Midnighters Fan Fiction

 

Chapter 1…Friends, Twins, Nightmares, Vegetarians, and Illinois.

 

Friday

11:00 A.M.

Erika

~Valerie

Lunch Room

 

 

“Hey!” A vaguely familiar voice was shouting across the school grounds, “Hey, Valerie!” Valerie heard her name but kept walking. She didn’t want to talk to the person unless her suspicions about who the voice belonged to were confirmed.

“VAL!” A male voice joined the female’s, “VALERIE!” Valerie sped up, Greg was one of her best friends, but she didn’t want him to meet Erika. The two would not get along well.

Valerie hurried to the lunch room and sat down next to Alaina. As usual Alaina made no note of her presence except for a small, “Hmph,” but Valerie took that as a greeting. She was leaned over a spare Algebra 2 book that Mr. Hinkle had managed to get from the high school for her at the beginning of the day, after she had successfully completed her whole Algebra book that morning in 1^st period.

“Alaina!” Valerie broke her familiar ‘I love math way too much’ trance with a sharp whisper.

“Val, do we have to go over this again? You have to wait until I’m done with the problem to talk. ” Alaina mumbled, but she looked up from the book anyway.

“Lainey, do you see Erika?” Valerie asked quietly not looking away from the table.

“Well, duh. Val, you of all people should know that Erica has the same lunch as us!” Alaina was acting as if this was completely obvious. That worried Valerie. Then she realized Alaina was talking about Erica Jirmane, the girl in Valerie’s art class that always insulted her red hair.

“Lainey! Not that Erica!” Valerie was panicking, she did NOT want Greg to meet Erika. For that to happen Erika COULDN’T find their table. “Erika Messon! From camp! You know, the Erika we’ve spent 2 weeks of every summer with summer with since 2^nd grade!”

“Oh. No.” Alaina looked mortified. The two girls looked around the lunch room frantically until Alaina whispered, “I see her!” Valerie did too, her black ensemble, complete with sunglasses was hard to miss against her pale white skin and hair so blonde that it was almost white.

“Alaina, you have to get her out of here. She can’t meet Greg.” Valerie spoke slowly, stunned that their summer friend had shown up in a place they never expected her to be, Kaufman Middle School.

“Why not?” Alaina asked, “It’d be the closest thing to a fight that we’re ever gonna get around here.” Alaina leaned back with a smile on her face as Erika spotted them and walked quickly over towards the table.

“Hey, Lainey.” Erika said, and it seemed awkward for her voice to be inside this too bright room. “Val, why’d you run away?” She asked.

“Uh…uh….what do you mean?” Valerie scrambled for words.

“You know what I mean, Val. Running. Away. “ Erika separated the last two words into different sentences. Valerie couldn’t speak, she didn’t want Erika to know ANYTHING about Greg. She grabbed a napkin off of Alaina’s tray, took her pencil out of her jeans, and doodled, like she always did in her free time and when she was nervous, without looking away from Erika. Erika gave up, sat down, and started talking to Alaina about her grandpa’s heart attack and how her family had moved here out of worry that it would happen again, then Alaina quickly grabbed the napkin away from Valerie and hid it under the table. Valerie broke from her trance and snatched back the crumpled napkin.

“Valerie,” Alaina said quietly, her and Erika both knew that Valerie could draw really well, but this time Valerie didn’t think they wanted to see it. “Val, throw it–” Valerie stared down at the napkin and the picture began to flicker so that she no longer saw the dead old man that she had drawn, but Kaufman Park. There were few people in the park and it looked like the sun was rising. Slowly the old man came into to view and Valerie recognized him. He was Erika’s grandfather. She watched, unable to blink or tear her eyes away, as the old man ran along the path. He came to a stop, resting on the ground in the trees. Valerie knew what was going to happen. Tears started to fall as she watched Erika’s grandfather die. The picture went back to how she drew it. “–away” Alaina finished, Val thought that she should have at least tried to help her look away. The tears must have just appeared to Alaina and Erika, because they looked in shock after noticing her wet face.

“Val? Valerie? Are you crying?” Greg heard Erika’s accusation as he came to sit down, Nichiara and William behind him.

“Valerie?” Greg asked as if he was unsure that it was really her, with her tear streaked face on the table, ” Jeez, Laine. What’d you do to her?” Valerie noticed that he took off his glasses as he sat down.

“Greg, Erika. Erika, Greg.” Alaina introduced them before Valerie could protest.

“Greg, why do you have your glasses off?” Valerie asked,giving up on the ‘Greg can’t meet Erika’ concept.

“Well, you guys were really blurry, so I took them off , but now I can’t see anything other than the six of us.” Greg explained.

Valerie looked at Nichiara as she took a seat. She seemed grumpier than usual.

“So, Val why were you crying?” William asked, also sitting down.

“Oh, well, uh…” Valerie knew that she couldn’t tell them about the vision…or whatever that moving doodle was, but that didn’t stop her brain from planning a giant confession.

“VAL! I CAN”T BELIEVE YOU JUST TOLD HER THAT!” Nichiara exploded.

“Uh, Nik, she didn’t say anything.” Alaina said.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN? OF COURSE SHE DID!” Nichiara shrieked, but as usual, the lunch room had 4000 kids in it and there was no chance of being overheard.

“I didn’t say a word.” Valerie assured her.

“Well, I sure heard you.” Nichiara muttered.

“Never mind” William said and just rolled his eyes at Nichiara’s reaction.

“”So, Erika, right?” Greg asked.

“Yeah, we just moved here, but I know Alaina and Valerie from camp.” Erika answered with her mouth full of a veggie burger.

“Well, I could say the same about you, Erika.” Nichiara mumbled.

“You went to camp with us?” Erika asked with a bewildered expression.

“Uh, Nichiara? Are you okay?” Alaina asked.

“Ugh, you guys are such idiots.” Nichiara slumped into her chair and looked at the ceiling, which was possible with her sunglasses.

 

 

Friday

12:47 P.M.

Toilet Nose

~Alaina

6^th period French

 

 

“Yo! Linda, Joe, Olivia, Toilet Nose,” Carson Tethers was walking into the French room waving to and addressing each person he passed. Alaina laughed when he called her ‘Toilet Nose’. Nobody called her that in English except for Carson, who couldn’t remember it in French (Nez De Toilette). That was the first thing Alaina managed to say in French, ‘I have a toilet in my nose.’ From then on she had been Toilet Nose. This was her first year of French. After quitting Spanish (of which she couldn’t speak any) in the middle of last year, she decided to take French, because it sounded a lot cooler in French when you said ‘I have a toilet in my nose.’ than it did in Spanish.

“Miss Polarson, sit down.” Mr. Westher was standing from his desk. Apparently, Alaina didn’t hear the bell. She took a seat next to Eilene.

“Hey, .” Alaina said as the lesson began, “Where were you at lunch today…and school this week?”

“I just got here 5^thperiod, I’ve been in Florida all week.” Eilene whispered, she didn’t like to be caught talking, but Alaina had already made it too obvious.

“EILENE UNDERMAN AND ALAINA POLARSON, BE QUIET!” Mr. Westher yelled at them, he hated interruptions.

Why were you in Florida?

Alaina folded up the note and passes it to Eilene. It didn’t take her long to respond in her small print.

Stupid family reunion.

Alaina had trouble at first, but then her eyes adjusted to the tiny-ness.

Oh, hope you had fun, well, too bad about all the make-up work.

She had seen the towering stack of books that could be nothing else. She tossed the note onto the desk. She saw Eilene roll her eyes.

Oh yes, very fun. Joy.

Alaina kept the note this time and sat through another very confusing lesson of French.

 

 

Friday/Saturday

12:00 Midnight

Gravity

~Penelope

Penelope and Heather’s bedroom

Eight-year-old Penelope Lockston awoke to a blue light and was filled with a sort of weightless feeling. The clock said 12:00.

“Mommy?” Penelope muttered, knowing her mother couldn’t hear her but Heather would.

“Penny? Why is it blue?” Heather asked groggily from the top bunk.

“Dunno, let’s go find mom.” Heather climbed down the ladder. Penelope stood and floated a few feet into the air.

“Uh, I’m gonna go back to sleep. In a dream that’s like waking up right?” Heather asked, staring at the space in between Penelope and the ground.

“Heather, how could we be having the same dream?”

“Dunno, twin telepathy I guess.”

“Come on Heather, let’s go find mom!”

“How are we supposed to do that when you’re in the air?”

“Uh, I think I can get down.” Penelope struggled for a minute, bouncing around the room, then finally landed on the carpet. The two girls left the room, Penelope was bouncing more than she was walking.

 

 

Friday/Saturday

!2:00 Midnight

Ponytail

~Heather

The Lockstons’ Living Room

Heather sat down on the couch and waited for Penny to get off of the ceiling fan . . . again.

It wasn’t fair. Why could Penny fly and she couldn’t? This was her dream!

“Uh, Heather? A little help?” Heather yanked at a shoe and Penelope was untangled from the last part of the ceiling fan. She came bouncing to a halt on the ground.

“I think I’m getting better at this.” Penelope said and she bounced softly to the door of their parents’ bedroom.

“Better?! Penny you just got caught in the ceiling fan for the 3^rd time. You call that better?”

“3^rd time’s a charm.” Penelope muttered.

Heather stopped to look in the mirror at her tangled ponytail she had forgotten to take out. She yanked at the hair tie but her hair just became helplessly tangled. Heather glanced at Penelope wondering how she always managed to keep her dirty blonde hair straight when Heather’s always curled out of control. Heather looked back to the mirror and was surprised to see that the ponytail was gone and other than her glasses, she looked exactly like her twin.

 

Friday/Saturday

12:00 Midnight

Twin Telepathy

~Penelope

Outside The Lockstons’ Master Bedroom

Penelope leaped into the room, “Heather? Are you coming?” she asked.

“I’m already here, Penny.”

“What? Where?”

“Just go! I’m right behind you!” Penelope turned around.

“I don’t see you.”

“You’re looking straight at me!” Penelope started walking, but before she got very far she ran into something.

“OUCH!” Penelope bounced backwards and hit the wall. When she looked back up, Heather was standing there. Her hair was no longer in it’s normal messy ponytail, but straight down her back. “HEATHER!”

“Penny, you walked straight into me!”

“I couldn’t even see you!”

“Yeah, right.”

“Let’s just go get mom, she’s probably already awake.”

“What do you mean, Penny? This is a dream! Twin telepathy can’t wake up mom!”

“Heather there is no twin telepathy. It’s not a dream.”

“Then how do you explain the blue?”

“I can’t explain the blue, but I did get hurt. You can” t get hurt in dreams, right?”

“Well, I could be dreaming that we ‘re not dreaming because you said you got hurt, right?”

“Whatever, just go.” Penelope stood and the two went into their parents’ room. Penny walked over to her parent’s bed and shook her mother, “Mom? “ Penelope pulled the covers off of her mom’s head.

 

Friday/Saturday

12:00 Midnight

Headache

~Nichiara

The Russets’ Living Room

Nichiara woke up. It wasn’t that something had disturbed her. It was the opposite. Like when she woke up early because she had unconsciously realized it was a Saturday. She thought about that possibility, but it didn’t fit; the clock read 12:00A.M.. She didn’t wake up that early for a Saturday.

Then she noticed that she could think again. That was what had woke her. Her horrible headache was gone. All day she had been out of it.

She felt very odd, though. There was a horrible taste in her mouth. She was terrified of nothing. Or at least nothing that she could tell. But at the same time she was completely happy.

“Hmph?” she called to nobody in particular. Then she rolled over on her sleeping bag and kicked the sleeping Alaina next to her.

“Ugh. What do you want?” she muttered, but she immediately began to snore again.

“Val?” Nichiara called through the dark. Then she saw Valerie sitting up on her blanket, staring into space. Nichiara crossed Eilene, back from Florida, and Alaina to reach her. She was suddenly thankful that Erika had needed to help unpack at her new house. Not that she hadn’t been thankful before; Erika had called her some names she wasn’t willing to repeat. At least, Nichiara had heard. How everyone else at lunch had missed it, Nichiara didn’t know. Maybe none of them wanted to be mean to the new girl, so they all just pretended not to hear. But she had said that about Greg too. Nichiara was very confused.

“Hey, Val. Have any clue to why it’s so odd looking in here?” she asked. No response.

“Doc?” Eilene mumbled and sat.

“Dew?” Nichiara asked back, even though she knew who it was, smiling to herself. Doc was Nichiara’s nickname. When they were 10 Nichiara, Eilene, and the rest of their friends tried to figure out what kind of soda would make them hyper enough to jump off of the awning over the porch at Greg’s house. Nichiara succeeded with two cans of Dr. Pepper, Eilene with one can of Mt. Dew, Alaina and Valerie only needed a half a can of Mt. Dew each because of their very low sugar tolerance. Valerie and Alaina didn’t gain nicknames from the experience since they both drank the same beverage. William had jumped without drinking anything…off the roof. Greg had deemed them all irrational and went inside after William, who had gone first, had climbed the side of the house.

“Doc, you up?”

“Yup.”

“Laine?”

“I’M AWAKE, DON’T BUG ME!” Alaina shouted.

“Sleep talker.” Eilene grumbled, “What about Val?”

“She seems preoccupied with the air.”

“Well, it’s her house, let her study the air all she wants.” Eilene threw her self backwards onto her pillows. Nichiara noticed that her headache wasn’t completely gone and that the bad taste was still there.

“I’m gonna go brush my teeth.” she stood, unzipped her bag, and took her toothbrush and paste to the bathroom.

When she tried to turn on light nothing happened, so she leaned out the door and called, “Val, bathroom light’s out!”

“Is there a college degree she can earn by knowing what the true color of the air is?” Eliene called, implying that Valerie was still staring. Nichiara turned the faucet, nothing happened. She walked back to the living room.

“Hey, Valerie? Your bathroom is broken.” Nichiara laid down on on the opposite side of Alaina that she had been on, shoving the only one still sleeping over so that she was now next to Eilene. Then, Valerie screamed.

Nichiara was just as terrified as Val seemed. The bad taste changed and was now much worse. Eilene, however, stayed calm.

“Val? You can fix a bathroom.” she said.

“But nobody can fix Shane.” Valerie muttered before she burst into tears and fell face down onto her blanket. Eilene and Nichiara stared at each other and then, too tired to unravel the mystery of the now sleeping Valerie, they also fell asleep.

 

Saturday

11:15A.M.

Persuasion

~Heather

The Lockstons’ Kitchen

“Lara?” Mrs. Lockston asked.

“What?” Lara muttered, her mouth full.

“First off, don’t eat while you talking.” Lara swallowed. “Now, you and Cara have dance today, right?”

“Mom, nothing’s different from this Saturday than the last.” Cara poked the bacon around her plate with her fork. “Of course we have dance.”

“Cara, why aren’t you eating your bacon?”

“I’ve decided I’m a vegan.” Cara explained, feeding strips of bacon to their dog, Zike.

“Idiot!” Rob coughed.

“Robert be quiet!” their mother turned to Cara, “Cara, I think you mean vegetarian. A vegan doesn’t eat or drink anything produced by animals, you’d be living on tofu.”

“Fine then, a vegetarian.”

“You weren’t a vegetarian last night.” Jeff pointed out.

“Too bad.” Cara muttered. Shoving her plate to the middle of the table and pointedly taking an enormous drink of milk.

“Stephanie, please go wake up Naomi.” Mrs. Lockston was still making more food.

“No way, she’ll kill me. Make Kristen do it.”

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Kristen yelled.

“Rita?” their mom asked.

“Fine. But Bailee’s coming with me, I might need back up.”

“Take Paul.” Bailee’s words came out muffled accompanied with food.

“Stop.” Mrs. Lockston brought toast to the table. “Evan, you go get Claire and Maya. Rick, go find Aaron. Where’s Penny? And Heather?”

“They’re still asleep.” Alia said, swallowing pointedly before speaking, “So’s Elodie, she was up all night. We’re doing a reading race. I’m winning.”

“By a page.” Darcie piped up. Mrs. Lockston rolled her eyes.

Heather walked in unnoticed and sat down at the long table, thankful that after all of the children her parents had she still only had 6 brothers. “Good morning everybody!” Penny loved for everybody to know she was there, unlike Heather.

“Good morning, Penny. Is Heather still asleep?” Mrs. Lockston asked.

“No, I’m right here.” Heather said. Her mom jumped, Heather was just glad she was no longer that pale statue she had seen last night.

“I swear, for previously conjoined twins, you two are so different.” Their mother always brought up how different they were. Heather hated it.

“Now just Naomi. Heather, please?” Heather dutifully got up to wake her oldest sister as Evan and Rick came in, dragging the three year olds.

“I want bacon!” Claire screamed.

“NO! The bacon is mine!” Maya started to cry.

“Girls, there is enough bacon for everyone, including Aaron. Would you like bacon, Aaron?” Aaron shook his head. Heather slipped pass them as Claire and Maya raced for the bacon and fought over who got to sit next to Penny.

Heather walked down the hall to Naomi’s bedroom and knocked on the door. “Naomi?”

“No!” the sound was muffled but Heather could tell she was awake.

“Nay, you need to wake up.”

“Is there toast?”

“Duh.”

“I’ll be out in a minute.” Heather happily strode back to the kitchen.

“No, Penny, I want to play!” Darcie ran in circles as Penny tried to make her way back to their room.

“Dar, I can’t play.” A lie.

“I can play, Darcie.” Heather offered. Darcie didn’t hear her, but that was okay; Heather had to get to her friend’s baseball game.

“Please, Pen?”

“I guess one game of hide-and-seek, but no more.”

“Mom?” Heather asked on her way back to the kitchen, “I’m going over to Zell’s, ‘kay?”

“Why?”

“She has a baseball game.”

“Okay, call me when it’s over.”

“Bye.” Heather grabbed her coat and raced outside.

 

Saturday

11:17A.M.

Out of PLace

~Jonathan

Jonathan’s Car

“There were too many.” Melissa said suddenly. Jonathan glanced at her.

“Too many what?” He asked.

“People. Last night. They weren’t all midnighters. I could tell; they were all too daylight.” Jonathan was surprised at first, but then he thought of Jessica.

“More flame-bringers?”

“They weren’t like Jessica.” Melissa’s confused tone was quiet.

“Can’t their be more than one kind of flame-bringer?” he asked.

“They were totally daylight, Jonathan.” she said matter-of-fact-ly. Jonathan pondered this.

“Where were they?” he asked.

“Somewhere in Illinois. Well, most of them were.”

“How many do you think are real?”

“They’re all real, Jonathan.” Melissa sighed. “But there were a lot of actual midnighters, too. Probably over 10.”

“Should we go?” Jonathan asked. Melissa nodded mutely.

 

Chapter 2…Darkness, Vomit, Acrobats, Restaurants, Baseball, and Pulses (or Lack of.)

 

Saturday

11:30A.M.

Freaked

~Valerie

The Russets’ Living Room

“Whoa, I’m tired.” Alaina stretched and stood up.

“You’re always tired.” Valerie mumbled and rolled over onto her face, blocking the amazingly bright sun out of her eyes. “Is it always this bright at….uh…what time is it?”

“11:30” Eilene skipped into the room, humming. “By the way, your bathroom’s fixed.” Val had no clue what she was talking about..

“Well, is it always this bright at 11:30?”

“I sure hope not.” Nichiara groaned. “How can you be humming?” she asked Eilene.

“I think the sun is b-e-a-utiful.” Eilene said the first three letters separately.

“I think you’re m-e-n-tal.” Alaina threw a pillow at Eilene.

“No, I’m just not the host of a deeply disturbed mind.” Eilene tossed the pillow back. Valerie held up one finger, keeping her face buried.

“I take offense.” she mumbled.

“You’ll get over it, I’m hungry.” Eilene walked purposefully into the kitchen.

“I’m not; take whatever.” Val lifted her head slightly off the pillow. “Nik? Laine? Hungry?” She asked.

“Nope.”

“Nada.”

“Then I’ll help myself.” Eilene opened the refrigerator.

“Okey-doke, Artichoke.” Val stood up and shut the curtains.

“Hey, Val?” Eilene asked.

“I already said you could take whatever you wanted.” Val continued darkening the room by flicking off all of the lamps.

“Yeah, I know. But…who’s Shane?” Val flicked off the over head light, surprised by how much she could still see.

“Who?” Val pretended not to have heard Eilene. She didn’t know how she could have found out her dream.

“Shane. Who is he?”

“I’ve never heard of a Shane.” Lie.

“You talked about it last night.” Eilene persisted.

“Really?”

“Yeah, now answer the question.” Eilene returned with some toast.

“I don’t know who he is.” Truth.

“Then why did you say he can’t be fixed?” She might have as well pushed Val off of a cliff.

“IT WAS A DREAM! HE’S NOT REAL AND YOU JUST NEED TO SHUT UP!” Val screamed.

 

Saturday

11:36A.M.

Sanity

~Eilene

The Russets’ Living Room

Val fell over crying, Nichiara started coughing and retching, and Alaina started to count by 13s. Jeez, am I the only sane one left here?

“Okay, I’ll shut up. What’s up Doc? Need a drink?” Eilene spoke calmly, it had always been her unofficial job to be stay calm.

“Dr-dr-aaach! Dr-aach-i-” Nik broke into a coughing fit. Eilene brought water from the kitchen. Nichiara gulped it down all at once. “Thanks.” she choked out, shaking, then she started coughing again. Alaina was up to 520 and still muttering, Eilene knew she was trying to calm herself.

“Val, please stop crying.” Eilene said, not convinced it would work. It didn’t. Nichiara looked up suddenly and glared at Valerie in horror. Still retching, she bolted up the stairs. Eilene wondered wether she was the only sane one or if she was the only one who was insane.

“I’m going home!” Nichiara screeched from the top of the stairs. Eilene sat, and sat, and sat. She wondered where Nik would go; her parents were currently on vacation In Africa and she had been spending the past 2 weeks with Valerie.

Eventually Eilene thought she would go mental. That’s when Nichi came down the stairs, dressed and with her bags, and left, slamming the door. Seriously, Eilene thought, this is one screwed up day.

 

Saturday

11:47P.M.

Magic Act

~Melissa

Jonathan’s Car

“It’s only been a few days since these kids would have been in the blue time. Right?” Melissa asked Jonathan.

“Uh, yeah. Why?” He was confused.

“She knows.” Melissa muttered, and knowing he was still confused she added, “The mindacaster in Illinois, she knows her power.”

“How could she know?”

“I’m not sure.” Melissa couldn’t tell much from where she was. “Something about her friend.”

“Do you know the other powers?” Melissa didn’t have to be a mindcaster to tell that he wanted to know if there were acrobats.

“Two acrobats, a seer, a ploymath, a flame-bringer, a mindcaster, and some more I can’t identify.”

“What do you mean you can’t identify?”

“They have other powers. Then there are a few others that aren’t truly midnighters but still have some powers, just weaker than ours.” There was an unusual taste in Melissa mouth. It was very familiar, but out of place. Jessica.

“What the Fnick?” Jessica said from the back seat. Jonathan slammed on the breaks, almost sending Jess through the window.

‘Kay

This is what I’ve edited (ignore the “Fnick”)