• "They don't see us do they?" I remember asking my mother as my short brown strands of hair got into my eyes, we would walk around in the shadows and yet no one would ever notice us, it was as if we were ghosts. I repeated my question, my throat catching me for a moment. "Mother," I repeated, tugging on her wrist, "They...those people out there, they can't see us can they?"

    My mother turned to me, her light brown hair trickling onto her shoulders as she held my cold, bony hand. It was surprising that something so innocent such as walking in the streets with my mother and two year younger sister could merit the deepest conversations of my memory. "Chris, they don't want to see us."

    Untouched
    Chapter One :: A New Dawn is Coming
    "I'm so happy baby," a young woman sang, her short, spiked blonde hair being tossed by the breeze, her commercialized jewelry batting by her ear and the cuffs and collar of her suit being pulled back giving her professional attire the much more disturbed look that, although it was harsh to admit, it needed. She extended her arms again and held the tall red head tighter, "I'm so happy that my beautiful baby girl has..."

    "...gone off to college?" the daughter replied, raising an eyebrow as if to tell her mother that these things were natural and there was no reason to feel otherwise. All daughters left home eventually and they usually didn't have their mother sobbing all over the place. Unfortunately, her father had left on a business trip and the plane had been cancelled causing him to have to stay another night and miss the sending off of this daughter to the fantastic life of the California College System.

    "So we're done with the boxes," a tall blonde boy sang, leaning against the wall and staring at his younger sister. "Hey Jess," he grinned down at the girl, "Bet you haven't seen your new roommate, didn't tell me that your dorm was co-ed."

    "That my..." Jessica began before realizing exactly what her brother was saying, there was someone else moving their stuff into the dorm room now and this person just happened to have a noticeable lack of estrogen. Her green eyes widened as she saw her mother start freaking out again over the prospect of this male roommate being a potential threat.

    "A boy? That's just terrible," she cringed again, "We need to alert the office, oh maybe we could just ask him to move but then he may not listen to a bunch of girls. If there's a boy there, what if he has an axe, or a gun. What if he's been practicing martial arts up in the mountains for decades and is just praying on college aged girls to get high oh what if he's a drug addict..." at this point, tears had already crept up into the mother's eyes.

    "Yes that's exactly what he is mum," Jessica tried to explain in hushed tones, "I'm sure that's exactly what he is, a fifty year old drug addict who knows martial arts and has an axe."

    "Of course! I should have known those things were true!" the woman responded with a determined expression, "Well, we'll just have to go straight down to the head office and tell them to make him move, I'm sure that it wouldn't be that big of a problem, now Jessica dear, tell me where this new office is." The blonde woman turned back and forth trying to locate just where the offices would be on this campus when Kevin, the older brother, spoke again.

    "Nah, just looks like an ordinary guy, kinda pale, real thin but just like average. Bet ya he knows dungeons and dragons, aww Jess you'd finally have someone to play it with." Kevin placed a hand on his younger sister's head to let her know that he was teasing with her.

    "Hey Delphi isn't the same as Dungeons and Dragons," Jessica whined, trying not to act too proud over her massive gold supply that had taken her over one hundred and twenty hours to accumulate. It was a bit of a geeky obsession to have honestly but that didn't seem to make it any less fun, she'd have to get her MacBook set up immediately so that she could take advantage of the free internet on campus. It'd be worth to look around the sites such as the college's homepage, a map of the surrounding area and of course Delphi.

    "Oh but still a guy," the mother continued, "Well I'll just have to take a look into this room myself."

    "Mum, you're not really gonna d---" Jessica began to speak but ended up being cut off. Maybe it was for the best though, just in case the one in a billionth chance that her roommate was this fifty year old axe bearer actually was correct. Without another word her mother had already trumpeted up the stairs and walked into the room before spotting the boy. He was a tall, thin eighteen year old with extremely white skin, piercing green eyes and short brown hair. As the woman approached him, he lent back as if he was being trapped. It was more than obvious that he wasn't used to this sort of behavior.

    "He-hello" he whispered nervously, offering a hand out, a sort of clumsy expression on his face. He pulled back the sleeve of his long-sleeved, black, cotton T-shirt and gave a little nod to show his respect for this woman. "Umm, I...I'm Christian Sanguine, it's a pleasure to meet you."

    "Don't go acting all innocent," the mother commented, crossing her arms, "What type of a person are you? Which school did you transfer from? What's your major? Where are your parents? I want it now, fifty words or less," she demanded with a stamp of her foot; this all left Christian extremely baffled.

    "Mum!" Jessica yelled immediately sympathizing with this nervous looking teenager, "Please stop it, it's going to be hard enough already to make friends here without you scaring off my roommates." Walking across the room, Jessica offered a hand to the shaking boy and grinned, "Hey, I'm Jessica Aster, it's a pleasure to meet you Christian, I hope we can be good friends this year."


    "Ah, I...hope so too," Christian replied nervously, his breaths feeling extremely chilled and his cheeks burning a little, "But, I'm not your roommate. I'm just sorting things out for my father's friend's daughter, she should be here soon."

    "Ah," Jessica laughed, plopping down onto her bed, "Don't worry then mum, everything should be fine you can go now," the girl sang trying to give her brother the sign that right now would be the very best time to make their mother leave, before any future interaction was damaged by someone acting before they thought.

    "Well...I," Mrs. Aster began as she started to sort out her suit, "I think it's best for the two of us to leave isn't that right Kevin?"

    "Looks like it," Kevin grinned as he pushed himself against the wall, "And hey Christian, look out for my little sis if you see her around got it?" he winked before the two of them left and Jessica felt herself able to collapse onto the mattress. Looking up, Jessica was able to get a grasp on the size of the room, it wasn't as big as her bedroom at home but it wasn't exactly a small room, just about the size to fit two teenagers into. There were two bookcases, a closet, two single beds and two small desks. There was even a fridge at the side of the room but Jessica imagined that that fridge was property of her new dorm mate.

    "So is something wrong with her?" Jessica inquired looking up at the blue painted ceiling, it reminded her of the sky and the long walks that she and Kevin took as children when they could just tilt their heads up and explore the same freedom that the birds and clouds treasured.

    "S-something wrong with y-your mother?" Christian stuttered, his eyes widening out of surprise, it seemed to her already that he wasn't too used to speaking with people he didn't know.

    Jessica laughed, "Wow, no, I know there's tons wrong with my mum but this new girl, the daughter of your father's friend or whatever she is, is there something wrong with her?" Turning back she noticed Christian's baffled expression and so sat up, "What I mean is, why would you go through all that trouble explaining that she's no relation of yours rather than calling her a friend or just some girl you knew."

    "I..." Christian began, a silent expression playing on his face and it seemed as if he might have turned invisible from just giving it, "I've never met her, I've seen her several times but I've never spoken to her. It would be wrong to say that we were acquaintances."

    "So she's some kind of snob?" Jessica guessed carelessly as Christian turned round, a look of shock on his face.

    "No!" his voice carried a strong rush of emotions alongside that word, "That's not true, Keiko Hiroshi is the daughter of a rich clothing manufacturer, she doesn't have enough time to spend communicating with someone who has...with someone like me."