The Proleers

CHAPTER 1

Emma's POV

From here she could see the Empire State Building. Emma Lewis loved sitting in the Trender Cafe with a cup of coffee. She was supposed to meet with Mackenzie, her best friend, forty-five minutes ago, and he was never late. What had happened? Maybe he'd been kidnapped by aliens and taken to outer space. Maybe he'd gotten mad at her for something but she didn't realize it. Maybe he'd had an accident and was in the hospital. Maybe-

"Would you like anything else?" said the waitress interrupting her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, no thanks" she said.

Her coffee cup was still full. She'd been so lost in thought that she'd completely forgotten about it, and it'd already gone cold. Anyways, where was Mackenzie? He would always call if he wasn't going to show up. Oh god, what if he realized that she was in love with him and he had freaked out? That would be so embarrassing. She didn't mind being only friends with him, as long as she got to spend time with him it was alright.

She decided to go back home and deal with everything later. There were too many things on her mind already and Mackenzie was probably alright, sometimes people just don't answer their phones and that was completely normal. If he didn't pick up tomorrow then she'd dwell on it. She went home and had dinner with her parents, Jess and Jared, and then she went to bed. She didn't sleep though, she painted. She loved art, and she thought she was good at it. Art had always made her feel at home and forget her troubles.

She'd been having a dream with Mackenzie and some other guy standing there and telling her that she had to choose between death or hatred. She never understood what it meant but she'd been trying to paint it to see if it made any sense when she did. So far she had Mackenzie and while she was trying to draw the other boy she just couldn't make him similar enough. There was something about his expression that she hadn't been able to catch in the painting, it frustrated her a lot. She'd always managed to draw anything no matter how much detail it had but she just couldn't get the boy's expression right. She decided to go to sleep and continue some other day when her mind was more at ease.

The next day when Emma woke up she went downstairs and had breakfast. Her parents weren't awake yet, they always either slept until late or left really early, they both worked at an insurance company. She got ready and left, she was already late for her therapist's appointment. She always wondered why she had to keep going there, she was already 16 years old. Her mom would not negotiate it though so there was really no point in arguing about it. When she got there, there was no one so she had her appointment immediately, which was good because or else she would have to wait for half an hour to get her appointment. She always had to tell the therapist, Maria, about what had happened that had upset her or made her happy during the week.

When she got home her parents weren't there which was weird because it was a Saturday and because they would always let her know where they were going. She didn't give it much importance, she had something else in mind, she was going to call Mackenzie, after all he still hadn't called back and he always did. When she called him it went straight into voice mail so she tried calling his house. When she did the phone didn't even ring, it was as if it was disconnected. That disconcerted her. She took a cab and went to his house. When she got there she rang the doorbell and Mackenzie opened.

"Hey! I wasn't expecting you" said Mackenzie, he covered every space through where she could've seen the inside of his house and every time she tried he tries to cover that space.

"Why have't you picked up the phone?" she said "I've been worried out of my mind, I've called you like 20 times!"

"Oh sorry I lost my phone" he didn't sound so convincing.

"And you disconnected your home phone too?"

"Now is not really a good time Emma, I'm sorry but I just can't talk now, bye."

And with that he shut the door in her face. What the hell? she thought, he had never done that, and he could at least have told her what was going on, but slamming the door shut in her face? That was just too weird. She rang the doorbell again but he didn't open, she was so angry! She left and called Lara to see if she wanted to do something and they planned to go to the mall.

They met in the food court and she told Lara what had happened.

"So he just shut the door in your face?" Lara said.

"Yeah, I don't understand, he said he couldn't talk but he sounded more as if he couldn't talk to me" she said.

"I thought you guys were best friends, weren't you?"

"That's what I thought so too but apparently he doesn't want to know anything about me"

"He's probably just having a family problem or something, he'll get back to his senses eventually, he always does"

After that they just went shopping though Emma didn't buy anything she mostly just helped Lara pick stuff and wait for her while she was in the dressing room. After a while Lara went home and Emma stayed in the mall for a few hours after that. She stayed in the botanic garden and took her mirror out of her bag. She had never thought that she was pretty, after all there were girls that were so much better looking than her. Her brown hair was neatly braided and she thought that her eyes matched her hair, since they were a sea green color. Everyone told her that her eyes matched her hair but she had never really looked to see if they were right. She had dated but she had never really loved her boyfriends. She just did it to see if Mackenzie was at least a bit interested in her in that way but he never showed much interest in her boyfriends. In that moment she saw a shadow loom over her and she didn't think much of it until she heard the voice that came with it.

"Hey, what are you doing here all alone?"

"I thought you couldn't talk" she said

"Look I'm sorry about yesterday but like I said I had a problem that needed to be taken care of" said Mackenzie

"You could at least had told me what the problem was you know, and you didn't have to shut the door in my face" she responded

"Look I know that I was rude but would you please forgive me and not ask about it?"

She stared at him for a moment she didn't know if she should forgive him, after all he had been really rude, but anyways she always forgave him so why not this time? And why did he not want her to ask about it? Weird.

"Fine but don't be so rude again it kind of hurt"

"I promise I won't"

"How did you find me anyways?"

"I just wanted to come to the garden, after all we always hung out here when we were kids, and it turns out you where here"

She went all serious, she had to tell him now that she had the courage, she just had to.

"Mackenzie there's something I have to tell you" oh god, what was she doing?

"Okay"

"Well you see-"

"Hey kids the garden is closing in 2 minutes" interrupted the security guard. She was glad he interrupted though cause she had no idea what on earth she was gonna say.

"We should probably get going" said Mackenzie

"Yeah that's a good idea"

"So what was it that you were telling me?"

"I forgot actually"

"Seriously? I knew you had a bad memory but that was even worse than I thought, did you hit your head or something?" He said between giggles

"Shut up" she said playfully "It's not that bad"

"Whatever you say! But your memory's gotten worse" he laughed then and she was glad to see him smile. After all she saw it everyday and yesterday she hadn't seen it so she missed it a bit.

Mackenzie rode her home. He was 17 so he could drive a car. He'd had one for a year now. He drove fast and sometimes she got scared but he had never crashed and she trusted him so she didn't worry. It was when she heard the screech of tires that she got scared. It sounded like metal screeching against metal but a thousand times louder, it came from behind and it all happened in seconds but it felt like minutes. First she felt something hitting the car with a gigantic force, and then she felt herself being pulled backwards so hard that her head throbbed and then she went forwards and she felt a pain in her back and neck as if she'd snapped them both. She had milliseconds to look at Mackenzie, he was bleeding and unconscious, with a cut across his forehead, then the car spun around and slipped through the asphalt like butter. Emma heard sirens and then she blacked out.

Emma was being dragged to the center of a circular room where Mackenzie and the boy she saw in her dream stood side to side.

"You have to choose Emma" said the mysterious boy "You have to choose between death or hatred" he had a voice that made her think that it might be more than a dream but that was ridiculous.

"It won't be an easy decision, you'll have to decide how much you want to sacrifice before deciding on the right thing, whichever that may be" said Mackenzie

"It's time to wake up now, but think about this and make a wise decision, it will define what happens in the future" the boy spoke with the sound of an angel and he was gorgeous yet he seemed evil beyond measure, but she didn't have time to think about the cause for she was slowly waking up.

"Will she be okay?" she heard a familiar voice but she couldn't place it, she was still halfway asleep, she hadn't even opened her eyes.

"Yes, she will, but she has to rest. She hit her head really hard and her neck will need recuperating but she should be back in shape in a few weeks." that was probably the doctor or the nurse.

"Dr.Martin! She's waking up!" said a nurse near her. The person who had said she'd be okay in a few weeks rushed over and took a flashlight out of his pocket.

"Emma? Can you hear me? I'm Dr.Martin, I've been taking care of you since you came." His voice was calm though she heard something else in it, uncertainty? She wasn't sure. "Can you tell me if you remember anything?" That's when Emma opened her eyes and she saw that the doctor was an old, white haired man. She saw her parents in the corner of the room, looking at her hopefully. She was glad to see them cause she hadn't seen them for- how long had she been in the hospital? She remembered the car crash with much more detail than she wanted to, and she remembered Mackenzie. Oh god, was he okay? Where was he? How long had it been since the car crash?

"Where is Mackenzie? How long have I been here?" She asked the doctor

"I'll answer that question once you get better but you have been here for 2 days now"

"What happened to Mackenzie?" She heard her voice rise "Where is he? What happened to him? Tell me!" She felt the energy sweeping away as then she drifted into unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 2

Philip's POV

Philip was sitting in the back of the lab room, like he always did, trying to not be noticed by anyone but that plan didn't work out.

"Philip Glass, can you please come to the board and solve this problem?" said Mr.Foss, like always he knew h.e hadn't been paying attention so he called him, the one who didn't know the answer, to the board to be humiliated.

"I don't know how to solve it" he said it with a tone of annoyance so that Mr.Foss understood that he wouldn't go to the board. Luckily he just nodded as him telling him that he should pay attention or there would be problems. Philip had more than enough problems already. He had always been in love with Emma Lewis, the most beautiful girl in 11th grade but she didn't love him back which was the problem. He didn't think she knew who he was either which was good because that way she didn't know that he loved her but sad because that meant he didn't even have a chance with her. Anyway the bad part was that she hadn't come to school for 3 days and she had not been absent ever. Everyone else probably knew why but since he had no friends he had no one to tell him the gossip around school. He had his pot buddies but they were as informed as he was.

He could ask the populars but what for? They would just laugh at him and he'd make a total fool of himself so he decided not to. Philip also noticed that the guy she was always with wasn't there either so maybe they'd gone somewhere together? They probably had but he didn't worry too much, they were best friends not a couple. But he was still really worried because as her protector he was failing by not knowing where she was.

Philip wouldn't have met Emma if he hadn't been assigned to be her protector, and he was glad that he was because his life would be terribly boring otherwise. Philip knew that protectors weren't supposed to fall in love with the protected but he didn't really have a choice and if The Mirth knew that he was in love with Emma he would be assigned someone else so he kept it well hidden.

The Mirth had assigned Emma to him because she really needed a good protector and Philip was one of the best, he was a Shifter and he had mastered most of the forms but he preferred being in his human form cause he was most agile then. Andrew, a Proleer who had gone evil, had been looking for her which meant that she had something that no other Proleer had or else he would've gotten someone with their powers already developed, he wouldn't wait for Emma to develop her powers if there was someone else to do it.

Andrew had once been the best Proleer to be alive but that all changed when his daughter was accidentally left alone on a suicide mission. They were clearing out a nest of Niles, the enemy, and they saw that they were outnumbered so they retreated but they didn't tell his daughter and she was run over by Niles and killed. Andrew blamed The Mirth for her death and since then he had been full of ambition and he wanted vengeance more than anything. He had an anger that would he never let go of and that anger and ambition had turned him evil.

Philip was getting impatient now, Mr.Foss was taking too long to start the class and Philip had to leave and look for Emma as soon as he could. What if Andrew already had her and that's why she hadn't been at school for so long? He was officially freaking out now, if Andrew had her what would happen was that first, Philip would be destroyed because he knew that when Andrew was finished with her he would kill her, and second, he would be kicked out of The Mirths's First Legion, in which the best protectors were. Philip had to leave now. He took his bag and ran out of the lab room. He heard Mr.Foss saying his name but he didn't turn back. He had to find Emma.

He went to her house first, he might find a clue as to where she was. When he got there he felt his breath quicken and his heart pound, he thought it was visible because it felt like his heart was coming out of his chest. What on earth? It's mot like it was Emma it was only her house. He forced himself to get off his motorcycle and walk to the door. He rang the doorbell and after a moment someone opened. It was a slim, tall, man with a short beard and an expression of tiredness and worry. His hair was blonde and his eyes were green.

"Hello" said the man.

"Umm..." He didn't know what to say. He could just ask for her but he would sound like a stalker. -It doesn't matter- he told himself,- I have to find her no matter the cost-.

"Hey, I was looking for Emma" Philip answered.

"She's not here right now sorry" the man looked as if the thought of Emma not being there pained him greatly.

"Do you know when she'll be back?" He asked cautiously.

"She might be back this week or the next."

"Oh, ok thanks."

"Young man, what's your name?"

"It's Philip, sir."

"Well Philip it's nice to meet you, I'm Jared, Emma's father. I think you should know why she won't be back for a while. Don't tell anyone though, we don't want everyone to know. You see she was in a car crash while her friend, Mackenzie, was driving her home. They were going along Brooklyn bridge and he couldn't react fast enough when he saw that a car was going the wrong way."

As Jared said that Philip could see the effort he was making to hide his pain, but he wasn't good enough.

"She's in the St. Mary hospital. She's not exactly stable right now." Philip was relieved but also really worried. He was relieved because Andrew didn't have her but worried because she was in a hospital and as her father said she wasn't stable. Philip thanked Jared and left. He had to get to that hospital as fast as he could.

• • •

Philip was really impatient now. The traffic wasn't helping his cause at all. It was moving slower than ever and there was no place to fit his motorcycle through. It was that bad. He'd traveled only fifteen blocks in one hour and he was considering running the remaining seven. So he did.

Philip had never felt so much energy through his system. He felt his heart beat at the speed of his footsteps, he felt alive. As if he were in a battle. All his reflexes magnified and the adrenaline kicked in. Before he had the chance to enjoy it too much he arrived at the hospital. Now that he was there he went to the clerk.

"Hi Ms..." He looked at her name tag which said Kaitlin Witcher. "Ms.Witcher. I was wondering if you could tell me where Emma Lewis's room is. I'm a friend of hers and I really want to see her."

"Mr..."

"Glass. Philip Glass."

"Mr.Glass I'm sorry but visiting hours are over. You'll have to wait a few hours ot come back later."

Philip looked at his watch. It was 3:37 pm. "When do visiting hours start?"

"6:30 pm."

"Oh..." Philip considered the options. He could flirt with her, he knew he had the looks. Or he could wait until 6:30. Which was like three hours away. He could also beg and she might help him.

"For a pretty face like yours I could make an exception though. Just don't tell anyone it was me who helped you."

Finally some good luck. Gladly he didn't have to flirt with her. Philip followed the woman to Emma's room.

CHAPTER 3