1 Chapter 01 - A tomboy in my life

Hum... How do I even start to tell this story?

Well, I think a great way to start is by talking about the day that she arrived and changed my life... for the first time.

My name is Evan Dias. I'm an extremely pale boy, nowhere near what you could call "strong", and my hair is a mess like no other. Even still, I'm kind of athletic; No one climbs a tree faster than me. You know, besides monkeys and... A-anyway, in my neighborhood, I'm the greatest.

This little weird ability of mine of tree climbing came to be because of my school "friends", which frequently made fun of my appearance, and regularly chased me. I started becoming really good at running away. But I can't blame them for doing what they did, I'm a pretty weird boy, always was. My periorbital dark circles are envied by many.

It's an addiction at this point, staying up late on my cellphone watching videos about monsters, legendary creatures and stuff like that. I've been doing this for years, and I guarantee that I know the name of almost every creature in history. Greek, japanese, roman, irish... You name it, I name it. The time or the place don't really matter to me, I just obsess over it all.

I always had a particular interest in vampires, but that's beside the point.

My real life, in general, was basically that. I got bullied, I studied monsters, had no friends. They were... times. Not good, not bad, just... times.

But, when I was twelve, something amazing happened. Someone moved to the apartment right in front of mine.

That someone was odd, to say the least. She had beautiful dark short hair, that was incredibly messed up, with bangs going every which way. She dressed like me, totally lazy-like: A simple, but huge shirt and some shorts were enough for that girl, that went everywhere in her flip-flops.

When I saw her, my heart skipped a beat. I didn't understood that feeling at first, but I knew she was someone special. And special she was: Twelve years old, and she already lived by herself. She said she usually got some money from her dad, and that she knew how to take care of herself. Even though I never saw her eating of her own accord, nor drinking anything beyond some weird flasks. She told me they were magic potions, which always confused me. Even though she said the "potions" feed her, she usually liked to try anything I was eating.

Rewinding time a little bit, a few days after she moved, I still hadn't spoke to her, because I was shy. But everything changed on the first school day of the year, when the girl (that actually looked a lot like a boy) arrived with a backpack in my class.

"Class, give a warm welcome to our new student, Alice!" said the teacher.

"Woah, she looks like a boy!" said one of the girls.

"She's actually really pretty." I heard one of the boys behind me say.

The girl didn't seem to be shaken by any of those comments, and started walking with an unshakable smile towards the desks. But, when she way me, she let out a little happiness shriek, which caught everyone by surprise.

"He lives in the apartment in front of mine!" yelled Alice, while she sat in the desk next to mine.

The class was silent for a few seconds, since even the teacher was a little confused. But then, she started class, and Alice immediately started talking with the weird boy that lives in the apartment in front of hers:

"Hey! Name's Alice, what's yours?" asked her, giving her hand.

"Hum... Evan. Name's Evan." I replied, shaking her hand.

We ended up having a really funny conversation during class, to our teacher's displeasure. But, deep down, she was happy that the new student already had someone to talk to, I'm sure of it.

A few days after that, and we were still talking. I was never a really talkative boy, but there was something in that girl that made me never want to shut up. She was a bit of an airhead, but she was incredibly funny to have around.

One day, I brought a magazine about vampires to school, because she told me she would have to skip class that day, and I needed something to keep me entertained while she was gone.

Alice ended up going anyway, and saw the magazine. She went nuts:

"WOAH! YOU LIKE VAMPIRES?" yelled her, with an even bigger smile than normal.

"Of course! They're my favorite legendary creatures!" I replied, happy to find out Alice liked monsters as well.

"... Legendary?" asked her, her smile turning into confusion.

"Well, yeah. Legendary. Like... you know, legends? They don't exist. But man, how I would like that they did exist! They could suck your blood, but imagine it, being able to fly! To live forever! And my pale skin would actually make sense!" I told her, laughing.

Alice was even more confused. Since the day I met her, I never saw her smile vanish completely from her face, so I got a little worried, thinking if I said something that could've offended her.

But, after a few seconds of thinking, Alice went back to a smile, and said:

"I'm glad you like them that much!"

And now I was the one confused, but I decided to keep the conversation going, and we talked for a while, without much worry.

But, that afternoon, something incredible happened.

After class, Alice and I got out of school together, like usual. But Alice, with money in her hand, asked me to wait for her, that she would buy popsicles for us. I've found all of that weird, because she generally doesn't get too interested in food like that, unless I'm already eating it. But I ended up accepting the offer, and waited for her, while I watched her crossing the street and getting into a store.

But, before Alice came back, three big boys surrounded me.

"Look, dude, get away from Alice" said one of the boys. He was fat, big, and had a terribly ugly short hairdo "I like her, and I want to talk to her, but she never lets go of you!"

"I'll not let you talk to her, forget it!" I replied, bravely. I couldn't let a bunch of brutes take away the only friendship I've ever made in all of my school years. Of course, I was shaking like jello, my voice cracked a bunch of times during that small phrase, and I would get beat up badly for sure, but I was ready to face the consequences.

The bully pulled me, together with his two friends, to an alleyway in the corner of the school, and I was ready to get beat up. I tried to release myself, and I got a nasty punch in the stomach. When I couldn't even remember my own name because of the pain, I heard someone screaming in the entrance of the alley:

"HEY!"

All of us turned around to see who it was, and, to my surprise, it was Alice. She put the popsicles in the pockets of her shorts, and yelled:

"Let him go!"

The boy that said he liked her decided to talk:

"Look, babe, I just wanted to talk to you! If you promise to unglue from your little dumb friend for a few days, we can let him go."

Alice gave a mean kick on the brute's face, which made him fly to the wall; he was knocked out.

The two that were left released me, making me fall to my face, and went to help their friend.

When Alice started walking towards me, one of them tried punching her.

Bad idea.

Alice dodged easily the boy's fist, and used his own arm to throw him over her shoulder, making him fall on his back on the ground, with a loud "OUCH!". The third one decided to run way from the alley, but Alice got him by the collar, pulling him towards herself.

"You never, ever lay a finger on Evan again, got it?" she said, with the most aggressive tone I've ever heard her use.

The boy nodded, and Alice let him go.

Walking towards me again, she gave me her hand, and helped me get up. From her pocket, she took out a broken popsicle and gave to me, saying:

"Sorry... I was so caught up in the moment, I ended up destroying it, hehe."

Tears started rolling up, and I hugged my savior.

I had no idea why or how Alice seemed to so strong she could throw one hundred and fifty pound boys like they were teddy bears, but I was so glad she showed up.

And that was how we lived our lives for about five years.

We were inseparable. We spoke gibberish together, walked around together, studied together (she wasn't what you can classify as a "good student", so I had to help her a lot). They were the best years of my life, for sure. And, with her by my side and the reputation she got after she beat up those boys (Along with some new ones, that didn't get the memo), no one even thought about messing with us. I was free to dedicate all my time to Alice.

And I was falling in love with her by the second.

I, sadly, never told her, even though I tried lots of times. Something always stopped me... like my fear of the things changing if I said anything.

One day, in the park, we were dipping our hands into the fountain water, just for fun, and she let out this question:

"Hey... do you like someone, Evan?"

I looked at the water, and started thinking. With a know on my throat, I decided to say "You." But as soon as I turned my head to answer her, she celebrated:

"I found a coin in the fountain!"

So I decided to let that for another time. I mean, she lived in the apartment right in front of mine, I had all the opportunities in the world!

—_____________________________________________________________________

Alice frequently went to my apartment, be it to make school projects or just to talk while we played videogames. In the beginning, she was horrible, but then, shortly, she started beating me in every game we played.

They were good times.

The only weird thing in all of that is that she only passed through my doorway after asking "Can I come in?", and I had to answer "Yes". It was a weird ritual, but that ended up becoming a joke to us.

My mother, Sabrina, worked as a nurse in the night shift at the city's hospital, so during the day she was always there. She got along really well with Alice, because she said she was "special". And, like I said before, she's quite special.

She still drunk her "magic potions", although, now sixteen, she only calls them "potions". Me and my mom already gave up trying to understand her oddities, and I think she likes us even more for that.

Even though I listed a lot of those oddities, here are some more:

Every weekend she travels somewhere, and never tells me where; I went several times to her apartment, and never found food on her fridge, like she actually lives only with those potion things; and she really seems satisfied having me as her only friend.

She ignores every person that tries to talk with her, except for me. It's something really weird, but hey, no one besides her wants to talk to me, so I don't complain. During our time together, I ended up transforming her into another monster junkie, which made our friendship even more fun and special for me.

My world was perfect, and if everything kept on going like that, I would be the happiest person on Earth.

But, of course, things change. The world turns. The steak burns. The milk spoils. Nothing lasts forever.

On the start of a new year, our class changed a little. Luckily, Alice and I were still on the same class. But some huge new boys from another town moved here, and I knew they would bring trouble, because one of them looked directly at me.

I understand his line of thinking, since I spent a good time observing this kind of person. "He's a meek prey.", they think. "He must have money, it should be easy to take it from him and keep his mouth shut". This kind of thinking is normal to that kind of person.

And, when class ended, what I feared happened.

By an irony of fate, a new store opened up close to our school, and Alice wanted to buy something for me from it a lot. Because of the huge new brutes, I tried staying close to her, but in the sea of students getting out of school, I was pulled by the boys, and, by another irony of my old pal fate, I was taken to the same alleyway where I was punched a few years back.

But, this time, I was overconfident. I thought all these years had given me something else beyond hair in my armpits. Some hidden strength, some ultra instinct or whatever. I thought I could take care of one bully.

Man, how I was wrong.

"Give me your money, skinny." said the brute, that wore a camouflaged shirt with large pants. His hairdo was, actually, just a bunch of brown strands of hair going in every direction, which really brought up the ugliness in his face.

Myself, thinking I had evolved, decided to say:

"No freaking way."

"... You do know what'll happen if you don't give me your money, don't you?" he asked.

"Yup, I know" I replied "Bring it on."

The boy shrugged, and gave me a mean punch to the left cheek. I thought I could dodge it and give him a counter on his chin easily, but I wasn't as skilled as Alice was. But I knew I couldn't be protected by her forever, so I did my best to get up from the ground, even though I could taste the blood in my mouth, and the dizziness almost made me fall over.

I got up, and raised my hands, like a boxer.

"Bring it... on..." I said, the words hurting my mouth as they got out of it.

The boy sighed, and started walking slowly towards me, knowing I couldn't handle another punch. He pretended to punch me, and, a second later, my body tried to react, dodging a punch that wasn't even thrown. I walked slowly to the mouth of the alley, where Alice had appeared heroically that day. I was in the same spot she was, but in a really non-heroic way.

The mountain of ugly started walking again towards me, knowing he got himself a lunch money guaranteed for the afternoon by robbing me. But, in that moment, my body finally decided to react according to my courage, and I threw a punch in the face of the bully.

Of course, that wouldn't be really effective, because I knew my strength was all that impressive. But I ended up hitting his nose in a weird way, and, by sheer luck, I broke it.

"OUCH! WHAT DID YOU DO?" yelled him.

I didn't knew if I smiled or cried, because now I knew I wouldn't escape with less money, I probably would lose a few teeth as well.

But, as if she knew I was in danger, the most incredible person in my world entered the scene.

Alice, holding two bags with one hand, looked at the bully, who didn't knew exactly how to react.

But, after thinking about it for a few seconds, he decided to punch me.

That took even Alice by surprise, because she didn't knew that, at this point, there was someone stupid enough in that school to challenge her.

The punch was heavy, and hit me in the left cheek again. The blood ended up splashing on Alice's face, and I fell to the ground. I was dizzy, but I still could see what was going on, and I never saw Alice so... furious.

She got mad the first time we were in this alley, but this was pure rage. Her eyes shone with an almost murderous intent. I just managed to see her holding the bully up by the collar with one hand, far from the ground, and, after throwing him in the air, she gave him a powerful kick in the stomach. If I hadn't moaned and got her attention, I think that boy would've kicked the bucket.

When she heard my pain moan, Alice kinda woke up from her trance, even though she was still a little weird. She took me in her arms with an incredible ease, like my body was as heavy as a piece of cardboard, and ran towards our building.

When we arrived, she knocked on my door, and, when my mother answered, she explained what happened.

But... her voice sounded weird. It was lower than normal, like her voice was hoarse. I didn't mind that much at the time, because I was really dizzy, but that was just a warning for the things that would come.

My mom, a nurse, after examining me for a little while, had no more worries. I hadn't broke anything, just took two punches to the face, nothing out of the ordinary. She gave me some ice, and a piece of gauze for the cuts on the inside of my cheek.

"Getting into fights is not nice, Evan" said my mom "But I know you're not one to do that. It doesn't matter what happened, I'm just glad Alice was around at that time, or something worse could've happened."

"Well, it wasn't entirely the fault of who punched me..." I explained "But I wouldn't give my money away for nothing."

"You did good, son."

And after this brief conversation, I went to my room. I decided to play some videogames, to see if I could ignore the pain.

I couldn't.

The pain in my cheek was only overshadowed by the pain of me being such a wuss. Both were annoying me a lot, but both of them were giving place to my worries about Alice's situation. She was acting really weird.

I decided to go to her apartment, to talk to her as soon as I got a little better from all that. I could talk, but it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

But, as I was playing, I ended up wasting my whole afternoon. When the Sun was setting and my mom got ready to go to work, I ended up sleeping.

—_____________________________________________________________________

I had no idea what time it was, but a strange noise woke me up.

The swell in my cheek was gone, but it still hurt a little. I sat on my bed, trying to process what had happened before I went to sleep.

Then I was pulled from my thoughts by the noise again.

A "knock knock", loud and persistent. I got up, ready to open the front door.

"It must be Alice... but at this late at night?" I thought "She must be really worried."

But, as I went to pick up my flip flops, I heard the noise again, and realized no one was knocking on my door, and instead, they were knocking on my window.

That wouldn't be that out of the ordinary. If I didn't lived on the third floor of a building, of course.

I went to the window, assuring myself I was imagining things. But, when I opened the curtains, I screamed, and fell on my butt.

"Hi, Evan!" said Alice, her eyes shining red, while she float outside my window "Can I come in?"