Full
Skye, Empty Raine
It's kind of hard, I
guess, to think of how the world would end.
No one could imagine what it'd be like.
Well, not everyone....
Prolouge: Left of What
I can feel the wind whip through my hair. It's so quiet. I can't see anything. I
must have closed my eyes a while ago. I
don't have the strength to open them again.
All I want to do now is sleep.
Beside me, I feel her, my
sister. I don't know her, yet she's
there for me. I wish I could see her.
Someone calls me.
They call out my name, "Skye!
Skye! Come on!" Is that my name? I wish to reply, but I can't.
Maybe I won't because I don't want them to find me. The wind yanks at my hair. It seems too long. I don't feel like myself.
Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? Why did the end have to come now?
~~~~~@~~~~~
Here I stand,
frozen. I'm leaning against my
locker. But right now, I can only see
one person. Ayr Renler. He's standing by a locker across the hall
from mine. He laughs at something his girlfriend,
Alissa, says, and his blue eyes sparkle.
I don't know why I like him.
Maybe it's his black hair. Or
the way he holds himself. Anyways, it
doesn't matter, he doesn't even know I exist.
I stare at him a
minute more, before he looks in my direction and I have to turn away. My eyes meet the mirror on the door of my
locker. My eyes are a strange
color. They are a color between gray
and violet, mother used to say they were a violet-silver color. But mother's dead. She died a long time ago.
Leaving me alone.
I don't know who I am
anymore. Am I a person? Can you consider me a human being? I don't know. People call me Raine. I
don't know if that's my name, I don't care, really. A name is only a name.
I was found when I
was 7, wandering the streets aimlessly.
I can't remember anything before that.
I had amnesia. Doctors tried
everything to cure it, even hypnosis.
Nothing worked. They sent me to
a foster home, where I was adopted after only 3 days by Karen Finten, my
'mother'. I hated her at first. I hated everyone. But she was patient, and she waited it out. Through all my 'storms', she was there. She was the only person I was willing to
give my life for. But she died
anyways. She was murdered, actually. They never found the killer, some said I did
it. They sent me away from there. I turned cold again.
Now I'm here, with
only two people on my mind. One,
obviously, was Ayr. The other was
Kyana, the only person I could trust. I
guess you could call her my best friend, but I think we're more...allies.
Kyana is late. I don't want to wait for her anymore. I toy with a strand of my pale green-silver
hair, and glance down the hall. I think
I see a flash of her newly dyed bright blue hair, she stands out with it. It's cut boy-style, with a long strand of
hair running down each side of her face.
Ah, there she is. Coming out of
Biology. I glance the other way.
Just my luck, my eyes
lock with Ayr. He smiles and nods. His daily outreach-to-the-silent-or-nerdy
sign. I turn myself away from him. He can't have the satisfaction that I've
seen him.
"Raine!" Kyana calls me. She smiles and waves--and almost drops her book. She re-adjusts herself, then spins the dial
on her locker, the one next to mine, "How are you?"
"You're
late." I ignore the question. Kyana's smile falters for an instant, but
she shakes her head at my tone and begins her daily gossip.
"So anyways,
rumor has it that we're getting 2 new students. Can you believe it?"
She shoves her books into her locker and pulls out her backpack. Her green eyes shine in the light. I give her a dim smile, take one last look
into my mirror, and then slam the door shut.
"Two, huh? Our grade?" She nodded, not even phased by my monotone voice, "Wonder
what they're like." No I
don't. I say it to please her. Let her know I'm listening.
Kyana continues,
"They'll be in our homeroom. Both
of them. I hope one's a guy, and that
he's cute!" She giggles. Poor, hormone-driven, Kyana.
We begin to shove our
way down the suddenly packed hallway.
Someone bumps into me, mutters an apology, then continues on their
way. I don't look to see who it
is. I make one final shove and push my
way out one of the side doors, out into the sunshine and the parking lot.
Kyana takes a deep
breath, "TGIF, huh, Raine?" I
nod and dig out the keys from my small backpack. We head out to my motorcycle.
My most prized possession. My
latest foster parents want me to get rid of it. Why listen to them?
We put on our helmets
and speed off towards the foster home.
~~~~~@~~~~~
The foster home is
large. It currently houses six kids,
and has room for 2 more. Three of the
kids, are teens 15, 17, and 18 years old, I’m 17. The other three are twin 8 year olds and a 12 year old. The youngest, Kylie and her twin, Saul, are
playing in the home’s massive front yard as I pull up.
I dropped Kyana off
at her home. I kill the engine of the
bike as I pull up onto the cement driveway.
Kylie calls out and waves, her sunshine blonde hair flying in the wind. So innocent. Little does she know what the world’s got in store for her.
I grab my bag from
where it is strapped to the back of my bike.
There is a call from inside the house.
“Raine! Come in here! Meet your new foster sibling!”
It’s my foster mother, Mrs. Brant.
She’s tall and thin with mouse-y brown hair and bifocal glasses. She’s sweet as heck and that drives me
insane. I roll my eyes and walk up the
front path to the porch.
Mr. Brant designed
the house himself. It’s two stories
tall (if you count the basement, it’s three), and built exactly opposite of a
normal house. To enter the house, you
have to walk up cement stairs to the second floor, and enter through the wood
and glass French doors. There you enter
the Living Room, which is pale blue with white furniture. If you walk straight ahead, you wind up in
the kitchen. To your right, is a large
bathroom. I head for the kitchen.
There is a long table
set in the ‘breakfast nook’ as Mrs. Brant calls it. That’s where we eat dinner.
We eat as a group, or not at all.
They aren’t in there. Straight
across from the doorway I stand in, is the Master bedroom, where the Brant’s
sleep. To my right is a staircase going
downwards. It has tacky brown carpet.
I take the stairs two
at a time and wind up on the first floor, in the children’s rec. room. The tacky brown carpet extends to all it’s
corners, and it has a funky purple couch that lines the wall. Children’s toys are scattered all over the
floor.
“There you are!” Mrs. Brant enters the room from the only
other room on this floor, the teen’s rec. room. We just recently finished redecorating it. The three teens got to decide what it looked
like. It’s got black walls and ten
small lamps, all set up around the room.
There are two light switches, when one is on, it’s a normal light, when
the other one’s on, it’s black lights, and pictures appear on the walls and the
white carpet illuminates, not my idea, but still cool. There are four beanbags in there, a big
screen TV and sound system. That’s
where I spend my time when Trevor, the 15-year old, isn’t watching sports.
“You wanted to see
me?”
Mrs. Brant nodded,
“Yes. Come here. I want you to meet Ryan. He’s going to be with us for a while.” A boy entered the room.
Great, just what I need, another boy. But I gave him a
weak smile. He was a little taller than
me and had black hair. His eyes held me
though. They were piercing dark blue
and I took a step back when I saw the anger in them.
“Ryan, this is
Raine. She’s your age.” Mrs. Brant smiled at us, but neither of us
smiled back, “Raine, help him get a bedroom ready. I’ve got to finish talking
with Social Services.” Mrs. Brant left
in a hurry.
I turned to watch her
go, then looked back at Ryan, “C’mon.”
His eyes didn’t show
any emotion besides anger as we went back through the kid’s rec. room and down
another flight of tacky brown carpet.
The carpet stops at the bottom, and the floor turns to wood. Ryan is moving silently behind me, for some
reason, it makes me nervous.
“To the left are the
kid’s rooms, the twins share one and the other has his own.” I pointed to a closed door, “That’s the
bathroom we all share.” I knock on it,
“Kerry, you in there?”
“Get lost
Raine!” An angry female called from
within.
I shrug, a smile crossing
my lips for a second, “If you need anything…”
“I said, GET LOST!”
I turned away. Ryan was smiling slightly, but when I looked
at him, it vanished. I headed down the
hall again, “That’s just the laundry room.
I hope you don’t mind sharing a room with Trevor. Kerry and I don’t get along, as you can
guess, so we don’t room together.”
Ryan didn’t respond,
I didn’t think he would. “This is my
room.” I gestured to the right, “That’s
Kerry’s room,” I point to the end of the hall, “and this is Trevor’s-and now
your-room.” I point to the left.
He nods and opens the
door. For a moment, I wonder where
Trevor is. But it’s not like I really
care. I opened my door and turned to go
inside.
“Raine?” It’s the first time Ryan has talked, I turn
to look at him. His eyes still look
angry, “Thanks.”
I can only nod. He goes into his new room before I enter
mine. I shut my door without looking at
the one across the hall again.
As I sit on my bed, I
question myself. Was that really anger
in his eyes? I guess I can never be
sure. I may never know.
I’m not hungry. I fall asleep on my bed, after staring at
the white ceiling for a few moments.
I hear someone enter
my room. Probably Kylie. I hear my name being whispered. But then the door shuts again and all is
quiet for the rest of the night. At
least, in the waking world…
~~~~~@~~~~~
There are four of us standing here. On this cliff. We look out into a black ocean and I can see dangers I never imagined before. I’ve been told of this black sea by someone…a very long time ago. I don’t remember who told me…or why I need to know about the black ocean. But there is something important here…something I can’t place my finger on.
I cannot make out the face…or sex…of the one who sings sad words,
“Drawn into this battle on a never ending journey.
We four bring down upon this Earth what is called the End.
But we four can bring a new Beginning.”
I feel myself join in, and hear the others also,
“We are the gods made human.
We are the mortals made forever.
We will Live.
We will Die.
And together we will rise and fall again.
We will know the End when it approaches us.
And may life’s Lord and Lady save all Earth’s souls…”
All of us stop for a moment…the wind is really strong. But we begin the sad song again, crying to the wind,
“We cannot stop what you bring, Dark Lady.
We cannot prevent your grand destruction, Dark Lord.
But we cannot stand by and watch it all fall away.
All that we have created
It will not go to waste.
And you will not hold us back when we unite again…”
I turn to look at the others, sad. I know them all, and yet I don’t. I feel that there should have been more of us, but there aren’t. We are all that’s left. I know that.
But left of what?
~~~~~@~~~~~
I woke with a start to a
ringing in my ears. I flipped over and
stared at my alarm clock. Then I hit it
with my pillow. The noise stopped.
I could hear the shower
being used already. I didn’t really
care. There was no school. I had plenty of time. I could sit and think about my dream…if only
I could remember it. All I could gather
was standing on a cliff with several people.
“Oh well.” I whispered just as a knock echoed on my
door. I called, “Yeah? What?”
Kylie stuck her head into
the room, “You ARE up! Aren’t you
hungry? You didn’t eat dinner last
night.”
As much as I couldn’t
stand little kids, Kylie was too cute to resist. I have to smile, “You bet I am.”
My stomach picked that time to growl, “Let’s go raid the kitchen.”
Her smile grew. She was darn happy that I was in a good
mood. But she was wrong. I’ve never been in a good mood. Not since before I can remember…
And I never really knew
why…