A New Reality-ch.1

Effectively the first chapter in a story I'm working on. I would LOVE feedback and constructive criticism. I need some help deciding if this story is going anywhere.
Please comment/review/rate high if you would like to see the next chapter!                                                                     


                                                                                A New Reality

            The sun was already setting outside as Katarina doodled on her notepad; blue eyes focused on her pen. It was the last class of the day and she rarely had any reason to pay attention. She was known as intelligent but stand-offish, most people wondered how she managed to keep her gothic image at twenty three years old with so little ridicule by her peers. She had natural black hair and kept her skin fair by staying out of the sun and wearing a light powder, her eyelids were covered in black eye shadow and her nails were painted a blood red. One hand moved from holding her paper, to the black cross hanging around her neck. She wasn’t a Christian and hadn’t been raised as such, but it made such a pretty decoration. Her mind wandered off as she sketched a long angel wing along the side of her notes, each feather was long and seemed to flow near the bottom, dreaming of somewhere, anywhere, not here. Her thoughts were broken by the sudden jerk as the person behind her (having had his feet on the basket beneath her seat) kicked off and hopped out of his seat. She slid away her notepad and walked lazily to her car throwing things on the floor as she opened up the door. Tonight she needed to escape, to have a place to let her mind wander. To the club it was then. She slammed the key into the ignition and drove off to the club.

            She was a regular there and was hardly looked at as she stepped in the door.  She made a grunting noise, rather similar to a cave woman when she noticed her normal seat was taken. Instead of starting a fight, which would have caused her to stay aware too long, she found another seat next to the other speaker. Her favorite spot was right in front of a speaker, so that the music could drown out the rest of her life. She sat down and just stared off into the distance, spacing as some would say, to allow her mind to go to places that may not even exist. Something caught her eye in the midst of her staring though. There was someone standing near the door, he was dressed in a black suit, of fine make, better dressed than most anyone here, overdressed some would say. The dark black of the fabric covering his skin only served to make his long white hair and obviously un-tanned skin stand out in the crowd. Somehow though, he didn’t look dangerous and Kat felt the strong urge to talk to him. He looked intelligent at least, well dressed and probably a little more cultured than the rest of the slobs in this place, Kat included. Almost without thought she moved from her seat and wandered over to the strange man who had found a place to sit by now. His eyes flicked up to turn his gaze to her as she approached, they were gray and she couldn’t help but notice the smile on his face as she stopped in front of him.

            “Hello, please, come sit” the man held out a hand to point out the seat beside him and scooted over in the booth.

            “I’m sorry I don’t’ mean to bother you it’s just…” it was only then that Kat realized she didn’t have a real reason for walking over. Apparently it didn’t matter though as the man was offering her a seat, she took it and sat with her eyes trained on him, studying what seemed unreal. Was he glowing?

            “There is no need for explanation beyond your name.” He had leaned forward on the table, resting an elbow on the hard surface and his chin in his palm, his eyes remained steady, watching her and waiting for an answer.

            “Oh! I’m sorry; I didn’t even introduce myself did I? I’m Katarina Rhoades, and your name is?” She was blushing as she realized her faux pas and her hand immediately reached across her chest to grasp the opposite shoulder, a habit that showed when she was nervous.

            “My name, at this point in time, is not important. However, if things go well tonight, I will tell you before the evening is over. Now, why are you here?” Kat didn’t know why but she felt this compulsion to tell the truth, all of it, to this stranger. The truth however, was only two words.

            “To escape.” The man leaned towards her, from anyone else; a mocking tone would have come after an answer like that but his voice showed concern, his eyes narrowing their focus on her own.

            “To escape from what? Home? School? A cruel boyfriend?” She laughed at that one, now it was her turn to wear the smirk.

            “All of the above. Except the boyfriend I suppose. I guess I don’t attract many of those, or if I do, I never noticed.” His white hair was jostled as he shook his head carefully, seeming to contemplate her words.

            “What would you give to escape all of it?” She had listened carefully to those words, the way they were said, the tone, the sincerity, even his eyes spoke volumes, was he serious?

            “What do you mean?” Once again that smirk graced the lips of the man before her. His eyes lit up and his fingers tapped gracefully on the table, not impatiently, more of a final rhythm she, like he was coming up with an answer by doing so.

            “What would you give to escape this reality?” Her breath caught in her chest. He was serious. Maybe he was insane. Or maybe not, she couldn’t help but trust him; it was strange, like she had known him for ages, known him longer even than her short twenty three years of life.

            “I don’t know. I guess, I really don’t have much to give. Or if I do, I don’t know what it is I could give.”

            “Nothing?” His response came quietly. “That doesn’t seem like a very fair exchange does it?”  Kat began to think hard on this one, what would she give? Practically anything, there wasn’t a thing in this world she really cared about.

            “I’d give almost anything to get out of this hell hole I call reality.” With those words, the man’s body straightened and he grinned.

            “What if the price was nothing? What if you were left with nothing? Would you give up your family, your surroundings, and your home?” Kat laughed out loud at his question, her eyes flashing up to greet his gaze.

            “Those are exactly what I’m trying to escape, so yes, I would give those up” His fingers reached out and touched the bottom of her hair, long and black. His eyes showed concern and his voice grew ever softer.

            “What if you were to live the rest of your life with someone else? Someone you may hate? Would that still be a fair trade, since all you really have to offer is yourself?” It took her a moment to consider the offer; to live with someone she hated would indeed be trying, but no more trying than living in a world she hated.

            “I think that would be fair. I can’t see it being any worse than what I have now.” Kat nearly jumped when his hand shot out and gently grasped hers.

            “Sinvilus.”                                                                                                                                          “Sinvilus” She let the name roll over her tongue, the word reminded her of “sin”, “vile” and “sinister” yet, it sounded light and soft when he spoke it. His hand released hers, and as it did, her hand dropped into her lap like a ragdoll’s. He reached into his coat pocket and set a stack of cash on the table.

            “There is ten thousand dollars in that stack, spend it. Fuck, eat, sleep in the best hotel in town, do whatever, consider it your last night on earth.”

            “Can I bring anything with me?”

            “Everything will be provided for you. You can bring anything you want, but other life of course, just remember, whatever you bring will be of this reality you hate so greatly.” She looked at the money and flipped through it, there was no way this could be real. Before she had time to think about it he was standing up and starting to leave.

            “Wait…” He turned around at the sound of her voice and had an eyebrow arched inquisitively.

            “Yes?”

            “I don’t want this money. There’s nothing here that I want, or want to do. If there were something I would do on my last night on earth…well, then I wouldn’t want to leave it in the first place.” Sinvilus closed his eyes and sighed then opened them once again, his gaze falling on her and his hand reaching out.

            “Come with me then.”