Young Writers Society

A/N: I do not claim any publicly recognizable characters, ideas, or aspects of this story. They are the property of their respective owners. I do, however claim any original characters, ideas, and aspects of this story. Please read and review, I would love some feedback.



New York City, New York - June 5, 2014

An apartment in a middle-class neighborhood, a big-brother figure and his girlfriend for roommates, and a room dedicated to nothing but music. It was the closest it seemed she would get to living the life. She may not have broken into the music business, but Kira had found the next best thing. Writing lyrics, or anything else for that matter, was her passion. She wrote for a local paper, and was also in the process of getting her first book published. The publishing company had loved her idea of breaking it up into sections started by lyrics. The money may not have been enough for her life to be glamorous, but she lived comfortably, well as comfortable as middle-class could be in New York anyhow.

She sat her guitar to the side and picked up her old acoustic, she hadn't really played it much since high school, and the wear of the years was beginning to show. The years. She thought, could it have really been that long? She could hardly believe that she had been out of high school for ten years, and out of college for five and a half. Life was a blur now, and it only seemed to be moving by even more quickly. Getting to her feet, she placed the guitar back on its stand, and headed out of the room, and through the hall to the front room. She let herself fall back onto the couch and she reached for the remote on the end table. She grabbed it on the second try. She turned the television on and put it on her favorite music video channel.

She then tossed the remote over at the love seat and hit her roommate in the chest. He woke up and looked around, when he saw her he tossed a pillow at her and slowly got to his feet. "How late am I going to be today?" He asked as he was wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Only a minute or so if you hurry up, maybe your job wont even be threatened this time" Kira replied. She kept a serious face as she had said it, but couldn't help but break out in a grin. She knew Aiden's boss wouldn't fire him, there weren't exactly that many qualified engineers who would deal with his job, even with the decent salary and job security that Aiden had. At least she never had to worry about him getting his half of the rent in. Kira glanced up to see Aiden pulling an old t-shirt over his head.

"You need the car, or do you mind if I take it, I don't feel like waiting out a cab?" He questioned.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Take it, I don't mind taking a cab if I need to go anywhere" She replied, and then added "So when is Rory getting off?" Kira needed to go shopping some time, but she always made sure that Rory was with her, so that one trip would supply what everyone would need.

"4:30 or 5:00 I think" He replied as he walked out the door. Kira nodded slightly and then rested her head back on the couch arm. She had time. Suddenly a pile of letters slammed into her lap.

"Mail call!" Aiden yelled before leaving once more. Kira could hear him laughing and if he hadn't have already closed the door she probably would have chucked something at his head. He could be such a pain in the ass sometimes. She didn't waste her time to see what everything was, she just sorted them by name, got to her feet, and tossed them on the kitchen counter.

While she was up she grabbed the phone and hit speed dial number 3, her favorite pizza place. She was not in the mood to cook, and she knew that Rory would be hungry when she got in, so she ordered two small pizzas, their favorites. Once the order was in she tossed the phone to the side and hopped up on the counter. She leaned against the cabinets and closed her eyes. She hummed softly for a while. The next thing she knew she felt someone shaking her. She looked up to see Aurora, her other roommate.

"How in the hell could you fall asleep up there, it can't be comfortable?" Rory questioned as Kira stretched and wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"I have no clue, did you catch the pizza guy?" Kira replied as she hopped down from the counter, nearly falling flat on her face in the process.

"Yeah, he was about to leave when I got here" Rory said as she tossed an envelope to Kira. "You might want to open that, it looks important" Rory said. Since she hadn't caught the letter, Kira bent over to grab it from the floor.

"Probably a bill" Kira said and was about to lay it back down until the address of the sender caught her eye.

It was from Reefside. She looked at the front of the envelope more closely and saw that it was from her former teacher, Tommy Oliver. It also had READ IMMEDIATELY written in bold across the front. She went ramrod straight immediately. Could it be something to do with a ranger issue? Would she have to go back to yellow spandex yet again? She tore it open, and as she read the tear stained letter and attached newspaper clipping, she began to shake.

Everything fell from her hands to the floor and she slid slowly down to the floor, resting her head back on the bottom of the counter. No, this can't be, it can't be. She thought as tears began to stream down her face. Rory was beside her now, picking up the letter and the rest of the contents of the envelope.

"Kira, what's wr-" She began, until her eyes fell to the clipping in her hand. "Kira I'm so sorry" She said and hugged the still shaking Kira, trying to console her.


Los Angeles, California - June 5, 2014

Soccer balls flying through the air, the smell of the freshly cut grass on the field, and a large group of kids having the time of their lives. A smile was fixed on Conner's face as he watched the drills.

"Remember, use the side of your foot Tristan" He called to a teen running nearby.

"Alright Coach McKnight!" The boy called. Conner shook his head slightly.

No matter how long that he had been coaching the teams at the soccer camp, he still hadn't gotten used to being referred to as coach. It didn't bother him though, it actually made him feel important. Even more importantly, he was making a difference in these kids' lives. That was what really mattered.

"Hey McKnight, how are they looking?" Another coach, now approaching him, called.

"Pretty good, they've really improved since last year. With plenty of practice, they should have the tournament in the bag this year." Conner replied as he reached out to shake the man's hand.

It was Jonathan Tyler, the Senior Counselor and Head Coach for the camp. Conner had a great deal of respect for the man. They spoke for a while longer, and then John was off to run drills with the younger kids. The day seemed to fly by, and he could hardly believe it was actually four in the afternoon, until he glanced down at his watch. He blew his whistle and watched as the players stopped and crowded around him.

"That's good for the day guys, head to the showers, and then go to the front of the camp to be picked up, get a good night's rest and I'll see you tomorrow." He told them, and then started towards the main building when the teens departed.

"Coach!" He heard from over his shoulder. He saw a short, sandy-haired boy that looked early in his teens running to catch up with him.

"Yeah Drake?" Conner asked.

"Are there going to be any extra practices this week?" The boy asked. Conner thought for a moment.

"No, but there will be next week" He said and turned back around once Drake had walked off.

It didn't take him long to jog to the building and make it in time to grab his clothes out of his locker, shower and change, then head out before the janitor showed up. He was, as usual, the second-to-last to leave. He hopped into his car and punched the gas once he was out on the main road. He was careful to stay just inside the speed limit. He didn't feel like dealing with a speeding ticket at the time. It was a bit of a ride from work to home, but it was worth it. He pulled into the driveway, and parked the red convertible in the garage. Once he was in the house he heard a voice calling for him.

"You finally here?" She asked. Conner smiled and walked into the kitchen, wrapping Krista in his arms and giving her a kiss. Now, he thought that it had been exactly three and a half years since he had really been to Reefside. That was when his wedding had been, and it had been the last time he had really gotten together with his former teammates. My wedding. He thought, it was hard to believe that out of them all that he was the first to 'settle down'. He enjoyed it though, Krista was really the only person he could ever dream of being with. He could hardly remember now how different that they had been when they were in high school.

"Earth to Conner, your food is going to burn if you don't let me go" She said in a half-serious, half-mocking voice.

He smiled softly and shot her an apologetic look as he let her out of his hug. He crossed the room and sat down at the table. He picked up the newspaper, and sifted through it until he found what he was looking for. The sports section. He looked over the scores of the recent games, and read a couple of the articles that caught his eye.

"Hey, you know the drill, get over here and get your plate, I'll cook for you, but I'm not going to let you get lazy by fixing your plate too." Krista called, smiling and giggling slightly as she sat at the chair next to his with her own plate. He grinned over at her and made his way over to the food. He fixed his plate and was soon at Krista's side once again.

"Anything interesting happen today?" He asked as he brought the first bite of his steak up to his mouth. He chewed as she replied.

"Not really, an intern got sacked." He nodded while he ate, and he spied a stack of mail on the corner of the table.

"That today's?" He asked, pointing over at it. She nodded and he reached for it. He casually glanced over it, until one envelope in particular caught his eye. It was addressed to him, and it was from Tommy. What really drew his attention were the bolded words READ IMMEDIATELY on the front. He opened it quickly, and earned a paper cut from his efforts. He stopped the bleeding, and then read the letter, that was obviously tear stained, and the accompanying news clipping. He swallowed hard and his hands began to shake, he tried to steady them, but they wouldn't stop. He couldn't, and didn't want to, believe what he was reading.

"Conner?" Krista called, as she took his hand, steadying it. He couldn't speak, so he passed her the newspaper clipping. She gasped and got up, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest.

"How could this, why did this?" She was at a loss for words. Conner pulled her closer to him and held her tight, trying futilely to stop the tears threatening to pour from his eyes.


Chicago, Illinois - June 5, 2014

The room was dark, but the illumination from the monitors made Ethan's desk visible. His fingers were like lightning flying across the keyboard. Hacking professionally, or at least that's how he thought of it. In his teen years he would never believe that he would find himself working for the FBI. However, before his senior year he would never have believed that he would have had a part in saving the world either. Sometimes life surprises you. He knew this well, and enjoyed every minute of it.

"Got it!" He announced triumphantly as he finally made it past the last set of codes to break to gain access to where the government needed it. This outburst caught the attention of an agent who had been shuffling through papers a few minutes earlier.

"Already?" Was all the agent had to say as he came up and perched himself to the side, just close enough to view the monitor.

"It wasn't that tough to crack, that case last month, now that was hard." Ethan commented as he maneuvered through the files that he had now gained access to.

"So what was it that you needed?" He asked, they hadn't given him so much as a reason to gain entry to the protected files, and he was curious.

"If you can just send copies of everything to Quantico, and to me, I'll let you know when we're sure." Was all he got in reply. This was nothing new. The agents didn't tend to divulge much about cases with the 'techies'. He just nodded, sent the copies, and saved one to the drive, as usual.

He then glanced at the time in the corner of the screen, and began to shut the computer down. He picked his own personal laptop up from the other end of the desk, and packed it into its case. It wasn't much longer before he was headed down the halls, and then out the door. He climbed into his car, tossing his things into the passenger's seat, and headed towards his home. Well, his apartment anyways. It wasn't much of a drive, living close to work was convenient for him. Once he had pulled into his regular spot, he was in the front room of his apartment within minutes.

The only thing that he had bothered to bring in, was of course his laptop. He never left it in the car, he had learned his lesson soon after moving to Chicago. That's when his last laptop was stolen. He glanced over at the answering machine to see it flashing. He had expected this. It was probably Mia. She usually left a message waiting for him. They had been dating for about a year and a half now, and things were going pretty good. She was smart, beautiful, and thought the world of him. How much luckier could he get? He punched the play button, and listened. He had been right.

"Ethan, I'll be back in town tonight, call me when you get this, and we can meet up somewhere to grab a bite to eat." She had said. Picking up the phone, he pushed the speed dial with her number, and hit call. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Mia, where to?" He asked. He wasn't very picky when it came to food, and what she picked was generally good with him.

"Hmm... how about pizza, I've been stuck at fancy dinners all week, I just want something simple" She replied. They spoke a few minutes longer, and then he was changing. He threw on clean clothes, and was out the door once again. He grabbed the mail out of his box, tossed it in the front seat of his car, and then he was off.

They met at their favorite pizza place, and ordered a medium pizza to split. On her half was pepperoni with extra cheese, and on his was the works, nearly everything but anchovies and pineapples.

"What's that?" Mia asked, pointing to a letter on the top of the stack of mail that he had brought in with him. He had been waiting for a letter from his mother, and wondered if that's what had caught Mia's attention. As he glanced down, his attention was caught by the bolded words, READ IMMEDIATELY. A look up at the sender's address told him that it was from his former teacher and teammate, Tommy Oliver. He opened carefully, holding it close to him in case it had any mention of the rangers.

He read the tear-soaked letter, and the accompanying news clipping. His jaw dropped, and his stomach tightened. He was no longer hungry. No, it can't, I can't believe, I wont He thought, unable to form a coherent thought, much less speak. He was unaware of the tears now running down his cheeks, but Mia wasn't. She quickly moved from the seat across from him to the one beside him. She didn't overwhelm him with questions, or force herself closer. She just took his hand and let him lean over on her. He was in a state of shock, and he wished more than anything that what he had just read could be a lie.


Miami, Florida – June 5, 2014

The pencil was scratching against the pad quickly. He was intent on finishing the sketch, and there wasn't much more to go. As he came down with the last stroke, he stared down at his newest piece. A happy-go-lucky face stared up at him. Trent may not have been putting his things in galleries, but he was doing pretty well for himself.

His latest project had been in the works for the last few years. His agent had found some of his drawings of the dino rangers, and loved them. That worked its way into his latest project, a comic series. In this series, he told an altered version of the goings on in Reefside. Of course he started out after the rangers had gotten their powers, and changed many personal aspects of himself and his former teammates. Their identities were still secret, and he would keep it that way. However, when it got to the big picture, he used mostly the truth.

The actual events that had taken place in his senior year were far more interesting than anything that he could ever come up with. To say his newest venture was a hit would be an understatement. He was even getting offers to turn his comic into a cartoon series, where he would be doing much of the animation of course. This offer had truly peaked his interest, and he was close to accepting it. Sighing he put the pencil down, and got to his feet. He opened and closed his hand trying to work out the cramp that he had finally noticed. Those were nothing new. If he spent long enough drawing, his hand would cramp. It was uncomfortable, but not entirely intolerable.

Walking through the short hall and into the kitchen, he made a beeline for the refrigerator. He grabbed something to drink out of the door, popped the tab on the soda, and sipped at the cool liquid. He had lost track of time while he was drawing, and it was later than he thought it was. A knock on his door caught his attention and he walked from the kitchen to the door, and opened it. On his step was his agent. He was grinning, and had a briefcase in his hand. Trent rolled his eyes and stepped out of the way to let the man in.

"So, what's new today Mark?" He asked as he headed towards the living room. He took a seat on the couch and Mark sat in the recliner.

"We're close to signing that deal, it shouldn't be long before you can get cracking on some animation" The short man said excitedly. He looked as if would spring from the chair and dance at any moment. Trent was unable to stifle the chuckle that escaped him.

"What?" Mark inquired, Trent just shook his head.

"So when do I have to have the new issue finished?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Within the next two weeks." Mark replied. He nodded and picked up the remote. He turned the television on, but muted it.

"Are you close to being finished?" Mark asked.

"Near half way" Trent commented. Then Mark's cell phone went off. Trent directed his attention to the still muted TV while Mark answered it. The sound of Mark clearing his throat brought Trent's attention away from the movie that was playing silently and back to their conversation.

"Well, I've gotta run, another meeting coming up." Mark announced. They said their goodbyes, and Mark left. Trent walked back to the couch and sat down, this time turning the TV volume on. One of his favorite movies, Major Payne, was on.

He wasn't a military buff, but the movie was hilarious. Damon Mayans was always a riot. His own phone soon went off, and he answered it on the fourth ring, not bothering to check the Caller ID.

"Hello?" He said. Brief silence on the other end was followed by a familiar voice.

"Hey man, where are you?" It was Brian, a friend of his that worked on the comic with him.

"Home, I just finished a new sketch for the next issue. What do you mean where am I, was I supposed to be somewhere?" Trent replied. He heard an impatient sigh on the other end, and then Brian continued.

"Not exactly, but I figured you were gonna come to the, never mind, I got to go, if you can, call me later." Trent shook his head and said goodbye before hanging up. He glanced over at the clock, and decided to go check the mail. He was expecting a new edition of his own favorite comic in today. He got to his feet and headed out the front door. He didn't find the comic in the mailbox. However, something else did catch his eye.

He returned in to the house, and laid all of the mail except for a single letter on the coffee table. On the front of it, in clear bolded letters, were the words READ IMMEDIATELY. It was from Tommy. Trent knew that it must be something important, so he opened it quickly. He first scanned the tear-dampened letter, and then the newspaper clipping.

"No" The sound was barely audible as his throat nearly closed up. He closed his eyes, hoping to be imagining things, and then opened them once more. There would be no such luck. It was still there in black and white, and he couldn't help but dissolve into tears that he had tried so hard to hold back.





Reefside, California – June 5, 2014

Tommy was still in a surreal state. He stared at the paper for what seemed like the millionth time. The cops had finally allowed him to go home. She was gone, he just couldn't believe that she was gone. Hayley had been the closest thing to a sister that he had ever had. He could talk to her about nearly anything, and she never judged him. When he saw her body lying there the day before, he nearly passed out. He tried everything he could to bring her back, though according to the coroner she had been dead for hours before his arrival.

He didn't want to believe it. It took every fiber of his being the night before to write the letters to his former teammates and send them off on priority next-day shipping. He knew that every letter was stained with the tears that seemed like they had no end. He was sure that if he wasn't so close to dehydration at the moment, he would still be crying. She was his best friend. He had become even closer to her than he had been with Jason.

The thought of her no longer existing tore him apart. He half-expected to see her barge in and lecture him about never locking his door at any moment, though deep down he knew that that would never happen again. He sat there for a while before getting up to get a bottle of water. Once he had made his way back to his seat, he just stared out the window. That's when his phone began to ring. He opened it, and forced himself to talk. It looked like the team had started getting the letters.