Green Eyed Umm okay I'm new to opuss, so this is kind of a work in progress (is this app similar to wattpad in any way?) Prologue Emma- Empty. That's the only way to describe how I felt for ten long years. I still found it difficult to comprehend the truth: that I had one parent. Not even that, really. Dad is all but gone. Since my mother's brutal death, the man has been drastically changed. I guess losing the love of your #life does that to you. Breaks you, twists your mind beyond repair. Causes you to lock yourself away in your office and leave your then four year old daughter alone in the world. Well, not completely alone, I suppose. There would always be Nat. My father used to be a great man. Back in the days of his youth. But now he was nothing. I remember the day he changed- I was with my mother when it happened. I remember every detail. The blinding light. Mum's piercing scream. The room collapsing around us. And then Dad burst in- screaming her name, trying to shake her back into the land of the living. It's not really the sort of thing you forget. Despite being four, I knew the difference between #life and death. And seeing the cold #lifelessness in the person I loved more than anyone was clearly enough to drive anyone mad. Nat always said I deserved credit- I had managed to stay together thought it all. I hadn't retreated to a #life of solitude, nor did I break down in fits of sobs. My argument was that I was too young to understand the extent of it all; not quite grasping the concept of her being gone, forever. But Nat and I both understood that this wasn't true. Mum's funeral, walking up the church aisle, I remember that all too well. Clutching a half-wilted tulip in one hand, and holding Nat's trembling one in the other- because they were good friends, so I believe, and Nat was deeply saddened by her death, though not as much as Dad and I. Climbing those steps to where she lay wearing her best dress, the shimmering purple one that I had adored, as beautiful in death as she was in #life. That walk back down the steps was unbearable, hearing the pitiful whisperers of my parents' friends and family, most of which I would never know, yet somehow they knew me well enough to understand my innermost feelings. "I feel sorry for the girl, to lose a parent at such a young age..." "...The child will go mad, like her father. Just you watch..." "....Poor kid. All of this, after what happened to them last year... such awful luck for one so small." It took me a very long time to realise this, but I understand now that it wasn't just bad luck. Because of what my family are, and who I am. Of course, at the time that this whole thing started, I had yet to discover the truth. I didn't like it, but as a great person I know once said, "The truth might hurt, but pain is sometimes necessary." Do I agree with this? No. Not really. No one deserves to feel the pain that we did. But I can see how some people might choose to live by this. Anyway, it was ten years before I plucked up the courage to sort things out.But enough about me and my slowly-dying father. This story isn't about me. It's not even about my dad. It's about him. The boy who changed my #life, just before everything in it was taken away. Thomas Herring. He's the important one. Not just to me, but to a lot of people. It wasn't hard to find his address and his number. I toyed with the idea of meeting him for a while, but when Nat informed me that he was in danger, I saw it as a chance to help/talk to him. And he needed to know everything. Why he was important. Who I was. What was going to happen to us both. So here we go. I slowly picked up the mobile and dialled in the number. I was hesitant to press 'call' but Nat yelled at me that there wasn't much time left until the monster found its way into his home. So I couldn't put it off much longer. The phone rang twice and then someone answered. This was it. My heart hammered. "Hello?" I asked. ................ 1- Tom- I had always known how different I was. Perhaps not extraordinarily different; but I stuck out enough. For a start, there was my appearance: my eyes were a vivid green- too bright, really, they could be very unnerving, so I was told. Of course, this had its advantages. I could pull off such an intimidating glare that it almost made up for my lack of height. My hair was a messy affair; charcoal grey in colour, almost black. It stuck up in uneven tufts, and no amount of hair gel seemed to hold it down. And maybe I was attractive- I don't know- that sort of thing had never really mattered to me. It would explain how my female classmates seemed bizarrely interested in me. It made no sense, as I never spoke to anyone much at all. Whatever they saw in me was a mystery. Anyway, none of the girls were my type, so to speak. However, this sort of thing didn't make me different. It was my apparent memory-loss that was strange. What I mean is, most people can remember being really young, three or four years old. But I couldn't remember anything at all before I reached the age of five. There was probably nothing worth recalling, though. I was adopted, abandoned by my parents at a few weeks old. Whoever they were, I don't care- they clearly didn't care about me. I don't remember the orphanage at all, so it can't have been great. According to the Internet it was closed down five years ago for health and safety reasons. Kerrie and Michael Herring rescued me when I was almost five. They were nice, yes, but perfectly normal, although this was by no means a bad thing. Kerrie was, at the time of my adoption, expecting twins, though she only found out a few months later. Maddie and Josh were like smaller versions of their parents. It was very obvious that we weren't biologically related. They all had brown hair and eyes so I stuck out like a sore thumb even in my own family. Of course, I had no idea what my parents looked like. Sometimes I wished that I could remember something- anything- about them. It was not love or longing, just curiosity. However, there were no photographs of them anywhere. If there were any at the orphanage I wouldn't have known, because it felt like there was a huge block in my brain. I tried and tried to remember things from being little, but it was no use. Not even a hint of an old memory surfacing. I overheard Kerrie once noting on how I never acted normally for my age. I guess this was true to a degree. The usual hobbies that someone in my year tended to do just didn't interest me. And while school itself bored me, I thought it was kind of important to learn things. And I was smart. The teachers passed me off as one of the quiet ones, and most people decided I was cold and unfriendly. In reality, I just never had anything to say in class. Small talk seemed a little trivial, and I never had much in common with everyone else. I wasn't the popular one, though of course I had a few friends. But it irritated me when Kerrie said I was 'not normal' because, of course, there was no such thing as normal- at least, that's what I'd thought. However- if you're not particularly similar the majority of people your age, you are branded as many things; a loner, a nerd, a freak, or just 'not normal'. I'd been called all of these things at least once. Not quite an outsider in the school community, but just... different. It was obvious what the kids in my year said behind my back but I tended to just ignore it. Whatever anger I might have been feeling at that moment would usually subside quickly, and I told myself that there was no shame in being unique, one of a kind. But I never knew just how 'one of a kind' I was until that day- the day my #life changed forever. It started off dull enough; a Wednesday in the middle of April. School had been uneventful. The twins were downstairs playing on the computer. I was attempting to tackle the endless mountain of homework on my desk. Michael, Mick as he was known, was at work. Kerrie was out shopping. She'd recently developed a thing for pineapple, which was great, but not in large doses. It had been added to our list of essentials, along with milk and bread. The pineapple obsession was the most noteworthy change to our lives, to be honest. Ridiculous in itself, but kind of entertaining. Maths wasn't difficult, but it was still taking a while to get through the problems. Bored, I put down the pen and headed down the stairs to check on the twins. I was supposed to be watching them while Kerrie was out, after all. They were still in the living room, almost exactly how they'd been an hour ago- playing video games. Two zombie-like figures transfixed on the television, their faces illuminated by the screen. I wasn't needed in any way here, so I stopped procrastinating and reluctantly headed back upstairs. At that point the phone rang. I didn't expect either of them to acknowledge the ring, but I heard Maddie pick it up and put it to her ear a second later. "Hello?" I raced to the hall, where the other phone was, but Josh beat me to it. Snickering, he listened in on the conversation. "What?" Maddie asked the caller, "You want to talk to my brother? Okay." Maddie appeared in the doorway and handed me the phone. "A girl," She announced, "Who wants to talk to you." I raised my eyebrows at the two children in front of me. "She said it's important and you need to answer right away." Maddie insisted. "A girl? Are you sure?" "Yeah." Maddie said, tucking her mousy brown hair -exactly the same shade as her twin brother's- behind her ear. It was sweet the way she did it, trying to act so grown up. I wished she would just enjoy being young. I knew for a fact there would be plenty of time for her to act grown up later. The next thing I know she could be borrowing Kerrie's make up and prancing around in high-heeled shoes. I ran through a list of all the girls I knew in my head. Not many. Well, I knew a lot from school but not well enough to call friends. I decided it must be Izzy. But she never called. She preferred texting. So why call now, and what was so important about it? "Is she your girlfriend?" Josh asked me, "The girl on the phone? Izzy's your girlfriend, right?" They knew Izzy and I were just friends. The twins took delight in winding me up. I suppose to them, it was just a fun game. Well, two could play at that. I was prepared to tease either of them about their crushes- I had secretly bribed each twin to reveal the other's secret using chocolate. "No, she's not." I said calmly. "You sure?" Maddie asked in a singsong voice. She giggled, waiting for me to take the bait. No. I had to ignore her, otherwise it would be one point to them, zero to me. She wanted me to get mad with her, but I was perfectly capable of keeping my cool. "I think I'd remember if I had a girlfriend." I said as calmly as possible. Maddie was obsessed with the idea of relationships. Apparently as soon as she's old enough she wants a boyfriend. She seemed to think it would make her cool. I wasn't sure she understood the whole point of this, but, she seemed happy to fantasise about it, so... "You sure you're sure?" She smiled sweetly, "You're really sure?" She knew she was annoying me, she knew I was on the verge of yelling at her to shut it. I felt my rage boiling. Don't yell, I thought, don't let her win. But I couldn't help it. I got irritated at the most insignificant of things, really, it was a pain. But for the twins it was just entertaining. "Just give me the phone, Maddie." "Nope!" She giggled and ran upstairs with it. I chased after, Josh grabbing my left leg to slow me down. This was no time for a game; whoever it was on the end of the phone- Izzy or otherwise- would be getting impatient. I followed my sister into my room, where she'd retreated, while dragging Josh across the floor. I chased her round the room, which didn't take long because my bedroom was approximately the size of a postage stamp. She laughed as I tickled her in the ribs- it was her only weak spot. Through peals of laughter she begged me to stop. In defense of his sister, Josh let go of my leg and rugby tackled me from behind. The three of us fell backwards, laughing. "Still want the phone?" Josh snickered as his sister tried to pick herself up of the floor, giggling and smiling. I seized the phone from Maddie's grasp and put it to my ear. "Hello?" I called down the phone, getting up off of my floor, helping the twins up. "Thomas Herring?" The voice didn't belong to Izzy. It was not her familliar cockney accent, but a voice I didn't recognize, clear and sweet. The speaker must have been a young woman, she sounded fairly mature. But more importantly, she knew my name, which was odd. "Yes?" I replied. Suddenly her tone became urgent. "Listen, you need to get out of there." "What?" Get out of where? "Um, there's a lot I should explain, and I really can't do it over the phone. But you need to get out of that house and away from those kids. Listen, this is going to sound really odd but all three of you will be in danger if you stay." "What? Why?" Who was she, and how were we in danger? There was a frustrated huff on the other end of the line, and the woman- or girl, I wasn't sure- answered. "Okay, please believe me. There's something headed for you." "Me?" "Mmm. For you, not for those twins. If you leave, they'll be safe." "What do you mean by 'something'? And why me?" "Like I said, there's a lot I have to explain. Trust me, though, if they get caught up in any of this it will be very, very bad." Caught up in what? At that moment I heard Kerrie's car pull up on the pavement. I was no longer required to supervise them. My babysitting duties were over. So I could, if I wanted, leave. I was still unsure if the caller was telling the truth, but the urgency in her voice was real. Hearing no answer from me, she began to plead. "Please. We don't want innocent people getting hurt. Just go- say you're meeting a friend or something- I don't know- and wait by the end of the road." Innocent people? So was I not one of them? At any rate, if there was a chance the twins would be hurt, I needed to leave. "Okay. The end of the road. But if you're lying-" "I'm not. Run as fast as you can." "From what?" "I'll explain when you get here. It'll follow you, and leave your family alone." Having made up my mind, I ran down the corridor- nearly stepping on Josh's Lego- down the stairs and into the front hall of our small, cluttered house. "See you later, guys." I called up the stairs, too much in a hurry for a real goodbye. I fumbled with the lock and swung open the front door to see Kerrie, weighed down by shopping bags. "Is it okay if I go round Marcus' for a few hours?" Kerry thought for a moment. "Fine. But don't be back late, there's school tomorrow. And tell Isabella hi if she's there. Oh and It's cold, you might need a jacket-" I pulled on a tattered hoodie and ran as fast as I could down the street, leading a mysterious something away from my family. I reached the end of the road in no time, but I was alone. The streets were deserted. Was this all a trick? I clenched my fists in annoyance. I was about to head back when I caught a flash of red hair out of the corner of my eye. "Tom, right?" The caller's voice, full of excitement. "You came." I nodded. "So what am I running from?" "A monster." I turned to see the face of the caller. She was younger than I'd envisioned, my age, it looked like. Immediately I saw how beautiful she was. Wow. Her face was just perfect. Heart-shaped, pale ivory skin and bright pink cheeks. But it was her eyes that I couldn't help but stare into. They were a shade of light purple, reminding me of those little Japanese flowers, orchids, they're called, I think. However, there was something familiar about her. A strange sense of deja vu in my head. I knew I'd met this girl before. I would definitely remember a face like hers. Was she a child actress on TV? Could be, with that face. For a while we stood there staring at each other silently which got kind of awkward, and then the girl spoke. "Tom, listen. This must all be very confusing but I can assure you that there's a good reason for me calling you." That's all very well, I thought, but you seem to know who I am, while I have no clue who you are. "Uh, excuse me but... what's your name?" Her cheeks glowed a deep crimson. "Emmeline. My name is Emmeline." Her name was as beautiful as she was. And I could have sworn that I'd heard it before. "That's quite unusual. Nice, though." "Um, well, Emma for short..." I barely heard what she was saying. Her eyes were far too distracting. Why were they purple? It must be rare; I'd never seen someone with purple eyes before. Maybe she damaged them, but I didn't understand what sort of accident would result in that. Whatever happened to them, they were stunning. There was such intelligence and seriousness in them; I got the feeling that this girl was not your average teenager. She had seen things, I just knew it. Her fiery curls were scraped back into a ponytail, a few strands of hair hung loose in perfect waves. Her outfit was dull; plain blue jeans and a pink sweatshirt. Not the kind of thing you'd expect girls to wear, it seemed a little outdated. Not to mention the fact that they looked all wrong for her (I was no expert in clothes, though, so how would I know what was in right now?). But the drab outfit brought attention to her face, which was, I thought, a very good thing. She was quite short; the top of her head reached my nose. When she caught me staring she went even redder, and smiled- this beautiful, kind, shy smile. And at that moment I began to hate her. She was making me lose focus; her pretty face was a distraction. I never let girls distract me; I'd seen how fixated some of the boys in my year became around them. And vice versa, most of the girls were obsessed with boys. And though Marcus ridiculed me, I was not looking for a girlfriend just yet. "You're crazy," He would often say, "It's so unfair. You could have any girl you wanted, and yet you're not interested in any of them." The fact was, the whole relationship idea just didn't seem important right now. Marcus has had so many girlfriends. I lost track a few months ago. It never lasted. To tell the truth, I just don't want to become like him- obsessed with the opposite sex. And besides, I have this rule; I try not to judge solely on appearances, as Marcus often has. Most of the girls he'd dated had been as thick as the make up they plastered onto their faces. And I think that's why the relationships never lasted- there was nothing for them to discuss when they prised themselves away from each other's lips. Nothing interesting behind the pretty face. For this reason I felt as if it was best to judge on actions, not how attractive someone was. Of course, this went against human nature, it was kind of difficult not to like someone more because of how they looked- but I thought it might make me a better person. It hasn't worked so far. But here was this girl, trying to force me to break my stupid rule. Why did my heart tell me I liked her, when I had spoken to her all but once? One thing was certain about the girl; her face looked so familiar, I could have sworn that we'd already met. I was rethinking the actress theory; she seemed way too shy for that. Did she go to my school, then? I definitely would have spotted her. With that flaming red hair she would be visible from miles away. So why did it feel like I knew her? "Um, do I know you?" I asked, feeling a bit stupid. It was so cliché, and almost sounded like a chat-up line. "I don't think so." The girl was clearly confused. "I think... I would remember you." I shrugged. Maybe I didn't know her after all. And what had she meant by her last comment? She thought she would remember me? Why? Suddenly she jolted, as if remembering something important. "Thank you for coming here." "You're welcome, I guess." "Listen. You need to move." "But I kind of like my house, and I don't know what my- um, parents- will have to say about it." She rolled her eyes. "No, I meant move, as in from this spot." "Oh." I blinked, feeling stupid, "Right." "You came here, so I guess you trust me?" She asked. I shook my head. "No." She sighed as if I was being the irritating one. "Well you have to trust me now. There's a monster that's tracking you." "What? How?" "By scent, I think." "What sort of monster?" "I don't know. Probably a dangerous one. It sounds crazy but you need to come with me. Otherwise it won't stop until it finds you." "If it finds me, what'll this monster do?" I asked. I was still very skeptical about all of this. It sounded ludicrous. There were no such things as monsters. The girl- what was her name, Emma- tugged at my sleeve. "Come on, unless you want to be something's lunch." I had no time to consider going with her. The reason for this was the strange rustling from the hedge. Emma stopped suddenly. Her orchid eyes seemed distant for a minute. Like her pupils had disappeared, leaving just her irises. It was freaky, to say the least. I suddenly felt like I was alone, like the girl was gone someplace out of my reach. Strange. I waved a hand in front of her eyes. No response. "Emma?" I asked, "Emmeline?" She gasped, as if surfacing from water. "Oh no." She whispered, "Carceto..." "What? What's that?" After that it all happened very quickly. Emma crouched, pulling me down with her. She withdrew something from the pocket of her jeans. A loud hissing noise was emanating from the bush. The sound of twigs snapping could be heard. "Don't move a muscle." Emma hissed. Trying to stay as still as possible, I attempted to form a question that summed up all of this. "Emma- what's-" Suddenly it lunged at me. It was quite small, the size of a terrier. But no terrier was this deadly. I had no clue what it was; only that it'd latched itself onto my jacket with its teeth, clinging on relentlessly as I tried to shake it off. My efforts were in vain; the thing's teeth were like tiny razors. It had scales of a rusted gold colour, so I imagined it to be a reptile. Whatever it was, it was staring right at me. Small, beady yellow eyes, locked on mine. I felt a brush on my left shoulder and Emma swung round and hit the reptile on the nose with the baton-thing she'd had in her back pocket. The lizard hissed loudly; a noise of pain and anger. Tried to sink its teeth into my hand. I flung it backwards reflexively. Now that it was no longer clinging to my jacket, the force sent it flying; it slammed onto the brick wall on the other side of the road. I heard a crunch and a squeal, and then my attacker was no more. What used to be a reptile-creature was now a gooey mess of guts and brains on the side of someone's house. "What the actual heck?" I muttered to myself. I hastily looked around- had anyone seen our struggle? No, the streets were deserted. If anyone had witnessed it from their windows, they had turned away. Would they have believed their eyes? I certainly didn't. My brain hurried to look for a logical explanation, but found none. An abnormally large lizard, in the middle of my street? Which just so happened to be seemingly deadly, and attacked me? Had Emma actually been serious when she'd said it was a monster after me? For a while I was speechless, staring unblinking at the thing's remains. When I finally regained the ability to speak, there was only one question I had for the girl. "The heck was that?" I gasped. Emma smiled uneasily. "A Carceto." "And that is...?" "Okay, the short answer is it's a flesh-eating lizard." I nodded, as if this was just an interesting and harmless factoid, when in reality, the Carceto was a deadly creature that had left me slightly shaken. "Well, I'm glad it didn't eat any of our flesh." I murmured. "Hmmm." Emma was frowning. "It's strange though. They never grow that big, usually. Perhaps they were genetically modified..? Normally, they're only this big." She held her hands about six inches apart. Genetically modified? What was she going on about? "Was that the monster?" I asked her. "Yes. At least, I think so. It must be. Are you alright? It didn't hurt you?" I shook my head. "I'm fine." "Good." "Do I still need to go with you?" "Definitely. It's even more important that you come now. They know where you are. They might come looking for you..." "Who are they?" "An excellent question." "And... where did that monster come from?" "Another excellent question." "So are you going to answer me?" She smiled. I gritted my teeth when I felt my heart lurch. But she was just so pretty... It was hard not to feel like this. "Everything you want to know will be answered once we get there." "Where?" "Please, just follow me. You'll find out." I thought carefully about this. Emma seemed trustworthy. And the curiosity was building up in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't face saying no, and then going back to my ordinary, dull #life. This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. Ever. Kerrie wasn't expecting me back until later, so that wasn't a problem. Despite all this, there was a nagging in the back of my head. It was telling me that once I involved myself in whatever this was, there would be no way out. In retrospect, I should have paid more attention to that voice. pointed to the road up ahead. "Come on. this way." I followed, apprehensive, not sure what to expect. Why would the government want someone to find me? I was no one special, I hadn't done anything worth their attention. Well, that I could think of. I got into fights a lot at school, but I hardly think that made a difference to the whole country. And usually, I was the only one who ended up in danger.