"I put the horses up. Need anything else Uncle Jasper?"
An older man with graying hair who had been hunched over the engine of an old car turned to her.
"You could light me a few lamps Melissa, the electricity went out again."
She nodded and retrieved a lighter from the tool shelf, using it to light a few oil lamps scattered around the shed.
"Still working on that old car?"
Her uncle laughed, his southern draw dragging out his words. "This is a 1966 Chevy Camero thank you, not just an old car."
"I know. I've helped you work on it."
"Just pickin' on ya. So how's school been treatin' ya?"
"Fine I guess. I have a big test after spring break ends and I kind of want to study out in the field before it gets dark."
"Oh…ok then. If ya wanna work on the car later…"
"We will, don't worry."
She stepped out of the shed and sighed, going to retrieve her backpack from the house. Sophomore year was turning out to be a real pain and she couldn't wait for it to be over. Especially since she didn't have any friends…
It wasn't like she couldn't make any. She was pretty, with waist length straight auburn hair and sparkly blue eyes. She never wore glasses or had bad acne and she was in shape, average height and thin. No, the real problem was she was rich.
Melissa Abagail Cartwright had money coming out of her ears. Her mother was the CEO of a company after all, so she was loaded. That didn't mean anything to her though…she just wanted friends that liked her for more than her money, and at the awkward age of sixteen not many people could look at her without seeing a giant green dollar sign. The ones that didn't were usually the ones who started rumors about her and made fun of her.
Grabbing a black backpack she exited her uncle's house and headed up a path she had walked hundreds of times to a spot on the hill she always went to sit. Without a father to turn to she found herself looking up to his brother, her uncle Jasper. When her father disappeared he stepped up as her father figure and she could never thank him enough for that. She must have been three when he walked out and vanished.
Taking a seat on an old fallen log she looked out over the Texas landscape. She loved her uncle's ranch so much. It may be dry and full of snakes but it was her refuge from the world. Here she wasn't "Little Miss Cartwright" or an awkward, lonely high school girl. Here she could relax and watch the sun vanish over the horizon without thinking about how her mother was never home, or how her sister was a stuck up attention loving snob. Here she could be at peace.
Until it got windy again. The gusts kicked up harsher than usual and sweept a layer of thick dirt over the landscape. She came here many times a year, so often she could practically see the erosion happening around her. Like how that old dead trees roots were showing, glittering in the high noon sun.
Except roots don't glitter in the sun.
"What the…"
Melissa walked cautiously up to the tree, the dead ashen thing barely managing to hang on to the soil on the end of the cliff. Something silver was shining between its old, brittle roots.
"A bracelet?"
She grabbed the small piece she could see and tugged it, causing the tree to wretch loose from the soil and tumble over the cliff. She leapt back as the ground became unstable to a safer distance and inspected her find.
It was a large silver ring with what looked like a sizable ruby at its center. It was way too big to be a bracelet, and Melissa thought it may fit on someone's head like a circlet or something.
"Heh…Ironic the rich kid finds something that looks priceless instead of someone who deserves it."
She placed it on her head, the gem setting in the center a little below her hairline. Tilting her head upwards the sunlight caught the gem and she could see the brilliant, colorful light it reflected.
Her awe turned into a scream as the blinding light engulfed her in a flash that left her surrounded by darkness.