PROLOGUE
"Sometimes you're the one speeding along in a panic, doing too much, not paying attention, wrecking things you don't mean to. And sometimes life just happens to you, and you can't dodge it. It crashes into you because it wants to see what you're made of." - Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds
You're walking down the street one day, hating your life and angsting about the shitty midterm and how you failed. You're going home to half a dad, who hasn't been whole since your mom left and you're worrying about how much he's eaten that day, how you may need to talk to his doctor about his dosages, how his shitty doctor will look at you in this condescending way and the shitty doctor won't change his dosage. You're worrying about how if you fail this midterm you could potentially fail Government, and you need to pass Government to graduate. You're worrying about your stupid job as a carhop at inset-generic-drive-in-name-here and how the money you make won't be enough to pay for groceries for the two of you, because you miss work all the time and you're boss is on the verge of firing you anyways. You just want all this shit to stop, you want to be a teenage girl worrying about the cute boy in your Government class, finding your dream prom dress, and whether or not your favorite character is dead because the author left the last book on a cliffhanger.
You keep walking and when you reach the crosswalk, the crosswalk light is green and you start walking. You don't look, you never do. You hear people screaming, you look up and everything goes into cliche slow motion mode. All you see is this ugly lime green van barreling towards you at the speed of light, and you don't move. You just freeze, and for a moment time just stops and you're wishing. Wishing you told your dad you loved him this morning, wishing you tried harder to make him be happy, wishing you were a better daughter so your mom would've stayed and he wouldn't be alone, wishing for more time because dammit you aren't ready yet, you haven't done enough yet.
Everything is white, there's no searing hot pain like you read in the books. Just a shock of cold, like someone just dropped you in a bucket of ice. You can't move and the white is dizzying and endless. Your eyes burn from the afterglow and you feel light, like the air. You are surrounded by white nothingness for what seems like two seconds before the man in the suit appears in front of you and you have the strange thought that he looks like Morpheus. You burst out laughing and Laurence Fishburne lookalike doesn't really seem to care, he opens his mouth and his voice is light and airy which makes you laugh even harder.
"Tori Donavan, you have been officially chosen for the soul relocation program. I have been assigned as your escort."
At this you freeze. "S-soul relocation?"
"You are to be put through processing effective immediately."
"What? What does that even mean?"
Your setting has changed and you are now walking through a unending hallway of doors. He keeps his hand on your elbow and answers, "You were deemed eligible because of the unfair dealings in your early childhood and your untimely, unexpected death. Your soul or essence, so to speak, is to be transferred into another vessel, where you will be allowed to live your life as you so desire," We stop at a door and he gently nudges me through it, " Use your life wisely miss," and with that he closes the door and you are surrounded by an immediate darkness.
I rewrote the prologue because the first one sucked and I wasn't happy with it. So here is the new and improved version that is still really short but better too.
Edited: 10/29/2016
