۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗ 𓏲˖ 𑁍 ࣪ ִ ۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗
࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ  ✩◿𝓖𝓖◸ 🂱 ࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ
CHAPTER ZERO—
introduction.

isabella ferreira as...
Blake Costa

The death of Blake Costa happened eight months ago on her sixteenth birthday.

She was a popular girl, a girl people loved and cared for even when they wished they didn't. She didn't have a mean bone in her body, she always managed to light up the room with her smile. Blake was and always would be, the sweetheart of Nevermore. But, that was just it. Only at Nevermore would she hold the title, no one in town would ever look at an outcast, freak, spiteful creature like herself and think anything along the lines of sweet.

She wished she'd have just accepted that she was better off spending her birthday at Nevermore, then maybe she'd still have a pulse and be able to touch and eat things.

Sixteen. That was the age people dreamt of, the age they turn into a big deal. You aren't seen as a child, but you aren't considered an adult. It was perfect, the perfect age, an age Blake was the most excited for. She planned it for six months, though secretly she had been wanting to for a whole year but she was scolded when doing so. There'd been a store in town, one where you go to and get your fortune read to you based off just a few simple facts about yourself and a look at your palm. Blake had always wanted to go, but her principle and friends frowned upon the idea of venturing that deep into a town that hated her.

But, after six months of thinking, she developed a plan. They'd go right at midnight when she turned sixteen, the streets weren't crawling with people that would notice who they'd been or where they came from. They'd make it there for an hour tops, then get back home safely. They were better in numbers, so she made a list of names to attend with her.

Number one, and always her number one, was her childhood best friend. Xavier Thorpe. Connected at the hip ever since they were big enough to walk after his father and her Moms became partners due to their gifted abilities. He was at the top of the list because he'd already been apart of the plan, he was always and forever would be, apart of her plans.

Number Two, Enid Sinclair. A friend, not a best friend, but a friend that she enjoyed the company of. Though, that took a lot of convincing and a few painful knitting lessons later.

Third, Ajax Petropolus. A boy she was so insanely fascinated with and begged him to stone her just once so she'd know what it felt like. To say the least, they turned plenty of odd heads when over hearing that conversation. He never did, but the many years of questioning and hoping formed a friendship between the pair.

Then, Bianca Barclay. Bianca and Blake weren't necessarily friends, but they were friendly enough. Blake was thankful Bianca wasn't the type of girl that forced her boyfriend to cut off any ties with opposite gender friends, that would have crushed Blake to loose her best friend. And Bianca was thankful Blake wasn't the type of best friend that would have made her want to encourage Xavier to cut ties with. Blake was always respectful of their relationship and made sure to include Bianca. Sure, Blake and Xavier were affectionate at one point in their lives, but when the two of them starting dating, Blake knew that there was a line, even if neither of them meant it in a romantic way, there was still a line. Blake was the type of girl Bianca could potentially hate as a person, but even with the chances so high, she still found a way to charm and respect her.

Though, it was funny how that worked out. Even if Blake wasn't the girl at the time that Bianca needed to keep an eye on, she still ended up being the girl Xavier never seemed to stay away from or even not obsess over. Blake wasn't the issue, Xavier and his many paintings and his many stories and his constant longing stares, and his regret and humiliation, were. Oh, how much regret and humiliation he had when him and Bianca snuck off to make-out between classes, skipping the next one just because they couldn't get enough of each others lips, each others hands, each others little words between each kiss.

"...blake."

She pretended like she hadn't heard him, but he knew deep down she had to have. He didn't even know until that moment that something truly was going on between him and his best friend. He was blinded by his feelings due to truly liking Bianca and being clouded by the idea of Blake being his best friend. It took saying her name just that one time for things to make since, but when it finally did, and him and Bianca decided to call it off later that night, it was too late.

Because that was the same night that Blake died ten minutes after she'd turned sixteen.

In order to get out of the school that late at night, the group had to result to climb the gates and stay balanced. They all were well trained in that matter, especially Blake considering it was her plan and she'd practiced it plenty of times to prepare for this moment. But, Blake had a million thoughts in her head. She was jittery from it being her birthday, she was trying to run over the directions in her head, she was obsessing over what the palm reader would say, she was over the moon with the bracelet Xavier had gotten her, but most of all, she was wondering why Bianca wasn't here and why no one seemed to want to say why.

So many thoughts, her foot slipped when trying to climb over, and Blake's body fell and was punctured by the spikes on the part of the gate that they were meant to jump over.

Blake died that day, but she'd taken apart of three people with her. Enid still had nightmares from it, seeing Blake's body punctured in such a painful and gruesome way as blood sputtered from her lips. Ajax had immediately jumped to the idea of trying to help her, running away for help, though what happened traumatized him every time he had to walk past that gate. Then, Xavier, who swore he felt his soul leave his body the second Blake's did. He froze, unable to move for a second, thinking it was a nightmare. Still, even now, he genuinely had to force himself not to think about it or he'd loose control over his own ability.

It was no nightmare, he'd lost her from just a few feet below.

Lost her in some way, but spirits lived on at Nevermore. There'd always been rumors and tells about girls seeing ghost in the green houses, a couple boys claiming they heard someone talking in the empty bathrooms. No solid proof, but theories and myths lingered.

Blake had made it facts when she showed up not long after. Her body was already being transported to the mausoleum, but she stood right there infront of all their faces. She wasn't able to touch anything, she wasn't able to sleep, she wasn't able to eat, and she wasn't able to leave the school, but she was still her. She still had her beautiful brown eyes and that gorgeous smile that lit up an entire room. She still carried around the personality you couldn't manage to hate. She was gone, but her spirit refused to move on from the people and the life she loved the most.

So, she stayed there. Her body rotting away, but her spirit haunting Nevermore and attending class just as she always would, her friendships staying put. Their own ghost girl, but a ghost girl was better then loosing her entirely. Xavier said that the night Blake arrived back.

•

kylie speaks

hey, looker.

she's just like me bc i would
also beg ajax to stone me