In the Shadows

Zane

Zane rubbed his face with extremely tiredness. He had been staring at his laptop for hours. He knew that he could take a break and use his time more profitably, like taking a nap or cleaning his currently super messy room. But he remained at his desk, typing away at his computer, suppressing his weariness. He wanted to finish one more chapter and upload it to the fanfiction website before midnight. VampireGirl1897 had written him in a private message that she really wanted to read another chapter to his story as soon as possible. Currently, he was working on rewriting the vampire diaries, a show that he was ashamed to admit to his siblings that he had seen.

He sighed and rubbed his face again, his eyes tired from staring at the screen for so long. He reread what he had written, searching for any typos in his writing, trying to remember what he had last typed.

As he pursued his work, a notification appeared in his inbox. Grateful for the distraction, Zane pressed on the notification, noticing the message was from none other than VampireGirl1897. You finished with that chapter yet? It read. Zane smirked before replying.

Close, he said, trying to finish it tonight. The answer came almost as soon as Zane sent the message.

Blocked?

Not really, Zane admitted, just too tired to finish.

Need help?

Zane stopped for a moment, considering. It was not so much that he needed help with the chapter, he just needed a distraction.

No, Zane wrote back. Need motivation.

You need a break, she told him. Watch a movie or something.

I think I just really need some sleep. He did not tell her that he had not been sleeping well. He felt as though he had not slept in ages.

So sleep.

I would be some demanding VampireGirl wants to read the next chapter in the story. He smirked at what he had written. He sent the message to her, expecting to her as quickly as he had heard from her throughout this entire conversation. But seconds turned to minutes and he still had not heard from her.

Assuming that she had gotten caught up with something else, he returned to his half-written chapter. Perhaps, he should just stop for a few hours. He reread what he had written, trying to remember what he had chosen to happen during this chapter.

He wrote only a few words before VampireGirl1897 sent him another message. It was far longer than anything else she had sent him, longer than the length of normal paragraphs. He glanced at only the first few words before realizing the girl had sent him a story, written by her. He became so enthralled with the story that he did not realize how rested he felt until he glanced down at his phone and realized how late it had become, the desire and need for sleep drifting away from him for a few minutes.

Over the next few days, Zane messaged VampireGirl1897 constantly. She had more personality than most people could ever dream of having. She sent him more short stories she had written, chronicles of what she believed vampires did on a daily basis.

Zane likes her, truth be told. He liked talking to her, spending time with her, even if it was just over the Internet.

Like most families, it was nearly impossible for him to keep this secret, especially when his siblings had little regard for personal space. They would enter his room unannounced often. During one of these times, Noah happened to enter when Zane was messaging VampireGirl.

As older brothers do, Noah snatched the laptop away from Zane, curiously reading over what was written there. He laughed outright at the conversation. “Wow. How long have you been going at it with this girl?” Noah inquired, the mocking tone clearly etched into his words.

“We’re just talking,” Zane mumbled, certain his cheeks were red with embarrassment.

“How do we even know you’re talking to a girl?” Noah returned.

“I just do,” Zane answered with a shrug. “I can tell. Besides, her name is VampireGirl.”

“It could be a guy. You could be writing love poems to a guy.”

“They’re not love poems,” snapped Zane, trying in vain to rescue his computer from Noah’s grasp. “And it’s not a guy.”

“So, can you not get a girl and that’s why you’re looking for someone on your geeky website? Trust me, the human ones are a lot better.”

“Oh, yeah, how is Gwyn?” Noah frowned in annoyance, gave an exasperated sigh. Taking pity on his little brother, he handed Zane his laptop.

“No matter what you all keep saying, Gwyn and I are just friends.” At that, Zane shook his head.

Even though he was not willing to admit it aloud, Zane knew his brother was right. He needed to get out of his room, needed to start experiencing life outside of the four walls surrounding him. He did spend an enormous about of his time at home working on his stories as though they might take the place of human companionship. It did not. And it never could.

With a resigned sigh, Zane closed his laptop for the night.

-----

Among his busy schedule of writing, Zane also spent a great deal of his time working at the Gap. He hated it. Some days, he would try to find the good aspects of working there, but he never could. He hated it. He hated the customers, he hated folding everything a thousand times only to have customers ruin it all over again, and he really hated that he could distinguish which clothes people bought from the Gap when he was not working.

Working there, however, he did manage to make a few friends. Among these friends was a twenty-five-year-old man-child named Max. Max needed to work at the Gap in order to grow as a human being, he needed the annoying customers, the monotonous work. He needed that job. Zane needed to get out.

Max was, in simplest terms, obsessed with nearing every fandom ever created. He had named his silver car after the Millenium Falcon in Star Wars. In every picture ever taken of him, he would be seen with the Spock “Live Long and Prosper Sign.” He had seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer a good thousand times. And he had a habit of going to Comic Con every year.

And his obsession with included Dragonfly series. To fully appreciate his infatuation with this series, one must fully understand the phenomenon that was the the Dragonfly series.

The premise for the show was simple. It took place hundreds of years in the future in space. Apparently, the earth had crumbled under the heat of the sun and so the world took to the skies, inhabiting other planets.

But of course, because humanity refused to live in harmony with one another, wars broke out until eventually the solar system was ruled under the government called the Union.

The story followed a group of outlaws as they traversed the galaxy as essentially space pirates, gaining as much money as they could and fleeing from the Union guards.

The original series only contained thirteen episodes. It was projected to be in the biggest television shows on the planet. Unfortunately for all who were involved, the show did not take off. With the lowest ratings of any show out at the time, the producers were forced to cut the show after season one, regardless of the cliffhanger ending.

The company placed the show on their website, for anyone who would wish to view the creation. And that was where it really took off. Somehow the world seemed to understand the beauty that was this show. Within months, the show’s popularity had risen exponentially.

Seeing this phenomenon occur, everyone who had been involved with the production of the show, the actors, the directors, the costume makers, and film people pushed hard for the continuation of the story, or at least one final episode to give peace to the cliffhanger. Unfortunately, the production companies were hesitant to reviving the show. They could not afford to lose more money over a dead end show. So, the actors, the directors, the costume makers, and the film people turned to the fans for help.

And they certainly helped. They demanded a continuation to the story, a way to finish the series on a good note or a revival of the show altogether. The production companies had no choice but to confirm the continuation of the story. And so, they create the first Dragonfly movie.

And then, they made so much money off of that, they decided to create a second one.

And now, the third movie was in the precipice of release and Max was determined to go. And Zane promised he would go with his strange friend.

But to go with Max, Zane had to dress up like one of the characters. He chose the one who was always wearing t-shirts and jeans. Max, on the other hand, decided to look like the main character and wear a massive trench coat and cowboy boots.

It was while they were standing in line the night of the premier, Zane tapping his foot with extreme impatience, that he saw her. She was dressed like the gypsy of the story, wearing a long dress with slits around her legs. She wore an infinite number of jewels glistening around her neck, makeup plastered to her face in a meticulous way. He could smell her marvelous vanilla scented perfume from where he was standing.

Few people believed in love at first sight. Zane himself never thought it was possible for someone to see someone else for the first time and love them with an ardent love and an undying loyalty. But he understood now. It all made sense to him. Because in that look, his heart belonged to that girl.

She was staring at him too with a raised eyebrow and a considering look. Like him, she wanted to know all about him, wanted to know who he was and why he was suddenly so important to her. Determination sparked inside of her and she strode over to where he was standing with Max.

“March?” she inquired, gesturing to his costume. “You chose the easiest outfit of them all.”

“Well, I would have looked weird in an Amara costume,” he answered. “It looks much better on you.”

“Were those your only two options?” A smirk played on her features. Zane was not certain how to respond to that question.

“O-of course not–”

“Wow. You are so red.” Max chuckled beside him.

“He embarrasses easily,” Max told her.

“I’m Zane,” said Zane, reaching his hand out to her.

“I’m Skylar,” she answered, taking his hand. Skylar. Zane had to repeat the name in his mind a few times. Skylar. It was perfect. It seemed to emulate her personality.

“Would you like to stand in line with us?” She gave him a broad smile and Zane thought his legs were going to collapse from under him.

“Of course.” She stepped passed the thin velvet rope between them. She took stood close to Zane. Her perfume permeated the atmosphere, it was intoxicating, and Zane was unable to smell anything besides it. “Thanks, by the way. I hate standing in line for these things by myself.”

“You didn’t come with anyone?” Zane inquired.

“I did not,” she admitted. “My friends think I spend too much of my time watching Dragonfly anyway. They just don’t get it.”

“That’s a shame,” Max interjected as though he was a part of the conversation happening between Zane and Skylar.

“It is that,” Skylar answered. “They are missing out on so much. But you know what they say. Only dull people don’t get Dragonfly.” That phrase stuck out to him for some reason. Zane could not determine how he knew that phrase, it just sounded distinctly familiar. He just could not place it.

Before Zane could say anything, the doors to the movie theater opened, emitting the company into the theater for the movie. “Would you like to sit with us?”

“Sure,” she replied, “but I have to warn you, I have a tendency to talk during movies.” And by goodness, she proved that throughout the entire movie. She also had a tendency, something that she did not warn him about, to slap Zane’s arm every time she got excited during the movie. At the end of the movie, she had to apologize the countless bruises he was sure to have.

And before she left, she gave Zane her phone number.

And, for the first time, Zane had to agree with his older brother. Human girls were better than fictional ones.