Dusk and Dawn

8/4/2019 Dusk and Dawn

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Dusk&

Dawn


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Chapter

1Dawn

he bright light woke me up. I looked over at the

calendar beside my bed. The first 23 days of the monthhave been already Xd out. I looked to the following square,

August 24, the one prettily decorated with pink sparkly markers by

my sister, Lexi.

It was her birthday, and she had been planning for it for

several months. It was mine, too. However, I lacked the

enthusiasm that she possessed. It was my 17th

birthday, and it was

in the middle of the school week. I mean having Mr. O deliberately

putting a physics test on my birthday was bad enough, but entering

the age of the magically cursed just made it ten times worse. I

mean everyone who has seen 17 Again would agree with me that

17 is a cursed number. To make things worse, our birthday was

also the same day that Mount Vesuvius wiped out Pompeii.

My Blackberry alarm rang with Well Be A Dream by WeThe Kings featuring Demi Lovato. It was 5:30 in the morning. I hit

snooze, and flung my gold and black blanket over my head. Lexi,

on the baby blue bed beside me woke with a yawn. Her eyes flew

to the calendar like mine, and then suddenly leapt out of bed. She


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jumped on top of me, and yanked off my blanket. She pulled me

into a tight embrace, crushing me tightly toward her.

CaCaCant BrBrBreath! I choked, but Lexi

ignored me.

Happy Birthday bro! she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Meanwhile I gave up struggling from her bear hug. Lexi was the

athletic one in the family, and I was the nerdy one. There was no

possible way for me to get out of her embrace if she didnt want to

let go. Luckily, she did.

Happy Sweet Sixteen? I replied. No wonder she was so

excited about her birthday, I mean which girl is not excited about

their Sweet Sixteen? I had completely forgotten about her Sweet

Sixteen. Luckily, I had picked out a Sweet Sixteen worthy present.

I cost me a whole year of allowance.

I pulled out a carefully wrapped box with silver ribbons

from under my bed. I handed it to her, watching the astonished

expression on her face as she ripped of the wrapping paper. It was

a personally customized Blackberry Torch, fully unlocked with

bling covering. Blackberries were a common interest that Lexi and

I shared. Ever since I got a Storm 2 for Christmas, Lexi couldnt

stop admiring the sleekness, and commenting how much she loved

it.

I love you! Thank-you, thank-you so much! she hollered

into my ear, and kissed me on the cheek. She used to do it in public

all the time, making me blush bright red. Although she doesnt do

it anymore, she loved doing it at home.


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Keep it down! I suggested, You dont want to wake up

mom.

Lex skipped over to her desk and booted up our shared

laptop, obviously wanting to install a hybrid before school. I laid in

bed thinking about random thoughts as they floated into my mind.

It was 16 years ago that our mom gave birth to Lex, and that was

the same night that our father left us. Mom gave birth to me a year

earlier, exactly 12 hours off from Lexi.

We started the tradition of giving gifts at the exact birth

time ever since we were 12, when we first got our allowances.

Thats why I woke up so early this morning. After all, I am not a

morning person.

Lexi disrupted me from my trance.

Allen, she called from her desk, come here.

I walked over to her desk as she disconnected the phonefrom the computer. She held up the phone and beckoned me

forward to take a snapshot. She leaned on my shoulder, and clicked

the shutter. When she flipped the phone around, I saw that we both

made silly faces; our messy chestnut coloured hair covered most of

the background. Lexi grabbed my phone and set the picture as both

our backgrounds.

Just wait for your present! she exclaimed, Youll love it.

I wont doubt your taste in presents. I agreed happily.

Lexi always picked the best presents. It wasnt always the most

expensive or the most popular, but you always love them. The


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silver-intricate phoenix necklace I always wear was a present from

her several years back. Lex also got herself a matching phoenix

attached to her bracelet. We never let them out of our sight.

Just slightly louder than a whisper, we hear mom calling us

from the kitchen downstairs. We raced down the creaky wooden

staircase and grabbed breakfast. I took a ham and cheese sandwich

and started munching while Lexi poured milk onto her bowl of

Lucky Charms cereal; mom ate almost nothing, only taking

occasional bites of food while she prepared our lunches. When

mom was done, she crammed our lunch into crumpled paper bagsand sat down at the table as we were finishing our last bites.

Whats with the smile? mom asked Lexi, slightly

confused. Youre grinning from ear to ear?

Bro just gave me this! she squealed, unable to resist her

joy. Lex held up her new Blackberry, reflecting light into the dark

corners of the room. I could tell that she loved it a lot.

Mom turned toward me with a frown. What did you do

that for? You think that were millionaires? Mom has been a little

stingy with money ever since dad left.

I mouthed the word thanks a lotto Lexi, and she stuck out

her tongue. She giggled as mom continued to stare at me.

Do you really not know what day it is? I questioned. I

could see Lex started brewing with anger as mom shook her head.

Apparently Lex had enough.


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You cant even remember the birthday of your two kids!

What sort of mom are you? Lexi yelled. She threw her cereal

bowl into the sink and stormed upstairs. A minute later, she hadher school bag on one shoulder and stomped out of the house,

exiting with a slam of the door.

I quietly stood up, walked to the sink, and hastily washed

our dishes and silverware. I rushed upstairs, muttering Im sorry

as I ran past mom; mom stood there immobilized. I grabbed my

backpack, pulled on my shoes and headed out the door. Lexi was

waiting for me outside the house, playing with her Blackberry. Iput a hand on her shoulder.

Lex, I started.

Yah? she replied quietly, and turned around to face me.

Give mom a break, okay? You have to understand that

being a single parent isnt all that easy.Its a lot of pressure for her

to watch over both of us, and doing two jobs. I explained

sympathetically. Its okay if shes angry with me.

Im so sorry, Allen. You gave me such a great present and

you got in trouble for that. Lex was on the verge of tears.

I pulled her into a hug and whispered, Its okay. I made

the money I bought the cell phone with. She cant give me too hard

a time about that. Come on. We better start walking, or else wed

be late.


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We started walking toward school hand in hand. Lexi was

silent for the whole time, still blaming herself for the trouble that

she caused.


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Chapter

2Predator

r. Os physics test was a breeze; I handed the test in

after 10 minutes. After getting permission, I headeddownstairs to get a head start on my teacher-aid

assignment. After taking AP biology with her,

Ms. Nivitz trusted me to do all her grading for her. As I walked

into her classroom, I realized she was teaching freshmen biology,

so I sneaked toward the back desk where I usually sat. She had

already loaded the desk with worksheets to grade, so I got busy.

The worksheet was an on population and ecology. The title

grabbed my attention and caught me off guardPrey and Predator.

I looked up at the video Ms. Nivitz was showing, and saw the

screen center in on a snow leopard. Suddenly the leopard takes off

and the camera follows, through windy paths in the forest, leaping

over various streams, finally arriving at tundra that spread towards

the horizon. The screen flashes black.

When the screen lights up, it focuses in on the snow

leopard, now with a bloody and torn hare hanging from its jaw. I

started feeling a little tipsy, and then suddenly, everything went

black.


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where am I? I thought, seeing cloudy visions before my

eyes. I was no longer in Ms. Nivitzs classroom, but instead

walking down the road on the way home. How did I get here?

I realized that someone was walking alongside me, and saw

that it was Lexi. I turned toward her and asked, How did I get

here?She looked at me weirdly and replied, Huh?

The sight of her face caught me off guard. Lexi looked

years younger, closer to 14 than 16. I then realized I was in my

own memory.

We took a left on the next corner, turning onto the road

which led to our house. I couldnt help but notice a mysterious

man following us in the distance, pausing when we paused,

cautiously keeping a safe distance.

I suddenly remembered the memory. It was one that Ilocked away in the abyss, hoping never to remember. To make

things worse, I was looking at my worse memory replay from the

viewpoint of my younger self.

Thinking I knew the area well, I motioned Lexi to follow

me as I snuck into a small pathway, leading away from the main

road, but instead to the trap door in our backyard fence. Minutes

later, I hear the sound footsteps following behind us; I did not have

to turn around to know that it was the mysterious man.

Lexi and I were now running down a narrow alley, with the

hunter stalking us. I threw a look over my shoulder, and saw a


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moving shadow in the far distance. I dodged into a pathway on the

right and pulled Lexi in after me. We were really close to our

house now, if only we could climb through the trap door, then,wed be safe.

We could see the end of the pathway now, and we realized

that we were in trouble. It was a dead end. Apparently we took a

wrong turn somewhere along the way while I was overwhelmed by

my adrenaline rush. I heard the footsteps of the hunter closing in

on us.

Lex, I whispered out of breath, Im going to give you a

boost over that wall. Get yourself out of here and find mom. Dont

wait for me. Im going to buy you some time.

Allen....... Lex refused, but I pushed her to the wall

anyways. I gave her a boost, and her hand found a grip on the top

of the wall. She pulled her up and looked down at me.

Ill go get mom and come back for you. Lex promised

and took off.

I turned to face the attacker, and shouted, Show yourself.

A shadow appeared at the entrance of the pathway, followed by a

tall lanky man, looking about 30. He paced slowly toward me. I

picked up a wooden stick beside me and help it defensively.

Well, well, well. Allen, you sure look different from the

last time I saw you. If you only remember me. he said with a hint

of a smile, stopping 20 feet from me.


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What blasphemy are you talking about? Why are you

stalking me and my sister? I demanded.What did we ever do to

you?

I only want to do some explaining. You dont know who I

am, do you?" he answered, and continued. I am......, but he was

interrupted by the rustling of leaves behind us.

Allen? Allen? Where are you? Lexi and moms voice

echoed from behind. The man held up his hand and motioned me

to keep quite. I ignored him.

Im here! Over here! I hollered guiding them to where we

were.

Youshouldnt have done that. Ill be back, you know?

the man muttered angrily, and dodged back into the alley,

disappearing into the vast darkness.

Lexi showed up behind me and pulled me into a hug frombehind. I turned around and pulled her into a tighter embrace. We

both broke down into tears, overwhelmed by paroxysm.

From behind us, I heard mom instruct, You two are now

forbidden to go out after dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up in the nurses office. I felt groggy, and my eyes

were hurting from the florescent lights on the ceiling. Lex was

shaking me, whispering wake up in my ear.


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Lex, you can let me up know. I stuttered, but instead, I

she pulled me into a tight embrace. What is up with Lexi and

giving hugs?

I forgot how I blacked out, but I remembered everything in

the flashback. I had shut out the memory for several years, and

totally forgot about it. From that day on, we obeyed moms

restriction and never left the house after dark. We never saw that

man again.

I never repeated my conversation with the man to anybody,

but the flashback reminded me of foreshadowing, like in the

various Greek mythologies. I needed to tell someone. Something

wasn't right.

When the nurse informed us that my mom was here to pick

me up, I insisted on staying at school and finishing the rest of my

classes. Since both she and my mom insisted, I had to comply to

their wishes.

Mom said that she would wait for me in the car, so Lexi

walked with me to my locker. As I spun the combo and pulled the

locker door open, I loose sheet of paper fell on the floor. Lex

picked it up, read it, and then stood motionless, mouth opens in

shock. I took the notes out of her hand and read it myself. It said,

Dear Allen and Elexis

I am in town tonight


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Please meet me behind your

backyard

~Dad

What do we do? Lexi asked.

I thought for several minutes, and then concluded, We tell

no one, and we go meet the old man.


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Chapter

3Dusk

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Dusk and Dawn