Something Good
~ alt-J

"Get high, hit the floor before you go
Matador, estocado, you're my blood sport"

CHAPTER 1: TO SEE A BOY ABOUT AN APOCALYPSE

         Nadine Etoile wasn't a normal 16 year old kid. Something was wrong with her. Multiple things, actually.

         First, she loved vegetables. Sometimes steamed, most of the time raw with ranch. Broccoli was her favorite but she hated how it got stuck in her teeth constantly.

        Second, she couldn't remember her immediate family. Only glimpses at a time. She had no idea why and honestly, she wasn't looking for answers. If she started digging now, she would never stop. She had what she called an obsessive personality. Addictive.

        Third, she was haunted by the spirit of a witch. A particularly mean and sarcastic teenage one, at that. Her whole life was spent trying to figure out what was wrong with her, why she couldn't recall days at a time or remember where things are around her family house, only to find out that she had the shadow of a 300 something year old hanging at the back of her mind.

        Sometimes she wondered if she ever had a life that didn't consist of her.

        Nadine liked to call this girl her guardian angel. Even though she acted like she hated her, she protected her and cared for her. She loved her. She was her. Her name was Branwen.

        At first it was an infestation. She rejected the 17 year old spirit completely, as did the girl with her host. This only ended up with a bunch of scrapes and bruises appearing and a sickness nobody could figure out the cause of.

        After a while, Branwen grew to care for Nadine. She saw her innocence and it reminded her of when she was alive. How full of light and life she had been. How devastated and scared she was when that was all stripped away from her. When she was accused of things she didn't do and hung like an animal, left there for days. She had never let her host see these memories. She wasn't ready for them.

        The teen girl sat in her poorly lit studio apartment that Branwen was able to help her rent with her legs tucked under her and her arms faced outwards on her thighs. "Nadine, I need you to find someone. I have already connected the glow to you, so do it. Fast." The girl nodded, her eyes closed as she looked around at the back of her eyelids. Branwen sat across from her with her legs crossed, her arms also facing outwards.

        Nadine's breathing was shallow and her pulse low. If she was at a hospital, the doctors would have called her time of death 15 minutes ago. "I'm not catching anything I haven't seen already, Wren. Can you give me a hint?" The spirit groaned slightly, rolling her eyes.

        "Try harder."

        Nadine opened her eyes slightly, squinting at the figure sat across from her. "Bossy." The living girl muttered under her breath, huffing slightly. "Close your eyes." Branwen instructed. The spirit always acted like this. No one could get on her nerves after spending most of her life with Branwen by her side. All of her nerves were pinched indefinitely.

        "You know, you could be a little nicer. I am the only person who can see you." The witch rolled her eyes once again, gritting her teeth. "Not by choice..." She whispered with a clenched jaw.

        "What was that?" Nadine questioned, one of her eyebrows sliding upwards while her eyes remained closed. "Nothing." Nadine smirked at the girl, feeling triumphant.

        "Stop getting conceited and focus. We don't have all day."

        After a few more minutes, the humming started. Nadine let her vocal chords vibrate as she focused on the task at hand. Find the connection. Receive the image. Clear it up. Find the person in it. That was the steps to her goal. The air picked up around her, her hair beginning to whip.

        The humming grew more mechanical as she grew closer to the connection. She found it and tugged, letting the line lead her to the finish line. She watched as the rope started to glow, knowing she was getting closer to the image.

        Her body began to lift off the floor of her apartment as the wind picked up even more. She ran towards the image in her psyche, placing a hand onto the glowing ball.

        Nadine's back arched, now laying down completely horizontally in the air. Her eyes opened slowly as she worked to clear up the image Branwen had sent her. The air below her descended carefully, placing her back on the floor of her apartment.

        "What am I looking at here, Wren?" The Witch rolled her eyes at the nickname, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You have destiny with him. He is going to stop the apocalypse."

        Nadine snorted, her eyes rolling sarcastically. "Yeah, sure. The apocalypse." Branwen stared at the teenage girl across from her with a serious expression. Her smile slowly dropped as she realized that her companion was being serious.

        "The apocalypse? Like, what? Zombies?" Branwen rubbed her forehead slightly, letting out a breath of air. "Like the end of the world."

        Nadine sucked in a breath as she looked upwards once again, seeing the image she had just unraveled. "And a 16 year old boy in a school uniform is going to stop it?"

        Branwen stood up, taking her hand and pulling her up. She leaned closer to the younger girl and smirked. "With our help, yes."

~~~~~

        "Okay, so what you're saying is that he's not here yet because he's from the future?" Nadine spoke quietly as she walked along the sidewalk to her local supermarket.

        She shifted her eyes slightly to the side and up to get a better view of her ghost friend. Wren had her hands locked behind her back. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she had on a skirt and tight sweater. She looked a lot better than Nadine and she didn't even have people to impress. Nadine sported baggy jeans and an even baggier shirt she found at a skate shop.

        The witch nodded, her face stoic. "And that's why I can't find him with the help of the coven?" She nodded once again. "So now I just wait until the ding sounds in my head?" The witch squinted her eyes at the other girl, rolling them slightly. "Stop asking questions you already know the answers to."

        Nadine rolled her eyes and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Why are you so pushy?" Wren let out a dry laugh. "Because you annoy me." The two walked into the store and grabbed a cart. They went into the first aisle, grabbing a jar of pickles. "I annoy you? You've been stuck to me as long as I can remember. I'd have a perfectly normal life if it wasn't for you."

        Wren hummed, closing her eyes slightly. "No, you wouldn't. You'd be dead without me." Nadine shook her head, her lips smiling sarcastically. She flipped the girl off, not taking into account that the guy in the aisle behind them couldn't see the spirit and thought she was giving him the bird.

        "Sometimes I feel like that would be better." Wren stopped walking and stood in front of the girl, her hand out. "Believe me. It's not better." Nadine broke eye contact after a bit, continuing down the next isle and shoving some spaghetti and sauce into her basket. "At least I wouldn't have to deal with anything anymore. I'd be free."

        Wren scoffed before smirking and pointing at the girl. "Yeah and hey, you probably wouldn't have to live out the rest of your afterlife attached to an inconsiderate, dumbass teenage girl."

        Before she could respond, she felt a chill. She turned around and back, trying to figure out what caused it.

        Ding

        Nadine's eyes widened, her head slowly turning to the spirit. Wren clapped slightly, ready to complete their mission. "Okay, yeah, no. He can wait. I'm going to need my sour candy and Cheerwine if I'm going to continue to deal with you." She turned around, continuing to shop.

        "Nadine, this is the end of the world we're talking about." The girl grabbed a couple packs of sour belts, throwing them into the basket. "The world can wait for me to get my caffeinated beverages."

~~~~~

        Wren stranded Nadine on the sidewalk outside of the supermarket. She went to find out where the boy is and that left Nadine to carry all of the groceries by herself. The girl walked along the skinny sidewalk back to her apartment.

        She looked to the left, noticing a big blue house. All the lights were out because it was night time, but the way the street lights shown against it was something else. "Beautiful." The image of her being swung under a tree by a man with a woman beside him quickly flashed through her mind. She hummed, her eyebrows scrunching slightly.

        Nadine shook her head, knowing there was no use. Even if she had parents still out there, they abandoned her. Left her for dead. She wasn't going to just forgive that. Blood means nothing to her. Wren is more family to her than anyone else.

        The crash of a window stopped her in her tracks. A donut shop? The lights inside started flickering as she got closer. She watched as something- no- someone disappeared with blue surrounding them.

        Shots rang out around the store causing Nadine to hide behind a car cautiously. The firing stopped, allowing her to walk out of her hiding spot. A teenage boy walked out of the shop, dropping something blinking in a puddle. He had blood across his clothes. Whether that was his or someone else's, she didn't know.

        Nadine smirked, recognizing his face. "Hey!" She shouted towards him, causing him to turn around slowly. She walked closer, the boys eyebrows coming together and his lips tightening up. "You must be Five. Like the number, right?" She stood right in front of him now, looking up slightly at him. "Your eyes are a lot nicer in person."

        "And you are?" The boy shoved his hands into his pockets after noticing she wasn't a threat, quirking an eyebrow at her strange comment. "I'm Nadine." She smiled at him as his face stayed stoic. "You don't smile a lot, do you?" Five squinted his eyes, leaning forward slightly. "Not ordinarily, no."

        Wren appeared beside the boy causing Nadine to look at her, the smile dropping off her face. "Well, I found him no thanks to you." Five stepped back slightly. "Who're you talking to?" Her eyes landed back on the boy as her smile grew again.

        "Sorry, right, I can explain everything. Mind helping me to my apartment?" She lifted the groceries slightly to show him. Wren smirked, whispering "he's kinda cute" to her. Nadine's eyes squinted, immediately snapping back at her. "Shut the fuck up, Casper."

        Five wanted to say no. She was probably a crazy person trying to get his money or kill him. Something told him to trust her, but his instincts were to stay guarded. "How do you know me?" Nadine's smile dropped, her arms going back to her sides with the groceries hanging from them.

        She glanced over at the spirit, her nodding at him. She pursed her lips slightly. "Help me back to my apartment and I'll tell you." Five leaned back, his lips screwing up slightly. If she was trying to kidnap or murder him, she wouldn't get within a couple feet of him before he blinked away. He's safe.

        Five grabbed a little more than half of the bags out of her hands making her smile. It was much easier to carry now. "Where is your apartment?" She bopped her head slightly before looking over at Wren. "A block away." She spoke to Nadine, the girl passing the message to him.

        "Do you always talk to yourself?" The girl smirked at him, tilting her head to the side slightly.

       "Ordinarily, yes."

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