VII
A Dream of Purpose
~Rose-Mary~
Like many before the Fall of our Society, I spent my days doing the same things day in and day out.
On the day of December 26th in the year 2019, I awoke from a strange dream.
This dream followed myself, as well as a boy I had never met before, as we carried what appeared to be different colored crystals.
My instincts told me that we were taking these rocks behind his house so we could get them out of the open.
When I looked to the sky, I found meteors falling to the ground all around the town I was staying at.
My parents had, for some reason, decided to stay in this dump of a town located in California because it was 12 minutes from one of their clients who "promised a lot of money if they stayed with her for the evening".
Sometimes, my parents' greed made them do things like this, however this was the first time something felt off about our stay and it certainly wasn't the amount of homeless people who stayed across the street from the school I was now going to be attending.
Just before the dream ended, this boy handed me a red crystal which seemed to speak to me as soon as my skin made contact with it.
"Take this." The boy said. "It's going to be dangerous out there with all of these things out in the open."
I woke up in a cold sweat, looking down at my right hand which had a small, reddish spot on my palm, directly where the crystal had been.
The spot looked like it had been a burn, but it wasn't as red.
If anything, it was either bruising or something along those lines.
"Ms. Johnson? Are you awake Ma'am?" A familiar voice rang from outside my bedroom door. "Your mother has instructed me to take you to school, if you are feeling well of course."
I groaned.
"I'll be out there in a moment, Hilda." I replied.
Begrudgingly, I got out of bed and walked over to my closet grabbing my black skirt, a grey crop top, my boots, a pair of dark blue jeans and finally a leather jacket.
After throwing those on, I walked outside to see Hilda patiently waiting for me.
"Are you ready for breakfast, Miss?" She asked.
"Yes. I might as well get something decent before school since the food in this town is just horrendous." I told her.
"Then, I'll prepare something for you right away, Miss." Hilda told me before rushing off towards the kitchen.
I then walked into the dining room and proceeded to wait for Hilda to finish cooking my usual pancakes and eggs with a glass of milk.
Several minutes later, the maid came into the room carrying meal.
As soon as she placed it down in front of me, Hilda bowed to me before leaving the room saying that she was going to make sure everything for school was packed.
Another 10 minutes later, I found myself in my family's car heading towards the High School were the lowlifes of society could be seen talking to one another.
"Ugh..." I groaned looking at what I assumed was the 'popular' kids. "Seriously? That skirt is outdated by at least 3 seasons. Hilda, make sure I throw that away."
"Yes, Ma'am." Hilda replied. I knew she wasn't going to let me know since she knew I cared for my clothes more than I cared for our cat, which was usually the only thing I allowed to be around me all the time since it couldn't speak...also, it's fur was really soft.
"I'll see you after school, Hilda." I say as I get out of the car. From behind me, I could tell the kids were staring at the luxury car and wandering who I was. "Make sure Mother and Father know that I still need to take my driver's test this week."
"Of course, Ma'am. I'll be seeing you right here at 3 PM." Hilda told me before waving me off as she left.
"Whoa..." I heard a kid say. "Was that an actual maid?!"
"Yeah, I think so." Another kid replied.
"Do you think she's rich?"
"Probably, yeah."
"We should totally try to get with her."
I decided to tune them out as I walked passed them and towards my first period class.
"Ah, you must be Miss Rose-Mary Johnson." I heard a woman say from behind me.
"That's correct. I'm heading towards Miss Victorian's Advanced Literature class." I told her.
"Well, you're in luck. I'm Ms. Victorian, although I prefer my students to call me Ms. Grace." Ms. Grace said. I nodded my head before following the teacher to her room.
As she and I walked into the unruly class, everyone began to calm down and look directly at me.
"That must be the rich girl." Someone whispered.
"Wow...she's kinda cute." Another said.
"Class, I'd like you to meet Rose-Mary Johnson, our transfer student from New York." Ms. Grace said, gesturing for me to step forward. "Rose, why don't you tell the class a little bit about yourself?"
I took a deep breath, calming my nerves as an uneasy feeling began to wash over me. Hesitantly, I looked over to a boy who was easily 7 feet tall, despite being 15 or 16 years old. The boy was also heavily muscular, almost as if he was a small Giant or one of the Titans from Greek Mythology.
Obviously, he was neither of these, but he certainly looked the part.
"My name is Rose- Mary Lillith Johnson. My parents are the CEO's of J.C. Johnson Jewelry, which is the biggest jewelry distribution company on the planet." I said, looking around the room. "Also, I hate the color pink."
"Okay, well why don't you go sit behind June." Ms. Grace said, followed by June raising her hand letting me know where she was.
After that, Ms. Grace proceeded to talk role-call. It seemed like everyone beside Luke Redfield was here.
"Luke Redfield? Has anyone seen Luke?" She asked. Everyone shook their heads, or said 'no'. "Hmm... either he's late or not coming in today. Well, it's his loss. He'll just have to study harder for the test tomorrow."
For the rest of class, I listened to Ms. Grace talk about the importance of using different words when trying to grab and keep a reader's attention.
Some words had more of an impact than others, however not all of these words would work for the sentence you were trying to create.
When it was lunch time, I noticed how a lot of kids were going for the Chicken Sandwich, however I decided to get a salad since, hopefully, not even a school in some lame town could ruin a salad.
After getting my food, I looked around the cafeteria and found that all of the seats were full.
Ah, there's a spot over there. I thought to myself. Though, it's next to a blind girl...
I shook my head and decided to walk over to the spot.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked the girl sitting next to it.
"N-No. G-Go ahead." She stuttered, looking up at my with fear.
Seriously? What the hell is wrong with her? I thought as I smiled down at her.
"Thank you." I replied.
"So, you're the new girl?" The blind girl asked. "Rose-Mary I think?"
"That would be correct. Who are you?" I inquired.
"You can call me Maria Redfield. These are my friends Ella, Megan, Madison, Clementine and Emily." Maria replied, pointing at each of the girls as she said their name.
"Are you related to Luke Redfield?" I asked, to which her face seemed to darken.
"Yes."
"Where is he? Everyone seems to be talking about him. That, and he wasn't in my Advanced Literature class this morning."
"He got into a fight with Dylan Fisher and is in detention."
"T-That wasn't h-his fault!" Emily exclaimed. "D-Dylan was t-trying to touch my b-butt!"
I could feel my eyes get wider as I realized what kind of place I was in.
If a student who was trying to sexually assault another student wasn't in trouble, but a student who was trying to defend the victim of the assault was... then the school's Principal and other staff members were probably corrupt.
"Yeah, well you know how Mrs. Devine has had it in for Luke since he enrolled. Though, it seems to have gotten worse these past few days..." Madison said, trailing off a the end.
"Mrs. Devine is the Principal, correct?" I asked, to which I was met with nods. "Well, I'll just talk to my Mother about it."
"Sorry, Money-Bags, but what could your Mom do about it? It's not as if she's on the School Board or even the Superintendent." Megan asked.
"No, but my Mother has several millions of dollars to burn and I doubt she would be against helping a young girl get the justice she deserves against a Sex Offender." I told her. "Also, Mother happens to be one of the biggest supporters of helping get young women and girls out of Sex Trafficking rings as well as prostitution. That and Mother can't stand the thought of a little girl being tortured, or even tormented in any sort of manner."
"Wow... Your family really is rich." Ella said.
I just nodded, and before I could say anything else, the bell rang signaling the end of Lunch.
It wasn't until my last period, almost 30 minutes before the end of the school day when Luke walked into class.
He was obviously a lot different compared to the other students here as he wore a black 3-piece suit instead of the clothes everyone else wore.
His hair was disheveled, but it suited him.
Obviously, he either came from a wealthy family like me, or he just had a lot more money than everyone else.
Then why doesn't Maria wear nice clothes, too? I thought.
Luke was instructed to take his seat next to mine and I couldn't help, but to feel as though I had seen him before.
As this thought plagued my mind, my dream flashed in my mind.
"You're him..." I said absentmindedly.
"Hmm?" Luke asked. "I'm who?"
"N-Nothing. Sorry, I was just thinking about the rumors of a boy wearing a 3-piece suit walking around campus." I lied.
"Yeah, that's me." He said. "My job pays me a lot of money, so I can splurge like this." Luke gestured towards his clothes.
"How much do you make?" I asked, fairly intrigued as to how a boy his age could have a job that allowed him to pay for such expensive clothing.
The only reason why I knew these were expensive was because they were the type of clothes my Father had when meeting with important clients.
"Eh, a little more than 10 grand a month, so I guess give or take 120,000 a year." He replied nonchalantly.
I could only stare at him before my attention was brought back to the front where our mathematics teacher was explaining the basis of Advanced Calculus to a student who, in his opinion, shouldn't have even been learning Trigonometry because he was too stupid.
When school was over, I watched as Luke and I assumed his sister and friends walked home.
"Ma'am? Are you going to get in the car or did you forget something?" Hilda asked, staring at my while holding the door open.
"It's nothing, Hilda. I was just lost in thought." I replied, getting into the car.
On our drive home, I couldn't help but to shake the feeling that something was going to happen, though I didn't know what.
Even as the afternoon sky became dark as the stars came out, my sense of dread didn't go away.
Then, I felt the ground shake.
"Ma'am! We need to get outside! The house is beginning to fall apart!" Hilda screamed, grabbing me by my arm before dragging me out of the house.
As we got outside, I could see the sky light up as hundreds, maybe even thousands of meteors lit the night sky with brilliant Greens, Reds, Blues, Yellows and oddly enough, Silver and White.
"God have mercy on our souls..." Hilda whispered from beside me as she looked up at the sky.
Before I could even register it, a meteor landed a few yards away...right were Luke Redfield was kneeling...
In an attempt to save the boy from being harmed by any more meteors, I yanked my arm away from the Italian woman and rushed to keep the idiot in the street that I barely knew safe.
When I got there, I couldn't help but to look at the ground where a bunch of little rocks, maybe the size of small pebbles, laid bunched together in the newly formed crater.
"L-Luke... I think we should get out of here..." I tried to call out to him, however the more I stayed near these rocks the more I wanted to reach down and grab one.
From behind me, I could hear Hilda call my mother who said that she was on her way.
Is Father still not coming home? I thought before my attention was brought back to the crimson red stones.
"So, this is your answer..." I heard Luke whisper as he reached down and touched the darkest obsidian colored crystal I had ever seen.
The crystal itself seemed to be drawing in all of the light around it, almost dimming the others. Though, as it was being taken away by the more-than-likely idiot, the other crystals began to brighten.
I took a moment to watch Luke inspect the object before deeming them safe enough to touch. Almost immediately, my hand reached for the brightest of the crimson stones as if subconsciously drawn to it.
For a moment, the world seemed to stop as I heard a whisper calling out to me within the deepest recesses of my mind.
I had no idea what it was saying, but became transfixed on the boy in front of me now grabbing as many stones as he could.
"Do you have a bag? Or, something with enough space to carry these?" He asked me, to which I shook my head. Luke then turned to look at Hilda who was standing a few feet away watching all of this unfurl. "Ha una borsa, signorina (Do you have a bag, Miss)?"
"Sì, sono in macchina (Yes, it's in the car)." She replied. With that, Hilda ran to our car and soon came back with a large potato sack.
Why did she just do that? I thought to myself as I looked between them.
When I turned my attention back towards Luke, I found that he was touching quite a few of the stones with his right hand while holding the black crystal in his left.
For a moment, I thought I could see each of the stones glow a bit brighter, but chocked that up to the still illuminated night sky.
As soon as we finished loading all of the crystals into the sack, Luke grabbed it and began to haul it behind the house right next to mine. Hilda and I followed him as he walked through the back door and into what I assumed was an office.
"Porta qui sua madre (Bring her mother here). Voglio parlare con lei (I want to speak with her)." Luke said, causing Hilda to run off.
"What did you just say to her?" I asked.
"I asked her to bring your Mom here since I doubt she would like to come home and find both of you missing." He replied. I just nodded at his thought process.
For the next half an hour, Luke and I stayed in the office area inspecting the crystals from space.
Soon, the front door to the house burst open followed by two women screaming.
"ROSE?! ROSE?! WHERE ARE YOU ROSE?!" My mother screamed. "HILDA, WHY IN GOD'S NAME IS MY DAUGHTER ALONE WITH SOME BOY?!"
"Mrs. Johnson, Miss Rose is safe. The boy is a friend from school. In fact, Miss Rose saved him from being crushed by the falling stars!" Hilda exclaimed.
As the screaming and stomping of my mother's footsteps got closer, I looked over to Luke who seemed as though he was unfazed by pretty much being called a deviant and/or a possible Sex Offender.
Mom then burst into the office, grabbing my hand and yanking me away from Luke who wasn't even sitting next to me. Luke, who had been sitting on the opposite end of the table, at least a yard from where I was, looked at my Mother and bowed his head.
"Thank you for coming, Ma'am." He said, causing my mother to stop. I took a look at his right hand and found that he was clutching the black crystal. "I just wanted to show my gratitude to the mother of a young woman who willingly saved me from being crushed by a falling meteor."
Mom and I just looked at him in shock.
What was he trying to do? Why would he agree with Hilda on almost being crushed by a meteor?
As these thoughts plagued my mind, Mother turned to look at me.
"Is this true, Rose-Mary?" She asked. "Did you actually save this boy from being crushed?"
My attention went from my mother to Luke who was just nodding his head.
"I-I...I mean..." I stammered. "Y-Yes, Mother. I saved Luke from being crushed by a meteor."
Lying wasn't exactly something I enjoyed doing, especially to my mother. If anything, it was something that turned my insides in and out... or in Layman's Terms, it caused me to feel sick to my stomach.
For a moment, my Mother's steely gaze drifted from Luca, then to me before resting on Hilda.
Part of me was screaming that she had caught us in our lie, but then her scowl became a grin.
"MY LITTLE GIRL IS A HERO!" Mother exclaimed, wrapping her arms around me.
I, for the most part, was still stunned by the sudden change in demeanor from her.
Mother had literally gone from ready to kill Luke to jumping with joy because I "saved" him.
After several minutes of my mother being ecstatic, she finally calmed down enough to talk to Luke like a living person.
"Here." Luke said, showing my Mother the hundreds of crystals we had brought from outside. "Take whichever one you like the most."
"Are these the crystals that came from the meteor?" Mom asked as she drifted her hand a few inches about the crystals, as if her hand was some kind of metal detector. "They don't seem like the regular crystals I use for my work."
"Yeah, Mom. These are the crystals from the meteor. Luke and I already have one." I told her, showing her my crystal.
From beside me, Luke showed her his crystal.
Instead of looking at mine, my Mother seemed drawn to Luke's crystal, almost as if it was calling out to her.
Luke, seemingly noticing this, placed his crystal inside his jacket pocket just above his heart.
"Would you two like to stay here for the evening?" Luke asked. "I'd like to formally thank you by whipping up something for dinner."
"No. Rose and I still need to go and check on the damages to the house." Mother said, staring at Luke's pocket before turning to me. "However, if you'd like to, both of you may hang out at our house tomorrow."
This time, I looked over to Luke.
Part of me wanted him to agree while another part of me didn't.
After all, I barely knew this guy.
"I'll have to check my schedule and make sure I'm not getting crushed by anything." Luke said.
I hate to admit it, but I giggled.
I, Rose-Mary Lillith Johnson, laughed at some stupid joke he made.
"We'll just have to see, won't we?" Mother asked, looking from Luke to me. "Good night, Luke."
"You to, Mrs. Johnson." Luke replied. "Night, Rose."
After waving to the boy, Mother, Hilda and I walked next door to our own home and spent a few hours taking notes on what needed to be replaced.
By the time we were done, it was almost 2 o' clock in the morning.
"Alright, well I think I'll call the school and tell them that you're staying home for the day." Mother said. "We'll need to call Geoffrey and have him replace everything on our list."
"Yeah..." I said, shuddering at the memory of my room after the earthquakes.
"Well, for now why don't you go grab Luke and you two can hang out in the living room." Mother started. "I'll have Hilda fix something up for the two of you."