Nobody is Normal

Prologue

”I’m doomed!”
The woman threw her hands up in exasperation; she had just learned something that would most likely ruin her life. There was a man sitting at the kitchen table, who slipped his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.
”Missy, there’s not much we can do,” he told her, looking totally helpless.
The woman, who was walking a little funny, paced back and forth.
”My father’s going to kill me,” she told him. He opened his mouth to say something else, but she cut across him. ”Robert, I’m going to be tortured! Murdered! Eternally punished! To put it in today’s terms, I’m screwed!” At this last part, Missy threw up her hands in defeat and stared, wide-eyed, at Robert. He merely stared back at her, his eyes beginning to water. Missy stepped forward, her arms wide—she, too, was tearing up. Robert stood up and embraced her, and they stood in their peaceful silence for a moment.
”I’m sorry,” he whispered to her. ”I knew who you were, and I didn’t stop. I’m sorry for doing this to you.”
Missy pulled back a little.
”It isn’t all your fault, though some is,” she teased. ”I messed up, knowing where I was coming from and what I believed in. I put myself in this mess, and I’ll get myself out of it.” Smiling up into his face, they looked into each others’ eyes. It was a long time before either moved or said anything. In the small apartment kitchen that Robert owned, hugging the other, wanting nothing more than to not have to worry about situations like these.
Just as the sun began setting, the girl stepped away.
”You know what we have to do,” she sniffed, not looking him in his blue eyes. He sighed, tucking a loose strand of her curly, brown hair behind her ear.
”You’ll get through this,” he promised her, making sure to look right into her green eyes. ”We’ll get through this, and we’ll help our child through this, too. I swear it on the River Styx.”
She smiled sadly at him, grabbing only a small bag from a chair at the table.
”That’s a dangerous thing to do,” Missy warned Robert. She took him in for the last time: his short, black hair, his pointed chin, his softly rounded nose, and his kind eyes. She had to leave, there was no getting out if it. Running over to him, she threw her arms around his neck and pecked his cheek.
”I’ll miss you,” she murmured. ”And I will never forget you, Robert.”
Tears now running freely down his cheeks, he hugged her tightly back.
”And I you, Artemis.”


I will actually be finishing this story. Yay for me! :D I found something that I can write about freely. Thanks to Moon for reminding me about my writing skills when it comes to this topic ^^’
PM or Comment in Feedback for criticism or whatnot

Sweat trickled down my neck. I wiped it away and glared up at the sun. The skies were clear, and there was no wind. Just the way I liked it. I pulled on my wrist guard, grabbed my bow, and nocked an arrow. I eyed the target, waiting for our signal.
Ah, how I hated middle school P.E. with its stupid uniforms and lamely put-together games and such. However, the one thing I did like was archery; it came naturally to me. My dad was never into athletics, and I didn’t know anything about my mom other than she had left when I was born and dumped me on my father’s doorstep, but whatever.
The teacher blew his whistle, and ten arrows shot through the air. It was obvious that these people had no talent: there were arrows on the ground feet in front of the target, and others had overshot, and still others only managed to hit the very corner of the marked square. I shook my head and chuckled to myself as my arrow flew straight and embedded itself in the direct center.
Everybody turned to glare as the teacher congratulated me on my “superb shooting skills.” I merely went and retrieved the arrow for the next person in line.
The rest of the class went by in a blur just like that. Finally, it was over and we were free to go change out of our itchy clothing that so much of us loathed. Walking alone, I hurried indoors. I quickly changed; I was excited for my afternoon. My dad had promised that we would go out to dinner at a nice restaurant, and he would tell me about my mom. I had never heard anything more than, “She’s a nice lady, but she was never destined to be a stay-at-home mom.”
As I pulled my backpack out of the locker, the end-of-day bell rang. Racing out, I ran up some stairs and down a hallway. I wasn’t watching where I was going, and ran into something. I mumbled an apology, without really looking, until I heard a voice say, ”Hey, Marie, just the girl I was looking for!”
My heart began racing a mile a second. No way could that be him, talking to me. He NEVER talked to people like me. But when I looked up, it was him: Ryan Schlevski, most popular guy in the 8th grade. Every girl had a crush on him, but he wasn’t into “every girl”; he was into Hilary Demont, the biggest Daddy’s-princess in the whole world.
”Why were you looking for me?”
I must have looked real worried, because he grinned reassuringly and said, ”Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. I just wanted to talk with you about. . something.”
Oh gods, something. I was absolutely terrified. How such a small word can be terrifying, nobody knows, but when Ryan put that emphasis on it, something became everything.
Together, we wandered away from the crowds of students hurrying home, excited for the sunny weekend. Finally, he pulled me behind a wall and glanced around, making sure nobody else could hear him.
”I need your help,” he asked, fear in his beautiful blue eyes. ”I’ve been. . seeing things, like strange monsters, and they’re all attacking me. I figured you could help me understand what they are.”
Wow. I saw what this was. Ryan figured I was such a huge nerd that I could tell him each individual monster, what it does, and even give him it’s power points or whatever. Well, he wasn’t getting any info out of—Wait. He said monsters. This guy needed to see a doctor, not a nerd.
”Umm, Ryan,” I ventured, hoping I would sound more gentle than blunt. ”Are you sure these monsters are real?”
His look was defiant, his expression suddenly firey.
”Would I get this from imaginary beasts?” he asked. He yanked up the front of his shirt, revealing a long, angry red cut, stretching from the navel to his ribcage. Looking frightened again, he put the shirt down. My face must have been something.
”B-but why do you think I would know?” I asked, not looking him in the eyes.
Again, Ryan looked around, making sure nobody was within hearing distance. I was leaning up against the wall, and he had his hand on one side of my head, supporting himself. Suddenly, I was extremely self-conscious.
He leaned in super close; our cheeks brushed.
”Because they sense you’re here,” he whispered.
Before I had the chance to ask what he meant, I heard a low, loud whistle.
”Hey Ryan, aren’t you moving a little fast there?”
It was his friends, coming to look for him. Growling, he took his hand from the wall and turned his back on me.
”Just asking for homework help, guys,” he informed them smoothly, but I knew it wasn’t going to work. They all laughed.
”Homework help with what, the science of kissing?” one asked.
A car horn honked from the parking lot, and my face burned.
”I have to go,” I muttered, and began walking off.
Ryan called out, ”Call me, okay? We really do need to talk!”
I waved my hand to show I had heard him as his friends all made catcalls and whistled as I stalked towards my waiting father. When I managed to yank open the passenger side door on his clunker, he asked, ”Who was that?”
Book bag first, followed by my feet, I climbed into my seat, then slammed the door shut, trying not to get angry or confused.
”He’s just. . a friend, Dad,” I told my father, pulling my seatbelt across my chest and buckling it into place.
Dad put the car into reverse and backed out of his spot.
”Sure looked like more than a talk,” he commented, as though we were discussing the weather.
”Look, he was acting really weird, and I don’t know what’s up with him,” I snapped. ”I don’t want to talk about it right now, so can you please not bring it up?”
For a moment, there was a tense silence in the vehicle, then cheerfully, my dad smiled, ”Alright, kiddo, we won’t talk about it right now. Besides, we have places to go, more important items to debate!”
That was the cool thing about Dad; he was always making life interesting, even at the darkest times. I can’t remember a time that I was ever bored around him.
”Right, sir,” I agreed, holding my hand up as though I had an invisible sword in it. ”Onward!”
We drove off, laughing, all the events of the past five minutes slipping from my mind, soon to be unburied once again.



PM me with any feedback you have. Thanks.