Chapter 2 - The Aile Family

Chapter 2

“Oh, thanks a ton for abandoning me, Sarah. Now, I have to buy a new English book. AND I can’t finish my homework, because said English book will take 3+ days to arrive!” Crysta growled into the phone.

After the book massacre, she had tried to ask a nearby teacher if she could possibly get another copy of the English book for a few days, to the annoyed response of, “No, but you can buy another.”

Crysta then went back home, only to be roared at by her parents, who chastised her for being so clumsy as to drop the books in the first place after being told only about the books being dropped and the money owed for a new one.

She was now in her room on her bed. She swung her feet back and forth while lying on her stomach. Her face was scrunched into a grimace as Sarah replied, “Eh, sorry about that, Crysta… You see, there was this really HOT guy, and, well…”

“You don’t have to finish- I get the point.” Crysta muttered, in a foul mood. She rolled her eyes.

“Awww… Cryssie… Oh, I know! How about we go out for pizza Monday night? I’ll buy…? As a sort of ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘sorry’…?”

“I don’t know…” Crysta replied, fiddling with a strand of hair.

“Come on- I insist!” Sarah exclaimed, causing Crysta to move the phone a bit farther from her ear to keep from going deaf.

“Oh, fine… You win… Again.”

“Yeah!! Okay, I’ll fill you in with the details Monday morning. See ya later, Cryssie!”

“By, Sarah… see you then.” And they both hung the phones up.

Crysta sat up and stretched. “Ugghhhh…” She sighed, stood up, and drudged over to her desk, picking up a picture of Sarah and her from a few months ago- in this one, Sarah’s hair was shoulder length and red.

“I wonder who that boy was who saved me… It was as if there was something special about him…I felt kind of tingly and lightheaded when he appeared- was that just because I’d nearly fallen off that set of stairs, or was it something… else? And what was with the feather thing?...”

She moved the picture to the other side of her desk, tiding up out of sheer thoughtfulness.

“CRYYSSSTAAAA!!! TIME FOR DINNER!!!” A voice yelled from downstairs, snapping her out of her reminiscing.

Crysta dropped the eraser she was about to reposition and ran out of her room, passing her sister’s room on the way to the stairs. Her twenty year old sister, Kayla, emerged, wearing a scarlet gown and a midnight purple bodice. Crysta’s sister was a beautiful girl, and wore those kinds of things all the time- and looked good in them.

She had raven-black hair she always wore in a large bun, but if she wore it down, it might go down almost past her waist. She had lovely, pale skin and bright, red lips, and her silvery-red eyes were able to speak for themselves.

“Hey, sis. What is that thing you are wearing? Looks like it’s about a couple hundred years too old for you!” Crysta smirked, her longer canine teeth showing.

Her sister glanced at her and walked over, grabbing Crysta’s chin.

“Your fangs are longer… it must be about time…” Kayla murmured in that mysterious way she always spoke- her words fluid and almost enchanting.

Crysta swatted away Kayla’s hand. “You’re weird.” She said, trotting downstairs to the kitchen.

“Whatever you say, my little sister…” Kayla said, and then gracefully descended the staircase.

“Hiya, Ma.” Crysta said as she slowed down a bit and grabbed a plate.

“Hello, Crystalynn. In honor of your birthday tomorrow, I fixed your favorite- vegetable soup.” Laurena Aile replied, giving Crysta a bowl.

She was an attractive woman, dressed as normal in a short black dress with a low neckline, a black choker, and with her brown hair pulled back into a long braid. Her dark bangs hung in the same style as Crysta’s, but they were almost always over her eyes. When you could see her eyes, they were a rather shocking shade of reddish-brown.

“Ooooohh!! Thanks, Ma! …But you guys all hate veggie soup…” Crysta said, sitting down at their large dinging room table.

“…I also fixed a steak for us three.” Her mother laughed, pulling one out of the oven.

“Oh, I smell meat…!” A man’s gruff voice exclaimed from outside the kitchen.

Crysta and Kayla’s father, Nathaniel Aile, entered, wearing his usual attire: black pants, no shoes (revealing slightly ‘clawed’ toes similar to Crysta’s), and a white, button-up shirt with the first button and the last two undone. He had short, black hair with jagged bangs combed to the side. His eyes were the same shade as Crysta’s.

Kayla followed, her gown swaying in the breeze from the open window next to her, and her shadow doing the same from the light of the setting sun. Something was strange about her shadow- besides her basic body shape, there were two shadowy blobs near her back… but the light was disrupted by the thin drapes blowing in the breeze, and the blobs were easily dismissible.

As the family sat down to dinner, they all became quiet as they slowly chewed their food. Until Crysta finished her meal- when she asked to be excused from the table, her father replied, “Not so fast, Crystalynn. We have your little adventure today to speak of…”

Crysta cringed, and sat back down.

“Yes, Crystalynn- what exactly happened today after school? I’d like to hear the full story…” Crysta’s mother asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“…Well… you see… I was carrying all my and Sarah’s books, and… well… I kind of slipped on a staircase and dropped them all- they went tumbling down the stairs, and landed in a big pile… Most of them were okay, but… My English book was destroyed… so now, I have to buy a new one.” Crysta cautiously explained. She chose to keep quiet about the part of the boy saving her, for reasons she was not able to fully understand.

“Crysta, be more careful! You could have hurt yourself! And I’m not so sure I like the idea of you carrying double the number of books you should have to…” Her father exclaimed, stabbing his steak with a knife.

“Tsk, tsk…” Her sister murmured as she shook her head.

“You will be the one to pay for that book, I hope you realize.” Her mother mumbled, depositing a chunk of meat in her mouth.

“Uh-huh…” Crysta replied, hanging her head.

“Now you may be excused.” Her father said, waving his hand dismissively. “Good night...”

Kayla suddenly sat up straighter, her eyes widening a bit. “Oh! I almost forgot…” She began to whisper into her father’s ear, where Crysta couldn’t hear her.

As she spoke, her father’s eyes widened, too.

“What, what is it?” Crysta asked, her mother saying the same. Her father then furiously whispered into his wife’s ear, his voice loud enough that Crysta could pick out a few words. “…fangs……….about time……maybe………tomorrow?”

“What?! I really wanna know…” Crysta cried, as her mother gaped at her father, her pearly teeth glittering in the moonlight.

She cleared her throat. “Well, darling, it seems that you will be getting a sort of present tomorrow, with the help of your father, Kaylannah, and me. Now, go up and get to bed now- you’ll want to be up bright and early in the morning!”

“Uh…. Okay, I guess… G’night…”

Crysta then trotted up the stairs, changed into her favorite nightgown, and clambered into bed, thinking about what had happened to her that day.

“What a weird day… As if High School weren’t strange enough.”

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