It’s funny. Where does a story truly begin, is it when something that began it happened, the events that set it into motion began, was it when we are born to our destiny, however terrible it may be, was it when our parents met, was it when we met the people who become part of our story or is this just all a prologue to the tale?

My name is Noah Myers, I am a Person and you will understand that statement later. I live in Griffith currently, though I have moved several times. I have two siblings, my parents are together, I’m pretty average. My story began...well that’s just it, I’m not sure. I suppose a good place to start would be towards the beginning of the end of normality for me. I think it was a Friday the twelfth maybe, it was the Swimming Carnival anyway-That is one thing I’m totally sure of.

I can swim. Not a fifty metre pool in eleven seconds like some, but well enough to swim recreationally. I like to play basketball recreationally, I walk the dog, I’m not heavily into team sports or playing in a competition anymore, it’s just not me. I’m well off academically, smart I suppose, I have a slight ego and I’m not one of the ‘cool’ kids, meh that’s life I suppose.

Anyway, I’m off topic. It all began at the Swimming Carnival. I had just finished a race, somewhere near last. That was when Mr Argus appeared. He was a big guy, slight tan, black hair and with really small black-blue eyes. He was a Maths teacher; he was kind of strange according to some of my friends. Apparently he could see stuff without turning around-He had eyes in the back of his head so to speak. In any case he seemed nice enough. He helped me out of the pool and told me that winning want everything, I stared at the water, sort of zoning out of everything. That was when I noticed it, he had no reflection. Teachers are supposed to have reflections, right? I mean some of the girls at school were really into vampire romances, but somehow the idea of a vampire Maths teacher seemed kind of farfetched.

“Noah?” He asked. I clicked back into reality and pretended to feel an ant bit my foot.

“Sir do you mind if I go sit down? I think something bit me” he nodded in reply and I slipped off. I half pretend limped-half ran to where I had left my clothes and towel and nearly ran into two Year Twelves and almost knocked the Principal into the pool. I flopped down on a seat and wrapped my towel around me. A strange feeling hung in the air-Bitter, sour and evil. It was as though I was trapped in some ghastly dream that I couldn't escape no matter how hard I tried. I shivered, it was a hot day but I shook like a leaf in the wind. I took cautious bites of an apple and I watched Mr Argus help more people out of the pool. His fierce, reflectionless eyes seemed to glow eerily. I stood up and moved towards a group of my friends. They were covered in water from swimming; I was covered in an icy sheen of sweat. I stepped next to the group and felt the air quiver in anticipation as Mr Argus appeared beside me. He gripped me by the shoulder and drew me back.

“Noah, come and help me pack up some of this gear” he gestured to some pool noodles and a small inflatable boat that had been used in the joke races earlier. I couldn't say no without something appearing to be up. I gathered some of the noodles up and he helped me pack them into the bus, which had some thick trees between it and the pool.

“May I go Sir?” I asked, his eyes turned on me.

“No.” He said simply and his eyes seemed to glow.

“B...b...but why?” I stumbled backwards. He stood up straight and grew another two feet over his six foot three height. He towered over me, skin stretched and then snapped off entirely, falling to the ground like a shed snake skin. He grinned wickedly as it did so and his true form was revealed. A black lumbering giant, he was roughly like a human, except he stood with his knuckles on the ground like an ape. His body was covered in staring tiny bloodshot eyes, instead of skin he was made of a black jelly-like substance that still retained solidity and its form. A single line formed a mouth that spread across his eye covered face, six rows of sharp, serrated teeth lay inside with a long grey tongue that was covered in eyes as well.

“Now perish” the creature that had ceased to be Mr Argus hissed and lunged. Something flashed past and in a moment I was off against the fence, I turned. A girl about my age stared at me with strange features that didn't seem to be able to conclude what they looked like, her skin was tan, then dark, white, her hair, blonde, white brown and her eyes all the colours of the rainbow. She wore a robe resembling a Japanese kimono and carried two swords, one was a Japanese katana which glowed blue and the other was a Medieval English knight’s sword that glowed red.

“I knew you couldn't handle it” the girl sized up the creature that was or wasn’t Mr Argus, she lunged and sliced a smile across his face, just above his real mouth, taking out several eyes in the process. She took one of its/his’ immense gorilla like arms, and then she plunged it into its/his’ chest, the left side not the right and an explosion of red energy was released where her sword plunged into its/his’ heart. The creature that had been Mr Argus vanished and the girl turned to me.

“Who are you?” I asked, baffled.

“Be ready” she ordered before vanishing. I think I fainted about then.



I awoke in the school sick bay. Marian Catholic College was a Catholic school as the name implied and it was a nice school, normal-but nice. I sat up and stared around.


“Nice to see you wake up finally” smiled the girl.



“Who are you and how did you get in here?” I jumped back.


“I am...” her voice trailed off. “An Aide” she absently stared at me as though I was some Magical weapon.


“How very enlightening, ‘how did you get in here?’ was my next question” I retorted.


“Stealth, hiding my energies, the Wraith’s have the town wired” she rocked on her chair.

“What’s a Wraith?” I asked.

“For every human there is a Wraith, an equal and opposite being that is completely inhuman” the girl replied with fear in her eyes. “And sometimes, even if a person dies their Wraith keeps living” her eyes seemed to glow with fear.

“Right, so where did you escape from?” I sat up. Her face still couldn't seem to choose a form.

“Um, nowhere I...oh that was sarcasm” the girl glared at me, her shifting faces making it further unnerving.

“So what’s your name?” I asked, wondering if someone would show up and get rid of this obvious mental institution escapee.

“Athena, Athena Grey” a movement caught my eyes and when I looked back, she had vanished. Athena Grey was no longer there. Instead in the doorway stood a strange woman with a face like a ball of clay someone had moulded. With pudgy cheeks, tiny slits for eyes, a big fish lipped mouth and lopsided ears.

“Who were you talking to?” She asked in a voice that reminded me of a cat that had had its tail stepped on.

“Oh no one” I didn't want anyone to think I was going crazy, which it seemed I was.

“Are you right to leave then?” She asked.

“Sure” I stood up and walked out of the office as the bell for the end of the day rang. The weekend. Freedom for two whole days, no more hallucinated girls or monster teachers.



Saturday morning. No one was around, my parents and siblings had gone down to the shops for various reasons and I had slept in. I woke up and hopped into the shower. Taking the chance to wash the smell of chlorine from my skin and imagined girls from my mind. I hopped out and shook my head. Looked up and staring at me from the bathtub was none other than Athena Grey.

“Holy crap!” I jumped back and ran into a wall. It was at about this stage that I realised I had no towel or clothes on. I snatched up my pyjamas from the floor beside and quickly slipped the pants on.
“Good morning to you as well” her ever shifting faces said. I still found that creepy.

“What do you want hallucination?” I asked rudely.

“Hallucination?”

“You're not real” I told her. Abruptly her glowing red sword hit the bathroom door and blew it up.

“Pardon?”

“What have I been smoking?” I muttered, seeing all the chips of wood littering the bathroom floor and the walls outside the bathroom.

“Nothing to my knowledge” Athena replied.

“How can you be real?” I stepped outside and walked up the hallway towards my bedroom.

“The same way you are” Athena shrugged.

“That's not what I meant. I mean the magic and monsters and creepy faces!” I was practically ready to die of shock.

“Magic and monsters are simply a way of life. Wraiths exist because as Newton put it: ‘Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.’ Wraiths exist because something has to exist to counteract human existence. Aide’s exist because something has to counteract the danger Wraiths cause to humans.”

“That's contradictory” I told her.

“The world always is” Athena Grey shrugged. “And this is where you come in...”