Chapter one




Shadow stalked through the halls of the high school she attended. She wore a frown and moved quickly, avoiding eye contact as she weaved through the sea of teenagers. She ducked her head a bit whenever anyone looked at her and made a point not to stop or indulge in any kind of interaction. It was now her favorite time of day, lunch. Where no one would bother trying to talk to her, and as a bonus she could sit by her favorite tree that was only slightly off of school grounds. A pink, blue, and green Wisteria tree. She didn't know why, but she found it comforting, it reminded her of someone that she couldn't quite remember, but it made her feel happy, cared about. She had packed her lunch herself to avoid the almost literal poison that is public school food. She started walking to her favorite spot, and put in her headphones. When she was only met with the most cliche people in the entire universe; the school bullies. "Oh look, it's little miss perfect." The tallest one sneered.

"Oh look, it's John,"

"And his little posse of sexist tropes," Shadow shot back "how are you today this lovely lunch break? Cheating on your girlfriends I'm sure."

"That is none of your business, you brat." John snapped.

"Well you've pretty much made it the entire schools business, considering how often you snog with other girls in the hallways." Shadow snickered. John's expression had turned into a dark leer and he clenched his fist.

"Be careful what you say, bitch. I can have this 'lovely' tree of your's cut down if I wanted to."

Shadow pushed herself to her feet, furious. No one could threaten to take away her sanctuary and get away with it. She stopped until she stood face to face with John and glared at him, "There are 171,146 words in the english language, but none of them can properly describe my urge to hit you with a chair." Barely thinking, she slammed her fist forward and puched John fiercely in the face. "Hot damn that felt good." Was her only thought.

As the fight ensued, his posse of tropes ran to grab a teacher, cause it was getting ugly fast. Like immediate bruises ugly. Fast Forwarding a bit to the principal's office, Shadow knew she was in deep.

"So, what you're telling me is that you had a fight over a tree?" Principal Dunkel sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Well if he hadn't threatened me, this wouldn't have happened!" Shadow yelled, slamming her fists on the table.

"What did he threaten you with?" Dunkel asked knowing if this was a serious threat he would have to expel John. And frankly he was eager to finally get rid of the little shit.

"He threatened to cut my tree down just because I called him out on cheating on his girlfriend."

"IT'S JUST A STUPID TREE!" John shouted.

"You're just mad because daddy hasn't shown you affection since you were eight!"

John leaped from his chair and whipped towards Shadow, his face pulsing with fury and clenched his fists,  "YOU SON OF A-"

"You may leave now, Shadow. I'll handle this." Dunkle said as he quickly rushed Shadow towards the door.

As it shut behind her, she realized she had missed lunch.

Shadow strode through the hall in silence, holding her backpack and heading towards her next class. She stifled a sigh as she pushed her way through the doors. Time skip to the end of the day, upon hearing the bell she immediately left the classroom in hopes of beating the student traffic. She always just barely did, making it to the front seconds before any other group of students did. She was walking home as usual, but this time was a bit more cheerful. Not only was John in loads of trouble, but there was also a field trip tomorrow for her favorite class, World Studies.

She always liked learning about other cultures, her teachers thought she would make a good Anthropologist, though she didn't exactly know how Anthropologists got their money. As she was getting closer to her house she decided to check her mailbox. It was the usual; some magazines, some junk mail, and a green envelope shoved in the back. Oh, guess it's been a month. What Shadow was referring too is that once a month she would get a check for about 5,000 dollars. Sometimes it was a bit more, sometimes it was a bit less. She thought it was great. She wouldn't have to get a job as soon as she graduated, so she could focus on her studies. But there was a lingering fear and curiosity nipping at the back of her brain, she was scared that one day whoever is sending them would  just stop.

Though she thought it would be better if she didn't question it. If the person had been that committed, and charitable to send her a check once a month, she figured that they wouldn't stop. As she unlocked her house she felt an overwhelming sadness washing over her. So after she put down her backpack and took off her shoes she sat in a fetal position and began to cry. She lived alone, she didn't know who her parents were, she didn't even know if they were alive. This breakdown happened every other day, and it honestly felt worse every time. She needed to distract herself in any way possible. So she sat down, and started her homework.

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