by your side, always [ prologue up ]

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ｂｌｏｏｄ ｓｉｓｔｅｒｓ

ｂｅｓｔ ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ

ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ.

ｂｙ ｙｏｕｒ ｓｉｄｅ,
There are two types of love in this world. The love you have and the love that you choose to have. Your parents, your brothers, your sisters, - your family. Those are the people you love without a choice. The person you marry and your friends - those are the people you choose to love. Sometimes you're lucky enough to have a friend who you love unconditionally and who loves you unconditionally too. They become you're unbiological sibling. Someone who you can always rely on and trust. Sometimes though, it goes wrong. Terribly wrong.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆
- - - -"Ash! Get your skinny *ss out here now." The blonde was seated in the old convertible that she had 'borrowed' from her dad, parked in her best friend's drive way. She pressed down on the horn again and then fell back into the seat, tipping her head back and looking up at the cerulean blue sky. Her fingers tapped out a drum on the steering wheel, in tune to the song blaring from the radio.
- - - -"I'm here Frankie, I'm here!" Ash called as she shut the door behind her and raced across the drive way to the red car. "Sweet ride. You alright?" She asked, jumping over the side of the car smoothly and landing just a second before Frankie moved the car into drive and reversed out, not even looking as she did so.
- - - -"I'd be better if you got a watch, sl*g." Frankie replied nonchalantly.
- - - -"Wh*re." Ash shot back swiftly.
- - - -"So, " The blonde looked across at her brunette friend, slowing down as she approached the end of the road. "You got it?"
- - - -"Yup. It's in my bag." Ashley opened her canvas bag and stuck her hand in, rifling around the junk filled space. Eventually she pulled out a pebble, stained with what looked like red paint but what was actually blood - their blood. "Here."
- - - -"Thank you." The blonde replied jauntily, holding out a hand and allowing her friend to drop the stone into her palm. "Blood sisters, yeah?" The girls grinned at each other and bumped fists, the stone still in Frankie's hand. She dropped it into her lap, feeling the coolness of it against her bare thighs. They were silent as she sped up again.


ａｌｗａｙｓ.

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important ;;
I would like it to be noted that all of this is my own work. My own coding and my own writing. The pictures [ and, if used, lyrics ] belong to their rightful owners and I will try to credit where I can. However the writing is mine and if you try to steal it or claim it as your own I will not hesitate to report you. I have worked hard on this and do not wish others to say that the work is theirs. It is theft and illegal. I am writing this for a competition and at some point it will be taken down. I would love critique but please pm it to me and do not post on the thread.

prologue • characters • chapter one • chapter two • chapter three • chapter four • chapter five • chapter six • chapter seven • chapter eight • chapter nine • chapter ten • chapter eleven

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♚ ａｓｈ

ｆｒａｎｋｉｅ ♚

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Francesca "Frankie" James Lewis and Ashley "Ash" Wendy Porter were born in the year 1994, Frankie in August, Ash in October. For the first four years of their life, the two had no idea who the other one was. The other was just the blonde or brunette who lived at the opposite end of the street. Then though they started nursery and it took a month or so, but soon the two were fast friends. Or as fast friends as you can be at the age of four. Over the years their friendship grew and grew and has been as strong as ever in their last few years of secondary school. Francesca is the oldest one and the blonde one. Her roots are darker than the rest of her hair but it is natural, excluding the fading highlights she got for her 18th birthday. She stands at around 5"6 and weighs, roughly, 108lbs and is conscious about that fact. Ash is the youngest one and the brunette one. She stands at around 5"5 and weighs 110 lbs. Out of the two, Francesca has always been the more reckless and audacious one whilst Ashley has been the wild and cheeky one. Both of them are smart but neither are interested in pursuing an extremely academic career. Their days are spent with each other and they have a lot of memories; it's doubtful you could find two people as similar, who are as close. ⇜

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ｐｒｏｌｏｇｕｅ - 23rd August 2001
- - - -"Shush." The quiet whisper was the only noise in the house as two small figures sneaked down the stairs and into the kitchen. The digital clock on the cooker told them that it was 02:36 in the morning but they ignored it as the taller one climbed up onto a counter and snatched a key up from on top of the cupboards. Slipping back off again, she froze when a cough echoed through the house. But her companion poked her in the side and soon they were both tiptoeing towards the back door, treading in the shadows and making sure to avoid the floorboards they knew creaked. Sliding the key into the lock, the taller girl took a deep breath and then turned, squeezing her eyes tight shut as she waited for the reassuring click of it opening. When it did she turned the handle and opened the door, letting her friend walk through first. Following behind her she closed the door quietly, letting out a breath when it shut and no one had come running down to see what was going on.Grabbing each other’s hands they ran towards the end of the garden, allowing a few giggles as they got of earshot of the house. Their bare feet were light on the grass as they slowed and then stopped. They were by a shed, the door propped open by a reddish brick. They opened the door further and slipped through it, pulling it closed behind them. Inside the shed the two girls bumped around a moment, before the smaller one found the light and the naked bulb lit up the small space.
- - - -"No, no, it’s too bright. Where are the matches?" Quiet whispers were followed by a fumbling and then the light switched off and a match was lit. Carefully the smaller one lit the candles she had set up earlier, blowing out the match when she had finished and stamping on it for good measure. The candles were in a circle, the flickering light casting the girls’ shadows onto the ceiling. Quietly they sat cross legged in the middle of the circle, facing each other with resolution on their faces.
- - - -"Are you sure you want to do this?"
- - - -"Definite."
- - - -"Good. Well, here we go." The taller one reached out of the circle, careful to keep her arm away from the small flames, and grabbed a box. She set it down in between them and set aside the lid, revealing that the box was just in fact a shoe box covered in brown packaging paper. “You are Ashley Wendy Porter?" She asked as she laid out the box’s contents in between her and her friend.
- - - -"I am. Are you Francesca Jamie Lewis?"
- - - -"I am. Please hold out your writing hand." Ashley did so, holding her left hand palm up. Francesca reached into the very bottom of the box and pulled out two daisy chains, just large enough to fit onto their wrists. She slipped one onto Ashley’s wrist and set the other one back in the box. Then she gently set a stone onto the floor between them, moving the box slightly to the left.
- - - -"Please hold out your writing hand." Now it was Francesca’s turn to hold out her hand, this time though it was the right hand that was held up. Ashley reached into the box and pulled out the second daisy chain, slipping it onto Francesca’s wrist. Then they joined hands over the stone and leaned forwards, brushing a kiss onto the others’ knuckle. "Frankie, what do we do now?" Ashley whispered, the next part of the ritual having slipped her mind.
- - - -"Shush. I’m thinking." Frankie looked down at their hands and then up at her friend’s face, her eyes then flashing back down to the box’s contents, laid out on the floor. "That’s it. Do you, Ashley Wendy Porter, take me, Francesca Jamie Lewis, to be your ritually blooded sister?"
- - - -"I do. Ashley grinned at her friend and then composed herself, remembering that was her cue to go on. "Do you, Francesca Jamie Lewis, take me, Ashley Wendy Porter, to be your ritually blooded sister?"
- - - -"I do." Frankie grinned back at her best friend and then, with her free hand, picked up one of the items on the floor. It was a knife. Cautiously she lifted it, separating her right hand from Ashley’s left as she did so. Then she pressed the knife against her palm, wincing as it cut through the skin. Quickly she did the same to Ashley’s hand, both of them now bleeding on their palms but still not questioning or regretting what they were doing. They pressed their hands together, both of them scrunching up their faces as the fresh wounds were stretched by the pressure. The blood mingling on their palms dropped down onto the stone, almost methodically. "You alright Ash?"
- - - -"Yeah... are you?" The girl whispered back, still holding Frankie’s hand. Frankie nodded and smiled again, setting down the knife and grabbing up a plastic beaker, filled with milk. She unscrewed the top, not smoothly, and held the beaker under their hands, both of them watching as the blood mingled with the white liquid. A moment later they took their hands away from each other and grabbed up the plasters Frankie had also pulled from the box. They helped each other to clean up the cuts before covering them with plasters. Slowly Frankie lifted the beaker to her mouth drinking some of the milk liquid. As she did her face contorted with displeasure and she quickly handed it across to her friend.
- - - -"What is it?"
- - - -"It’s sour. Go on, we haven’t got anything else." Whilst they had thought of everything else, the girls had forgotten that leaving milk out in a shed – even if it was cool – wasn’t going to keep it fresh and nice. Hesitant now, Ashley took a sip her face soon twisting with disgust as well. But they finished the beaker of milk and then looked at each other in silence.
- - - -"Is that it?" Francesca nodded and scooped everything up, back into the box.
- - - -"We’re blood sisters now." Carefully she picked up the flat pebble and handed it to Ashley, bloodying her hands again. "You keep it until Christmas. Then I get it. Okay?" Ash nodded her understanding and then leaned forwards and hugged her friend, the two gripping each other tightly as they grinned. They were seven years old and they were going to be together forever.

Or so they thought.