Fade Out (rewritten first chapter)

Fade Out (rewritten first chapter)

Katy yawned. Her jeans, still a little too long despite being taken up at the ankles, made a slight s-shff-ing noise as she trudged back to her apartment from a late shift at the hospital, her scrubs folded messily over her arm and a bag on her shoulder. She barely took in her surroundings, let alone the young boy about to cross the road, murmuring to what she didn’t know was a monster in his bag. If she could see it that is what she would call it. The creature, called by the boy Chira, was about the size of a housecat, with four small horns, a pair of bat-like wings, a forked tongue and yellow eyes like a hawk. The boy –almost a man, looking about eighteen years old- wore a long black coat which concealed a bundle of red-grey metal rods in the pocket, had white-grey hair and blood red eyes. His name was Reaper and he was to set in motion a chain of events that would change her life, and perhaps, even her mind as well.

Katy looked up to the sound of wheels screaming on the tarmac. She swore under her breath “bloody teenagers...” despite being only 25 years of age herself. Her eyes barely managed to take in the sight of two boys with piercings bullet-holed into their body being chased by a more-rounded-than-he-should-be police officer. She followed the track of the two cars speeding down the road, and saw them charge onto the boy with grey hair as he walked onto the road in a daze.

His body flung into the air, so gracefully it was almost beautiful, before hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Katy’s mouth opened, as if she were screaming, but no sound came out. Then the nurse in her took over. She ran over to the two cars, where the boys were standing, struck dumb by what they had done and staring as the boy with grey hair’s blood turned the ground a dark red.

“He-He looks like us…” one of the boys said. Katy glared at them and the police officer.

“What are you waiting for? Call an ambulance!” she said, kneeling down next to the boy. She saw a large cut on his head which was gushing blood and he was coughing, blood mixed with saliva dripping from his mouth. She pushed him into the recovery position, trying to move his neck as little as possible.


The lights from the ambulance were flashing, making the trees lining the street look ghostly and strange. She stood there, her scrubs having fallen to the ground in trying to help the boy but now the street was bustling with the people bought by the ambulance and a few late-night reporters combing the scene, hoping for what they hoped to be their next scoop.

Katy walked over to where boys bag was wriggling. Is there an animal in it? She thought, unzipping it. What she saw was an empty bag, filled with mundane things like a chocolate bar, a cellphone and bottle of water. But as she opened it, Chira, who had the ability to cast illusions by altering light, flew out. Katy felt nothing more than the wind from her wings.

Reaper, on the other hand, was going to stay unconscious for a very long time.





                                      Three months later




Katy wandered over to the room where the boy with grey hair was. He had been in a coma for the three months since the accident, and she was on checking him each and every day. It had become a part of her routine now, and she was so used to it that she did it like clockwork.

She walked into the room. He was in the bed, respirator and drip attached to him like power plugs on electrics. Drip full, check. Heart monitor attached properly, check. Everything was working fine.

The television, playing whatever came on, was muttering the lines of a movie. Suddenly, the boy on the bed twitched. His eyes moved, like his eyelids were trying to open and his fingers fluttered.

Katy gasped. He was waking up.

She ran out of the room, leaving the door banging on the wall behind her. Fumbling with her pager, she called her superior, but still kept running to the cafeteria where she knew he was. Crashing through the door, she skidded to a stop to where he was sitting.

“He’s…” she gasped, “Awake! The grey haired boy!“

The pair ran back to the grey haired boy’s room. He was indeed awake and obviously very confused. Katy had left his bag and clothes in his room ever since the accident, seeing as she had no idea as to where else to put them. He was rifling through the pockets of his long, black coat and pulled out a bundle of red-grey rods. His eyes, blood red and scared were wild and darted around the room, giving him the look of a caged feral animal. Katy stared at his face. Splitting the pale skin was a long, dark blue scar. It looked like a brand.

Suddenly, his knees buckled and he fell to the floor. Katy skidded on the slippery floor to where he lay.

“What’s your name?” she asked, her voice gentle but with an undertone of urgency.

The boy stared at her and smiled sadly. “I don’t have one” he said. “But you can call me Reaper.”