Dear Readers isn't a particularly groundbreaking moment for the No One Important story line, it's not even the first appearance of Kirsten Silva (Kristie) - I'm still working on tracking that down - and there's a much more successful canon of Kristie's without her as the main character that takes place during her era. Though it is significant in that it likely is one of the few times remaining during this period in which Kristie - and her other iterations - have the spotlight. As NOIA progresses, Kristie's character will face a dramatic shift in dynamic and purpose within the story and I like this bit because you can sort of see that shift in development. The idea that there's more to her character, something tragic that no one else has realized yet, maybe not even me when I was writing it.
You'll also notice in here something referred to again and again as 'the Life'. Sadly, I have little recollection of what exactly this could be referring to story wise. I can take some good guesses but I personally don't see the point in this instance since, as far as I've seen, this is the only piece that has this terminology in it. There are some things that are just lost to a time before I knew how to keep decent notes.
There's also characters in here who just... slowly fade into non-existence within this story. Devlin the fairy was a creature of my childhood imagination, I remember creating him while messing around with friends on the playground in junior high. Same with ND, who I can remember absolutely adoring when me and my friends created him. I think I used to have dreams staring him and he was probably my favorite character for a long, long time.
I don't remember forgetting him but somehow, somewhere along the line, I lost track of him. Honestly, I might not have ever remembered him if I hadn't gone down the rabbit hole of reading a lot of my old stuff. I'm pretty sure I only rediscovered his existence earlier this year. I fell in love with him again. So much so, in fact, that I've been working on new plots with him in mind though he did need some polishing after probably six or so years abandoned.
That being said, ND my absolute beloved and enjoy my younger self breaking some traditional writing conventions.
Dear Readers,
You probably don’t know us, actually, you don’t know us, which is a good thing, because it means that you never experienced the Life. The Life of secrets and oppression, the Life that we spent the last few years of our life living.
You can’t escape the Life, because it sucks you in, traps you and drives you insane before you can try, we know that it did the same to us, and our sisters.
I look at us now and hate the way I am, I look at us back then and I don’t recognize the person that we once were.
I bet you're wondering who this ‘we’ is that I am referring to, pretty curious right? Well, it’s me and my other half, and, yes, I do mean that in the way that you think I probably do. For the slower of you out there, I will elaborate. My other half, the brighter part of my, our, personality. She is the main personality between us, actually, but… things happened and she was never the same.
I’m rambling, I know that I am, and I would apologize for that, but I really only came here to tell you our story, to tell you what happened to us, and to prepare you. Because no one knows when they will picked you out as the next ‘hero’, the next ‘leader’, as I was, but I must say one thing:
Fate is a bitch.
She will do everything in her power to screw you over in the end, because she has nothing better to do than watch your life go by, and having you win all the time would be boring to her, so be ready. You, most likely, are the least qualified of people for the job, but Fate is cruel like that, just like her sister Karma.
Now, pay attention, because I’ll only be telling you this once.
Like I said before, I had, have, another personality in my head, one that was once in control. I was just a defense mechanism, never made to become a real person, never meant for the role of leader, in charge of, well, everything. I was there to protect her, to shield her from the everyday pain that she had come to receive, I let her down, because someone we both trusted betrayed us. This person was one of two people my other self and I had ever let in, one of the few people to ever fully gain our trust.
And she turned right around and stabbed us in the back, causing as much pain as possible.
The sad thing? We loved, no, love her.
This is your warning; sometimes your enemy is much closer than they seem. Do you think you could spot your enemy in a way that we could not?
If I have caught your attention, continue on, I wish to warn as many as possible, but I know that there are those who do not want a warning.
Yours Truly,
The one formerly known as Kirsten Silva.
(A.K.A. No One Important Anymore)
Introductions
If I had to trace back to the beginning, of the end, the one moment that sent our whole life spiraling downwards, it would have to have been the first day of high school.
That was the day we met him, the day he changed our whole world.
We, my other self, called Kristie then, and I, walked through the campus, scanning each building closely, so that we could hopefully find our way around later. Kristie's emotions were moving in every direction possible, excitement, happiness, and hope, all spinning around in our shared head; my own emotions were darker, for I always took on the most difficult of her emotions. I was her darker side, it was my job to take as much of the burden off her as possible, I know that I felt worry and panic more than anything, as well as a deep sense of foreboding that left a sense of dread in our gut.
Not that Kristie, nor I, really, had any clue why that was, if only we had thought more of it… if only.
"Kristie!"
Our eyes jumped from their forward direction at the shout of our name, looking through the crowded halls to find the person we had heard. When our foggy grey eyes met familiar chocolate, Kristie grinned, moving quickly to meet our long time friend.
"Hey, Corey, what are you doing here?" That dumb little smile never left our face, her obliviousness was something that managed to surprise everyone around her, even me, way back when, but I had gotten better at expecting it, considering that I shared the same mind as her 24/7.
Corey gave us a look, "I have to be here, remember Kristie? It's school."
We blinked, Kristie looking around, as if she was just realizing something, "When'd I get here?" We whispered quietly, Kristie's memory, once again, getting the best of her.
"And how is my adorable little idiot on this fine day?" Another voice came from behind us, one we both knew, and one that still sent shivers down our spine. A thin, gracefully boned hand ran over our short blonde hair, reluctantly cut that summer by our irritating mother, causing Kristie to grin. I could feel the small stinging in her heart, the small burning that being referred to by such harsh words caused her, but only I felt it, that is what she created me for after all, to take all the hurt and pain that she could no longer handle on her own.
"Mars!" Kristie cheered, "What are you doing here?"
It was Maurice, or Mars as we had called her, once upon a time, that gave us the look this time, as Corey cackled from behind us, "Umm… Kristie, you do know that we're at school, right?"
"Huh?" We asked, looking back at her, after something shiny had captured Kristie's attention and dragged her mind, and therefore mine, away from what was actually happening around us. "Hey, what classes do you guys have first?" We said next, while beginning to walk away from them, not really towards anything, but Kristie had always hated to stay still for too long, it made her fidgety and nervous, for some reason even I don't know.
As she expected, the two followed us, just like we would for them, if needed, "I have math first hour and I expect to be studying, unlike someone," she smirked at us, but Kristie paid no mind to the comment, neither of us felt the need.
She did, however, manage to respond to it, "Ick! Who would want to actually learn that stuff? I am going to be enjoying a nice long nap in my science class each morning." I can almost imagine what it feels like to smile thinking about that, Kristie would have never graduated high school, unless she had lots of luck, which, as you can probably already guess, she didn't. None of us did, or do, for that matter.
Corey laughed, not even paying attention as we switched from walking forward, to walking backwards, so that Kristie could see our companions as we talked. "Oh, well, I guess I'm not seeing either of you till lunch then, 'cause I got history first hour, sorry dudes," she shrugged, lips still sporting a grin that said she wasn't sorry at all. I think that it's Corey that I miss most of all, I don't know where she is, or where she ended up, but I would love to see her smiling one more time, she always had the best smile.
Kristie opened our mouth to make some response that no one but me and, of course, her would understand when the bell rang, signaling that we all better head off. "Welp, I'm off see ya guys later!" We called, quickly spinning on our heel as we began toward where we thought our first class was.
"See ya!"
"Bye."
Both Corey and Maurice shouted as well, going in their own directions, Kristie smiled, "I can't believe today is my first day of highschool! Can you believe it?" Most people looking at us would think Kristie was crazy talking to herself, and, yeah, she was pretty crazy, but I have never seen her talk to anything that wasn't actually there.
And don't think she was talking to me, even now I'm pretty sure she doesn't know I exist, oh, no, she was talking to a little friend of ours, one that only certain people could see.
"Yeah, at least this place has windows, unlike that other stupid place were at," muttered the irritated fairy that appeared on our shoulder, and, yeah, I did tell you a 'fairy' was sitting on our shoulder. I did tell you the Life was weird, didn't I?
Now, don't think I lied to you, I promise I didn't, I only told you the part of the story that was relevant to the message I was trying to send, that being the way the Life had destroyed our life. Before this day all encounters I had with the Life were terrifying, but none ended the way this time did, none ever lasted as long either, that being said, it is possible to live the Life safely. Some people can go their whole life without a single deadly encounter from the Life, and some barely survive a day after their discovery of it. Me and Kristie? We lasted way longer than we should have, with how deeply involved in the Life we had become.
We frowned at the fairy, "Now, now, Devlin, you may be a shadow fairy, but that gives you no excuse to be angry all the time."
Devlin, never having been one to back down from a fight, or argument, or debate, or, well, anything, really, snapped back at us instantly, "Actually, that gives me a pretty good reason to be angry all the time, and, maybe if you would stop putting up all those dreamcatchers in your room I would be able to show you just how angry I am allowed to be," he snapped, snorting and crossing his arms over his chest, not bothering to look at us again as we continued to walk. Nightmare fairies, what can you do?
His silent treatment, or silent temper tantrum, didn't stop Kristie from poking and prodding at him to talk to her again, because she had become bored with her own amusements, and a bored Kristie was an annoying Kristie. A bored Kristie was also a Kristie that paid no attention to what we were doing.
Which is probably why we ran smack into someone not five seconds later, Devlin falling off our shoulder and us landing, quite hard, on our butt. Not to say the other person didn't land just as hard, but… he was a guy, so, in Kristie's eyes, he wasn't allowed to complain like we were.
"Whoa, okay, now I'm dizzy, and my butt hurts," we pouted, slowly getting up, not even bothering to ask the other person if he was okay.
That is, until Devlin slapped the back of our head and scowled at Kristie's rudeness, "Say you're sorry, stupid, sheesh, what am I, a babysitter?"
We rubbed the back of our head, frown never leaving our face as we looked up at the guy who had found his own way up from the floor, "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going," we spoke sheepishly, Kristie rubbing the back of our neck nervously, neither of us have ever been good at social interaction. "Are you okay?" We asked, noticing his lack of response to us.
He was rubbing the back of his head, his eyes closed, when he answered, "Yeah, yeah, no worries, I wasn't paying much attention either, to be honest."
Kristie grinned, obviously happy with the guy's response, "Cool," we said, me and her both agreeing with a quick getaway.
Until he spoke to us again, effectively stopping our escape, "My name's Nikolas Daniels, by the way, but you can call me N.D.," his eyes opened as he grinned at us, holding his hand out in greeting.
I remember the first time me and Kristie saw his eyes, they were the most brilliant, vivid, minty green we had ever seen before, it was… otherworldly almost. That was our thought for it then, if only we had realized how right we were.
His eyes had Kristie and I hypnotized for a few seconds, Devlin head-butting our temple the only thing that dragged us out of it, "Oh, umm… my name is…is… Kristie, right, yeah, Kristie!" She grinned, laughing at her own awkwardness, not even paying any mind to the people around her. Just because she didn't pay any mind to them didn't mean that I didn't, I always caught those lingering stares and slight glances, the little chuckles and voices speaking behind hands. It was a horrible feeling, a deep feeling of being different from everyone else, separated.
This N.D. didn't give me any feeling like that, though, he just laughed with her, grin sparkling much like Kristie's own. I think what I liked the most about him at that moment was that he was laughing with my Kristie and not at her, as others tended to do.
Just before either of us could say anything more, the sprint bell rang, and it's name tells all, it's the bell that warns people thirty seconds before they're late.
"Where are you going anyway?" He asked quickly, beginning to move in his earlier direction.
We both thought for a second, foot fidgeting with a need to move, "Umm… general science?"
N.D. looked surprised for a moment before laughing again, leaving us both in the dark to what was so funny, "If that is where you are going, I think you are lost, come on follow me!"
He didn't give us much of a choice as he grabbed our wrist and began to drag us through the halls, thankfully the classroom he led us to wasn't extremely far away, and we, somehow, made it in just as the late bell chimed.
"Phew," we sighed, Kristie smiling gratefully at the one that had saved us from our terrible sense of direction.
He nodded, "Yeah, really, good thing we have the same class, right?" He flashed another grin, one that would become very familiar in our life, just as those fascinating green eyes would, "Want to sit together?"
We nodded, Kristie sharing her own little smile, "Sure!" We answered, and, even then I had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to end up as a very interesting year.
“Hey.”
N.D. sighed, ignoring us.
“Hey. Hey, N.D.,” we tried again, poking at his arm as it wrote the notes that we should have been paying attention to.
“What?” He hissed quietly, not taking his eyes off the teacher. Despite whatever awesomeness, to use Kristie’s words, he may have had in the hall, it turned out that he was an extremely studious guy. In understandable terms, he actually paid attention in class.
Which meant that he absolutely refused to keep Kristie amused.
“I’m bored…” We moaned and, as I’m quite certain I’ve already established, a bored Kristie is not a Kristie I would wish on anyone.
But, even as I felt a small twinge of sympathy for the man, he had brought it upon himself, so I offered no help. Not that I could have anyway.
He sighed, though a small smile crept onto his lips, “So? You could, I don’t know, pay attention?” He said, sarcasm and sass lacing his words, making Kristie pout.
“Fine, be like that,” I muttered, changing Kristie’s pout to a deep scowl and turning away from him, “Rude man, we-I’ll just take a nap than,” I stuttered over my words before handing the reins back to Kristie, ducking back into our head. Kristie looked confused, but laid her head on the desk and shut her eyes, not even bothering to respond to the man beside her.