Teen Ink

Chapter one: Painless

My life was simple, school, family, friends, and track. That was it. That is until things seemed to suck me in, and before I knew it, I was the black hole.
It started in the middle of sophomore year, the day I met him. People called him Lucy, but no one chatted much with him. No one really knew him, his family, or where he lived. And, the way Lucy’s eyes glowed sent shivers down me.
Lucy was a mystery, the kind I wanted to solve.
Half of our classes were the same, and we had relatively close last names, so we always sat near. I remember that he used to stare at nothing, like he left the world, but then he would smile, lost in his thoughts. He would then look at me. Goosebumps rose on my arms.
Time passed and the blistering summer came. One chill night, I was hanging out with my bestie, Taylor, at a local park. We suddenly noticed Lucy’s dark figure hopping from one shadow to another.
“Why is he…?” She wanted to ask.
“I don’t know.” My adventurous side came out, I guess, along with my stupidity.
“We should follow him!” I exclaimed while flying off my too-small-for-my-butt plastic swing.
“Sure,” Taylor replied, “we have nothing better to do.” She was more of a follower.
Choices. They make up who I was then, they choose other choices, and they could’ve held me back.
The air was crisp like biting into a fresh, green apple. It flowed into our lungs effortlessly; I could’ve run forever. We stalked Lucy past apartment buildings, stores and houses. Then he stopped.
Pure minds and pure hearts are two totally different things. The mind decides what will happen, and your heart drags the consequences.
What was my decision when I saw a body on the cement and Lucy pacing around it? What was Taylor’s? Well, I can tell you, Taylor skedaddled out. Deuces. Peace. Bye. Gone.
“I’m gonna go…” She whispered and left my side. She left me there. Alone. With him.
I crept closer, dodging his sight by crouching behind a ratty dumpster. The body was twitching! I gasped. He turned to my direction and grinned.
“Stop hiding.” He said in a low, smooth voice. His breath tickled my ear. My screech pierced the night. Lucy pulled me to my feet.
His touch, it was icy. Where his hand contacted my shoulders were tingly and numb. I squirmed away from him, though he didn’t fight with me. Then I sprinted to the body.
“He’s alive!” I yelled desperate, “Quick! Call an ambulance or something!!”
Lucy seemed to glide to me. “No need.” His warm, chocolaty voice reassured. He kneeled next to the nearly-dead boy, whose eyes were rolled-up, and shut the boy’s eyelids with his fingers.
“I’ll take away his pain.” He giggled.