Earthbound Fate: Chapter One
A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to chapter one! Considering I have a bad history of notoriously abandoning my stories for several months, I think I did well! (I could do MUCH better though...)I'm really into this story so I know I'm going to stick to it. Hopefully I can update a little more often than I usually do, but school projects, homework and the likes will just have to be nice to me first. Any-who, enjoy chapter one and leave a comment/review and a bit of feedback for me if you feel like it! And just so you know, this chapter has a time skip of about two years since the prologue.
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I frown deeply as I gaze steadily at my report card. Maybe they made a mistake...
I sigh and crumple my exam results up into a ball and chuck it out of a nearby open window. This is the third time I've received a D in Math, and I'm beginning to think it's not just a mistake...
I have a feeling that several teachers are picking on me for being...well...different, but I honestly don't see why. I work hard, do all of my homework, study, never get into any trouble and yet they're still convinced that I'm not worthy enough to at least get a B!
I scowl as I think of Mr. Porter, my Maths teacher. Yes, he's probably going all out to make my life miserable.
I remember back when I was in third grade he insisted on having my parents visit for parents evening, even though he knew I didn't have any. He's a spiteful man, and a very cruel teacher. It's really hard to stop myself from sticking my pencil up his large, squashed nostrils, but I always have to remember that being irrational will only gain me more attention. Of course, every now and again I leave a mushroom stew on his chair and put a little bit of salt in his tea, but thankfully, Mrs. Spooner always stands up for me when Mr. Porter comes raging into the staff room with grey stained trousers shaking a half-empty coffee mug at everyone in the room.
I smile softly to myself as I recall that situation. She smartly figured out that it must have been me, but she said he deserved it anyways. Throughout my entire time at this school, Mrs. Spooner is probably the only person I've ever met that hasn't either believed me to be a demon and shunned me or persistently bullied me. She doesn't really care whether or not someone is a demon or an angel, but she actually looks at character and personality rather than listening to rumours. She's the only reason why I linger around this village, or else I would have moved away from this hopeless place a long time ago.
I remember several months back when I first told her about my past...
*Flashback*
I run out of the new school, desperate to make it back to my home in the forest before the my new 'classmates' mob me for discovering my abnormal eyes. I never should have turned up here, never should have stepped foot in this village, let alone tell the chief about my, my-
"WAIT!"
I dig my heels into the ground, stop in my tracks and whip my head around before realising that I've probably revealed my eyes to yet another hateful human.
But instead, I see a pudgy, middle-aged woman waddling towards me at what was probably the fastest speed she's ever run at in years.
"Don't leave yet! You seem like a nice girl," she said in a gentle tone, despite her loud huffing and puffing as a result of her miniature marathon.
She catches her breath and looks at me with soft, slightly worn blue eyes and gives me a large, loving smile. I don't know her well; only that she worked at the hell hole that I had just ran from, but she seemed a lot kinder than the other humans at the school.
She leaned up and held up a hand towards me. I stared at it, puzzled. What on earth am I supposed to do with a hand?!
"Give me your hand dear, and I'll lead you back to the school and get you settled back in, she cooed, stretching her hand out further.
I scowl and scoot away from the deceptive woman. Why does she want to take me back there? Is she stupid?! They'll kill me! And to think that she was nice...
"I know that you haven't been given a very warm welcome, but I'll make sure nothing bad happens, don't worry. I know it must be hard settling in, but your going to have to face the music soon enough. Everywhere you go, people will find out about your true self and hate you. Since some people are bound to dislike you, you'll never get a good education or home if you keep on running away from your haters!" She reasoned, flailing her arms about to express her words.
Why humans like to do that, I may never know.
I sighed in acceptance and hold her hand. Despite her age, her hand feels soft and young, like she had recently creamed it.
"How about a cup of tea at my house after school today?" she suggested.
At this point, I don't really care; anything that can prevent me from being stalked after school is a lifesaver.
*time skip*
"Would you like Cookies with that? I made them myself!" she said proudly. I nod slowly. I'm not a fan of biscuits but I can't say no to cookies.
I pick up a particularly small one and nibble along its circumference, then shovel the entire cookie into my mouth. I certainly didn't expect a chocolate chip cookie to taste that good! I picked up six more before taking a sip of the tea. I ended up choking and spluttered for a good twelve seconds whilst Mrs. Spooner rubbed my back. Unfortunately, the tea was just plain nasty.
"I guess you're not a fan of Earl Grey then...Next time you can have some hot chocolate."
I mumble incoherently and slump into the floral printed chair I was sitting on. I'm not in a good mood, even though things had gone down well. Nobody dared to go near me when Mrs. Spooner was around; they seemed even more afraid of me when they saw that I was her new favourite. However, I didn't fail to notice the warning gestures and whispers as soon as she turned her back. Lets just say that a day without Mrs. Spooner would spell big trouble. She's actually quite strict and put the kids in line quite easily, but out of school hours, I'll be left unprotected.
She seemed to read my mind, or maybe my crestfallen expression, because she moved a chair over and placed her arms around me. What an affectionate woman... I wonder if I should tell her about my past? Is she trustworthy? There's only been one person who I've trusted so much and he...No. I didn't even know him. He was just an ordinary mortal, no biggie. But if I could trust him, I can trust this woman, right?
Without my brains consent, my mouth had already opened. It would look weird if I sat there with my mouth hanging open showing of my pretty sharp teeth, so I sighed and started telling her my story.
She didn't respond as I talked, she just sat there with her arms around me, listening.
"When I was small, no one seemed to pay attention to me. When I walked through the streets and passed by the rows of houses, nobody noticed me. It was as if I was invisible. But whenever the odd person stumbled upon me and offered to take me in, they would throw me out by the dawn of the following day. I didn't know why it happened; as far as I knew I was normal. Homeless, a thief, but normal."
I took a small pause, mostly to observe her reaction so far. She held the same loving expression she had worn all day, and gently nudged me to continue.
"Until I was seven, I struggled to make a living. I hung around isolated forests during the day, and snuck into the villages to steal something to eat at night. I knew it was wrong, but no body seemed to notice, so I carried on. The day after my seventh birthday, I was nearby a swamp, looking for some mushrooms when I saw her.
She was a witch; it was obvious by her attire and the wart on their abnormally big noses, but she was not as vile as I had imagined. The minute her eyes landed on me, she shook and fell to the floor, most likely from shock. Being the kind person I was, I helped her up. She clung onto me like a leech, and it was beginning to annoy me until she said my name. From there I have NO idea what she said. Something my seven-year old mind could not comprehend, but something I would probably be able to figure out now.
Something about destiny and prophecy, and I thought it was a load of made up witchcraft until she mentioned my eyes. I asked her what she knew about them, and she grabbed my hands and pulled me close to her face. She said she saw something in me; something that made me special...
How I wasn't human; a sight to behold she put it as, a young, yet powerful child.
I remember her expression; mystical, entranced by a spell almost, but I couldn't understand. I heard snippets of war, poverty and something about the world ending, but I couldn't take a single thing in. They say witches have a habit of talking in an non-understanding manner, and it was certainly true. I wish that at the time I was slightly more mature, because I wouldn't still be trying to work out the mystery that is me. But nonetheless, I got my answer.
I was created for a reason. I wasn't human, and I was happy about it. Sure, I wouldn't be accepted, but it gave me an explanation as to why I was so different. I wasn't normal, I was...Me.
It explained why I knew the most important things about me, like my name and birthdate, despite having no parents. Why I was smarter than most people and had the agility of a ninja. Why I never got caught in my midnight missions and how I somehow knew how to defend myself.
She suddenly stopped mid-rant, like she had just said something she wasn't supposed to say. And like nothing happened, she turned around and walked off; mumbling nothings to herself as she strolled away.
I never fully understood what she had said, or what she had wanted to say, but I got the picture. I'm not your average person."
I took a deep breath and sighed in relief. I have told her my story- even if it wasn't all of it.
I couldn't tell if she had figured that out or if she was content with my story so far, because she still kept that same kind expression on her face, and she never stopped smiling. How she could keep that smile up all day was beyond me. I've tried it for twenty minutes and my cheeks had already started aching. So many odd people in this strange world...
I was certainly happy I'd decided to let out a little. It gave me a little...peace.
Gently, trying not to disturb me, she rose and calmly walked back to her original seat, and poured herself another cup of tea.
"Would you like some more cookies?"
*End Of Flashback*
I still don't know where her children are as she never mentions them. Maybe she has grandchildren? Perhaps an adopted child? Where else could she have developed that sense of motherliness?
I trusted her then, and I do even more now, but I still haven't told her about what the witch said to me. I understood every word; I just didn't want to believe it. After all, no one has believed me...
I lean out of the window that I had just thrown my report card out of. It had landed in a pile of thick clay-like mud in the schools playing field and looked like there's no way of restoring it back to its original state. Like I could care any less.
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A/N: I know, I know. It's not too interesting for the first chapter, but things will pick up by chapter 4-5+, I promise! Maybe even earlier? I'm not at ALL happy at the time it took to write such a short chapter, but hopefully I can work on that. I know several people on this site have school and work to deal with, so I should be able to handle it too! I have other stories I have to update too (I was a complete idiot to start a second story with two incomplete ones still waiting to be finished, but what's done is done) so I'm probably going to have to turn to those soon enough. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review if you want, and I'll see you next with chapter two!
~Deeptiger