Ah, what the hell, I'll put my effort at NaNo here, too. Just don't expect it to be any good.
Her Guardian
Chapter 1
“Yeah, it’s good to see you too,” a voice said. It was a woman’s voice, light and cheery but had a strained tone that showed something wasn’t quite right. The sound seemed diluted as though she were talking through a pane of glass. “No, everything’s alright,” she stated. He could tell there was a bit of a lie in that sentence. Something was bothering her but what it was couldn’t be nailed. It was a feeling of uneasiness and nervousness that stretched her smile thin. Anything that could be seen was distorted and fuzzy but there was a source of light right in front of her. It hugged her with warmth, something she needed. Maybe it was a person but people don’t usually glow. “I’ve missed you too, Dad. And there’s no need to worry. It’s just...”
Brown eyes flashed open in the suddenness of being awake but slowly closed to only half-circles as the drowsiness returned all too quickly.
I can’t believe I fell asleep, Alex thought to himself as his slumped body ungracefully rose. He let out a rather large yawn and brushed his blond bangs out of his eyes; though, they returned to the same spot after his hand let them fall. Alex Beelz, pronounced ‘BELLS’ and not ‘BEELZ’ which irked him slightly when mispronounced, looked around the small café where he had taken a little snooze. It was a regular looking place with white walls and white-tiled floors. He had seated himself at a tiny, two-chair table since he was by himself. The 19-year-old stretched and shrugged off the rest of the residue of sleep.
I’ve got to admit, it was a nice dream, he thought with a small smile,
That girl seemed really nice, whoever she was. Grabbing the cup of hot chocolate and swallowing the last bit that was in it, thankfully still lukewarm, he threw it in a trash can on his way outside.
December had set in on the city of Oakfield. Everyone who was outside was dressing in sweaters, long coats, gloves, scarves, two pairs of socks, whatever they could find to kept themselves warm in the 20 degree weather. Alex himself was wearing a pair of blue-jeans with a red turtleneck sweater under a large black leather jacket. His tennis shoes were faded around the edge, he had worn them for about the last two years, and had a pair of black cloth gloves. His blond hair was cut short except for the bangs which hung about halfway down his face and framed his brown eyes. Alex’s skin was lightly tanned with a few freckles. He supposed he was considered what would be cute but never really thought about it. Picking up girls was near the last thing on his list of things-to-do which said quite a bit since that list was quite small. The teenager was extremely laid-back and working him up over something was almost impossible. He also always wore a little half-smile on his face, another trait of his happy-go-lucky character.
Having nothing better to do, Alex traveled down the sidewalk to admire the cheery decorations. Christmas was only a week and a half away and every single store or restaurant had been covered in lightly and tinsel since the end of October. Lights of all colors, mainly green, red and white, flashed and sparkled. Garland and snowflakes with little crystals glistened while music, both from CD players and actual people, glided along the strands of air. Looking up at the sky, which was whitish-gray, promised that the fake snowflakes would soon be accompanied by the real thing. That was okay, though. Virtually everyone in Oakfield adored the white stuff. Snowmen, angels, crosses, and Santa Clauses hung in window sills and doorways. A few tricky shops had even dangled mistletoe above their doors, an embarrassing surprise for people who thought too long about whether or not they wanted to enter.
The holiday always managed to cheer Alex up as well as about everyone else. People always seemed to act nicer and more friendly when Christmas knocked on the door.
“Peace on Earth and good will towards men,” he thought. That phrase certainly did fit mid-December. A man in a Santa Claus suit dinged a bell as Alex walked past, a small, red bucket sat beside him.
Sorry, he apologized silently as he walked by,
I’d give you some just for sitting out in the cold if I had any. The cement was only slightly crowded, it was 12:40 so most people were sitting in some café like the one he had slept in. Apparently, it was crowded enough as someone, another man, bumped into Alex. It was a rather large jolt but the stranger just kept on walking as though Alex didn’t exist. The teenager gave a quick glare but then shrugged and walked on,
I guess some people still can’t get into that good ol’ Christmas joy.
Taking a small detour, the leather-coated guy walked into an old-fashioned toy shop. It was stockpiled with wooden toys of animals and people. A train choo-chooed its way around a track that was suspended above the heads of customers. A spiced apple scent danced through the air, either they were burning a candle or had some cider hidden in the back room that stores always have. Alex picked up a small, wooden clown and examined with his characteristic half-smile.
I remember getting a toy like this for one of the many Christmases. I broke it about three days later, he chuckled,
I was just a little rough with my toys. I only cried a little about it, though, because then I had a toy with a removable head. It certainly didn’t take much to keep me entertained. Ah, he did have some good memories about his parents and childhood. He put the wooden clown with its wide, slap-stick grin back on the shelf and exited the novelty shop.
By now, the sky had taken all it could and small, white forms where slowly falling to the ground. A little crystal landed precariously on Beelz’s nose and melted into water and dropped off. It tickled. Now, to waste more time, he decided what shop he should grace with his presence next. Oakfield was one of those cities that had started out as a small town and had never left that behind when its population soared. The inner city was all brick shops that were around 100 years in age and filled with wooden rooms. Tourists loved the quaintness and flocked to Oakfield year-round. All the name-brand superstores and factories where on the outer rim so as to not take away from the small-town center. He suppose the people of that time when the big companies wanted to come in had panicked and put them as far away as possible so they couldn’t interfere with daily life. Small towns did act nervous when something came in that wasn’t there originally or wasn’t the norm even if it had started there.
Growing up here wasn’t exactly what I would call pleasant, he thought absentmindedly but stopped in mid-stride when what he had said actually hit his mind.
Well, it wasn’t that bad. I wasn’t popular but I wasn’t miserable, either... Was he?
No, I wasn’t miserable, he asserted,
I never remember getting picked on at school or being isolated because of my family... Finally, Alex shrugged and let the thought go. Arguing with yourself wasn’t the best thing to do, especially if your standing smack-dab in the middle of an increasingly crowded sidewalk. He was somewhat surprised he hadn’t been run into like before.
The teenager quickly stepped inside another shop, the end-lunch rush started to get to him. This place was serving apple cider and he picked up one of the styrofoam cups. He took a small sip which was enough to warm him right down to the toes. Free stuff like this never fails to attract people, Even if they don’t buy something, it’s still nice to have some customers in the shop at all times. No one likes to be alone. Taking another swig, he looked at some of the Christmas CDs on sale with mild interested. They were all common songs like ‘Deck the Halls’ or ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas’ or ‘Silent Night.’ Stuff that you heard all time from carollers or on the radio. Another part of the shop was dedicated to Christmas paintings. Snowy landscapes, couples skating on a frozen pond, baby Jesus in his manger with Mary, and several others. All oil paintings with golden frames that sold for about 50 dollars. People, mainly tourists, would buy almost anything just to have it. One picture, a small girl sitting on her dad’s lap while he read her a story, caught his fancy.
Cute, he decided with a comforting grin and was almost sad to leave it sitting in the store without an owner.
Alas, the curse of being completely broke, he said with theatrical drama.
The sidewalk was still crowded as he left but not nearly as bad as before. Manageable, anyway. Crystal of white still danced down to the stony ground, slowly covering up the gray with their purity. Alex let out a bored sigh, his breath condensing and traveling in little wisps.
Well, I suppose this is what I get for having nothing better to do, he thought with irony. Having no worries was nice but boring as dirt. Seeing an empty, wooden bench, the teenager lazily flopped down on it. His mouth let out another large yawn,
You’d think I didn’t sleep a wink last night, and stared at people with a glazed-over look.
Bet I resemble a zombie from one of those cheap horror flicks, he mused with a slight laugh. Second by second, his consciousness surrendered to the sleep that marched on with rifles loaded.
Traitor, he scolded as the blissfulness couldn’t be resisted. As his head slumped, he wasn’t sure whether or not someone was talking to him or if it was just a simple dream coming on...
“It’s just I don’t like this town. I hate it, really. But I just had to come back and see you.”
~
Word Count - 1703