Edit 8/9/13: I'm trying to re-write/edit this story, since I knew next to nothing when I first started it. I still don't know much, but I want to be able to look back at this story and not cringe at it's... annoying-ness.

Original intro: Hi I'm Jaygrl22 I answer to my username, Jen, and Jay. This is my first story that I'm uploading so... be nice... Please.

Start Chapter One: Call me Jen

Pushing open the heavy door, a wave of cool night air crashes onto my cheeks and swims into my lungs. I pause in the threshold, watching my foggy breath rise to the moon. Slowly, I wish Will, the doorman, a goodnight. My ears, aching from the music, strain to hear over the loud ringing sound.

"You be careful on your way home, now, lass," he says.

I nod, teetering away from the door as the pavement sways back and forth like the sea. Another group stumbles past me, nearly knocking me over with their clumsy steps. Their loud voices, thick with those damn accents, hammer into my skull. I glare at them just as one trips and lands face first.

"Are you a'right?" I ask, rushing to her side and nearly falling myself. "Hello?"

"Mmm, why're you yelling, Mum?" The girl turned her head towards me. "I'm right 'ere." I push the dark hair out of her eyes. "You... You're not my mum."

"No, I'm not," I agree, tucking away my own strands. Slowly and carefully, I help the girl stand. She collapses into me and I, not quite sober and a natural klutz, nearly tumble down with her. After a moment of collecting myself, I'm able to shift her body comfortably against mine. I force her to walk with me as I study her bruising face.

"Don't I know you?"

Her bloodshot eyes shift to mine. "You do?"

"That's what I'm asking."

"What?"

My face pulls into a scowl. "Never mind. Where do you live?"

"Uh... That way." She nods in a direction.

"You sure?"

"Ah..." She pauses then turns her head back to me. "What?"

"Never mind," I sigh. "I'm going home. If you see something you recognize, let me know. Or I'll have to leave somewhere along the way."

"Well... Aren't you... sweet?"

"Sarah? Sarah, where are you?!" Up ahead, the group of stumbling girls are spread out along the street. Searching high and low for 'Sarah'.

"She's over here!" I shout to the group, causing Sarah to grumble in annoyance. The girls walk over as quickly as they can, some nearly tumbling over their heels.

"Sarah, you idiot," the oldest says, pulling the girl away from me. "You followed the wrong person out! We turned around and you were gone."

"And of all the people to follow," another mutters," you had to follow the American." I glare in the direction of her voice but all of their eyes are sharply trained onto anything that isn't me. Grumbling under my breath, I start walking away.

"Buh bye!" Sarah calls. "See you at... uh... the place… school…?" I wave a hand over my shoulder, knowing she won't remember anyway.

My fricking buns are freezing off. Somewhere, deep in the crevasses of my tired, selfish mind, I wish my aunt and uncle lived closer to Bump in the Night. But it's probably in one of the worst areas around. If anything, I should be grateful my family lives as far from it as they do.

Part of me wants to walk faster. Get home and into bed before someone tries to check up on me and rat me out to my old man. The rest of me knows that's dumb. This is Scotland, after all. Nobody here checks my room every twenty minutes, looking for ways to get me in trouble. Uncle Bob even caught me walking in one early, early morning and hardly made a fuss. He knew exactly what he'd been getting into when he agreed to take me in.

After a quick, "where had I been" and "what had I been doing", the extent of his lecture was: "Don't make it a habit. Bad things can happen after dark." Besides, I'm not his kid. If Tony were sneaking out after dark, he'd probably flip his lid and ground him for a year. Not that it would really matter since the poor kid doesn't have friends anyway.

Glancing out at the cemetery beside me, I start to pick up the pace. Something crawling out from the trees wants to drag me into a crypt. A dark, hungry creature wishes to feast upon my flesh, tear it piece by piece from my skin. A man with vile intentions is coming up behind me. The zombies are fighting their way through the earth. Thankfully, none of this is really happening. For right now at least, it's only my imagination having a freak out.

A twig snaps, and I freeze. Bumps trickle along my skin. Sweat slowly starts to collect at the base of my neck and runs down my spine. I try to listen, but my heart hammers and those blasted voices brush away the alcohol and start making noise. I can't hear anything outside myself. I should run. But what if it catches me? What if I trip? I can't run. I'm stuck. Trapped with the eyes watching me. Everywhere. I can feel them. A small gasp–barely audible–pulls me from the drowning thoughts. Blinking, my head slowly turns to the sound. I take deep breaths, a desperate attempt regain control.

"If you don't come out now," my voice loud and threatening, "I swear, I'll go in there and cut your fucking head off!" After a few seconds, a small boy moves out of hiding. My eyes bulge and my jaw drops. "Tony!? What the crap are you doing out here? Get over here!"

He stays still for a moment, bends towards the bush he had been hiding behind, then reemerges. Shuffling quietly towards me, like a prisoner facing the gallows, I follow his movements. But beneath my stony gaze, I can feel the eyes watching me, as they always do. No, no. This time, they're studying. Actually, waiting for me to make a mistake instead of prodding me beforehand. I am a little puzzled but do my best to ignore them, as I usually do. When Tony finally reaches me, he looks so guilty it's almost pitiful. I sigh and kneel down to his level. He refuses to meet my gaze. My youngest cousin is not dumb; he knows when he's done wrong.

"You little idiot," I coo softly, ruffling his hair. "What do you think you're doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"Playing," he mumbles.

I do a double take. "Playing? Out here? Alone?" Scratch what I said, Tony's clearly not as smart as I thought. What could he have been thinking? He could've gotten hurt! Or kidnapped, or attacked, or–

"I wasn't alone. I was with Rudolph."

"Wha...?" I pull myself out of the panic. "Who?"

"He's my friend. From... school. He's been over a few times," he says quickly.

"Not since I've been here."

He shrugs. "He's got a big family thing coming up, so we can't hang out as much."

"So you hang out in graveyards at an ungodly hour, instead?" Tony nods, clearly hiding something. I frown and cross myself. "I would like to meet this friend of yours, if you don't mind."

His face pales a bit. "Um, okay, I guess." He looks back to the bush he'd been hiding behind, unsure of what to do.

"Rudolph?" I call, catching on quickly. "Could you come here, please?" Nothing happens. "You're not in any trouble, I just want to talk to you."

Tony tries as well. "It's okay, dude. My cousin's cool."

It takes a moment, but his friend finally emerges. A chill runs down my spine, but I do my best to brush it off. The most striking thing are his eyes. Never in my life had I actually met someone with red eyes. Aside from his pale skin and strange clothes, there isn't much difference between him and a normal kid. As long as we ignore the whole 'playing in a graveyard at midnight' thing.

"Hello, Rudolph." I smile. His face is tight and his eyes jitter from here to there and back again. I frown, realizing I must've terrified the poor thing earlier when I threatened to cut off his head by accident.

To be polite he says, "Hello."

"Dude, this is my cousin Jennive," Tony says grinning. "Jen this is my best friend, Rudolph."

I stick out my hand and for a split second he looks confused. He takes it–his hand feels frozen–and brings my knuckles close to his face. After a quick glance between me and Tony, he shakes it awkwardly. I try really, really hard not to laugh.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Jennive."

"Call me Jen," I insist. "Nice to meet you, too."

It still feels like I'm being studied, but the air is empty of eyes and the murmuring vanished some time ago. I'm starting to wonder if maybe my mind's just slipping further down the rabbit hole. The mere idea of it makes me want to roll my eyes. The level I'm at now if hard enough to deal with and it took me a damn long time to get there.

Obviously, it still affects my life, but at least I'm aware of the irrationality and can usually tell what is and isn't real outside my head. But when my antipsychotics started to 'disappear' in the middle of the night, that bitch convinced my father I was using them for a high–which probably isn't even possible. So now, since I'm 'addicted', they've taken me off my meds. Coming off cold turkey hasn't been very pretty, as my family and the voices and the eyes can all easily testify.

"Anyway, what are the two of you doing out here so late?"

"Tony and I were simply playing," Rudolph says innocently. As all guilty children do, I tell myself.

"Honest, that's all we were doing," Tony chimes. I study the two them briefly and roll my eyes.

"Okay, okay. I'll bite–" They both look at each other then back at me– "You two were only playing, but playtime's over. You," I point at Tony," have to get up early for school tomorrow, and your mother," I point to Rudolph," is probably worried sick." The boys nod. Rudolph smiles pleasantly; hiding dome kind of secret, and I can see the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Where do you live?" I ask him, and the smile falls.

"Oh... My home is... close by. Not far at all."

I raise a brow and fire back: "In that case, I'll walk you." It's not a suggestion.

"N-No, really it's fine. Just past the cemetery. I will be home... home in a heartbeat!" He reassures me, smiling at his choice of words.

"Well... All right, I guess. It just doesn't feel right leaving a kid alone. In the middle of the night. In a cemetery."

"It's ok, Jen. Rudolph can take care of himself," Tony insists.

"I never said he couldn't, dork." I ruffle his hair again only to be met with a yawn. Taking his hand, I start to lead him away. "Nice meeting you, Rudolph."

"The pleasure was mine."

"I'll see you later, dude," Tony manages through another yawn.

"Indeed. Goodnight, dude."

End Chapter

Sorry to say Gregory won't be joining us for a another few chapters. I don't like throwing the love interest into a story until I'm convinced the main character is completely settled.