I DO NOT OWN FALLEN!

One: Remember

Savannah, Georgia; August 14, 2009

I was startled awake and out of breath. Another dream.

For the past couple of months since my seventeenth birthday I had been having unexplainable dreams. They were all very different, but somehow relate to one another. And they weren't bad dreams, in fact they were actually very pleasant. I saw the same boy and girl in them every time, and they all ended ambiguously happy. But one thing I couldn't really understand is why I am seeing the boy with golden blonde hair through the girl's eyes. What was even more strange was that girl in my dreams looked almost like my sister.

The dreams usually came a night or two a week, but recently I had been having them much more often that I'm beginning to wonder if they really mean something. I looked up on the internet to see if I could somehow interpret them, but none of the answers I've found have been in the least bit helpful.

Massaging my eyes, I sat up in my bed and glance around my room. I see my sister's room light on outside my door, revealing that she has already been up. Lucinda is my fraternal twin sister. When we were born I was about a pound heavier than her and an inch longer. Ever since we had grown up together I have always been bigger and taller. I stand at almost 5 foot 10 inches and she is barely 5 foot 4.

As most older brothers should be obligated to do, I had always looked out for my little sister. We would hold hands every day when we walked to elementary school together, up until the fifth grade when she like most younger siblings say that "they're too old for that". It took time to get used to that because I was slowly beginning to feel that she no longer needed me anymore the way she had use to.

I slowly got out of bed and walked into our hallway. I paused by her room and saw that she had already decided what she will wear to school. A thin black ankle length dress and her converse, when normally she would wear skinny jeans and an old band T-shirt. She had a very good taste in fashion, where as some of the girls at our school would wear shorts that were so high that they were practically begging to be knocked up.

Today was the beginning of our Junior year of High School and the classes this year are much easier than the ones from previous years. We both had maintained an average GPA of above a 3.5 so we did't have to worry about getting into a good college. Even with our extracurricular activities we had better chances too. We sang in our school choir and played in our school's advanced band. We both played the piano, harp, and violin. But I personally preferred piano and harp and she prefered the violin. But we both shared a tremendous amount of love for music.

One good thing about High School is that you can spend all of it with friends. The summer seemed so long without the company of most of them because they had gone out of state for their vacation. We visited our grandparents from our mother's side who live about an hour away from Savannah and stayed with them for just a few days. Then we had gone to visit our grandparents from our father's side who live just out of town and were always so happy to see us but sad at the memories that came with us. We stayed with them for over a week.

I walked into my sister's room and she turned around in her desk to face me with a book in her hand, our copy of The Lovely Bones. Almost every morning she would flip through the pages and read a page or three, and sometimes I would too. When she saw me, her hazel eyes brightened up and she smiled, and I smiled back at her.

"Morning Luke," she said, standing up and holding out her arms to give me a good morning hug.

"Morning Lucie," I said, while walking into her arms and giving her a hug. She moved her head to the side so she could rest it against my chest because how taller I am than her. Then suddenly she cringed away from me.

"You smell like a dog," she said while giggling.

I laughed at her comment smiling. "The perks to having a brother who doesn't care about poor hygiene," I said while still hugging her.

I looked behind her and see that The Lovely Bones rests on her desk.

We had always loved that book because it had symbolized a part of what our own family had faced. When were both 11 years old our father had died of cancer. Our mother miraculously did not ignore the fact that me and my sister were still alive, but she did go through a large amount of depression. But she dedicated herself into getting help, and had gone to therapy and support groups that eventually made things more bearable and got her back on her feet.

My sister and I however, took the events of that day more seriously. Every night since that day for the past few months we would cry ourselves to sleep, and she would crawl into my bed to seek any ounce of comfort from me that she could find, and I would too.

But all of that changed when one day my mother took me to the library. She had told me that reading was one of the best ways to escape, and not focus so much on our own lives. I had gotten bored just browsing the shelves trying to find a world that could separate me from the one that I was tired of living in now, that I had asked the librarian if there was a book that could help me with my current situation.

She had apologized for my loss, but happily showed me a few books to me on the counter. The one that stood out to me was The Lovely Bones. It somehow reminded me of my father. The title had made me think that the remains of what used to be a living being could still be beautiful, because they were proof that someone was here and that someone was loved.

I had checked it out and began reading it at home. The book is about a girl who was murdered in 1973 by a man in her neighborhood, and she had watched over her family from her own personal heaven as they mourned her death. It had given me a great source of comfort because I thought that my father could be watching over us from his own heaven, and eventually his death no longer seemed to hurt me the way it did before.

I had finished the book in two days and loved it with all of my broken but repaired heart. The day I had finished it, I immediately recommended that Lucinda should read it because it had helped me with dad's death, and she carefully took it from my hands. Three days later she had silently walked into my room with the book in her hands. I turned around to see her while I was looking through our bookshelf, and she ran across my room and wrapped her arms around me and began sobbing in my chest. Immediately I began to think that I had made things worse for her, but when she raised her face to me she was smiling with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you," She had said, smiling with tears running down her cheeks.

"You're welcome," I had said back, whipping some of her tears away and returning her hug.

From that point on things had finally become better for the both of us. Every time we'd visit our father's grave we would wear smiles on our faces because we believe that he is in a better place now and still watching over us.

Sword and Cross is only a seven minute walk from where we live at our apartment. We had originally lived in a big house before our dad died, but afterwards mom wanted to move somewhere else to take her mind off of things, and because of funeral mortgage. Me and Lucie didn't really mind, we both thought that we could use a change of space.

We ended up finding a three bedroom apartment for less than half the price of our old residence, and our wing was on the third floor with a gorgeous view of Savannah. The sunset and sunrise was so vivid from our patio, it appeared as if the sun only rose and set to see us in the morning and to say goodbye at night.

Savanah's a very quiet town, but attracts many tourists because of how long its been in Georgia making it a monument of American history. Our town being nearly four centuries old makes it give off an old and ancient aura that me and Lucie really love. We both love the old modern style to some of the buildings that have statues of angels and gargoyles on them, and how almost every tomb stone in the town cemetery has their own unique design. Even our father's.

Lucie always likes to leave the house an hour before school starts so that we can walk through the towns park. I'll admit that I like walking through it as well. The park is not very large itself. You could actually walk right through it in about 5 minutes, but me and Lucie always like taking our time, looking at bright green grass areas and all of the tall trees that outstretch over the pathway making a grand hallway of intertwined branches.

A fresh and cool breeze passes us and runs its delicate fingers through my hair. Somehow this feeling seems familiar. This summer I had ditched my shaggy skater boy hair and went with an under cut, the sides of my hair are very short and the top is a few inches long but still reveals the natural waves of my hair. Thanks to this hair cut I can feel more of the breeze as it flows through my scalp. The breeze caries with it a natural sent of lavender.

I look to my left and see my sister's long black wavy hair that falls to her waist dance in the oncoming wind. She raises her face to the wind smiling, and breaths in the fresh aroma. Our jet black hair is just one of many things we have in common. We both have pale skin, hazel eyes, lips that have a natural shade of red, and a similar facial structure that most people can't really notice at a distance.

We had inherited all of these traits from our father, the only physical things we have left of him. It seems really pleasant to have these traits with us, because unlike material objects; our pale skin, hazel eyes, black hair, and red lips will die along with us.

"It'll be nice wont it," Lucie said. It seems as if she had read my mind. "To see everyone after all the long weeks of summer vacation without them."

"Oh, yeah," I replied, looking down at the smooth path and the near exit of the park just another 2 minutes away.

"Has Jack called or text you at all during the summer?" Lucie asked in a concerned tone. "You've never really talked about him that much."

"Uh, yeah, he's called a couple times a week," I managed to say, trying to look away from her to avoid my worried expression, but she's always been able to tell if something was bothering me even when I'd do my best to hide it.

It's not really true. Jack had actually texted me almost every week and I had only responded to him a few times.

Jack and I have been best friends since the seventh grade. We had actually met in our middle school's music room when I was playing the grand piano they had in the practice room. I was lost in the music playing River Flows In You, when I heard him speak after I had lifted my foot off of the pedal.

"That was beautiful," he said in a quiet voice that still surprised me. I didn't even notice anyone had walked into the room.

When I had turned around, I saw a tall boy with tanned skin, light brown hair and green eyes. He was holding a guitar by the neck, and came up to me and Introduced himself.

"Name's Jack," he said, with a warm smile on his face holding out his right hand.

I stood up from the piano stool, only to see that he was a whole head taller than me. I held my pale right hand with a shy look on my face.

"Luke," I said, and took his hand. Then he had brought my hand closer to him, and studied it as if it were a lost artifact.

"You have very beautiful hands," he had, said while gently running his thumb over the back of my hand.

I immediately took my hand back. "What's that suppose to mean!?" I had said, slightly embarrassed by his compliment.

"Nothing," he answered back, looking a bit surprised, "just that you have beautiful hands, and I like hearing you play."

"Oh," I said, still looking a little nervous. Not really what I would have expected as a first impression from a guy that towers over me, and one that looks like a rock star that girls would be drooling over.

From that moment on me and Jack had become really good friends, and we would spend every day in the practice room at lunch and even sometimes after school. I would be on the piano playing Yiruma and he'd be on his guitar playing FM Static.

"Did something happen before break?" Lucie asked looking slightly worried, bringing me back to reality.

"How's Emily been?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"She went to visit her relatives in Missouri, but Luke-"

"Don't worry Lucie," I said to her trying my best to show a real smile. "He's just been really busy over the summer looking for a job and making college plans"

" Luke," Lucie said with a suspicious look on her face, "he already works at the guitar store right next to the library, and we're barely starting our Junior year of High School today. Are you sure everything's alright?"

"Trust me Lucie," I tried to reassure her, "Everything's alright."

"Alright," she said while having a noticeable grin on her face.

"What are you smiling for?" I asked her accusingly.

"Oh, nothing," she said smiling towards me now, "just thinking that something juicy happened between the two of you, and that you're too embarrassed to say what it is."

My face immediately turned red. What on earth could she possibly think that happened between the two of us?! A one night stand?!

"What makes you think that?" I said in a voice that nearly gives her the answer.

"One," she began, "your face is completely red, and two, the tone of your voice practically blurts out the answer."

"Believe me when I say I'm telling the truth, nothing happened before break," I said in a serious tone.

"Ooookay," she said, her smile disappeared and she went back into enjoying the feeling of nature.

We've reached the end of the path and now start on the street that will take us to our school. We first cross the intersection of Sword Road and Night street to get onto Cross, which our school is just located around the corner. I can see the tall building of our school that has the cross on its pointed roof. At a farther distance it could almost be mistaken for a church but soon, the bold printed letters on the large stoned plate attached to the school gate will read: Sword and Cross High School.

Our school had originally been a Catholic school, but due to the increase of divers ethnicities and religions the school decided that they teach regular subjects and non-religious teachings.

We enter the gates that lead into the campus followed by other students, but none that we recognize as any of our friends. The school looks more like a smaller gothic version of Hogwarts, with its tall buildings of modern stone carvings with statues of angels on every building and even some in the school courtyard.

We stop in one of the hallways in the courtyard, and take in the fresh air of a new school year.

We walked into the center of the courtyard in our school, along one of the stone pathways. We approach the fountain with the human sized angel that hides its face inside of its hands. Water pours from where its feet lay as if it has cried all the water into where the it lies at the very bottom. Me and Lucie always liked looking at it, and wondering why something so divine would be crying and wanting to hide its identity.

Sword and Cross is not a very large campus itself. There are only three buildings and one of them is two stories high. Plus there is less than 500 students in all grade levels combined.

I look up at clouds above us and see that they are a dark shade of grey. It's been cloudy for quite sometime even though its barely the middle of August. Weather repots say that the highest today will be 72 degrees. Summer hardly lasts here in Georgia, and winter is usually here for the majority of the year. Lucie and I don't really mind though, we love cold weather.

I glance around the courtyard to see if any of our friends have made it here yet, but still I hardly see that many students here. Most of the students are wearing loose jeans and sweaters because in the morning it gets pretty cool, but latter warms up during the day. My sister's black dress covers her legs and arms, and she hardly notices the cool temperature. I'm wearing all black as well, black jeans, converse, and a button long sleeve T-shirt with the first two of the three buttons undone.

"Where do you suppose everyone is?" I asked Lucie, still making short glances to see if any one of our friends are here yet. Especially Jack.

"Probably on their way here right now," she responded.

I look at one of the towers of our school, the one that shows the clock. Its almost six o' clock. That... feels so familiar too.

Our school starts very early in the morning at 6:45 A.M., but ends just a little after noon at 12:44 P.M, so its not too big of hassle. We had also left the apartment a little earlier than when we usually do.

From the corner of my eye, I can see the sun peeking through grey clouds. Its rays shining through a small fracture and barely rising over the horizon. The rays illuminate the roofs of the school, sharpening their pointed roofs making them look as if they're piercing through the grey clouds. It looks almost like the Westminister building in London. I swear that I have seen this from somewhere before.

My thoughts kept being drawn back to the dreams I've had over the summer. Every time I had a new one, the previous one I had before just seemed to slip away. But the one I had this morning I can still recall some small fragments. I was standing on a bridge just outside of London waiting for someone. I looked at a tower that had a clock on it and notice the sun peeking over the horizon lighting up the city with a natural life bringing light. There was a couple that was walking by me holding hands and I wanted to be that way with the person who I was waiting for. And then...

Right in the middle of trying remember the dream, I feel strong arms wrap around me from behind in a warm embrace. My heart automatically begins to beat faster, as if trying to count to infinity. Yes... I remember this.

I am slightly released from the embrace but hands still rest on my shoulders. I slowly turn around, and look into the most pure color of green eyes. They look almost as if they are home to the most undiscovered, yet most beautiful creatures that could ever live in this world. But his eyes were not that color.

He looks back at me with the same lost look in his eyes that I have, almost as if he's trying to find me inside of them. He then raises his hand and caresses it against my cheek. I remember now.

"Lucian," he said, with his soft but deep voice.

Daniel...

"Jack," I said back to him.