The move/The Strange Dream

"Hello!?" a voice echoes through the darkness, "Is any one there?!" A young girl looks around in the darkness to see if there was any sign of another person or light shining in the distance. She runs with no clue as to where she was heading. She tries to call out but it felt like something was suffocating her. Her running is stalled as a massive force bombards her. She falls to the ground, or whatever she was standing on, as some sort of pressure crushes her to nothing.

Suddenly, two figures appear in the distance calling out to the girl, "Ann Marie," a distant voice says, "It's time to come home." The girl struggles to reach the two figures but the pressure won't let her move an inch.

"I'm coming," she says. But the figures begin to fade. "Wait! Don't go!" she calls. As the pressure becomes too much for her to bear, she wakes up.

Ann Marie jolts back to reality and realizes that she unconsciously let her guard down. If she let it get too far it would kill her. She had fallen asleep in the field behind her family's cottage. It was late summer, early autumn so the air was very humid. The wind was gently blowing as she sat up, focusing on the energy she let slip to make it safe before she heads home. A gentle breeze blew across the field, fluttering her raven black her in her face. After the energy disappears, she stands up and brushes blades of grass off her skirt and walks back to the cottage. She smiles as she remembers that today was her fifteenth birthday. She almost skips back to her parents.

"I'm back, mama," Ann Marie calls after she enters.

Abigail was a short woman of 5'4" standing at the fireplace, her light brown hair falling out of the bun on the top of her head. She turns her sky blue eyes to her daughter, "Your papa will be home from work soon," she says with a gentleness only a mother would have for her child, "I need you to help me make dinner before he gets here." she waves her wand to get the cake out of the stone oven and prepared the frosting. Ann Marie went to wash up before setting the table.

Outside, the sound of wind blowing could be heard and, if you weren't a witch or wizard, you would have thought it was just the wind. But Ann Marie and her mama knew it was papa, Frank Huntington, flying home from a long day at work on his broomstick. The doors open and walks in a towering man of 6"7'. He was in his late forties and it showed with his receding hairline and graying hair, but you could tell that he once had a full head of dark brown hair. Glasses sat perched on the end of his nose. His green eyes shone with wisdom beyond his apparent age and the energy of a child. He takes his hat off and places it in its usual spot next to the door.

"Papa!" Ann Marie squeals as she hugs her father, "How was work?"

"Hey!" Abigail says with mocking offence, "That's my line, little miss."

"I'm not little anymore," Ann Marie says with a pout. She turns her dark purple eyes on her mother.

"No?" Frank asks with feign surprise, "if you're not little anymore, then does that mean you're not my little girl anymore?" he says, faking tears.

"I'll always be your little girl, papa," she hugs her father.

"Well," Abigail interrupts, smilling, "little girl or not you can't get out of helping around the home," she waves her wand again and the food levitates to the table and single servings are placed on each plate and bowl, "now it's time to eat."

After they had eaten dinner and had the cake, Frank clears his throat to get everyone's attention. "Well," he says, "I was informed today at work that I will be transferred to England to work for the British ministry. We leave tomorrow after we're packed."

Everything around Ann Marie suddenly stops. They were moving? All she's ever known was her home. The field she played in as a child, the lessons she received from her mother, the rides on her father's broom when she was a good girl. They were leaving all of that behind? How was she going to adapt to a new home, let alone a different country. Her vision starts to go dark as her magical energy starts to build around her. But she's brought back as her mother shakes her out of that state. She turns her eyes to her mother, worry etched on her face then she looks at her father who wore the same expression.

"Do we have to move?" Ann Marie asks.

"I'm 'fraid so," Frank says sadly, "they haven't made a flough channel this far into America yet. So we are to head to New York for a special transport to England tomorrow morning."

Abigail hugs her daughter knowing that it was going to be hardest on her. "But," Frank continues, "in London they have a special school for witches and wizards that you can attend. That way you can learn to control your magic. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Ann Marie feels like crying. She's not used to change and this was so sudden. How was she going to cope with it?

...

Meanwhile, in London, England, Samuel Longfellow sits at a window seat in his personal study reading from his spell book. His well-kept light brown hair brushes the tips of his ears as he reads. His pale blue eyes show the intelligence of his sixteen years. His long legs are bent on the window seat that views the ocean and sail boats dotting the horizon but nothing catches the young man's attention as he studies.

With a sigh, Sam closes the book and stand to his full height of 6". He suddenly feels the urge to look out the window he was just sitting at. Stars twinkle in the night sky, the full moon shines brightly high in the sky. Something told him that someone special was going to enter his life. Thinking about this for a moment, Samuel dismisses the feeling and puts his book away and climbs into bed. The day that someone catches his attention would be the day everything he knows stops in its tracks.

He chuckles at his thoughts; he doubted there would be a person who could hold his attention for more than five seconds. He blows out the candle next to his bed and falls asleep.

Sam's eyes open to see a wide field of waving tall grass. He looks around and knows that he wasn't in England, but where? Where ever this place was, the scenery was breath taking. How he longed to see the world. Meet new people, try different foods, and learn magic beyond what he can learn at Hogwarts.

Sam turns around to see a young woman standing on small hill looking at the horizon. The skirt of her dress waves against her legs as the wind blows. Her hair was worn long and he saw that it was darker than the night sky. Even from this distance he could tell she was crying, but why? And then he saw a sort of haze surround the girl and he felt that it was magical energy beyond anything he has ever felt. He knew that she was a special witch that had too much magical energy for her body to handle. He tried calling out to the girl but nothing came out of his mouth. He tries again, yelling but no noise came from him. The young woman turns to leave at the sound of someone calling her.

"Wait!" Sam calls out to her, "Wait! Who are you? Where are you?" she doesn't stop as she walks towards the other voice. "Don't leave! Please!" He tries to move towards her but he can't move from that spot. He reaches his hand out for to reach her as everything around him turned dark.