It's Friday afternoon. Leah's waiting for the end of eighth period, and the official start summer break. She's taping her pen against the desk with the rhythm of the clock and thinking, " Come on, come on, hit the 12 baby, come on!"
Finally. The sound of freedom rings. It's coupled with the sound of chairs scraping the tile floor and the teacher's call of "Have a great summer!" falls one deaf ears as they race each other down the hall and out the building. The usually bubble of talk and laughter that comes at the end of every day is doubled, even tripled as they talk about their summer plans, knowing they don't have to come back here for twelve full weeks.
Leah is one of the first students out the door. Down the hallway she can see her two best friends, Tom and Anna, waiting for her too arrive.
"What's up you guys?" She asks. The excitement in her voice apparent.
"The sky." Tom smirk's. Anna laughs behind him.
"Oh, your so very funny Tom. And so original too."
"I try"
"I'll bet" She says. Then, noticing something wrapped in Tom's hand, she adds, "Hoping to get the Christmas shopping done early this year?"
Tom blinks at her, obviously confused. "What are you talking about?"
She motions towards the package.
"Oh! Right." He says, smiling. "No, this is you late birthday present." He thrusts the gift towards her.
"Oh." She murmurs, clearly surprised. "Well thanks Tom." She smiles.
"And Anna. Don't forget Anna."
Leah laughs at her quirky friend. "Thank you too, Anna."
Her friend beams at her.
Leah shakes her head, toying with the ribbon tied on the front of rectangular box.
"Much as we would like to see the look on your face when you open you gift, we have to go. It's not worth seeing the look on our mothers faces when we miss the bus and are late coming home." Anna laughs. Tom nodding in agreement behind her. A smile on his face.
"Right, see you guys later."
"Bye" "Have a great summer." They chime, before heading for the bus lanes.
It was around then that Mr. Den came walking along the hallway. Seeing Leah, he smiled and strode over towards her. "Ms. Stars" he greets her, "here's something for the summer that may help you next year in English class." He said, handing her a book. A book that, although she didn't know it at the moment, would change Leah's life forever.
On the cover was a painted picture of two men sitting side by side under a large tree. The title read, "'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck."
Leah looks at it, turning around in her hands, then laughs merrily, "Oh Den, you haven't changed a bit, have you?"
He smiles timidly.
"How's college, Den? Any wild frat party's?"
"It's MR. Den to you, and college is going just fine. How's high school for you?"
"Oh, it's alright."
"Hmm.. is that so..?"
She nod's, fiddling with the watch clasped around her wrist.
That's how she noticed the time.
"OH CRAP! Sorry Den, gotta run, see ya around!" She rushes down the hall and out the door, hoping she didn't miss the bus.
Mr. Den waves as she runs out the door, then turns and walks the opposite direction.
-
As Leah rides the bus to the metro station, she thinks back to Den's and her conversation this afternoon in school. The bus pulls to a stop, and she jumps off, heading for the subway.
As Leah waits for the metro, her eyes wander over to a couple, a man and women, laughing. She starts to think about Den again, and why he doesn't have a relationship with anyone. She's jostled out of her thoughts by the train that arrives. And grabbing her school bag, she gets on and finds an empty place to sit down. Out of boredom, she takes out the book that Den had given her, and starts reading.
She's almost finished the book by the time the metro makes its final stop, her stop. Leah gets up as the doors open, and starts her journey walking home.
It's nearly six before Leah opens the front door to her house. She drops her bag in the living room and jogs upstairs.
Reaching her bedroom, she changes out of her school uniform and into a white-tee and blue jeans.
She falls across her bed, Den's book in her hand. Reading the last chapter, she closes it, and places it gently on her nightstand.
"That's not the ending I expected." She speaks out loud.
The talk of unexpected things reminds her of the present Tom and Anna got for her. She jogs downstairs to retrieve it. Entering her room with her discarded bag and present in hand, she sits cross-legged on the bed.
After carefully untying the ribbon around it, she rips the wrapping off. Inside is a book. She can tell it's an older one. It's title's, "THE WAY TO MAGIC!" She laughs to herself and says, "Hmmm, this may be interesting!"
Strangely enough, she gets the sudden urge to open to the last page in the book. Shrugging, she flips open to the back, thumbing though the extra pages until she reaches the last page. She begins to read.
"To thus hurt to then love; to utter these words is to bring happiness to this dead world that is called home, with it's hatred and sorrow. And to thus whom speak the words shall become, Goddess Rei of love and of life."
At first the words did not make any sense. She knew these words were a mystery, and was determined to figure out what the strange statement meant.
To save the world from being destroyed, you will be reborn as the goddess Rei of love and life.
She begins too feel a strange aura around her and in the room. The aura in the room begins to call to her.
Leah suddenly says, "I shall bring the earth out of the darkness, of hate, of sorrow, of pain, of anguish, and into a world with the warmth of light, to show the glory of hope to those who have lost their way, and thus let the angels show me the path."Then a light flashed through Leah and came straight out of her heart then too the book lying on her side-table. She then collapsed into a deep sleep.
-
Meanwhile, somewhere in a different time and place, a mysterious, yet handsome man walks through an office door. It is a very nice, dark office. Decorated in old Victorian English wood. In a huge black leather chair sits another man, quietly studying a document that sits open before him, resting on the stylish wood desk. On one side of the wall there are very large bookcases filled with mostly very old books, but occasionally one might find a current book stuffed amongst them.
Suddenly, the man in the office yells, "MY LORD! SHE HAS AWAKEN!" He hastily spins his chair around, his eye's filled with excitment. He watches the tall, dark man stalk forward.
The handsome man replies. "Excellent. Now, let the games begin!" A devilish smile splayed across his face.