This is chapter 1 of, Following the Stars, my first real atempt at a novel. It's not in it's final form but I have moved on to chapter 2.
The Night from Hell
Sitting in the garden watching the birds fly by thinking about all the good things this new place was giving her, she was just relaxing when, the maid brought her a letter. The letter arrived one morning after NadiLee hadn’t heard from Rose in about a week. It was a shock to her that her sister would write her a letter. Rose really wasn’t one for writing letters. She’d much rather talk to a person on the phone then have to wait for a response to a letter.
NadiLee sat on the garden wall and ripped the letter open. Slowly she read the letter:
Dear NadiLee
You know me quite well and you also know that if I had any choice I wouldn’t be writing you this letter. I really had to tell you this but I really didn’t know how to put it into words. I thought a letter might be easiest.
I’ve been going through some things that you really need to know about. You know I haven’t been feeling very well. I thought it was just the flu but it wasn’t going away. I went to the doctor and he says it’s cancer. He’s not sure how long I have to live. He says with treatment I might beat it but there is a good chance I won’t. I wanted you to be aware of what was going on. I’m hoping you decided to come home. I start treatment on Monday of next week I really want you there.
Your Loving Sister,
Rose
The letter wasn’t dated so there was no way to really tell when Rose’s treatment was to start but NadiLee had to digest the letter before she thought about that. It was hard for NadiLee to digest what the letter said though. She always thought her sister would be there for her the rest of their lives. Her thoughts drifted from concern for Rose to the thought of how much Rose would like this new place.
It was turning out to be NadiLee’s new home and in time Rose would feel the same way about it and the kind people. Although not all the people were kind the mention of Sophina’s name seemed to make everyone kinder to NadiLee. With the new home came what NadiLee had longed for her entire life. One of the locals who took her in had begun to remind her of the mother she imagined having when she was young. One that was strong, loving and accepting. Rose would surely come to love her as well.
Catching a glimpse of Sophie coming out of the house, the moonlight hits her golden blonde hair making her look like an angel.She looked like she was only about 19, three years younger then NadiLee. She was far too wise to be 19 but NadiLee wasn’t quite sure how old she actually was. Her name ringing in NadiLee’s head like a soft bell as she walked oser, “Sophie…..Sophie….Sophie….”
Being deaf her whole life it was odd when NadiLee started actually hearing things in her head as clearly as any hearing person. It began about the same time NadiLee turned ten but no one was able to explain why she only heard certain things so, she just kind of accepted it. She told people about it but they always told her she was the crazy deaf orphan. So, she stopped telling people turning to her journal instead writing down questions she planned on on asking if someone ever did explain the strange voices to her.
As she walked closer NadiLee’s cell phone began vibrate on the table just a few feet away. Seeing it move out of the corner of her eye, she rushed to it hoping it was either her daughter Kyra or Rose. Since she left Hawaii to clean up her act it was the only connection to her sister and daughter. The number was blocked and NadiLee instantly knew the night had just turned horribly bad. She may have just recived the letter but Rose’s fears had happened. NadiLee knew the call meant Rose had passed on. Dropping the phone she sinks to her knees on the concrete. The tears came rushing at her and all she could seem to do was ball as the phone continued to vibrate awaiting an answer.
Sophie puts her hand on NadiLee’s back as she continues to cry. Rose had been very sick and she knew it from phone calls with Rose and Kyra, but she never thought it would have been cacer or taken her so quickly.
Sophie lifts NadiLee to a chair placing her hands on her cheeks and speaks soft and gently. “I’m sorry…. NadiLee…she’s gone…” Sophie’s words feel like knives going through NadiLee heart as she cries harder barely able to read Sophie’s lips. All she wanted to do was run… run away from her problems again. Sophie holds me like a mother would console a hurt child. NadiLee jerks away, bolting from Sophie.
Just reacting Sophie follows her. It had been a few months since NadiLee came to stay with her and she had shared many things about her life. Sophie feared that NadiLee would do something she would later regret. It was hard for Sophie to keep up with NadiLee and continue to keep her secret.
NadiLee had been a star runner and surfer back in Hawaii. She could really move if she wanted to. She slipped into a bar. It was like being back home no one cared who she was as long as she paid for what she ordered.
Sitting at the bar she orders a beer not really caring what kind. It had been her blanket and she needed her blanket now. The bartender opened the beer and slides it across the bar to her. NadiLee nods a thank you to him and goes to take a drink. Just then Sophie bolts through the door running for the bar she makes it there just in time to rip the bottle from NadiLee’s hand as she brought it up to her mouth for a drink. Some of the beer spills on them both but neither one seems to notice. If NadiLee did she didn’t seem to show she it.
“HEY….You have no right to take that. GIVE IT BACK!!” NadiLee screams at her reaching for the bottle.
“NadiLee you can’t give up on it now, you will never get you daughter back if you do.” Sophie says calmly looking directly at her while keeping the beer far enough away so she can’t get it.
No one in the bar moves a muscle to help because they dare not cross Sophina Fredricks. Everyone in the whole city knew Sophina as the most powerful of all vampires here. She may have been a young vampire being only 100 but she was by far the most powerful. Crossing her would surely cause someone’s death and it wouldn’t be Sophina’s.
They struggled for a few minutes until the beer bottle shatters in their hands.The glass peirecing Sophina’s hand didn’t bother her any. It was much less painful then things that happened to her fighting another vampire. The pain made NadiLee freeze. This was the place she told herself she would never go back to yet here it was glaring at her three months after walking out the doors of rehab.
They sit there a long time just holding each other. It seems as though she understoods but NadiLee couldn’t see how she could; she was always so happy.
It was a rough night to say the least. Her hand had been bandaged before she went to sleep but it still hurt like hell. She tossed and turned all night thinking of the ones she had left behind in Hawaii. There was only two she really loved and one was gone.
She loved it back there but she needed a new start. Her childhood was not exactly as joyful as one would hope for a child. Every time she got back to sleep another event would pop into her head waking her once again. As the light from the rising sun shines into her room another vision plays out. This time of the last thing she did back in Hawaii.
Kyra had been a colicky baby not easy to console. No doctor could tell NadiLee’s sister, Rose why. When Kyra was two they decided to take her to the doctor one more time. NadiLee had cleaned up her act some and was around more then so she took her daughter to the doctor herself. “Ms Starlight I’m sorry to tell you this but your daughter is deaf” rang in her head again and again. Those words had been the ones that made her want to change. She didn’t want her daughter to be that deaf girl that no one wanted in foster care like she had been. All she could think about that day was how if something ever happened to Rose, Kyra would become that girl and NadiLee wouldn’t know it because she would most likely be too drunk or stoned or both to even care. NadiLee couldn’t stand for that. Foster care was hell on her. She wanted more for her daughter. The next day she checked herself into a inpatient rehab program for people with drug and alcohol problems.
As NadiLee woke up trying to shake the memory away she notices Sophie sitting in the corner of the room reading a book. Looking up from the book so NadiLee can see her lips she greets her, “Morning….” She says with a small smile. “Sleep well?”
“Not really more flash backs…my head still hurts.” NadiLee answers.
“It was a rough night Morning Star.” She says coming over sitting on the bed. “We must go there you know…You must be who you really are.”
“I know Sophie… It will take days though…” NadiLee says sadly.
“Worry not Morning Star…Here we have ways of traveling faster my child.” She says squeezing NadiLee’s shoulders.
NadiLee knows this is a place like none other but she couldn’t imagine how different. It seemed to come alive at night going almost completely dead during the day. She was one of very few who were actually outside during the day. She figured in time Sophie would tell her why. At this point she didn’t care. She had to get back to Hawaii. It would be hard but she had to.
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