Written Roses- Chapter 1(Sample)

My feet lie cushioned on the library's carpeted floor. The shelves of the high bookcase press into my back as I play with my long curtain-like hair. A worn out copy of Sense and Sensibility lay in my lap. I look up as the librarian walks towards me.

"We are closing now," she says.

"Okay." I smile at her.

I get up and place the book in the exact spot I found it. I say goodbye to the librarian and step into the night. I take out my iPod and start listening to one of my favorite songs, Words I Never Said. I stay close to the mural covered walls as I walk through the colorful crowd. The racing cars and laughing teens rise over my music so I let it wash over me and I start mouthing the lyrics. I run a hand through my dark hair as the moonlight swims through it. I pass through a group of cheerleaders from tonight's pep rally and turn into a lonely street with only two streetlamps. I hug the wall closer. I can feel the gravel like ground through my shoes with each footfall. There are tall brick walls on each side. I feel blind staring into the darkness that awaits me on the other end.

Almost halfway up the lengthy road, I feel the presence of someone else. I let the music washout and look around me. He's walking towards me. I turn around and speed up. And so does he. I'm running now. I feel my hair blowing behind me. The wind is against me and so I lengthen my strides. The rhythm of my breath and my heartbeat harmonize at the fast pace. I break mid-stride. I can't hear his footfalls. I decide to risk a look back. He's standing with his feet apart, tattooed muscular arms at his sides. A cruel smile decorates his face. Tall dark hair shows under his black hood. I would think him beautiful if for me not being his victim. His behavior tells me something. He's got me trapped. I sprint, I can still feel his eyes on me. The sense of danger is so vivid in my mind. My heart screams at my ribs. I see the flashing lights at the end of the road. They're so close. Streaks of blonde and black scream past me. Then the breath is knocked out of me. The gravel rises to my face. I remember those hooded green eyes. To escape death is to trigger a war And you will lose to the claws And you will be taken For no one escapes death twice

I feel my heartbeat. I feel the air moving through my nostrils and I soon realize that I'm alive. The impossibility of this outcome rings loud. I struggle to open my eyes, half expecting to see angels floating above me. Instead a bright light greets me causing me to close them again. I become aware of the oily substance on my skin. The smell touches my nose. It's gasoline.

I scramble to my feet and am hit by wavering heat in front of me. Once my eyes get past the barrier of the condensed fog, I see the source of the heat. A massive arrangement of flames climb to the high, dark ceiling. I am just noticing the sweat mixed in with the oil on my skin. The fire is kept from the walls by some type of large metal container. I take several large steps away from the fire and trip over something hard. I land on another hard object. I look down in front of me to see a pale, frosty face with dead eyes covered by scattered grey-black hair staring at me. An ear-piercing scream flies from my lips and I stand up quickly with the realization that I was lying on the same lifeless thing. I look around to see that the bodies do not end here.

The situation sinks in. I am supposed to be dead and I was supposed to be thrown into that human furnace with the rest of the corpses. I run into the depth of darkness searching for the wall. I jump over the bodies and my naked feet meet with the ashes as I run across the chilly ground. The cold sends shivers all throughout my body, but I prefer this to the scorching temperatures on the opposite side. I reach the rough wall and breathe heavily into it as I slide down to curl on the room's ground.

I feel liquid dripping from my cheeks and over my lips but can't tell if it is sweat or tears. As I try to calm my heart, a thousand bruises make themselves known. My bones rust in rejection to what they've been through. My hair sticks to my skin, outlining my bone structure. My lips feel dry, only moisturized by the sweat and my eyes yearn to hide behind their lids. Both due to exhaustion and for fear of witnessing once again the horror of the human furnace.

My mind scans different ways to escape. A door or window is definitely out. I can see no way to leave but the persons who put me here must have been able to get in. I manage to balance on my worn feet once again and walk around, still far from the bodies, trying to find an opening. I find nothing and by this time, my skin is beginning to melt. The ground may have been cold but the air was attacking my flesh. I go back to my security with a dry mouth and throat. The lack of humidity in my throat tortures its walls while the abundance of it plays a wicked game on my skin. I decide to fix my eyes on the fire with its tall flames teasing me. Water is dripping down the smooth, shiny surface making me want it but but I know the water is too hot to be comforting. I soon notice that one part of the metal is dry and looks unaffected by the flames.

I force my brain to focus on the surface. I realize that this could either be the exit or where the bodies are thrown in. If I stay here any longer, I would burn to death without even touching the flames but attempting to escape could lead me to the lethal glow and I still had to pass the bodies. I decide that its a risk that I am going to have to take.

I rise slowly, fear and disgust mix with the dry air in my throat. I take one half-hearted step, then another, and another, across the ashy floor until I am just a few steps away from the dead figures laying on the ground.

I start advancing towards the fire when I hear shouts erupting from the darkness of the back wall. I run back to the safety of my wall and look out to the source of the shouts. The noise becomes louder until I feel the presence of others in the darkness. Three tall male figures appear in the light, one of them struggling.
"How can you do this?" the middle one screams in a deep voice.

"It was an order," another one replies, emotionless.

The two figures throw down the one in the middle on top of the horrid corpses.

"We'll be back," the other one taunts.

They disappear into the darkness in which they came. The muscular form breathes heavily, his chest making bold movements. He hasn't attempted to get up from off the death pile. The light from the furnace illuminates the drops of sweat running through his blonde hair. He turns his head to me, revealing his perfect bone structure and......a flash of green.
I haven't forgotten those eyes.

A sharp gasp escapes my mouth and I immediately shut it. He lifts his head with knitted eyebrows. I almost fuse with the wall. I see the black hood slanting off his body. I start panicking.

He stands up, obviously curious, and advances towards me. My mind tells my feet to run but I have nowhere to go. I start panting and I know he can hear me. With one smooth movement, he's facing me. My panting has stopped. His bright green hues pierce my dark brown. A confused smile forms out of his pink lips.

"How are you alive?" he teases.

I gulp. I brace myself against the wall, crawling into the stone. His cold finger touches my cheek. My skin responds inwardly.

"I suppose I should finish the job," he says.

My eyes widen at the realization of what he's saying.

"But tsk, tsk, tsk.......such a waste," he whispers.

Without warning, he puts his hand around my waist, grabs me, and runs inhumanly fast, into the black. I scream as loud as my lungs will allow. He suddenly stops and curses. I think we have reached a wall. He lets me go carelessly and I fall unto the cold ground, bruising my elbows.

He faces the wall and places the palms of his hands on them. He pushes against it and groans. After a while, the tension in his body falters and a visible blanket of peace falls over him with his eyes closed.

My eyes widen at the impossibility of what they're witnessing. His wrists are touching the stone, where his palms should be. A smile replaces his scowl. His hands reappear. He turns to me and holds out his hand. I stare at it dumbly.

"I don't bite," he says with a wink.

After what I've seen, I'm not so sure but I hate the idea of staying so I force my hand to grab his.
He holds me again and in a hollow, weird, tingly rush, we're on the other side of the stone wall.

My heart is on a high. My lungs feel fragile.

"Ugh....the sun."
He hides in the shadows of a tree nearby. If you could call it that. It was basically leafless which puzzled me as to how it had cast the shady shadow.
We were standing in front of an old, rotting building. It was too small to be the horror house we'd just...stepped... out of.
"Wh...wha...what are you?"

He leans on the building and puts on a twisted smile.

"Well, I'm more handsome than a human. I'm stronger than a vampire...or so I fancy and I can create more fire than a dragon could ever manage."

He laughs at my bewildered expression.
"Aden West. Member..make that ex-member, of the Claws, or as a victim once called me, Death."

Amusement was plain on his face. Terror on mine.

"I never got your name," he says," just location."
He laughs again. My tongue would not move.
Finally, I whimper out an Ella.

" She's not just a pretty name with a pretty face," he sings.
My mind is a mess. I have no idea what to do. Running is not an option, and neither is screaming for help considering civilization seems to be a good mile and a half away.
"They'll be looking for me soon. I guess they never thought me stupid enough to escape."
He walks up to me.

"They thought wrong."
He picks me up and throws me into one of the broken down cars in front of the old building, ignoring my flailing arms. He then gets in and places his hands on the wheel. The ancient car actually starts up. The child lock secures itself and the car starts backing out onto the gravel road.

The wind hears my useless screams.