Everybody Has A Dark Side (open)

With a shout, Kip Dallas sat straight up in bed. The nightmare was never this bad but for the last few weeks it was all that inhabited his mind. He had done something terrible, something that he could never undo. All over a child whose name he didn't even know.

"You killed her!" screamed Kip as he approached the thug in the small apartment. There was blackness in his heart, the shadows of the room swirling viciously and filled with a malicious intent. "She was only ten and you killed her!"

"I'm sorry man! It was an accident!" the thug choked, the tendrils of darkness around his neck like a dark hand.

"Sorry?! She was a child! I'll make you sorry!" Kip's voice was no longer the deep and rick New York accent he held but instead that of a demon. The darkness crept into the man's body, his eyes going wide as he fell to the floor convulsing. Kip knew he had done something terrible but he didn't care. Justice was served.

It all seemed terrible now, the thing he had done. He, the simple son of a boxer, had killed a man. His brother didn't know what he had done, it was too dark for Vance. Throwing on a pair of jeans, his work boots, and a white tank top, Kip decided that drowning his sorrow's at a bar was better than moping around in the apartment. He sat at the bar in a stool, rubbing his tired face.

"Beer, Guiness."

Sometimes, getting away from friends long enough to have some time alone just wasn't as easy as it sounded. For Kristina, who normally went by the name 'Mirage', it seemed almost impossible. It didn't help that she shared a small house with some of her so-called 'friends' either. Being in a gang apparently had made them paranoid about going out alone, yet they were happy to make her break into some places on her own, while they waited around outside of course.

Ever since they'd discovered her 'talent' they'd been making her do it and she was starting to get sick of it.

So, wanting a break from them, Kristina had made up an excuse about visiting a friend out of town and headed for a bar in hopes of being able to forget all the things she was starting to wish she hadn't done and ordered a drink, trying not to look annoyed when she was asked for id. She was legal, by a few months, but people always assumed she was younger, much to her annoyance. Maybe it was her long, pink and purple hair; maybe it was the hooded jacket she wore that was a few sizes too big for her thin body. Either way she wasn't impressed by it.

Letting out a sigh as she finally sat down, Kristina brushed a strand of hair off her face, muttering a thanks when she received her drink.

Looking over at the girl who had sat down next to him, Kip smiled. She was sweet and innocent looking but she could tell that deep down there was something darker about her. That dark side was what he hid so well but she seemed to have it almost on the surface. With a smile, he leaned over to her. "Hey, what's a sweet girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Sweet girl?

As soon as she heard those words, Kristina frowned. She was anything but sweet and -unless she was in trouble- she wasn't one to play the part either. She turned to look at the man who'd spoken to her; a cold look in her eyes.

"I am not sweet mister. And you're better off not mistaking me for it either." She replied, her tone definitely not friendly. "You won't find me ever having one of those girly slumber parties or playing with dolls."

Kip laughed, a laugh of a man who had heard those words from more than one person he talked to. "You don't play with dolls? Well sweetie, you look a lot more suited for that then sitting in a seedy place like this at 2 in the morning. Don't you know creeps like to hang around these places?"

"Oh I'm sorry, did I not fit in to your stereotype?" Kristina asked as innocently as she possibly could, twirling a strand of pink and purple hair around a finger before a cold look appeared in her eyes. "I work with creeps on a daily basis mister, I'm not scared of any of the so-called 'creeps' here. Hell I even live with a few of them."

Kip laughed and raised a glass to her, "Touche, touché. You certainly have a way with words. I kinda pity you, if you live with some of these guys. Nice girl like you should have done shacked up with a boyfriend and been goin' to college. Don't you wanna nice life? Take it from a guy whose been there, street livin' ain't a great way to live."

"I don't need pity. I just need a break from their stupidity for a bit." Kristina replied, rolling her eyes at him. "And even if I wanted to go to college, it's kind of hard to when my bitch of a mother didn't leave me any money to do so with."

She drank some of her drink before continuing, only seeming more annoyed than she had before. "And I don't live on the streets by the way. I live in a perfectly nice apartment...with some of those creeps." She said, frowning. The more she thought about it though now, the more she didn't lie it.

Kip shrugged, "Well if you don't want my pith then you don't have to have my pity. I just thought that maybe you would like it. I'm sorry you didn't get to go to college but not everyone does. I didn't go to college and look at me, I'm perfectly fine."

He sipped his beer and looked over at her, "Well, you have you're own apartment which is more than I can say for myself. I'm still living in a place with my younger brother as a roommate."

"Why the hell would I like to have someone's pity? I'm a big girl, I don't need anyone feeling sorry for me!" Kristina snapped at him. Though she liked to drink, it caught up with her quickly and it was already starting to feel the effects of it, making her more short tempered than she'd normally be.

"I don't see how living with a brother would be a bad thing, it can't be as bad as the idiots I have to share with."

"Cuz you seem like you need someone feeling something for you," snapped Kip back. He had a short temper to begin with but at this early in the morning, he was starting to feel grumpy. He knew that this girl was already starting to feel the effects of the beer, most women couldn't handle their drinks.

"Well, if you knew my brother you might say it's a bad thing," laughed Kip, "He's such a goody goody."

Shaking her head, Kristina couldn't help but wonder if he was actually right, but she wasn't going to admit that anytime soon; especially not to some random guy in a bar.

"Eww really?" She said, pulling a face. While she didn't mind nice people, she didn't like those who were always good. "I think anyone who's 'always' good is just hiding their darker side from everyone. Nobody's perfect."

"Vance, my brother, ain't hidin' shit. He's good, thoroughly good," Kip snorted, "If he was hidin' somethin' I'd eat my boot."

He drank the last of his beer and signalled for another, "So, tell me, why are you up this early in the morning?"

"Careful, you might end up having to actually eat that boot otherwise. I haven't met a single person yet who had something hidden..." Kristina replied with a roll of her eyes. She looked down at her drink, meaning to have some, but instead simply put her hand around the glass and left it there, looking back at the man instead.

"I think you mean late. Didn't go to sleep," She said with a shrug. "Just needed a break from those guys I guess..." She added with a sigh, referring to the 'creeps' she'd spoken of.

"I can unnerstand that," Kip nodded, "sometimes ya just gotta get out an' 'bout..."