My family sat in the living room watching the 6 o’clock news as I looked out the window, thinking. I see a blurred reflection of myself in the glass. Long brown hair, blue eyes, and my face covered with freckles from living in the warm Hawaii sun. Many girls at my high school have either dyed their hair or got new piercings. They’ve all changed, but not me. I like the way I am. Simple Kalani,and that’s how I will always stay.
Hawaii is known as the rainbow state to many people, but I like to think of it as the ocean state because I love to surf. Surfing has been part of my life ever since the age of ten. I try to get as much surfing in as possible and living by the ocean makes it really easy. My dad is the one who taught me how to surf, he has always been one of top three in surfing competitions and never ranked below that. I practice tirelessly so I can continue his legacy,as does my younger brother so he can continue mine. While I stare at my reflection I snap out of it and actually look on the other side of the glass. I expect see to the beautiful palm trees, the vibrant hibiscuses, and the clear ocean. I did see the ocean, just not the way I wanted to. Without warning I saw the tides come crashing towards my house hitting against buildings along the way while eating everything in sight. I panic then scream to my family “Tsunami!” Then everything went black. Nothing visible. The water feels ice cold and my body feels numb so I can’t feel anything except the burning sensation in my nose. The pain you feel when you jump into a pool and forget to hold your breath. Everything sounds muffled and dull underwater. Inside I feel scared for my life and scared of what happened to my family. Submerged under the water, I try swimming to the top because I can’t breathe, but the waves keep pushing me down. I want to scream but my lungs are running out of oxygen. As I struggle to figure out which direction is which, I remember what my dad told me if I ever got stuck under a wave while surfing. “If the surf is too strong, dive down to the bottom and lie there as the wave passes.” I kick my legs as hard as possible. When down to the bottom I lie on my back and look up, the salt water making my eyes sting. I finally see the wave pass so I start swimming back up and when I break the surface I gasp for air. My lungs fill with oxygen. The ocean has calmed and I am surrounded by nothing but the killer blue for miles all around me. Also around me, SHARKS. I’ve always liked looking at sharks through the aquarium glass. “But not in this way!” I screamed out loud. I quickly covered my mouth feeling like a complete idiot. Then the biggest spine-chilling shark of them all jerked around, expanded its wide mouth, and I could see blood in its sharp jagged teeth and I knew I wasn’t the sharks first meal of the day. I thought of swimming but nobody can out swim a Great White so I braced myself. Nothing happened. “I could be dead already.” I thought. I removed my hands from my face and once again I saw something I didn’t expect,a woman with a royal blue dress on and seashells in her hair. Speechless and confused I shook my head. “No,” I thought. “This is just a figment of your imagination.” But then she spoke. “I am the ocean.” Interrupting her I laughed out loud. “You are the ocean?” I said with disbelief. “Yes, and I’m is here to pardon your life.” “Pardon my life?” I asked quickly. She responded “Yes,” Relief and joy filled my soul. “But,” she said. Oh no, not something else I thought. “You, Kalani will spend your life as a siren and lure sailors with your enchanting voice to shipwreck, because in order for your life to be saved others lives must be sacrificed in return.” My joy went away. “No way! Not in a million years I will ever become a siren!” She looked surprised. “Have it your way, I guess I will just let you and your family die,” She turned around and started sinking into the sea. “Wait!” I startled her. “I’ll do it, but only to save my family.” “Follow me.” she said. We dove underwater and I could breathe! I followed her into a dark underwater cave. The atmosphere of the cave was dark and gloomy. She lead me to a bubble that looked exactly like a crystal ball. She then looked at my face and said “I keep my promises.” Then the bubble showed my family arriving safely to shore. But something seemed wrong, they were searching for me. “Kalani! Where are you?” My mother cried. Tears started running down her face as my dad put his hand on her shoulder looking heartbroken. I turned my focus to my brother. He is one of the toughest people I know and even he was in tears. I turned my head away as a tear also rushes down my face. The bubble pops and I break down. The Ocean snaps at me “Stop crying! Your first sacrifice starts now!” Then we rise to the surface and I see a red fishing boat in the distance. My mouth unlocks and an enchanting melody comes out. I see the sailors turn their ship my direction and then crash! Letting their ship sink not moving a muscle. Twenty deaths that day. Twenty loved ones stolen from their families. Twenty innocent men gone. That was the day I became a monster. The day I became a siren.
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“Remember, don’t reveal yourself as human.” General Tulsen said as the doors to the space shuttle closed. It was the last time Dara would see Earth for two years. She hugged her green backpack that held the five items she had brought along: her phone (along with her charger), a blanket, a family photo, and her makeup bag. The HWSS Eternity took off into the sky as the sun waved its rays to the world from behind the mountains. Dara looked out the window as the only world she had ever known disappeared into the distance. Her eyes swelled with tears when reflecting on the task ahead-the impossible mission she had so stupidly signed up for. She could have either gone to Sesleclite and gather information on the Seslei aliens or die by government hands. This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t tried to sell books in the market, she told herself. Books had been outlawed years ago from Pineoak after humans filled their heads with too much creativity rather than useful information, however, Dara believed books contained knowledge crucial to helping humans learn, which explained how she ended up on the drab spaceship with one room containing a bed, a small kitchen, a shower, an escape hatch under the bed, and a couch. To the right of the couch, a box lay by itself and contained instructions to not open until ten minutes before landing. Dara didn’t want to screw this up. On top of that, who knows what kind of security the government had set up to watch her? The 24 hour flight to Sesleclite felt like an eternity to Dara. Every minute she surrounded herself by Sesleis would be another minute that she would put her life on the line. At this point, death seemed better than anything the aliens would plan if she were to be discovered as a human. The idea alone made her shudder. Dara glanced over at the digital clock that framed the top of the bed. 20 dreaded hours to go. The events of the day had exhausted Dara, her body feel like metal. She struggled to keep herself awake. Time caused Dara to give in, lying down on the soft, velveteen, king-sized bed with blankets softer than clouds. It seemed surreal to sleep in such a marvelous bed after the imprisonment of a stone cell for seven months. The comfiness of the bed knocked her right off of her feet, causing her to fall asleep almost instantly. “Attention: Landing is in T-minus 15 minutes,” the ship announced. Dara lept out of bed, shaking the sleepiness from her eyes and pulling her copper hair into a tight braid. Time to find out what lurked inside of the box! She grabbed a small knife from the kitchen, kneeling beside the small package. Cutting along the tape that secured the top, she removed the pink bubble wrap surrounding a mysterious object. It was a deep shade of blue and made out of satin. “A cape?” Dara said aloud. How would this ever help her? She threw the blue bundle across the room in frustration when a note gently drifted from the folds of the endless fabric sea. Picking it up, Dara read the messy handwriting inscribed on the crumpled note. “Dara, this is your disguise. The cape is lined with the hair of Gorgallians, who have the ability to shapeshift. When you wear it, you will appear as one of the Seslesises. Take caution: if ripped or torn, the cloak loses its ability. Good luck to you! General Tulsen.” Stupid Tulsen! Dara crumpled the note up and threw the paper across the room, looking out of the back window. “Attention: T-minus 5 minutes until landing”. “Don’t remind me…” Dara grumbled under her breath. She reluctantly crossed the room to pick up her bag, draping her new possession over her shoulder. In case the Seslesises boarded her ship, she put the box in the trash and flipped a small switch that made the HWSS Eternity look like a cargo ship flying into port. Bang! Crash! Kaplow! The ship sputtered to a stop, causing Dara to roll across the floor on the impact, hitting her head on the corner of the bed. I guess soft blankets don’t protect you from cold, hard metal, Dara thought before blacking out. A cold breeze hit Dara’s back and she pulled the cape around her for warmth. In the distance, she heard a series of clicking and other strange sounds not identifiable by her ears. The sounds got closer and closer, but Dara could not move, for it felt as if she had been glued to the floor. In a state of panic, she realized there a vast tear in the cape that ranged from her shoulder to her knee. from the knife she had forgotten to pick up off the floor. With the clicking growing ever so near, Dara knew that she would have to find a place to hide. If she didn’t, the consequences were on the unfavorable side. The lights to the spaceship became brighter and Dara had to close her eyes to prevent herself from passing out again. The strange clicks rang in her ears and she smelt rancid, hot breath blowing onto her face, growing stronger by the second. Flecks of spit flew all over her, making Dara scrunch up her face. A cold, slimy hand untied the cape from around Dara’s neck. The cape fell to the ground, no longer protecting her. She opened one eye, her eye sight blurry to all that was happening around her. To the left, a green blob scuttled around the room like a bug in a light room. She tried to drag herself to the other side of the bed, knowing she could still escape if she crawled fast enough! Starting to wake up more, her body lightened up. Just as she opened the hatch, an electric shock coursed through her entire body. No one from Earth would hearing from her any time soon.
Breathe, breathe I was getting ready to go live my dream, when my alarm goes off. Today, the day the day that could change things forever. If today is a good day my life will never be the same. I come rapidly down the stairs not letting my foot miss one step. My mom says that she had never seen anyone with that much energy at six in the morning but I had a good reason for it. Only seven hours five minutes and forty-three seconds till it’s time. I’m hysterical with nerves and so excited I thought I was going to explode. As i’m in the car riding to school I think about the day and how it’s all going to play out. I will go to school, go on my field trip come back, and then, it’s time.
I got to school and think how tomorrow will be so different depending on how today will go. When I got to school you could tell everyone trying out was on edge, No one was acting normal. I go to first period and my teacher yells to wake everyone up. “GOOD MORNING.” He says in the loudest voice I've ever heard. We start learning as the intercom comes on. “Everyone going on the field trip today please come down to the doors by the buses.” I pack up my stuff and get out of class as fast as I can I want this day to go as fast as possible. I meet up with my friends and we get on the bus. As we are headed on our way to the field trip we hear a loud screech as the bus stops in the middle of the road. “Keep calm everyone it will be alright.” says the bus driver Right as he says this the bus lunges forward and starts to move roll slowly down the hill. We realize that we have been hit by another car that pushed us. As we go down the hill all we hear is “BRACE YOURSELF!” as we all lean forward on the chairs we feel the bus get hit again but this time with more force the bus crashes to its side and there is not a sound to be heard. I hear the faint sound of sirens as I lay there in the debris. My body seems to be fine even though I feel a little ache. As the firemen pull me out the broken window I stand for the first time in what seems like hours. They do a short check on me then move on to the next person. My mom comes to get me and we go home. “Well now you have more time to prepare yourself for tryouts.” My mom always seems to seem the bright side of things. I feel fine my head hurts a little but I think i'll be okay. I take a short nap and when I wake up my head is pounding. I have only 30 minutes until tryouts and I force myself out of bed and get ready. My mom drives me over to the school. “Good luck honey,” I hear my mom yell as i'm walking in. With my head still pounding I hand them the form and go to my spot. As the coach teaches what we are going to I start to feel worse. I raise my hand to say I need to use the restroom but it’s too late. I collapsed on the floor with a loud thud as my head hits. I wake up to the ambulance doctors saying that we're almost there. Almost where I try to way but the words won't come out. I had no idea where I was, where I was going or who I was with. They see me wake up, and they start to explain everything. “You were at drill team tryouts and you fainted,” he said. “We figured that it was because of the bus accident you were in earlier today. When we get to the hospital we will do some tests on you.” “Wheres,” I am able to spit out. “Your mom is on her way honey don't worry,” the other ambulance doctor said. They take me into the hopital in a surge. They run tests on me then take me to a room. I see my mom in the first time in forever. The doctor asked my mom the step out for a second with him. I don’t get why I am a big girl I can take it. My mom comes in crying. I ask whats wrong. She doesn't answer like she didn't hear me. “Mom what's wrong I say a little louder still no reply. I get up and go up to my mom and realize he eyes didn't move from the bed. I look over and there lies my body. My mom sobbing and I can't do anything I am so hopeless I am dead. There he stood. He had something about the way he walked around. I don't really know what it was, but something about him made you second guess every choice you had ever made. He gave me this feeling like I did everything wrong. I know it sounds bad but it's not. These bad feelings happened in the best way. He made me nervous. I couldn't even look him in the eyes because of the intimidation that lurked within their deep brown color. There we stood in the hallway. Just us. I had left my 5th period Science class to ¨get a drink¨, I don't know what class he was suppose to be in, the subject never came up. I wouldn't have even noticed him if I hadn't dropped the chapstick out of my left back pocket. He walked towards me as I picked it up. A moment struck when I wanted to turn around and keep walking but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Soon he had already walked up to me and began talking.
¨Go to class” he said in a very playful tone that made me want to start giggling uncontrollably, I just smiled in response. Even as time passed, and we both fully acknowledged the classes we should have been in, we kept talking. At some point in the conversation we had sat down. My back slid down the front of the locker and the cold metal touching my skin through the black sweatshirt I was wearing surprised me. I looked at him and realized that he was already staring. Again, I just smiled. ¨What?” he said while smiling too. ¨Nothing,¨ I replied, ¨I just can't think of anywhere else I’d rather be.” He sat and looked at me for a long time. Longer than I had expected him to. I didn't think he would ever respond when he leaned towards me and said “God, you're beautiful.” I sat there astonished by the words that had just came out of his mouth. They echoed in my ears and I felt like I could hear each word bouncing off the metal lockers in the empty hallway. Just as I was about to say something, anything in response, the bell rang. I heard the sound of 600,000 feet hitting the tile around us and suddenly, this moment, a moment that contained pure bliss and happiness floated away from me and I was desperately reaching for it back, but it was moving too fast and was soon gone. I looked up and just like the moment, he had left too. I stood up, not even caring about the stares of everyone around me due to the fact that I had just been sitting on the floor, but only caring about him. Where had he gone? I looked down the hall and to the right but I didn't see him. I looked to the left and after what felt like an eternity of looking at millions of people walking around me, swirling in every direction. I saw him. There he stood with his arms wrapped around the silhouette of a skinny girl with long black hair. For a split second he took his eyes off of her, turned around and looked back at me. It took no effort to see the look of disappointment in his eyes as he turned his head and walked away. Leaving me there. Standing in the hallway. Kinsley Barnes raced down the steep high school steps, aching from previously working out at soccer practice, and to her car. She wanted to get home as fast as possible so she could attend her older brother’s birthday party. The frightening number 20 quickly approached Holden at rapid speeds. Kinsley looked up to him so much. He became her second father when her real dad died 14 years ago, Holden 6 and Kinsley 3. Kinsley climbed into her little Honda Civic, a birthday gift from her wealthy grandparents. She turned on the engine and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. Kinsley absolutely adored The Hunger Games, so her friends had so generously given her the audio books so she could listen to them on the way to and from school. She pushed the play button and found herself instantly sucked up into the book. The words were so entrancing that she didn’t notice the huge semi-truck rushing towards her. The sentence “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear” played as the semi hit her car with a deafening crash. Kinsley remembered nothing else.
Kinsley felt confused because she felt no pain. She stood in the hospital room watching talented doctors stitch her body back up. But she how could she see herself in two places at once? Kinsley decided to find out. She walked out the door to find her mom, brother, grandparents, and two best friends sitting there in distress. Could Kinsley be dead? Would that also be the reason that everyone one in the waiting room appeared to be mourning? Maybe the doctors were only trying to stitch her back together just to look presentable for her funeral. But if Kinsley really was dead, how come she still stood on the earth? Kinsley had read stories before about people that still lived on the earth even though they were dead because they had some kind of debt to make up. Maybe she had done something before that she never had made up for. It made no sense at all. Kinsley stepped back into the room where her other body lay and walked up to it. One of the nurses in there stood over by a back cabinet looking for some sort of syringe. She walked up to the nurse and tapped her on the shoulder. The nurse looked her direction but didn’t seem to notice Kinsley standing there. A strange look crossed the nurse’s face and she ran over to the doctors. She whispered something to them that Kinsley couldn’t understand. All the medical personnel turned to look at her. None of their eyes met hers, so she became certain they couldn’t see her. A loud beeping sound suddenly came from out of the computer that showed Kinsley’s heart beat rate. The nurse screamed and started pushing random buttons everywhere. “We need to stabilize her! She’s going into cardiac arrest!” one doctor yelled. “Wait! That’s not possible! Her heart was fine a second ago.” another doctor shouted. “Her heart is starting and stopping repeatedly!” The nurse ran out of the room and brought back Kinsley’s mom and brother. Her mom and brother stepped over to where she was laying on the operation bed. Kinsley walked over to her family and gave them a hug. Her mom screamed and her brother’s face turned completely pale. “Kinsley?” Kinsley didn’t know what to do. The hospital had lost it’s mysterious glow three days ago when she had woken up. Kinsley still watched her broken body, lying in a room full of flowers and balloons from unwanted visitors. The doctors had put her on life-support the since the day after she had crashed. Nothing still made sense, but Kinsley knew she would be stuck in this hidden world for a long time. I kept on running. There was nothing else to do but to just keep running. Through the halls, ducking under tunnels, for what felt like miles, on occasion reminding myself, “It will be okay, I’ll just meet up with James, all we have to do is avoid the hunter and get out of this awful arena , and then our family won’t have to scrape for scraps like mice trying to survive in a city, only eating a half meal a day, not anymore.” I only began to slow down when I started tasting this odd almost blood like, metallic, taste. I fell over, coughing and wheezing feeling the darkness encroaching from the corners of my vision. “I can’t pass out now, I can’t!” as I slip out of consciousness.
I wake up in a daze. It’s now dark in the arena. Not to the extent that I was completely blind, I could still make out the outlines of the walls floors and ceiling. That’s when I saw it. The dark silhouette slowly approaching me, all I could make out as I backed up through the gloomy hallway, making a futile effort trying to escape it, like me slowly backing away would make it all just go away. That’s when it happened, I felt my back slowly brushing back into a wall. Frantically, I look around seeing if there was a vent or hall “To think I almost made it out,” I thought, cringing away in fear, “No, I can do this!” I reassured myself as I began running at a full sprint in the direction of the hunter. That’s when I realized it was anything but human. The best way I could describe it was almost like a gorilla, but slightly more humanoid, and with extremely sharp teeth, and almost half foot long claws. Just like the rest of this “Game Show” the hunter itself was just a sick joke. Building up what felt like the fastest i’d ever ran, I slammed into it with all of my strength and will, causing it to stagger into one side of the corridor, I took my opportunity and darted past the creature. I was gaining quite the distance between the beast, a few turns in front of it. I saw my brother slumped up against the wall, completely unconscious. I slowly staggered up to him, hoping for the worst. I began to check his pulse when he briefly opened his eyes, he looked at me then a bit off to the side. He opened his mouth to say something but all that came out was a hacking and wheezing as if he’d just been kicked in the chest, a small trickle of blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth as he slumped over to his side. That’s when I noticed he had an absolutely grotesque cut spanning across his back. It became obvious that my brother was not going to make it. No longer capable of running, I just limped away, knowing that there was no way I could make it out, not by myself. It was all over, and all I could do was slightly lengthen the time left in my life. The next five minutes were the hardest I could ever have gone through, knowing I had just left my brother in that state, that we could no longer claim the prize for surviving, and that I myself, was doomed. I continued to walk through the dark walls. The torch I hold in my hand is almost completely extinguished. I look at my watch, the time slowly ticked down from ten minutes as it got lower and lower. My time is almost up. My pace starts to quicken as I race through the winding concrete, left, right, left, right, hoping to find some sort of door inside of this dark and vacant maze.
I turn left once more and I see a tiny spark of light. Seeing that this is the only light I might have a chance to reach, I start to sprint. My heart rate starts to climb as I silently thank my mother for forcing me to be a part of the high school track team last year. The light ahead is becoming larger, so I decide to slow my pace to a jog. As I approached the fire pit, I throw my old torch into the bright flames. The number nine glows bright and I hear a click and I listen the sound of sparklers.The floor and walls light up as the fire moved through the heavy stone. I press my back up against the opposite wall of the firepit and I wait for the hallway to transform into a room. This space isn’t any different to the previous ones. Dark with only the fire pit and fire between the rocks to light it up. With a loud bang the walls enclose on either side of the empty maze hallway. The clanking stopped and the firepit roared with satisfaction. The flames inside the pit grew brighter and then suddenly spit up a small brass key. I crouched down and I unlocked the small door connected to the bottom of the fire pit. I pulled out a dusty blanket, a bottle of water and a granola bar. My stomach didn’t crave another stale granola bar, but I had become so hungry forced it down. After the granola bar, I chugged the water in a matter of seconds. I checked my watch. The timer froze, just like it did at every checkpoint. I shake out the dust covered blanket as best I can and lay it on the ground as I start to sit and organize my thoughts. How long had I been down here? How far is the next marker? I remember Rocco telling me that time move differently down here. Maybe it was already Thursday and I had failed without realizing it. I checked my watch. 8:56. The time had been frozen. I had eight minutes and fifty-six seconds to find the last checkpoint. My head started to hurt from all the rushing thoughts. I laid my head down and forced myself to close my eyes as I fell asleep quickly. I awoke to the sound of a loud beeping, almost like a fire alarm. I quickly sit up and look at the fire. It’s dimming light reminds me of the time I have left. I quickly gathered up my things and grabbed the new torch handle from the small compartment where I had found last night's dinner. The walls that protected me during my sleep started to slide away. The fire that had first moved the rocks lights up again. I hear strange sounds coming from the outside. I tense up as I realize they have come. They have found me. They have found my scent. I scramble to get my torch as the first wall starts to move. I’m too late. I squeeze through the tiny hole that the wall has made and I run. I race down the corridors, not focused on which path I take. After sprinting for about 5 minutes, I sit down to rest my stinging legs. I steady my wild breath as I try to listen and view my surroundings. I don’t recognize anything. I must have taken a wild turn while trying to escape what was hunting me. I listen for a long while. A faint howl in the background kept me on my toes, but I didn’t think much of it. I checked my watch. 3:31. 3:30. 3:29. I’ve got to be close. I frantically gather myself and race through the walls. I passed a place marked with old blood. Tuesday, when I killed the hound. I realize I am retracing my steps and I haven’t made progress. I check my watch. 41 seconds. 40 seconds. I can hear the hounds approaching. I have failed. My eyes stare at my clock as it counts down the last few seconds. Fear starts to fill up inside of me as I silently start to cry. As soon as the watch reaches zero, a buzzer goes off. For a moment everything is silent, as if there was no quest in the first place. The a loud buzzer rings. I stand still for what seems like an eternity. I turn over my shoulder and I the last thing I see is a growling dark shape leaping right at me. “What do you want?” Inquired a man in a Blue police Uniform. “Well, I have quite the bank of knowledge on a subject that might interest you.” Replied a man in a perfect voice that conveyed nothing about where it came from. “What is this a prank are you wasting my time?” “Ok to start out, I have to give some background, I began life in an extremely small village in Russia called Svetlyy. My parents worked in a factory and had no hope of making a difference with their small lives they had no great ambition or goal. No reason to wake up in the morning or keep going.” “If this is a waste of my time...” interrupted the man “One day a man came into town. He was a strange folk, the likes of which we had never seen. He brought with him a black case. In that case he had one small vial of the most deadly poison known to man. He conveniently put a few drops in my parents early morning delivery of milk. I left the town nothing was there for me anymore. I made it to a small town through the woods and used the little money I had to buy a train ticket to Moscow. I looked for a man my parents had known in their early lives before they married. I made it to the man and he turned me down back onto the street. I managed to escape dying of hunger and fell in with a gang of thieves. We spent our time on the street pickpocketing and taking to live.” “What age were you at this time?” The man said now he seemed to be interested “I had just had my twelfth birthday.” “That is impressive making it through all of that before you had even finished school.” “Well, I learned from a young age that the world never gives you anything for free.” “Then after that on one job, I crawled through the window of a very expensive penthouse. I received a shock when one very infamous criminal was sitting in the front room of it. that stopped my life of crime as he took me to his mansion as repayment he said for attempting to steal his things. It took me another twelve years to escape but I made it out by hijacking a helicopter and in the process my boss, well, didn't make it. And I was free at last.” “Where did you go” “I arrived in Venice and met a Woman named Mrs. S, I knew her by no other name just that. She told me many things, of power and wealth that I could have. All I had to do was join an academy, but this academy was like no other you have ever heard of they taught us how to do well this job, how to hide, I learned Russian, French, Italian, and English. Then my graduation day came and I had a meeting with the headmaster. He told me to become this thing I wanted to be I had to pass a field trial. I had a target in New York. After all of my work I was accepted by someone, this society of criminals, yes, but someone, and all I had to do was pass this test. Then in New York staring down the barrel of my rifle at the target I couldn’t, I just couldn't pull the trigger, I had all of this hate in me from when the world had treated me badly and I still couldn’t do it. A thought came into my mind then that this man my gun was aimed at was someone's kid, someone's husband, maybe even a father. I couldn't kill him and do what that one man did to me so a ran. The society by the name of Scorpio that I had joined was watching and I managed to make it here. You must help me it happened last night they are coming for me.” The time has come. My time to say goodbye for what might be forever. I wanted to say how I didn’t understand why he couldn’t come with us, but I know that the risk, it’s too high with the five of us. I don’t want to put him in danger, especially when he will be fine here. My only love, D'artagnan. I can hear footsteps upstairs and I know that it is now or never. We embrace and look at each other, taking in each other for the last time. I run out the backdoor while he goes back upstairs to his room.
Frost nips my nose as I step outside into the biting cold air. I run, run as fast as I can to the place where my family will gather together and press on in our dangerous journey. For tonight is when my family and I will escape France. Tonight we will brave the Paris guards and escape our fate at the guillotine. I spot the four shadows peaking out of the trees. My parents and two brothers, one 17 and one 11. “What took you so long, the time has almost come,” My father whispers frantically. “We worried that we might have to leave you. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you. We thought the worst!” “I’m sorry Father, but I thought it would be worth the risk. It was the last time that I would see him!” “Fine, we just have to go right now if we are to make it on time. The guards will come and take us any minute if they stay on schedule and we don’t want to be here when they do,” Father whispered as he began to walk forward. We walked for what felt like hours. I only knew the time couldn’t have passed that much because the sun hadn’t started to yet peek out from behind the woods. I was too busy nervously thinking about what might happen if we don’t get away to worry about the time. The worst fate we could suffer was to live in prison just knowing that we almost got away from the death sentence that is the guillotine. We wouldn’t have to bear the thoughts of what could have been outside of France if we were sent to the guillotine instantly. Finally we reach the edge of the woods. “Stop. We’re here,” my eldest brother Armand breathed. Here we are, the edge of the woods. I could see the cart that held the boxes that we would carry over the border on our way to England. We ran frantically towards the cart, hoping that the guards who might be lurking in the trees wouldn’t see us. We have followed the guards’ schedule for months, but you never know when they might decide to change their schedules. With the help of my two brothers I step into the first wooden box. My mind races as I wonder if I will ever see daylight in France again. My father nails the box shut and I am left in the silent darkness on my own. After a few minutes of torturous waiting, I hear the cart shift forward and we speed off. At last I have time to think. I think about my love, D’artagnan and how maybe one day I might eventually see him again. I remember the beautiful house we left behind, the house that holds all of our wonderful memories. Ultimately I fall asleep due to the exhaustion of the eventful day. Suddenly, the cart stops and I jerk awake hoping, praying, that my family and I have made it to safety. I question the talking outside the box, wondering what may become of us. For if we do not escape, the crime of being part of the royal family and trying to escape is high. We could immediately face our death with the guards or they might make us wait for our impending doom. The silence is deafening in my ears, and I can hear my heart almost pounding out of my chest. My breathing slows almost to a stopping point. That’s when I remember that the coachman told us that there would be checkpoints along the way for security. I pray that they won’t think anything of the cart and we can pass on by. I pray that the officers outside cannot hear my heartbeat as loud as I can. The pain of hearing people walking around, slowly almost seems to be too much. Suddenly I hear footsteps coming closer to the cart. The slow, steady drum stops too close for comfort. Then a knock. I hold my breath for what seems like an eternity. I don’t realize my eyes are closed until I look up and see the sun, blinding me from behind a tall figure. Then everything turns black. The wind blew ferociously on the cold, autumn evening. With the sun going down, and the moon rising, a girl runs out of her workplace, the wind pulling her hair. This girl, about 25 years old, steps into to her red 2015 Chevy Malibu, but before she opens her car door, she takes a wet wipe out to wipe down her handle. At this point in time, the car handle is spotless to the touch. She pulls open the door and once she gets into the driver’s seat slams it closed. Usually once you get in a car, you buckle your seatbelt, turn the ignition and start driving. However, the 25 year old did things differently.
On this day, October 4, 2016, the girl’s life would completely change. This girl, named Emily Jones, drove on a crooked highway up to her house on 39th Street. Emily flicked her blinker up, and checked her blind spot before moving to the right lane. With the right timing, she moved her car to the right. A black SUV comes full speed around a corner, and in the right lane. Emily screams because the enormous carries right into the back of her car. With a spin of her wheel, Emily crashes down, her car flipping three times. The 25 year old wakes up in a hospital bed, her hand incapable of moving. Looking around the room, she screams for a doctor of any sorts, and soon enough a doctor of some sort bursts through the door. “Miss Jones, I’m Dr. Murphy; nice to meet y-” “How can you tell me it’s nice to meet me when I can’t feel my hand?!” screams Emily at the top of her lungs. “Well, Miss Jones, your hand will be just fine. It’s been only five hours since your crash on Highway 57. Most likely, you will regain feeling in your hand by the end of the week.” She passes out. After a week of hoping and praying that her hand will get better, Emily stands up for her morning walk around the hospital. The moment her feet touched the ground, her legs gave out. No way of getting back up. She struggled to get back into bed, and being the stuck up person that she is, she did not, under any circumstances, want help from the people that did this to her. Finally making it into bed, she then calls for the nurse to ask exactly what was going on in the bottom half of her body. The nurse gave no answer, rushed over to Dr. Murphy, hopefully, with some better news than what the nurse came up with. After a good hour of the two doctors standing just outside my room, Dr. Murphy walks in, head down, hands holding each other towards the bottom of his torso. “Ms. Jones. Afraid I have some terrible news. Your body-” he is interrupted immediately by Emily. “Terrible news? Terrible news?! Not one week ago, did you tell me, that everything was going to be okay.” “Ms. Jones, please, you need to calm down.” “I can’t calm down, doctor! You told me I was going to be okay! Doctors cannot lie to their patients! You’re an imbecile and you need to get your facts straight!” “Ms. Jones, I’m very sorry this is happening to you, but you need to listen.” Silence from Emily. “Okay, you have a spinal cord injury that is making you slowly become paralyzed. I know this is hard to process. The most serious part of this injury is that,” he sighs, “you will not be able to recover. And once this reaches your heart, I’m afraid… It is fatal.” “I… I…”, her vision getting darker and darker, until to the point to where she can’t see anything. Scared, she gets up, trying to find anything, frantically searching the shelves for anything short of any kind of pill she can get her hands on. Dr. Murphy yelling at Ms. Jones to take a seat so she can get her proper rest before her time was up, but Ms. Jones ignored him still searching for anything that might help. Getting weaker and weaker, still crawling on the floor with her paralyzed legs, she quickly loses feeling in her left arm, she tries to pick it up but it flops back onto the ground. Accepting her fate, She decides to lay on the ground until her time has come. Her vision only getting darker and darker. |
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