Hey there again. Finally, the first chapter! I hope you like it. YES, I know it's long!! Trust me, it will get better, I promise! XD The first chapters are bound to be a bit bland for now, but trust me, around the seventh or eighth chapter, it gets much, much better. I guarantee it. Just bear with me until then. XD
Anyways, still, here's the installment. The first chapter! :D
Moreadvertising. :3 Take away the spaces again.
www. you tube .com/watch?v=Jp1vSPBx13Y
www. fan fiction .net/s/5138222/1/Just_Some_Inner_Teenage_Turmoil
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Chapter 1: Three
-Three years later-
"Terra!"
I looked up from my drawing. I had been thoroughly absorbed in finishing the saber tooth drawing that I thought I might have finished before the class period ended. "Yes, Mr. Doss?" I asked sarcastically, pretending to be the most innocent child in the classroom by blinking up at him and holding my hands as if I were praying. "What is it?"
"What is the answer to the question? Hopefully it isn't this cat you were drawing?" He picked up the paper, looking it over.
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Doss." I said, still putting on the innocent act. "For one, that is not a cat. It is part of the cat family. It is a Smilodon Fatalis, and his name's Ratri." I added with a smile. "Ratri is the answer to everything." I said after a moment of him staring at me. Behind me and across the classroom, my friends Kendra and Ashley snickered. They were the only two who would understand the inside joke.
Mr. Doss continued to look at me for a few more moments. This is awkward… I thought. He looked away from me toward the wall and cleared his throat. He looked down at the paper, cleared his throat again, and walked up to his desk, setting it down there. Thief! I thought with a small smirk. Thief, help somebody! My teacher wants Ratri all to himself! I held in a giggle and stared down at my desk. "Terra, I would like you to come in after class." He said after clearing his throat once more, and resumed teaching. I just tore another piece of notebook paper out and began drawing something else, pretending to be taking notes.
After class I remained in the classroom. Kendra and Ashley left, glancing back at me. I waved a hand dismissively and began to play the Escapist by Nightwish in my mind. Mr. Doss began talking, and I just quietly thought to myself. A nightingale in a golden cage, that's me locked inside reality's maze. "Terra, do you understand?"
"Completely, sir." Come someone make my heavy heart light, come undone, bring me back to life. I continued this cycle until Mr. Doss said I could leave. I asked hesitantly, "Can I have my Ratri drawing back?"
With a heavy sigh he grabbed the paper off his desk and handed it to me. I wasn't happy at all to see a small bit of coffee spilt on the corner, covering Ratri's ear. I didn't say anything, and walked out. "Idiot." I muttered when I saw Ashley and Kendra waiting for me outside the next classroom. "He got coffee on Ratri's ear!"
"How dare he!" Kendra gasped.
"That's criminal." Ashley declared.
We entered the class room and endured the torment of what was science. We had a class assignment where our class was all split up into groups of three. Ashley, Kendra, and I, of course were working together, since the teacher didn't organize the groups. "So what are we supposed to do?" Kendra asked, clueless.
I laughed. "We have to dissect a squid." I said and held up a scalpel excitedly. Kendra snatched it out of my hands and poked it at the squid that they set down on our table. I took it back, grinning. "You're going to get us in trouble and we won't dissect anything at all."
Ash looked a little uneasy. She smiled down at it anxiously. "Heh heh…" She said. "A squid…"
"What's up?" I asked her.
"I've never actually dissected a squid before…"
"Neither have I." Kendra said.
"I have once before, but that's it. It's fun!" I said. "There's this little ink pocket in it that I'm going to put a piece of led in and mark on the teacher with it. Or maybe I'll just mark on you." I added jokingly. Ashley smiled.
We set to work. I let my mind wander as we shared the tasks to be done. Ashley was content with just watching us, and cleaning up after we had finished dissecting the squid. Kendra hummed some kind of theme from the Death Note anime while I listened to the Escapist in my mind again. Ashley watched us and pointed. "Is that the ink pocket thing?" I nodded and poked it with a piece of led so that it punctured it. I requested a napkin and Ashley gave me one. I pulled the led out and blocked off the ink jet. The napkin grew more and more black, so I waited, checking every now and then. When it finally stopped my hand had some ink on it, so I went to wash my hands. I glanced out of the window toward the large trees that loomed over Forks. I'd never really explored them, but I desperately wanted to. However, my mom didn't want me to go alone, so I was stuck waiting for a day that Ashley and Kendra would be free to go with me. Today Kendra had to go babysit some pets for a friend, and Ashley had a lot of homework. When would I get to see what was hidden in the wilderness of those trees?
Hopefully, soon.
-Later-
The next day, Friday, I talked with Ashley about the forest again. Kendra was busy working on her, as she called it, her "Secretly secret major secret project of secrecy in which Ashley and I were sworn to secrecy as well." Catchy, I'd thought sarcastically when she told us what it was called. "Ashley, I want to see what's out there. Do you know the next time you're free?"
"Yeah, tomorrow." Ashley said with a small smile. "Mom is going to the store and she said I could go over to see you, so I might cheat a little and head with you to the forest."
"Great!" I said with a smile. "Kendra, are you free tomorrow?"
"Maybe," she said without looking up. "I'm almost finished, guys! It's so exciting!"
"Does that mean we get to know more?" Ashley asked hopefully.
Kendra glanced up at us without lifting her head up. "Nope." She went back to work.
I stood up from our lunch table and over to the windows again, in the distance toward the trees. Something was compelling me to go there. But what? What could it possibly be that made me want to go this badly, to the point of insanity? I knew something was there. Something told me that, but what was it? Something was there that made me want to go there. What I knew was that the Cullen house was that way, and for some reason, I wasn't as infatuated with the Cullens as everyone else was. Neither was Ashley or Kendra.
I pressed my hand to the window. It was cold to the touch, yet I welcomed it.
Something told me that tomorrow I'd go to the woods with Ashley and Kendra and find out what was out there. Maybe Kendra would finish her secretly secret project and bring it with her. Maybe I was asking and expecting too much. Too many maybes.
On Saturday Kendra called my phone. The very first thing she said [screamed] was that it was finished. Then she said she would be able to come to the forest today with me and Ash, so both were very good news. "What time do you want me to be there?"
"Ashley and I were going to leave in about an hour." I replied.
"Not a problem, see you there!" She hung up.
"… Bye." I mumbled and set the phone down.
In an hour's time Ashley and I were up at the school. "What do you think is in there, Terra? You've been so edgy about it for the past few days." Ash said. "Then you sort of started going ballistic when we dissected the squid. You keep asking about every five to ten minutes."
I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I just… feel like there's something up there, it's like it's waiting for us." I said, seriously. She looked at me as if I were joking for a moment, then she turned serious as well. I continued, "It's like it wants me to come up there. I don't have any idea what it is. None whatsoever. That's why I have to go, so I can find out what it is."
"Well then." Ashley smirked. "Kendra better hurry up."
However, ten minutes passed, fifteen, and then twenty. Where was she? I sighed heavily, looking up longingly at the looming trees. Something was there, waiting for me. Maybe the three of us, but I wasn't sure Ashley or Kendra felt it as strongly as I did.
"What happened with the Ratri drawing yesterday?" Ashley asked suddenly. I could tell she wanted to get my tension off. "With the coffee? We should report him for that." She added with a grin.
"I couldn't really do anything about it." I admitted. "I tried tracing it on another paper. It worked but the ear still looked a little odd, it smeared because of the coffee." I stared up at the gray sky in anticipation, and noticed the sun peek out slightly.
Footsteps approached, and I turned around. Kendra stopped in front of us, grinning as she held up something that looked very similar to a suitcase. "Uh… what is that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Only the latest… well, earliest in GodModMode technology! Otherwise known as, GMM." She grinned.
"GodModMode?"
"You'll see if we find the chance to use it." She said and lifted it up, hoisting it over her shoulder with one arm. "Let's go. I'm sorry I was late."
"You should be." I said jokingly. We departed toward the trees. We entered the forest, and it was almost like it was nighttime there. The trees towered over us like skyscrapers in a city. In fact, it was like another city, greener. So this was how the whole world used to look. We found a trail and began to walk along it slowly, discussing random matters. We went from talking about the new Nightwish album to Sonata Arctica's new album, then we talked about the members of the bands. Matters mainly regarding our favorite music.
"Hey, look at that." Ashley said. She stopped and kneeled down beside the trail, and I looked at what she was looking at.
"Deer tracks." I said proudly. "And they're fresh. Want to follow them?" I asked with a grin.
Ash and Kendra nodded. We wandered off the trail after the tracks, delving in the deeper areas of the forest. Now that I was in here I didn't feel as curious as I always did when I was staring up at the trees. I wondered if it had all been an illusion of my mind. At least I was here with two of my best friends.
The tracks got more and more detailed as we went along. I slowly sped up to a jog after the tracks. Kendra and Ashley sped up so that they were just slightly behind me. I noticed the tracks becoming more spaced and I knew it was running. "I think we might be scaring it." I said, looking up, and pausing. "Or it could be them."
Not far ahead of us stood two people. One was very short, shorter than Kendra, who was the shortest of our group, being 5"2. I would have said she was about 4"9 or 4"10. She had spiky hair and pale skin, and when she turned our way I saw she had golden eyes. She wore fancy apparel as if she were going somewhere nice. The man standing beside her had ragged short blond hair and golden eyes, the exact same shade of the girl next to him. I wondered if they were siblings. He wore casual clothes, and seemed nervous when he saw the three of us.
The girl looked at him and muttered something, and he nodded. She skipped over to us cheerfully. "Hello!" She said with a smile. The three of us nodded to her. "I'm Alice, Alice Cullen. That's Jasper Hale back there."
"Oh," I said. "You're Edward Cullen's sister?"
"And Emmett's, too," Alice corrected. "Jasper's sister is Rosalie." She twirled around, looking back at Jasper. "Come on over here, I'm sure you're ready." I didn't know what she meant, but I didn't ask. "We were just out here following a deer."
"So were we." Ashley said. "Terra was leading the way, though. She can tell a lot about deer tracks. Why were you tracking it?"
Alice seemed to pause for a minute. "Oh, no reason," She said. "Jasper and I were just following it. We were curious."
"Maybe we could track it together." Kendra suggested.
"That may not be the best idea." Alice said. I noticed her steal a glance at Jasper, who had wandered over to them. Jasper didn't look any more nervous than he already did. He coughed into his arm, yet to me it looked strangely like he was inhaling deeply. I decided not to ask again. "You go to the school?" Alice asked.
"Yeah," I replied. She looked at the three of us thoughtfully, scrutinizing us. I felt uncomfortable. This was more than a regular Mr. Doss stare. It became a blank stare and Jasper grabbed her arm. I waited for a moment and finally said, "Well, uh, I guess that's fine. Sorry for interrupting you." I said. "Maybe we should be going."
"Oh, okay." Alice said, her blank stare disappearing. She smiled at us and quickly skipped off, Jasper following her at a normal walk.
"… That was totally weird." Ashley said. Kendra and I nodded in agreement. "Where to now? They still followed the deer tracks, and it seems like they really didn't want us to come. Maybe they wanted to be left alone."
"Maybe. Let's just take some random directions." I said.
And that's what we did. I would lead for a short time, then Ashley would, and then Kendra. We continued this for a while and eventually started taking turns carrying the GMM when we went uphill. We weren't sure where we were going at all, and a lot of times we lost track of the time. We had seen Alice and Jasper at one, it was three now. Sometimes we talked, sometimes we didn't talk at all.
I began to lead again at one point. The feeling that something was here came back, and it attracted me like a magnet. I didn't even realize it at first, but I broke into a run. "Hey, Terra, wait up!" They called after me. I just went even faster, I felt so close, I knew it was here somewhere in this area.
I saw sunlight. I slowed down and looked back at Ashley and Kendra, who stopped behind me after a moment. I took a deep breath and walked forward, letting the sunlight wash over me. "Oh, wow." I breathed.
It was an enormous clearing. Daffodils and weeds and so many other plants, flowers, and tall grass consumed it, but not one tree. The trees had to at least be a mile away, barely in sight. Looking up above the trees towered mountains. The wind blew across the clearing, making the grass and everything else look like a large, green ocean. The wind could almost be compared with a whistle. The sun was only mildly warm, but I didn't mind. I liked this climate. The beauty of it was stunning.
"Amazing," Ashley commented, and Kendra nodded in agreement. The three of us walked out, all of us surely imagining peaceful songs in our mind. The clearing was significant to me, but it wasn't the goal. I still felt that pull.
"Maybe we could go see what's in those trees." I proposed.
"I guess." Kendra said. "It's a bit far; soon you'll have us scaling those mountains!"
"Aw, no," I said, smiling. "We'll save that for another time. How about we race?"
"Alright," Ash said. "Ready, set, go!"
We started running at once, keeping up with one another relatively easily. Despite the distance it took less time than we thought it would to get closer to the trees. As I looked back I could have sworn I saw someone watching us from the other end of the clearing. I blinked and the person was gone. I signed it off as a hallucination from the sun and looked up as we reached the end of the clearing, out of breath. We didn't even think of the race as we went into the trees.
It was cooler than the clearing at the climate of the trees we had been in before. The air was also moist; I could tell that there was water around. No doubt a stream from the mountains. Ashley and Kendra continued to let me lead as I delved deeper in to the woods, taking turns as if I knew where I was going. The feeling grew stronger with every step and every breath I took. I heard running water and looked back at them.
"Do you want to get a drink? It has to be clean, right?"
"I think it would be." Kendra said. Ashley nodded.
After that we just went into the direction we felt most moisture in the air. We came across a stream, but it was too shallow. We began to follow it, hoping for it to open up and get deeper. Eventually we came across another stunning clearing, and at that point the stream was deep enough to drink from properly. I stared across the clearing. It was smaller than the previous one, but it was still large. Both of the clearings, I had noticed, had very flat ground. This one wasn't quite like the other though. While it made up for its lack of sunlight and ocean-like grass and weeds with its greenery, it still had a beguiling feel to it.
"We should head back." Ashley said after she finished getting a drink. Kendra looked up at her, then me, and back to her heavy GMM. "It's three thirty. Mom's going to be back soon." Ash continued.
"Oh… okay." I mumbled. There was still that pull. What was wrong? We couldn't go any further. This was where the mountain began. What could have happened? Was it a trick of my imagination?
I realized what was wrong. I had passed it. It was behind us, behind this clearing, yet I felt like it was past the first. "Alright, let's go back." I said quickly. "Maybe we can come back here another time. It seems like a good hangout."
"Pretty far, but true." Kendra said.
We started back. I tried to look at as many things as I could on the way, and the clearing was visible through the trees. Finally I just said, "Go on. I'll catch up to you later. I want to see if I can find something…"
"You sure?" Ash asked. "We can stay here, we don't mind."
"If you want to stay, help me look. I feel like there's something here." I said. They didn't question why I thought that, something I was grateful for. I continued to search, hoping to come across whatever it was first. I don't think Ash or Kendra had a clue of what they were looking for, which was why it was up to me to decide what it was.
But what could it be? I would know when I saw it, wouldn't I?
I approached a tree and noticed it was hollow. It was like a metal detector going off in my mind. I rushed toward the tree and fell to my knees in front of the hollow, looking inside. I looked up into the tree, nothing, and I looked down. There was nothing special.
Just some ashes. Was this what it was? "Hey, guys, come over here." Had they been put here deliberately? It wasn't off the tree, or anything of the like, and they were all in a neat pile. What could they be? Kendra and Ashley kneeled down beside me, looking in at the ashes. "I think someone put them here." I said. "But what for?"
"Just what I was waiting for!" Kendra said, standing up straight. She lifted the GMM up, and we looked at it. She asked, "Do you want to see what they were? This can put them back together!" She added.
"Whoa, alright. This should be cool." Ashley said. She and I moved out of the way. Kendra set the GMM on the ground and began fumbling with something on there. She seemed to open something on the side. I glanced in, and saw it was a kind of lock you would see on a locker. She began to enter a combination. After she finished she pressed a button under it, and light filled the tree hollow. It was too blinding to see what was happening. We all shielded our eyes, waiting. Finally the light stopped shining and we looked up. All of the ashes were rising and flowing into their original positions. The unidentifiable object grew taller and taller. "It works." I heard Kendra say to herself. The ashes began to seem to merge together and colors engulfed them. I watched, amazed.
In front of us was a man.
He had blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, and bright red eyes. His skin was pale, and he had a scowl on his face that told me he was very angry. Almost like he wanted to kill. He had a denim jacket on and jeans, no shirt on underneath the jacket. He looked at the three of us with that glare in his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, and he suddenly slumped against the inside of the tree.
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And there you have it. OMGGUESSWHOITIS. XD The delays for these chapters may be even longer now. I've had a few issues with the story. It doesn't want to cooperate. |: So it may take longer than anticipated, and for that, I'm sorry. XD I hope you will have the patience to tolerate it. School's starting, too... doesn't make anything better. XD
IN THE NEXT CHAPTERS, A HEADS UP
They will seem long, I can promise that. All these chapters are going to seem long, but they're actually only about two pages in Microsoft Word. It's not as much as you think. Also, reviews are appreciated! :D