Descent

By Raven Leas

The day started off typical for high school student Sky Euro. It was two more days until the winter break and she was looking forward to spending time with her friends and her boyfriend. She was getting ready to go to her first period class when she noticed a strange man at the school gates. Little did she know that her whole world would be turned upside down and she would be forced to fight for her life as well as the lives of her friends.

How far would you be willing to go to survive?
How far would you descend?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504903790

Raven Leas

Raven is a new writer and decided to debut in the young adult novel world. She lives in San Antonio with her spunky blue heeler whom she loves dearly. Raven finally decided to publish this first book with the encouragement of her friends. She hopes that she can give new insight and inspiration to the thriller/horror fields. Enjoy the book.

Book preview

© 2015 Raven Leas. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/25/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0378-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0379-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

About the Author

Descent: 1) an action of moving downward, dropping, or falling

2) a moral, social, or psychological decline into specified undesirable state; regression; deterioration

3) origin or background of a person in term of family or nationality; ancestry; family

4) a sudden, violet attack; assault; onslaught

5) transmission of qualities, property or privileges by inheritance

I never knew how close that definition would come to describe my life…

Chapter 1

One thing that I remembered was pain. It was a constant thing. It grabbed my conscious mind and wouldn’t let it go. What in the world had I done to deserve this? The people who had captured me were looking for something and thought that I had it. I had watched as the people I had once talked to and spent so much time with die right in front of me. I watched as people turned against one another and there was nothing that I could do. The small world around me had crumbled and I was left with nothing but the pain. I never thought my life would turn into something so nightmarish and I didn’t have any idea on how to fix it. That day had started out so normal and now it all came crashing down.

I lived in New York, well Manhattan to be exact. To be even more exact I lived in Morningside Heights which is known as the Academic Acropolis. I hadn’t always lived in New York. In fact, I’m actually from Texas. The two places are vastly different. A New Yorker mentally just isn’t the same as the Texan one. Oh, and let’s not forget that when people figured out that I was from Texas I was asked if I rode a horse to school and wore cowboy boots and a cowboy hat everywhere. I hate to disappoint all of you who think that but no, not all Texans wear cowboy hats and boots. Yes, we have horses but we have cars too. No, we don’t take horses to work we actually drive and the traffic there sucks but not nearly as much as it does in New York. The only reason I even left Texas was because my dad accepted a job in New York and he just happened to have lived there before. He seemed quite happy to be back in his element but my mom and I weren’t nearly as happy. I was pretty damn mad when I was uprooted from the only place I knew and thrown into the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.

Don’t get me wrong I was pretty mad at first but I don’t regret my dad dragging me to New York. If he hadn’t I would have never met my two best friends, Nathan Hana and Krista Soma. I met both of them in middle school. Nathan had stepped in when I was being picked on not because of my bright almost bleach blonde hair or my green eyes with yellow surrounding the pupil. No, it wasn’t that. It was because I didn’t quite have the right accent. My small southern drawl was pretty noticeable up north. I thought I was hiding it pretty well but on certain words I would have a hard time hiding it and when I was upset or angry it really came out. Oh, and let’s not forget that I sometimes used the word ya’ll. I tried not to but, hey, it’s a southern thing and let’s just face it: it’s totally going to come up in my conversations so why can’t they just deal with it? During one particular round of bullying Nathan had stepped in and sent the five people that were picking on me away. I was grateful and we quickly became friends. Nathan was pretty laid back. I was happy just to have someone to talk to that wasn’t self-absorbed like most middle schoolers.

Nathan was pretty popular with his boyish good looks even in middle school. He had those deep blue eyes that seemed to stare into your soul and that thick black hair that seemed to style just right, at least, that what all the other girls said. I wasn’t looking at all of that. I was looking at the awesome person that helped a total stranger. Nathan was just that type of guy to help those who needed it and that was what drew me to him.

Later on, more like towards the end of seventh grade, I met Krista Soma. She was so quiet and shy that people would take advantage of her. By that time I had had enough of bullies and had actually gotten into a fight because she was being picked on. I had somehow talked the principal into giving me two days of after school detention instead of suspension. Was I sorry I had gotten into a fight? No. Did I regret breaking the other kid’s nose? No. Would I do it all again? Yes, because I was trying to stand up for someone who was afraid to stand up for herself. I didn’t think it was right that she was so afraid that she had started to skip school so I had taken it into my own hands. Anyways, after the two days of detention I was walking home when I found Krista waiting for me. She reminded me of a mouse with her long brown hair and big brown eyes as she stood there looking like she was ready to bolt at any moment. When she deemed me close enough she said the fastest apology possible and darted away but I really understood what she had said. I ran after and when I finally caught her she started to cry. She was crying because she was grateful and sorry at the same time. No one had stood up for her before and she was sorry that I had gotten into trouble because of her. When I could get her calmed down enough I explained to her that I had done it because I wanted to and I hadn’t minded getting into trouble. It wasn’t a big deal to me. When she stopped crying completely I walked her home. We became friends after that.

At the end of middle school our little group had grown really close. We went everywhere together and it was really rare to see one of us and that not the others in the same vicinity. We even supported each other in our sports and clubs. Krista had volleyball and swimming, Nathan had lacrosse and basketball, and I had soccer and archery. We were each other’s biggest fans.

It was the summer before freshmen year of high school when my world tilted on its axis. My parents were in a subway train accident and went missing for twelve days. I was devastated and my sorrow grew even more when the police couldn’t find all of the bodies. They told me that all they could find of my parents were a couple of fingers. The search and clean-up went on for days but again the police couldn’t find anything and I was left with a huge void. I didn’t even get the same type of closure as everyone else. Why were my parents the only ones missing? Would they truly leave me by myself? If they really did leave, why didn’t they take me with them? Like I said I didn’t have the same closure as everyone else and it made me a pretty bitter person. Also, the whole who I was going to stay with thing kind of pissed me off as well. For some odd reason none of my living relatives wanted to take me in and I was left staying at Nathan’s place because they were nice enough to let me. As it turned out, Nathan’s parents were my legal guardians if my parents happened to die before I reached the age of eighteen. It turned out that my dad was childhood friends with Nathan’s parents. They had gone to the same high school and the same college. Funny how life works out that way, right?

The Hana family quickly took me in and immediately made me feel like I wasn’t a stranger or just a visitor. I felt like I really belonged there. They even gave me my own room and let me decorate it however I felt like. I think that helped me heal better. I also threw myself into soccer and archery. I won countless competitions and games and went to many tournaments. Because of this I became pretty popular amongst my peers but that didn’t matter to me. I found that if I kept myself busy the pain wouldn’t be so bad and the nightmares wouldn’t come so much. Also, having amazing friends helped out a lot too. Nathan and Krista were by my side through it all. We were pretty much inseparable by that time.

The only annoying thing about living with the Hana family was the oldest son, Will. Will was a bully. He would constantly pick on all of us and play all sorts of pranks. He looked like an older version of Nathan except he was a little more bulky. He had put on muscle for a baseball scholarship but due to his grades and the fact that he was in a gang Will was on the verge of losing the scholarship. Well, he was on the verge of losing the offer. Since he was not a senior yet they couldn’t say Here’s a scholarship for baseball. Come to our school. Instead they could talk to him and say yes, they were interested and will be keeping an eye on him. But due to the whole grades thing and, of course, the gang thing the universities were seriously thinking about walking away. His parents were furious and were seriously thinking about disowning him when I decided to say something. I asked that they not kick him out and that they give him a second chance. I didn’t know why I ended up standing up for the guy but I knew what it was like not to have a family and having to rely to others for support. It wasn’t a great feeling and knowing that he was going to lose his because of his grades and his stupidity made me feel sorry for him. Apparently, I had a way with words because they agreed and were a little less harsh with him. Don’t get me wrong, Will was still annoying but he was a little less after that. He even came to our competitions. He also stop participating in a lot of his gang’s activities and worked on his grades. The two universities that were looking at him decided not to revoke the spoken agreement they were working on and were still offering scholarships for baseball.

The first year of high school at St. Michael’s Private High School flew by and the gossip about Nathan’s, Krista’s and my achievements followed us around. There was the constant pressure to keep up the amount of work ethic and achievements that I had in the summer and freshmen year since I was just pouring my sorrow and anger into my sports. Krista ended up quitting volleyball and taking debate. She still stuck with swimming since the practices were always in the mornings and didn’t really interfere with debate. Nathan ended up quitting basketball and focused on lacrosse. I, on the