• "Scarlett! Scarlett! come on Scarlett it's your turn and no peeking this time."
    Scarlett opened her eyes to see a little boy, no more then five, standing in front of her. He had short sliver hair and violet eyes.
    "Lance? Is that you?" she asked.
    The boy looked at tipped his head to the side, confused, "of course who else would it be?" he replied smartly. "Now it's your turn and no peeking" he demanded stomping his foot.
    Scarlett stood on her tip toes to see behind Lance then slowly walk past him.
    "Hey are you ignoring me now!" he stamped childishly, but she didn't hear him as she moved past the bush.
    Scarlett looked up at the sky, a bright red color flooded the sky, with a yellow moon hanging off in the distance "where are we?' she asked.
    Lance ran up beside her "What do you mean? Where are we?" he asked confused.
    Scarlett quickly turned towards Lance grabbing him by the shoulders "What is this place call?" she asked shaking him a little.
    "You mean you don't know? This is Pandora" he replied.
    As the word echoed in Scarlett’s mind she could feel something give away inside of her, like a key unlocking a door. Suddenly memories from a past life, parents, family and old friends came rushing back to her. All her memories of when she was younger than four came back to her like water over a fall.
    Scarlett jolted forward, breathing heavily, perspiration beaded at the top of her forehead, slowly she massaged her temples "I remember now" she whispered than silently started to cry into her hands.
    When she awoke in the morning she remained her normal self, running down the stairs, ate breakfast with her family then ran out the door, rushing to get to school.
    The day went by faster than Scarlett had thought, though her friends had asked her about the red streak in her hair she had just told them that her and her mom did it last night as a spur of the moment thing. Sighing at her desk, the bell had rung and school was over.
    "Hey, Scarlett are you coming?" Holly asked standing by the door of the classroom.
    "Yeah I'm coming" she replied grabbing her bag and walking to the door, but as she got to Holly and Violet she stopped, "Actually there is something I have to do" she muttered then looking at her friends she gave them both a hug "Thank you" she whispered to both of them then walked down the hall.
    Holly and Violet looked confused at each other, "What was that about?" Holly asked.
    "I don't know" Violet thought, "Anyways, we had better get going" Holly added pulling Violets arm in the other direction.
    Scarlett turned the corner and knew her friends could no longer see her she stared to sprint, keeping her head down her hair fluttered behind her like a black pool shining in the moon light. Scarlett turned a sharply around a corner towards the stairs leading up to the roof of the school, taking the stairs two at a time, she reached the door and paused for a moment, hesitating, griping the door handle she summoned some courage and pushed open with all her might.
    A light wind blew, making her hair lightly flicked to the side; Scarlett moved her bangs out of her eyes and slowly walked to the railing griping the cold metal between her hands. Looking up into the sky, soft fluffy clouds strolled across the sky, not having a care in the world, the bright blue of the sky was starting to be taken over by the orange, reds and various shades of pink as the sun started to set.
    Scarlett watched and waited as the glorious sun start to hide behind the hill of the mountains and turn the sky into a battle ground of colors until it looked like darkness would soon concur.
    As Scarlett watched the sunset Lance stood behind her, watching her, her hair seemed to reflected the colors of the sky as it moved with the wind.
    "Sherri?" he whispered almost as if he was clinging to a false hope.
    Slowly Scarlett turned around and faced him, part of her bangs fluttering in front of her face, She looked straight at Lance for what seemed like an eternity, but was only a few seconds.
    "Yes Lance?" she whispered.
    Lance's eyes grew wide with surprise, "Do you really remember me?" he asked taking a few steps toward her.
    Scarlett Smiled, "How could I forget that bossy little boy who always wanted to play games" she asked taking the last few steps towards Lance and into him arms.
    Lance wrapped his arms around her holding her close to him, "You remember" he whispered.
    A tear ran down Scarlett’s cheek, "I've waited for so long, now you can come bac..." Lance stopped when he saw the tears running down her face, "What’s the matter?" he asked holding her by the shoulders.
    Scarlett placed a hand on one the side of his cheek, looked at him with a pleading look of understanding, "I can't" she muttered.
    Lance stood there stunned as if something had just hit him in the face "What? Why? I don't understand. We need you back home" he tried to grasp some kind of understanding.
    Scarlett closed her eyes and sighed then gazed back into lance’s eyes after a moment, "I have a home, it has been my home for so long that leaving it now feels like I would be leaving my true home and friends and family " she paused for a moment then placed her other hand on her heart, "To me they are the ones closest to my heart" she answered looking back at him.
    Lance took a step back, "But you already have a home, why here?" he asked anger and frustration starting to rise.
    Scarlett grimaced at the tone in his voice, "How can you ask me to go to a place that holds such bad memories, when I have a place to stay that I can be happy and have such loving and kind memories?" she asked sadness creeping into her voice with each word she spoke.
    Lance froze and remember what had happened so long ago that it seemed like a fuzzy dream. Scarlett's parents had been brutally murdered in front of her when she was four years old, killed by her older brother. Lance could still hear Damien’s demonic laughter as he walked away leaving Scarlett bathed in her parents blood, "Your time will come" is all he said before he left her.
    Lance clenched his fist, “What about the memories that we hold, all the games we played? the fun we had? Don’t those mean anything to you?" he asked trying to keep his frustration under control, after all these years of waiting and watching her, she was going to throw him aside and stay in a place she doesn't and can’t belong.
    Scarlett stepped towards him and wrapped her hands around him, hugging him so tight he thought she might never let go.
    "I remember them and I could never truly forget them, but what you are asking me is too great, even now the good and bad memories battle inside of my mind. If I were to go back to that place I would lose my sanity, my heart would break. Is that what you want? If you say yes I don't believe you, the Lance I know wouldn't want to harm me for his own selfish gain." She started to cry and buried her face in his jacket.
    Lance sighed, giving into her words, "Your right, I'm being selfish. I won't make you come back with me I’ll wait until your strong enough to battle those memories, just remember I will be always be by your side" he whispered, lifting her chin lightly, with his finger.
    Looking deep into her eyes he bent his head and captured her lips with his own, favoring them for a moment then letting go. Scarlett’s head spun from the sudden kiss, his lips had felt so cold and lifeless again her warm lips. Stepping away he walked over to the railing, stepping on the top of it he looked back, "I'll catch you later then" he said as he waved good-bye and let himself fall off the rail and over the side of the school. Scarlett ran to the rail and looked over but he was no were to be seen, she sighed and touched her lips with her finger tips, the coldness of his lips still lingered, a strong wind whipped around her sending her hair into a frenzy.
    'I did the right thing' she thought to herself but the thought seemed to be hollow.
    She wanted to stay with Lance. Feeling the love they had shared so long ago still felt strong in her heart, like an everlasting fire that won't go out, "Please wait for me" she whispered as she turned, walking to the door, going down the stairs and vanished.
    Lance walked down the road and staggered a little, he stopped and placed a hand on his face "I guess staying out in the sun all day watching her wasn't a good thing" he told himself, as he started to walk again.
    Being a vampire, normally they would avoid the sun, but the odd time they do go out into day light but at a cost, staying out in the sun too long can drain a vampires power and they are rendered powerless, but Lance’s strong will had given his body the will to move on.

    Scarlett tossed and turned that night thinking of Lance and her past memories swarming around in her head. Early in the morning she had woken up in a cold sweat, "Can I really do this?" she asked herself as she wiped her hand across he brow.
    Silently she got up and walked to her bathroom, looking in the mirror she could she the perspiration along her forehead, her hair and clothes were slightly damn, she sighed and started to unbutton the front of her shirt.
    The hot water ran down her body and seemed to relax Scarlett's tense nerves. She ran a hand through her long black hair. After what seemed like hours, but was only fifteen minutes, she turned off the tapes and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel she started to dry her hair then her body. When she stood in front of the partly fogged mirror she ran the brush through her hair, pausing when she came across the red streak, "I guess this has always been apart of me" she said continuing to bush the rest of her hair.
    Standing in the middle of her room with a towel wrapped around her, she looked around, pictures of her family and friends covered most of the walls, loving and warm memories surrounded her. Scarlett smiled and moved to her dresser, pulling out her school uniform. She pulled in on and crept down the stairs.
    The rooms were still dark, a faint light could be seen in a few of the windows, Scarlett flicked on one of the lights and walked into the living room, and stood there for a minute, she couldn't figure out what to do now. She couldn't go back to bed, she didn't feel the least bit tired, and it was too early to start breakfast. She sighed then the book shelf caught her attention walking over to it she scanned the contents, running her finger along the books, she could feel a light line of dust under her finger, then she finally pulled out a family photo album.
    Walking over to the couch she sat down with the album and opened it, there she could see pictures of her mother, father and older sister, then she paused 'but this isn’t my real family is it?' she asked herself. As she flipped through the pages tears started to form at her eyes 'no this is my family' she told herself, flipping through more pages.


    Grace came down the stairs at her usual 7:00am to start breakfast, as she got to the bottom of the stairs and noticed a light was on, “that funny I thought…” wondering what was going on she went from room to room seeing if anyone was there, finally she came to the living room and paused.
    There lying on the couch fast asleep was Scarlett, walking up to her Grace saw that Scarlett was holding one of the old family albums and her cheeks were wet from tears, lightly Grace touched her daughters shoulder "Scarlett? Are you alright?" she whispered not wanting to startle her. Slowly Scarlett started to stir and opened her eyes to look upon her mother. She slowly raised her head and rubbed at her eyes "Mother? What are you doing up? What time is it?" she asked as she stretched her arms and legs like a cat waking up from an afternoon nap.
    Her mother smiled, "I could ask you the same thing, normally I don't see you until you’re running out the door for school" she commented standing up and making her way to the kitchen.
    Scarlett placed the album on the coffee table then followed her mother into the kitchen, sitting down on the stool at the counter.
    "I couldn't get to sleep last night so I came down stairs. I guess I must have fallen asleep" Scarlett wondered, crossing her arms on the counter while placing her chin on top of them.
    Her mother brought out pans and took some eggs out of the fridge "Scarlett where did you get the red streak? I don't remember you having it before” she asked as she cracked the eggs, putting them in a bowl and mixing them together.
    Scarlett looked at her mother, she could tell something was bothering her, Grace hadn’t looked at her when she was talking, "Oh this, it was just a thing me and my friends did" she replied running her fingers through the red streak in her hair.
    Grace stopped mixing and looked at her, "Have we grown apart?" she asked staring at Scarlett. Taken back by the sudden sadness she could see in Grace’s eyes, Scarlett sat up, "What do you mean?" she asked confused about where this was coming from all of a sudden.
    Grace looked back at the bowl and moved the contents around slowly with the whisk, "Well it just seems that we've become more and more apart over the years. I was just wondering if you were starting to hate me or something?" she asked as she stared back at Scarlett.
    Scarlett couldn't believe her mothers words, yeah they didn't talk very much, but wasn't that normal? "Why would you think I hate you?" she asked standing up from the stool.
    "Well normally, at this day and age, parents and their children become split apart, lies begun to be told, rifts begin to appear and hate starts to build" her mother replied.
    Scarlett walked around the counter and hugged her mother tightly "I could never hate you! You, papa or sis" she whispered tears starting to rim her eyes and streak down her face, "Don't ever think like that, I love all of you with my life" she added hugging Grace even tighter.
    Grace smoothed a hand over Scarlett’s head, "Thank you" she whispered.
    "No, I should thank you, for everything you've done" Scarlett cried softly.
    Grace held her in her arms softly 'I'm glad you were able to remember your past and decided to stay with us, but we aren't your only loved ones, you have others in your real home. But until then I will always hold you in my arms and my heart' she thought.
    "Now would you mind helping your mother cook breakfast" she asked, smiling while taking up the whisk again and beating the eggs.
    Scarlett wiped the tears from her eyes, "Yeah what can I do?" she asked smiling back.