Chapter One ~ Discovery
The years came and went. With her training and new friends Sarah flourished. All of the pain and insecurity had finally come to pass. She had a family and good friends, but most of all she felt safe, though something was still eating at her. She couldn't remember much of her childhood, but it no longer bothered her. She had a deep hatred brewing inside her heart and it scared her. She was at a loss as what to do. She didn't know why or for whom, all she knew was that it was there, eating at her.
Her training was almost complete. Julie had been training her in the art of ninja - Ninjutsu, just like her mother had taught her. Sarah also dabbled a bit in tae-kwon-do and had slowly gone up to green belt, though her passion was ninjutsu. She talked it, breathed it, lived it. It was her life. Everything she had known. She had been trained to survive, though trouble was, no one had bothered to explain why. All she knew was that it was important to her being. She had been in training since she was seven.
The day of her twenty first birthday finally came about. As usual Sarah had been training after work, as she always did. Being her birthday made no difference. Julie owned the dojo, and had been very successful. Her ninjutsu school was highly regarded amongst her peers. Julie dismissed the class and locked the doors after the class had filed out. Julie sat down on the bench and wiped her face with a towel, tonight's class had been intense. They had focused on throws and crabs. Julie looked up to see Sarah strapping pads onto her hands.
"You won't be long will you?" Julie asked.
"Prolly an hour or so" she rolled her eyes. She had been in Maree's company way too long and she had started to sound like her. Julie sighed. On tonight of all nights she has to train!
"That's okay isn't it?"
"Yeah, don't be long though" she turned and headed toward the back stairs that lead to the apartment upstairs.
Sarah started at the empty room, its walls covered by mirrors. Her mood started to darken. She held her breath. God, not tonight, please not tonight! The visions had started up again. Her head started to ache and the base of her neck started to throb. With both hands she crabbed her head. The pain had caused her vision to blur. She fell to her knees, onto the padded floor.
She was scared, the others with her panicked, but ran ahead anyhow.
"Remember, don't look back!" She ran along the trail that lead to a hill. She heard an explosion and turned around. The house behind her was alight. There were people wearing all black, a man appeared out of the burning building... she reconized the face, but his name escaped her. Another man appeared with a sword....
The vision ended and Sarah opened her eyes and found herself on the dojo floor. They were always the same, short and painful. She would have told Julie, but something about them made her hesitate. She took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves. Her eyes landed on the red punching bag that was suspended from the ceiling by a thick chain, she quickly got to her feet and headed toward it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She had overdone it this time. She sat on the bench in the locker room, fatigue threatening to overwhelm her. She always reacted like this to the vision. It gave her renewed determination. She trained harder and faster, but the down side was it left her with an awkward feeling, one that left a bad taste in her mouth. The feeling was that of revenge.
She held her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn't think like that. It went against everything that she had been taught... then again maybe not. Julie had always stressed that her training was important, no, neccessary. But neccessary for what? She looked at her watch.
"Oh shit! I said an hour!" She could've hit herself.
She headed for the stairs. As she climbed each step her speed lessened. She had trained hard tonight and she was worn out. The landing of the top of the stairs was dark and the door was closed. She fumbled for the handle and pushed the door open. It swung open without a problem. The room was dark also. Sarah frowned. It was .... odd. She felt a presense in the room and her muscles tensed as she started to grow suspicious. Suddenly the lights were flicked on.
"Surprise!" Her friends yelled. She took a step back and took a deep breath, quickly calm her nerves. She hated surprises. She looked around at the smiling faces and even though she was annoyed, she found herself smiling too. It had been a shock, she had thought that they had forgotten her.
"Hey congrats" Maree said as she bounded over to her in her usual playful mood. "Now you're legal!" She gave Sarah a wink and headed off toward the food. Sarah smiled. Never get in the way of Maree and her food! She thought. Rachael stepped foward and crabbed her hand.
"I've got something for you... it's from all of us" she dragged her into the study before anyone else had a chance to approach her. When they were alone, Rachael hugged her. She paused for a moment. Rachael was her best friend, and the action had surprised her. Rachael wasn't the emotional type and kept her feelings to herself. She was the tomboy of the group, the tough one, and she had a temper to match.
Rachael lead her to a desk, which was covered by a piece of long cloth.
"We thought that you would like this..." Sarah reached out and lifted the fabric "... me, Leena, Maree and Donna made this, I hope you like it". Sarah looked a the Jo delighted with what she saw. It was perfect. They had done an excellent job. She rolled it until she came to a japanese inscription. She put a finger on each character, frowning, trying to remember what they meant.
"Be... Swift... Strike... Hard" she wrapped her arms around her friend. The gesture from the four sisters touched her.
"I love it thanks!"
"Good, the others will be happy..." her voice went hoarse as Sarah was now hugging her a little to tight for comfort.
"Back off will ya... a girl's gotta breathe!" Sarah backed off and giggled.
"Sorry..." She crabbed the Jo with both hands and began to twirl it around. Rachael looked her over, a hand on her chin.
"Hmmm, not bad"
"Oh yeah, thanks Bruce!" It was a private joke between them. Rachael had started to study Kung Foo in secret.
"Hey, you know I hate being called that!" Rachael protested.
"Whatever Mr Lee" Sarah answered in jest, then she started basic manoeuvres. After a couple she stopped and looked at a now annoyed Rachael. Sarah put her hands up in defence.
"I was just kidding, lighten up will you!" Rachael shook her head.
"It's not that... " Sarah rolled her eyes. Here it comes! Rachael gave P.M.S. a new meaning - she she was always so angry, which they all thought was a little usual. Being mean was different... Rachael wasn't mean... maybe not all of the time... mainly angry. She blamed society for making them outcasts.
"I can't take it anymore! I want to be out there having fun, not hiding in the shadows..." Sarah had already gone through this thing with her and everyone also knew that Sarah was the only one who Rachael would listen too. The two had bonded from day one.
Sarah put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. Rachael worried her. The four sisters had just hit their teens and where already making waves... the fights alone... Sarah smiled.
"It'll be okay, I promise..." Rachael cut her off, her blood boiling, her voice louder.
"How do you know? Do you really care?" Rachael stopped. That last part wasn't true and she regretted what she had just said.
Those last few words had gnawed at her. Sarah took a step back, her feelings hurt.
"You know that I believe in fate. Everything happens for a reason. Have some faith" she turned and walked to the door.
"Please don't go, I mean... I didn't... " Rachael called out. Sarah ignored her and headed back to the party. She polietly thanked everyone for their gift. Throughout the entire night, Sarah ignored Rachael.
It's my twenty first and there's no way in hell I'm going to let some snot- faced-selfish teenager ruin my night! Sarah smiled and went with the flow.
Donna and Leena looked at each other, as they both crabbed a drink off the table.
"What's with those two tonight?" Donna asked her sister, they both turned to look at the two friends who were ignoring each other. Leena shrugged.
"Rach's in a serious funk tonight" Maree cut in, her mouth full of crisps. She reached in between the two girls to crab a drink off the table. Leena shot Rachael an angry glance.
"Remind me to kill her in the morning... geez I can't believe her... tonight of all nights!" Donna put her hand on Leena's shoulder.
"Down girl! Don't make a scene" she said in a hushed voice, she didn't want Sarah to hear.
Julie signalled to Leena. It was time for the cake. After it was brought out, Julie cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. Donna took the distraction as a godsend, and quietly made her way to Rachael's side. She had to warn her sister.
"I have something to give Sarah... something my mother made me promise..." Julie handed Sarah an envelope. It was old and soiled. The smile on Sarah's face disappeared as she read it. "... I couldn't give it to you until now... " Sarah put the letter down and stood there stunned.
"What is it?" Leena inquired.
"A letter from my father"
"Ho Yin?"
"No Lee, my biological father" The statement silenced both Rach and Donna who where quietly having a dicussion of their own.
"I have a trust account which was set up with my mother's life insurance..." she couldn't remember anything about them. Her mother had died during childbirth and her father, well, she didn't know how he died, she only knew that she had been very young. "My father left an account number... " The eyes of her friends widened. Money had been tight before Sarah got work, even now things where hard, with the mortgage and all...
"... I also have a very distant cousin in NYC" There was silence for a moment.
"Aren't your bros there?" Maree asked.
"Yeah so?" Leena walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder. She knew what had to be done.
With a smile she said "The candles are melting, make a wish"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After things had settled, Julie and Sarah made the arrangements. Her parents had left her enough money for her to live a very comfortble life. Julie had explained that she did have a hand in it's growth. She had invested wisely. Some of it had been used to put Sarah through school. Sarah was angry that Julie hadn't told her about the money sooner, but understood when she learnt that it had been her father's wish, besides Sarah wasn't given access until her twenty first birthday.
Sarah looked at Julie as they sat at the dining room table going over some papers that the bank manager had given them. The girls had gone downstairs to train, leaving them in peace. Sarah took a long hard look at her sister. Julie had done so much for her. They were family, and she wanted to repay her kindness. While she would be in New York, things would be hard financially. Sarah pushed an envelope over to her sister. Julie looked at it, her expression changing.
"What's this?"
"A present, please open it"
"I can't, really, it's not neccessary"
"Please Julie take this, it's just a small token of my appreciation, please.... " her mood had started to darken. Sarah panicked. Please not now! She took a deep breath of relief when the vision did not happen. Sarah had just started to lose her paitence. Julie was being stubborn."... you could at least have a look inside"
The curiousity got the better of her and she opened it. She gasped as she pulled out the cheque.
"Sarah you shouldn't have... that's a lot of money..."
"Please take it, it'll take care of the mortgage, remember, I won't be here, and you have a habit of undercharging your students..." Julie thought about it for a moment. It would help, and there would still be five mouths to feed...
Julie humbled herself "Only if you're sure.." Sarah nodded "thank you." The two sisters hugged each other.
"God I'm going to miss you" she blinked tears back. This was the first time that Sarah was leaving home.
"It won't be for long, i'll find my cousin, get a job maybe..." she smiled " you will visit won't you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four girls wiped tears away as Sarah headed for the door, with her suitcases in tow. She put them down and turned to the four teenagers. They were more than friends, more like her little sisters.
"C'mon guys, it's not forever. Cheer up"
"We'll miss you" Donna sobbed.
"Once things settle i'll be back, or you could visit... apparently I own an apartment in Greenwich Village... " she saw a look of disapproval from Julie who was standing behind the girls. She didn't like the sound of this. "... Mmmm, then again, maybe not"
They turned their tear stained faces toward Julie. The saddness in their eyes reminded her of Sarah in her younger years. Her heart melted.
"I'll think about it" They never questioned her authority, she was afterall their mother figure and their sensei.
"You guys are still practising the art of invisibility aren't you?" Sarah asked.
"What you mean 'ninja stealth'?" Maree asked. Sarah smiled. She liked that one.
"Yeah, any good?" She asked, the question aimed at Leena - who was the the most level headed and therefore the unoffical leader.
"Yeah, not bad, so?"
"Keep practising... " Sarah winked "... you'll figure it out." Rachael sure did, a smile forming on her face. It was their ticket to New York City.
"I gotta go, i'll call you" the four girls hugged her before she turned and headed toward the door. They watched her walk down the stairs, Sarah paused and looked up at them on the landing above her.
"Stick with the training and don't drive Jules up the wall!!" Sarah continued walking and headed for the dojo's door, where Julie was there waiting for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah looked out of the window, the drive to Sydney International Airport had been in silence. It had been one of the hardest things that she had ever done. The five of them had rarely been apart for more than two days. It was just as hard for her as it had been for them. Sarah pulled out a polaroid of her twenty first birthday from her bag. She looked at the smiling faces of the five of them in front of her cake and she started to cry. She was going to miss them terribly. They were her life. They ate together, played together, trained together... she quickly put the picture back into her bag and wiped the tears from her cheeks. This was something she had to do. It was the next step in her life.
~ Chapter Two ~ Coming Soon!
The years came and went. With her training and new friends Sarah flourished. All of the pain and insecurity had finally come to pass. She had a family and good friends, but most of all she felt safe, though something was still eating at her. She couldn't remember much of her childhood, but it no longer bothered her. She had a deep hatred brewing inside her heart and it scared her. She was at a loss as what to do. She didn't know why or for whom, all she knew was that it was there, eating at her.
Her training was almost complete. Julie had been training her in the art of ninja - Ninjutsu, just like her mother had taught her. Sarah also dabbled a bit in tae-kwon-do and had slowly gone up to green belt, though her passion was ninjutsu. She talked it, breathed it, lived it. It was her life. Everything she had known. She had been trained to survive, though trouble was, no one had bothered to explain why. All she knew was that it was important to her being. She had been in training since she was seven.
The day of her twenty first birthday finally came about. As usual Sarah had been training after work, as she always did. Being her birthday made no difference. Julie owned the dojo, and had been very successful. Her ninjutsu school was highly regarded amongst her peers. Julie dismissed the class and locked the doors after the class had filed out. Julie sat down on the bench and wiped her face with a towel, tonight's class had been intense. They had focused on throws and crabs. Julie looked up to see Sarah strapping pads onto her hands.
"You won't be long will you?" Julie asked.
"Prolly an hour or so" she rolled her eyes. She had been in Maree's company way too long and she had started to sound like her. Julie sighed. On tonight of all nights she has to train!
"That's okay isn't it?"
"Yeah, don't be long though" she turned and headed toward the back stairs that lead to the apartment upstairs.
Sarah started at the empty room, its walls covered by mirrors. Her mood started to darken. She held her breath. God, not tonight, please not tonight! The visions had started up again. Her head started to ache and the base of her neck started to throb. With both hands she crabbed her head. The pain had caused her vision to blur. She fell to her knees, onto the padded floor.
She was scared, the others with her panicked, but ran ahead anyhow.
"Remember, don't look back!" She ran along the trail that lead to a hill. She heard an explosion and turned around. The house behind her was alight. There were people wearing all black, a man appeared out of the burning building... she reconized the face, but his name escaped her. Another man appeared with a sword....
The vision ended and Sarah opened her eyes and found herself on the dojo floor. They were always the same, short and painful. She would have told Julie, but something about them made her hesitate. She took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves. Her eyes landed on the red punching bag that was suspended from the ceiling by a thick chain, she quickly got to her feet and headed toward it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She had overdone it this time. She sat on the bench in the locker room, fatigue threatening to overwhelm her. She always reacted like this to the vision. It gave her renewed determination. She trained harder and faster, but the down side was it left her with an awkward feeling, one that left a bad taste in her mouth. The feeling was that of revenge.
She held her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn't think like that. It went against everything that she had been taught... then again maybe not. Julie had always stressed that her training was important, no, neccessary. But neccessary for what? She looked at her watch.
"Oh shit! I said an hour!" She could've hit herself.
She headed for the stairs. As she climbed each step her speed lessened. She had trained hard tonight and she was worn out. The landing of the top of the stairs was dark and the door was closed. She fumbled for the handle and pushed the door open. It swung open without a problem. The room was dark also. Sarah frowned. It was .... odd. She felt a presense in the room and her muscles tensed as she started to grow suspicious. Suddenly the lights were flicked on.
"Surprise!" Her friends yelled. She took a step back and took a deep breath, quickly calm her nerves. She hated surprises. She looked around at the smiling faces and even though she was annoyed, she found herself smiling too. It had been a shock, she had thought that they had forgotten her.
"Hey congrats" Maree said as she bounded over to her in her usual playful mood. "Now you're legal!" She gave Sarah a wink and headed off toward the food. Sarah smiled. Never get in the way of Maree and her food! She thought. Rachael stepped foward and crabbed her hand.
"I've got something for you... it's from all of us" she dragged her into the study before anyone else had a chance to approach her. When they were alone, Rachael hugged her. She paused for a moment. Rachael was her best friend, and the action had surprised her. Rachael wasn't the emotional type and kept her feelings to herself. She was the tomboy of the group, the tough one, and she had a temper to match.
Rachael lead her to a desk, which was covered by a piece of long cloth.
"We thought that you would like this..." Sarah reached out and lifted the fabric "... me, Leena, Maree and Donna made this, I hope you like it". Sarah looked a the Jo delighted with what she saw. It was perfect. They had done an excellent job. She rolled it until she came to a japanese inscription. She put a finger on each character, frowning, trying to remember what they meant.
"Be... Swift... Strike... Hard" she wrapped her arms around her friend. The gesture from the four sisters touched her.
"I love it thanks!"
"Good, the others will be happy..." her voice went hoarse as Sarah was now hugging her a little to tight for comfort.
"Back off will ya... a girl's gotta breathe!" Sarah backed off and giggled.
"Sorry..." She crabbed the Jo with both hands and began to twirl it around. Rachael looked her over, a hand on her chin.
"Hmmm, not bad"
"Oh yeah, thanks Bruce!" It was a private joke between them. Rachael had started to study Kung Foo in secret.
"Hey, you know I hate being called that!" Rachael protested.
"Whatever Mr Lee" Sarah answered in jest, then she started basic manoeuvres. After a couple she stopped and looked at a now annoyed Rachael. Sarah put her hands up in defence.
"I was just kidding, lighten up will you!" Rachael shook her head.
"It's not that... " Sarah rolled her eyes. Here it comes! Rachael gave P.M.S. a new meaning - she she was always so angry, which they all thought was a little usual. Being mean was different... Rachael wasn't mean... maybe not all of the time... mainly angry. She blamed society for making them outcasts.
"I can't take it anymore! I want to be out there having fun, not hiding in the shadows..." Sarah had already gone through this thing with her and everyone also knew that Sarah was the only one who Rachael would listen too. The two had bonded from day one.
Sarah put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. Rachael worried her. The four sisters had just hit their teens and where already making waves... the fights alone... Sarah smiled.
"It'll be okay, I promise..." Rachael cut her off, her blood boiling, her voice louder.
"How do you know? Do you really care?" Rachael stopped. That last part wasn't true and she regretted what she had just said.
Those last few words had gnawed at her. Sarah took a step back, her feelings hurt.
"You know that I believe in fate. Everything happens for a reason. Have some faith" she turned and walked to the door.
"Please don't go, I mean... I didn't... " Rachael called out. Sarah ignored her and headed back to the party. She polietly thanked everyone for their gift. Throughout the entire night, Sarah ignored Rachael.
It's my twenty first and there's no way in hell I'm going to let some snot- faced-selfish teenager ruin my night! Sarah smiled and went with the flow.
Donna and Leena looked at each other, as they both crabbed a drink off the table.
"What's with those two tonight?" Donna asked her sister, they both turned to look at the two friends who were ignoring each other. Leena shrugged.
"Rach's in a serious funk tonight" Maree cut in, her mouth full of crisps. She reached in between the two girls to crab a drink off the table. Leena shot Rachael an angry glance.
"Remind me to kill her in the morning... geez I can't believe her... tonight of all nights!" Donna put her hand on Leena's shoulder.
"Down girl! Don't make a scene" she said in a hushed voice, she didn't want Sarah to hear.
Julie signalled to Leena. It was time for the cake. After it was brought out, Julie cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. Donna took the distraction as a godsend, and quietly made her way to Rachael's side. She had to warn her sister.
"I have something to give Sarah... something my mother made me promise..." Julie handed Sarah an envelope. It was old and soiled. The smile on Sarah's face disappeared as she read it. "... I couldn't give it to you until now... " Sarah put the letter down and stood there stunned.
"What is it?" Leena inquired.
"A letter from my father"
"Ho Yin?"
"No Lee, my biological father" The statement silenced both Rach and Donna who where quietly having a dicussion of their own.
"I have a trust account which was set up with my mother's life insurance..." she couldn't remember anything about them. Her mother had died during childbirth and her father, well, she didn't know how he died, she only knew that she had been very young. "My father left an account number... " The eyes of her friends widened. Money had been tight before Sarah got work, even now things where hard, with the mortgage and all...
"... I also have a very distant cousin in NYC" There was silence for a moment.
"Aren't your bros there?" Maree asked.
"Yeah so?" Leena walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder. She knew what had to be done.
With a smile she said "The candles are melting, make a wish"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After things had settled, Julie and Sarah made the arrangements. Her parents had left her enough money for her to live a very comfortble life. Julie had explained that she did have a hand in it's growth. She had invested wisely. Some of it had been used to put Sarah through school. Sarah was angry that Julie hadn't told her about the money sooner, but understood when she learnt that it had been her father's wish, besides Sarah wasn't given access until her twenty first birthday.
Sarah looked at Julie as they sat at the dining room table going over some papers that the bank manager had given them. The girls had gone downstairs to train, leaving them in peace. Sarah took a long hard look at her sister. Julie had done so much for her. They were family, and she wanted to repay her kindness. While she would be in New York, things would be hard financially. Sarah pushed an envelope over to her sister. Julie looked at it, her expression changing.
"What's this?"
"A present, please open it"
"I can't, really, it's not neccessary"
"Please Julie take this, it's just a small token of my appreciation, please.... " her mood had started to darken. Sarah panicked. Please not now! She took a deep breath of relief when the vision did not happen. Sarah had just started to lose her paitence. Julie was being stubborn."... you could at least have a look inside"
The curiousity got the better of her and she opened it. She gasped as she pulled out the cheque.
"Sarah you shouldn't have... that's a lot of money..."
"Please take it, it'll take care of the mortgage, remember, I won't be here, and you have a habit of undercharging your students..." Julie thought about it for a moment. It would help, and there would still be five mouths to feed...
Julie humbled herself "Only if you're sure.." Sarah nodded "thank you." The two sisters hugged each other.
"God I'm going to miss you" she blinked tears back. This was the first time that Sarah was leaving home.
"It won't be for long, i'll find my cousin, get a job maybe..." she smiled " you will visit won't you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four girls wiped tears away as Sarah headed for the door, with her suitcases in tow. She put them down and turned to the four teenagers. They were more than friends, more like her little sisters.
"C'mon guys, it's not forever. Cheer up"
"We'll miss you" Donna sobbed.
"Once things settle i'll be back, or you could visit... apparently I own an apartment in Greenwich Village... " she saw a look of disapproval from Julie who was standing behind the girls. She didn't like the sound of this. "... Mmmm, then again, maybe not"
They turned their tear stained faces toward Julie. The saddness in their eyes reminded her of Sarah in her younger years. Her heart melted.
"I'll think about it" They never questioned her authority, she was afterall their mother figure and their sensei.
"You guys are still practising the art of invisibility aren't you?" Sarah asked.
"What you mean 'ninja stealth'?" Maree asked. Sarah smiled. She liked that one.
"Yeah, any good?" She asked, the question aimed at Leena - who was the the most level headed and therefore the unoffical leader.
"Yeah, not bad, so?"
"Keep practising... " Sarah winked "... you'll figure it out." Rachael sure did, a smile forming on her face. It was their ticket to New York City.
"I gotta go, i'll call you" the four girls hugged her before she turned and headed toward the door. They watched her walk down the stairs, Sarah paused and looked up at them on the landing above her.
"Stick with the training and don't drive Jules up the wall!!" Sarah continued walking and headed for the dojo's door, where Julie was there waiting for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah looked out of the window, the drive to Sydney International Airport had been in silence. It had been one of the hardest things that she had ever done. The five of them had rarely been apart for more than two days. It was just as hard for her as it had been for them. Sarah pulled out a polaroid of her twenty first birthday from her bag. She looked at the smiling faces of the five of them in front of her cake and she started to cry. She was going to miss them terribly. They were her life. They ate together, played together, trained together... she quickly put the picture back into her bag and wiped the tears from her cheeks. This was something she had to do. It was the next step in her life.
~ Chapter Two ~ Coming Soon!