A/N: I set my G-Docs to British English for this story. English isn't my native tongue, please bear with me.
In an apartment was a woman working in the kitchen, waiting for her rather simple meal to be finished. Normally she was above the prospect of fast food, such as the dish she prepared herself in the microwave. However, since there was nothing to be heated up and the fact that the woman felt too hungry to put a pizza into the oven, it couldn't be helped. In her opinion at least.
Finally the microwave stopped with a "DING" and the food was ready. Letting out a sigh, the woman took out the plastic package with a flannel and proceeded to walk into the living room. Placing everything on a nearby table, the woman slumped back onto her couch, grabbed for the remote and turned on the TV.
"I did not sleep with another one." said a man on a rather popular talkshow. He and two women, one obviously being the moderator, stood next to a high table.
"Liar." the woman on TV and the one sitting on the couch said at the same time, one being oblivious to the coincidence.
"I saw you, I saw you coming out of Jessica's place-"
"Oh so, just 'cause I was visiting a friend, who I know from middle-school-"
"Yeah, right. A 'friend.' As if."
Unbeknownst to the woman sitting on the couch, there was another person in the house. Silently the person had made her way inside and took off her boots, to be sure said person's steps wouldn't make a noise. In one of it's hands, the person carried a gun. The person walked up to the couch, the woman too absorbed into the talk show to even notice the other person. Seeing this the person thought to itself, it might as well have kept the boots on.
The person raised its arm and pulled off the safety. Only after the audible click could be heard, did the woman on the couch finally turn around. Too late.
Her eyes barely had time to widen in shock, before…
*BANG*
X-X-X_X-X-X
The rain poured down heavily today. On the radio they even said there was the chance of a tornado hitting the town. The girl standing in the middle of the graveyard ignored such warnings. She didn't even had an umbrella with her. In fact, her overall clothing didn't seem appropriate neither for the weather nor for the location. She wore a tight leather jacket, with the zipper closed, black leather pants and high leather boots. Her hair was naturally a deep red, it reached down to her waist, her skin was healthy brown, since up until recently she had been on the beach and her eyes were brown. Normally she wore a ponytail to keep her hair in check, but from time to time she just felt like letting it hang like it is naturally. The girl's official name was Tatsu Terrence. A strange combination. Her mother was a fan all about Japan and even somehow convinced her husband to give their first daughter a Japanese name. According to the internet it meant: dragon, but whether that was accurate or her mother did poor research was anyone's guess. Even weirder, despite her mother being responsible for the name, she never called her daughter by it. She always called Tatsu, Serada. Fun fact of the month, it was the name of a female dragon out of a children's book. The result of THAT name was that most people, even her teachers called the girl Sarah.
"Hey mom." the girl with many names talked to the grave in front of her. "Thought I should tell you that dad is back on the ship. I'm alone again. You know, aunt Morgen is supposed to look after me, but you know her. She comes back once a month and s back to wherever her money takes her. Today she decided to travel to Las Vegas." Sarah laughed. "Maybe she'll lose all the money she inherited from uncle Ray. Besides, I'm already an adult."
A thunder could be heard in the distance. The rain got even worse.
"Yeah, I better go home. I know how much you hate it, when I'm out in the rain without the "proper clothing." Yeah, yeah, I get that. See, you around." The girl waved off and ran towards the church as fast as her feet could take her. As she ran, the girl wondered whether the busses were on the streets or not.
"Sarah!"
The shout interrupted her running as well, as her train of thought. Looking to her right, she saw Pastor Karsten standing in the doorway of the church.
"Get in here, before you catch a cold!" he shouted, gesturing with his arm to come.
Shaking her head in amusement, Sarah ran into the building, with the pastor closing the door behind her.
"Are you insane, girl? There was a storm warning on the radio! Now look at you! Wet to the bone. Let me see, if I can get you some clothes. Although the only things we have here are some robes and costumes for the christmas play."
"No need, pastor." Sarah waved off. "Remember? Leather. I don't get soaked in these." In order to prove her point, Sarah took off her jacket and revealed a completely dry black t-shirt.
The pastor could only shake his head. "At least let me get you a towel and something warm to drink. Heavens, it will be a miracle if you don't catch a cold." The grumpy pastor made his way towards the altar. To the left was a door, which let to where he prepared the fair for each Sunday.
Sarah placed herself on one of the benches near the only heater in the entire hall. Five minutes later the pastor came back with a cup of coffee and a white towel. The girl used the latter to get at least some of the water out of her hair. She already left a little puddle beneath where she was sitting.
"What are you doing here, child? Shouldn't you be at home?" the pastor asked.
"Eh." the girl shrugged. "Trains not working, so I can't make it to school at least for the next two days." she grinned, to which the pastor chuckled.
"You know exactly what I mean. I know it's a nice gesture of you, but there's really no need to come every week."
The girl shrugged again. "Yet I'm doing it anyways. What do you care?"
"I care for your well being." the man said a little more aggressive. "I hate to be so blunt, but you need to put the past behind you. How long has it been now? 3 years?"
"And 2 months, 14 days and around half an hour." Sarah deadpanned. "Just leave me alone pastor. I don't get why you care anyway. I don't belief in god or anything for that matter, not to mention about what happened last year."
The pastor sighed and placed himself next to the girl. "Listen Tatsu. I know it is hard to let go and you should know by now that you can talk to me. And if not me, how about your father?"
"Pops is more bothered by wasting his life for a wasteful country." the girl retorted sharply.
"...You're worried about him, aren't you?"
"I couldn't care less!" The girl stood up. "Listen, I appreciate the gesture and all, but if you don't shut the fuck up, I'll make sure your judgement day comes early! You got me, you fucking fanatic?!"
The pastor could feel spit hitting his face, as the girl let out her anger. He realized that he had gone too far and that after even all those years, family was a touchy subject for the girl.
Said girl took in a deep breath and let it out through her teeth.
"I'm sorry. I leave you to yourself for now. If you need anything" he stood up "you know where you can find me."
"Get lost." Sarah hissed at the man, who did just that.
Back in his office, the pastor let out another sigh, he'd been holding in. The man of the church walked over to his desk and picked up a picture, which showed three people standing and smiling in front of the church. One of them was wearing a uniform. The female one in the middle hugged the man in uniform.
"Why did this have to happen?" he mumbled. "Sometimes the world really is a cruel place." he put the picture back and placed himself in front of his desk. A box with today's mail was beneath the desk, which the pastor picked up and placed on the desk. He quickly skimmed through everything, most of them being bills anyway, but one letter stood out. It was written in a neat handwriting, one he could swear he saw somewhere before, but couldn't put his finger on it. Curiously he opened the envelope, which accidentally caused a small pendant to fall out. The man picked it up from his desk and took a good look at it. It seemed to be a custom made stone, attached to a black cord. The stone itself was black with flames carved into it.
"This looks nice." the pastor commented. "I wonder who send it." he said, as he began reading the letter.
Dear Pastor Collins,
this letter might come to a surprise to you and I dearly hope you will never get to see it. However if you read this, then something has happened to me. The stone you hold in your hands is an old family treasure, given to the oldest child from generation to generation. The flames have the symbolic meaning of being reborn in flames, like the mythical phoenix. I would love to tell you the story behind this, but alas, I would have to write you an entire novel.
I had this letter addressed to you on the day, the stone is given to the next generation, half a year after the eighteenth birthday. It causes me great sadness, just thinking that I have to take this precaution, so my family's legacy lives on.
I ask of you to bring this pendant to Tatsu. And please don't read on from now on. The following words are for my daughter.
Always your friend,
Laurana Terrance
"Dear Lord." Pastor Collins spoke a silent prayer to the heavens. "Laurana...if only you knew how much she misses you."
X-X-X_X-X-X
Pastor Collins found Sarah sipping on her coffee and looking at the big bronze Jesus hanging behind the altar. No doubt she was thinking back to when she spray painted the last bronze Jesus on easter. He would never admit it, but never in his life had Collins seen such a good looking Jesus.
"Sarah."
Said girl snapped her head towards the man. Obviously she had yet to calm down.
"What is it?" she growled.
In response, the pastor held out the letter. "This is for you."
"For me?" Sarah asked, genuinely confused. Then she remembered last years prank and came to the conclusion it was maybe from some higher up church member, deciding he found the need to scold her.
My dearest Serada,
how are you holding up? Do you still hide under the bed, whenever there is thunder outside? If so, don't be ashamed. Everyone is afraid of something. If not, congratulations of overcoming your fear.
I wish I never had to write this letter, but my grandmother basically drilled it into me to be better safe than sorry. You see, our family has a little ancient tradition, in giving a special stone to the oldest child half a year after they become an adult. You will see that there are flames carved on the surface of the stone. The story behind this is quite long and I sincerely hope to live long enough to tell you the story. Basically the flames stand for starting your own life, after you become an adult. As in you're no longer living with your parents, but on your own. I am sorry. I want to tell you the entire story, but for the sake of this letter, I need to dumb it down.
What I can tell you is that from now on, you decide what you do with your life. Expect a life changing event to happen very soon, my dearest. Remember I will always love you, no matter what path you choose.
Goodbye my daughter.
In love,
Xara
P.S.: This is the name my mother gave me. Remember to give your children one as well.
Serada looked up from the letter and into the pastor's face. She hugged the man in front of her, tears starting to stream down her face.
X-X-X_X-X-X
The storm didn't seem to get any weaker anytime soon. As a result, Pastor Collins decided to drive the girl home, as long as you could still drive on the streets. Sarah didn't say a word on the entire way. She just kept staring at the pendant, the last gift from her mother.
When they arrived, Sarah left the car without a word. She even took her time, while going back into her family's house. There she didn't even bother to take off her shoes or get another towel for her dripping wet hair. She layed down on the couch in the living room and hugged the pendant close to her chest. The thunderstorm continued outside, as she fell asleep.
In her dream, Serada was at peace. She floated through warm water, the current taking her wherever it felt like. She wasn't afraid of drowning, because there was no need to breath. Her eyes didn't mind the water too. Wherever she looked, there was always this red glow coming from somewhere.
The current took her deeper and deeper into the water. For some reason neither the pressure on Serada's ears nor did it get any darker. The floating girl wasn't bothered by this. In fact, she wasn't really thinking at all. She let the water move her body however it pleased, a little upwards, then down again, to the left and right, flipping her upside down…
Eventually it all came to a stop. Serada was in the middle of the red ocean, slowly floating up and down. A small shadow came closer in the blurry distance. As time passed it became bigger and bigger, until it finally took shape. Although it was hard to tell, Serada could clearly make out a head. It kind of reminded her of a lizard. Soon enough the head took in her full vision, making it impossible for her to make out the rest of the body of whatever this creature was. Eventually the girl could make out a pair of yellow eyes. The pupils were slitted like the ones of a lizard.
Finally the head of the thing was right in front of her. Serada was able to see a snout, now that it was up front and close to her. The big creature eyed her with it's big yellow eyes. Serada looked back at the creature without fear. If Serada would have looked down, she would have seen the creature's face spread a wide grin.
It floated back a couple of feet and opened his mouth. Despite being under water, flames came out of the creature's mouth, engulfing Serada completely. She didn't feel any pain at all, in fact it actually felt good. It was as if something inside of her was breaking free, after being locked away for all of her lifetime.
X-X-X_X-X-X
Sarah woke up, gasping in pain. Her chest was burning! It was as if someone held an open flame right at the spot where her heart was located. As quickly as she could, she took off her jacket and top. Just in time she could see the flame-lines of the stone she received the day before, glowing in a red light. To top it off, the stone was going inside of her chest!
Desperately and without thinking, she tried to grab the stone with her fingers, but at this point it was already too deep inside of her. With horror and slight fascination she watched as the stone went underneath her skin. The spot where it had been was once again covered with her skin. However, it was at that point that the pain became unbearable. Sarah cramped up, grunting as her heart seemed to be cooked right here and then. She found it hard to breath and thought that she was gonna die.
But then just as soon as the pain appeared, it subsided. Sarah was capable of breathing normal again. The girl was still in shock, she layed on the ground for quite a while, until she finally calmed down.
"That. Was. Fucking. Horrifying." Sarah punctuated every word. Slowly she stretched her slightly numb limbs, grabbing her top and jacket in the process. Still on the ground, she put her clothes back on.
Not even trying to wrap her head around what just happened, the girl tried to stand up, silently hoping she just imagined everything. However her head still wasn't all there, as the world seemed to be going up and down. She only managed to sat down on the wooden floor.
Wait, what? In her mind the screeching sound of a tape suddenly stopping. The floor of her house was definitely NOT wooden. It was marble!
"Wha-?!" Looking around she found that there were ropes seemingly everywhere, a big wooden rod, a mast, was only a few feet away from her. In front of her she could clearly see the figurehead of a ship pointing towards the night sky. Sails, reeling, the sea, the cabins! She was on a ship, there was no denying it! Giving everything that happened, there was only one thing left to do:
"WHERE THE HELL AM I?!"