Chapter One
A Precious Gift
Present day California)
In a field of green grass and yellow flowers, she laid looking up at the sky. She hears
footsteps coming toward her. She rises up and turns toward the sound. There stands the
boy she has seen many times before. He stands taller than her, with silver hair. His eyes
are a strange golden brown, his face is always serious, never smiling, with marks on each
side of his face, and a crescent moon on his forehead. His clothes were even stranger, it
looks like a white dress, with red on it in certain parts of the fabric, and a white fur
wrapped on his shoulder. He looks like a warrior, because of the sword attached to his
hip and the armor from shoulder to shoulder across his chest. He used to scare the girl,
but she has seen him many times and she has become less afraid each time. She stands up
facing him and looks at him. As she takes a step toward him, he brings his hand up for
her to halt. She looks into his face confusedly. He closes his eyes, then opens them slowly, "Flo…Flo…"
"Flo…Flo" said a motherly voice, "Flo…Flo…FLORENCE!" Flo shoots up out
of the bed, "Ma'am, what is it mom?" "School," she answered, "If you don't get a move
on, you'll be late again." Flo collapsed back onto her bed, thinking about the dream, she
thought, "What does it all mean? Who is the boy?" "FLORENCE…don't make me come
up there." She throws the covers off, "I'm up…I'm up…I'm up." She walks over to her
closet and opens the door. "BOOO!" shouted a dark figure. Flo let out a high pitch
screech, the door behind her shot open, which only made her scream again, and her
grandmother stepped into the room. "What is it? What happened?" The answered came
with a child's laughter. He temper rose to it's ultimately high, "Zack you little devil, I'll
kill you." Her little cousin shot out of the closet, "Auntie…Auntie…Auntie." Flo was
close on his heels, "Get back here you little creep." She tackled him to the ground and
started pounding him in the head. Her mother hearing the commotion, stepped from the
kitchen, "Not again," she ran to the two fighting, "Florence you let go of him this
instant." Her grandmother stood at the door, enjoying the entertainment. "Mother, aren't
you gonna help." She folded her arms and leaned against the door frame, "Nope, he is
overdue for a good asskicking." Her daughter just rolled her eyes and struggled to break
the two apart. Finally she got them apart, "Florence what is the matter with you? You
know he is smaller than you." Flo got to her feet, "You always taking his side. He is a
little brat who could get away with murder." "He is ten years old, you are eighteen, no
scratch that you will be nineteen tomorrow it is time for you to grow up." Flo ran to her
room, grabbed her uniform, (which was a navy skirt and white shirt w/ a blue blazer) got
dressed, grabbed her backpack, and went back down stairs. Zack was sitting in a chair
smiling, going unnoticed by her mother, but not her grandmother. Her grandmother
walked calmly over like she was gonna grab the milk, then she grabbed his chair and
flipped him out of it. "Owwww, Sonny you would have though all that fighting you did
would have woke you up." She smiled at Flo and she smiled back. She looked at her
watch, "Ahhh Man I gonna be late." Her mother held up a piece of buttered toast, "Told
you. See if you wouldn't have picked a fight with Zack you wouldn't be late." Flo
stopped and looked at her mother, "You told me to grow up. Well why don't you open
your eyes and tell him to grow up." She snatched the toast and ran out the door. Her
mother stared in disbelief, her own mother looked at Zack, "Go get ready for school." "I
don't have to mind you, you old hag," he said smartly. "Zachary Pensen, you don't show
disrespect toward your grandmother. Now get your ass upstairs and get dressed like she
said," she ordered. He ran up the stairs, she looked down at her mother, "Flo's right, I am
too easy on him. But every time I look at him I see Mack." Her mother wrapped her arms
around her, "He's not your brother. He's a badly disturbed little boy."
Flo walked with her head down, "She is always protecting him." In the distance
she heard the bell ringing. "Oh Shit," she aid as she took off running. She pulled on the
door, but it was locked. She ran to her class window and peeked inside. Mr. Menhindez
wasn't in there yet. She knocked on the window, "Tara…Sam…El…Kay." They all
looked at the window. El smiled and walked to the window, 'Late again Big Mamma
Tree," she said as she opened the window. Flo glared at her, "I told you once I told you a
thousand times, don't call me Big Mamma Tree." Tara and Kay went to the window to
help. Kay turned to their friend, Sam, "Toney Chop Chop, go keep a look out." Sam was
about to argue, but thought best to wait till Flo was in the classroom before she started.
She walked to the door and opened it a crack, "Ok the coast is clear." Flo jumped and
grabbed Tara and El hands. They started to pull her up, "Damn Flo how much you
weigh?" asked Tara. "Oh Shut up and just pull." Grunted El. "He's coming, he's
coming." Sam said. The three girls pulled as fast as they could. "Man, my shirt is caught,
I'm stuck." She pushed her friends," get back to your seats before you're caught." "Oh
now after we are involved, she decides to let us off the hook." said El sarcastically. "Stop
yammering and pull on the count of three." said Tara, "One…Two…" "Three," said Mr.
Menhindez. El, Tara, and Kay looked back at him. He had Sam by the shirt. "Late again I
see Ms. Florence." Flo smiled slightly, "Naw, just needed some fresh air." He laughed,
"Oh, with your back side out." The whole class giggled, but quickly silenced when Mr.
Menhindez gave them a stern look. He looked back at them as they pulled Flo into the
classroom. "You five will report to detention at the end of school today." "Yes, sir," they
said together.
"Detention is so boring," Kay said. "Well, it's not supposed to be fun," said El.
"Ok," said Mr. Melody. "Three hours are up." They gathered their things and ran out.
"Flo, if you do that again, I'll kill you," Tara said looking at her watch. "Shit I'm late for
work! Your house 1:00 tomorrow, I'll give you your present before I have to work." Tara
disappeared from sight. "Well we got to go bye Flo," said Kay. "Bye you guys," she said.
Flo walked into her house to find her grandmother at the table, "Come sit, I want to give
you your present early." Flo put her books down and sat in front of her grandmother.
"This belonged your great-great-grandmother," she said as she unwrapped the red scarf
to reveal a shard. "Your great-great-grandmother, Clareese, found his on her last journey
to Japan. The story behind it is that a young girl shattered a precious ball of some sort
into billions of shards. Many demons and humans were after the pieces all were found be
demons and humans alike, but one was never found. Three hundred years later your
grandmother discovered this in a root she tripped over. Taking it to a friend of her she
discovered it was from a skikon jewel. No one knows where the other pieces are. Your
great-great-grandmother passed it down to your great-grandmother, then passed it down
to me, and now I give it to you." Flo took the sacred jewel shard and put it around her
neck. "Wait a minute, did you say demons?" she asked. Her grandmother smiled, "I
didn't believe it at first either, until I did research on ancient Japan. There were many
demons and spirits over 500 years ago. There was a powerful priestess named Kikyo,
who protected the shikon jewel. One day, a demon called Inuyasha tried to steal the
jewel, but Kikyo trapped him to a tree with an arrow. Kikyo suffered from wound from
Inuyasha and died shortly after trapping him. After all of that, there was a girl who
shattered it, nothing else was ever told after that." Flo smiled. She loved her
grandmother's stories. Suddenly Zack walked in and saw Flo's necklace, "No fair you
old hag. I wanted that!" Her grandmother glared at Zack, "I wouldn't give you two dimes
to rub together." Zack was about to say something when Flo pounced on him. "Why you
ungrateful little heathen, I'll teach you some manners." She started by bending him over
her knees and whipping him and then popping him in the head. When she was done, she
pushed him to the ground, "Grandmother, I'm going for a long, long, long walk." With
that said she grabbed her coat and ran out into the night. She ran to her favorite spot, a
bridge in the middle of a park. She stood there looking down at the water and thought,
"The rugrat is out of control. If mom doesn't do something quick, who knows what will
happen." She heard a bell coming toward her. "Get out of the way!" Flo jumped back
against the side of the bridge. As the bike messenger passed, she lost her balance and fell
backwards off the bridge, but instead of hitting water she was floating in the air. Well it
seemed like, all she saw was purple all around her. Suddenly she started free falling in an
open sky. Panic took over her and she fainted into darkness.
Kay: The end
Flo: What are you doing?
Kay: Hey I typed this so I should say something.
Flo: Not my fault.
Kay: Is too. You type too slow. Any way people please review for this poor child.
Flo: Am not.