September 21, 2023

I sat on the bed of my room, thinking of what had gone down a couple of hours ago.

All of the other kids has gone down to the pool, but I had just been too confused about everything to go and join them.

Did Luke know everything?

Did anyone know everything?

Was I supposed to know?

A million questions swirled around in my mind. I hadn't been able to focus on anything else.

My father.

My funny and sweet father, was killed by the FOF.

I could barely wrap my head around it. But it made sense.

We had never figured out how he died, and we never did seek to know.

I just wanted to go back. Back to my old home.

I missed everything.

I missed my perfect life.

I missed myself.

That was it. I was out. I was going to leave. Go back to Kentucky, and live there. I didn't care if I couldn't get there with my family. I was going.

I grabbed all of my belongings, and stuffed them in my suitcase swiftly and uncaringly.

I took my dad's lucky pen out of my pocket, where I always kept it, and smiled.

I still wore my grandfather's ring, and my grandmother's earrings.

And that was all that really mattered.

All of the things that meant the world to me.

But not quite.

My stomach burned with hatred, and anger. My mind only wanting revenge. But then I decided that leaving them to fight without me, was the best revenge of all.

The lights were dim, and my head was spinning with unreason and desire.

But then I stopped.

Everything stopped.

And I looked at the mirror.

It was the shadowy figure. The one that had really been there for the important moments of my life.

I walked towards it, almost unfazed.

It motioned for me to walk to it. Walk through the mirror.

I took a deep breath, and walked through, and into wherever I was.

It wasn't until I opened my eyes, much later, that I realized where I was.

_______________________________

It was a place I remembered well, and had taken a special place in my heart.

Some of you might be thinking that I'm speaking of my old home. But I'm not.

I'm speaking of my ancestors home.

The same random village, from my dream 3 years ago.

Where I had met Luke.

I stood upon the rooftop, and saw the large gazing stars above me, and began to spin in delight.

But the shadowy figure was no longer there.

I was all alone.

Or so I thought.

I turned and saw a girl she was 14 years old, and had blonde wavy hair, that her mom pulled into a ponytail. She had piercing blue eyes and pale skin. She had a noticeable smile that brightened up the room. She was mischievous still, and hadn't been known by her first name to her own mother. She had been watched from a dream of someone else's past.

She looked at me.

"Hello?" she said.

"You can see me this time?" I said quietly.

"What do you mean, this time? What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" she asked, "This is where I go after I sneak out."

I smiled and said, "What's your name?"

"Skye." she responded, "Yours?"

"Lauren." I said.

"What clothes are you wearing?" she asked me, genuinely confused.

"Clothes from what I think is the future." I said, "Have you heard of the Followers Of Fate?"

"Yes, I was admitted this year." Skye said, "I assume that that means you were admitted too?"

"Yeah." I said, "But I don't think I'll be coming back."

"What do mean by that?" Skye asked.

"They did something terrible to my family." I said, "I'm attempting to run away."

"Really?" Skye asked, "Can I come with you?"

"What, really? You don't even know me." I said, confused.

"I always have had a problem for causing trouble. Why not do it where it means something?" Skye said, with a smirk.

"Well, okay then. Let's go!" I said.

________________________________

The scene had evaporated as quickly as it had appeared, and now, I was somewhere I didn't recognize.

I wasn't with Skye, and didn't see her anywhere nearby.

I stood up from the floor that I was lying on, and looked out the large window of the random place that I couldn't comprehend.

I saw a large desk in the room, a chair, and a large window that stretched across the entire opposite wall.

I looked out the window, saw the Rhobling Bridge, the Reds Stadium, the Bengals Stadium. I was in Cincinnati.

I was specifically in the Great American building, where my father had worked three years ago.

I was in the 41 floor, and was up hundreds of feet. I was relatively scared of heights, so I backed away from the window.

I attempted to walk out the door, but the second I opened it, a large man was standing there, and said, "Where do you think you're going?"

I gasped in fear, as he walked into the room, cornering me.

I heard a loud

KABOOOOOOOOOOM

And the building began to shake.

The man ran out of the door, and slammed it shut, locking me in.

I pushed on the door, and kicked it.

"LET ME OUT!" I screamed.

The shaking only got worse.

The ground below me began to crumble, and I began to hyperventilate.

I screamed, and saw as the ground in the middle of the room fell.

I looked down the large hole, and saw large holes on every single floor until the ground.

I screamed again, terrified and scared.

I ran close to the window, in fear, and grabbed onto it tightly.

I saw the door burst into flames, and the flames spread to the room around me. 

I was bleeding and bruised, because of the falling debris, and the smoke and flames.

"Only one way out." I mumbled to myself scared.

I took a step back, almost falling into the hole, then sprinted into the window, shattering it, and making glass go everywhere.

Then I began to fall down hundreds of feet, with glass everywhere, my everything was bleeding, and I hurt out of my mind.

I began to think.

Charge!

Please, just charge!

My ring glowed bright, blinding green.

I touched it lifelessly.

A shadow formed over my face, I was wearing all black, and my hair turned to a piercing blonde. I didn't need a mirror to know that my eyes were glowing bright green.

I was still weak, but I had more strength in me than I had before.

I glided, in the air, attempting to slow my fall.

I felt a large gust of wind blow me forwards, closer to the Ohio River in front of me.

That's it!

I thought to myself, then, I used all my strength to push myself closer to the river.

I glided through the air, and was close to the ground, when I slammed into the river, and began to fight to stay above the water.

The currents kept pushing me downward, and I kept fighting and struggling to breathe.

Something hard hit my head.

And I blacked out.