Chapter Two
Marie
Marie stood in front of the entrance of Bloomfield High in a daze. She woke up that morning with a migraine. And if that wasn't enough, she had an eerie feeling on top of it.
She almost stayed home, but there was no way Frank and Renea Mitchell would be having that. Her parents were all about education. They would never let her miss school without some sort of illness. And according to her mom, a headache didn't warrant a doctor visit.
She was scared to tell her mom she was seeing things again. Her mom never took it well; always on edge like Marie was about to die or something. She used to think she was losing her mind, but her mom explained special kids saw special things. She was too old to believe that now, but based on the way her mom acted, knowing what it really was, would probably freak her out.
She woke up in the middle of the night seeing images of another place, in another time. It could have been some other dimension, for all she knew; but it was more vivid than the other images she'd seen before.
When the visions came, they appeared out of nowhere, like an extended layer on top of her reality. As if she could reach out, touch it and peel it back. This transparent world only popped up every once in awhile, but it never made sense to her as to why.
She could sometimes see herself as one of the comely women in this other world, who wore exotic clothing and was being waited on hand and foot. At least that's what she saw last night. Then she got up this morning feeling different, like the woman in the image somehow connected to her.
She could normally shake the visions off and forget about them, but this one was sticking with her. It was almost as if the woman, the village and it's inhabitants were a part of her; like she belonged there. It would actually make sense, because she didn't feel like she belonged anywhere in this era.
Either way, she had to get it out of her head and try to focus on school. It wouldn't be easy though. Something felt off to her; something was wrong. When she looked in the mirror that morning, the image peering back at her was foreign. Her cocoa skin was glowing, her normally dull, brown eyes were lighter and her jet-black hair had body. Her hair never had body. She actually looked and felt beautiful for the first time in her life. It was as if her body finally realized she was sixteen. And everyone knows, sixteen year old girls wanted to be beautiful.
She probably shouldn't question why things happen, especially not good things, but it scared her. She didn't know how it happened or why it hadn't happened sooner. All she knew was something had changed on the inside, as well as the outside; but there was no way to explain it.
She ambled forward, counting the paces as she went to clear her mind. She was almost to the door when she bumped into someone.
“I'm sorry,” she said instinctively, looking up into the face of a boy she didn't recognize. Her head pounded harder.
“It's okay, it was probably my fault,” he said and his eyes lit up.
He had to be new, considering that in this small town in Nebraska, with a population that barely passed a thousand, everyone knew everyone.
He looked her age, was her height and had the whitest teeth she had ever seen on a boy. She looked him over and gasped when she saw he had the same mark on the left side of his temple like her.
Her mom told her God blessed her with the mark that looked like a star because she was special and one of a kind. Obviously she was wrong. It was darker than hers on his slightly tanned skin, but exactly the same.
“I'm Brenton Kane,” he said holding out his hand.
Marie looked at his hand, knowing the polite thing to do was to shake it, but she just stared. He took his hand back and rubbed it on the side of his pants.
“Well, I guess I'll see you later. I have to get to the front office and get my schedule. Nice to meet you, um...”
“Marie. My name is Marie Mitchell.”
“Nice to meet you Marie,” he said and turned to leave.
What was her problem? That was not the best first impression. Her mind was frazzled and she hated it when she was spacey. The bell rang and it snapped her out of her daze and she ran to her class.
Destiny Harris, Marie's best friend, was draped over Kenny, the class clown slash hottie, in stitches. She spotted Marie and left Kenny to meet her half way. She was the only girl in this school Marie could relate to. They understood and respected each other. She made her feel like she fit in somewhere.
Destiny was into the grunge look and her style never wavered. Today she was wearing dark purple nail polish and lipstick. The crimson streaks in her choppy, coal-black hair, made her normally light brown eyes look almost red against her olive complexion. She wore a black pleated skirt and fishnet stockings, black army boots and a purple shirt that said, “Live or die trying”. Although her look intimated most people, she was a sweetheart to the bone.
“Rie, you just missed the funniest joke. Kenny cracks me up,” Destiny said, oblivious to Marie's mood or how she looked, for that matter. “I love when a guy chooses not to conform to the ways of modern society, but finds his own path. Did you know his parents are making him go to college to be a doctor, but he wants to be a comedian? What do they think he is, a puppet? Such fascist. Hey, what's wrong with you? You look different,” she asked in between breaths.
So she noticed it, too. Marie wasn't completely crazy. “Nothing, just not feeling it today.”
“Oh, well have you seen the new guy yet? He is so hot. I wonder where he's from. Shelby said his family moved here because his dad is running from the law. What do you think? You think he'll like me? I love a bad boy,” she went on.
Marie settled into her desk and leaned back. Once Destiny got started, there was no stopping her. Normally she didn't mind her constant rambling, but she wasn't in the mood for it; she just didn't want to be at school today. Thankfully they only had a couple of months left before the summer break. It wasn't coming soon enough.
She closed her eyes, trying to tune her out and all she could see was stars behind her eyelids. The stars danced around then caught fire and blazed across her mind. She jumped as one hurdled toward her and she looked around. Destiny was startled.
The attention was on her until the teacher, Mrs. Greer, spoke up to announce a new student would be joining their class. Brenton came in, spotted her out and walked toward her. Please don't sit down next to me , Marie thought but she had no such luck; he was coming straight for her with a huge grin on his face.
His walk was so confident, it was almost cocky. Definitely Destiny's type. Everyone watched as he leaned down to whisper in John Davis' ear, who was sitting behind her. At first John had a look of disgust on his face, but after a moment, his face was smooth. John nodded and started picking up his things to move to a seat on the other side of the room. Brenton slid in the seat behind Marie.
Destiny glanced at Marie and smirked. That was her “challenge accepted” look. She was just as bad as the guys around here.
He leaned forward. “We need to talk after class,” he said to Marie.
She made no effort to turn around, she just shook her head in compliance. His breath on her neck made a tingle go down her spine. His breath smelled sweet; too sweet if you asked her.
After class, she quickly made her way out, trying to escape the impending conversation she was supposed to have with the new guy. She was getting nervous; anxious even. What could they possibly have to discuss?
Before she could wonder any further or walk fast enough to get away, he was right there, strolling beside her.
“You trying to get away from me?” he said.
“Yeah, I kinda was,” she grinned and kept going.
“You're honest. I like that.”
“Look, what is this about?” Marie asked, turning around to face him.
He smirked. “Not here. Follow me.”
Before she could protest, he grabbed her arm and led her out of the side door of the building. Words were caught in her throat.
The normal thing to do would be to panic, but that was the farthest thing from her mind. Nothing crazy ever happened in Bloomfield. Marie wondered why her parents chose to live here, especially with them being as eccentric as they were, but she never got a real answer when she asked.
Brenton led her through the baseball field and headed to the woods behind the school. Red flags were waving in her mind, but she was too intrigued to stop following him. Her life was a bore, she often fantasized about some excitement. This could be the last time she stepped back out of the woods, but she honestly didn't care.
He finally stopped when the trees encased them. She had walked through these woods plenty of times to know her way around, but somehow this time it felt different, almost enchanted.
“What is so important that you brought me out here?” Marie said.
He didn't say anything. He just circled her with a stupid look on his face.
“Either you talk or I walk,” she yelled with one hand on her hip.
“Okay, okay,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I'm surprised you don't recognize me. I knew who you were right off. I mean, I was going to say your name earlier, but you looked confused when you saw me. I didn't want to freak you out or anything.”
She stepped back and bumped into a tree. What was he saying? She'd never seen him before in her life. The red flags were waving for a reason, he was mental.
He took a couple of steps forward, closing the gap and grabbed her shoulders. She looked at his hand, then back up to the mark on the side of his face. Did she know him? Impossible. She would have definitely remembered those dark green eyes or the structure of his face, which resembled some sort of muscled up teenage god. Also, the fact that he was the only boy tall enough to be eye level with her. At five-ten, she was considered freakishly tall for her age; especially in this town.
He let go of her shoulders and moved back. He flexed his muscles, obviously pleased with himself, and grinned. She didn't understand what this display was about, but she dismissed it and tried to think.
She closed her eyes and went back through the course of her childhood up until now. Oddly, she couldn't remember much from when she was younger. She definitely didn't remember him. Where would she know him from?
“Maybe its because of the hair; it used to be longer,” he said.
“But we've never met, I would remember that.”
“No, we've never met, but don't you see me in your visions?” he said, confused.
“Visions?”
Now a horn was blasting in her head saying to get out now. This was not the excitement she was looking for. This wasn't exciting at all. She had been trying not to think about it, and now this boy was throwing it in her face. But how could he possibly know she had visions? This had to be some sick, twisted joke.
Suddenly, the wind picked up and swirled around Brenton in a whirlwind. He closed his eyes and it looked like he was listening to something. He frowned and nodded. The wind died down and the leaves began to settle. He opened his eyes and stared at Marie.
“I have to go,” he said stomping back toward the way they came in.
“Wait, what was that about?” Marie said trying to catch up with him.
He put his hands in his pocket and kept up the same brisk pace. Marie ran to jump in front of him. He pushed past her with his head down.
“Hey. Talk to me,” she snapped. “You just led me into the middle of the woods being all mysterious and crazy, only to bail on me without answers. What's going on?”
Brenton stopped walking and when he turned to face Marie, she could have sworn she saw fire in his eyes. Not a metaphor, but literally saw flames.
He grabbed her wrist and held it while regarding her suspiciously. She stood there paralyzed. Finally, his eyes went back to the normal green. He let go of her and stepped back.
“You didn't feel that?” he asked.
“Feel what?”
“I don't... Never mind, I gotta go,” he replied and took off running.
Marie had never seen anyone run as fast as he just did. It was almost like he was flying.
She rubbed the wrist he grabbed and felt a sensation when she touched her skin. She looked down and her wrist was red. His hand print was there as if she had been branded.
Her mind started spinning. She searched for something to hold on to as pain erupted in her head like she had never felt before. Her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground.