Maybe this one will work better for me!!!! I dinno......

Shadows by Red

Sunset, I close my eyes

I pretend everything's all right

Drowning in anger from all these lies

I can't pretend everything's alright

Please don't let me fall forever

Can you tell me it's over?

There's a hate inside of me like some kind of master

I tried to save you, but I can't find the answer

I'm holding onto you, I'll never let go

I need you with me as I enter the shadows

Caught in the darkness, I go blind

Can you help me find my way out?

Nobody hears me, I suffer the silence

Can you tell me it's over now?

There's a hate inside of me like some kind of master

I tried to save you, but I can't find the answer

I'm holding onto you, I'll never let go

I need you with me as I enter the shadows

MUAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! Srrindi Azure, the great homeschooled absent-minded authoress, is going to public school! So I no longer have to be in Homeschool Student......I shall be in "NOT APPLICABLE!!!!!!" *laughs manaically* Let's see how all those "normal" kids like to deal with RAYNEA BLACKSTONE!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

*disappears into the shadows, still laughing manaically*

The virtually insane,

     I was sitting on a steel beam below the bridge, suspended about thirty feet above the raging water. My legs were dangling over the edge, and the surface was slippery, but I wasn't afraid of falling. After three months of living it out alone and having to find a place where I could hide from the Titans and the proper authorities, I'd gotten used to heights, particularly this height....I'd trained myself, somehow, to even sleep here on this beam. And it was only a few feet wide.

     My journal was in my lap. Pitiful little thing, really. It was a bunch of old newspapers, soaked so much in water that most of the ink had run out of it(I had done this on purpose), dried, cut up into pages, and sewn together into a book that had two scraps of an old leather jacket as its cover. I had to vent, and since I had no friends to talk to, I had this stupid little journal. I wrote in it with a sputtering pen, except when I got frustrated with it; then I would use the tiny little stub of a pencil that I had until I got frustrated with IT and switched writing utensils again.

     Sighing, I pocketed the journal again. Stupid pen. Stupid pencil. I'd lost my knife and the pencil needed sharpening, and I was pretty sure that the pen had run out of ink. Instead of writing, I looked over at Titans Tower, picturesque thanks to the beautiful sunrise that scattered the ocean with a million colors. I had the perfect view from my perch on the bridge. Still, I couldn't appreciate it. There were too many shadows lurking in my life. There were shadows in the evening, shadows in the pitch black of night, shadows in the daylight, shadows in the hopeful colors of dawn. Each day brought me nothing but more emptiness and despair. I was a worthless nobody.

     To tell the truth, I was starving. The Titans East had been patrolling the city closely ever since I started showing up, and for about two weeks now I hadn't been able to make the cash to get food. And I sure wasn't going to become a hooker, even though a bunch of raunchy guys hanging on the street corner of every slummy neighborhood wanted me to. When they asked me, "Hey, babe, wanna party?" I felt like saying, "Sure, I'll give you a party," and beating them to a ----ing pulp. Bloody scumbags.

     As I stared at Titans Tower, I got a sudden idea. That place is so ---- huge, I thought. Surely they've got more rooms in there than they need. I wonder...could I sneak in there and like, live with them without anyone noticing? I could come down to the kitchen and get some food either in the middle of the night when they're all asleep, or when they're out patrolling like they are now. I'm swift as a doe, cunning as a fox, and quiet as a panther hunting its prey. Nobody will be able to catch me.

     With a sly smile on my face, I slid down one of the huge cement poles and started off to try out my scheme.

I renamed "Risti" to "Intertwined by Shadows." My mind is a confusing blur of inspiration lately.......this is mostly a ranting of sorts. Sorry if it's confusing.

_____________________

     What do I want? I want someone to understand. Someone to listen. Someone who cares. I need a real friend, not the pasty stuff that chicky girls call friends, talking about nothing but boys, fashion, makeup, music, and the gossip that was flitting around. Who knew what the ---- they were saying about me from time to time, the Goth girl who didn't call herself a Goth. But I sure implied it, by the way I dressed and the way I acted. Sure, I didn't go around wearing skulls and blood and knives all over my t-shirts, but I wore darkness. I wore the darkness that had shrouded my soul and hidden my heart.

     Honestly, I didn't give a ---- what the Headmaster thought of me. I fought, I studied, I learned. I tore up the gym and obstacle course almost every day, what with my melting fury and my need to let it out. Lucky those other kids weren't in my way. I'm a loner; I can't remember if I said it before or not, but I'm a loner. I don't work with other people. Who cares about Attack Pattern Alpha or Beta or Gamma or whatnot. I just fought. I came to the obstacle course, I saw the obstacle course, I conquered the obstacle course. It didn't matter to me how I finished, or what grade I got. I just wanted it all to be over.

     You want the truth? I wanted to be dead. I wanted somebody to kill me. I wanted to go fight those worthless Teen Titans, the heroes that could only save someone physically, and fight them to the death. How were they heroes if they could only save someone from a rampaging monster, a psychotic villain, or a falling steel beam? If they couldn't save someone from themself, how were they truly heroes? I knew all about Terra; I knew that her real problem hadn't been Slade, it had been her heart. Her heart was the one that needed saving, not her body. And the Teen Titans, her so-called friends, hadn't been able to save her. And if they could never save me from what I really needed to be saved from, why should I treat them like heroes? Why shouldn't I be the villain and let other people know what it felt like to hurt, to really hurt, on the inside? Sure, I knew the Titans would win; good always wins, no matter what a stupid brain in a jar says. I would fight them, and I would die. I wanted to die. I didn't care.

     Sometimes I wished that I had some sort of mind-bending powers, so I could get into people's heads and let them know what it felt like to have the whole world crashing down around you, and not being able to say a word because every time you tried, a lump got stuck in your throat because you had no one whom you could really trust. I couldn't even trust the Headmaster, that worthless Brother Blood. He tried to get me to trust him; he was able to use hypnotic suggestion and get everyone to bend to his every command. I let him think that he could control me, because I did everything he said; but he had no power over me. Let him think what he wanted to. I obeyed his every command on my own free will.

     I wasn't the only one who was able to resist Brother Blood. Stone, who had really been Cyborg in disguise, sent to infiltrate the HIVE and figure out what we were planning, was able to resist him. For a long time, Brother Blood thought it was something in his circuts. Later he discovered that it wasn't the machine, it was the man. Dumb---. A baby could have figured that out. I'd known it all along.

     When Cyborg first destroyed HIVE Academy, along with his Titan buddies, most of the HIVE members had gone renegade, and ran amok in the city under their own free will---for example, Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, Private Hive, and See-More had joined up to make the first HIVE Five. But I, along with several others, remained "loyal" to Brother Blood and followed him when he created the fortress under the ocean, with a giant sonic cannon attatched to the top(courtesy the blueprints he stole from Cyborg) so he could wipe out the city with a tidal wave. The Titans stopped him, of course. Again. I bit my lip to keep from saying "I told you so, you son of a -----" (my powers had predicted this defeat and I had tried to warn him) and kept pretending to be loyal. Really, I hated his guts. But I was an excellent actress.    

     I finally drew the line when he started planning to use Cyborg's technology to turn all of his remaining students into cyborgs. But I didn't defy him. I simply disappeared, and to this day, he probably thinks that the Titans threw me into jail or something. Now I wander Steel City, without my "master," without my class"mates", and without a home. I work the streets, darting in and out of robberies as swiftly as a doe before the Titans East can reach the scene of the crime. Nobody even knows I exist. Truthfully, I don't. I'm dead. My body may still be alive, but my heart and soul, the things that really matter, are dead.

Me: Heylo everybodee............what's up?

Beast Boy: Nothin' but the ceilin', babe!

Me: WHO LET BRAT BOY IN HERE????!!?!?!?!?!?!!!

Elenya: That would be me....

Me: WHAT?!?!

Elenya: Well, you know how you've been in an exceptionally bad mood lately-

Me: LETTING HIM UP HERE ONLY MAKES IT WORSE!!!!!!!!

Elenya: I know that you really like him....

Me: I DO NOT!!!!!!

Elenya: Oh, yes you do. I have angelic instinct, remember?

Me: YOU DO NOT!!!!!!!!

Beast Boy: Girls, I'm still here,....

Me(in BB's face): You want funny?!?! I'll give you funny!!!!!!!!

Me: *gets story face on* Over the hills and far away........*Camera goes to Teletubbyland*

Teletubbies.....

*machine guns and nuclear explosions*

......got blown away.

Elenya: I DON'T LIKE THIS!!!!!!!

Beast Boy: Hey, SOMEBODY needed to get rid of those guys.....

Me: SHADDUP!!!!!! Anyway, we terrorized Teletubbyland, and then, we took Tinky Winky's purse and gave him a motorcycle. A nice, shiny Harley Davidson.

And with it, he became the leader of a motorcycle gang. *Shows Tinky Winky dressed in a black leather motorcyle jacket*

(not so cute anymore, is he?)

Then we popped Lala's ball and gave her a job in a big business company in New York City.

*shows Lala dressed in a suit carrying a briefcase*

We smashed Dipsy's precious hat and gave him a machine gun, enrolling him in the United States Marine Corps. But that was a bad idea, because we just destroyed his favorite thing in the whole world.

*shows Dipsy bursting into the White House and shooting up the whole place.*

But, we let Po keep her scooter, because she paid us money under the table to get rid of her friends so she could take over Teletubbyland as its new supreme ruler.

And she wanted it all to herself......so she killed all the rabbits, too.

And the big baby face that was the sun became a black hole because she used the quantum generator that she stole from the Brotherhood of Evil to wipe it out.

Cause Po was really evil all this time!

And to think, all the kids thought she was the cutest!!!!!!

Beast Boy: Hey, wait, how did a Teletubby get ahold of the quantum generator when we blew that up?

Me: She has her ways.

Anyway, The End.

Elenya: That was the most horrible story I have ever heard.

Beast Boy: You don't the Teletubbies very much, do you?

Me: NO. Why would anybody like some weird creature who has a television in its chest? That's just stupid.

     Wicked. That's what they called him.

     When I was studying at the HIVE academy, I didn't really notice anybody, since I was more of a loner anyway. I paid more attention to the important things, like combat practice, and not that much attention to silly things, like the dance. I remember when Stone showed up with Jinx. A girl who WOULD have been my best friend if I wasn't such a jerk, pushing everybody away when they said so much as "Hello." But Kyd Wykkyd, he was different. He didn't say anything at all.

     It was that night, the night of the dance. I was standing off to the side, as always, watching everybody with a dark, venomous glare. The boys were tripping over their own feet trying to get to me first, so they could ask me to dance, but I just shot daggers at them with my jet-black eyes and they backed away, deciding that it just wasn't such a good idea to ask Fate for a dance.

     That's my name. Fate. Why? Sometimes I get these visions of the future, and other times I get visions of the past or even something that's happening in the present. Sort of like a weird spider-sense. I'm NOT a spider, however. I have nothing to do with spiders.....other than the fact that we dissected them in genetic engineering class(a lesson on which I got an A+, while the others, completely grossed out, got at most a B-, thank you very much). But that's beside the point.

     My mom and dad thought I was going crazy when I'd wake up in the middle of the night, screaming about some bloody murder that was going on in an apartment in Steel City when I lived miles away, in Gotham City. So they "dropped" me off at the ice cream store, where I was supposed to meet my grandfather....but he never showed up. Closing time came around and I was still waiting in a booth near the window, watching for his sleek red car to pull up. My parents had abandoned me. I pretended that nothing was wrong when one of the clerks asked me why I was still here. I just said that I'd been stood up by some random guy that obviously didn't care too much about me. And I stormed out of the place, determined never to trust anyone ever again.

     I was fourteen when that happened. I was sixteen on the night of the dance, when I sensed somebody beside me. Kyd Wykkyd. He was just standing there, staring at everybody else....like I was. In fact, I don't know if he even knew I was there.

     "You don't talk much," I said pointedly.

     No response.

    I remembered all the times I'd overheard conversations among the "preppies" of HIVE academy, always talking about the boys and not going over too well with Brother Blood. They weren't really his favorites. Anyway, they said he was wickedly dark and mysterious, and nobody knew anything about him......"kinda creepy, if you ask me," a girl by the name of Angel had said.

     So, you're wondering what HIVE academy is, right? Well, it's a school. But it's a school for teenage villains-in-training. Someone had found me robbing a jewelry store with my "dark flame," a strange black energy that comes out of me whenever I feel anger or hatred. I'd promptly been invited to HIVE Academy, and I thought, "what the heck, my life is already in pieces, why not become a villain and fight the good guys?"

     Neither Kyd Wykkyd nor I said a single word for a long time, until I said, "You know, you're kind of attractive to a girl like me." I couldn't believe myself for saying that. "You don't talk back. You just listen."

     I gave one last glance over at Stone and Jinx before I turned on my heel and left the dance room to go back to my own room. I needed to think. I need to think a lot.

So I'm not in a really good mood right now. Seriously. Things have been going on in my life for the past week that might change me forever. I'm just gonna play around with a few icons....

"She never slows down; she doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, feels like it's all coming down."

"She won't turn around; the shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down."

"So stand in the rain; stand your ground"

"Stand up when it's all crashing down"

"Stand through the pain; you won't drown"

"And one day what's lost can be found, you'll stand in the rain."

"She won't make a sound; alone in this fight with herself and the fears whispering if she stands, she'll fall down."

"She wants to be found"

"The only way out is through everything she's running from"

"She wants to give up and lie down."

"So stand in the rain; stand your ground

Stand up when it's all crashing down

You'll stand through the pain; you won't drown

And one day what's lost can be found,

You'll stand in the rain."

Ok. Well, that was an interesting story that I started the other day. Still workin' on it. Might not even have a sequel.....I think I communicated the point that I wanted to communicate; come hell or high water, I'll never abandon my friends.

But that's beside the point. I've been wanting to post THIS for awhile now, cause this icon reminds me so much of a certain song I know.

Look waaaay in the background, the second tree to the right. Kinda looks like it's got a head, and those two long branches are its arms.....and he's clapping his hands, right? There's a song I learned from my mom, which is based off a Bible verse somewhere in Isaiah(can't remember EXACTLY where!).

"You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace;

The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you

There will be shouts of joy and all the trees of the field

Will clap, will clap their hands.

The trees of the field will clap their hands!(clap, clap)

The trees of the field will clap their hands(clap, clap)

The trees of the field will clap their hands(clap, clap)

As you go out with joy.

     A  cloudy grey sky hung over the city as Raynea looked both ways and crossed the street that separated the Blackstones' front yard from Maplewood Park. Trailing along behind her, or running ahead of her, were Lee, Aaden, Christal, Karina, and Stephanie, who were eager to get out of the house after a long day of being cooped up. Raynea sighed. Did it ever occur to anyone that I like being cooped up with my books?

     She took a seat on the park bench as her brothers and sisters scampered victoriously to the playgound. They came here almost every day the weather allowed, and even in the winter they came here to go sleeding. Sometimes Raynea wished that they didn't live so close to the park, because it seemed like every time she was completely absorbed in a new book or the writing of a story, the kids were clamoring to go. And she was always the one who got dragged along to watch them!

     Digging around in the pocket of her trench-coat, Raynea brought out her mp3 player and turned up the music. Loud. Pretty soon there was no mistaking the fact that she liked her music, because she was banging her head up and down, mouthing the words, and even pretending to play the guitar or drums, whichever suited her best at the moment. She only let herself loose like this when there was nobody around to see her, except her brothers and sisters.

     But there was someone watching.

     "Do you mind if I sit here?" someone asked in the tone of voice that communicated his amusement.

     Raynea shot her head up, face flushed from embarrassment. There, with a funny grin on his face, was Richard Matthews, of all people! She yanked the headphones out of her ears.

     "Yes, I do mind," she said, a little exasperated.

     He chuckled. "Then I'll sit down." And he did. Of all the audacious, insolent...grr...he took the cake.

     She would get back at him in a minute, howver. "So, what're you listening to?" he asked.

     Raynea smiled micheviously. "Rattlesnake, by Bride."

     "Let me hear it."

    "You really don't want to do that."

     "Sure I do."

     "Okay then. It's your funeral."

     "Aah!" he yelped as the heavy metal slammed into his eardrums. "Man, I never took you for the heavy metal type! I mean, maybe rock, but this..."

     "Looks can be decieving," she grinned.

     "Raynea," he said contepmlatively after a few moments, studying her with his grey-green eyes. "You are by far the strangest girl I have ever met."

     "Why, you flatter me, MR. Matthews,' she said, feigning coyness and fluttering her eyelashes so Richard couldn't help laughing.

     "Maybe I didn't use the right word," he said at last. "I should've said you're the 'most unique'. I mean, how many times is a guy gonna run into a girl who had a loving, not to mention huge, family that homeschools its kids?"

     "Not often," she replied, suddenly becoming serious. "In fact, sometimes I wonder if we're not alone in this fight against the devil.....I mean, I never had any friends that understood why we love each other so much....." Raynea was staring off into space.

     "Well, you do now," Richard said unexpectedly. "My family wasn't as big as yours, but we really did love. It's just that...my parents died into a car accident, and after that, my older brother took care of me. But one night he never came home, and two weeks later they found his body by the river."

     "Then...I guess Nathanael Crawford took you in," Raynea said gently, her ice-blue eyes wet with sympathy. True sympathy. She wasn't pretending, like so many others before her had. No, she actually cared.

     "You know.....I've never talked to anyone about this before, not even to my closest friends," Richard said slowly. "And here I am, spilling my guts to a girl I met two days ago."

     "That seems to happen with me a lot,' Raynea answered thoughtfully. "Maybe there's eomthing about me that tells people I can understand."

     "Maybe," Richard returned.

     "Hey, look who Raynea's talking to! It's Richard!" screeched Lee at that moment, jumping up and down on the playground equipment and pointing.

     "Better watch out," Raynea whispered in his ear. "They like you."

     "Huh?" Richard couldn't see what was wrong with that.

     "Who's Richard?" Aaden asked his brother.

     "You know, the guy we showed our praying mantis to on Sunday!"

     Karina, Christal, and Stephanie, who were over in the grass making wreaths from clover flowers, looked up. The latter frowned to see her older sister sitting next to a boy. She shouldn't be doing that, Stephanie thought. I wonder if she's got a crush on him.

     The truth of the matter was that Raynea hadn't thought about Richard like that at all. She just took him as an ordinary, average guy from public school that would never understand a weird girl who was homeschooled with all of her brothers and sisters. And she had to be smarter than him---homeschoolers usually were smarter than those who went to public school, since their teachers actually cared about them. It may have been a little vain, but Raynea took pride in her "uniqueness". Actually, she regarded the thought of boys in general with contempt, because like any other girl she dreamed of having a man who really, truly loved her with all his heart. And she knew that in today's society, there was a very, very small chance---almost microscopic---that she would ever find one. For Raynea, she thought all hope of that was lost.

     But, as you will see later on in this story, it wasn't so lost as she might think.

     Stephanie collected the "babies"(as Karina and Christal were often called) and her flowers, taking them over to the bench where the "boys" were already chattering on and on about praying mantises. For some reason, they thought that Richard actually liked the insects, and took it as their bound duty to pour as much information about that particular creature as they possibly could into his ears.

     "Our praying mantis laid its nest yesterday," Lee was saying.

     Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Eggs. She laid her eggs."

     "Okay. And you know that it died, 'cause of so much pain from laying the nest..."

     Stephanie sighed. He was impossible...

     "-and when it dies it-"

     "You don't have to elaborate-" Richard interrupted, hoping to change subject, but Lee raised his voice and kept right on talking as if Richard hadn't said anything.

     "It, IT'S eyes get moldy and its legs start rotting and it dies like a leaf. Its wings get yellow and so does every thing else and then you can't tell it has eyes anymore. But it's still alive when it's happening. Even when it's dead it can still walk around. Sad, isn't it." Lee didn't look much like he thought it was sad.

     "'Kay..." Richard responded, eyes wide.

     "I'm gonna go get the nest so you can see it," Aaden said, taking off before Richard could protest.

     "No, you're NOT," Raynea began, but her little brother was already at the curb and making his way to their house.

     "AADEN! GET BACK HERE!!!" Raynea shouted.

     By now, Aaden was halfway across the road, and he stopped right there in the middle. "What?!"

     "GET BACK HERE!!! YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO CROSS THE ROAD BY YOURSELF!!!"

     "What?!?" he shouted back.

     "AADEN! THERE'S A CAR COMING!!!" Raynea yelled at the top of her lungs.

     He saw the grey minivan sauntering along the road, and he skittered to the Blackstones' front yard, running around back to retrieve his nest. Richard was laughing uproariously, and so was Lee and Stephanie, but Raynea didn't think it was one bit funny. She was fuming by the time Aaden reached their side of the road, and she strode over to him and grabbed his arm in a pincer-like hold.

     "Ow!" Aaden complained, as Raynea yanked the stick which had the nest on one end away from him.

     "Hey, give that back! I'm gonna tell Daddy!"

     "Oh, sure, how can you tell Daddy without telling on yourself?!" Raynea exploded. "He's gonna find out, all right! You know you're not supposed to cross the street without me! And you're SUPPOSED to do what I say!"

     Few people outside of Raynea's family had ever seen her this angry; and now that Richard was seeing it, he thought he rather liked this side of her. What a spitfire she was!

     "I'm sorry," Raynea apologized, though Richard could tell she was still fuming as she returned to collecct the rest of her siblings. Her cheeks were burning from a mixture of her now-simmering temper and embarrasment. "I've got to take these guys home."

     "Okay.....see you later then?" he said questioningly.

     "I'll be at church tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder, one 'baby' holding onto each hand. And she stormed across the road, vanishing into the white two-story house at the other side.

~~~~~

PS. "Rattlesnake" by Bride is on the playlist on the sidebar.

Alright. Well, for the precious few of you who have been reading "The Witness", I have changed the names of three characters. The two little girls, Elsie and Jewel, have been changed to Karina and Christal. Abigail has been changed to Stephanie. As you may also want to know, most of the characters who are a part of the Blackstone Family are actually members of my(Srrindi Azure's) family! So it's been kinda hard to figure out names that fit my real sisters!!!!!!! Anyway......I'll be seeing you.....

I woke up late; guess I'm never really early

I hesitate---only to fail

I get so tired of procrastinating

I need a change

I can't do this, I can't do this

I can't do this by myself

I can't do this, I can't do this

Oh, God! I need Your help

I'm standing still

I'm oh, so peaceful

I can't pretend that I'm fine

I get so ill---crazy, agitated

When I've not really died

I can't do this, I can't do this

I can't do this by myself

I can't do this, I can't do this

Oh, God! I need your help

Press into me

Breathe me in

Bask in me

You'll be free to do anything

I can't do this, I can't do this

I can't do this by myself

I can't do this, I can't do this

Oh, God! I need your help......

'Til next we meet,

Dear, DEAR Dark Princess made it for me!!!!!

Elenya(sarcastically): It's very, VERY beautiful, Raynea.

Me: Heyyyyyyy, I'm the one that does sarcasm!!!!!!!!

Get ready for some more ranting, guys! Ok, lemme find an icon that I like.....*digs around in her backpack*

Ah! Here's a good one!

*doubles over with laughter* Now THAT'S funny!!!!!!! And you guys say that I have no sense of humor!!!!!!!! "LEMME OUT! LEMME OUT!!!!!!" Haaaa haaa haaaa!!!!!!!!

Obviously, I'm in a very good mood. And yes, I'm still thinking about Lord of the Rings. Hmm, I have a few other really funny ones from the movie.....how 'bout this one?

 That's something I would've said to Legolas.....because if I was there, I would've known that the Wargs were coming already! BEFORE I saw them! (but I guess that's just me.......he's not a mish-mash of a dozen different supernatural creatures.....)

 Sorry, I couldn't help adding that one!

Ha ha!!!! OK, OK, *tries to catch breath* ONE more!!! I think.

It's weird what girls will do when they're in love.......REALLY! All right, I know I said one more, but here is another one! Sorry, but if I'm in a good mood I've got to enjoy it while it lasts!!!!!

 Come ON!!!! *laughs hysterically* That is SOOOOOOOOOOO funny!!!!!! A Jewish Carpenter! My boss!!!!! I guess I'm not making much sense, but....!!! 

 By now you guys probably think that I have officially lost it....me, Raynea Blackstone, laughing hysterically over a few icons. But I'm on a roll here!

 Hee heee......all right, little kitty, I will.....

 ROTFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder what Batsy would think of that one!!!!! We are acquainted, you know.....hmm. Do you think I should tell him? HAAA HAAAA!!!!!!!!

I always got a little mad that it never worked out between Peter Pan and Wendy.....it's not really fair!!!!! Now the live-action one by Unviversal, THAT was a good one. They actually kissed! I'm a sucker for romance, I'll have to admit. Especially Peter Pan romance.

 It's an OCEAN for Pete's sake!!!!!! No skating!!! Get it! Jesus can walk on the water?!?!? HA ha!!!!! (you must all be wondering if Joker got me with his laughing gas by now.....)

*takes deep breath* Ok, one more icon.

Elenya: That's what you said seven icons ago.

Me: Shaddup.

No more dating....I'm just waiting....Like Sleeping Beauty, my prince will come for me, he'll come for me....no more dating, I'm just waiting, 'cause God is writing my love story, my love story......

*fires grappling hook and swings off the roof, still singing*

     Welllllll......it's high time that I started ranting about something, to all you people out there who happen to be visiting my rooftop. SO, I will give you the "icon of the day" and tell you what it makes me think of.

     Ta-daaaaa!

     So I bet you can guess from the icon what I will be ranting about, huh? The Lord of the Rings!!!!!! Now, the first thing I want to say is, IS THERE ANYBODY ON PLANET EARTH WHO'S NEVER HEARD OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS?!?!?!?!?!?!? Everyone I meet has watched the movie at least once. And then there's all these people on HomeSchoolBlogger who actually name themselves after some character in the story. Arwen, Galadriel, Shelob, Aragorn, Legolas.......and others!!!!!!! I will also add that Elenya's name is actually the first day in the Elvish week! And her last name, Súlimë, is the third month of the Elvish year! (yes, Srrindi did that on purpose. She was born on a Sunday in March and so she chose Elenya's name to correspond with that date).

     If you asked me which character I liked the best, I'd have to say Aragorn. He is mysterious and shadowy, unwilling to admit who he really is. And he wears a cloak. Cloaks are mysterious. I love cloaks!  Cloaks help you hide! I suppose I could mention here that one of the people that I pretended to be is based off of Aragorn. In the town of Blue Creek Valley they know me as Strider, the mysterious teenage girl who wears a long, black, mysterious cloak and wanders around in the thick tangle of woods that they call the Grey Mistwood. I'm the only one who can get through that place! If you haven't noticed, I can do some pretty impossible things.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY TEMPLATE?????? WHY IS IT ALL COLORFUL INSTEAD OF SHADOWY??????

Elenya: Srrindi's trying to make a template for her sister whenever she makes her account on Homeschoolblogger.

Me(witheringly): Oh, how careless of me to forget. WHY MINE?????

Elenya(shrugs): I guess she wanted to mess with you.

Me: GRRRRRRR!!!!!!

A FEW DAYS LATER...

 SUPERMAN?!?!?!?!! HOW CAN SHE DO THIS TO ME??????

A WEEK LATER:

*phew* It's finally back to normal!!!! Good old shadowy black.......

     Well, I felt like doing something weird today, so I rewrote a nursery rhyme.

     Elenya: Phew! I don't have to worry about anything creepy if it's just a nursery rhyme.

     Me: *clears throat*

     All around the neighborhood, the monkey chased the weasel

     A truck came driving up the road....

     "Pop!" goes the weasel.

     Five bucks for a spool of thread,

     Five dollars for a needle,

     That's the way our money goes....

     "Pop!" goes the weasel.

     Elenya: *scratches head* I don't get it.

     Me: I'm done for now. Buh-bye. *jumps off the roof*

     Elenya: She never says bye.......oh well. *spreads her wings and soars off the roof. She lands on the road near somebody's backyard. Johnny and Martin's backyard, to be precise. They are standing beside a tiny, freshly-dug grave.*

      Martin: *sniff* A moment of silence for the departed.

     Johnny:

     Elenya, being the angel she is, tries to comfort the two boys. Looking at the "gravestone," which is really a rock that is painted, she sees the letters: R.A.P. Squinting to see the tiny letters underneath, she reads: A.J. Weasel.

     Elenya: "R.A.P"?

     Johnny: "Roadkill at peace." He didn't see the bumper comin'.

     Martin(puts arm around his brother): Yes, Johnny. Pop went the weasel.

     Elenya(confused): What? *is silent for a moment*

     Elenya:  "Roadkill"???? Pop went the weasel!!!????? RAYNEA!!!!!!!!!!! *runs in the direction that Raynea left*

     "Let's start at the very beginning; a very good place to start."

     I have begun writing again, my dear friends(or is that my dear FRIEND, for only SeaChel has been reading anything on this blog!!!). I am being very careful indeed, because I really am trying not to be dark anymore; so, instead of going for my own characters this time, I will write my own story . Srrindi has changed it a lot, so it isn't as dark as it was supposed to be in the beginning.

     And Elenya, as always, will be looking over my shoulder to make sure of that.

     OK, I think I've ranted enough. Let's start at the.....yaddah yaddah yaddah.

 Part One: Beautiful Dreamer

“Just let me see your face.”

     This strange request was directed in a jesting tone of voice, but the speaker was dead serious. The girl had walked into the picnic area wearing a trench-coat and keeping her face well hidden by a knitted purple scarf, covering everything up to her piercing blue eyes. I wouldn’t have blamed her for keeping it that way, since it was so cold that afternoon; but then again, she was being so darn obstinate about it.

     “No,” she repeated firmly. “It’s 40 degrees out here and I’m freezing!”

     “Then why don’t you tell me your name?”

     The people standing around laughed silently at the boy, being so acquainted with the girl that they knew she wouldn’t give up her identity without a fight. So they watched and waited to see what would happen next.

     When he received no answer, the boy said, “It isn’t much of a church get-together if you don’t tell anyone who you are.”

     “I’ve never seen you at church,” she countered coolly, and the boy reddened with embarrassment.

     “Tell you what,” she continued, getting up from her seat. “I’ll reveal who I am if you can catch me.”

     “Oh, you’re on,” the boy said confidently. The words seemed to snap the girl into action, for she took off like a jackrabbit at that very moment. A merry chase she led him on, darting in and out of the trees, weaving through the playground and flying down the sidewalk. They disturbed an entire flock of geese that rested on the banks of the pond, and he very nearly knocked her into the water; but she regained her footing and dodged him artfully, shooting away once more.

     They ran up a hill, atop which there stood a giant maple tree, dark red with its fall colors. It was here that she tripped over a loose stone and lost her balance, finally giving the boy his chance. He grabbed at her arm just as she fell, and her scarf came away in his hand while she hit flat on her face.

     She pushed herself up off the ground, her shoulders shaking from silent mirth. From his point of view he almost thought she was crying, but when she turned to him, hair falling round her face in cascades, he caught her expression and began to laugh with her until their sides hurt.

     “My name is Raynea Blackstone,” she gasped out at last. “And you?”

     “I’m Richard Matthews,” he managed.

     She got up off the grass, brushing the dirt from her coat. “Come on, we better get back or we’ll miss the food.”

~

“You have seven brothers and sisters?” Richard exclaimed in obvious disbelief.      “Sure, right over there,” Raynea answered with her mouth full of coleslaw, pointing in the direction of a picnic table some yards adjacent. There he saw a very peculiar family---a suntanned tweenage girl feeding a chubby brunette toddler; a baby-blonde preschooler, skinny as a scarecrow, plowing away at her macaroni and cheese; two boys, one with a shock of flaxen hair, the other a mass of curly brown, discussing the all-important subject of superheroes and their villains; a kid who looked to be eleven or twelve, munching on his hamburger while writing something in a notebook; a tall young man speaking to his father, and lastly, a woman who still looked beautiful even after having all these children sat beside her husband.      “And that’s your family?” Richard asked, pointing with his fork.      “Mm-hm.”      “All with the same parents?”      “Yup.”      “Wow.”      “But enough about me,” Raynea said. “What about you? Where’s your family?”      “Oh, it’s just me and my uncle, Nathanael Crawford,” he answered absently. “He took me in after my parents and my brother died.” He looked Raynea in the eye, the sea of icy blue somewhat melted by mingled surprise and heartfelt compassion. Even so, she said nothing about that for the moment.      “You mean the Nathanael Crawford?” she asked with cocked eyebrow. “The richest man in Fairlight City?”      “That’s the one,” Richard grinned.      “You lucky duck,” Raynea smiled back. “You must have all the books you could ever dream of, with that big of a house and all that money.” She sighed, almost sadly. “Especially when Mr. Crawford’s a novelist.”      “Books?” Richard said confusedly. “What’s so lucky about having a bunch of books?”      “Raynea is an avid reader,” came the answer from behind them. Richard and Raynea turned to see a man with the same ice-blue eyes as his daughter. “In fact, she reads them so hard and so often that they get her into trouble!” He pretended to be stern, but you could tell he was only joking.      “This is my dad,” Raynea introduced. “Daddy, this is Richard Matthews. He’s been to church once or twice, he says.” She shot the boy a playful glance.      “Well, I certainly hope we get to see more of him,” her father laughed, extending his hand for Richard to shake. “I look forward to it.”      “Thank you, sir,” Richard responded. The man seemed taken aback at being addressed by that title, but it seemed to please him. He studied the boy for a moment.      “I meant it,” Mr. Blackstone said, before turning away to speak with the pastor.      “Come on,” Raynea said suddenly after a moment of awkward silence, grabbing Richard by the arm. “I want you to meet my brothers!”

How's it goin'? Take a seat....and hope you don't lose your balance, trip, fall, and hurtle hundreds of feet to your death on the Gotham pavement.

Elenya: HEY!!!! Creepy much?!!!!

*sarcastically* My apologies, Miss Angel. As I was saying, watch your step. This is where I'm going to be talking about books that me, Lavender, Elenya, and Srrindi have read, as well as a few of my adventures here in Gotham. Really, I've been trying not to be so dark and creepy, with Elenya and Lavender's help. I'm even a not-so-permanent agent in the BPRD.

Well, that's all I've got for now.

Goodbye.

*jumps off the roof and lands like a cat on the ground below*