Chapter 3

*Damian*

"What are you waiting for, ask him out!" The girl beside her whispers. I could see that this beautiful girl that was in front of me was nervous but so was I. I breathed in through my nose and out my mouth, here goes nothing. I stood up to walk towards her table. I cleared my throat.

"Mind if I sit down here?" I asked. Her cheeks grew red and her eyes averted mine.

"No, not at all. Please sit down." Her friend kindly offers. The other girl offered her friend a death glare as I sat down in the chair between them. I look towards her.

"My name is Damian. Damian Morningstar, what's your name?" I asked. She looks at me now, fidgeting in her seat.

"Ember." She utters in a quiet voice.

"Well, Ember, you have quite the beautiful name and that name fits a pretty girl like you. I was also wondering if you'd like to go out and have dinner with me tomorrow." I am sweating at this point out of being so nervous. I've never been so nervous in my life! Yes, I've asked out plenty of girls and I've never had this problem with any of them but this one was different. I could tell that this girl was nervous too.

She looks up at me, her eyes wide. "Um… what?"

I take a deep breath before repeating myself. "Would you like to go on a date with me?" She looks over at her friend who nods her head so fast it's a miracle she hasn't gotten whiplash yet.

She looks back at me, her hazel eyes locking on mine as a piece of hair falls into her face. "Um yeah, sure." A small smile forms on her face.

"Yes!" I yell, making people look at me funny. A small giggle from Ember catches my ear though. It was one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard. She is so cute! The thought that crossed my mind was that she didn't have my phone number! "Do you have a pen?" I asked.

"Um…" Ember looks through her little bag and hands a pen to me. "Here."

"Thanks." I grabbed a napkin and wrote my phone number down on it, "070-721-3119", then handed it to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

Ember and I talked for almost an hour getting to know each other until Bella's boyfriend, Casey, came and picked them up to go to the movies. I told her that I would come over to her house tomorrow, which was a Friday, and pick her up for our date. I hope her dad or brothers don't want to fight me when I arrive. Nonsense, I bet they are nice and I could get along with them. Thoughts kept going in and out of my head as I ran back home. It was almost dark when I got home so I came in the front door expecting to get yelled at.

"SURPRISE!!!" Both my parents and brother yelled! I got into a fighting position out of instinct but once I saw it was just them, I lowered my defenses.

"Jesus, I was about to take you guys out!" My father laughs, coming up to me to hug me.

"Happy birthday, son. I am so proud of the man that you have become! Strong, good hearted, smart, and most of all courageous! I'll never forget the day you were born. When the doctor handed you to me and I looked into your eyes the first time, I cried. Never in my life had I seen a miracle so handsome. I swore on that day that I would protect you from all the evils of this world but today I see that I need to step down from that promise and let you be the man that you desire to be." My father says this in tears. I've never seen him cry and honestly his words meant so much to me that I started to tear up!

"Thanks dad, that means so much to me." I wipe away the tears from my eyes.

"I got you a present! But first, let's eat some ice cream cake. I'm a bit hungry."

After all of us had some cake, my parents and even my brother had some presents. This was already too much effort for my eighteenth birthday, but I ain't gonna complain. My mom had given me a nice brown leather jacket that suited me well along with some cowboy boots with steel toes. I decided to open Owen's next, all he got me was a shampoo and deodorant box but I gladly accepted it. I opened dad's presents last and was shocked at what he got me. I held them in my hands as I examined them. They are beautiful! Very light weight, had mine and Owen's name etched into them, and a lot of symbols on the handles.

"You like them?" Dad asks.

"Dad… I… why?" I was struggling to form words in my mouth.

"You and Owen are gonna grow up to be fathers and husbands one day so I decided that in order for you two to show responsibility, I decided to introduce you to these pistols that were once mine." My mouth dropped to the floor. These pistols were once his? I take another look at them and feel the essence of past glories running through my hands.

"I'll take good care of mine." I say more to myself than him. Owen nods his head indicating that he will do the same with his. I was about to hand Owen's to him but my father stopped me before I could.

"He's too young yet. Take care of his pistol until he is eighteen." I understood where he was going with this so I nodded. Owen pouted a bit but when our father says something we obey him or face his wrath and he gets pretty damn scary when he's angry. "Good. Owen, I hope you understand."

"Yes, dad." My father nods before smiling and giving me a hug.

The night was still as a breeze blew through my window, opening my curtains a little. The ticking of my alarm clock echoes throughout my room since the sound bounces off the walls. I open my eyes, pulling off the covers. It was pitch black in my room except for the light of my TV blaring my vision.

"Damn, I left the TV on again." I say to myself. I reach for my remote on my bedside table and turn it off. Now the only light in my room that was on was my black light but it's main purpose was to be a nightlight so I could see where I'm going during the middle of the night. I looked at my clock and saw it was 3:00am. I felt something, an instinct telling me that I wasn't alone. I was being watched but by who or what? I looked slowly around my room to see if my brother snuck in or something but I saw nothing. I shrugged it off. Maybe it was my imagination or my mind playing tricks on me? I lay my head back down on my pillow, just starting to drift off to sleep again when I hear something… it was the sound of raspy breathing. Once again I'm on alert but I see nothing in my room.

"Damian." A raspy deep voice calls out. It sends a chill down my spine. What the hell just said that? Is my house haunted? Was someone outside? I jump up, looking out the window. At first I saw nothing. It's still. I go to turn away when movement catches my eye. I see a shadowy figure standing right in my yard! I blink and jump. It's only four feet away from my face!

"W… wh… what do you w… want?" I stuttered. The figure comes closer to the window only to pass through it. It points at me!

"You are my puppet! You will obey me!" It growls. It charges towards me! I block my face in case it goes for my eyes with its claws. I wait for the attack but a familiar sound rings out, drawing me back to reality.

I awaken in my bed to my alarm blaring out its annoying tone. I open my eyes, shutting off the alarm. Was that just a nightmare? It felt so real though. I really gotta stop watching horror movies at night! I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand up. I go to the bathroom to get a shower. I turn on the cold water since it's humid out, but as I undress, something catches my eye. I spotted a black handprint on the left side of my ribs. Where did that come from? I got into the shower where I immediately tried to scrub it off but it was like a tattoo. It was stuck on my skin! It wasn't dirt, ink, or blood because all of them would have washed off easily. I cannot let my mom or my dad see this! They would kill me if I got a "tattoo" or "ink" on my body. Whatever this handprint meant, it couldn't be good.