The day started out as a normal one for seventeen-year-old Artemisia Davis as she woke up to the blaring siren of her alarm clock. Her hand untangled itself from the sheets and groped around until it hit the snooze button. All she wanted was five more minutes of the coveted state of sleep. Was that too much to ask for?
Apparently it was, because a moment later her mother flung her door wide open and switched on the light, nearly blinding the poor girl. "Maaaaa," she wailed, pulling the covers over her face. "Five more minutes!"
"No, it's time to get up. You say that every morning, I give in, and you're five minutes late to school. Now get up," Chieko commanded.
Artemisia grumbled as she slid out of bed and searched her drawers for presentable clothing. Unfortunately, everyday was a battle between her and Chieko. The only kind of battle she would choose to be a part of would be a battle between good and evil for the fate of mankind. However she feared that would only come true in any of her many daydreams.
A thick fog settled around the hilltop where Artemisia stood facing the great Adversary. He was a formidable looking foe: tall, dark, imposing. But he did not scare the brave heroine in the least! He did not know her secret, her power. No one knew. Until now, when she would unleash her potential to save humankind. She would completely decimate him. She dropped into a fighting stance as he suddenly opened his mouth. "The answer to question three, Miss Davis, if you please," he said.
"Miss Davis, the answer to question three," Mr. Lawrence, her math teacher, repeated.
Artemisia opened her mouth to reply, and then snapped it shut. Her cheeks reddened as she fumbled through her papers. She really had to do something about her daydreaming-in-class habit. Chieko swore that if another parent-teacher conference was called concerning the matter, she would be grounded for two months. "Er..." she trailed off when she could not find the answer. She got the feeling that she was about to lose two months of freedom. It was her senior year, for goodness' sake; she wasn't supposed to have restrictions like these!
"See me after class, Miss Davis," said a very disappointed Mr. Lawrence.
But there was no way he could be as disappointed as Artemisia. She folded her arms over her chest and slumped in her chair, willing the next forty minutes to pass quickly. To her great relief, they did pass quickly, the bell ringing sooner than she expected. She would have grinned widely and been out the door quick as a bolt, but she stayed in her seat. It wasn't until all the other students had vacated the room that Mr. Lawrence approached her desk.
"Artemisia, I don't know what to say," he said, exasperated.
"Then please don't say anything. Just give me a referral or something and be done with it," the teenager insisted.
"You don't quite merit one of those, Artemisia." He paused and smiled. Then his face adopted a more serious expression. "Is there any way that I can get you to pay more attention in class?"
The girl shrugged. "I dunno. I just get so bored. Is there any way that you can get the class to move at a faster pace?" she asked. For some reason or another, everything around her always seemed to be inching along while she raced ahead.
"I'm afraid not. I'm also afraid that I'm going to have to call your mother. This would be the third time that you haven't been prepared for class this month and according to the class syllabus..."
Artemisia skillfully tuned out the rest of her teacher's words and simply nodded. When he finally let her leave, she realized that she would have to walk home. He had kept her long enough that she had missed the bus. This day was simply going from bad to worse.
Why she expected that to change when her mother got home, she did not know. She hid in her bedroom as Chieko listened to the messages on the answering machine. Her mind's ear could practically hear the lecture she was going to receive in mere moments. But perhaps she wouldn't hear one tonight. The open window was calling to her.
The brave heroine glanced up at the window, her only means of escape. It was now or never. She peered out of it again, looking down at the makeshift ladder propped up against the wall. With ease, she swung herself over the edge. Her toes barely fit on the rungs of the ladder. Slowly, she began her descent. It wouldn't be long till—
It took all of Artemisia's willpower not to scream as the lattice separated from the wall of the house. Acting on instinct, she grabbed at the wall. Her eyes popped open when she realized that she wasn't on the ground, broken and bleeding. She didn't question this phenomenon, but continued down the wall until her feet met with the concrete porch. Then she ran.
Ever since she was a little kid, Artemisia had been the fastest girl in her class. Her mother wasn't athletic and Chieko avoided speaking about her father, other than that they had gotten together in college and never married. (It was an odd thing, really, coming from her tradition-oriented, Japanese mother. She suspected that it must have been because she was in college and an entire ocean away from her strict parents.) After a while, she just didn't question. It was part of who she was. But she never took advantage of it.
Even though she went out for sports, Artemisia made her speeds relatively normal. She didn't want to be any different from other girls her age. She had been singled out enough in elementary school after she had moved back from Japan. Her accent, which was virtually gone now, had been the target of the other kids' teasing. As open and accepting as Californians claimed to be, it had taken a while for her to be socially accepted.
Artemisia collapsed into a heap, her mind reeling. She didn't know where she was. She had never run that hard before. Chest heaving, she lifted her head up, trying to get her bearings. Catching sight of a sign, she almost fainted from shock. She couldn't believe it. There was no way she could be this far from home. She looked down at her watch.
"No..." she trailed off. In less than ten minutes, she had run from San Jose to Hollister. Traveling in a car, while going the speed limit took a little under an hour to get there. She knew from having ridden in a school bus for various sporting events from her town to here. This was madness.