoke back out via her mouth holding the cigarette between her index and middle finger. Claire stared at her apalled at what she was doing and raced up to her.

"Are you TRYING to kill yourself?! Those things are terrible for you!" She shouted angrily and held out her hand indicating to Ivy she wanted her to hand it over.

"They can't kill someone whose already dead." Ivy snickered a smirk gracing her lips as she put the cigarette back between them.

"Ha ha, very funny Ivy . . . now hand them over!" Claire demanded showing she was not entertained at all by Ivy's comment. Ivy simply took another drag from the cigarette and this time blew the smoke right in Claire's face. The red head sputtered and coughed after inhaling the smoke.

"I've breathed in second hand smoke! Now I'll get lung cancer! Or mouth cancer! Or worse I'll DIE!! I hope you're happy you heathen!!" Claire snorted at the girl once she had finished coughing. Ivy was laughing from her spot on the crate.

"It takes more than one breath to get cancer of any kind you dimwit!" Ivy snickered trying to stifle her laughing with the hand that wasn't currently holding her cigarette. "But I think you have a career in acting!" Ivy continued laughing so hard she almost fell off the crate. Claire simply shot her a glare of death. After her laughing fit finally subsided she decided to take another puff from her cigarette.

"When did you start?" Claire asked sitting down on a crate that was far enough from the smoke but close enough to hear Ivy.

"Hm . . . quite a while ago now . . . I know its been years." Ivy said tapping her chin in thought. Claire simply sighed in defeat even though she didn't know her very well she knew she would never get Ivy to quit that habit. Although the silence was full of tension for Claire Ivy seemed very content just watcheing as her puffs of twirling smoke disapated in the air around her. From outside they could tell that the rain was coming down harder than it had been earlier. The droning noise didn't help Claire's already tense nerves.

"Ivy . . . . . . Will you say something alre-?" Claire stopped mid-sentence from the expression she saw on Ivy's face. Ivy's face looked horrified and excited at the same time. The fingers of her right hand were tapping relentlessly on her thigh as she just seemed to stare off into her own personal hell with monsters only she could see. Yet, the strange look of excitement filled her with a slight fear for the look was . . . chilling was the best word she could come up with. It was like the gaze of an insane killer as they watched the blood drain from their victim in some Blockbuster horror film she might have rented once. She could only wonder what memories would make the usually apathetic or pissed off girl react like this. "Do you hate the rain?" Claire asked not sure the other teen would answer.

"Sorta . . . I have some bad memories with it." Ivy said glancing at Claire out of the corner of her eye her expression didn't even waver. Claire could have sworn that Ivy's pupils were slits like a cats, but she blamed it on the poor lighting of the room. Suddenly, Ivy was thrown from her seat violently by a fist slamming into the back of her neck. She rose from her spot on the cement floor to see the same men she had saved Claire from before and a few new ones. "Damn, what are you pricks doing here?" She hissed rising from the floor.

"We thought we should repay you for what you did to my arm." The man with chocolate hair and an arm in a sling snorted with a wild grin. At that moment a loud crack of thunder sounded outside and surprised Claire so that she yelped. Ivy took the distraction for the other men and dropped to the floor swinging her leg around hitting a few men in the shins so they fell down from the force. She was about to get up and go for the rest when she heard a scream she looked over to see one of the men holding Claire with her arms behind her back.

"CLAIRE!" She shouted and just as she was about to run to help her she felt icy metal touch the back of her head. She instantly knew what it was when she heard a click to signify it was being loaded. "Damn!" She cursed as the man laughed.

"You're tough I'll give ya that but you could never beat me not even in a billion years! . . . Game over sweet heart!" The man bellowed.

"You're gonna regret this you--" Her threat was cut off as a shot rang out through the building and the bullet went through her head. Claire screamed as Ivy's lifeless body dropped to the floor with a thwack, a pool of blood forming around her head.

"Regret what sweet heart? Not doin' it sooner?!HAHA!!" The man cackled as he turned to leave the grieving teen and the corpse.

"Don't call me sweet heart . . . you asshole." A chilling voice hissed. The man froze in his tracks his blood turning to ice in his veins. He turned to look over his shouler and saw something he really didn't want to see. Ivy's body was starting to sit up held up by bloody arms. She raised a hand to her even bloodier face and wiped some from her eyes so she could see clearer. A visible hole was still in her forehead to indicate where she had been shot. Claire was frozen to her spot as well, she had seen Ivy get shot there was no way she should be alive let alone moving.

"How c-can you p-possibly be alive?! I shot ya right in the h-head!!" The man screamed pointing at Ivy in pure terror.

"Sorry pal, ya can't kill what's not alive . . ." Ivy snickered as she stood up from the now blood soaked floor.

"DIE! DIE YOU MONSTER!!" The man shouted as he fired more shots at the teen. One pierced her shoulder, another went through her stomach, and a third skimmed her head and knocked her black army style hat off her head. However, for the seriousness of her injuries Ivy barely flinched.

". . . . . . Okay now I'm really pissed." Ivy growled her eyes full of animosity that frightened the men even further. She began walking towards them at an agonizingly slow pace. She looked like a the cat about to play with the mouse before killing it. She was about to beat all of these men into their graves, but suddenly she stopped and turned away though the ferocity was still very apparent in her tone. "I don't want to get into more trouble with my boss so beat it . . . " She growled shooting a glare at them and if looks could kill they would already be in their second after life. The men wasted no time running away at a speed almost unhuman. They were screaming of demons and zombies the whole way and were most likely scarred for life.

Ivy looked back to her fallen hat and went to retrieve it, after placing it atop her head once more she glanced at her burned up cigarette lying a few feet from her. She reached into her pocket and produced another and lit it with practiced ease. Taking a long drag and blowing the smoke out slowly she felt calmer now.

"You saw all that didn't you? . . . . Claire?" Ivy sighed finally acknowledging the girl.

"Y-y-yes . . . w-w-what are y-you I-Ivy?" The poor girl sobbed tears flowing freely down her cheeks in her terrified state.

". . . . . . What am I? . . . . .Hmhm . . . . That's a good question." Ivy chuckled very lightly as she took another puff from her cigarette.

Please leave a reply to let me know what you think _

Wow...that was very good.