Chapter 1

They were driving faster and faster and still it gained. They were driving so fast they didn't know where they were going until they felt the car drop. They both closed their eyes and held tight to each other. This was it, the end of their lives. They knew it was their last moment on this earth. There was no way they could be saved…

"Ryan! Come on, your going to miss the bus! Get down here now!" A mother's voice called for her daughter.

"I'm coming! Hold on, I'll be right down." Ryan called. She grabbed her backpack and set down the picture she was holding. On her way out the door, she stopped to say goodbye to her cat, which was asleep on her dresser. She was purring as Ryan picked her up. She took her down stairs and set the cat on the couch. In a hurry, she called to her mom that she was leaving. She ran as fast as she could to the bus stop. The bus was already there and was loading the last few kids. Ryan ran faster to catch up with it. The last kid was getting on when she reached the bus. She had made it just in time. As she was walking up the stairs, the bus driver looked at her and sighed.

"Next time your not going to be so lucky Ryan." He said.

"I know. I'm sorry." Ryan replied. This was a normal day for her. She was always late for the bus. Ryan was a small town girl who grew up in the heart of Texas. She owned five horses and had a younger brother, who was seven years old. She was in 8th grade and had a lot of friends. One in particular was Danny. She had known him since the 5th grade. They weren't really good friends when they first met, but started to warm up to each other this year.

When Ryan got to school, her best friends who were all excited to see her ran and smothered her with hugs. She had been absent for a few days and was missed very much. She noticed that Danny wasn't there with her other friend. She saw him sitting alone on a bench and decided to go and talk to him. She walked over to him and said "Hey Danny! What's wrong?" He got up and didn't even take a glance toward her, and walked away. She wondered what was wrong, but didn't bother to follow him. She thought about through first hour and couldn't concentrate on anything else.

When Ryan was walking to second hour, one of her friends stopped her. "Ryan! Wait up!" Sam called, "Hey, what was up with you this morning. You were totally out of it. You barley got any of those answers right on the test, you studied hard for it too."

"I'm fine, just a little tired I guess. Really, I'm fine." She replied.

"I'm just a little worried about you, that's all. Well, see you next hour! Bye." Sam said. They both walked separate ways to their next hour. When she was walking away, she was still thinking about Danny and what she might have done wrong. She couldn't think of anything that she did to make him mad at her. She heard someone call her name from behind her. She turned around and saw her friend Andy running towards her. She waited for him to catch up, and then started walking again.

"I know what's going on with Danny. I'll tell you after school. Just call me, it's urgent." Andy Said as he walked away. She couldn't help but wonder what could be urgent with Danny. She continued walking to her class.

Finally reaching her class, Ryan sat down and took out the notes from yesterday. The more she thought about Danny, the more she wanted to cry. She was thinking about it so much that a tear formed in her eye. It started to fall down her face and there was a green glow around her. Everyone was watching her. Ryan started lifting from the floor. Everything went blurry and she didn't know what was happening, no one did …

When she woke up, she didn't know where she was. Everything was dark and quiet. Suddenly, she saw a light above her. It was getting brighter by the second and she could here voices above her. She didn't open her eyes. She lay perfectly still and listened to what they were saying. Slightly opening her eyes, just to see what was happening, she saw her best friend, Sam, sitting next to her bed. Then she opens her eyes all the way.

"What happened? Ouch! I have a bad headache. It hurts!" Ryan cried quietly. Some people in the room looked at her and murmured to one another. She rubbed her head and wondered what was going on. "What happened?" She asked Sam again. Sam didn't respond. Instead she looked at Ryan like she was crazy. Ryan lay back down. She saw Danny walk into the room. He had a worried look on his face. 'At least he's still concerned for me' Ryan thought. He went over to her bed and sat down beside her. Sam got up and left the room.

Looking down and smiling, Danny said, "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better." Ryan responded, "I have a throbbing headache. Do you know what happened? I asked Sam but she didn't tell me."

Danny sighed, "I didn't see anything but I've heard people talking about it. They said that they saw a tear stream down your face and then, all of a sudden, you were suspended in the air glowing green. I don't know if it's true though. That's just what I heard."

Ryan was dead silent. She couldn't think of what to say. She found her words and said, "I do remember crying. Then I passed out… and I was here."

"Why were you crying?" Danny asked.

She hesitated for a second. "I don't remember." Ryan replied. She knew the reason she just didn't want to tell Danny it was his fault. He looked at her then looked away. She was trying hard to remember what happened. Her hands started shaking and she was loosing conscience. Ryan started to lean backward. Danny caught her and tried to wake her up. He grabbed her hands in his to calm her down. She opened her eyes again and looked at him. Then she put her arms around him in a hug and put her head on his shoulder. Danny stroked her hair and laid his head on hers.

Before Ryan knew it, she had fallen asleep in Danny's arms. She was having a dream that people who looked concerned surrounded her. She walked toward them, and they stepped back. She then started running. Faster and faster, but they kept stepping away from her. Finally she stopped. They started walking towards her now. Surrounded, she jumped up into the tree she was now standing next to. 'They can't reach me up here.' She thought. Ryan watched them try to jump up and get her, but they didn't succeed.

Waking up, she felt the warm arms of Danny around her. She looked behind her and saw him lying next to her. He was asleep. Watching him, she wondered why he hadn't left her. Ryan snuggled closer to Danny, trying not to wake him. She felt him move, but stayed still. He held her tighter. She knew he was awake, but did he know she was? Ryan knew he didn't. He snuggled closer to her and held her tightly, not wanting to let go. Ryan grabbed his hand and held tightly to it. Danny held her hand tightly too.

Danny got up to go to the bathroom. When he came back, Ryan wasn't there. He looked around the hospital for her, but she was nowhere to be found. Then he decided to check the front desk to see if she was signed out. He checked, but they said they never had a Ryan Strapler attend this hospital. Shocked, he went back to the room. All her belongings were gone. They were there when he left, but weren't there now. He ran out of the room and out of the hospital. Running down the street, Danny saw a car that looked like Ryan's mom's car.

He started running faster and faster, but it got farther and farther away. Then, when he was running at top speed, he jolted upright and woke up. He looked beside him and saw Ryan lying there looking up at him with a strange look on her face. They were still in the hospital bed where they had fallen asleep. He lied back down and put his arms around her again. 'It was all a dream' he thought.

A man with a gun burst down the door and grabbed Ryan by the arm. "Give me all of your valuables and money and no one gets hurt." The man said. Danny jumped up and made a quick lunge for his bag. He made the man think he was going to give him money. Instead, he pulled out a gun. Ryan was so shocked that she couldn't breathe. She'd never known Danny to carry a gun with him, especially to a hospital. He aimed it right at the man. The man pointed his gun at Ryan's head. She was terrified. She didn't know what to do. She thought about doing a martial arts move on him, but he had a gun, so she didn't. She had to think fast, before it was too late…

She then remembered what Danny had said about that green orb of light surrounding her when she passed out. Channeling all of her fear into anger, she was surrounded by an orb of blue light. She saw the man flee at the sight of this, but also saw Danny's astounded face. When the orb disappeared, she heard footsteps through the hall and saw about three nurses run into the room. Their faces pale as white as paper and sweat dripping from their foreheads. They looked in and then left. Ryan figured they must have seen a blue light and wanted to make sure everything was ok. But she also thought if they had seen the man run out of the room. The only thing she knew now was that she needed to rest. She stumbled to her bed and fell face first into her pillow and fell asleep.