Preface
I
looked down at my torn silk dress that had cost more money then you could imagine. While my two best friends and my boyfriend tried to clean up at least some of the decorations and shattered glass that covered the floor of the Miller Hotel Ballroom. Everything was in pieces after the battle that had gone on in here. I was so surprised to find that the decorations and glass were the only things to get smashed, I really thought something was going to happen to my boyfriend while he fought.
Chapter 1:1 Week Earlier

“Nicole are you ready for school yet”? My mom asked me, yelling down the hall.
“Yes mother”! I shouted back. I finished putting my hair in a ponytail, but then quickly took it out and let my blond curls hang loose around my face. I then opened the door and, walked out and went to my mother’s door.
“Hey mom, where are the keys to the BMW”? I asked.
“There in the drawer by the bed” She answered, from inside her luxurious bathroom.
“Thanks, mom” I called to the closed bathroom door. I walked over to her bedside table and grabbed the keys to the family car. I do own a Porsche but it’s in the shop at the moment. My car is absolutely beautiful; Its Canary yellow with black leather interior and on the inside I have one single black rose hanging from the rearview mirror.
As I got out of my car at school, I said hi to Carlie and Kayla Alan, my two best friends in the world, who were waiting for me as always, then I looked over and saw my amazing and very hot boyfriend Damen leaning against the hood of his silver Audi TT. I promised to see my friends in class and headed towards him. I finally made it to his car, where he took me in his arms and kissed my lightly in the cheek.
“Good Morning” He whispered.
“Good Morning” I whispered back while he lightly rubbed circles on my back.
“So Nikki, how would you like to come over to my parents place tonight, I was thinking I could make you dinner”? He asked.
“Are your parents going to be there”? I pressed.
“No, they’re going to be at some dinner, they won’t be home until late tonight”
I paused deliberating.
“Sure, I would love to come. I didn’t know you could cook though” I added.
“Well of course I can, I make for my family all the time” He responded.
“Oh, I had no idea” I said kind of surprised.
“Well, no matter we should probably get to class”
“All right, let’s go” I sighed.
School was slow as usual, but finally the last bell finally rang. I walked out to my car with Damen by my side holding my hand.
“So I will pick you up at 5:00, ok”?
“Alright Dame “. I said calling him by the nickname I gave him when we were first going out. We kissed goodbye and then went to are separate cars. As I got to my car and was unlocking the door, Carlie and Kayla pretty much popped out of now where, it was like they had just appeared.
“Hey Nikki” They both said at the same time. One thing you have to know about Carlie and Kayla; they are twin sisters, so they do that a lot. They may be twin sisters but they definitely don’t act or dress alike. Carlie has short brown hair with blond highlights, and she likes to wear dresses and jewelry to school, unlike Kayla who has long dirty blond hair, and her birthday is on Halloween. Isn’t that awesome? Since Kayla’s birthday is on Halloween, she has become obsessed with that particular holiday; I mean you know how much people love Christmas? That is how she feels about Halloween. She always wears black on her birthday, no matter what and she wears red lipstick almost every day, I mean she’s gorgeous so she definitely rocks it, but still, and then she is into all the designer clothes and shoes, so they are definitely totally different!
“Hi, girls” I replied.
“So Nikki we both saw you and Damen this morning, I can see that you two are still completely in love”? She laughed.
“Oh shut up’! I answered also starting to laugh.
“So are you two doing anything tonight then”? Carlie asked.
“Well Damen is going to make me dinner tonight at his parents’ house” I said.
“Well have fun”! Kayla said smiling.
“Thanks Kayla” I replied.
I got in my car as they walked away and started the car up, and then I got the line that was forming to get out of the overcrowded parking lot. I turned on the stereo as I drove.
Finally I arrived at our average size house and pulled into are black pavement driveway. I got out of the car and locked it then searched through my Gucci purse trying to find the house keys that had fallen off my keychain. I finally found them and unlocked the door and stepped inside. Once inside I immediacy knew that something was off about the house, it seemed to quiet. After a Minuit of trying to figure out what it was, I figured it out, my brother Jacob wasn’t here. He always gets home before I do, so that made me a little worried. I decided to call are mom to see if she might know where he might be. I ran to the phone and was about to dial my mother’s number when I saw a note leaning against a box of Cheese-its, the note was from Jacob. I put the phone down and read the note carefully. The note told me that Jacob was at some study group thing at school. That made me feel at least a little better. I still couldn’t get rid of this precarious feeling I was having. The next thing I did was call Damen.
“Hello” He answered surprisingly quickly.
“Hi” I said knowing that I sounded frightened.
“What’s wrong”? He asked immediately.
“I’m not sure” I answered.
“What is that supposed to mean”? He asked.
“I don’t know, but can I come over a little early, something doesn’t feel right about this house”?
“I guess so, would you like me to come pick you up”? Before I could even get any words in he said he said he would be there in less than 10 Minuit’s. I said ok and then the line went dead.
I hung up the phone and walked up the stairs to my huge bedroom. I opened my bedroom door and ran to my walk-in closet. I decided that changing was probably a good idea because I was wearing a skirt and heels. I traded my skirt for a pair of worn out jeans, I unbuttoned my button down and then tied, and then finally I found more reasonable shoes. Finally the doorbell rang; I took one last look at myself, and then ran downstairs to get the door. I t had to be Damen; I mean who else would it be?
I opened the door to find Damen standing there.
“Hello sweetie” He said adorable.
“Hi. So do you want to go, I’m all ready”? He looked at me for a Minuit before he spoke.
“Can I look around a little bit”? He asked.
“Why”? I asked confused. He didn’t answer so I said he could. He then searched what seemed like every square inch of our house. I just watched as he moved around the room, looking in the T.V. room and then the kitchen and then he was finally backed at my side again.
“Nikki, I think someone has been in your house” He nearly shouted, getting angry.
“What are you talking about, nobody has been our house” I told him, trying to calm him down at least a little bit.
“You’re wrong Nicole, I can smell it” He said getting even angrier. He was actually starting to scare me, Damen never got mad.
“Wait….What…How…What…”! I stammered confusion.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter! Let’s go”! Damen said smiling but the smile didn’t reach his eyes, his eyes looked frightened. He took me by the hand and led me to his car and we were on our way to his house.

















*






*







*



“So how did you like dinner”? Damen asked.
“Delicious” I answered.
We walked into the living room hand in hand. He led me to the couch, and we sat down. He pulled me close and began to kiss me. After what seemed like a really long time he slowly pulled away.
“Wow” I said panting. After a little while later Damen decided it was time to take me home. We walked out to his car and he drove me home. We finally pulled into are driveway. He pulled the car to a stop then got out and went to open my door for me, we kissed goodbye and then he left.

I walked inside and yelled “I’m home”! I walked in to the living room to find both my parents sitting on the couch crying.

“What’s going on”? I asked. Neither of them responded to my question. So I tried again. “What’s going on”? I said a little louder. Finally my mother tried to answer me but it came out so jumbled that I couldn’t quite understand it. “Mom, what’s going on, I can’t understand you”?
Finally she said “your brother is dead Nicole” in whisper.
“No, he can’t be”! I yelled in denial.
“But he is sweetie, we found him on the floor of his room” My dad said in a barely audible whisper.
“Dad”! I began to sob. I ran to my parents and we all sat there on the couch and cried. That was all we did that night, we didn’t talk or move or do much of anything. We soon all went to bed. I went to my bathroom and looked in the mirror, I looked terrible. There were black streaks down the sides of my cheeks from where my eyeliner had run. I washed off as much as possible then lay down in bed and started to think. How could something like this happen to her sweet, innocent little brother? While thinking all this through I eventually fell into a sleep with no dreams or nightmares, just nothingness, but that was I felt at that moment. Nothingness!
I woke the next morning like I hadn’t slept in weeks. Because of the terrible events that had gone on the night before I was allowed to stay home from school. As soon as I had heard that I could stay home, I immediately called Damen and told him about what happened last night. He then offered to skip school and stay with me. I said “I would love the company”
Damen came over a few hours later with a bouquet of flowers and an absolutely beautiful charm bracelet with me brothers name on it. The flowers were a beautiful bouquet of red and white roses, and the bracelet was silver with JACOB Written in the center in diamonds. I told him that I loved the gifts, then I hugged him, and I didn’t let go for a very long time, or so it seemed. After I hugged him the tears started to well up, I quickly tried to stop them. I put my hand to my hand to eye to see if any had already escaped, I looked at my hand and thankfully it was completely free of tears. I was glad because I really didn’t want to cry in front of Damen, because I knew that if I started to cry I more than likely wouldn’t be able to stop.
For about half the day me and Damen sat on are futon in the family room and talked. he tried to comfort me, but it wasn’t really helping. I mean he kept telling that everything was going to be ok, but nothing was going to be ok! My little brother was killed and I have no idea who did it or how it happened, nothing was going to be ok!!