This was written as the last essay in my creative writing class. Hope you all enjoy. Please give input. :0) Reviews
"The writing is smooth and polished."~Professor Rainy of Stratford Career Institute “P-A-T-H,” Raina read on the board in front of her. Two teachers stood there, grinning at her. She could almost hear their thoughts just by looking at their faces. “She’s loving this.” “It’s good for her, it’ll help her.” A voice reached her ears, the voice of her friend who sat beside her for this insane ritual. “You don’t look too enthused about this, Raina.” A teacher spoke immediately, as if she knew Raina wasn’t paying attention. “Tell us your dreams, Raina, what would you like to be when you grow up?” She stared at the teacher with a look of annoyance on her face. “Why?” She mumbled. “Are you going to help me get there?” The teacher looked as though Raina had slapped her and stepped back. “We are trying to help you on your way,” she whispered. Raina glimpsed a look at her mom who shifted from one side to the other. “Why do I have to go through this?” Raina directed this question to anyone within hearing range, including the two kids whom had peeked in through the crack in the door. They hurried away, startled by her loud words. “Because you don’t know your way, yet,” came her mom’s calm voice.
“You’ve become lost because of…” There was a deadened silence after that, as if the teachers couldn’t even face the fact that Raina’s best friend had been killed in the tragedy of September eleventh. Raina stood up so abruptly that everyone in the classroom jumped from shock. “I’m not lost! I’m fine! And I want everyone to stop hounding me for a change!” “But Malia isn’t… That was it, the one final string that had left to break inside Raina. One mention of her best friend’s name and she spun on everyone there. “Bringing me HERE! Showing me a stupid chart, documenting my future isn’t going to bring Malia back! Nobody in this room can do that!” “We’re not…” her mom started, but Raina cut her off. “YES YOU ARE! There’s nothing we can do now, mom! Nothing you can do or they can do!” And she pointed to the teachers, cowering by the blackboard. “NOTHING Any of us can do! Whoever decided to take Malia- they won! We lost! Do you get it? We lost!” With that she stormed out of the room, throwing the door closed so hard that the entire frame rattled. That’s when it happened, the tears began in a stream down her face, and she slumped down by the door. Her fingers clutched the necklace she wore with its sterling silver half heart and the blue scrawl that read: “best…” Malia was the only one that carried the other half- “friends.” “We lost,” she gasped. A sudden blast of cold light and she awoke, but she was no longer in the high school hallway, but in her own bed, facing the closed window. New York had become a lot quieter since the day before when it had all happened. She remembered feeling a strange stinging in her chest before it happened. She had just gotten off the phone with Malia, telling her to ask her dad before she came to sleep over. Her dad worked in the twin towers- top floor, worked as a computer programmer for all the major networks in there. She hadn’t seen the destruction until it hit the television, but she awoke from a horrible nightmare in which she had been desperately, trying to hang onto her friend’s hand. She kept slipping away and slipping away, until it seemed she had simply vanished into thin air and than… BANG! She was awakened, her chest hurting, her mother screaming at the top of her voice. She felt her entire body hurtle down onto the floor and for a split second, she could only lie there in shock. What had happened? Had Malia called yet? She caught her breath and ran to the window where she saw a cloud of smoke billowing over the tops of the trees. The memories faded within her, leaving only her mother’s screams to echo through her head. Softly, she sat up and pulled the journal up onto her lap. When she had opened it up, she caught sight of the last journal entry she wrote… New York no longer stands on proud legs, rather this state was knocked off them into a pile of rubble and there is nothing we can do. Nothing anyone can do, so we choose to hide. I would rather choose to hide then face whatever might be next to come. New York’s legs are broken and I’m not a doctor… “Raina…” She jolted from the voice that seemed to surround her and her journal dropped out of her lap onto the floor. She pulled the blankets up to her chin and shivered. “Hello,” she gasped. What was she doing? The sound had to be the cold wind howling outside her window. Carefully, she got up and approached the light, gently shutting it off. No more cold light to blind her, just silence, just darkness. “Raina…” The soft whisper had sounded again, but this time a loud thump had followed it. She glanced over the edge of her bed to see a book lying face down on the floor. It was brown and leather bound, one she would never have owned, but she scooped it up anyway. On the cover was a bright golden star, but on the inside was a picture of a girl and scrawled above the picture in raised gold were the words. CHOSEN ONE. She flipped to the next page to see a beautiful castle, surrounded by billowing trees. “Is this…” “Mine, yes,” the quiet voice spoke again, but this time there was a positive direction to his tone and she glimpsed the mirror. No one was there, it was empty so where was he? She scrambled out of her bed with the book still in her arms and stood before the mirror above her dresser. It seemed to take only minutes for a figure to materialize over her own image until she was staring at a tall boy with dark hair and green eyes, staring back at her. “I am the ruler of Startan,” he told her. She looked down at the book and went to give it back. “I’m probably dreaming, but did you want this back?” The ruler of Startan shook his head, and she could see clearly that he wore a loose gray outfit that could’ve been a robe with leggings and a small hood. “I need you to come with me, Raina,” he whispered. “What I need to do is go back to my bed and wake up. That’s what I need to do,” she muttered. She moved, but her body didn’t follow the action. What had he done to her? She tried to lift her foot, but it stayed firmly on the ground. “You are our only hope, Raina. People in my world have believed that the chosen one would come for many a year since the Great Disaster.” “How do you know my name?” She hissed. “People talk about you in my world. I’ve been watching you for quite some time now, and I believe it is time to fulfill my people’s wishes,” he told her. She struggled to be released. “Who are you? How did you get here?” “All will be explained in due time,” he promised. A liquid looking hand came through the mirror and the moment the ruler of Startan let his hand touch her, she collapsed, gasping for breath. The room suddenly began to spin and she had to close her eyes before she was sick. The spinning grew faster, until abruptly it stopped and she threw her eyes open. Maybe it was all a dream, she hoped as the blurry images slowly came into focus. Unfortunately, the voice of the ruler popped that bubble immediately. “Hurry, quick get up,” he demanded. She heard a loud pounding in her ears, and the ground trembled beneath her as she tried to pull herself up. “What is that?” She gasped. “The Disaster,” he choked. “HURRY! They know you’re here! They’ll be looking for you!” She fought the urge to be sick, and found her feet, yet her legs were wobbling. “The Disaster is looking for me?” “They knew about you too, maybe not as long as we had, but word has spread all over our world,” he admitted, grabbing her hand. “The pounding you hear? That is them on their carriers- black as night. They can hear the slightest whisper and see a figure from ten miles away,” he informed in a fearful whisper. The ground shook again, and Raina looked back over her shoulder. “You are the only one who can destroy them and they know that perfectly well. They will do anything to be rid of you, anything.” She shivered. “So, what do we do?” She asked in a low husk. “We get out of here, without being found and I will try to keep you safe inside the castle.” She shrugged. Anything was better than being killed by the Disaster. “Sounds like a plan.” “And what is yours to save us? By now, you must have one. Some words of wisdom maybe that you might be able to share with us,” he went on as he led her through a thick forest, down a long, yet narrow path. Raina could still feel the shaking of the ground beneath her feet. “I… I… I didn’t know I had to be prepared for something like this. You brought me to your world. You should be the one to tell me what I have to do.” The ruler stopped and turned to stare at her. “I’ve done what I’m supposed to do. The scroll said to bring the chosen one here, and that’s what I’ve done.” Raina went to argue when she felt her hair jump up from her shoulders, as if a gust of wind had picked up from behind her. “What just happened?” She demanded to know. “They see you. We have to run, NOW!” She nodded, and bolted with him through the narrow path. “If the Disaster does catch me, what will they do to me?” She called. “Once they catch you, they will cut off your head and place it on a pike, dancing it around in victory that they have silenced the chosen one,” he called back. “And how do we kill them?” “Nobody knows, but we have tried everything, including that of which they want to do to you. Nothing works. Nothing.” Raina sighed, and finally they had come to the end of the path, leading out of the forest. She didn’t know what to do, or even how to get back home, but that’s what she wanted to do right now. She didn’t want to be here any longer. “I can’t stay here, mister uh… ruler of this world. I need to go back home.” “What? You would just leave us like this?” “You expect me to do something I can’t do,” she argued. “I’m only telling you what the scroll says, Raina. Nothing more.” “What scroll? Where is it? Do you have it on you?” “No, it is in the castle.” She gripped his wrist. “Okay, than lets go see this scroll and find a loophole. There has to have been some kind of mistake.” “Where is everyone?” Raina asked, as the ruler led her up the rubble-ridden path to the immense double doors of the castle. A bird flew overhead of them, making a horrible screeching noise. The ruler shouted, “OPEN TO ME!” and they entered. He had completely ignored her question, so she asked again. The doors closed on their own behind her and the ruler turned slowly to face her. She could see him clearly now. He stood a head above her with a sophisticated face and deep stunning green eyes. He had to be at least her age, if not younger, but he held himself like someone would do at twice his age during a crisis. “My people have been put into hiding. I do not expect them to have to endure the Disaster. That is what I should be doing.” Raina let out a shocked breath. “By yourself? What? You think you can take on the disaster on their carriages or whatever they are, by yourself?”
“Carriers,” he corrected for her. “Right,” she mumbled. He sighed. “I have no choice. It is what I am supposed to do. I can’t subject my people to danger, can I?” She started searching, than. She walked around the castle with its high cathedral ceilings and beautiful scarlet carpet in search of that scroll. “Alright, where is it?” She wanted to know. He walked past her to scoop up the folded piece of parchment from the tall throne she had neglected to check. She walked up the three marble steps to stand beside the ruler, who was going through the scroll. “Here,” he said finally with his fingers on a scrawled gold paragraph. “The Chosen one will be called to Startan when she is the most needed. The chosen one is the one who will receive the book when it is her time. She will at last be able to save the fate of this world from the disaster.” “What?” She shrieked, and grabbed the scroll from him to look over it. There the words were, flashing brightly before her eyes. “No…” she whimpered, passing the scroll back to the handsome ruler. “It’s wrong, just send me home, okay? Find someone else to save this world.” “But you’re the one who received the book, were you not? Don’t you understand? There is no one else,” he admitted. She paced the castle, squinting her eyes shut tightly, hoping this would somehow bring her back to New York. “Look, you really have no idea what you’re doing. I am the last person you should be asking for help in a crisis like this. I just lost my best friend to a crisis. I couldn’t stop that, so what makes you think I can help you stop this?” She shouted at him. The ruler remained tall and firm. “Because you are the chosen one,” he said with a harder edge to his voice. “Than here is my advice to you- to all of you, in fact. Hide. Never leave the comfort of your home to face something you know you’ll lose against, anyway.” The ruler stared at her with confusion and pain in his gaze. She’d had enough, and she pivoted around, storming out of the castle.
Maybe she shouldn’t have left the castle into such a dangerous night, where not even a bit of light managed to seep down and light the way away from Startan. She wanted to turn back for the fear that filled her, but determination made her go on until she had entered the thick forest again. The mammoth trees created menacing shadows that surrounded her, even without light. She felt as though she was walking blind, at least until she heard the sound of heavy hooves somewhere in the distance- carriers. “She’s over there,” a voice spoke in triumph and the sound of hooves drew closer. If she ran, she wasn’t too sure where she’d end up, but if she didn’t… She really didn’t want to think about her head, being bounced up and down on a long wooden pike. Decision made. She was going to run for it. Her feet broke into a run that had her racing over dead tree branches, cracking violently under her, and thin branches whipped her face. “Surround her,” trumpeted another voice, much lower, much more frightening than the first one. She reached down to grab a thick branch off the ground when she noticed something very strange. Her sterling silver half heart was no longer acting normal- far from it. The word “best” was now glowing an electric blue. She felt her mouth fall open in utter amazement. Malia had never told her the necklace she had given her on her seventeenth birthday was in any way magical. A loud rustling in the trees told her that someone was coming for her. Someone from The Disaster. The blue was suddenly fading as she spun around in every direction, looking for somewhere she could run. No, a voice inside was telling her. Don’t run, when one move could make all the difference. “What move?” She wondered aloud, shaking her head, but the thick branch was catching her eye now. The necklace was glowing once more as she reached down to pick it up.
“RAINA!” She knew that voice belonged to the ruler of Startan, but he wasn’t what had come to face her. Instead, three skinny ape-like creatures jumped out from behind the dark trees and grabbed her. “LET ME GO,” she howled. The shaking of her voice couldn’t be mistaken for any other emotion, but fear. It was freezing her limbs and driving ice into her very soul. This had to be the worst moment of her life. But wait… One of the creatures bounced behind her, gripping around her neck as if he knew that if he yanked hard enough it would come off. The other two were hanging on to each of her arms, dragging her through wet grass while long, spindly twigs pierced her cheeks. She was struggling endlessly with these creatures that seemed to have all the control over her. Throughout all this pain and all her fear, a voice still managed to murmur something to her. She couldn’t tell where it was coming from or why she could hear it, but it wasn’t from her imagination. She was hearing it: a soft murmur almost singsong but not quite. She was trying to hear the words, but everything around her, including the creatures’ loud hissing noises drowned the voice completely. The Startan ruler yelled for her once more, but even his voice seemed to be smothered by the hissing. The creatures finally stopped in front of a tall, broad figure- so dark, he could’ve been a mere shadow. This shadow however did what many shadows didn’t have the power to do. This shadow created a cold fear unlike any other to crawl into her stomach. A cold sweat broke out on her face. Certainly, this was the worst moment of her life. No, she thought… he voice had started up again, but for the life of her, she still couldn’t hear it. The voice sounded as though it was coming up from under water. It was making no sense at all. Before, she could make a run for it, a hand whipped out through the darkness to grab her. She grabbed her amulet as if that would protect her, but she was thrust cruelly up against the trunk of a thick tree. Hideous, terrifying laughter echoed all around her as she was forced to meet with a pair of stone cold gray eyes that bore into her. She knew at once that she was staring at the face of The Disaster. “This,” he growled. “This is who I must defeat?” She choked, closing her eyes to listen for the murmuring voice to come again. It didn’t. Did whoever was trying to help her, give up? “You are nothing, but a FAKE,” he howled amused. His cold, yet muscled hand came to wrap around her throat. “You are NOT the chosen one, because she is already dead. That Prince has wasted his time.” Raina opened her eyes as this dawned on her. She knew already that she wasn’t the chosen one. She told the Prince that more then once, but still he brought her here, he lied to her. “But I was waiting for you,” The Disaster drawled with pleasure. “Oh, yes, you hold something that should never have been given to you. No doubt that fool girl gave it to you as something of a keepsake.” He thrust his hand out to grab it, but even in fear she blocked his pursuit of her necklace. The murmuring started once again, but this time, she could hear it. She knew where it was coming from. The strange murmur was coming from the necklace, and again it was glowing that stunning, electric blue. She could hear the words this time… “There’s nothing to fear… there’s nothing…” She stared down at the necklace, and immediately grabbed the hand of the Disaster that had been strangling her. The voice wasn’t foreign. Her best friend was talking to her. She couldn’t understand it all past the panicked hissing of the creatures around her. “The chosen one.” “It’s the chosen one…” “THE CHOSEN ONE IS DEAD!” The Disaster stormed angrily at his army. Malia’s voice finally had grown loud enough for Raina to hear. “There’s nothing to fear, but fear itself.” She got it, and she pushed the Disaster off her, reaching for the branch, she had dropped a while before, and held it up before him. “The chosen one might not be here, but I am,” she growled in determination. “RAINA!”
“Scared now?” The disaster sneered behind her.
He caught her around the neck, pushing her chin up roughly to see the ruler, struggling against the creatures. The ice of fear was starting to climb into her stomach, but again Malia was speaking to her.
“If you are in Startan, I fear it is because of me. I have somehow been unable to make it to my calling, but as it was my destiny to save Startan as they have told me, it was your destiny to fulfill my destiny. You, who are wearing my necklace, are the only one I trust enough to take on the disaster and win… please… win for me. I am sorry, Raina…”
She felt her fear drain. The worst moment in her life was not cringing under the disaster, but those few moments before she lost her best friend in New York. There was nothing more terrifying then that. She glared at the Disaster.
“There’s nothing to fear, but fear itself, and I’m sick of being afraid.”
With that, she thrust her foot back and kicked him directly into the black hole that was his stomach, racing first, to the ruler of Startan. The two ape-like creatures cowered away from her as she took a hold of the ruler’s arm. “Are you okay?” She whispered to him.
“I fear I may have made a mistake,” he whispered back.
“No more fear,” she told him. “And trust me, you didn’t.” She looked past the trees to Startan beyond them. “Go and tell all the people of this place to come out of hiding. They don’t have to be afraid,” she suggested.
He stared at her, and a tired smile appeared on his face, before he turned and ran through the trees towards the castle.,/p>
“You think this is it, do you,” the disaster spoke loudly, but she couldn’t feel the fear anymore. The necklace around her neck was glowing a lot more brightly then it had all that night. She grabbed it to hold up against the Disaster, and for the first time, she saw him cower from it. “You are nothing, Raina,” he growled.
“Why did you do all this? Were you getting back at someone?”
He flashed an evil grin. “There was no reason behind this destruction, Raina. No reason at all.”
She caught her breath as images of the New York disaster flashed horribly through her memory. Tears were threatening to flood her face. No reason, she thought. No reason, but to see innocent people suffer under stronger power: innocent people who just happened to include her best friend. She thought she heard the sound of voices, surrounding her, but didn’t bother to look. Her necklace was glowing so bright now that she was also enveloped in its light, and with one final scream- a beam of that light exploded from her, hitting everything in its path, including the Disaster.
Down, she went to the ground, gasping from uncontrollable sobs, while tears spilled freely down her face. A hand came down on her back.
“You saved us,” the ruler spoke softly to her.?
She looked up at him, and noticed that a crowd of people stood around her, howling their victory over the Disaster. “He didn’t have a reason,” she choked to the ruler.
“I know,” he murmured to her.
“I lost my best friend for no reason,” she whimpered, picking up her necklace. It was no longer glowing.
“I lost my parents the same way,” he admitted.
She hugged him, then, promising herself that she would never let fear control her ever again.
* * *
The ruler allowed Raina to take a seat on his throne, and gently placed his crown on her head. She positioned it with a slight laugh while the crowd cheered and bowed before her.“Malia would be loving this right now,” she said, gazing up at the ruler.
“I bet she’s proud of what you’ve done.”
“I couldn’t have done it without her, though. She was with me, I believe,” and she lifted the sterling silver heart with “best” written across it in blue. The ruler nodded.
Suddenly it occurred to her as streamers of blue floated over their heads.
“What’s your name?” She asked.
He blushed. “Wesley Wayheart,” he answered.
She stood, and took his hands to hold in her own. “Well, Wesley, I think I better get going. My mom might be freaking out right now, and I just… I need to see her and dad.”
“I understand, Raina… just close your eyes.”
The party went on around them, but when sweet lips met hers, she heard nothing, just his voice echoing softly in her ears…
“Thank you…”
She threw her eyes open to see that she was no longer in Startan, but rather in her own room, lying on her bed. She fingered the necklace around her neck, before sitting up. Maybe she had dreamed it all, but even if she had, she was sure that there was a reason for such a vivid dream. She glanced out the window, just as something heavy landed on her bed, directly in front of her.
A book. Not just any book, though. She picked it up to sit upon her lap, and opened to the first page where the drawn images of many people looked to be having a party of victory with balloons and streamers floating everywhere. The caption read. “There’s nothing to fear, but fear itself”, the very words that saved Startan from the Disaster. (More information about the battle on page 150)
She laughed as she closed the book, and pulled her journal onto her lap.
Dear Journal,
Sometimes I’d think that there was no hope; that all I really could was hide, but the truth is, I’ve realized something else. I can’t change the world and I know that, but I can make a difference one step at a time.
There is a way to come back from this. No longer will I let fear control me. No longer will I hide because there’s nothing to fear, but fear itself.
Raina.
