I was falling, falling through black space, and then I reached the ground. Bracing myself for impact, I waited and waited. But I didn't hear the loud CRASH! that was expected. It sounded more like...

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

With a startled cry, I lurched forward in my bed, only to hit my head against a paper crane that was hanging on a string from my ceiling. It swayed back and forth while I assessed my situation.

BEEP BEEP BEE-!

I smashed my hand on the sleep button and rolled over under the comforter. Snuggling into a cocoon of blankets with a small smile, I was about to fall back asleep before I realized with a start that I had already stalled my alarm clock more that once already.

Sure enough, one look at my alarm clock confirmed the time to be about half past too-late. I leapt out of my bed and tugged on a pair of jeans from my floor and pulled a clean shirt from my dresser. Quickly stuffing papers that I may or may not need (one could never be sure) into my bag and struggling for the zipper for what seemed like an hour, I spared another glance at the time and was relieved that I saved a few spare minutes before the bus for school showed up.

Downstairs, I was greeted by my younger brother and sisters, who were waiting not so patiently by the door. Casting my bag haphazardly on the bench, I made my way to the kitchen, grabbed an unopened pack of poptarts and a water bottle.

My dad was sitting at his laptop, a cigarette perched between his lips as he typed furiously on the keyboard. He barely acknowledged me as I kissed his forehead goodbye, dramatically waving away the fumes and coughing a few times for emphasis. He didn't look up. I rolled my eyes and finally responded to the shouts of my youngest sister to get ready.

After an uneventful bus ride, I stepped off at the high school and looked around for my friends.

Suddenly, someone tackled me from behind. I made sounds of protest before Lana finally let go and proceeded to jump up and down next to me, pulling my along to our first block class.

"And then, he said 'I don't know if I can go or not.' Can you believe that? He throws himself at me like a lost puppy dog and then tosses me aside when some other girl walks by!"

The social studies teacher made a snide remark about teenage girls who couldn't save their gossip for after class. Lana blushed at being caught. "Sorry Mrs. Jenison," she mumbled, embarrassed.

I made sure the teacher had turned back to the map of Ancient Greece before answering my best friend. "Are you sure there's another girl?" I whispered. "It could have just been a coincidence that he has a family reunion on the same day of your date...again."

Lana gave me The Look. "Oh yeah? His family must love being around each other a lot then, if they have three reunions in a month," she muttered.

"Miss. Gentile I suggest you pay attention if you want to pass the unit test this time around."

"Sorry." Lana diverted her face to her notebook. Thinking she was going to start paying attention, I took notes on Mrs. Jenison's lesson about the Parthenon. It was actually quite fascinating. Then a folded piece of loose life paper landed in my lap. I sent an exasperated glance at Lana. If it wasn't for my stellar work in this class, I'm sure the teacher would have yelled at me too. I sighed and unfolded the note.

I just think that it's time to leave him. You know, time to take a hint. He obviously doesn't want to be around me.

I rolled my eyes and started scribbling a response. Maybe you should ask Sam or Marcus. They might know a little bit more about how a guy's mind works than I do.

A few seconds passed before I hear her snort. Erasing what I wrote, I tried again.

"What's wrong with asking Sam?

She looked impatient. Grabbing the piece of paper from my hands, she started writing furiously. Are you kidding me? You're my best friend, not him! Boy problems are for girl friends!

Underneath the almost unreadable scrawl was a poorly drawn angry face.

I purposely didn't answer back, just to make her jumpy. Instead, I tapped my pencil against the desk, staring blankly at the white board.

When Mrs. Jenison asked me a question about Greek mathematicians, I answered without thinking and continued to tap, barely noticing the disappointed look on her face when she failed to catch me off guard. As if she ever would. I could ace this class in my sleep.

Lana groaned in frustration and rested her head against the desk, her short red hair just touching the fake wood.

The bell chose to ring at that moment, and she was up faster than her mood changes. She helped me pack my bag, my slow pace annoying her as usual, and then dragged me down the hall to meet up with Sam and Marcus. When Sam saw us, his face lit up and he handed an incomplete rubix cube to his friend, who took up shifting the blocks back and forth.

"Hey," Sam waved. "I was just thinking about you guys." Lana beamed. "Well, that's a coincidence; we were just talking about you!"

He basically ignored Lana, instead, looking at me for answers. "Oh yeah?" I didn't miss Lana's confused expression. I smiled at Sam. "Yeah, we were. Lana wanted to know if you could translate guy problems for her."

"No I wasn't," she burst. "It was Emma's idea!"

Sam clasped his hands in front of his face, professional-like. "I see. Pray tell," he said in his best cockney accent, "what fellow are you having take a look see at ya bristols this time-o-round? I don't really give a flying duck if you've been looking at his cobblers, but I swear, he's a right ol' iron hoof. That merchant's banker better scarper before I give 'em a d'oyly carte right in the loaf!"

Lana and I stared at him with wide eyes. Only Marcus seemed to know what he said, because he burst out laughing before being pulled back into the colorful piece of plastic. Lana put her face in her hands and shook her head in mock horror. "Why I hang out with you losers, I'll never know."

I smiled and put my arm around her. "You wouldn't love me if I wasn't crazy! I'll down anyone who says otherwise!" My shout drew the attention of a short freshman who squeaked and walked away. I pointed my finger at her and pretended I was shooting a gun. Blowing on the fake barrel of my fake gun, I dramatically put it in my fake holster and stuck my thumbs in the belt loops of my jeans. "One down, the rest of the world to go."

Lana smirked at my serious expression. Sam nodded his head wisely and pretended to spit in a bucket. "Pardner, you're gunna need a partner to take out an entire world of non-believers. You'll need a whole dang army." He patted the top of my head. "Good thing neither of us are going of us are going into war anytime soon, right?"

I stuck my tongue out at him and linked my arm with Lana's. "C'mon, Lana. Let's leave these weird people and go hang out with some awesome people. Like each other." Sam, not wanting to be left out, blew a tuft of brown hair out of his eyes and hooked onto my free arm.

"Let's go." he waved goodbye to Marcus, who had already started leaving anyways. "See you after art class."

Art was dull, to say the least. The teacher was a bald man who usually left us to our own devices as he sketched in a notebook or played games on his phone.

"It's our little secret," he had told us the first day. "You do what you're supposed to, when you're supposed to, and I don't mind what you do." With a wink, he had left us an assignment and was then entranced by angry birds.

This particular class, I had nothing to hand in, so I was doodling on a piece of scrap paper. From his desk, Mr. Smith yelled at "the stupid pigs". I minded my own. I didn't realize that I had an audience until Sam reached over and tilted my paper so he could see it.

"Is that Avatar the last Airbender?" he exclaimed. I snatched it back. "Maybe it is."

Sam grinned wickedly. "We use to watch that at my house when we were kids. Who's the little blue guy supposed to be?"

"It's Sokka. See, I drew them by the color of their nation. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. There's Zuko and Aang, and that one is The Boulder." I put unnecessary, but completely necessary emphasis on "The Boulder's" name when I pointed to a buff green guy.

"Haha, yes! I remember him! He was in the one of the last episodes, with the blind guy."

I rolled my eyes. "There's like, a whole bunch of episodes after that. And the blind guy was a girl."Sam rubbed his chin. "I think I wanted to be a firebender." I wrinkled my nose.

"What? What's wrong with that?"

"Firebending is too destructive. I wanted to be a waterbender, like Katara."

Sam lolled his head back. "Booorriing! Fire is the most powerful. You could conjure it out of thin air. You actually need to have water to do anything at all if you were a waterbender."

"Wrong. You're thinking like the Fire nation. Power is in the eye of the beholder, you know. Water is the better element, because you could have the ability to heal and stuff."

From her seat, Lana tried to join our nerd-conversation. "But, in the movie, didn't they have to have fire, like, actually there to use it?"

Sam and I gave her "the look".

Mr. Smith took the opportunity to butt in from his cushy office chair. "Lana, you should know that the movie was no good." he turned to us. "And you two; stop fighting. All the elements are equally important."

Our table was dead silent until a sophomore from across the room piped up. "And that's why Mr. Smith would be the Avatar, not you two."

I snatched my paper away from their prying eyes, trying not to laugh. "So what, it's just a cartoon anyways. Who cares if I want to draw some pictures about it?"

Sam, who had just gotten over laughing at the comment from the sophomore, snickered. "Maybe you're right. You're so sensitive; you would be a waterbender, just like that Katara chick."

I pursed my lips, but opted not to say anything. Lana tried to get Sam's attention multiple times, but was brushed off. She pouted to herself, not liking when people were upset with her. By the end of class, she had tried just about everything she could think of to make Sam tell her what was wrong. I sort of felt bad for her when he kept on ignoring her.

We walked together out of the classroom, Lana and I, arms linked while we tried to sync our footsteps together when I started coughing. Lana yanked me to a stop and hit me on the back lightly. "You okay?"

I cleared my throat and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just had some dust in my throat or something."

She shrugged her shoulders and kept marching on. "Okie Dokie." I was pulled alongside her.

We never did get the hang of marching in tune with each other. Her steps were too fast and long, mine too short and slow. The entire bus ride, I was updated constantly via text messaging of Lana's conversation with her boyfriend. I started ignoring texts from her about half an hour in. I kept coughing.

When I got home, my middle sister asked me how my day was and then read the note from the counter left by our mom. She had asked me to start dinner, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Can we pleeeeaaaasse have chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes Emmy? Please? I'll do the dishwasher afterwards!" Chloe pouted out her lower lip and widened her eyes, succeeding in making herself look like a Chihuahua.

Putting my hands on my hips, I towered over her threateningly. "One," I said menacingly, "don't call me Emmy. You know how much I hate that stupid nickname. And two…you have to do the dishwasher anyways because Ronald and I did it yesterday."

She hung her head in defeat and moped away. I could barely keep myself from calling her out on her act of sorrow. I reached into the freezer and pulled out the frozen nuggets, already preheating the oven. "I wanted chicken anyways," I said to myself.

I turned my head away from the food as I coughed again.

Now it was time for my younger siblings to go to bed. Mom and Dad still weren't home, surprise surprise. I hoisted myself out of the couch were I was doing biology homework and trudged up the stairs to tuck them in.

Ronald was already asleep, so I turned off his light and gaming system before closing the door and moving on to Chloe's room. Tripping over a lego, I contained my curse and glared at her. She looked at me from under her covers and grinned goofily. "Sorry! I forgot to pick them up."

I coughed at her in response. Shying away, she crossed her fingers in a sign to ward off unwanted germs. "Are you okay? You've been coughing all day. You're not coming down with a cold are you? Kayla's sister has a cold. But now she's all better, but she has a HUGE load of homework to do now because she missed school. I hope you're not sick, because then you'd have to miss school and do homework, and I don't know. Yeah."

With a raised eyebrow, I pulled her heavy blanket up to her ears and patted her lightly on the forehead. She stuck out her tongue.

Leaving the door open just a crack, I left her to go tuck in my youngest sister. Maria was propped up, waiting for me. As I went to turn off the lights, she spoke up. "You're forgetting something, Emmy."

I smiled and went and sat on her bed. "How could I forget? Nighty night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, I'll see you in the morning, and I love you." She leaned forward and hugged me tightly. "I love you too, Emmy." I smiled as I turned the light off and closed her bedroom door. With a satisfying click, it was closed and I made my way to my own room.

"It's not Emmy, it's Emma," I whisper to no one.

I reached my bed before I started coughing violently. Putting my hand to my mouth, I coughed into it until something wet coated my fingers. Disgusted, I wiped it on a towel and started to walk away, but stopped. Clicking my tongue, I went back to put the towel in a dirty hamper.

"What the..?" I took a closer look. What I thought was saliva was…was…

The bloody towel shook with my hands. I was coughing up blood.

I didn't feel the towel fall out of my hands; I didn't hear the strangled sound that escaped my throat; I didn't see my frightened expression in the mirror. I tasted the coppery metal taste of the blood on my tongue. I smelled it on my hands.

For the longest moment, as I hesitantly took the first steps to the phone, I was deaf. All I could hear was the beating of my own heart. One foot in front of the other. Left. Right. Left...right. Left right left right. Now I was running. I banged my knee on a chair as I slid past the dining room table. I tripped over shoes and backpacks as I sprinted into the foyer. The phone slipped from my hands, but I managed to hold on to it. My numb fingers dialed my mom's cell phone number.

The phone rang. And rang. Finally, a beep.

"Mom, I think there's something wrong-!"

"Hi, it's Carol. I'm away from the phone right now, so please leave a message after the beep. Thanks!"

The phone beeped. And then fell from my hands. I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white.

The phone started ringing. I snatched it up and answered it. "Mom?"

"What is it Emma? You know I shouldn't talk and drive."

I was so close to tears, but I held them back. "Mom, I just coughed up blood." She didn't respond. For a second, I thought the line had gone dead. I coughed and swallowed a mouthful of blood, wiping my red stained lips on the towel. That was when my mom actually started doing something. She spoke in a hurried voice. "Do you have a fever?"

I put the back of my hand on my forehead. It was roasting. "Yeah, I'm sort of light headed too, and my chest hurts." I plopped down on the couch and coughed into the towel again.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, why did you have to get sick today? Dr. Feldman is on vacation, he doesn't get back until tomorrow!" He voice was strained. I tried not to bite my tongue. "Do you think I wanted to get sick? It wasn't really a personal choice, you know!"

I heard her sigh. "Just...keep a bucket by your bedside and we'll go see a doctor in the morning. If you had called earlier, I could have taken you to Urgent Care, but they close in half an hour." Despite my irritation at her, I forced myself to unclench my fist. "Fine, I'll see you then." The phone clicked. She had hung up on me before I could say good night.

Throwing the phone on the couch, I grabbed a large mixing bowl and tromped up the stairs to my bed.

It was midnight when the vomiting began. I was sitting in bed in my favorite pair of sweats when something in my stomach twisted. I had gotten to the bowl just in time. I didn't want to look, but I couldn't help it. It was bright red. I remembered something from biology class about what the color of vomit blood meant. If it was the color of coffee grounds, it was classic sign of upper gastro-intestinal bleeding. If it was bright red, it was a more severe case. A medical emergency. I clutched my stomach and moaned. Thankfully, none of the younger ones had woken up. They were completely oblivious to the pain I was in.

So much pain...but I was so tired. I tried to keep my eyes open, but I was slipping. My lamp lit room became fuzzy. My head was still spinning. I closed my eyes just for a second, because it helped a little bit. I should probably open my eyes now...I should probably...I needed to...I...

Now I was falling again. I accepted the circumstances and soothed myself as I waited for the nightmare to be over. That's what it all was. Just a bad dream, is all. I was falling and falling, and soon I would wake up and get on the bus and go to school. But I was still falling. This was really starting to get on my nerves. How long had I been falling? I lost all thoughts about time. I couldn't keep track of it. Please hurry up and land, I thought to myself. I needed to wake up and talk with Lana about her love life, and goof around with Sam about something stupid and irrelevant, like burnt toast or something like that. Anything.

This was getting out of hand. I didn't even feel the falling anymore, or I was less aware of it. I could feel the sensation of my stomach leaving my body in zero gravity, but I couldn't see anything, or hear the whistling in my ears.

I needed to wake up because...

Why did I need to wake up? I forgot. Maybe "..." could tell me.

Wait, who?

Slowly, my memories and thoughts were being swiped clean, and then quick like lightning, I had none at all. There was just me and a bubbling something in me that wanted to be released.

What's a me?

This body feels the rushing of water as it rises to the surface. Something is feeling wrong. This body never was in the water, so how is it coming out of it? Feeling is returning. Cold. Ouch. The cold hurts this body...it hurts me. Ouch.

I can feel the things returning. Basic thoughts. I can recognize myself and the feeling of being pulled out of the coldness. A big white orb in the sky is all I see. Who was me again? I was me. Me and I were the same. I am...shifting through what I can remember in my head. Emma? Do I remember being called that? That must be me. I am Emma, I think. I cling to the pieces of me.

When a dark skinned, aging woman asks me who I am. I am Emma. The word is forced out as I remember how to work the things in me that knows how to speak. The woman asks me how I got here. Why am I here? Where is here? I've never been here. Here is cold. Of all the memories I have control over, none of them include here. I am so frustrated, that a part of my body relearns how to work and some warm liquidy something pools into what I'm seeing with. My eyes. How can I give up anything? I hold on to what little I have. I cannot afford to lose anything. So I close my eyes and trap the wannabe escapee.

Things happen. I'm not sure of what is going on around me. Is it real? Or is it what I called that falling place earlier? A nightmare? Was this one of those?

No. Someone says something and a something in me snaps open like a lock and in my thoughts, my body arches forward, prepared to catch my stolen identity. On the outside, the part of me that they can see, I am a perfect statue. But on the inside, I am dead. That is what happened to me. That must have been what the forever falling was. I am dead, and these people do not exist. So why am I here, dead with fake people? I shake my head side to side. Is it possible to get rid of the horrible reality that I caught? No, this has happened, and I have no idea how to change it back...

You will not change it back, Renatus. Prepare yourself, for this is your life now. I shall not permit you to defy me again...

I awoke as the misty voice trailed off into oblivion. Hyperventilating, I tried to calm myself down. A ghost of my stomach cramps ripping into my body. I clutched at the pain that was just a memory. It took everything I had not to scream. The reminder that three people who could not know about my past were in close proximity forced me to be quiet.

Re, who had woken up when I did, uncurled from her tight ball and crawled onto my lap. She seemed to know that something was wrong. She always did this after my nightmares.

They had been happening since the South Pole. No matter how much I tried to avoid them, they always happened. But they were never that...realistic. And not once had that creepy voice invaded them. A shiver wracked my body. In a vain attempt to soothe myself, I stoked the campfire. Re basked in the warmth.

I was still rigidly sitting up when I heard a scurrying near Appa. It was only Momo.

He climbed off of Appa's tail and leaped onto my shoulders. His big green eyes looked at the fire, then at me. Lighting a fire with a snap of my fingers, I watched as Momo tried to bat at it before thinking otherwise and hiding from it by burrowing into my long, unbraided hair.

"You're afraid of my fire? Re's not. I guess she wouldn't, because she's a firebender too. But could you grow used to it," I asked, as he came out of hiding and laid on my lap next to Re, completely unconcerned with the fireball in my hand. "Could they be comfortable with the fact that I'm a firebender, like you did? No," I snuffed the fire. "You could care less what I am. They would hate me."

He looked at me as if to tell me to be quiet and let him sleep. I 'tsk'ed and picked him up by the scruff of the neck and putting him back on Appa's tail. "Go find another bed. This one's mine."

I leaned back against the long, fluffy middle leg of the giant bison. I didn't try to go back asleep. The dreams would just haunt me again. So I waited, as I watched the fire dwindle again. I waited and I wondered what a Renatus was...

(*AN* Well, there you have it. I knew you guys were itching to know what happened to Emma. I'm sorry if it got a little hard to read, but I wanted you to read it from her point of view. Can you imagine losing who you are? It creeps me out. That's why it took so long to write this...sorry : / But now you know what was going through her head when she ended up at the South Pole

And another thing. I got an anonymous review: "I have to say your story is one of the few oc from another world...actually maybe oc in general that doesn't blow. I really like it, it is easy to read, very few grammar mistakes, its interesting and she isn't perfect. Very well done, and I like how you add in a few little things that wasn't mentioned like the hot skin, I thought it was neat."

I can't Private Message you, unknown person who made my day, but if you see this, thank you! : )

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