USM: Broken Sun

Chapter One: Why Do Things Fall Apart?:

I am having a shit day.

Not joking. Like it is really shitty.

It started out not as I hoped it would.

0:17 am

I swirled the Coke in the glass with my straw, waiting for this stupid flight to end. My mom and I had went down to New York for the weekend and were coming back to Italy right at this moment. Sure, we got to see a lot of sights that we hear about from tourists and all that, but my mom was being all secretive and buying me anything I wanted. Like she was trying to make up for something that happened or will happen. Either way, I know I'm screwed.

My mother looked up from her writing and looked concerned. "Cosa c'è di sbagliato?" What is wrong? My mother was always worrying about me and it was kind of getting annoying. I am sixteen years old, not a five year old.

"Nothing mum." I muttered and placed the straw in my mouth. My mother was from Italy and my father from Iran. My mother spoke fluent Arabic and Italian and encouraged me to speak both while my father spoke Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and English and encouraged me to learn all of them and speak however I wanted. I chose to speak English and it annoyed my mother to no end. She said that it was a useless and I would barely use it. She closed her book and put it aside.

"Dobbiamo parlare." We need to talk.

"About what? All we've done on this trip was shop and talk." I slouched down into my seat. It was hard to talk to my mother because she never grew up how I did. She was a poor girl, living on scraps with a small education. Until she met my dad.

"Tuo padre ed io abbiamo deciso che ci stiamo muovendo in Iran." Your father and I have decided that we are moving to Iran.

I stopped swirling my straw and looked at her. Did she expect me to be fine with moving away from my friends and someplace I had grown up in? "But-"

"Niente ma. Lasciamo Mercoledì prossimo." No buts. We leave next Wednesday. And that was the end of the discussion as my mother's phone rang.

5:30 pm

I tightened the orange shock blanket around my shoulders as the medic talked to the Polizia (Police).

This day was horrible. Let's do a headcount. 12am, my mother tells me I have to pack up by next Wednesday because we were moving to Iran. 8am, I'm late to school and 'get' to have a talk with the headmaster. Third period, I flunk a test and discover I'm failing that class. Lunch time, I discover my boyfriend snogging some other girl he apparently had been dating since the day I had gone on my trip. Douchebag. 5pm, I come home and find my dad and mom missing. Does that sound like a bad day? It isn't even 6 and this day has turned into a nightmare.

I brought the blanket closer as the medic and police officer got into a bigger argument. Ooh, fun.

"Mason!" I turned to see a twenty-seven year-old woman with dark blonde wavy hair that was pulled into a ponytail ran over. A police officer stopped her but she quickly explained who she was. She was my older sister who lived in America and never saw eye-to-eye with my parents, especially my mother. Partially because she was part of an affair my father had before my parents were married. She grew up with her mother and had appeared when she was eighteen.

She walked over and rubbed my short black curly hair. If you looked at us, you would know that we were related, just not half-sisters. We had the same face shape, figure, and blue with yellow speckles eyes. We had a lot in common non-looks wise. We both were tomboys, nerdy, and gymnasts. "Hey, Blackie. Your coming home with me."

I raised an eyebrow. "No 'How are you doing?' or 'Are you okay?'"

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "You would say 'Fuck off' or something like that."

I nodded. "True that. So when do we leave?"

She held out her hand and smiled mischievously. "Now."

3 Weeks Later

The lights of the dingy corner store flickered momentarily as the storm raged outside and thunder boomed overhead. I sighed as, for a split second, the store was engulfed in total darkness. Then the light was back and I resumed my search heedlessly. What had I come in here for?

"Hey, girly!" the obese, greasy-haired man behind the counter barked at me. "Either buy something or get the hell out."

Oh yeah. Garlic, tomatoes, and basil. I grabbed the basil can and added it to my basket with the other items. "You should be more polite," I sneered, walking to the counter. "You need the business."

It was true. I was the only person in the shop and the goods on the shelves were either expired or rotting. It had taken ages to find tomatoes I could use and I just grabbed garlic powder.

The store owner glared at me as I threw the basket on the counter. He rang it up and asked simply, "Anything else?"

"No," I said, grabbing my wallet out of my coat pocket.

"Alright then," the owner said. "Your total comes to $15.65."

I rolled my eyes as I pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of my wallet. "They better be some good tomatoes."

"Don't like it, don't shop here," the owner said, snatching the bill away from me.

"Whatever." I grabbed the bagged items off the counter and turned to leave without waiting for my change or receipt.

As I pulled open the door of the shop, the owner called out to me. "Hey, kid, be careful out there. That's one hell of a storm."

I smiled as thunder boomed once again. Only in New York. "Thanks," I said, pulling my hood up and stepping outside. "I'll make it."

I pulled my keys out of my pocket and turned on the mini flashlight that dangled from them, praying the storm would end by the time I got home.

Twenty minutes later, I was back at my sister's two story home, drenched. The house was warm like freshly baked cookies and smelled the same. Books covered nearly every inch of floorspace of the small, square living room. There were two bedrooms on the first floor and four upstairs, and one of them was mine. Since almost a month ago, though, I'd only had use it until the summer.

My sister stood in the kitchen, which was opposite the living room, lighting what seemed to be about a million candles. She had cut her dirty blonde hair to her chin, blue eyes watching the stove, and wore a bright blue tank top. Next to her stood her tall, thick stack of cook books on which a small TV played the news.

"Candles?" I said, walking up. I knew she had a peeve about using them more than three times a year (birthdays and Earth Day), something about her past. She won't go deeper but I knew it was a love thing. I searched for pictures but only found one.

It was actually a nice picture to look at, showcasing how beautiful my sister was. My sister looked younger, about twenty, and her blonde hair was lighter and same length as it was now. Her eyes matched perfectly with the blue shirt she was wearing that had connected gold circles. She was looking at the other person in the photo and in mid-laugh at his expression, holding something in the hand not wrapped around his shoulder. The man looked about twenty-five or somewhere around there. He had sandy-blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a badass look about him. He was wearing a red leather jacket and grey shirt that helped emphasize his badass-ness He was a good eight inches taller than her and was bending his knees to be at her height. He had a ridiculous grin and holding up a peace sign with one hand and the other around her waist.

She turned and smiled, my interruption obviously shocking her out of her thought. She shoved something into her jean pocket and nodded. "Yeah. Power might go out and I lost the flashlight. Oh, I ordered pizza."

I put away the groceries and listened to the news.

"It's been three weeks since the disappearance of Hakim and Belinda Al-Harazi from their home in Italy. They were the owners of the world famous scientific company, Sdentato Incorporated. Their daughter, Muhsina Al-Harazi, has been placed with other family members until her parents are found-"

My sister changed the channel to cartoons with a disgusted face. "Isn't there anything else on the news?"

I shrugged off my jacket onto the counter. "Well, it is they are heads of the company. And who decided to use that ghastly name in the news?"

My sister snickered. "Muhsina is pretty."

"My name is legally Mason. Dad changed it against Belinda's wishes." I plopped down on a bar stool and yawned loudly. The door bell rang and my sister walked to get the pizza. "Don't flirt too much with the dude!"

She laughed and continued walking. I smirked at her retreating figure. As soon as she left, I heard a loud thump from above me. That was weird because we don't have a tree near us and we don't have a pet. I grabbed a kitchen knife and walked upstairs. Let's count the horror movie clichés.

One, knife as a weapon.

Two, investigating alone.

Three, no lights.

Four... I'm done. No more. Especially not the slutty verses brainy crap. Cause I'm neither.

I reached the top of the stairs and looked around. Three of the four bedroom doors were open and the bathroom light was on and there was thumping. I walked over and opened the door, ready to fight. Instead, there was no one there and nothing new. Well, except for two things.

One, the window was open and flapping, making the thumping noise. I looked at my knife and face palmed. I had only been in the suburbs for three weeks and I wasn't able to settle in to the cliche normal teenager. The second thing was a beautiful teardrop necklace. It was on a silver chain with a white painted metal surrounding the black gem. It hell wasn't mine and my sister would never leave jewelry lying around.

I picked it up in my hand and it felt warm to my touch. I put it around my neck and looked it the mirror. Suddenly it started to burn and I watched as it began to change shape. It grew in size and the metal turned to a different substance. Then I was staring at a whole new necklace. The string was a simple black and on it hung a black iron outline of a flower and white diamonds as the petals. There was another smaller flower in the center with five or more diamonds on each petal.

I looked back at myself and was eyes widened. "Whoa."

That wasn't the only thing that changed. An almost whole new girl was staring at me. My short black curly hair that reached my chin had turned a darker shade, curlier, and now reached my midback. My eyes were a darker blue and the gold stood out more. My pale skin had turned blemish free (Bye Bob the Pimple!) and a dark tan, almost giving me the look that I was another race. My ratty 1977 Star Wars t-shirt and jeans had turned into a skin-tight ninja outfit. It had a white sash across my entire stomach, a white mask that covered my mouth and right eye, and also white wraps around my legs. Two black iron arm guards went from my wrist to elbow on each arm. Every other part of my outfit was black including the fingerless gloves.

I quickly took the necklace off and looked back. Everything was the same. Scrap. I pulled on the mask and it came off. I sighed and pulled off every other piece. My clothes were still on underneath it (Thank God.) and I left them in a neat pile in the bathroom. Now I was gonna go tell my sister. It was freaky and-

I opened the door to see her already there. She had her arms crossed and had a huge frown. "You put it on didn't you?" I nodded slowly and she sighed. "Knew one day fate would catch up with us."

"Catch up?"

She took the necklace off the counter and my hand. "Best to tell a scary story on a scary night."

I know I'm procrastinating but I like Mason Sdentato a lot better than Fyre McPhate. Soorry about that. I'll have to rewrite PROJECT ARROW or at least edit it. I hope this chapter doesn't feel forced. Trying to work better with first person POV. This will also be all in Mason's POV with some of the others'. SEND A PM OR REVIEW IF YOU WANT TO SUGGEST SOMETHING OR TELL ME YOUR IDEAS/FLAMES.

NEXT TIME: We'll learn Mason's sister's name, the story of the necklace, and why Mason's sister knows about it and space!

~PoetryNeedANewName~