1 Chapter 1

Anastasia's Point Of View

He was there...

Every Day

Every Time

Always writing in that little notebook of his and ignoring the rest of the world

Okay, maybe just me and the bus driver

It wasn't my fault that the bus was mostly empty at 11'o' clock at night

I looked at him wondering why I haven't seen him anywhere else except here or why he never talked to me

I mean this routine had been carrying for almost an year now and still he never acknowledged me

It was almost like I was invisible to him

Though this character suits him- the nonchalant expression and the not caring attitude

We just got a bad boy from a cliche book! Bravo

He even has the looks for it

He had midnight black hair, a lean muscular body and was about 5ft 10 inches tall

The most alluring thing about him was his blue eyes, it wasn't exactly blue it was light sky blue with dark ocean blue flecks and the eyes were almost electrifying, like they were actually charged

Every day I finished my work as the newspaper editor at about 10:30 and took the bus to Manhattan at 11 'o'clock and he was always there his head bent over his notebook, scribbling and earphones jammed into ears

Even his aura was different, it wasn't green or yellow or pink or like any other colour I had seen instead it was blue not the light one, the electric one

Oh yeah forgot to tell you something really important

I am a freak... at least that is what my father and mother thinks

I have a curse or blessing or maybe a cursed blessing (Call it whatever you want to) to see auras

That is what I call them

Every living being has this... coloured shadow with them

Of course its different for everyone

Like my best friend Nikki has a lilac one, it suits her soft and quiet nature

I have noticed that most of the peoples favourite colour is the same colour as their Aura and the ones who can't decide on any colour most likely have a colour made out of 2 or sometimes 3

Peoples Aura changes with their mood or when they grow up.. My cousin had a pink first and now its a dark shade of green.. I don't think that it will change

I could see these for as long as I can remember and hear the voices too

Yeah... the voices

They are... weird.. its like I am in this crowd which is always babbling and fighting... at first when I was a kid it used to distract me a lot but now its manageable and I am easily able to tune it out if they get too loud I am forced to swallow a sleeping pill or pain killer

I also have have horrifying dreams to add to my list of freakiness, out of which most contain bloodbath, the terrifying thing is that now instead of getting better they are getting even more worse

I rub my head in frustration and weariness wanting to get rid of the freakiness I have

You know how parents tell you that you should tell them the truth? Well I did and you know what I got?

A visit to a shrink

They did wish the best for me but they didn't get it...

I always told them what was happening for 2 whole years and every time I did that I visited the shrink

I had a best friend called Jasmine who distanced herself from me when she found out about my freakiness and so did the rest of the school

All throughout my middle school I was called Freaky Freak.. at first I laughed it off but then it all just started hurting me

I started to notice how people won't come near me, I started having panic attacks and became quiet, I realised that my freakiness had made me lonely so I... I gave up.. I quit

The next day when mom asked me about my dreams and aura and the voices, I gave her a bright fake smile and said it had disappeared, gone- poof!

It was all a lie!

A big fake lie!

And it hurt- it hurt when I saw the relief evident on my mom and dads face, there was this strange disappointment I guess when they believed the lie so quickly but couldn't absorb the truth for 2 years

It isn't a surprise that we drifted a bit apart

After that we moved to Manhattan where I found another friend Nikki, I didn't make the mistake of telling her about my freakiness

I completed my high school in Manhattan then got admission into a college and a job, after earning enough for a 2BHK flat to share the rent with Nikki which isn't bad for a 19 year old

I moved in with here and here I am, with a job and completely independent

Nikki works as a Starbucks barista and attends the same college as me which is by the way "NYU"

"-you getting down or what?" I snap out of my pointless and thoughtless daydreaming and see that the bus is at my stop

I sigh, get up and get down the bus when I feel someone standing beside me

I turn my head around and my eyes get wide with surprise.. that strange man just got down with me

But... this isn't his stop so why did he did that?

His gaze meets mine and I see disbelief in there before his settles his expression into a nonchalant expression and he stalks away

What just happened?

I turn to take a look at him and suck in a shocked breath when I realise that there is no one on the street... except me

Shaking my head and deciding that my head was just playing tricks on me, I stalk towards my small apartment wishing that Nikki is there with her happy-go-lucky charm which somehow always manages to cheer me up

*********

"Hey, I made pasta" Nikki calls from the kitchen not even bothering to check who it is

I swear one day a bugler is going to come in and she will serve him/her tea before realising its not me

I put my handbag on the hook by the door and dropped some groceries I had received on the small coffee table instead of setting it on the kitchen counter

I walked towards Nikki and gasped in shock

Her Aura... it was lilac with black lines

"What is it?" She asked turning around and seeing my horror stricken face "Do I have some kind of insect on my back?"

Her voice blurred as a memory resurfaced

*******

"Ouch" I cried as I fell on the pavement

A man carrying a briefcase ran towards me and helped me up "Hey. You okay?"

I looked at the gash on my knee and winced

The man took out a handkerchief and started wrapping it around my knee

"There" He said after tying the last knot and looked at me "What is it?"

I murmured "Your Aura... its going black.. you are going to die"

The man flinched before picking up his briefcase and running away apparently deciding that I was nutcase

"Thank you" I called out waving, unaware of the effect I caused

The same day on the news.. I saw the man on a street, a bullet hole in his head and blood pooling from it

The strange thing was.... I had neither sorrow nor any regret all I felt was satisfaction

Satisfaction for being right

And now I was hoping to be wrong

*************