Chapter 1
It was a normal day, the weather was cold and there was a slight wind, nothing out of the ordinary. Cassie was sat in her room, blankly brushing her dark hair. She glared at her reflection as the clock changed to 7:40am. She slowly put down her brush, finished packing her bag, and went downstairs. She'd decided long ago that her house had too many mirrors in, each one highlighting yet another flaw that had developed over the 15 years she'd been alive. Others might describe Cassie as pretty but she'd never seen it herself, and recent events had affected her low self-esteem to drop lower than it ever had been. She glanced out the window, a light rain had started but by the time she left her front door it had stopped, not that this mattered to her much; nothing much mattered to her anymore. Routinely she took her iPod out of her pocket, turned it up as loud as it would go and walked past the houses she ignored everyday. Staring at the floor, she pasted the various groups of friends she always did on her walk to school. She was relieved that she wouldn't need to do this walk for the next two days.
No one said a word to her; this was how it always went, silent walks, alone with her thoughts. Cassie looked up at the trees as she walked under them, the weather was still dark and the little light created a eerie shadow on the mud path she trod. She checked her watch as she neared the school gates. 8:00am. Early as per usual. She changed course and headed left, down one of the alleys between the houses that surrounded her school. He was there, like he always was. But this time it was different. There was no love in his eyes anymore. She slowly took her headphones out, put on a smile and, ignoring the whispers and doubts in her head, walked closer to him. He didn't look pleased to see her. Disappointment spread throughout her body.
"Hey." She greeted him.
"Hi." He replied blankly.
"How was your weekend?" Cassie said, struggling to make conversation.
"Okay, I spent it with Lucy."
Cassie's stomach flipped and memories flooded her head. She desperately clung to her smile, "Oh, that must have been fun."
"Yeah." He looked past her and a smile spread across his lips, "I have to go, see you in tutor." He rushed past her and she turned slowly to catch the tail end of a kiss between him and the beautiful Lucy. Her best friend.
Cassie turned away from the happy couple and walked round the corner. She had plenty of time before school and she couldn't take standing there with them two, friends or not. She slid down the wall and crouched against the fence. Less than a month ago she had been the one to receive the smiles, sad how situations change. A noise jolted her out of her nostalgic daydream. A torrent of voices overcame her and she clasped her ears trying to block it out. She's never use to understand this, but she eventually worked things out. She'd always heard the voices, she'd always had the dreams, like a strong dejavu that came to her at all hours, waking and sleeping. On many occasions she'd had a dream so vivid she was sure it was real, only to wake in her bed to have a day which was almost identical.
Slowly she'd realised though, as the nightmares became realities and the voices became a source of hidden lies and truths, she wasn't the ordinary bland Cassie everybody thought. Sometimes it got to her, mental breakdowns were a frequent thing with her and her friends had learnt not to question the odd behaviour, they accepted her. Lucy had been the best, always there; it was like she could understand her. She was her beautiful angel, Cassie looked up to her, she trusted her, and she loved her like a sister. She never thought she'd betray her.
It started with the voices. Cassie could normally control them, turn them on and off when she wanted to, but they had a mind of there own and when there was something they thought she should know, they'd tell her. It started with little snippets. A thought here, a truth there. Jack had been the one she'd loved for months. She'd fallen completely for him and had naively thought he felt the same. She enjoyed a blissful month of happiness before being crushed by the reality that he loved someone else. She heard in her head, the feelings they had for one another, she lived through a silent torment of not knowing what to do, sacrifice her life, for her friend and one she loved? She always knew what she'd choose. But it was chosen for her on new years day when the memories of the year news party the night before floated into her head, not her memories though, she had spent the night grounded at home, she looked around the room she had been in, there was only one person they could be coming from.
She shut her eyes, trying to stop the voice, the voice that was driving a knife straight through her already breaking heart. Jack and Lucy had spent the night together. The visual memory crept into her closed eyes. Her eyes sprung open with pain and betrayal. The two people she loved more than anything in the world. Tears welled in her eyes and anger brew in her shattered heart. Jack was awakened from the same memory Cassie was sharing by a sudden slammed door and a breaking light. Everyone turned to look at the glass lying on the floor, it had formed a misshapen heart and Cassie was nowhere to be seen.
Anger, pain and lost flooded Cassie's senses, how could she have been so stupid to have lost control that easily. It had ended that night. He said goodbye to there relationship seconds before embarking on the new one with Lucy. Cassie sat in her room, tears fading from her face as the numbness set in. She felt her already scarred arm and, as if she was in a walking nightmare, went into the bathroom, locked the door and turned on the shower. She needed to feel something, anything. The water transformed into a crimson river as she stood alone. She'd broken a promise, but this was the first time she didn't regret the cuts. She knew herself; she knew what the voices would have driven her too without some release.
Cassie's head and heart ached as she finally made her way into school, getting to tutor late. She silently walked in and took her place at the back. The same sinking feeling overcame her like it did every morning, the same routine was to come, lessons she hated with teachers who couldn't teach, break times full of thoughts she didn't want to hear, trips after school into the local town centre with friends she didn't know if she could trust. Cassie's gifts may make her unique, but the burden of the secret was overwhelming, she always felt alone, was she the only one with these powers out there? She'd never met anyone that resembled something similar to her. She'd watched all her friends, saying they were unique, different, there own person. Yet they had no idea of the loneliness that came with certain abilities.
Putting her life into perspective, what was good about it? She could stop terrible things happening, prevent hurt, except when it came to saving herself, there she was lost. She'd always resisted opening the door to the full extent of her skills, fearing the that it would make things worse, but she had nothing left to hold on to, she wanted to let go. She wanted to know why she was so alone, why she seemed to be the only person who could make things happen with just a thought or emotion.
Anna met her outside of her tutor room to walk to Biology.
"Hey, you look cheerful as always." Anna said sarcastically. Cassie glared at her.
"I'm perfectly happy, thanks."
"Yeah yeah," Anna dismissed, "Lets get going."
The first three lessons went quickly, Cassie barely noticed a thing, lost in her own world of fantasies, hopes, dreams and wonders. She sat at the lunch table, she didn't have to look to be able to see Jack and Lucy behind her. Lucy sat down next to her, perfectly pretty and smiling.
"Hello babe, I've hardly seen you all day! Where have you been hiding yourself?" Lucy said as she hugged Cassie. Cassie smiled and replied, "Being bored to death in lessons of course!" The girls laughed and started chatting about the after school plans. Cassie admired Lucy greatly; she seemed to be picture perfect. Her short blonde her was the opposite is Cassie's own long dark, almost black hair. Lucy walked with a elegance that only someone with an amazing body could achieve. Cassie could very much see why Jack would prefer the better model of the two best friends. Cassie's mind began to doubt her friend though, if she was her sister, one of the people she could always trust and rely on, how could she have betrayed her so? Cassie couldn't help herself, she concentrated her mind on Lucy's and unlocked what needed to be to gain access to ones hidden desires and secrets no one should hear. This was a breech of trust, Cassie understood that, and as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat…