Title: Annabel Lee

Rating: T

Summary: It was many and many a year ago in a kingdom by the sea...Freddie knows one girl that is so indescribably beautiful he can't bear to watch.

My first fanfiction. Please, don't flame. I worked really hard on this, plus my cat (I truly only have three friends in this topsy turvy world, and they are my cats) is really, really sick, so soon I have to take him to the vet, so I'm not in the mood for dealing with flames. I'm really afraid of what the vet will tell me so...I'll stop talking and let you read the story. Also, this story is incredibly, immensely sad.

-Chapter One-
Poetry

English class.

Freddie was eager to leave, squirming in his seat awkwardly. They had just started their unit on poetry, what luck. The class was asked to go to the poetry wall and choose one poem to learn and recite before the class. As he was a fan of popular literature, likewise Carly, he had chosen Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. He didn't realize, however, it was a love poem. True, he knew the story of Edgar Allan Poe falling in love with his cousin Virginia Clemm, but he hadn't a clue that the poem Annabel Lee was composed for her.

He brushed it off as Carly skipped to her seat, her chocolate brown curls bouncing as she went.

"You seem excited for poetry," Freddie mocked.

Carly giggled. She sat down in her seat next to Freddie, tossing her brown locks over her shoulder. "I just chose the hardest poem to memorize," she said proudly, beaming.

"And that's an accomplishment because...?"

"Because, this will be a chance to teach kids how important poetry is to us." She wouldn't stop smiling her beautiful, flawless smile. Freddie's heart melted.

Sam turned from her seat in front of Freddie. "What kind of poem is titled Spirits of the Dead? It sounds like a crappy remake of Thriller!"

"I thought you'd like Spirits of the Dead," Carly said. "It has the word 'dead' in the title!"

"I like fried chicken," Sam said plainly. Carly rolled her eyes. "Why can't I just learn Thriller as my poem? I already know half the words anyway!" She groaned, putting her head on her desk.

"Sam, the point of the assignment is to learn a classic poem, not a hit single," Freddie argued. "If you want to learn a hit single, go join melodia!"

"Women's choir? Oh, no way, Benson, I'm not standing with a bunch of sissies and singing about 'the world we live in' and 'we all should be happy' and 'why can't we be friends'!" She sighed. "I need pork."

"We just had lunch!" Carly objected.

"Yeah, and did my lunch contain quality pork?"

"Yes!"

Sam sighed and shook her head.

"Hey, Carly, Said the Rose is so long!" Freddie said, observing the length of Carly's poem. Yes, Said the Rose was a horribly lengthy poem by George H. Miles.

"I told you!" Carly said, making fun at the nerdy technical producer of iCarly, the popular webshow. "I told you my poem was long, Freddie. I told you. Didn't I tell him, Sam?"

"What?" Sam asked.

Carly sighed and mumbled something about how Sam never paid any amount of attention to anything for more than a matter of seconds, which is probably why all of her goldfish ended up dying.

Freddie sighed as he tried to zone out of Carly and Sam's latest spat. He looked down at his poem, though he didn't read it, not that he could concentrate with Carly and Sam arguing over some stupid little thing anyway. He sighed again. This class was so dreadfully boring.

Suddenly, his blood chilled. He saw a weird image before him:

Carly stepped out in front of a bus. He stood in front of the school, tying his shoe, when he looked up. Carly was too busy texting Sam to notice that anything was happening.

"Carly!" he screamed at her, but she didn't hear. "Carly!" he yelled louder.

She still didn't hear. He looked down at his shoe. It wasn't tied yet. He knew he would have to tie it before he could go run out there and save Carly, as he knew one thing: it wouldn't be good to run to save the love of your life when you're constantly tripping over your own feet.

His fingers flew. He had to finish tying his shoe, before it was too late to do anything. He tried getting her attention once more, but to no prevail. He saw several people standing there, staring at the scene...why didn't they do anything? Why didn't the driver see her? Why...?

He finished, jumping up to go rescue her, but...

Her screams filled the air as the bus violently hit her, sending her flying backwards several feet, landing in the road, blood pouring out her head, ribs, arms, and legs. He stood there, his mouth agape, not sure whether to cry, scream, or just walk away.

The last thing he noticed was her purple Converse, pink skirt, yellow tank top, and purple blazer, which were now blood stained, and her hair eloquently held back in a ponytail.

He came out of his shock. Had he truly just seen the death of Carly Shay?

His heartbeat ricocheted in his chest. He could even hear it above the buzz of the classroom. Sweat was pouring down his face, his breathing heavy.

"Freddie? Freddie, are you alright?"

He looked up and saw Carly's worried face and Sam's bored face staring at him. Carly's hair was held back in a ponytail—odd, her hair was just down a moment ago—and she was clutching a purple blazer in shock. He looked at her to see the telltale pink skirt. Her legs were crossed, her foot resting on the leg of the desk wearing her new purple Converse that she was nuts about. He realized that everyone in the room was staring at him.

"Freddie!"

"I'm—I'm fine. I just think I need to go to the nurse's office..."

"Freddie, you're as white as a ghost!"

"I just need to lie down—excuse me, Mrs. Shanahan..." he said, grabbing his bookbag and walking out the door, the nurse's lanyard around his neck.

He walked slowly to have his breathing settle. He had just seen, in poignant detail, the demise of Carly Shay. The light of his life, dead...

No, it couldn't be happening. It just couldn't....

He walked into the nurse's office. Sitting down on the cot, he listened to the nurse's monotonous voice. He answered her questions one by one and just sat back and relaxed—that is, until she forcefully shoved a thermometer under his tongue.

"Well, ninety eight point six, normal," she said. "I have no choice but send you back to class."

"I'm feeling better anyway..." he said, standing. "Thank you."

He went back to class, slid in his seat, and read his poem like the rest of his class. But he couldn't force himself to focus, not with what he had seen happen to Carly...

It was after school. Freddie tripped for the umpteenth time. He sighed, going off to the side to tie his shoelace. How many times in one day would his shoe get untied?

"Hey, Freddie," Carly said. Freddie looked up. "Can I have a ride home?"

"Uh...sorry, Carly, I have to go somewhere right now..."

She shrugged. "Okay, I'll walk." She smiled. "Bye, Freddie!" And then...

She took out her cell phone and made a new text.

Freddie gasped. He rushed to tie his shoe, jumped up, and ran to Carly, screaming, "No! Carly!"

She turned, and, right on time, grabbed her around the waist and forced her back...right as a bus went by. They fell to the ground.

"Carly, are you okay?" he asked, pulling himself up, then extending a hand to help Carly up.

"Uh...Freddie...what just happened?"

"What are you talking about? Carly, you almost got killed!"

"But...you were so quick to react. Almost as if...you saw it coming."

"I...I've got to go..."

Freddie ran off, afraid and bewildered.

Sorry if that made no sense, there's the next forty chapters for you to figure it out! Yes, there's going to be forty-one chapters, one for each line of Annabel Lee. Please review, as I really need it...and God, I hope Com gets better! (Com is my cat.) By the way, this will all be explained if you just stick with me!! And also, Edgar Allan Poe IS my favorite author and poet! He is amazing and has such a way with words! Thanks for reading. :D