Thursday, June 10, 2004

The Twists of Fate: Chapter One: The Dream

“Hold it right there!”
The voice seemed far away as the only thing I could hear was the fierce beating of my heart.
“Someone, stop him!”
I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, zigzagging through the people that crowded the street. My mind kept saying, “I must keeping going. I must keep running.” But I knew not from what it was I was running from. I looked behind me, only to see nothingness. A complete and empty void. There was no one there. I turned back around and the ground began to crumble underneath my feet. “What’s going on?” The thought raced through my mind as I started to scream. Everything around me was breaking up, disintegrating. I began to fall. As I looked up I saw a flash of light, and a hand outstretched.
“Take my hand,” a voice said. I grabbed the hand and it pulled me up out of the darkness. The light was unusually bright. I looked for a face, but the figure was robed. The light was coming from behind him, his face was in shadow. He took me in his arms and said, “I’ll never let anything happen to you.” He pulled me close to him. A tear ran down my cheek as I felt his gentleness so close to me. “Who are you?” I asked. I thought I saw a small smile under the hood as a bright light appeared and I began to fall. Falling. Falling. “Good-bye,” the voice said as I screamed.
“Wake up! Wake up! Karrie, wake up!”
I shot up in bed breathing deeply trying to catch my breath, the events playing over and over again in my head.
“Karrie, it was just a dream. Calm down.”
Was it really just a dream? I could feel him, I could touch him, and I felt his breath.
“Come on, now. You’ll be late for school.”
School! Oh, school! Maybe it was just a dream. Or maybe it was real and this is just a dream of my memories before I die. What was reality?? What was the truth???
“Mom!” I yelled. “What’s today?’
“It’s Wednesday, Karen. Don’t you remember? Your concert’s tonight.”
“Oh.” The thought calmed me within the instant that it left her lips. My concert was tonight. And it was going to be fun. I gave my mom a hug. “Thank you,” I said.
“For what?” she asked.
“Just for,” was my reply. I couldn’t tell her the truth of what just happened. I guess it comes from being “chosen”.
I got dressed, ate breakfast, kissed my mom good-bye, gathered my books from the table, and headed for school. I was wearing my uniform, a blue skirt cut up to my thigh, and a white sailor-like suit, with a small red bow in the front. In just a few hours, I would be changing into my groups’ clothes. I was already starting to feel the rush. I took a huge breathe to calm myself.
“Stop him! Stop that man!”
I turned around just in time to see a young man around my age coming my way.
BAM!
He ran straight into me and knocked me to the ground, my books scattering everywhere.
“Out of my way,” the man said as he ran past.
“Stop him!” the owner yelled.
I looked around trying to comprehend what had just happened. Then it hit me. This was just like my dream. What was going to happen next????
“Are you ok?”
“What?” I looked up to find the voice and was blinded by the glare of the sun. I could just make out the outline of a young man.
“Are you alright?” He asked again as he bent down and began gathering up the books I had dropped. He turned around. My heart began to beat faster as I looked into his eyes, blue, strong.
“I guess,” I said as I slowly got to my feet, brushing the dirt off my skirt.
“Here’s your books,” he said as he handed them to me. I got the first real look of him. He was tall, and had dark brown hair. He was skinny, but not really skinny because you could see his muscles. He was fit, if anything, and boy was he cute.
“Thanks,” I said, going a little red.
“You should be more careful,” he said as he put his hands on his hips. There was a weird accword silence.
“My name’s Pete,” he said as he outstretched his hand.
“I’m Karen,” I said as I shook it. “Thanks for your help.”
“Don’t mention it. Hey, would you happen to know where the Nortek School is?”
“Yeah, that’s that school I go to. It’s right there actually.” I said pointing to my school that was now in view.
“So, that’s my school.” He said as he let go of my hand. “Would you mind showing me around?” he asked. “Today’s my first day.”
“No….no problem,” I said as my face got even redder.
“Great,” he said as he took my hand. “Let’s go.”
I felt a calmness flow through me. His face shown in the light. Is he the one from my dream? I closed my eyes, and tried to remember the way the hooded face looked.
“We’re here,” Pete said as we stepped through the gate.
I opened my eyes and looked up at my school. The pale peach stones that lead the way to the front doors were covered with the feet of people rushing into the entrance. The building itself was made of red bricks and looked like a Victorian house crossed with a church. There was a huge clock in the middle of the building, its face shinning bright for all to see. The windows were open, and you could see the curtains swaying in the breeze. To the right, you could see the little kids playing in the sand, having fun before the day began.
“Karen! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!” A girl with straight blond hair ran up to me, completely out of breath.
“Hey! Sarah! What’s. ..”
“No time to talk. Look, Brian’s completely redid the order for tonight,” she said, handing me a sheet of paper.
“What for? The way we had it was perfect.”
“I don’t know. Apparently to make room for the new song.”
“But I thought we weren’t going to do that one.”
“He says it’ll be a big hit if we use it as our closing,” she said, pointing to the paper.
“Well, I guess he has a point. OK. Thanks, Sarah!”
“No prob. See ya first hour!” She said as she gave me a wink and ran away.
“Who was that?” Pete asked.
“Oh, sorry. That’s my best friend, Sarah. We’ve know each other since kindergarten.”
“What was she talking about? The new one? What’s that?”
“You’ll see tonight,” I said as I winked at him. “Come on, let’s go.”
I showed Pete around the school, at least the important parts, and showed him to the office.
“You’ll need to check in here.” I said.
“Thanks for your help,” he said. “Can I see you later?”
“Yeah, you can see me at the concert. Bye!” I said as I ran to my class.
BEEP!
The bell rang right as I entered the door.
“Well, decided to come to school today, Miss Kaoru?”
“I was showing someone around, sir.”
“Save your charity work for later. Take your seat.”
“Yes, sir.” I said quietly as I look my seat. I looked around at my classmates, each saying hi to me as I walked by and took my seat at the back of the class next to Sarah.
“Gez, what’s his problem?”
“I don’t know.” I whispered something to her that made her laugh out loud.
“Ladies! If you do not wish to join Mr. Pickledesky in the principle’s office I suggest you SHUT UP and PAY ATTENTION!”
“Sorry, sir.” We said quietly as we looked at each other and smiled.
I got out a piece of paper and wrote “Did he really send Drew to the office already?” and handed it to Sarah.
“Yep. He was standing up next to the window, and the teach sent him to the office. I guess he thought he was suicidal or something.” Was the reply. “He’s the one who’s suicidal!”
“He’s crazy.” I wrote back to her as I pretended I was paying attention. I took another look around our classroom and noticed someone sitting in the corner, sort of all be himself. He was writing something and his brown hair was covering his eyes.
“Who’s that?” I asked Sarah.
“Hum….I don’t know. He must be new. I’ve never seen him before.”
“Ladies! I’ve had enough! Miss Kaoru, to the principle’s office! Now!”
“Yes, sir,” I said as I left my seat and headed toward the door. I looked to the guy and saw his eyes were following me. I got a real look at his face and saw it was the guy who ran into me this morning. I turned around fast and walked out of the door as my heart began to beat fast. I stepped out of the doorway, closed the door, and fell against the wall.
Why is my heart beating so fast? I said as I took a deep breath. I headed for the office, not really watching were I was going. I couldn’t get his face out of my head.
BAM!
“Karen, are you alright?”
I looked up and saw that I was lying in Pete’s arms. I jumped up, my face burning red. “What just happened?”
“You ran into me. You really should be more careful. What are you doing anyway?”
I was still lost in my thought and didn’t hear a word he said. “What?”
“I said, what are you doing?” He looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I looked up into his eyes.
“Sure?” He asked again.
“Yeah, I was just going to the principle’s office.”
“Why?”
“My incredibly insane teacher sent me there.”
“Oh. Hey, wait for me at lunch, ok?”
“Um, sure.”
“Ok. See ya later!” he said as he headed out for his class.
“Man, this has been a really weird morning.” I said as I opened the door to the principle’s office. I passed Drew, who was sitting in a chair, starring at the ceiling.
“Hey, Drew!” I said as I passed him. He waved his hand in reply.
I stepped into the room. “Hey, Mrs. Billblock.” I said as I took a seat in the nice comfy chair. She was rearranging some books on the mantle. At least, that’s what is looked like she was doing.
“Back again, Miss Kaoru? It’s only been two days. What did you do this time?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“I’m sure you did something to piss him off.”
“Well, I was writing a note to Sarah….”
“That’s nothing bad. What did you do before that?”
I relayed the events of the morning, excluding my dream.
“So, you met Pete, did you?
“Yeah, he seems like a really nice person.” I said going a little red.
She turned around violently, slammed her hands on her desk and said, “You must stay away from him!” Her eyes had gone beady and she looked incredibly serious.
“But…why?”
“Stay away from him!”
“But…I don’t…”
“Huh…what was I just saying…oh yes. You may go back to your class now, Karen.”
“But…you just…”
“You are dismissed.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I said as I walked slowly back to the class. What had gotten into her? I knew her very well, and she had almost been a second mother to me. I’ve never seen her act like that before. It was almost as if she was afraid, but of what??
I headed back to class, and entered, avoiding the gaze of the boy.
“Well, what happened?” Sarah asked as I sat down.
“I’ll tell ya later.”
“But, what?”
“Don’t talk to me right now!” I said strongly.
“O.K.” She said quietly as she turned to her work.
I sat there thinking, replaying the events in my head. Why was she so nervous? What had Pete done??? If he had done anything at all.
The boy was looking at me again. I looked the other way, but I could feel his gaze on me. I just wanted the day to be over. I put my head in my hands. Nothing was going right. Everything seemed distorted. I just wanted to go home.
BEEP!
The bell rang to dismiss the class. I headed out the door with Sarah.
“Ya feel like talking now?” She asked sarcastically.
“I’m sorry about earlier…it’s just that,” I told her everything that happened.
“Wow, I can’t imagine why she’d be scared of Pete. But I would listen to her, I mean, she’s never steered you wrong before.”
“I know, but…”
“You want to see him again, don’t you?” she asked slyly.
“Yeah,” I said going red again.
“Well, I’ll just have to go with you. You know, to make sure you don’t get hurt.” She said as she punched me playfully and gave me a wink. “Come on, we got six more hours to go!”
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