Young Writers Society

- Preface -

I grew dizzy. I grew horribly, horribly light-headed. Dazed… Faint… Unsteady… It felt as if the world were tipping sharply as I lay on the white-sheet bed. Underneath me, the floor whirled. Around me, the walls twisted. I felt as though I was in a torpedo. The bed seemed to wither beneath me, shrink away… The muscles around my eyes tightened into a slit, and my vision narrowed.

A musical chime tinkled in my mind… A haunting, forever-lasting chime, that seemed to go on, and on, and on. The chime was ever present. It dwelled in my mind, and I recognized it. I remembered it. Had it been, when I was a small child, that I had heard it? It’s tiny, almost fragile sound appeared like a fairy floating around the room.

Then, it struck me, as the bed faded away; it was the sound of the apparitions in the celestial sphere. Mother had told me about them, when I was only a girl. She told me, that someday, she would belong to them. She would be gazing down at me, observing my each and every action. She would watch over me and guard me, like an angel glowing in the cool night air.

I tried to remember the word she had told me for it… The word. Ah, it was a ghostly word, a word that sent chills down my spine. As the room circulated around me, I tested my knowledge, but the word would not come to me. My remembrance was unreliable at the moment. I could not comprehend. I could visualize the word, I could sense the feelings of it. It was quite haunting.

The room grew so cramped, that I could hardly breathe. The straining muscles in my neck tightened, and I tossed my head furiously. My toes curled, and the bones in my fingers bulged so far out of my skin, I feared they would almost break out. The large vein in the middle of my forehead protruded, as if ready to burst. I could feel my throat vibrate. Am I screaming?

The chiming suddenly grew louder. It had startled me, alarmed me. A vision came to me of a man’s broad fingers shaking a bell violently. The sound of the bell matched the chime. The chime was so loud; it pierced at the drums of my ears.

My red hair flew over my face, and I was whiplashed forward.

The chime stopped, and the white room inhaled me.

Everything went black.







- Chapter One -



The woods are pleasant by day, and frightful by night. I put on my flats and my pea coat, grab my old leather shoulderbag from the hook on the door, and the screen door slams behind me as I walk into the frigid morning air. It is beautiful outside. White clumps of snow that stick to the tall trees contrast against the dark bark, and the sun blinks through the branches. The furry snow on the forest floor glistens and sparkles. I am at peace.

The snow crunches beneath my flats as I weave around the trees to Woltman High School. School is only a mile away, and I don’t mind walking. I walk every morning, rain or snow. It’s one of the many things that keep my heart pumping.

As I near the newly-shoveled sidewalk that leads up to the main entrance of the building, I remove my shoulderbag slung around my neck, digging hurriedly inside for a notebook.

I have thought of a new word to add to my list of beautiful words.

Glide.

I jot it down between the blue lines of the white paper, under a few other words. An awkward line staggers across my paper as someone bumps against my shoulder. “Woah, watch it!” I say. I turn around, and see my best friend, Jona.

“Blaze, settle down. It’s me!” Jona pulls her long dark brown braid to the side of her neck. She strokes it carefully, trying not to ruin the position of the lovely rolls in her hair.

“I’m so sorry, Jona. What’s up?” I say, tucking my pen behind my ear. I blink and look at her, and she bites her lip. “Jona, please tell me Reese didn’t dump you for the fourteen-hundredth time.”

“No, it’s not that.” She glances at her surroundings cautiously, making sure no one is in the auditory range of our conversation. She steps closer, puts her gloved hands around her mouth, and whispers a secret. “You… Can’t… Catch me.” She grabs my notebook from my hands, and sprints through the woods.

“Jona!” I scream, kick off my uncomfortable flats, and sprint through the freezing snow barefoot. Cold pierces at my toes, but I don’t mind. Jona tears through the trees. She stops at the river, and holds the notebook over the edge. I shake my head and glare at her. “If you do drop it, you won’t be seen tomorrow. I promise.”

Jona giggles and tucks it under her coat. “Only if you promise to wear a dress to the Woltman High Dance next week Friday.”

“That book is full of words I could use against you. And plus, I’m not going to the dance. Remember? My mom gets her tests next Friday night.” I look at my cold toes, and then glance up at her. She is blushing and looking down.

“But, then it will only be Gabriel and I. And two out of three girls equals sad Jona. Because Jona’s best friend Blaze won’t be there, and won’t wear a dress, and, and… Jona will be sad.” Her eyeballs stick out, and she tips her head downwards, looking up at me. She sticks out her lip, and flutters her eyelashes.

I walk up to her and rip the notebook from her grasp inside her coat. “Well zero out of one mom would equal sad Blaze. I’ve got to be there with her for her tests. You know that, Jona. I’m the only one she has left.”

I try not to let my emotions run out of my eyes, but the woods seem foggy as I start to walk back. I’m crying because my toes are freezing. I’m crying because my toes are freezing. I lie to myself.

But I know that isn’t the truth.

I’m crying because I know those tests will remain cancer positive, just like they’ve been for the past four years.