Okay! Before we begin! I want to mention that I had written this before on here, however I wasn't happy with how it turned out. Sooo, I deleted it. SO, now one year later (Or more, I dunno heheh), I'm fixing it up. I developed our main heroine a bit more. I've been working on my writing skills too. So, hopefully, this one will come out much better! Fingers crossed everyone!

And with that, I leave you to "Who Knew?"

-NotFocused

Listen very, very closely, understood? I didn't ask for this to happen, I didn't want it to happen. As they say, ignorance is bliss. However, my bliss ended quickly and painfully. Life isn't fair and I learned that the hard way.

I suppose I should introduce myself now, huh? After all, you're going to be riding this ride with me and trust me, this is a long, long ride.

Where to begin…let's see…

My name is Ashley Lockhart, I'm 20 years old. I'm very headstrong, I speak my mind when I feel my opinion is worth hearing. I grew up in a big city, however, I spent my childhood playing in the apartment my mother and I lived in. I wasn't very popular with the other children, per say. I had one friend, her name was Val. My mothers family wanted nothing to do with us, I figured it was because of me, really. I didn't even know my dad growing up, thinking on it now, I wish I never met him.

That's all you need to know for now. Let's jump in, yeah?

It was a very cold, very rainy Tuesday morning. I was curled up in some blankets on the couch. My mother left about an hour ago, she wished me a happy birthday, kissed my forehead and told me that she loved me and that we needed to talk that night.

I had kept my eyes shut, but I could feel her tired brown eyes look at me one more time before she left the apartment.

Soon after, she made her way out of the apartment building and on her way to work.I didn't think anything of it at the time, but looking on it now, I know exactly why she made sure to look at me one more time.

I layed in my cocoon of blankets for a little longer, then out of the blue someone starts banging on the door. I shot open my eyes and death glared the door. "Ashleyyyyy, I know you're up!" I heard an oh-so-familiar voice yell out.

That voice belong to my childhood best friend, Val. You know, the one I mentioned earlier? Yeah, we're still best buddies.

"Let me sleep, woman!" I yelled out, pulling a blanket over my head.

"I came all the way here and my supposedly best friend won't open the door for me." Val faked a hurt tone of voice and I could just see her making an overly dramatic face.

(I seriously bet our neighbors thought we were crazy.)

"Just look under the mat." I tried to suppress laughter as I got up from the couch.

I heard Val wiggle the key in and unlock the door as I stretched from sleeping on the couch.

"And she lives!" Val announced up opening the door and seeing me standing there waiting for her.

"Ah, shut up." I yawned, watching Val take off her jacket.

"It sure is cold out there, you know." Val hung her jacket on the coat hanger and gave me a hug.

"I suspect it is." I hugged her back.

I ran my fingers through my messy bedhead, I really needed to brush my hair.

"You look good." Val looked at me up and down. I was wearing a baggy t-shirt and some shorts. (That's certainly something I miss being able to do. You can't find a good pair shorts where I'm at.)

"Thanks. Why don't you just get yourself some food and I'll get dressed?" I put my hands on my hips waiting for Val to answer as she thought it over.

"Yeah, alright. You get dressed, miss sleepy head. I'll make breakfast for both of us and then we're heading to my place." Val patted my shoulder and marched herself to the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes jokingly and walked to my bedroom. I switched on the light and looked around, time to find some clothes.

The bedroom light flickered, I made a mental note to change the lightbulb later.

After a bit of looking through my dresser and closet, I settled on a pair of good 'ol navy blue jeans, a pink t-shirt, a light grey jacket and some black flats.

"Good as it's gonna get." I looked at myself in mirror. My hair was still a mess, so I brushed it quickly before walking out of my room.

As soon as I walked out of my room the smell of eggs and toast wrapped and my nose. I hadn't realized just how hungry I was. I made my way to the kitchen and pulled out a chair for myself.

As I sat down, Val plopped a plate on the table for me. "Eat up, we're leaving when you're done!" Val sat across from me with her own plate with this big grin that spelled nothing but trouble. While eating we talked about what I'd be doing for my birthday, about how we had been after not seeing each other for a week and other stuff. Nothing much, just catching up, as friends do.

After we finished eating, we left the apartment and starting making our way to her Dad's. You see, Val's parents divorced when we were 11 or so. Val lives with her dad, but visits her mom a lot. Now, her parents are nice people, just not with each other.

"Stop walking so fast, will yah?" I started walking faster to keep up with Val. A fast one she was.

"Oooor, you could stop walking so slow?" Val countered with a little giggle in her voice.

"...I am not slow." I sped up and eventually caught up with her. Which, I only caught up because we were on the curb waiting for it to turn red so we could cross the street.

Green light

Cars sped by fast, everyone seemed to be in a hurry today.

Yellow light

Cars at the light started to slowed down, but other cars kept on speeding.

Red light

The cars came to a stop.

"Alright! Let's go!" Val started walking across the street, I followed of course.

Val walked onto the curb and turned around to face me.

I was a couple steps from the curb when the worst thing happened.

"Ashley! Watch out!" I heard Val scream, but all the noise was silencing out as I turned to see a car racing towards me.

My eyes widened in terror and shock, time seemed to have slowed down. I looked at Val and just as I was getting ready to run onto the curb, I got hit.

That car ran right over me. It only hurt for a little though, I felt the very life being squeezed out of me. You want to know what death feels like? Painful, very painful. But, soon very peaceful. I felt at at peace.

You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes before you die? It happened and the last person who came to my mind was my mother. Her brown eyes and black hair. Grey hair was starting to form at her roots, but my mother wasn't old. I never saw her as old.

I felt tears roll down my cheeks as I breathed out what I thought was my last breath. I fell into a deep sleep, that I shouldn't have woken up from.

Soon, the most amazing thing happened.

I opened my eyes.

I opened my eyes and I was breathing. There was a catch though, my head hurt like hell and I couldn't remember anything. Well, I remembered the basics of who I was. My name, age and the day I was born. What year was it? 19...19...no...18? No… I couldn't remember anything else.

Images and noises flashed inside my head, a scream, glass breaking, bones crushing, tears, darkness, and finally light.

I looked around the room, I was in a bed. This bed was really soft, softer than anything I had touched before. The room was dimly lit by a candle.

I slowly sat up, my head started hurting more. I lifted my hand to touched my head, and what I felt wasn't my skin.

I felt around my head to figure out what was wrapped around it. …Bandages? Why were there bandages on my head? What was today? How long had I been out? Where was I? What time was it?

So many questions circled around my head. I couldn't understand.

Suddenly, I heard a light knock on the door and when I didn't answer, the door slowly creaked open.

"She's awake, she is!" A woman wearing a uniform had walked in, I was assuming she was the maid. She was certainly dressed like one, although, it was a little old looking, the style, not the dress.

She has this big smile on her face, she seemed happy to see me awake, maybe I know her?

"How're you feeling, deary?"