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A girl who can see the death of others.
A boy who can read minds.
What will happen if fate decided to intertwine their paths?
Sitting in the corner of the cafeteria of Crossford Academy is Sophia Adler, she watched as the room filled up of teenagers. Whispers, giggles, and loud laughs can be heard in the room.
Keeping her head buried in a book, named Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. She didn’t dare to look up when she heard people passing by her table. She was afraid to see what her ability will show her.
Yes, you have read it right. She have a supernatural ability. Cool, right?
Well for her its not.
She can see the deaths of others like a hologram if they happen to have an eye contact even just for a split-second. Students think she’s a really prideful person for she do not make friends. She avoids everyone like a plague. Well not only she’s intelligent but she’s also beautiful and rich.
She heard laughter by the table close to her. Despite her fear, she looked up from her book. Wrong move. She made eye-contact with the girl whose hair and top was drenched with, what it looks like, iced-tea. It feels like everything stop. The laughter and chattering quietened.
Suddenly a hologram was in front of her. There stood a girl on top of a chair, she looked like she just had a crying session. Holding the rope tightly that is tied in the ceiling, she hooped it around her neck then the chair she was standing got knocked over. Sophia watched how the girl’s eyes bulge and became lifeless.
‘Suicide’ She thought
Then everything began to move again. The laughter and loud chattering became clear, she nearly gasped but held herself against it instead she gripped her book until her knuckles turned white and the edges crumple a bit. The girl whom she made eye contact with, ran out of the cafeteria, crying.
She stared blankly where the girl was sitting a second ago. She kept repeating to herself to forget about what she saw. Breathing in deeply, she continued where she have left reading a while ago.
The bell rang indicating that the break time is already done. She collected her stuff then proceed to walk where her next class is, which is Biology.
‘Great. Just great.’
The day passed smoothly, she did not made eye contact with anyone after the incident in the cafeteria. Now walking towards her home, she kept thinking about the death of the girl. Though she is rich, she prefer to walk just to think and enjoy the surroundings.
When she arrived, she saw her parents in the porch talking whilst smiling. Their love doesn’t seem to die out even after all the years, even though they had encountered difficult problems. They were complete opposites of her. They smile a lot, she smile occasionally. They open up to share their problems, she kept it all to herself. Their face is filled with emotions, hers is like a void.
“Sophia, welcome home.” Her mother, who noticed her first, greeted her with a small smile on her face. She hummed as a response and gave her parents a small smile that you would not be able to see if you don’t come any closer towards her.
She proceeded to enter their humble abode, straight towards her room. Missing, completely, the concern looks her parents have shot her. Entering her room, she put her things in the ground then plopped down her bed. Her eyes began to feel heavy, dozing off; Not caring if she changed her clothes or not.
There she stood in the darkness. It was like being in a vast of greenery though instead of green, it was a void of darkness. Suddenly she heard a low voice, it was muffled, making it hard to identify which gender it belongs.
“A prophecy where Brain and Death would meet.
Fate would bestowed what is destined,
thee you both should get along.
For in the end,
one shall die and one should live.”
She kept spinning and spinning to somehow locate where the voice came from but it seems like its coming from every direction. The voice kept repeating the so called ‘prophecy.’ Then all of a sudden it became silent. The voice was gone but then much to her surprise it was replaced by a shrilling scream.
She sat up abruptly, sweat trickling from her face down to her neck. Breathing heavily, she checked her surroundings. She is in her room, safe. She stand up, her body trembling because of shock. Her head was filled with thoughts about her dream. She checked the time.
‘5:00 am. Still early, class start at 8:00 am’
Her body moved on its own accord. Doing her morning routine, she noticed something when she looked in the mirror. Her face was noticeably paler and there was some sort of a scar.
There, under her collarbone, is a skull. Right then and there, she realized that in the prophecy, she was supposed to be the Death. Theories began flooding her mind.
‘So if I’m Death then that means Brain is also a person. A prophecy where Brain and Death would meet. Fate would bestowed what is destined, thee you both should get along. For in the end, one shall die and one shall live. So that means we will meet but then one of us will die but why?’
Her head started to hurt, thoughts after thoughts kept flooding in her mind. She decided to take a nap for she woke up very early and here she is now, running to school because she forgot to set an alarm to wake her up.
Rushing towards her room, she slammed the door open. Everybody are staring at her. Leaning on her knees, her chest was heaving up and down because of her heavy breathing. Catching her breath, she stood up straight.
“Sorry, I’m late. It won’t happen again.” She realized that there was a boy, standing in front. It looks like he was in the middle of discussing something. The teacher was by his side.
“Its alright, Ms. Adler. Take a seat, so Mr. Hayden can continue his introduction.” She didn’t need to be told twice, she walked towards her chair without making eye contact with anyone.
“Travis Hayden, nice to meet you.” A charming smile was plastered on his face though Sophia can feel something odd about him. Suddenly his eyes found hers, making her eyes widen a bit.
Nothing.
She waited and waited but there was no hologram that came out about his death. Her brows furrowed because of confusion, it was the first time that it ever happened.
The day went on, her mind was filled with questions all throughout the day making her zone out a couple of time during classes. Packing her things, she made her way towards the exit. She was in daze while walking, making her bump into someone’s back.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Raising her head, she met the face of the one and only, Travis Hayden. She began to walk away but before she could go, she was stopped by a grip in her forearm. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, Travis dragged her at the back of the building.
“Why can’t I read you mind?” His eyes narrowed at her. In response, she raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Why can’t I bloody hell read your mind?” His jaw was clenched because of frustration, he was getting impatient for he knew that this girl is special.
“Why am I not able to see how you will die?” She answered in return. Then like a light bulb lit up on top of her head, she talked before he could even open his mouth.
“A prophecy where Brain and Death would meet. Fate would bestowed what is destined, thee you both should get along. For in the end, one shall die and one shall live. Does that sound familiar to you?”
“H-how? That was in my dream.” His eyes widened.
“Well, same for me then.”
Talking for a bit about their abilities, they parted ways when it was getting dark. That night, both of them had the same dream.
Sophia was back again in the vast darkness, but this time she can see a guy just five feet away.
“Travis?” She wondered aloud. The guy turned and surely, it was Travis.
“Sophia? How did you get here?” He asked, baffled. His brows was furrowed because of confusion.
“An artifact, glass shaped as spear,
Inside, the image of the galaxy, can be spectated.
Hidden in tattered place, inside the town.
A portal to the dimension between time and space,
handle it with care for once it breaks.
Time will stop and one must die.”
The same voice, from her dream, spoke. Just like last time, it repeated the prophecy like a mantra of its own and just like last time, it was replaced by a shrilling scream.
Sitting up, her chest was heaving up and down. She did her morning routine then rushed to school. Halfway towards her room, she met Travis. They agreed to meet up after school to talk about their dream.
Her feet was jumping up and down throughout the day, the air around her is buzzing of excitement. As the bell rang, indicating the class have ended, she immediately packed all her things then rushed out of the room.
Meeting up with Travis in the exit, they went to her house. When they arrived, they immediately started talking like they didn’t just met a day ago. Theories after theories and just like that, she thought of an idea.
“What if, we need to find it?” She said, her eyes lighting up. Travis’s face beamed with excitement. He nodded as an agreement and just like that they created a plan.
Weeks passed but they still weren’t able to find the said glass though they became close, to the point they were joined at the hip. Searching high and low, Sophia’s room was a mess. Maps were scattered, some Polaroids was pinned in her wall with string connected to another photos.
Finally, they reach the very last location that can be the only place where it could be hidden. Located in the dumped part of the small town, it was a ramshackle house. Some of the floorboards was missing, there were some holes in the ceiling and there was a time when a rat ran past them.
They parted to search every inch of the house. Suddenly, Sophia heard Travis calling her.
“Sophia, I found something!” He shouted, it was coming from the very back of the house. Walking briskly towards him, she saw him standing in front of a locked room.
They somehow found a way to open it. Inside of the room is a library, books was properly arranged in the shelves. In the middle of the room, was a vault. Sophia walked closer towards it, observing it like a species under a microscope. It can only be opened by a key.
Travis searched in the room for a key and there it was on top of a shelf. Reaching it, he safely retrieve it. Making his way towards the vault, he slightly pushed Sophia out of the way.
The key was perfectly fit in the hole. Turning it, they heard a click and the vault opened. Inside was a spear shaped glass, floating mid-air. It was so clear that you could see the imprinted galaxy inside.
Sophia reached out to inspect it closer but Travis moved it out of the way, accidentally hitting his arm into something. It seems like time seems to slow down, the glass was falling slow-motion.
They tried to reach for it, to save it from breaking but alas, their foe was the time. It cracked and everything seemed to stop, time stopped. The birds that were flying stopped mid-air, the leaves that fell from the tree stopped mid-air, everything jut stopped.
Shocked, they ran out of the ramshackle house. They agreed to search every corner of the town and meet in the crossroad later. No one was moving, they searched and searched the small town but there was no one.
As they met up, sweat was dripping from their foreheads to their neck. They were breathing heavily because of all the running, catching there breaths, Sophia was the first one to speak.
“Nothing, I found nothing at all.” She was still panting.
Before he could even reply, they felt the surroundings became unnaturally cold. In the middle of the crossroad, formed a swirling black mist. It looked like a portal. Carefully, they walked towards it, the portal seems to pull them.
Suddenly, they were in the place which is alike to their dream. They were in the vast darkness but this isn’t a dream, it was awfully real. Turning around to go back, they saw nothing. Horror plastered on their faces, there’s no way back.
Deciding not to just stand around, they toured around only to found nothing but darkness. They felt like they stayed for weeks there but in truth they were only there for seconds.
They halted from their walk when they saw a man, ten feet away from them. He was wearing a black cloak, his back was turned on them. Suddenly he turned around, to say Sophia and Travis were scared is an understatement. They were horrified. The man don’t have eyes and blood was dripping out of the eye sockets.
“One shall sacrifice for the other to live and go back.” He was facing them, making it look like he was staring at them. They looked at each other, contemplating. The gears in their head turning, deciding what to do.
After what seems like eternity, Travis spoke in a small voice.
“I’ll stay so you could go back.” His eyes was filled with sadness.
“No, I won’t let you do that.” She shook her head harshly, desperately keeping the tears that was welling in her eyes. “There should be a way-”
“The prophecy was already written, Z. We can’t do anything about it.” He was smiling sadly.
“No. If you stay, I will stay too.” She said stubbornly.
“You have a family, I don’t. I don’t have anything to go back Z but you do. Your parents will be waiting.” He said to his friend. His very first and last friend. He gripped her hands and looked at her pleadingly.
‘Please…’ The message sent by his eyes was clear to her. She couldn’t stop it anymore, the tears flowed endlessly down her cheeks.
“Please, Soph.” His voice not louder than a whisper. “Please, let me do it for you.”
She was clenching her jaw really hard, she felt it was going to break if she do it any harder. Her eyes widen when she felt her grip loosen, her jaw hung open. ‘No, please, no.’ Her eyes pleaded but alas the decision has been made.
“I sacrifice my life.”
Everything seemed to slow down. The portal opened behind her, pulling her with great force that she wasn’t able to withstood. Before she was fully pulled, she saw him mouthed something.
‘Thank you…’
She sat up, her heavy breaths is the only noise that can be heard in her room. Looking around her room, everything was normal.
‘Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe Travis did not sacrifice his self. Maybe he is waiting in the entrance for her. Maybe just maybe.’
She did her routine and rushed to her school, hoping Travis was there. As she arrived, she looked around. No Travis. She approach her classmate with Travis in Biology, looking at her straight in the eyes.
“Did Travis arrived already?” She asked, hoping he was there.
“Travis? Who’s Travis?” The student asked questioningly. Sophia furrowed her eyebrows.
“Travis Hayden. He was our classmate?” The student gave her an odd look before answering.
“We don’t have a Travis Hayden in our class.”
Furrowing her eyebrows, Sophia asked a couple more of her classmated but just like the first one, they don’t know any Travis Hayden. She was getting odd looks, her eyes dulled even more.
The hope she was holding on, vanished. Why don’t they remember him? She wanted to scream but she don’t want any of the students to think she’s crazy.
Throughout the day, Sophia was in daze. As the dismissal bell rang, she fixed her things and rushed out of the room. Walking fast towards her home, she didn’t even bother to return the greetings from her parents.
She leaned on the door, her knees buckled underneath her making her sit on the floor whilst hugging her knees closer to her chest. She buried it in between and cried. She cried and cried, letting her emotions control over her.
Between her sobs, she realized she had made eye contact with a lot of people but she did not see any deaths. She cried even harder, realizing that because Travis’s life did not only made her lived but it also removed her so called abilities.
She lived, yes, but everything has a price. Unlucky for her, the price of her life was the life of her first, genuine friend.
She is alone. Again.
“One friend in a storm is worth more than a thousand friends in sunshine.”
-Matshona Dhliwayo
END...