Nameless
I am the daughter of a king that forgot my name.
He runs this kingdom with tyranny, and even though no subject would admit it, we all loathed him.
Though this wasn’t common knowledge among the kingdom, father occasionally chose random citizens he hated for no apparent reason and beheaded them in his secret guillotine. He always made me watch and told me that this was the right thing to do, or our population would increase too drastically. And he had abused my mother until the point where she couldn’t take it anymore and had killed herself.
I remember seeing her standing there, at the edge, looking out over the rolling waves of the English Channel. It was sunrise, and I couldn’t sleep.
I was leaning on my bedroom’s balcony, watching her. I never thought she would actually jump.
I was still watching as she gingerly stepped closer to the escarpment. And I realized too late what she was going to do.
“NO, MOTHER!” I cried out, tears welling up in my eyes and falling to the ground far, far below as I leaned out. I leaned out as if I could actually reach her and save her.
She turned back, smiled softly, and I realized she was crying too. Mum never cried, even when dad was beating her.
She said something that I could not hear, but it looked like the words, “You’re the only thing that kept me going, darling. I love you.”
And with those last words, she turned and jumped. As simple as that.
“MOTHER!” I screamed gutturally. My tears were more like fountains at this point.
I woke the whole kingdom with my cry, and it was soon found that the queen had killed herself.
I had been eight years old then. And in the ten years that had passed since then, my moods were just as mercurial.
I found rare happiness in simple pleasures, such as nature, animals, and the kind people of the kingdom. But when I returned home, and faced my father, I was depressed all over again.
Father knew very well mother had killed herself because of his actions, but he seemed unphased by it.
“Hello. You,” he would address me. I don’t even know if he knew I was a princess. Did he even know I was his daughter? He didn’t act like he did.
I never replied to him and instead would stalk up to my room with my nose in the air. I would never forgive him. It was his fault Mum was dead.
It was going to be another day like this. I would spend the morning with James - my only friend - and we would help out beggars on the streets.
I had stolen a thousand pounds from father’s ever growing collection. I always hid the money in the sewn pockets of my underskirts. It made my skirts harder to walk around in, but it was for a good cause. And as soon as I was outside of the gates, I would take the stashed currency from under my dress and pile it into James's satchels.
James and I always distributed the money equally among the beggars that seemed to never end. There was always someone on the corner where we had helped someone just yesterday.
“You don’t think they’re taking advantage of us?” James whispered in my ear.
“They might be,” I answered looking straight ahead. “But that’s okay. With a ruler like my father on the throne, they deserve it.”
James said nothing after this and we continued giving out money.
They all bowed to me, and thanked me, and I hated it. I despised feeling like a ruler. I didn’t want to be my father. But I just nodded and smiled at them.
The church tower struck noon and I whipped toward the castle. My home.
“James, I’m late!”
He looked appalled. “Will your father punish you?”
“I have no way of knowing, I’ve never been late before.”
James ran to the nearest house and knocked indignantly. When the door opened he hurriedly asked, “Per request of the princess, may we please borrow your finest horse?”
The house owner glanced outside, saw me, and gladly said yes.
James leaped to their stables and emerged a few seconds later leading a gleaming white mare.
He mounted it gracefully and reached down to take my hand.
I smiled as he took my hand and pulled me up. I sat with my legs on one side and wrapped my arms around his strong chest.
Then we were racing through the dirt road. Pedestrians were throwing themselves out of the way and still James didn’t slow down.
We reached the gate and the horse reared. I held onto James so tight, I was sure I’d knocked the breath out of him.
“Go, hurry. Let me know if everything went alright.”
I jumped down, and without looking back, ran up the front stairs to the double doors.
I opened the doors slowly and closed them behind me quietly. Noon was when I was supposed to be in the dining hall for dinner. Breakfast was always brought to my room, but dinner was required to be eaten at the table.
I know I didn’t have time, but I couldn’t appear in the dining hall with my mud stained skirts, so I ran up the staircase to my bedroom.
But as I opened my bedroom door, the king was there, perched on my bed, waiting for me.
“Where have you been?”
“Why does it matter to you?” I said headstrong.
“I am in charge of you,” he said, not looking in my direction but rather staring at the wall in front of him.
“You are not. I am eighteen. That is an adult.”
Now he turned to me, and I took a step back despite how I’d raised myself to be. A fire seemed to burn in his eyes and it was frightening.
“You will do as I say. You were late for dinner. Clean up, change, and I’ll meet you at the table in no longer than ten minutes.”
He stood up and went out leaving the door open.
A fury burned inside me like the fire in his eyes. I slammed my door with all my strength and the whole castle seemed to shake.
I sat on my bed, not caring that I would get filth on the sheets, and began crying angry tears.
Who did he think he was? He wasn’t king of this kingdom. And he certainly wasn’t the ruler of my life.
I took the pocket knife I kept hidden under all my underwear and cut off the skirts of my dress.
I was sick of it. Sick of everything. I wasn’t going to live here anymore.
I cut the skirts off all of my dresses except one - the one mother had given me for my thirteenth birthday- and tied them tightly together and created a rope.
Then I changed into my boys clothes. They were really just James’s old clothes that he’d given to me in case I was ever in an instance were skirts would be intolerable. Which was most of the time, but this was a more special instance.
I twisted my hair into a knot and secured it with a few pins. I tucked the knife into my shirt pocket, walked out to the balcony, and looked down. It had to be at least ten meters high. I looked at my rope of skirts. This had better work.
I wrapped the first skirt around the balcony railing and tied it tighter than I’d ever tied anything before; this time my life would be at stake.
I swung my leg over the white railing and stepped carefully on the outside edge. I gripped the railing with white knuckles and slowly brought my other leg over.
With one hand still on the railing, I lowered myself to a squat at grabbed onto the dresses fabric and held on tightly.
The hand on the railing slipped a little and I clung to the skirt with both hands now.
I slid one foot off the edge so that it dangled down. Carefully, I took the other one off and hung there for a little.
My hands were already sweating and the silk of the dress wasn’t helping me grip on.
I wrapped my legs around the dress and began to slide down little by little. I tried to wipe my hands on my pants one at a time, but it did little to reduce the moistness. Ladies weren’t supposed to sweat.
I slid to the bottom of my rope. And I was still three meters off the ground. I knew that wasn’t all that large a distance, but I had never been so afraid of heights as I was now.
A tear. The sound of seams popping. And falling.
I hit the ground hard on my legs and a long rope of silk came tumbling down after me.
Pins and needles shot all the way up my legs. They weren’t broken, but they were certainly numb.
I pushed myself up and stood up. Pain shot through my toes and up to my hips. My feet stumbled over one another but I managed to stay up.
I was done with living in that palace.I began walking awkwardly towards James’s house at the south end of town. I knew he would help me.
James was of the lower class (not that it mattered to me) and I had to walk through one of the poorest parts of the kingdom to reach his home.
I knocked on his front door and his mother answered, wearing conspicuously filthy clothes.
“Why, please come in,” she stepped to the side to let me in.
Inside, she looked down at my clothing but didn’t comment on it. Instead she called, “James! Come in here please!”
James popped his head out his door saying, “What, mother? What was it that it couldn’t wait?”
Then his gaze travelled beyond his mother and he saw me. A huge smile spread over his face. His eyes lit up.
How beautiful a person is when happiness is present in their features.
“Hello, your highness,” he teased. “What, may I ask, brings us the pleasure of your presence?”
“Shush, James. I’m not supposed ot be out of the castle.” I turned to his mother, “Mrs. Cornel, please excuse me.”
I ushered James back into his room and shut the door. We sat on his bed.
“I was late for dinner, as you know. My father was waiting for me in my bedroom. He told me I had ten minutes to clean up and appear in the dining room.”
I paused and took a breath. James was silent, waiting for me to continue.
“I sat on my bed and - ” I had cried. But I didn’t admit that. Mother said a lady never admits that she was crying. I had never seen her cry until that day…
I started over, “I sat on my bed and made a decision. I was going to run away. I wasn’t going to live in that horrible excuse of a house. You need to help me, James.”
“How did you escape the castle?” my friend asked.
“I… cut the skirts off all of my dresses except one and tied them together. I climbed off the balcony, James! That isn’t something a lady does! Everything is falling apart. It’s been falling apart ever since my mum died.”
My throat tightened and I couldn’t speak after that. I felt my eyes get wet and shut them tight. It did nothing from preventing the tears from falling onto my cheeks.
And all of a sudden, without any warning, strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer. He rested his head on my pinned hair. And suddenly I was home.
We didn’t say anything for a while, but I think that’s all you need sometimes. You just need someone to hug you tight enough to pull all your pieces back together.
Then he pulled away, and I found myself wishing it hadn’t ended.
“What are you going to do now?” Worry crossed his face.
I opened my mouth and closed it again. I hadn’t even considered what I would do once I got here, I’d just come here by default.
“They’re probably already coming for me,” I said with reluctant truth.
“I won’t let them have you.” James said it so simply, but his words sunk in deep. I smiled to myself.
My grin faltered as soon as I heard a brisk knock on the door.
My heart began to beat rapidly.
“I knew they were coming, but I didn’t think it’d be so soon,” I whispered urgently.
“Stay here,” James whispered harshly and walked out his room. Mrs. Cornel was already at the door.
“Yes, officers, how do you do?” she was saying.
“We are under orders by the king himself to search your home,” one soldier said.
“I’m sorry, I can’t let you in.”
“You sure can, madam. Step aside.”
I heard Mrs. Cornel stumble and six sets of boots thumped around and began overturning things.
“Step aside, son,” they said. Their voices were just outside the door. My heart beat faster.
“I will not,” James said stubbornly.
“Move him,” the main officer said.
They must have had to physically pick up James, because I knew he wouldn’t move that easily. I could hear him struggle, and his courage fortified me.
I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out my knife.
As the door opened, chaos erupted as I sprang forward and slashed at whatever I could.
My knife was heavily bloodstained by the time they finally managed to restrain both James and I.
I saw Mrs. Cornel was unconscious on the ground, and the soldiers left the door open, carrying us in their arms.
I am embarrassed to say that it took four soldiers to restrain James, and only two to keep me still.
They marched all the way to the castle, passing by homes of the common folk. A small crowd of two dozen people had followed us up to the front doors of the castle.Then they had to stop.
James and I were dragged to the main room and pushed before the king. They forced us to bow.
I looked up at my father, sitting ostentatiously on his throne. A wicked smile was dancing on his lips.
“Well, well, well. A girl of royal blood in the presence of a peasant, both bowing to their king. How wonderful.”
Fire burned in me.
“I am a woman, father. And I shall have you know that this ‘peasant’ is my best friend and is in the army. He fights for our kingdom, Father.”
A guard hit my head sharply with the hilt of his sword. “You will respect the king, girl.”
James struggled, but even with his military training, he was no match for four professional soldiers.
My father laughed bitterly.
“Guards. Bring them along, and follow me.”
James and I were jerked to our feet and forced to walk forward.
“We need to control the population, don’t we, Darling,” Dad said turning his head back and addressing me.
It hit me so hard, I almost fell over. No. No. He wouldn’t. But he would. He was the king.
“You have no right to call me that, father,” I said mockingly.
“I will call you whatever I wish.”
I tried to meet James’s eyes, but the soldiers were holding my head straight ahead.
We entered the courtyard and the king’s secret guillotine shone in the sunlight. It seemed newly polished and sharpened.
“Bring the boy forward,” dad said.
“NO FATHER!” I screeched. I had seen many beheadings, but I would not stand to watch James die.
The soldiers strapped James down. I kept screaming.
I could see the fear in his eyes, but he wasn’t showing it on his face. James was going to be brave until the end. Oh, James.
“On my signal,” father said and raised his hand.
I gulped back my next scream.
“Take me instead!” I shouted.
All the men in the courtyard turned to look at me.
“NO!” James yelled then turned to me, “Don’t so this.” Then he faced the king, my father. “I deserve this. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“No, James. You have a mother to support. Let them take me. I have nothing to live for.”
“What about me?” James said, his voice breaking. “Am I not enough a reason?”
“James, that isn’t at all what I meant. No one depends on me. I have no purpose. Please, let them kill me instead.”
“I depend on you. Please. Your purpose is to make me happy. Please,” James insisted.
Tears clouded my eyes. My father was looking between James and I as if he were watching a play.
“Father,” I faced him. “Take me. I know you hate me either way. James hasn’t done anything to upset you. I’ll take his place if you let him go unharmed.”
The king seemed to ponder this, but I knew it was all for show, he’d made up his mind the second I’d volunteered.
“Free the boy,” he ordered. “Strap in the girl.”
James was released. I was brought to the weapon. I faced it courageously. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James struggle against the guards, but it was no use.
I heard the murmur of voices just beyond the wall of the courtyard. The whole kingdom must have gathered.
With the loudest voice I could muster, I yelled unabashed as they put me under the blade, “Kill me if you must, but I shall not bow to an insufferable king who wears a crown studded with a jewel for every life he has ended.”
My father dropped his raised arm. James screamed my name. It must have been the worst thing I’d ever heard.
And.
Everything.
Stops.
And.
Starts.
Again.
I am rising up.
Past the courtyard. Past the roofs. Past the castle. Past the hills. Past the clouds. Past the known world.
And then I was looking down. Down on my kingdom. It was nighttime, far past supper time, but I saw everything clearly.
The people of my kingdom were rebelling. They showed tremendous zeal as they marched on the castle’s gates and overpowered the guards. They were coming for the king. He’d killed his own daughter - their princess. And now they knew that he’d been behind all the disappearances of their people.
James was alone in the courtyard. He sat on the edge of the guillotine with his head in his hands. He was crying.
I watched him for a long while.
The sun rose and he’d stopped crying. Suddenly, I was standing right next to him, but he couldn’t see me.
He was gently stroking the hair on my decapitated head as if I were still alive, softly whispering.
“I love you, Adelaide. It should have been me.”
A single tear drop fell from his eye, and I held my hand out to catch it. It warmed my entire soul and I wiped it onto my own cheek. It soaked into my essence and I began to float away.
“Goodbye, James,” I whispered as I floated away.
He looked in my direction, as if he’d heard, but he couldn’t see me.
Goodbye.
Good Mixed in with the Bad
“I hate you! Go away! You don’t understand!” Chase shouted and slammed the door in his parents’ face. He pushed in the lock.
“Chase you open this door right now!” he heard his father demand. The doorknob shook violently.
“No! I won’t!”
Chase flopped onto his bed and slammed his fist on the wall in frustration. He hated his life.
It all started this morning when he woke up and found he had nothing to wear for picture day. He had had to borrow his father’s old-schooled flannel and khakis. When he entered the bathroom, he saw the horrible red bumps on his face in the mirror. The worst case of acne he had ever had. After frantically washing his face with water multiple times, hoping that the zits would magically go away, he trudged down stairs and begun making his usual scrambled eggs.
There, Chase poured a little bit of cooking oil in the frying pan and waited for the oil to heat up. He opened his fridge and took out two raw eggs. He cracked one egg on the counter and emptied it into the pan. The gooey yolk bobbed around in the white of the egg, but only for a second, because as soon as the egg touched the hot oil, the egg white became somewhat solid and sizzled.
He hit the other egg on the counter gently, and it did not crack. He hit it again, harder, and its shell exploded.
Little egg shell fragments and goo ran down his father’s pant and shoes. It was disgusting.
Chase ran to the sink and frantically began to scrub off the raw egg with water. As he was so carelessly doing so, a bit of water splashed back to the stove. As the water and oil met, the oil crackled and an overwhelming smell of burning filled the air.
An aggravating and earsplitting BEEP, BEEP, BEEP followed. The fire alarm had gone off.
Chase jumped back to the stove and turned it off. He moved the pan from the stove into the sink, and the still fizzing oil lept from the pan and mildly burned his upper arm.
He quickly ran cold water over his burn and dabbed on a little baking soda, as his mother had always told him to do in the case of a burn.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!!!
Chase took a chair from the table and positioned it under the fire alarm. He pushed the button to mute it. He stepped down from the chair and put it back. How quiet the room now seemed. How tranquil.
He padded back upstairs to change his clothes. Then he collapsed onto his bed and covered his eyes with his forearm. The warm sheets engulfed him like a mother’s hug.
He could tell that this was going to be a bad day.
“Chase!” his mother called after a few minutes. “Let’s go. I’ve got to be at work by eight thirty today so hurry up!”
Chase lazily slipped off his bed and walked downstairs. His mom was already at the door, putting on her coat that was as black as oblivion.
He laced up his Nikes and threw on a jacket.
“Chase, it’s picture day.” His mom fixed him with a serious glare.
He stared right back into her eyes. “I don’t care anymore.”
“But what about Katy? What will she think?”
“Mom, Katy and I have been together since sophomore year. I doubt my girlfriend as of two going on three years will care how I dress.”
“Fine…” She finally gave in but still gave him that look that read, my son looks like a hobo going to a debutante ball.
Not that Chase cared.
School was actually fine for him until PE class, which was when the pictures would be taken.
As the line got significantly shorter, like a snake entering a deep dark hole under the earth, Chase got more and more anxious about his attire. Maybe he sould have worn something nicer. And when his turn finally came up, he stood on the red X nervously.
“Stand facing the corner,” the photographer instructed. “That’s it, a little more to the left. Now turn your head towards me. Just a little more, and another inch more towards me. That’s it. Now stay still.”
Just as the camera man poised his fingertip over the professional camera, Chase felt a sudden itch on his nose. He quickly reached up to relieve the irritation, and a blinding white flash of lightning emerged from the camera.
A few minutes later Chase retrieved his student ID card and stared at his photo. A strand from his caramel colored hair was sticking straight up. Why hadn’t he worn gel? And one of his startling green eyes was more closed than the other. And worst of all, his finger was scratching the itch he had felt and it looked like he was picking his nose.
Great, just great. His photo in the yearbook would be the worst yet. And in senior year too! Gosh his life was messed up. What had he done to deserve this punishment or a day?
After school, Chase met up with Katy at the front of the school.
“Can I see your photo?” She said.
“No. Can I see yours?”
“Only if I can see yours.”
“Then no,” Chase insisted.
Then Katy looked him straight in the eye, “Chase…”
An uncomfortable feeling rose up in his gut, a vacuum sucking up his insides. This was not good news, he could tell.
“Chase, this isn't going to work out anymore.”
“W-what?”
“I sort of like this other guy…”
“Oh, oh yeah, whatever, no problem. Um… Okay.”
A punch in the heart. A scrape to the head. A fracture to his foot. Anything would’ve been less painful.
“W-who?” Chase stuttered. Then cleared his throat. “Who is it I mean.”
She averted her gaze, “Anthony Harwell…”
Ouch. Chase’s archenemy from second grade. He’d always hated him. Why did she have to go and like him? Out of all the guys she could’ve chosen, Anthony Harwell. Just perfect.
And it hurt. Hurting someone could be just as simple as throwing a stone into the ocean, but you have no idea how deep that stone can sink. And this stone sunk into the Mariana Trench of Chase’s soul.
“Oh,” he replied. “Cool. Well I hope he treats you alright…?”
“Thanks,” Katy replied awkwardly, turned around, and left.
And he couldn’t help but feel like those were the last words she’s ever say to him and vise versa.
Katy was supposed to drive him to his drivers test, since she had gotten hers a few weeks before, but now Chase had to call his mom.
“She won’t be happy,” Chase thought to himself.
But he dialed her number anyway and waited.
Brrrring, brrrring, brrrring. It took a total of five rings before she answered. And she was not pleased to do so.
“Chase Warden! I was in the middle of a business meeting! How dare you call me now of all times?!”
“Mom,” he replied meekly, “Katy broke up with me and I don’t have someone to drive me there or to borrow their car.”
She hesitated. “I’m sorry about Katy, but can you wait another hour until my meeting is finished?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
She hung up and Chase could picture her going back into the meeting room trying to be discreet and apologizing to whoever was presenting.
He kept waiting at the front of the school with the weight of Katy’s betrayal holding him down. He would never be the same again, would he? He had been sure that Katy was the one. The One. The Special One. But I guess not. And if it really was meant to be, fate would find a way in the end. If not, then there had to be someone else out there.
A little over an hour later, Chase was in his mom’s car and ready to take his driving test. The driving overseer was sitting shotgun.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come along, Honey?”
“Ugh, Mom. I can do this alone you know. Please don’t come. I’ll be back soon.”
She stepped away from the door, hurt. Chase felt a little sorry, but he was in a bit of a cranky mood considering how bad his day had been going so far, so he looked ahead and waited for the instructor’s approval to start.
“Okay, Mr. Warden, please begin.”
Chase turned the ignition key. He felt like he was unlocking a door into his future. After this single day, nothing would be the same. Funny how much can happen in one life, one year, one month, one day, one second, just a single moment.
He took a step through that door as he pushed on the gas pedal and was off. Through the door. Into his future.
“Turn left here,” the instructor said after a few moments.
Chase switched lanes and turned on the flashing left tail light. Then he waited for the light to turn green.
What had Katy seen in Anthony? He wasn’t anything special! Then again, Chase himself wasn’t either. But why Anthony? Chase had despised Anthony since the second grade and Katy knew that. How dare she like him?
“Mr. Warden! The light is green!”
Chase smiled sheepishly and turned left.
A screech of tires, shouts, headlights exploding, the airbags ejecting, thrown forward against his seat belt, hitting his chest on the wheel. More shouts.
He had almost hit some stupid pedestrian that had been crossing the street while the crosswalk light was red. Chase had swerved and hit a telephone pole.
The drive inspector was swearing at him and so were the bystanders. He turned red as a ripe apple and shouted. “WELL FOR GOD’S SAKE AT LEAST NO ONE DIED!”
The seat belt had given him a bruise where it had restrained him and he would surely have a bump on his head from the steering wheel, but other than that, everything was okay. But what would his mom say…? He had wrecked her car and failed his test miserably.
Chase had never believed in luck, but given the last few occurrences of today, bad luck did seem to take an extreme liking to him.
After the police had come and driven them back to the car agency, Chase felt the most reluctant that he ever had in his life to face his mother.
“Chase Warden what did you think you were doing? That was not a cheap car at all! And a fairly new one too! You are grounded for six months, young man. Just wait until your father hears about this!” She exploded as soon as the police explained.
And the shouting went on and on and on, endlessly.
“Mom, at least I didn’t kill anyone, okay?! I could’ve died, or the darned pedestrian could’ve died! But hey, guess what?! NO ONE DIED! It’s okay! Stop yelling no one cares!”
And that was the wrong thing to say.
“No one cares? NO ONE CARES? ARE YOU INSANE? My eighteen year old son took his driving test and almost killed someone!”
“But I didn't!”
More yelling and telling off from his mother. Then she called his dad to come and pick the two of them up with his car.
Chase got into his dad’s car a few minutes later and refused to speak to anyone.
“Chase…” his dad began
“No. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t particularly care either,” Chase shot back, ignoring the possible consequences.
Silence followed and lasted for the remaining time of the trip back to their house from the car agency.
Chase stormed up to his room as soon as they entered the house. His parents tried to follow.
“I hate you!” He shouted as they again tried to talk to him. He slammed the door and flung himself onto his bed. A numbing pain filled his hand after he slammed it on the wall out of frustration.
They just didn’t get it! Any of it! How many times had they been dumped by the person they thought would be their significant other? How many times had they almost killed someone taking their very first driving test? God, help him. His life sucked.
Hours passed, and Chase didn’t move. Then, in the dark of night, with his parents in bed, he sat abruptly up in bed.
He would run. Away. Far away. And since he had no car, he would take his skateboard. He would be a runaway.
Chase didn’t bother to leave a note or to pack any belongings. He simply left and neglected to put on his helmet.
He was surprised to see how many cars there actually were driving around at 1:00 in the morning.
He kept pushing the skateboard on and on with his right foot. He didn’t want to feel anything right now. No thoughts, no emotions, no pain. But they came to him anyway.
Katy. A person who valued him would never have put themselves in a position to lose him. Yet… He had thought Katy valued him. She couldn’t have been pretending right? Two full years together. If Chase took out his phone - right now - and texted Katy that he missed her, would it mean anything to her? Anything at all?
He drowned in sorrow and regret and misery. Looking straight ahead, a stoic expression on his stone hard face.
A red light. Turning the corner. Driving drunk. Swerving out of control. Flying, weightless. No helmet. Pain. Darkness…
***
“Chase. Chase please, Honey. Wake up. Please.”
Crying. Fuzzy faces. People in white. Plastic tubes. Scary metal tools. “Chase” over and over again. More sobbing.
The images cleared and he was lying in a hospital bed. Plain perfect white sheets. His parent standing above him. The multiple doctors monitoring his heart rate and whatnot.
He sat up and pain shot through to his head. He lay down again.
“W-wha.”
“Shh… Sweetie, it’s alright,” his mother whispered consolingly.
“What happened, Mom? Dad?”
“You got hit by a drunk driver, Son,” his father informed him softly. “You have a few skull fractures and more minor fractures in your arms and legs.”
“But I don’t feel anything.”
“That’s good. Because if you did, you’d probably pass out unconscious again,” one of the nurses informed him.
He stared at the ceiling and let the chaos around him rage on. He didn’t want to think right now.
He wanted to be thankful, and he was. No matter how bad today had been, his life was the life someone less fortunate was praying for. And besides, it was a bad day. A single bad day, not a bad life. Life would continue on, but if there is no bad mixed in with the good, how would anyone know what good was?
Nameless
I am the daughter of a king that forgot my name.
He runs this kingdom with tyranny, and even though no subject would admit it, we all loathed him.
Though this wasn’t common knowledge among the kingdom, father occasionally chose random citizens he hated for no apparent reason and beheaded them in his secret guillotine. He always made me watch and told me that this was the right thing to do, or our population would increase too drastically. And he had abused my mother until the point where she couldn’t take it anymore and had killed herself.
I remember seeing her standing there, at the edge, looking out over the rolling waves of the English Channel. It was sunrise, and I couldn’t sleep.
I was leaning on my bedroom’s balcony, watching her. I never thought she would actually jump.
I was still watching as she gingerly stepped closer to the escarpment. And I realized too late what she was going to do.
“NO, MOTHER!” I cried out, tears welling up in my eyes and falling to the ground far, far below as I leaned out. I leaned out as if I could actually reach her and save her.
She turned back, smiled softly, and I realized she was crying too. Mum never cried, even when dad was beating her.
She said something that I could not hear, but it looked like the words, “You’re the only thing that kept me going, darling. I love you.”
And with those last words, she turned and jumped. As simple as that.
“MOTHER!” I screamed gutturally. My tears were more like fountains at this point.
I woke the whole kingdom with my cry, and it was soon found that the queen had killed herself.
I had been eight years old then. And in the ten years that had passed since then, my moods were just as mercurial.
I found rare happiness in simple pleasures, such as nature, animals, and the kind people of the kingdom. But when I returned home, and faced my father, I was depressed all over again.
Father knew very well mother had killed herself because of his actions, but he seemed unphased by it.
“Hello. You,” he would address me. I don’t even know if he knew I was a princess. Did he even know I was his daughter? He didn’t act like he did.
I never replied to him and instead would stalk up to my room with my nose in the air. I would never forgive him. It was his fault Mum was dead.
It was going to be another day like this. I would spend the morning with James - my only friend - and we would help out beggars on the streets.
I had stolen a thousand pounds from father’s ever growing collection. I always hid the money in the sewn pockets of my underskirts. It made my skirts harder to walk around in, but it was for a good cause. And as soon as I was outside of the gates, I would take the stashed currency from under my dress and pile it into James's satchels.
James and I always distributed the money equally among the beggars that seemed to never end. There was always someone on the corner where we had helped someone just yesterday.
“You don’t think they’re taking advantage of us?” James whispered in my ear.
“They might be,” I answered looking straight ahead. “But that’s okay. With a ruler like my father on the throne, they deserve it.”
James said nothing after this and we continued giving out money.
They all bowed to me, and thanked me, and I hated it. I despised feeling like a ruler. I didn’t want to be my father. But I just nodded and smiled at them.
The church tower struck noon and I whipped toward the castle. My home.
“James, I’m late!”
He looked appalled. “Will your father punish you?”
“I have no way of knowing, I’ve never been late before.”
James ran to the nearest house and knocked indignantly. When the door opened he hurriedly asked, “Per request of the princess, may we please borrow your finest horse?”
The house owner glanced outside, saw me, and gladly said yes.
James leaped to their stables and emerged a few seconds later leading a gleaming white mare.
He mounted it gracefully and reached down to take my hand.
I smiled as he took my hand and pulled me up. I sat with my legs on one side and wrapped my arms around his strong chest.
Then we were racing through the dirt road. Pedestrians were throwing themselves out of the way and still James didn’t slow down.
We reached the gate and the horse reared. I held onto James so tight, I was sure I’d knocked the breath out of him.
“Go, hurry. Let me know if everything went alright.”
I jumped down, and without looking back, ran up the front stairs to the double doors.
I opened the doors slowly and closed them behind me quietly. Noon was when I was supposed to be in the dining hall for dinner. Breakfast was always brought to my room, but dinner was required to be eaten at the table.
I know I didn’t have time, but I couldn’t appear in the dining hall with my mud stained skirts, so I ran up the staircase to my bedroom.
But as I opened my bedroom door, the king was there, perched on my bed, waiting for me.
“Where have you been?”
“Why does it matter to you?” I said headstrong.
“I am in charge of you,” he said, not looking in my direction but rather staring at the wall in front of him.
“You are not. I am eighteen. That is an adult.”
Now he turned to me, and I took a step back despite how I’d raised myself to be. A fire seemed to burn in his eyes and it was frightening.
“You will do as I say. You were late for dinner. Clean up, change, and I’ll meet you at the table in no longer than ten minutes.”
He stood up and went out leaving the door open.
A fury burned inside me like the fire in his eyes. I slammed my door with all my strength and the whole castle seemed to shake.
I sat on my bed, not caring that I would get filth on the sheets, and began crying angry tears.
Who did he think he was? He wasn’t king of this kingdom. And he certainly wasn’t the ruler of my life.
I took the pocket knife I kept hidden under all my underwear and cut off the skirts of my dress.
I was sick of it. Sick of everything. I wasn’t going to live here anymore.
I cut the skirts off all of my dresses except one - the one mother had given me for my thirteenth birthday- and tied them tightly together and created a rope.
Then I changed into my boys clothes. They were really just James’s old clothes that he’d given to me in case I was ever in an instance were skirts would be intolerable. Which was most of the time, but this was a more special instance.
I twisted my hair into a knot and secured it with a few pins. I tucked the knife into my shirt pocket, walked out to the balcony, and looked down. It had to be at least ten meters high. I looked at my rope of skirts. This had better work.
I wrapped the first skirt around the balcony railing and tied it tighter than I’d ever tied anything before; this time my life would be at stake.
I swung my leg over the white railing and stepped carefully on the outside edge. I gripped the railing with white knuckles and slowly brought my other leg over.
With one hand still on the railing, I lowered myself to a squat at grabbed onto the dresses fabric and held on tightly.
The hand on the railing slipped a little and I clung to the skirt with both hands now.
I slid one foot off the edge so that it dangled down. Carefully, I took the other one off and hung there for a little.
My hands were already sweating and the silk of the dress wasn’t helping me grip on.
I wrapped my legs around the dress and began to slide down little by little. I tried to wipe my hands on my pants one at a time, but it did little to reduce the moistness. Ladies weren’t supposed to sweat.
I slid to the bottom of my rope. And I was still three meters off the ground. I knew that wasn’t all that large a distance, but I had never been so afraid of heights as I was now.
A tear. The sound of seams popping. And falling.
I hit the ground hard on my legs and a long rope of silk came tumbling down after me.
Pins and needles shot all the way up my legs. They weren’t broken, but they were certainly numb.
I pushed myself up and stood up. Pain shot through my toes and up to my hips. My feet stumbled over one another but I managed to stay up.
I was done with living in that palace.I began walking awkwardly towards James’s house at the south end of town. I knew he would help me.
James was of the lower class (not that it mattered to me) and I had to walk through one of the poorest parts of the kingdom to reach his home.
I knocked on his front door and his mother answered, wearing conspicuously filthy clothes.
“Why, please come in,” she stepped to the side to let me in.
Inside, she looked down at my clothing but didn’t comment on it. Instead she called, “James! Come in here please!”
James popped his head out his door saying, “What, mother? What was it that it couldn’t wait?”
Then his gaze travelled beyond his mother and he saw me. A huge smile spread over his face. His eyes lit up.
How beautiful a person is when happiness is present in their features.
“Hello, your highness,” he teased. “What, may I ask, brings us the pleasure of your presence?”
“Shush, James. I’m not supposed ot be out of the castle.” I turned to his mother, “Mrs. Cornel, please excuse me.”
I ushered James back into his room and shut the door. We sat on his bed.
“I was late for dinner, as you know. My father was waiting for me in my bedroom. He told me I had ten minutes to clean up and appear in the dining room.”
I paused and took a breath. James was silent, waiting for me to continue.
“I sat on my bed and - ” I had cried. But I didn’t admit that. Mother said a lady never admits that she was crying. I had never seen her cry until that day…
I started over, “I sat on my bed and made a decision. I was going to run away. I wasn’t going to live in that horrible excuse of a house. You need to help me, James.”
“How did you escape the castle?” my friend asked.
“I… cut the skirts off all of my dresses except one and tied them together. I climbed off the balcony, James! That isn’t something a lady does! Everything is falling apart. It’s been falling apart ever since my mum died.”
My throat tightened and I couldn’t speak after that. I felt my eyes get wet and shut them tight. It did nothing from preventing the tears from falling onto my cheeks.
And all of a sudden, without any warning, strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer. He rested his head on my pinned hair. And suddenly I was home.
We didn’t say anything for a while, but I think that’s all you need sometimes. You just need someone to hug you tight enough to pull all your pieces back together.
Then he pulled away, and I found myself wishing it hadn’t ended.
“What are you going to do now?” Worry crossed his face.
I opened my mouth and closed it again. I hadn’t even considered what I would do once I got here, I’d just come here by default.
“They’re probably already coming for me,” I said with reluctant truth.
“I won’t let them have you.” James said it so simply, but his words sunk in deep. I smiled to myself.
My grin faltered as soon as I heard a brisk knock on the door.
My heart began to beat rapidly.
“I knew they were coming, but I didn’t think it’d be so soon,” I whispered urgently.
“Stay here,” James whispered harshly and walked out his room. Mrs. Cornel was already at the door.
“Yes, officers, how do you do?” she was saying.
“We are under orders by the king himself to search your home,” one soldier said.
“I’m sorry, I can’t let you in.”
“You sure can, madam. Step aside.”
I heard Mrs. Cornel stumble and six sets of boots thumped around and began overturning things.
“Step aside, son,” they said. Their voices were just outside the door. My heart beat faster.
“I will not,” James said stubbornly.
“Move him,” the main officer said.
They must have had to physically pick up James, because I knew he wouldn’t move that easily. I could hear him struggle, and his courage fortified me.
I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out my knife.
As the door opened, chaos erupted as I sprang forward and slashed at whatever I could.
My knife was heavily bloodstained by the time they finally managed to restrain both James and I.
I saw Mrs. Cornel was unconscious on the ground, and the soldiers left the door open, carrying us in their arms.
I am embarrassed to say that it took four soldiers to restrain James, and only two to keep me still.
They marched all the way to the castle, passing by homes of the common folk. A small crowd of two dozen people had followed us up to the front doors of the castle.Then they had to stop.
James and I were dragged to the main room and pushed before the king. They forced us to bow.
I looked up at my father, sitting ostentatiously on his throne. A wicked smile was dancing on his lips.
“Well, well, well. A girl of royal blood in the presence of a peasant, both bowing to their king. How wonderful.”
Fire burned in me.
“I am a woman, father. And I shall have you know that this ‘peasant’ is my best friend and is in the army. He fights for our kingdom, Father.”
A guard hit my head sharply with the hilt of his sword. “You will respect the king, girl.”
James struggled, but even with his military training, he was no match for four professional soldiers.
My father laughed bitterly.
“Guards. Bring them along, and follow me.”
James and I were jerked to our feet and forced to walk forward.
“We need to control the population, don’t we, Darling,” Dad said turning his head back and addressing me.
It hit me so hard, I almost fell over. No. No. He wouldn’t. But he would. He was the king.
“You have no right to call me that, father,” I said mockingly.
“I will call you whatever I wish.”
I tried to meet James’s eyes, but the soldiers were holding my head straight ahead.
We entered the courtyard and the king’s secret guillotine shone in the sunlight. It seemed newly polished and sharpened.
“Bring the boy forward,” dad said.
“NO FATHER!” I screeched. I had seen many beheadings, but I would not stand to watch James die.
The soldiers strapped James down. I kept screaming.
I could see the fear in his eyes, but he wasn’t showing it on his face. James was going to be brave until the end. Oh, James.
“On my signal,” father said and raised his hand.
I gulped back my next scream.
“Take me instead!” I shouted.
All the men in the courtyard turned to look at me.
“NO!” James yelled then turned to me, “Don’t so this.” Then he faced the king, my father. “I deserve this. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“No, James. You have a mother to support. Let them take me. I have nothing to live for.”
“What about me?” James said, his voice breaking. “Am I not enough a reason?”
“James, that isn’t at all what I meant. No one depends on me. I have no purpose. Please, let them kill me instead.”
“I depend on you. Please. Your purpose is to make me happy. Please,” James insisted.
Tears clouded my eyes. My father was looking between James and I as if he were watching a play.
“Father,” I faced him. “Take me. I know you hate me either way. James hasn’t done anything to upset you. I’ll take his place if you let him go unharmed.”
The king seemed to ponder this, but I knew it was all for show, he’d made up his mind the second I’d volunteered.
“Free the boy,” he ordered. “Strap in the girl.”
James was released. I was brought to the weapon. I faced it courageously. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James struggle against the guards, but it was no use.
I heard the murmur of voices just beyond the wall of the courtyard. The whole kingdom must have gathered.
With the loudest voice I could muster, I yelled unabashed as they put me under the blade, “Kill me if you must, but I shall not bow to an insufferable king who wears a crown studded with a jewel for every life he has ended.”
My father dropped his raised arm. James screamed my name. It must have been the worst thing I’d ever heard.
And.
Everything.
Stops.
And.
Starts.
Again.
I am rising up.
Past the courtyard. Past the roofs. Past the castle. Past the hills. Past the clouds. Past the known world.
And then I was looking down. Down on my kingdom. It was nighttime, far past supper time, but I saw everything clearly.
The people of my kingdom were rebelling. They showed tremendous zeal as they marched on the castle’s gates and overpowered the guards. They were coming for the king. He’d killed his own daughter - their princess. And now they knew that he’d been behind all the disappearances of their people.
James was alone in the courtyard. He sat on the edge of the guillotine with his head in his hands. He was crying.
I watched him for a long while.
The sun rose and he’d stopped crying. Suddenly, I was standing right next to him, but he couldn’t see me.
He was gently stroking the hair on my decapitated head as if I were still alive, softly whispering.
“I love you, Adelaide. It should have been me.”
A single tear drop fell from his eye, and I held my hand out to catch it. It warmed my entire soul and I wiped it onto my own cheek. It soaked into my essence and I began to float away.
“Goodbye, James,” I whispered as I floated away.
He looked in my direction, as if he’d heard, but he couldn’t see me.
Goodbye.Good Mixed in with the Bad
Strength
I jumped. Then I changed my mind.
Until a few moments ago, I was sure there was nothing to live for anymore. But now… Maybe things would have gotten better, but I hadn’t considered that a moment ago. It’s too late now.
The wind is rushing up around me. It seemed to be screaming, “Fool! What have you done?!” I closed my eyes. Tears are moving up my face with the wind. My hair whipped out of my braid. My throat was tight with regret.
I tried not to think about the jagged rocks in the water below me. It’s too late now.
My heart beat one last time and stopped forever.
><><><
Darkness.
Suddenly, a projection popped up. “Game Over” it read. Below it were two options, “End Game” and “Try Again”.
Everyone should have a second chance, right? Not that I knew what this meant, but trying again sounded good. I hit the button that read “Try Again”, not sure what I was getting into.
><><><
I am Victoria Young. Fourteen years old. Living with a single mother in a house. She is at work often, and I am left home alone.
As I am now. Reading.
The rain pounds on the window. Lightning cracks the sky open. The thunder sounds as if it’s here to take over the world. The sky is gray and gloomy. The outside air isn’t fresh, like it usually is when it rains, instead it feels suffocating, thick.
Reading. The house is gray and dark. I’m reading with a small lamp that projects minimal, dim light. I’m still reading, and it’s still raining, when the long, twisted, bony fingers appeared. With their unbelievably long nails, they scrape along the glass, creating a horrible screech.
Horror like I’ve never felt it before hits me.
Five scratches are left on the window. And I am inside, with nothing but a book to protect me.
I am frozen. I tell my legs to move, to run, but they don’t respond.
At the window, a face appears. It is abnormally pale with brown blemishes. He’s old and looks to be made out of nothing but bone and skin. A scar runs from his brow to his jaw. One eye is white and useless where the scar runs through it. He looks and seems human, but I know that he isn't. I can feel it. A feeling of panic fill me and further alerts me of his presence.
The man stares at me, and I am too terrified to break it. His other eye is a faded blue color, his white hair blazing against the grayness.
He turns his head to the front door slowly. Then looks back at me. He turns his whole body in the direction of the door and walks to it with his gangly legs.
There is a knock on the door, and as if I was under hypnosis, unable to resist, I walked to it, and opened it.
Then I came to my senses and screamed. It was a gruesome sound. The windows around the house rattled. Plates broke in the kitchen. But the man, that dreadful ghostly man, just stood there, staring at me, waiting for me to finish screeching.
I would have continued for hours, but my voice broke and I stopped. He smiled darkly, a snake’s smile. One that petrified its victims and makes terror run up and down its veins.
His arms reached out to me slowly, and in that second, my legs decided to run for it.
Up the stairs, down the hall, and to my room. I whacked the door shut, locked it, and calmed myself. In for 4, hold for 7, out for 8. In for 4, hold for 7, out for 8. I repeated the method five times.
Abruptly, the sun came out, the sky was blue and the house seemed to became colorful again. My heart slowed down, as if it could sense he was gone. I somehow knew he was. That feeling of panic had vanished.
“Victoria!” Mom called, “I’m home!”
I cautiously opened the door to my room and walked down the stairs. Mom really was home, and the nightmarish man had gone. But where? How had he managed to disappear so suddenly? Was he scared of my mother? If so, I would keep my mother by my side forever more. It had been a nightmare made real.
><><><
The silence woke me.
I don’t know what was so different about it. It didn’t just seem like a lack of noise in the house. It seemed like everyone’s soul had frozen. Everyone in the world.
I sat up, and there, by the foot of my bed was the black silhouette of a tall, thin person.
My heart jumped into my throat and choked my scream.
I was falling.
><><><
I jumped in bed. My heart was thumping hard. It had just been a dream.
It was early morning and it was raining again. Outside was muggy, and the house looked like it was only black and white coloring. The clock read 8:07, which meant that Mom had already gone to work. I was left at the mercy of the inhuman man, again, if he decided to return to haunt me.
I walked down to the kitchen and pulled out two slices of bread to toast from the refrigerator. I slipped them in the toaster and claimed my book. I went to read, again, by that dim light.
Ding! I jumped. It had just been the toaster, even though my heart leapt like it was overcoming an obstacle.
That feeling of horror again.
I walked to the kitchen and gave a small, brief scream.
The man. He was back.
He calmly looked at me, then back at the toaster. He took a non-broken plate from our cupboards and took out my toast. He handed me the plate, but I backed away.
From what I gathered, this man could only move slowly, so speed was essential.
I turned to run again. My feet sprinted. Only-
It was slow.
I felt like I was running though maple syrup. Why couldn’t I sprint?! It was like in a dream, a nightmare.
He came up from behind me. I knew I had to get away.
I suffered the slowness all the way up to my room. As soon as I got to my room, the maple syrup around me vanished.
He was only a few feet from my door, so I slammed it as fast as I could and locked it. Only-
It didn’t fit. There were two inches between the door and the door frame. How could a door shrink?! He could easily reach in. I was sure I was going to die.
He was within a few inches. I would not accept this fate. I would not die in this way. Instead, I ran to my window. It was about a fifteen foot drop. Not enough to kill myself. I would get off with just a few broken bones.
I faced the door again. His wimpy arm reached through the space, slowly. Those long nails were yellow and rough and uncared for. The lock did nothing to stop the door from opening, I guess without being attached to the door frame, a door with a lock was useless. The door swung open. This was it.
In half a second, an idea dinged in my head. In the other half second, I lunged for the book on my bed. It was The Odyssey. A thick, heavy chronicle. Thank God.
I hurled it at the man.
He looked like the book would break his bones, but he caught it in his right hand without taking his lifeless eyes off me.
The window suddenly seemed like a great idea. I stepped up to it and looked down.
“Coward.” He whispered. It was the first word I heard him say. His voice was frail, quiet, and fragile, but in no way gentle. It sounded like a mix of glass breaking, and nails running along a chalk board.
I turned to face him.
“Coward. All you ever do is run from your problems. You are doing it again, now. Fight. Your name means victory. Your personality says something else. Coward.”
No. He was right. I would not run. This time, I would die bravely.
A sword appeared in his hand, “Any last words?”
“Yes, I just want to say that this is stupid.”
I closed my eyes. I did not want to know how my end would come. Yet, I peeked through one eye. He swung hard at my head and it was quick.
><><><
“Game Over”. This time, I hit “End Game”. One life had been enough. I should have made better choices during my first life. Kept my head up and smiled like nothing was bothering me. That was strength, that was valor. The bedroom decapitation was stupid. I had always wanted my last words to be, “I made it.”, but I clearly hadn’t made it.
Strength is smiling the next day like you weren’t crying last night. I had made mistakes in my first life, I cannot deny. But failing is another word for growing. I would have made it. I did not come that far to only come that far in life. I had been fourteen! At least another seventy years was expected. I hadn’t thought of my friends, my family when I had jumped. Only of myself. And what had it brought me? Nothing. Nothing but an even worse second life. I’d learned my lesson. I just wish I could go back to my first life. My school. My family. My friends. God, my friends. I hadn’t had a lot, but the few ones that I did, I had trusted with my life. They had my backs. I had theirs. “To whatever end.” We would always say. None of us thought that the end would be a cliff. I would give anything to talk to them again, to laugh, to smile with them. To share the inside jokes we had harbored. Just one last time.
Torn Apart
“I have to go… iron… my cat…?” I suggested super lamely.
Eden glared at me with those sapphire blue eyes. “What is it with you Hope? Yesterday you were going to ‘polish your pool’. Now you’re going to ‘iron your cat’? How stupid do you think I am? We both know that those are ridiculous excuses. Please, all I’m asking is to let me give you a ride home! It’s for your benefit.”
I turned in the opposite direction, and sprinted.
Eden had tried to get me to ride home with him for the past month. I don't know… there was something about him that made my instincts scream RUN!!! at the top of their instinctual voice.
I was a fourteen year old freshman with wavy light brown hair glistening like the sun. My snake green eyes aren’t a feature I particularly favor about my appearance.
I ran till it felt like icicles were puncturing my sides and stabbing my lungs. Maybe I could join the track team after this.
At last, I saw my street up ahead. I turned on it and began running to the fourth house - my house.
I soon realized that all my Olympic running had been in vain. Eden had been slowly trailing behind me in his hybrid car.
He pulled ahead of me, and I knew I had to get in the house first.
><><><><
I anticipated that he didn't have a key to my house and took advantage of that detail.
I jumped the fence to our backyard and used the back door. I locked it as soon as I was inside. I went up to my room, heart beating crazily.
I knew I was safe, but for some inconspicuous reason, I could not calm my nerves.
I emptied my backpack and spread my homework out on the floor. I spent two hours on homework, as if seven hours of school wasn’t enough. Afterwards, I creeped downstairs to watch television. The only thing that bothered me, was the Eden’s car was still outside, parked.
Suddenly, the air went deathly cold, and the rocking chair started rocking on it’s own. The front door shattered, and Eden entered nonchalantly.
“How-? Who-? What-?” I stammered, unable to speak on complete sentences.
Eden looked at me with crazed eyes. “You should have listened the first time, now it’s too late.”
The following occurrence left me standing there full of stupefaction and horror, my eyes probably bigger than the state of Texas.
Eden began to change. His height grew to about eight feet, his blue eyes glowed red, and shaggy brown hair engulfed his body.
“You’re a… You’re a…” Again, I could not complete my sentences.
“Werewolf.”
He walked towards me, and bit me.
><><><><
I am Hope. I must have been someone at some point in time, but I don't know anymore. I am sure of very few things. One, I am a werewolf. Two, Eden is my master. And lastly, I know that I must keep my hopes up, because if hope dies, we might as well all kill ourselves.
><><><><
“Hope,” the werewolf council addressed me. “What a pitiful name. You will now be named Desdemona. Do you know what that name means?” They all spoke in unison, it was sort of unpleasurable.
“No, I am sorry, I do not.”
“It means ‘of the Devil’. A powerful name it is.”
I hated this name, Desdemona. It made me sound like a different person. Well, I probably was a different person. I didn’t know who I had been prior to this, but I felt different.
This time, they didn't talk in one voice, only the Alpha Wolf, “Desdemona, as a werewolf, you will go out into the human world, and gather more recruits. Go. You will be Eden’s apprentice.” He then turned to Eden, “Eden, show Desdemona how to work her magic and transform.”
Eden bowed and I copied him.
“Follow me,” he said, and we left the council room.
He led me through a series of corridors. I surprisingly seemed to remember every hallway we passed, which was surprising, considering my previous lack of direction. It had taken me about a month to map out my school.
Wait, my school… Just as I was beginning to remember, the memory slipped from my grasp. It was so frustrating, like being asked what you had for dinner last night, and not remembering. All my past memories seemed to be on the edge of being revived, but I could not push them off the edge.
“These is your personal quarters,” Eden said abruptly, gesturing to a plain brown door. I opened it and walked into a room, fifteen by fifteen feet. A bed was pushed in the far corner of the room. A desk was straight to the left when you entered through the door. A bookshelf was on the far wall. It consisted of four oak wood shelves, each about two feet wide. A mirror was on the wall opposite of the desk. Other than that, the room was bare.
“Transformation is easy, just think of what you want to be, feel it, become it. Try becoming your human form.”
“What is my human form?”
“You know your human form, Hope.”
Everything became blurry, I reached for the memory, grabbed it, glimpsed the image of a brown haired girl with green eyes. She was smiling, but her eyes told a deeper truth. She was scared, frightened. She was having a hard life. Was this me? Just as quickly, the image vanished.
“Did you remember your former form?” Eden asked.
I nodded, but the girl was already fading from my mind.
“Good, picture her. I know that her image is probably fading from your mind. But harness it. Imagine it, and you will become it.”
I tried, she had… blonde, no, brown hair, wavy and long. Her eyes were… green.
I felt like I was shrinking. From seven feet, I became five and a half feet, approximately.
I went to the mirror, walking strangely. My legs certainly felt different. In the mirror, I saw a girl with green eyes, and wavy light brown hair - the girl from the memory.
“Is it that easy?” I wondered aloud.
“Yes,” he answered. “As long as you can imagine and almost feel the organism you plan on becoming, you can transform into virtually anything.”
“Interesting…” My voice trailed off. I had a sudden feeling of greed. “Tell me more. Tell me everything!” What was happening to me? My character was changing!
“Yes, yes, in time.”
><><><><
He taught me everything a werewolf should know. Soon, I was ready. It may have taken two years, but I was ready now.
Eden brought me before the werewolf council, where I was to pass the official test. Afterwards, I would be an official werewolf.
In the council room, Eden said, “I believe Desdemona is ready for the trials.”
“You think so?” They spoke together. “Let’s test her then.”
Out of the ground, glass lifted up. It was the type of glass that are sometimes in prisons. They were the type where people on the outside could see in, but from the inside, it just looked like black glass.
The area that was surrounded by the glass was pretty vast. I don't know, approximately four thousand five hundred square feet.
Fake houses popped out from the ground. The droids that were meant to resemble humans entered. They actually looked like humans My task was to find the one human droid that possessed power, track it down, bite it, and recruit it.
I transformed into a human and meddled around the droids for a bit. I looked into their eyes. Most looked shallow and blissful. A few looked sleep-deprived. And finally, I came across the one. His eyes were a deep deep blue color. If you looked into his eyes, it seemed as if you were staring into an abyss. His eyes were smiling, but they looked distant and dark. Those eyes were a symbol of power.
I stalked him around the “town”. His friends eventually joined him, and I heard them call him Calvin.
><><><><
I wished trials would go faster, but they went for as long as you needed. I had been tracking Calvin for maybe two hours. He was never alone. Never.
Finally, the trail room became dark signaling nighttime. The droids went to their houses and I followed Calvin to a tall blue house with a red roof.
It was the full moon tonight. Usually, werewolf can control what they become, but on the full moon, they have no choice, they need to be a werewolf. The moon makes sure of it.
I grew to seven and a half feet tall. Hair covered my body and a savage growl escaped my mouth.
I needed to hide. I found a house where there was an overhang over the patio and hid there for the night.
><><><><
Early in the morning, I woke up and found myself in human form again. I ran to Calvin’s house.
He was just leaving for school.
“Calvin,” I said. “Would you come with me?”
“No,” he said and walked around me.
“Please, all I’m asking is for you to come with me.”
“Why?” He turned around
“I need to tell you something.”
He rolled his eyes and continued on his way.
I wanted to strangle him. I really did. Unfortunately, werewolf powers didn’t work on humans. I could use it to do just about anything but control the person I’m attempting to recruit.
The only problem at the moment, was that other people were around. I could not will the ground to rise and trap him.
I circled his house. It was two stories high, with at least two windows on each side.
His parent were still in there. Didn't they have work? About an hour after Calvin had left for school. His parents began getting ready for work.
After they left for work, I shattered one of the windows on the first floor and climbed into their house.
I saw yesterday how Calvin came home first, and then his parents a few hours afterwards. I had a plan. The only question was, what to do the five remaining hours that he would be at school.
I looked at the clock on their wall. It was nine thirty. Suddenly, the arrow that counts the minutes wound forward four and a half hours, dragging the hour hand with it. The werewolf council has aided me a little. I now had an hour before Calvin got out of school.
I decided to meet him between the school and his house. I set off, and when I got to my desired location, I merely waited.
I waited for about forty-five minutes before I finally saw him coming towards me. Only problem? His friends were with him.
I confronted him anyway. “Calvin,” I addressed him confidently, “Please. I need to talk to you.”
His friends looked at me, then at him. Then they stood there awkwardly looking around as Calvin faced me.
“What is with you? Please, go away.”
He walked on and his friends followed him. The one boy who looked like the “leader of the pack” regained his position in the front of the group. Calvin hung towards the back.
He looked back at me, to make sure I wasn’t following him, and continued on his way. I did just the opposite of staying there.
I walked behind the group. When Calvin turned to check on me again, I almost collided with him.
“What do you want?” he demanded, almost in a whining tone.
“Could you just, come with me?”
“Not unless you tell me what you want!”
“Calvin, I really don’t want to hurt you or your friends.” I was sizing them up. I could totally beat them, they all looked weak, except for that boy leading.
“Hurt us? Excuse me?” the leader turned around.
“Yes, is there something wrong?”
“Did you hear that, guys?” the leader said with a mocking air. “The little girl's gonna beat us up!”
They all laughed.
I wanted to blurt, “Oh yeah?! Watch this!” Turn into my true form, and kill them all except for Calvin.
“Kill them?” I thought frightened. “Why would I ever even think that?”
I shook off the feeling and looked him in the eyes. They were shallow and teasing. I took a deep breath, restrained my wild nature, smiled, and said, “Could I just borrow Calvin for a second?”
“Uh, no.” Calvin claimed. “No you cannot. Come on guys.”
They left. I growled, received a few odd glances from the boys, and took off sprinting towards Calvin’s house.
“Whoa!” I heard some of them say, but that didn’t matter.
I got to his house in twenty second flat, and jumped through his window. With my keen hearing, I heard Calvin’s voice say, “Hey! That’s my house! We have to get there!”
Then I heard the running footfalls of the group. It took them over a minute to get here.
Calvin unlocked his front door and they went inside cautiously.
“She scares me,” one of them whimpered.
I had hidden behind their couch, but they were bound to find me eventually. I took the first step.
I jumped five feet in the air, over the couch, and landed lightly on my feet a few paces away from the boys.
“Man, she is one heck of a girl!” the leader exclaimed.
“That can’t be normal!” another one said.
I needed a way to get Calvin alone.
I advanced cautiously, and then planted a high kick in the leader’s face. He fell backward unconscious. I punched another in the stomach with inhuman strength. I knocked another off their feet. I kept on attacking them in various ways until only Calvin was left.
“What all the trouble is about?” he said. Then he added frightened,” Are you going to knock me out too?”
“No. I just needed your friends out of the way. Oh and by they way, they are totally stupid.”
“Why Do you say so?”
“Okay, normal people run away after one person gets knocked unconscious by a girl. Your friends, however, stood there like complete idiots.”
Then I cornered him, turned into a werewolf, and bit him. At that very moment, everything disappeared, and the glass walls went down.
The werewolf council was judging me. They didn’t have to converse, they could read each other’s minds. Then they all burst out clapping.
“Ingenious,” they praised in unison. “That is a very common tactic among our brethren . You are an official werewolf.”
Eden was smiling and clapping.
“Now, for your first official assignment,” they continued. “Eden will take you back to your past hometown, and you will recruit as many more people as you can.”
I nodded, and followed Eden out of the entire Wolf Building.
He ordered me to become a bird, so I imagined an eagle. After we were airborne, I saw that Eden had turned into a crow.
“Whoa, whoa, wait. I can’t have you looking better than me!” he squawked, and changed into a falcon. I laughed, but it sounded more like a cackle due to the form I was in.
After a while, Eden finally told me that the town below me was where my mission was.
We swooped down into a tree and transformed into humans, obscured by the branches. Then we jumped down, and Eden said, “You know where our base is, report back when you have recruited at least one person. This is where you were born. Good luck, until next time.”
He turned into a falcon once again, and flew off, leaving me to cruise around this town I don’t remember in hopes of finding new recruits. I thought it couldn’t go worse, but I didn’t know the half of what would happen in that little town.
I began walking in from the outskirts of the city.
><><><><
I spent the first week or so, walking, browsing, searching around the town, with no hope. I was certain that I had walked by every house in the area.
However, as I was double checking the houses, I saw I street that I didn’t recognize. I turned on it.
I got dizzy, the memories… They were being unleashed all at once. I stumbled and nearly hit my head on a tree. Just as quickly as they had been set free, the memories got bottled up again, out of reach.
I stood up slowly from the sitting position I had been in for the past two seconds. I walked cautiously forward, as if I was afraid that my legs would break.
I got to the fourth house on the street and had to sit down again. A memory… That house… It was… mine. My old house, the one I had lived in.
This time, the memory didn’t slip away, it stayed with me, and it was a good feeling.
What should I do? I didn’t know if the people living in this house had the potential to be werewolves.
I knocked anyway.
A lady answered, and she looked like she was going to faint when she saw me.
Another memory unbottled itself. She was my mother. This one stayed with me too.
“Hope?” my mother said. “Is that you?”
“Yes mother. I-”
She embraced me and the air was knocked out of my lungs. It was so painful, yet so comforting.
“What is going on?” a deeper, male voice said from behind her.
On seeing his face, I realized that he was my father. I really was home. I looked into their eyes though, because that’s what I needed.
They were both superficial and jubilant. A sure sign of weakness. These people meant nothing to me.
Hold up! How could I say that? They were my parents! Of course they were important, just not for the council.
“Please come in, Honey!” my mom ushered me in the house.
“Where have you been for the past two years, Hope?” Dad asked.
“I… was… kidnapped…” I lied, then added quickly, “But the villain was caught, in a different town…”
All I could do was hope that that was a strong enough lie. I didn’t want to cause any trouble to these pathetic mortal’s lives. What? I had just called my parents pathetic… Something wasn’t right with me.
“I see… You have a lot of school to catch up on young lady!” My dad informed.
How was I going to explain that I couldn’t go to school, I had a job elsewhere.
“We’ll figure it out later this winter break,” he went on, and I sighed with relief. It was winter break. “All that matters now is that you’re back.”
“Yes, it’s nice to be back… I’m gonna go out. I’ll be back for dinner though.” I said and bolted out the door.
Okay, now I had a place for the night, and a caring family, but still no recruits.
Up ahead, I saw a high school… My high school, I remembered when the memory was in my grasp.
I was going to go search when I realized that it was winter break and there’d be no kids there. Unless some sports game was going on. And I went to check, but my hopes sunk.
Walking back, a girl I didn’t recognize, shrieked a girly shriek, screamed ‘Hope!’, and ran over to me.
She held me by the hands, “God, Hope, where have you been the past two years? I have missed you so much!” Then she hugged me so hard I almost barfed my guts out.
I looked at her, her blonde hair hung over her shoulders in large curls. Her ocean blue eyes shone with power. They were deep, unfathomable, and understanding. She had the potential.
Maia was her name, she was my best friend. This memory stuck with me too. It was such a good feeling to be gaining memories instead of the other way around.
“I was kidnapped, but the jerk was captured in another city.” I used the same lie again.
Maia had power, I could feel it. I was really tempted to bite her and get it over with… But part of me wasn’t willing to.
I leaned toward her, ready to transform and bite, but then drew away, I couldn’t do it!
She was my friend. I wasn’t sure if being a werewolf was a good thing. But was it a bad thing? I wasn’t hurt or in pain or anything. At least not yet.
I suppose that I had suffered a great loss after being bitten, and I didn’t someone else to suffer that fate.
“Oh, all that matters,” she added, “is that you’re safe.”
“It was nice seeing you and all, but I need to be home for dinner.”
“Yes, I understand. You’re parents must be so relieved! Missing a daughter for two years is certainly… perturbing, demoralizing, formidable…”
“Okay Miss Dictionary,” I laughed, calling her by her old nickname.
“Ah, at least you remember our inside jokes, Lame Excusetress.”
We laughed together like good friends should, and it felt good. From that moment, I knew that I would never recruit Maia to the werewolf way of life. It may not be a curse, but it wasn’t a blessing either.
“Hey!” Maia called after me. I turned around. “You want to come to my place tomorrow?”
I was going to blurt out ‘sure!’ but then I realized that I didn’t remember where she lived.
“Sure, but how about we meet here.”
“Okay, here at three o’clock. Does that work for you?”
“Yeah! See you later!”
And we walked in opposite directions. It was a lonely feeling really, walking away from your best friend after seeing her for the first time in two years.
><><><><
“Mom!” I yelled into the house from the doorway, “I’m meeting Maia and we’re going to her house!”
“Okay honey! Be back no later than seven!”
“Okay! See you!”
I went back to the exact same place where I saw Maia yesterday. She wasn’t there, so I waited a few minutes. Soon she appeared.
She asked me if I had been waiting long, I answered no, and we walked off in the direction she had come from.
She led me to a white two story white with a red door. Another memory recovered.
She led me inside and up to her room.
“Oh yeah,” she mumbled. “Mom!” she called downstairs. “Hope is here, we’ll be in my room!”
“Okay, Sweetie!” the reply was.
We spent the first hour or so catching up, gossiping, and just chatting in general.
At around four o’clock, Maia’s doorbell rang.
“Darn, I forgot that Allan was supposed to come to.” She turned to me. “I invited this guy. The teacher paired us up on a science project. I had no choice. I’m sorry!”
“Oh it’s fine. I’ll just work on it with you, or something.”
“Perfect. Thanks for being so understanding!”
“Yeah. You should go study.”
We walked downstairs. Maia’s mother had just opened the door to a tall, skinny boy with dark brown hair and green eyes.
He was really cute. I think I blushed, but I had to cover it. Blushing was for the weak. I was anything but.
“Mrs. Millers,” I addressed Maia’s mother, “can I help with anything?”
“No dear, but I thank you dearly for asking.”
I nodded and sat on Maia’s couch, next to Maia. The boy was sitting in the armchair across from her.
I felt real awkward, sitting next to my closest friend, watching her talk to someone I had never even known existed on this planet. You never really notice small details in people’s houses, until you’re sitting there awkwardly, not knowing what to look at. You’re sorta all, “Nice ceiling. I like that wall… It’s so wall-like.”
They began discussing a topic I had never heard of, something called Sickle Cell Anemia. Apparently it was a genetic disease that caused your red blood cells to form a “C” shape instead of a round, donut-like shape. When the blood cells sickled like this, they could stick together or to the sides of blood vessels, causing blockage. This way, oxygen could not get to nearby muscles or tissues that needed it. They were discussing what to do for their model to show this disease.
I was looking around Maia’s house, seeming suddenly interested in the color of the walls and how far up their ceiling was. I noticed tons of minor details, including his Allan kept shifting his eyes to glance at me.
They discussed for about an hour, but it felt oh so much longer. Boredom causes everything to be long, and then time flies when you’re having fun. Unfortunately, that’s the way the world decided to work.
At last, the boy, Allan, stood up, and Maia escorted him to the door.
He turned around on the doorstep, and glanced at me again, but this time for longer.
His eyes, they were deep, eerie, and significant. He had the power as well. Why? Why did my favorite people in the world have to carry the burden?
Whoa, Allan? My favorite person in the world? Ha! I barely knew him!
“Don't get ahead of yourself, Desdemo- I mean Hope.”
“My name’s Allan,” he said.
“Des- I mean Hope.”
“Sorry? Des Hope? That’s your name?”
“No, it’s Hope.”
“Oh, cool. Nice name…” he answered. It felt to me like he just one of those moments where you aren’t sure how to reply to a comment, so you say something completely lame, like ‘good for you’ or ‘cool’ or ‘yay!’ with great lack of enthusiasm.
“Where do you go to school?” he continued on.
“Um… Maia…?” I turned to my friend.
“Okay, um, Allan. Would you like to come back in for another minute or two? This is a pretty long story.”
He answered sure and we went and sat back on the couch.
“Um,” Maia began, wondering where to start. “You read on the News App about that missing girl?”
Allan nodded.
“Yeah, that’s Hope over here,” Maia went on, gesturing to me. Then she looked at me like, You can take over from here.
“Yeah, um, I was kidnapped. And brought me to Aldley, the neighboring town. He was caught there, and I basically hitchhiked back to here.”
I hated telling lies, but sometimes, you must. Whether it’s to spare your friend’s feelings, or to make sure that secret organization you’re working for stays secret. Either way.
Allan seemed to detect my lies. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
“You realize it’s nearly ten miles from here to Aldley? And you hitchhiked?”
I gulped, “Yeah?”
“Hope ran four minute miles in middle school,” Maia added, except that she wasn’t lying.
“I see,” Allan said skeptically. “And what was the name of your kidnapper?”
“Um, I don’t know.”
“So if I look on the News App, there will be something about a criminal captured?”
“Well, it isn’t guaranteed that every single news story will be on this… App.”
The conversation was tense, and it was now Maia’s turn to feel uncomfortable.
I felt weird saying app, I didn’t have a phone! What has the world come down to? No one reads newspapers anymore, there’s social media, and Internet, and apps, and whatnot. It was surprisingly pathetic if you sit back and reflect on it all. Smart phones, dumb people. But on the flip side, it was really useful, yet sad.
“I’m going to check,” Allan replied. He seemed eager to prove me wrong. There was something about him that reminded me of Eden. The same curiosity, desire, and competitive side. It almost scared me.
I crossed my fingers tightly behind my back, as he took out his iPhone and tapped on a red app with the white letters CNN in all capitals.
He searched the page and found nothing. I don’t know if he would assume that it never happened, or if my logic would dominate his mindset.
I could only hope.
Allan narrowed his eyes a little further, but let it go.
“My parents… Have a weekly practice… To… Pray to the food gods… I have to go.”
“You and Hope both! You and I both know that is a terrible excuse, but, yes. You probably need to go.”
Allan nodded and stood up. We stood up with him.
Maia and I escorted him to the door. He stepped outside once again. He started to go, but turned around. He looked straight into my eyes, but it felt like he was looking into my very soul, digging out my secrets. He opened his mouth to say something to me, but then closed it again, turned around, and walked away.
Maia stood there for a second. Then she squealed, grabbed my arm and pulled me up to her room.
Up there, she slammed the door, locked it, and turned to face me. A giddy smile was painted on her face. I could tell she was about to gossip about something.
She may be a complete nerd when it came to school, but she was a total gossip when it came her best friend - me.
“Oh my goodness.” She squealed.
“Oh no, no, Maia, just no!”
She grinned like a madwoman. “Allan. Totally. Likes you!”
“Oh my god, Maia, no! No he doesn’t!”
“Ah!” She screeched, pointing to my face. “You’re pink! You like him too! Ah-ha-ha! My best friend and my science partner! Ah! What’s your ship name gonna be?!”
“God, Maia, no!” I blushed more fiercely.
“Alope! Or Hallan! Yes, I like Hallan! Hallan! Hallan! Hallan! Hallan! Hallan! Hallan!”
She was prancing around the room, jumping up and down, teasing me. I was not used to this type of embarrassment.
Eventually, by which I mean after ten minutes of jumping, she stopped, pulled me onto her bed, and looked seriously into my eyes. I was forced again to notice the potential her eyes possessed.
I could easily just bite her and satisfy my master, but it wasn't that easy. She didn’t deserve to hide the secrets I had to deal with hiding.
“Okay, what do you like about him?”
“What?! I never said anything about liking him!”
“Okay, but at least he likes you! Hallan! Hallan!”
“Would you just shut up? I don't like him! He’s to, proud, egotistical.”
“No he’s not! You’re lying to yourself! You like him and you know it!” She laughed like a lunatic.
I felt for just one second, that she could read my mind. “You’re lying to yourself!” She had said. Well, yes. Don’t we all lie? Even if it’s as little as, I won’t be tired tomorrow! I’ll wake up at six! We say it, and know it’s a lie. If someone said, ‘I’ve never told a lie.’ I would have to say that they were lying, because it isn’t possible.
We conversed a bit more, but then I glanced at her clock. 6:30! My mom needed me home at seven.
“I’d love to stay and chat more,” I said, “but my mom needs me home at seven…”
“I understand, it was fun,” she answered as we walked down to her front door. “Thanks for coming over!”
“Thanks for having me!”
We waved goodbye and I set off walking back to my house.
I hated that feeling when you feel as if someone is following you. I turned around, but no one was there.
I started walking again, but could not shake the feeling. I turned around again, and caught a glimpse of an odd shaped silhouette. My eyes must have deceived me, because the silhouette seemed to change form, and turn a corner.
I shuttered and quickened my pace. Something about that profile was disturbingly familiar.
I clenched my teeth, shivered again, and began jogging at a pace a bit faster than I was used to.
When I reached within a block of my house, I slowed down to fast walking, because I didn’t want to enter looking like I had just ran a triathlon.
I opened my door, closed it, and sank to the ground with my back to the door.
“What happened to you?” my dad came in. “You look like you just ran a triathlon!”
So it didn’t work.
“Um, I was just exercising… You know…”
“Yeah, uh-huh. Dinner’s ready.”
“Great, thanks!” I stood up and walked into the kitchen accompanied by my dad. My mother had just put the last plate on her spot.
We sat down to the magnificent dinner my mom had cooked. I could have eaten it all, savoring each bite, but on pondering what I had just seen, it all tasted like wet toilet paper. In other words, it was completely disgusting.
><><><><
The end of winter break came quickly, and I was enrolled into the school I had been in before the “kidnapping”.
I wondered if my old classmates would remember me. I was going to find out tomorrow, it was the first day back from winter break. I didn’t know what to wear, or where to go, or what to do just in general! I had a feeling that junior year was far more different than freshman year.
I called Maia at nine o’clock in the evening on the eve of back to school.
“Hi, I’m sorry for calling this late. I’m nervous for tomorrow.”
“Don’t be! Our schedules are exactly the same! You could just follow me!”
“You’re joking!”
“Nope! So cease to stress!”
“But what do I wear? How do I act?”
“Gosh, Hope, just be yourself. ‘It's not your job to like me, it’s mine.’” She quoted Byron Katie.
“Great thanks!”
She hung up, but I wasn’t completely satisfied.
><><><><
“Hope!” My mom was standing above me. “You need to get ready for school!”
I groaned. Why is it that your bed has to be the most comfortable when you need to get out of it?
I dragged myself out from under the covers, and to my closet.
“Be yourself…” Maia’s voice echoed in my face.
I took down a purple shirt with a white flower on it. After, I took down a pair of bell bottom jeans.
I walked down stairs to the kitchen.
I grabbed a porcelain bowl from the cupboard and poured milk in it. Then I took out our cereal, poured it into the bowl, and began spooning it into my mouth.
“So, you and Maia have the exact same schedules,” my mom said, stuffing papers into her briefcase. “So you can just follow her around all day until you learn your schedule.”
“I know, Mom. Maia told me last night!”
“Oh, in that case, I’ll see you tonight at around six o’clock. Have fun at school!”
And she left. I finished eating and went back up to my room.
I stared out the window. The view was beautiful, as always. The evergreen forest had grown since the last time I’d been here. The branches reached higher, and the sky seemed purple. The clouds looked like pink cotton candy with orange streaks. The sun was still rising, and the colors of dawn were painting the trees, buildings, sky, and clouds.
What was I doing in the human world? I needed to be recruiting people with the potential! And now I was going to school?! Was I out of my mind? I needed to just bite Maia, or possibly Allan, and get it over with! The Werewolf Council would not approve of my lagging. But I couldn't do it! Maia especially, I had known for my entire life. I couldn’t just straight out bite her. Losing my memories was not a joyful feeling. Even after I had regained them all, it still felt like a part of me was missing.
I looked out over the forest again. It surprised me that, judging by the rest of the word, this fairly large forest hadn’t been cut down. That was a good thing of course. If we destroy all of our trees for manufacturing, we’ll all die. Did the human world not see that?
I looked farther over the trees than I had before, and with my enhanced vision of a werewolf in a human’s body, I saw a small clearing. It was strange. I had been in the woods many times, I thought I had seen every inch of them. I made a mental note to go there after school today and check it out.
I glimpsed at my clock and saw that it was seven o’clock. I still had an hour before I would start walking to school.
I took a book off of my bookshelf, plopped onto my messy bed, and began reading.
At about five minutes to eight, I put the book away, and made my bed. Then I slipped on a jacket, walked outside, and headed towards school.
Soon, I reached my high school, and saw Maia waiting close to the main entrance.
She smiled as I jogged up to her, my backpack bouncing up and down.
She led me through the halls and I recognized old classmates, but they had changed so much. Girls wore makeup as if their faces were coloring books, and the boys, well, they had grown like redwood trees.
First I had physical education, P.E. Then I followed Maia to our next class. We were both learning Latin. Afterwards, we walked to English. Next science. Our penultimate class for the day was math. Finally, we had history.
I was surprised to not get a pile of homework as big a Mount Whitney.
“Bye, Maia!” I shouted after my friends who was heading towards her house. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Bye!” She turned around, waved, and smiled.
I looked around the students suspiciously, then headed back onto campus, to find a safe place to transform.
I stood behind the farthest classroom, and became a small sparrow. It is a magnificent feeling, flying. So free, so refreshing. The wind gliding through your feathers. I close my eyes and imagine that I’m flying into a sunset. The colors more on the warm side than they were this morning. Instead of purple, the sky is pink. And the clouds are purple with pink hues blended in. The air is chilly, even outside of my fantasy. And I feel refreshed.
Boy, after a day at school, everyone should be able to do this. Sitting down in a chair with a desk in front of you doesn’t exactly make you feel... liberated.
I opened my eyes and squinted in the bright sunlight. The clearing I had never seen before today was just a little farther ahead of my current position.
Soon, I swooped down into the clearing and transformed back into Hope, the human.
The area was breathtaking.
I had thought it was a clearing, because the trees that covered the ground were shorter than the surrounding pines.
I had transformed just on the border between the pine trees and willow trees. The “clearing” was in a circular shape, and willow trees grew so close together, that from above, you could not see the ground.
I pushed aside the hanging branches of a willow, and began walking towards the center. There were many vine-like branches that I had to walk through, but I didn’t mind.
Willows had always struck me as a sort of magical tree. So instead of feeling as if I was pushing through a crowd, I felt like I was a dainty fairy, making her way to the center of this magical plantation.
When I reached the center, I was just about sure that some type of mythical creature hung around here. A unicorn or something.
A smallish pond was marking the exact center. There were lush green lily pads with white lilies on them. Though I didn’t see how plant’s could grow, there was virtually no sunlight. Small fish were swimming in the water. The bottom of the pond was covered in smooth, white pebbles. The grass throughout this entire willow area was as soft as memory foam, and acted like it too. I could see the shoe imprints in the grass from where I had been. The most surprising part, there was a white bridge, crossing over the pond. Even more surprising? The bridge looked well-kept, new almost. There was no moss, pond scum, or even a single speck of dirt on that bridge.
Well, before there had been no dirt, then I climbed on top of it. The railing on the bridge went up to about my knees, so it wasn’t really meant to be held on to.
I heard the ruling of branches and looked up from my fishy friends in the water, suspicious.
My heart was beating hard, my eyes were wide and carefully trying to locate where the sound had come from.
The branches straight in front of me were pushed aside, and a boy walked in.
I screamed, he screamed. We were both screaming for what seemed like forever. But it was probably only a second or two.
Then he recognized me.
“Hope?!” He said, but I still couldn’t remember where I’d seen him. I was still screaming.
My heart was pounding so hard, that I lost my balance, and fell backwards into the pond.
My world turned fuzzy, then black.
><><><><
“Hope!” He was shaking me. “God, Hope, wake up!”
“Who-” I said. But then I remembered.
Allan. How had I not recognized him? The human brain is very adept at noticing faces in a millisecond, why had it taken me longer?
“Are you okay?” Allan was kneeling in the water next to me.
Then I realized that the water was cold.
“God, I’m fine! Let’s get out of this pond!”
He stood up and held his hand out to me.
“I know how to stand up,” I said. I did not like guys who thought that women were weak. Allan did not know a thing about me. If I had to get married for whatever reason at some point in my life, I would still never sit second place to a man.
“Fine. Whatever. I was offering my hand to the fish anyway!” he snapped at me and waded out of the water.
I followed.
“Sorry to scare you like that,” he continued after a few minutes.
“No, I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t recognize you for a few seconds, and just got scared I guess.”
Then I cursed myself. I had just shown weakness. “Just got scared!” I thought. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
“So um, what brought you here?” Allan pushed forward.
“I saw this place from my bedroom window this morning, and wanted to see it. This is my first time.”
“Oh. I’ve been coming here after school for quite a while now.”
I nodded. “Cool.” Which practically ended our conversation.
“You, know, Hope,” he began again. “There’s a power within you. You may not know it yet-”
“I just remembered that I have to go and, um, you know, groom my stuffed animals.”
“Right… yeah, everyone grooms their stuffed animals.” There was sarcasm in his voice. “I’ve got to go too.”
He led me to the place where the pines and willows met.
“So, do you know the way out of here?” I asked.
“No, I usually just-” He stopped.
“You just what?”
He turned to face me. “Hope, we need to talk.”
I hated that line. First it had come from my parents in fifth grade, then my friends, and now a boy I had barely met.
My heart was thumping hard. I knew it was impossible, but I still feared…
“You know, um, my house is in the other direction,” I said and ran back into the willows. I sprinted with my werewolf agility. But then I heard branches rustling behind me, and I knew he was following, what was his deal?
I silently turned into a sparrow and flew up I between the branches. That had been too close.
><><><><
I stopped going to that spot, because I knew Allan was tracking me, and I didn’t know why.
I went to Maia’s house the next day after school. She assured me that she didn’t have meetings to discuss any projects.
Walking to her house, I kept looking back, with the unsettling feeling of being followed. I hated the feeling. Suddenly, it was so overwhelming, that I began sprinting, however without werewolf strength.
“Wait, Hope. What the heck are you doing?” Maia ran after me.
I stopped at her door, and said, “I won.” to cover my fear.
“That wasn’t fair!” Maia protested. “You didn’t give a ‘ready, set, go!’ or even a ‘race you there!’ sort of thing.
“Exactly, and I won!” I lied.
She stuck out her tongue out playfully. Afterwards, she opened her door and said, “My parents aren’t back from work yet, so we’ll be alone. You want something to eat or drink?”
Maia led me to her kitchen and opened her refrigerator. I hadn’t gotten a chance to respond, when she handed a cheese stick.
“Thanks,” I said, unpeeled it, and took a bite.
“Who the heck even bites a string cheese?” Maia asked, she was peeling hers like a banana.
I shrugged and bit it again.
After we had finished, and we were just about to go upstairs, when Maia’s doorbell rang.
A puzzled look crossed over her face. “I was sure…”
Maia opened the door and revealed Allan standing there. As soon as she had opened, he asked,
“Is Hope here?”
“Yeah, why?” I popped out from behind Maia.
“Great. Hope, we need to talk. Maia, do you mind?”
“Um, I’m sorry. This is my house last I checked, I can’t be the one left out, thank you.”
“Yes,” I completely agreed. “Normal people don’t barge into other people’s houses and sabotage their hang-outs.”
Allan glared at us, clearly defeated. “Until next time, Hope.”
He left. Maia turned around,
“He totally likes you!”
“No, I think he totally hates me.”
“Oh my god! No! Did you even see how badly he wanted to talk to you?”
“Yeah, but did you see that murderous look deep in his eyes?”
><><><><
When I was walking home from Maia’s house, it was about seven in the evening. The days were getting shorter as we got deeper into the winter season. The sun had just barely set and the sky still contained it’s blue-purple color before it would turn black.
How could Maia be so ignorant? Allan clearly didn't like me, he wanted to kill me. Or something of the sort. Maybe she didn’t have the potential of a werewolf as I’d originally suspected. But her eyes, her eyes told a different story. They were deeper than Allan’s deeper than mine. She had so much power, but how could I be sure? Should I rely on physical appearance, or her actions?
Then I felt the same ominous presence that had followed me home a few weeks prior.
I looked behind me just to confirm. Yes, the silhouette was following me again. It was time to turn the tables.
I turned to face the figure. It stopped in it’s tracks. We just stood there for a minute or so. It gave me time to figure out what it was. My vision, as I had mentioned, was enhanced with werewolf abilities.
It was a person, a boy. He was maybe a few years older than me, he was plump and shorter than I was. I hadn’t seen him around before.
I turned the tables big time, because I began running after him.
He seemed to take a minute to process that he was now the victim, then he began running.
He was a fast runner for a short, plump guy. I was maybe only a bit faster.
He turned into an alley with me just a few yards behind. Clearly, he was new around here, because the alley was a dead end.
The boy backed up to the wall, while I headed for him like a panther ready to strike. He scanned for options, realized he didn’t have any, and waited.
I jumped, and just as I did, he turned into a bird and flew away. I pushed off the wall when I got there, rolled to the ground, and stood up. I felt like a ninja.
I looked into the night sky, where the bird was flying free. I couldn’t be sure, but I think I had just met another of my brethren.
><><><><
“Hope!” Allan has cornered me at school again.
It had been about a week since I had seen another of my kind.
“Yeah?” I replied timidly.
“We really need to talk.”
“What do we have to talk about?” Waves of fear rolled over me. I tried to keep reminding myself that it was impossible.
“Hope? Have you noticed anything about your eyes? How they might be different than others?”
My eyes widened, I shook my head.
“Are you sure? I just want to say that they are really beautiful. They seem to be about four different colors. Forest green, lime green, gold, and amber.”
I exhaled deeply. I had known it wasn’t true. My fears just got the better of me. I could hear Maia’s voice in my head, “He totally likes you!”
“I’ve got to go and, uh, you know, research werewolves,” I lied. Then I mentally slapped myself. I was used to saying the first excuse that came to mind, this may have cost me my secret.
Allan’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“For fun. You know, I won’t only research werewolves, I’ll do vampires, and witches, and mermaids, and fairies, and so on.”
He was still skeptical, but he nodded and walked off.
It took me about three second to realize that I needed to follow him. Where was his house? Why was he so intent on talking to me?
I made sure no one was watching and transformed into a different form. I pictured a girl with auburn hair, blue eyes, and freckles. I turned into a taller, skinnier woman, with pale skin. Red hair swept over my shoulders. I had turned into a thirty-year-old woman. But it didn’t matter, it was a disguise.
I stalked Allan.
I followed him until he walked into a house.
It wasn’t an out of the ordinary looking house. It was tan. The roof was dark brown. The door white. Nothing strange about it.
“Dad! I’m home!” I heard him shout into the air.
“Good,” a deep male voice answered. “How was school today?” The most frightening part? I recognize that voice.
“It was cool.”
“No girlfriends or anything?”
“DAD! Seriously?”
Then they both started laughing, like a father and his son should. Allan seemed like a normal kid. His family seemed normal, he wasn’t too strange himself.
Another thought crossed my mind. Has Allan told his parents about me? Are they unaware of his attempts to talk to me?
For now, that didn’t matter. I turned and walked home.
“How was school today?” The voice had said. Who was it? Who am I not thinking of? Who am I not considering?
My brain gave me an answer. I gasped. It couldn’t be… But how could it not be? The sonorous tone, that laugh that sounded hearty. Yet if you listened was actually hollow and emotionless. But how was it possible?
><><><><
Now that I had the suspicion in my head, and it kept getting more obvious. How had I missed it? My brain kept finding evidence to further prove my thought, but there would always be a small part of me that wouldn’t be sure, until I saw it with my own eyes.
I had assumed that Allan had given up on searching for me in that spot of willows amongst the woods, so I was headed there.
The air Ruffles my feather as I soared higher and higher still. How high can an eagle fly, I wonder?
Fifteen thousand feet, I answered myself. Too bad, I thought after this fact. The clouds are twenty thousand feet up. What would it be like to fly above them? The endless sky above you, a valley of white cotton below you. It would be totally clichè. And if the sun was setting, or possible rising, the sky would be pink or purple or yellow or orange. No two sunsets paint the sky the same color.
I swooped down and landed straight in the middle of the meadow of trees. In fact, I landed on the small white bridge over the pond.
To my utter horror, Allan was sitting by the pond, looking at me. I hadn’t transformed yet, and I stayed as an eagle.
“Eagles aren’t native to the city of Rayburn you know. How did one get here?”
I remained silent, daring to hope.
Allan stood up and approached me cautiously. I flew away. In the air I transformed into a peregrine falcon, the fastest bird on the planet. I gained altitude and then dove down at a forty five degree angle. My speed went up to about two hundred miles an hour, the top speed of the peregrine falcon. Then I felt myself go even faster. Right before I was going to crash into my house, I swooped up. Another feature of the falcon, the ability to level out even if you were just zooming down to earth around three times faster than a cheetah can run.
I flew through my open bedroom window and morphed into a human being again. That had been close. How much longer could I keep this up? Allan kept getting closer and closer to uncovering my secret.
><><><><
“Hope, this is it. I won’t let you get away anymore.”
Allan yet again had me cornered.
I glanced around in alarm looking for a possible escape, but there were none.
“Why won’t you let me get away anymore? What do you want you… You… Mortal?!”
He took a step back in surprise. “Mortal?”
I punched myself mentally. “Yeah, mortal. Um, I’m a fangirl…?”
I mentally slapped myself again. Way to go make yourself look like a nerd.
“Fangirl? Right. What fandom?”
“Fandom? What? Wait... does this signify that you’re a fanboy?”
“‘Words mean what you want them to mean.’ In the words of Ally Condie,” he quoted.
I nodded suspiciously. There was truth to that. But where was he going with this?
His step back left me with some space. Maybe if I bolted unexpectedly?
There are moments when it’s now or never. This was one of those, but I couldn’t help but hesitate.
Hope, now or never. No hesitation. The opportunity will slip.
I looked at Allan, then at the spot I had chosen to run from. I gathered my energy, sort of like fueling up my werewolf speed. Then I sprinted.
Allan blinked and it took him a second to register what just happened. Like all the pitiful humans do.
Stop Hope. They aren’t all pathetic. Maia for example.
I smiled to myself, Allan would never catch me. I cannot be restrained.
I turned around to see if Allan had given up. The results didn’t satisfy me, not in the least.
Allan was sprinting right after me. Did he run four minute miles too?
I had started a few seconds before him, and I had enhanced everything compared to a human. Allan would not catch me, I wouldn’t let him. I leaned forward and ran faster than a sprint.
How far would I need to run? When would he give up? Why was he so set on talking to me about who knows what?
I ran for eternity. Or at least, what seemed like eternity. And I actually began to tire. I looked back. Allan was still following me, though he seemed to be running out of energy as well.
I was in a section of the town I was not familiar with. I turned into an alley and hoped for the best. The best apparently did not listen to my plea.
It was a dead end.
Allan slowed down when he realized I had nowhere to go.
“Well now, guess you’re caught.” He was smiling evilly. Why? “You are different Hope, you truly are. You just don’t know it yet.”
His eyes shone red. The sun was setting and the moon was awaking. He grew in height. Fangs protruded from his mouth. And he grew black shaggy fur.
My eyes must have been deceiving me.
He came forward slowly. He leaned down prepared to bite me. I had been through this before.
“ALLAN STOP!” Another body slammed into Allan.
The shock sent both people flying. They landed in their human form. Allan looked no different, and beside him was… Eden.
Allan stood, “Dad! You always asked me to gather recruits!”
“Yes,” Eden stood as well, towering a few inches taller than Allan. “But I also instructed you to tell me before recruiting them. I see you have omitted that step.”
“But Dad, she’s more powerful than the others. Look at her.” Allan gestured to me.
“Yes, I should know. I trained her.”
It was Allan’s turn to be stupefied. His mouth hung about a foot open.
“You- How- What- How- I never knew!”
“Yes, but I could have told you if you’d told me who you were going after!”
So that was the familiar voice I’d heard in his house. Eden was Allan’s father. How had I not known?
Eden had left Allan speechless. Allan turned to me.
“Hope, I’m so, so sorry.”
“It’s fine, you couldn't have known.”
“If you had just told me!”
“How was I supposed to know that you were one as well!” I shot back.
“I was sure I’d made it obvious enough.”
“I was scared.”
Eden looked at me. “Hope, scared is not a word in the vocabulary of a werewolf.”
I was suddenly angry.
“Well maybe I don’t want to be a werewolf anymore. I want to live a normal life. I want to have a boyfriend, get married, have kids. You know, live. Like normal people would. I despise holding secrets from my parents and my best friend! I hate that my friend has all this trust in me, even though I’m holding out on her! I hate that Maia’s smarter than I am! I wish I had her grades! I hate that my social studies teacher gave us a map test to study for! I’m certain I’ll fail it and bring my average down even more! I hate homework! I hate pencils, they break so often! Why do mechanical pencils run out of lead so fast? Why can’t people invent an infinite lead supply for pencils?! Cars are so stupid! The mortals invented them to aid with transportation, but they’re ruining the Earth as we know it! Carbon is emitted and sent into the atmosphere! In addition, some of that carbon makes it’s way into the oceans causing ocean acidification! Many marine organisms will die! Algae is one of our main oxygen sources, so this will result in humans dying as well! We’re killing ourselves!” I stopped, confused. “Where was I going with this?”
“After you begin complaining about one thing, you end up whining about every possible thing wrong in the world,” Eden lectured.
“Yeah, that was confusing,” Allan added.
“Oh!” I recalled. “I remembered the point I set out to make: I. Don’t. Want. To. Be. A. Werewolf!!!!”
Eden smiled sadly and sympathetically, “I’ve tried, trust me. It isn’t possible. Now, back to the crime you almost committed, son. Do you know what happens when you bite another werewolf?”
Allan shook his head.
“They become savage, wild, uncontrollable. They’d also become stuck in werewolf form for the rest of their lives. See, now we are able to control our actions, letting us disguise ourselves as humans. But if a werewolf is bitten again, that won’t be possible. One, we’d look like werewolves and not be able to transform. And two, we’d be uncontrollable. So, Allan, be glad I came to intercept you, or Hope here would have gone savage, killing us all.”
“I’m truly sorry,” Allan addressed to no one in particular.
><><><><
Allan never looked at me the same way after that. I never did either. Being with Allan and Maia was even worse. There was silence between Allan and I, and then there was Maia. She would talk on and on and on about God knows what. But you could tell that she noticed the awkwardness too. D
One day, I was at Maia’s house.
“What is it between you and Allan?” She asked. It was inevitable.
“It’s hard to explain, Maia. You shouldn’t worry about it.”
“But you’re my friend. It’s my job to worry.”
“It’s totally fine. I swear. Let it go.”
“I still ship it.”
“Sorry?”
“Hallan. You know.”
“Oh geez, Maia. That’s so over.”
“Not to me it isn’t.”
Because none of it was over. No, it was all just beginning.
Maybe one day, I’d tell Maia about my abilities, and hers. I’ll prove to her that Allan does not like me. I’ll tell her about his powers too. We could all work together as a trio. Recruiting more and more werewolves.
But was that a good thing? Shouldn’t people have the right to live normally? Being a werewolf is more of a burden than a gift. Maybe I could find a way to become a normal human being again. One with a normal life. Maybe I could rebel against the Werewolf Council and its authority. But to do that, I’d need an army of rebels. And what if most werewolves are happy the way they are?
What if another werewolf bites me thinking I’m not aware of my abilities? Almost like Allan did? What if I do become uncontrollable, like Eden warned? What would I do then?
I’m walking home from Maia’s house at sunset. Instead though, I take the path by the beach - the long way to my house.
I look at the sun. It was setting on the cloudy horizon. The clouds around the sun turned orange, making the whole scene look like an exploding volcano. The clouds over the ocean were thin cirrus clouds. They appeared in a mix of pink, green, yellow, orange, blue, and purple. The clouds over the land were fluffy cumulus clouds. They look literally like cotton candy. Mostly pink, with purple splotches and a little blue as well. I turned back to the sun. It had sunk lower, and the “volcano” wasn’t erupting but rather merely overflowing.
In the opposite direction of the sun, the darkness was spreading. The dark blue blended with the light blue. Green, yellow, red, purple, and orange was also in there somewhere. It all looked like a watercolor painting. A feeling of deep peace settled over me.
No, I wasn’t going to tell Maia. I would spare her and do my best to protect her from other werewolves that try to turn her over. I will not have my best friend suffer because of my own discomforts, mistakes, and regrets. I won’t even tell her about it, never.
Chapter 1
They always told me that I was smart - all through elementary school, and it started in kindergarten.
We took a quiz in kindergarten so the teacher could see how much we already knew. When the teacher gave me my test back, she said, “You are a very smart girl.”
I recall feeling proud of myself.
Then, in first grade, the same thing happened. Every year up till sixth grade, I was told that I was smart and intelligent. I couldn’t help but feeling a little smug.
Now, going into seventh grade, everything changed.
Chapter 2
Brrrriiiiinng!!!!
I winced and slammed the the mute button on my alarm clock. At that moment my mom burst into the room and said,
“Good morning! It’s the first day of school! I’m driving you and Wyatt to school, so get ready.” She exited the room just as abruptly as she had entered.
The first day of school is always the same: you wake up feeling like you would any day, and your mom comes in and reminds you that it’s the first day of school (as if you had forgotten.) It’s the only day your parents let you pass on the ‘always fix you bed’ idea, and you always have that jittery feeling in your stomach.
The butterflies in my stomach had multiplied since last year - after all, I was moving to a completely new school with only one friend that I already knew.
My feet dragged me into the bathroom where I started by splashing my face with water. I stood back up with newly gained strength. I rinsed the yucky morning taste out of my mouth and ran a brush through my hair. Then I walked briskly down to the kitchen.
My brother, Wyatt, was on the table spooning cereal into his mouth and doing something on his phone. He looked up and smirked as I walked in. I sneered back and sat down on my spot across from him. I stuck my spoon in my cereal bowl and began eating.
When I had finished, I took my plate to the sink and got out my lunch bag. I took the lunch that my mother had made out of the refrigerator and put it in my bag.
Then I ran back up the stairs and into the bathroom where I tied my hair in a high ponytail and braided it. After I had made sure that the braid was perfect, I went into my room, changed out of my pj’s, and into a plain white shirt and black shorts. Over my shirt I wore a blue jean jacket.
I walked back down the stairs and checked that I had everything in my school backpack. My binder was in there, so were my four notebooks, along with the agenda that I had bought from the school. The only thing I was missing, was a reading book.
I walked back up the stairs and into my room. I took the book on my desk, Wonder, and walked, once again, down the stairs - exhausted.
I placed Wonder in my backpack with the spine facing down - that way the book wouldn’t get ruined.
Next, I retrieved my lunch bag from the kitchen along with my water bottle, and somehow managed to shove them in my backpack along with everything else.
Wyatt was still on the table with his phone, looking hypnotized.
My parents entered the room and my dad said, “Are you kids ready? We’re leaving in five.”
I nodded, but Wyatt was unresponsive.
My dad glared at my teenage brother, “Wyatt. Did you hear me?”
He gave the slightest possible nod.
My dad lost his temper like an exploding volcano. He walked over to my brother and jerked the phone out of his hand, “Wyatt, what did I just say?!”
“Uh… something about the fifth leaf...”
My dad was very unhappy, “What are you doing on your phone anyway.”
He looked at the screen. I looked too. Wyatt had been texting.
I smirked at him. He returned the gesture in a mocking way.
“Let’s go,” my mom said.
I grabbed my backpack off the couch and slung it over my shoulder. After that, I followed my family out the door and into our car.
Mom dropped my dad off at work first, then Wyatt at high school, and finally me.
“Have a good day, Honey,” she said.
“Yeah,” I turned and headed to the front of the school.
“Wyatt’s picking you up and you guys will walk home!” my mother shouted after me.
I nodded without looking back. Instead, I stared at the school.
La Colina Junior High was very different that my elementary school. The classrooms were scattered all over the campus instead of grouped together. I walked to the center of the school in front of the flagpole.
My friend, Sam, was already there.
“Hey,” she said as I approached. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to come.”
“Who’s gonna miss the first day of school?”
“What’s your first period?” Sam asked, changing the subject entirely.
“I’m not sure which subject, but it’s in room five hundred two.”
“I’m in room four hundred five.”
I nodded, “Cool. Are you as nervous as I am?”
“Well…. how nervous are you.”
“About as nervous as nervous can get.”
“Then yes, I am as nervous as you, maybe even a bit more.”
I smiled.
Sam was wearing a purple shirt and jean shorts. He blonde hair was pulled back in a long ponytail.
The bell rang and she said, “Good luck,” with a worried glance.
“Right back at you,” I responded and headed to room 502.
It was very funny to see the kids stampede towards their first period class like a herd of elephants. And I’m not saying that I didn’t join them, I can’t imagine anyone who didn’t.
A man was waiting by the door of my first class. He had slim glasses with barely any frame, and thinning gray hair. He was wearing an obnoxious Hawaiian shirt with blue and yellow flowers.
He gave us a fist bump as all the student walked into his classroom.
When inside, everyone chose a seat wherever they wanted, and I tried to sit next to the front. All the other kids were sitting with their friends, but my only friend, Sam, wasn’t in this class with me. Consequently, I sat in the midst of strangers that I was sure I would never become friends with.
As if to prove me wrong, a girl with shiny, dirty-blonde hair sat next to me and said,
“Hi, I’m Luisa.”
“Hi, I’m-”
I was going to tell her my name but just then the teacher had fist bumped the last student and the late bell had rung.
“Welcome everyone to your first day of seventh grade. Now I’ll just take roll and we can get started.”
I tried to pay attention to everyone’s names, turning whenever someone answered ‘here’, but it would take a lot more that one day to learn everyone’s name.
“Avia Watson,” the teacher said.
“Here,” I answered. I was the last name on the list.
“Perfect! My name is Mr. Brown. Now, I will hand out your schedule for the rest of the day.”
He called out the names of kids and they went up to get their paper.
After I had gotten mine, I sat back at my desk and looked at the schedule.
The first listed class read World History -- Brown, Kevin. Then the next class said Math 7E Tricia, Wood. Then I had science with a teacher named Madeline Cottage. After science, The teacher name was listed as Speak, Catarina for my English class. After English, I had Latin with a teacher named Jefferson Smith. Finally, I had P.E. with Melanie Parker.
“Okay, this year in Social Studies, we will be learning…”
And I zoned out. All I really heard was something having to do with the Roman Empire.
Then the bell rang and everyone grabbed their backpack and left. Our only homework from that class was to get a syllabus signed by our parents.
I looked at my schedule and saw that my math class was going to be in room 308.
The girl who had introduced herself as Luisa caught up with me.
“Hey, what was your name again?”
“Avia, I know, it’s an unusual name.
“I like it, it’s pretty.”
“Thanks. What’s your next class?”
“Math in room…” she glanced at her schedule, “three-o-eight.”
“Me too, maybe if we hurry, we can get a seat together.”
She nodded and we rushed through the crowd of students heading to their second period classes.
Luisa and I managed to get a seat together in math class. The teacher greeting us at the door had graying, blonde hair that had - surprising enough - faded purple streaks.
She had purple glasses and a black dress. She wore black sandals and her toenails had been painted deep purple.
Luisa and I sat the closest to the whiteboard as we could.
Soon, the late bell rang, and sitting at Luisa and my tablegroup were two other girls.
“Hi, I’m Luisa!” My new friend seemed like a very social person.
“My name is Camila,” the girl sitting straight across from me said.
“I’m Avia.”
“My name is Monica,” answered the girl sitting across from Luisa.
“Welcome everyone to math seven enrichment, my name is Mrs. Wood and I will be your teacher.”
My math teacher sounded very enthusiastic. She seemed like a cool teacher.
She handed out worksheets and we were to work on them with our table groups. They were easy; pretty much what we had learned towards the end of last year.
Soon, my group had finished, and I could tell that I was the smartest person in my group, not to brag or anything...
Mrs. Wood handed out homework and said that we’d correct it tomorrow in class.
The bell rang very soon and I headed to science. Luisa wasn’t in this class with me. I was on my own. At least I thought so, until I saw Sam in line for the same class I was going to - room 303.
I walked over to her and said,
“I’m glad we’re in this class together.”
She smiled and agreed.
“Did you meet any new friends?”
“Yeah,” she answered, “a girl named Elena.”
“Cool, I met a girl named Luisa and two more girls in math named Camila and Monica.”
“Nice.”
We walked in the door and sat as close as we could to the front of the class.
“Hello everyone, and welcome to seventh grade honors science!” said the kind looking teacher at the front of the classroom.
“My name is Ms. Cottage and in the back over there,” everyone turned to look at the back where a younger woman was standing.
“Is Ms. Robinson. She is our student teacher. Now, to begin, I’ll hand out a syllabus for your parents to sign, then we’ll get to fun stuff.”
Ms. Cottage handed out a sheet that read Science Syllabus at the top.
“Please put this in a safe place and bring it back as soon as you can. Now, since I want you to know everyone’s name in the classroom, were going to play a name game. Everyone please form a circle around the room.”
The class obeyed. Sam and I stood next to each other.
“We’ll go around the circle and say something that begin with the same letter as our name. I’ll start. My name alliteration is Cottage cheese because I like cottage cheese, like, a lot.”
My science teacher was one of my favorite teacher so far. She reminded my of this teacher I had in fifth grade. They looked a little alike. They both had sarcastic sound to their voice, and I could tell that Ms. Cottage had a sense of humor.
The circle went around until it was Sam’s turn.
“Uh…. Sarcastic Sam.”
After Sam had said this, she turned to me, as did the rest of the class.
“Um, Avid Avia?” I said this with questioning tone in my voice.
The teacher nodded and looked to the next student.
Science class didn’t include much science stuff that day.
After what seemed like two minutes, the bell rang again, and, with a look at my schedule, headed to English in room 306.
“Hey, Avia!”
I turned around, Sam had called me.
“Meet you at the flagpole for lunch?”
“Sure!” I called back and walked into my next class.
No one I knew was in this class, not even friends that I had met recently.
I sat towards the front, as usual, and stared blankly at the whiteboard.
The desk were in groups of two, so of course someone sat next to me.
“Hi, I’m Avia.”
The girl looked at me. She had brown eyes and black hair, “I’m Samara. I like your name, it’s very unique.”
“So is your, I love it.”
“Thanks.”
“Hello everyone! I am Mrs. Speak. Welcome to English honors for seventh grade! I hope you have had a good day so far.”
Everyone nodded.
“Good. Now, I have a syllabus for your parents to sign, and that will be your only homework for tonight.”
She walked around the classroom handing out pink sheets of paper that said Course Description in the top, left corner.
“Now I want everyone to take the green sheet of paper that is on your desk and fold it to make a name tag. Write you first and last name on it and include at least three drawings of something that you enjoy. Here is mine. I have my name, Mrs. Speak on it. I have a pencil because I love writing, a book because I live to read, and I have drawn multiple hats to signify that I have many different lives quote, unquote. In one hat, I’m a teacher, in another, I am a mother, in a another, I am a writer and so on. Please start yours now.”
I picked up the green sheet of paper that was on my desk and folded in a 3D triangle shape. On one of the sides, I wrote my first and last name in pencil. Then I went over it in purple marker. I drew a book - signifying that I’m a amazing reader, a light bulb - signifying that I’m smart, and a cheeseburger - because that’s my favorite food.
“I will call off the roll sheet and instead of saying here, I want you to tell me one thing that you drew on your nametag and why.”
When Mrs. Speak got to me, I said,
“I drew a book because I’m a really good reader.”
The teacher looked at me, and for a split second, I thought she looked a little unhappy, but then she smiled and called off the next name.
At last, the bell rang and everyone packed up their stuff and rushed outside.
La Colina did have a cafeteria, but it was only for if you’re buying lunch. Otherwise, you would eat outside. I headed straight for the pole that still had no flag on it.
Luisa found me, smiled and came over.
“Are you waiting for someone?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said, “my friend from elementary school, Sam.”
“Is it a girl?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, her name is actually Samantha, but she prefers to be called Sam.”
“Cool.”
Then I spotted Sam walking towards me with another girl next to her. The girl was not too tall, but not quite short either. She had reddish-brown hair and startling green eyes.
I felt a small twinge of jealousy, Sam was MY friend. Then I shook the feeling off and smiled.
“Hi,” Sam said as they approached. “Elena, this is my friend Avia, Avia, this is Elena.”
“Hi!” the girl said.
“Hi. Sam, this is Luisa, Luisa, this is Sam,” I introduced
“Nice to meet you, Elena, Sam,” Luisa said.
The four of us sat down under the shade of a tree with purple blooms. Almost everyone of us seemed to get along well.
“Sam, what’s your schedule?” I asked.
“English, P.E., science, history, Latin, math,” Sam answered. “What’s yours?”
“History, math, science, English, Latin, P.E.”
“Mine is English, science, history, math, French, P.E.,” Elena said, as if I cared.
“I go first to history, then to math, then to performing arts, then to P.E., next to English, and finally, science,” Luisa said.
Lunch seemed to pass by quickly, and soon Sam and I were headed to Latin class together.
“I’m not sure I like your friend, Luisa too much,” Sam admitted.
“As if I care for Elena.”
“Well, you’ll have to deal with it, Elena’s cool.”
“Same goes to you, I like Luisa.”
We burst out laughing, I don’t know why. Friends just do that sometime, they look each other in the eyes then crack up.
We sat together in Latin and I began to wonder why Sam didn’t like Luisa. Then it hit me. They were polar opposites. Sam was not very sociable, Luisa was. Sam had that glint in her eyes that let you know she was a trouble-maker. Luisa did not, instead, she had that attitude of a teacher’s pet. Sam was sort of a ‘rebellious teen’ and a ‘tomboy’, Luisa was anything but that.
The bell rang letting us know that class had started.
The teacher - a man with gray hair, thin glasses, and a beard - stepped forward and said something in what was probably Latin:
“Salvēte omnēs….” and that was all I understood. It sounded like a foreign language - maybe because it was.
Then the Latin teacher translated what he had said.
“Hello all boy students and girl students….” and so on.
Then the teacher introduced himself as Mr. Smith and he took roll.
“Please tell me if you go by a nickname or something.”
When he called “Samantha Jones,” Sam answered,
“Here, and I go by Sam.”
“Okay,” Mr. Smith said marking something on his roll sheet.
Sam was the only one who went by a nickname.
Latin was the same as most of the other classes: course description, what we would be learning, and a syllabus for our parents to sign.
Before I knew it, the bell had rung and I was walking out of the classroom.
“Meet at the flagless pole after school,” I told Sam.
She nodded and headed to her last class.
P.E. was the boringest class of the day. We just sat under a shady tree with nothing to do. My teacher - Mrs. Parker - had graying blonde hair and was short. She argued that it was too hot to do any activities, so we just sat there, until the last bell of the day had rung.
We all picked up our backpacks and left. I was unsatisfied, because the only person I sort of knew, was Elena, and she didn’t appeal to my liking too much.
I met Sam at the pole and said,
“Who’s picking you up?”
“My dad.”
“Cool. Wyatt’s picking me up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know. I don’t know if I will survive.”
She laughed slightly, “Good luck then.”
“Thanks,” I answered sarcastically.
I walked to the front of the school and waited. I may be waiting for a while because Wyatt’s school wasn’t near La Colina.
Chapter 3
By the time Wyatt had come, there were only five students still waiting besides me.
“Well you took long enough,” I said, a little irritated.
“I took my time,” he smirked.
“Wow! I hadn’t noticed!” I sarcastically answered and sneered back.
“Let’s go.”
We started walking home.
Wyatt was on his phone from the very first step we took.
“Aren’t you going to ask me how school was?” I wondered aloud after we had walked for some time.
“Why would I ask about something that I don’t care about?”
“Oh, that’s low. How was high school, then?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“Yes it is. I’m being kind.”
“Whatever.”
We walked in silence for the rest of the way. I sighed in relief when I saw our house. When we got inside, the first thing I did was walk up to my room and change out of my sweaty clothes. Then I went down stairs, filled a cup to the top with ice, and poured in water to the brim. I drained the glass whole. Then I filled it with water again and drank about half of it. It was very hot outside, and I had just walked a mile and a half.
After that, I stalked to my room to begin my math homework. I dropped my backpack on the ground and took out my binder. There, I found the sheet Mrs. Wood had handed out and began working on it.
I had finished it ten minutes later.
I didn’t feel like doing anything after that, so I opened my window, and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.
I had moments like those, when my brain just needed to not do anything active, so I would often lay on my back and relax, forget about life and all stresses I may have.
~~~
I must have lost track of time, because after what had only seemed like two minutes, my parents arrived - and they weren’t supposed to get home until four thirty.
I took the four syllabi that I had received from history, science, English, and Latin, and walked down stairs feeling light-headed from my zone-out time.
“How’s my seventh grader?” my dad smiled when he saw me.
“Good. I have four papers for you or Mom to sign.”
“What about your homework? Did you get any?”
“Yeah, only math. I finished ages ago.”
I handed the papers to my dad. He skimmed through, and signed them.
“Did you know that you will be learning about the Roman Empire in history class?”
“Now I do.”
My father handed the papers back to me and I went up to my room to put them in my binder once again.
~~~
“Wake up Avia!”
I groaned at the sound of my mom’s voice in my room. I managed to open my eyes and see the alarm clock.
“Mom,” I said in a weak, scratchy voice, “it isn’t even seven o’clock yet.”
“I realize, but you and Wyatt have to walk to school today.”
“Urgh! Can’t you just wake me up at seven!”
“Avia, it is only six fifteen!”
“I know!”
“You had better get ready,” my mom said and left the room.
I groaned again and thought to myself, thirty more seconds wouldn’t hurt…..
~~~
“Avia!”
I jumped.
“Come on! It’s six thirty now!”
I groaned for about the millionth time that day, and got out of my warm sheets.
“I picked out your clothes for you, since you failed to do so.”
I looked at the shirt and shorts at the foot of my bed. The shirt was white, and navy blue striped, and the shorts were purple with black dots.
“Mom, dots and stripes don’t go well together.”
“I think it does!”
“And the colors clash terribly. How about I chose my clothes?”
My mother exited the room and I chose a different set of clothes. When I had finished, I went down to breakfast.
After the morning hustle, Wyatt and I were finally walking to school. He left me at La Colina and walked off.
As I walked to the center of the school, I saw that Sam was already there along with Elena. I felt reluctant to approach them, but did so anyway.
"Hi guys," I said.
They smiled and waved.
Elena started talking to Sam about what they had to do in English, and I felt left out. Elena even turned her back to me so she could talk to Sam face to face.
At that moment, Luisa came up from behind and said, "Hi!"
I'll admit that I felt way more relived with another friend by my side. I could tell that the Avia-Elena friendship wasn't going to work.
"Are you ready for that geography test?"
"WHAT!" I exclaimed.
Luisa laughed, "Just kidding."
I laughed nervously when the bell rang.
"Bye Sam!" I called after her and Elena, "See you in science!"
Sam turned around, "Yep!"
Luisa and I walked to room 502. There, Mr. Brown was fist-bumping students as they entered.
Luisa and I got into the line of students, and - after fist-bumping Mr. Brown - took our seats from yesterday at the front of the class.
The second day of school went much slower than the previous day had. The classes seemed to last days instead of 50 minutes. Lunch seemed much shorter than it should have, and I was glad when the final bell of the day rang.
Students swarmed out of classrooms and headed towards the parking lot. Wyatt seemed to take even longer than yesterday, so I spent the time noticing little details; the birds flying above me, the leaves falling to the sidewalk, and the occasional glint from the mountains. When I had been younger, I had always thought that those shimmers were treasure within the face of the mountain, but with age comes wisdom, so now I had a more rational answer.
I noticed how most girls were huddled in groups surrounding one girl’s phone. And how the boys were also in groups, but weren’t really encircling a device. They were more throwing things at each other, like mini footballs or hacky-sacks.
There were only two students other than me when Wyatt finally arrived. Like yesterday, we walked in silence.
~~~
As school went on, the days dragged into weeks, and weeks into months. I felt extremely familiar with my schedule. It was almost like someone had programmed me to walk the exact same route every time. When that bell rang, I stood up mechanically, and walked the path I had traveled many times.
At last, it was the final school day before winter break. School had gone quickly today, since we were getting out early. It was only 10:30 and I was already in English class.
Our teacher was going on and on about how a growth mindset is much better than having a fixed mindset in the process of learning.
I wasn’t paying any attention in particular. I just kept thinking about what I was going to do over the break.
All of a sudden, there was a blinding white flash outside. There was a cry from within my classroom.
Everyone - including the teacher - was staggering around as if they were blind.
“I can’t see anything!” they were yelling.
How odd it was, because I was fine, I could see.
“No one exit the classroom!” Mrs. Speak yelled.
“I wouldn’t even be able to locate the door!” a student in the midst of chaos replied.
I disobeyed the teacher and stepped outside. It seemed like a normal day, that is, until I turned around and saw that there was a tornado on the field. I turned again and saw lightning flash from the sky- however, I could tell that this wasn’t the bright flash that had made my class go blind.
I walked further out, into the center of the school.
I looked west to see a monstrous wave heading towards La Colina Junior High. Over all the commotion, students and teachers flooded out of the classrooms at last, and headed towards the field.
I wanted to follow, but it seemed that my feet were suddenly glued to the cement.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?! I thought alarmed.
I didn’t think that it could get any worse, but there went Mother Nature proving me wrong, as usual.
The final light that seemed to protrude between the clouds, vanished, and everything began to look dark.
The clouds parted slowly, and I saw what had happened.
The tornado had not been sucking up people, or buildings, or trees, or anything for that matter, but to take the tornado’s job there was the hole.
It spiraled with immensely strong winds. All I could see into it was black. I did not know where it led, or why it had occurred.
The spiral started drawing in objects with its wind’s like the tornado should have. The buildings around me crumbled to debris and were sucked into the abyss. The American flag ripped off the flagpole and went fluttering into the hole.
Trees were uprooted from the ground and pulled into the void. Smashed cars were also flying towards the spiral. Lastly, people. Everyone from the school, the town, the state, even the country, and possibly the world were drawn into the hole.
The only part of the world that wasn’t sucked in, was me along with the square foot of cement I was standing on.
I saw Sam get pulled inward, her face was horrified and screaming. Her hair was a tangled mess around her face. I was sure that I saw my parents, and my teachers. Luisa was holding onto a wall left from a school building, but soon that building also crumbled, and she was sucked into the spiral.
I am almost certain that I saw my house, not fully demolished yet.
I saw everything that I had ever known, tumble into the darkness of the abyss. Everything that I had ever loved, everything that I had cherished.
I looked around, there was nothing. No land, no oceans, no buildings, and no people. It looked like I was standing in the middle of gray sky, with nothing underneath me except a square foot of ground.
The last thing I saw, were my glittering tears stream like small rivers into the black hole. After that, I broke down, and merely cried.
The black hole had disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, but I couldn’t care less.
~~~
It seemed like days, that I sat there crying until my eyes felt raw. It seemed like years had passed since everything had disappeared.
I looked up for the first time in what seemed like decades. Nothing had changed, I hadn’t been dreaming.
I stood up for the first time in centuries and almost collapsed into the endless gray below.
Why me? Why had I been the sole survivor? What did I do to deserve this? What was I to do in a world with nothing? Who was going to support me? Where was I going to go? How am I going to go anywhere?
In front of me, colors poked through the gray surface and formed a portal.
Unsure what else to do, I stepped through it. Then I was falling into nothing, with nothing below to catch me…
~~~
“Avia! It is time to get up!”
I sat up lazily in bed. Excitement overwhelmed me when I saw that I was in my bed, in my room, with my mother waking me up.
I was so overjoyed that I flopped back onto my pillow and let out a hysterical laugh.
I was glad that it had been just a dream, but it would for sure loom over me for the rest of my life, surrounded by questions: Why did I have that dream? Was it a coincidence? Was there some sort of message? Why me?
I got up from bed, ready for an exciting winter break. My family was going skiing in Mammoth.
“Get ready for school Avia!”
What?
“Mom! It’s Saturday!”
“Yes, and?” she said poking her head in.
“I don’t go to school on Saturday…”
“Ah, cease to fool around, Darling, and please get dressed.”
What had she just said, ‘cease to fool around’? That sounded like George Washington English. Something had definitely happened, but I wasn’t sure what - yet.
I opened my closet and chose a casual pair of clothes. Then I went into my bathroom and brushed my hair. I left my hair down, and put a teal headband on to match my outfit.
My mom checked on me again.
“Avia! What ever are you wearing?”
“Clothes…..”
“Where is your uniform! And you know that it is unacceptable to wear your hair in that fashion! It must be up and out of the way! And take out that horrid plastic thing, that is for out-of-school occasions.”
“Oooookay……”
I located my school uniform. It wasn’t hard, since it was the only pair of clothes in my closet with no sense of style. The shirt was plain white with a collar and buttons. It said La Colina Junior High in the corner in green letters. The skirt was plain forest green and reached just below my knees.
I returned to the bathroom, took my headband off and tied my hair in a ponytail.
I walked down stairs to the table. Wyatt was not on his phone, he was eating breakfast with his back straight. It was really funny.
“Much more appropriate!” Mom said. “You are not wearing cosmetics are you?”
“Mom, I don’t wear make-up.”
“Excellent. Are you feeling well today, Sweetie?”
“Of course. The questions is, are you?” I asked.
My mother laughed, “Yes, I am, thank you.”
I sat down in my chair at the table. The breakfast was very methodical. The scrambled eggs were on one section of the plate, and not a single particle was out of place. The toast was cut perfectly at a diagonal, with a small square of butter placed in the center of each, melting perfectly. The bacon had the same colors on each side, as well as curves. They were placed in a stack; two on the bottom, one of the top.
I was surprised by my mom’s sudden need for organization, but I didn’t mind, as long as there was some sort of food on the table.
Sooner than I’d prefer, I was off to school.
I was glad when I saw Sam standing at the flagpole. I didn’t really care that Elena was with her either. I was just glad to see someone who didn’t speak like I had just heard my mother converse.
“Salutations Avia!” she said. “What an exquisite day it is!”
Never mind. There must have been some national holiday that I had missed all these years, like Act-Like-You’re-From-The-Middle-Ages Day or something.
“Hi, Sam.”
“Call me Samantha please,” she said.
“Greetings, Avia!” Elena said with a pleasant tone that I hadn’t heard in her voice previously.
“Hi…….”
The two girls continued speaking to me in that old-fashion style, and I had to admit - I had no idea what had happened, but this Elena was much better than the one I had first met.
Soon the bell rang, and I told them that I’d see them at lunch. They nodded and walked off to their first period classes.
Luisa met up with me on the way to history class.
“Good morning, Avia. Isn’t it a fine day?”
“Yeah….” Why was everyone talking like this, it made me uncomfortable.
Mr. Brown was greeting students at the door, as he always did, except that without a fist-bump. Instead, he was shaking their hands formally.
“Good morning, Avia, Luisa.”
We took our seats at the front and took out our binders just as the bell rung.
“What a fine morning it is!” Mr. Brown said.
“Indeed Mr. Brown,” the whole class said - excluding me, that is.
“Now for today, I would like you to get out you essays.”
Everyone took out a typed paper, except for me. I looked around alarmed. I hadn’t received an assignment!
The rest of history seemed like college-level curriculum. I understood nothing. On top of that, we had to grade other people’s work. We had to read through that thirty page essay that other students had written and give them a grade. I took a prolonged amount of time to finish reading, while everyone else seemed to read it in two minutes.
Social Studies was torture that day.
“Your homework for tonight will be to memorize every single country in the known world. Tomorrow you will have a test on the world map. Have a joyful Saturday!”
The bell rang at that second, and I walked away from Social Studies class gladly. Math had always been my strongest subject in school (if I do say so myself), so I felt confident that I’d rock this class.
I walked into math class, but learned that I had failed to complete the twenty page homework.
My confidence declined as if it was going down a cliff. It soon plummeted into the ocean and sank to the bottom.
We were to take a math assessment today. I flipped through it and counted a total of thirty one pages.
“Begin your test….” Mrs. Wood said looking at her watch, “.....now!”
We bent over our tests and got to work.
The entire test felt like someone was giving me paper of Egyptian Hieroglyphs and asked me to read it aloud.
In other words - torment, pure torment.
When Mrs. Wood told us to stop, I had only gotten to the second question. I was quite sure that she had only given us five minutes of working time.
“You’re homework will be this packet, please bring it back tomorrow,” our teacher said.
I groaned inside my head.
The bell rang just as I got my packet. I put it in my binder, and stuffed the binder in my backpack.
I headed to science, hoping that this class would be better, but that was just wishful thinking.
Inside my next class, the desk were set up with complicated-looking chemistry equipment.
“Hi Sam…. anatha.”
Sam looked at me as if I was talking weird.
“Why do you not say ‘salutations’ as you do constantly?”
“Um….”
Ms. Cottage saved me, “Everyone please sit at your spot and wait until I give instructions.”
We filed in and sat at our assigned seats. I felt slightly better with Sam sitting next to me.
In the time I had, I tried to inconspicuously look at Sam to observe if there were any changes in her appearance. Over all, she hadn’t changed. Her hair was still blonde and frizzy. Her skin was still as flawless as it had always been, but she had lost the mischievous glint in her eyes - a trait that singled Sam out from a lot of people. She no longer seemed like a close friend, but rather distant. I didn’t like that feeling.
Science class was no different than the rest. I sort of sat back and let Sam do the work. There were various chemicals that we had to combine, and I didn’t want to take part in an accident.
Towards the end of the period, Ms. Cottage informed us about our homework, “Tonight, I would like you to read pages one hundred to four hundred and take notes. After that, write a fifty page summary. This will all be due tomorrow.”
A fifty page summary? Was it just me, or was something off with fifty page, and summary.
“I shall see you at lunch,” I told Sam after the period ended, trying to sound more like everyone else.
She smiled, but it didn’t feel as kind as it had before. “Now you are transitioning to your normal self. Yes, I shall see you then.”
I walked to my English class.
“Good afternoon, scholars,” Mrs. Speak was saying at the door.
All I did before entering the class, was nod at Mrs. Speak. She smiled.
I took my seat next to Samara.
“Salutations!” I said, trying to fit in.
“Greetings, Avia.”
She clearly saw nothing odd with me, thank god.
“Greetings, students. Please take out your fifty page summary,” Mrs. Speak said after the late bell had rung.
For the third time that day, I was excluded in taking out an assignment that I had clearly missed.
We graded other people’s work as we had did in history class. Again, everyone read them in three minutes, while I took much longer than I should have.
After another fifty minutes of torture, Mrs. Speak finally gave out homework instructions, “You are to use your fifty page summary to write a two hundred page essay. This will be due on Monday.”
I had that sluggish, lazy feeling that I got when I didn’t feel like doing something. From that moment, I promised myself, that if I ever got back to my regular world, I would never complain about too much homework - ever.
Lunch went way, way, way, way too fast. I could swear that they only gave us ten minutes to eat.
In Latin class, Mr. Smith didn’t even say a word in English, not even to explain what he had said. The again, it’s not like it seemed that anyone needed help besides me. I sat there and stared expressionless at the Latin-speaking teacher.
At the end of that period, I wasn’t sure what the homework had been, so I said, “Sam...antha, what was the homework, I missed it.”
“It was to translate the story ‘ad urbem’ that runs from page two hundred eight, to two hundred thirteen.”
“Thanks,” I answered as another strong feeling of laziness settled over me. I headed to the final period of the day - P.E.
I changed into the P.E. uniform and sat on my hashmark outside on the black top.
P.E. seemed to pass normally, that is, until we began testing.
We were supposed to be able to do 100 push ups, 1,000 sit ups, 200 chin ups, 100 pull ups, and 150 stomach ups. We needed to be able to run the mile in three minutes, and the half mile in one and a half minutes. We had to jump at least seven feet. We had to complete the fitness course in under thirty seconds. The fifty meter dash should be run in two to three seconds. The two hundred fifty meter run was usually run in under fifteen seconds.
It was crazy!!!
I was so glad that school was over when it was. I changed out of my P.E. uniform, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and headed for the parking lot.
As I passed the office, Mr. Owens, the principal walked out and asked if I had a minute. Wyatt was always really late, so I said sure.
He led me into his office and gestured for me to sit down. I began to get a little nervous.
“Avia, I have been, ah, tracking you. And I have observed that you weren’t doing well in school today. Why is this?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Well then, I have no choice but to demote you to kindergarten.”
“What?! But I finished kindergarten years ago!”
“Yes, but you made a mistake today - your first mistake ever - and I must move you down.”
“Just because of one little mistake?”
“Yes. In English, you will learn how terrible mistakes are. They get in the way of learning.”
I frowned.
“You are dismissed.”
I got up from my chair, and stalked out of the office.
I was glad to go away from this school, why should I care? Wait, I do care.. right? No, no I don’t….. urgh. Yes….. no….. I don’t know!
I really didn’t know how I felt about this. I had always been the best student in La Colina, this school was ruining my previous reputation! Yes, seventh grade here was like college level, so maybe kindergarten would be better.
~~~
Kindergarten seemed to be at about the normal seventh grade level. I was doing fine, until I made a careless error in math.
The days were just like in La Colina. I was sure I almost liked this better than college-level seventh grade.
History was as if I were back in my normal world. So was math and all my other subjects - including P.E.
Homework was back to it’s regular quantity and difficulty. I was happy once again, and never complained of too much homework again.
My parents seemed a little disappointed, but if they were completely embarrassed, they didn’t show.
That night for homework in Social Studies, we had to read a few pages in our textbooks and write a regular-sized summary on it.
I read a part that said, “It was the lord’s responsibility to manage and defend his land and the people who worked it,” I started cracking up.
Wyatt walked in, “What is the matter?”
“Nothing, it just says, ‘the people who worked it’ in my text book.”
Wyatt got a puzzled look on his face and exited the room. These people had no sense of humor! It was impossible to make a joke without someone staring at you as if you’re from a different universe, which - in my case - is true.
~~~
The next day was going smoothly, until my math teacher found that I had made a mistake in my classwork.
I had written that a negative number multiplied by another negative number resulted in a negative number. I had forgotten, in the rush, that it should have been a positive number.
I was called into the principal’s office again, and they said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry! You’re going to be learning with infants now. I am sure that you have learned that mistakes are intolerable!’
So the next day, I was learning with babies. Now, these infants were unlike any other I had seen. They learned at a kindergarten level. They already knew how to speak, and how to read short books. They could write, (though it wasn’t very neat) and do simple math.
I sat in the tiny chairs everyday and stared at the teacher, who was speaking in that honey tone that you use when talking to little children. I felt stupid and useless.
“Mistakes are bad everyone!” the teacher would always say at the end of the day. “So don’t ever make mistakes. They will make you dumb.”
When ever she said this, she always looked at me
~~~
Soon, I couldn’t step out of my house without someone taking a picture of me and posting it on Instagram or some other social media.
Every night I would check my account, see my picture, and the comments would go something like this:
#the_girl_who_hangs_with_babies
tots. I heard she used to be the smartest peep in school. 😆
ya, and then one day, she made a bunch of unacceptable mistakes, and bam she’s in kindergarten, then she make another mistake and bam she’s hangin’ with babies. 😜
omg! i heard about her. she must be pretty messed up. btw, i <3 your prof pic.
thx.
One night, I was so mad, that I threw my phone at the wall and didn’t even care when it shattered.
A piece of glass cut my cheek. I touched the cut gently. The glass piece was stuck, and I knew I had to pull it out.
When I did, everything turned dark....
Chapter 4
I saw the fuzzy image above me, and at first, I couldn’t make it out.
“Avia,” it said. “Avia.”
The image cleared and I saw my mother.
“Oh hi mom.”
“Hello. Are you ready to get up for school?”
“No,”I admitted. I didn’t want spend another day with those ignorant babies.
“Come on! There are only four days including today until winter break!”
“Whatever. Wait, winter break?”
“Yes….”
I had come back to my world, the mistake-appreciating world, the happy world.
At school, I was so happy to see Sam with her mischevious eyes, and Luisa with her social attitude. I hugged both of them, I even hugged Elena.
“I’m so glad you weren’t sucked into a black hole!” I said.
“Oooookay………” Elena said.
I didn’t care what they thought, I was just glad to be back.
School went awesome that day. I was back in the mistake-tolerating school I was used to.
In all of my classes, I raised my hand whenever I got the chance. I didn’t care if I got the answer right or not, I just wanted the opportunity.
From my time in that world, I learned many things. The only thing I didn’t learn was what exactly had occurred. Had it been a dream, did it actually happen? I don’t know.
I learned that mistakes are not bad things. Many people think that they sort of say ‘Haha, you failed, keep trying, just kidding - give up.” But I’d like to change that to “Yay! You failed. Try again! This was one step to the process. Just keep going.”
Mistakes occur when you aren’t sure about something. But if you understand why you failed, you will learn.
I took for granted that I was smart, and thought that I didn’t need to work hard. I used to be afraid of raising my hand. I had a reputation of being smart, so I would think, “Oh, I’m smart, I don’t need work hard because I know stuff.” and that is called a fixed mindset. When I was frowned upon as being stupid, I felt even more scared to raise my hand, but now I pay attention in English, and I know that I shouldn’t feel that way.
You should never feel like I did, most people love mistakes nowadays. I had a teacher that would occasionally dance on the desks if you made a mistake in sixth grade.
My new life’s motto is a quote by the famous author J.K. Rowling, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you may as well not live at all - in which case you have failed by default.”
I believe that resilience is the key to life.
This was sooo good. OMG, I couldn't put my computer down!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! That really means a lot to me!
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