Elementals

Once, a baby boy was born with a head of gray hair and golden eyes. His name was Sen McCart. When he was five years old, he began to see things before they happened. When he was eight, he was certified as a genius. However, there was a bit of a supernatural reason behind this.

He had a mind that exceeded far beyond the human potential, but we’ll get to that later. When he was twelve, he got a strange message. He was asleep, dreaming about a different time, when he was an adult. He saw two lovely children - a boy and a girl - one four years older than the other. They weren’t in the same place at the same time, but he knew they would be his children. He wondered when they would come into his life, and as he did, a voice spoke.

“Sen… One day, you will have two children to call a son and daughter,” the voice said. He couldn’t see who was speaking, but it sounded female. The voice was light and sweet. It was like music. “One will be a creator, bringing love and life wherever they go,” the voice continued, “The other… will be a destroyer, bringing death and pain with them. It will be up to you to guide the correct child down a path of light, and to keep the other restrained. If not, the world as we know it will horribly change, becoming impossible to reverse.”

For years, up until his late teens, Sen remembered this prophecy. Yet, when he decided to use his abilities of knowledge and prediction to become a detective, that became what he devoted all of his energy to, and he forgot about the warning. When Sen was twenty-six years old, he met a lady about his age. She had long, white-blonde hair and light blue eyes. She looked like an angel. He was instantly in love. As she sat across the room from him at a small cafe, he knew he had to ask her on a date before she left, since he may never get another chance.

The lady, Angela, agreed to go to dinner with him. She was twenty-three, and within six months they were married. It was quick, yes, but you can’t waste time when it’s with a detective who puts his life on the line practically every day. After nearly two years of marriage, the two had a child. It was a boy and they named him Daniel. He had bright crimson-colored hair and golden eyes. Sen believed that this was the start of a wonderful family, but he was wrong.

Angela died two days later due to complications that arose during childbirth. Sen was devastated. He wanted to die as well, but knew he had to stay alive and strong for his son. After three years of depression, Sen met a woman named Clara. He was scared of love after what happened with Angela, but he couldn’t deny his feelings for Clara. She shared his feelings, and the two slowly started dating. A year went by and they planned to get married, but before they could, Daniel was kidnapped at the age of four. Sen wanted more than anything to be with Clara forever, but he knew that no one else had his powers, so if anyone could find his son, it would be him.

Sen left to look for Daniel. Once he did, Clara began to get sick. She thought it was just because she was upset, but when it didn’t subside after almost two weeks, she went to the doctor only to find out she was pregnant. She and Sen had conceived a child just before he left, and although she tried endlessly to contact him, it turned out to be an impossible feat. Clara gave birth to a healthy girl, giving her the name Rosalie. She had red-brown hair and silvery green eyes. Clara raised her alone for a year, before her sister died, leaving in her will for Clara to take her child, a three-year-old girl named Jane. Clara had given Rosalie her father’s last name, McCart, while hers was Jones, and Jane’s was Tucker.

Despite everyone in that house having a different last name, they were all as close as a family could be. Clara raised Jane and Rosalie equally, as daughters, hardly even remembering that Jane was technically her niece. All was good. Clara did her best raising two children without a man and rubbed her success in the faces of the people who had told her she couldn’t. She had two healthy, happy daughter and couldn’t be more proud of either of them. After all that, she didn’t even want a man in her life. She was fine with her two girls and didn’t need anyone else. However, our story isn’t about Clara’s independant mothering. No, our story takes place over a decade later, on the day Rosalie turned fourteen.

Rosalie was in a park, sitting on the bench with a boy, though she didn’t know who it was. They seemed to be friends, and were relaxing, enjoying each other’s company. The Sun was setting. Rosalie was tired, resting her head on the boy’s shoulder. She looked up at him, his face blurry, but she saw he had messy brown hair and eyes like emeralds. He smiled and gently brushed her hair out of her face. Somewhere in the distance, she heard a bell ringing. The boy leaned closer to her. The ringing got louder. He lifted her chin. The ringing blared in her ears and the world melted away.

Rosalie woke up to a blaring alarm clock. Dang it! It had to be right then, she thought. She groggily rolled over and hit the top of it to turn it off, fighting the urge to throw the loud and annoying device across the room. She slowly pulled herself out of bed. It was April 19, and Rosalie’s birthday. Rosalie was in the eighth grade and couldn’t wait to finally get done with middle school. But, for now, she had to endure it for another month. But it was her birthday, so maybe today would be good.

Rosalie forced optimistic thoughts into her head and pulled on her clothes. She had a special “birthday outfit” planned - a red dress and black heels - but she went instead for a gray T-shirt and blue jeans. She tucked her jeans into combat boots and laced them up before heading to her small bathroom to fix her hair, brush her teeth, etc.

Rosalie finished up and went downstairs for breakfast. Jane was already dressed and at the table in her usual black sundress and matching flip flops. “Hey, birthday girl. I made some waffles,” Jane said with a smile as she gestured to the plate of used-to-be-frozen waffles beside the toaster.

“Thanks,” Rosalie said as she grabbed a paper plate and a few waffles. She sat down with Jane and started eating her breakfast.

Jane glanced out the window at the stormy sky.

“It’s raining really hard. Did they close school?” Rosalie asked.

“No, but they should. We have a tornado warning until six o’clock tonight,” Jane answered.

“It’s Alabama in April. We have a tornado warning every other day,” Rosalie joked.

It was true, there were no strangers to bad weather in that town. However, Rosalie always got a bit nervous when there was a tornado warning. She couldn’t help it. It was a natural fear.

Jane dropped Rosalie off at school, then went on to high school. This was the usual routine. Rosalie went into the cafeteria and sat with her friends, Tyler and May. Rosalie had been friends with them for three years. The three were practically inseparable. The tables were small and square, just large enough for four people. The four sat around one, looking rather mismatched.

Tyler had really light blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, with an athletic build. He was around 5’7” and was determined to join the football team as soon as he got into high school. May didn’t want Tyler getting hurt while playing, but he was stubborn and not likely to change his mind.

May was short, around 4’10” and very thin. She had long, light brown hair and dark brown eyes. She spoke with a high-pitched voice and strong southern accent that always seemed a little faked, but she swore it wasn’t.

Rosalie was 5’5” and lean, and her long, red hair and silvery-green eyes had hardly changed since she was born. The only difference was her hair got a bit brighter in color. It was no longer a brown-red, but rather an orange shade of red, like most gingers.

Rosalie, May, and Tyler were laughing about a web-show they all like when the principal’s voice came over the intercom. “Hello, this is Mr. Garrettson,” he said, “Due to the weather conditions, all after-school activities, such as sports, will not be held today. We have had a tornado in the county and although it was an F-1 and is already gone, please make sure you all know what to do in case we get hit by one. Check with your teachers to know the severe weather drills for each class and if a tornado does come this way, please remain calm. Follow instructions and stay safe. I’ll see you in the hallways and in the classrooms. Bye.”

“Dang,” Tyler said in response to the announcement, “I guess we’re all gonna die, then.”

May punched Tyler in the arm. “We’re not gonna die!” she scolded.

“Geez, May, it was just a joke,” Tyler said, laughing and rubbing his arm where she hit.

“You know, if you’re going to be a football player, you should expect a lot of hits like that,” Rosalie said.

“It didn’t really hurt,” Tyler explained with a shrug.

“Oh, well if you want, I can hit you?” Rosalie offered, holding her right fist in attack position. Tyler flinched, immediately saying that he was fine and didn’t need the “extra help.” Rosalie laughed. Then, the bell rang and they went off to class.

School was pretty normal. Teachers didn’t give too stressful of assignments in case something happened and they wouldn’t be able to finish the work in class. So, no Pre-Algebra quiz that day. Then, during fourth period, ten minutes until lunch, the alarm goes off.

The class began to file, one by one, into the hallway. They lined the walls and sat side-by-side, waiting. Rosalie sat in between two boys in her class that… didn’t exactly smell like daisies. She looked up to see the teacher of that class walking up and down the line of kids to make sure they were all safe.

“Excuse me, sir?” she asked.

He turned his attention to her and replied, “Yes?”

“Ummm… I was wondering when we’ll be getting lunch?”

“There’s something a little more important than food right now,” snapped the boy to her left.

“Nothing is more important than food!” Rosalie retorted, nearly shouting.

“Ugh! Shut up!” the boy said.

“I will eat you,” Rosalie replied in a whispery growl.

The teacher clapped his palm to his forehead in frustration and told her to stop threatening the other kids with cannibalism, and that they would get lunch when the bad weather passes. However, after twenty minutes of waiting in the hallway, Rosalie’s stomach was growling and she had almost forgotten about the tornado, wondering if anyone would notice if she were to sneak down to the cafeteria.Yet, before she could reach a decision on whether or not to make a break for it, the alarm came back on, but a different sound played.

One beep means, “drill.” Two beeps means, “Something is close.” A continuous siren-type sound means “The tornado is on top of us.” The sound playing was the siren. Students began to panic. Rosalie looked down the hall to see Tyler sitting with his class. She then listened to the teachers, as they were speaking loudly and frantically, forgetting their volume in panic. They couldn’t find two students: Lillian Peters and May Williams.

“They were both last seen outside. One was by the football field. The other near the greenhouse,” one teacher said to another. The teachers were at equal distance from Tyler and Rosalie, so they both heard this. The two simultaneously got up and sprinted towards the emergency exits closest to them. Ignoring the panicked shouts of the teachers, they both made it outside before they got caught.

The rain was so dense that one could only see about three yards away. It was nearly impossible to see beyond that. The wind was so loud you could barely hear anything else.

“Rosalie!” Tyler shouted.

“Tyler! I’m here!” Rosalie answered. Tyler struggled through the rain and came closer to her.

“Where’s May?” he asked, yelling a bit to be heard over the rain and wind.

“I don’t know! Either at the greenhouse or the football field! Either way, there’s someone stuck out here at each place! Let’s help them!”

“Yeah! I’ll check the football field! It’s further, and I can run fairly well on wet ground!”

“Okay! Good luck!”

“Same to you! Don’t die!”

“Diddo!”

Rosalie took off running the best she could to the greenhouse. She kept slipping on the wet grass, and nearly falling into the mud, all while being drenched by the rain, but she still managed to stay on her feet. The water hitting her stung like shards of glass, but she kept going. Help May, she thought. She’s your friend. Do it for her.

Rosalie got close to the greenhouse, but the rain got harder and she couldn’t see past it anymore. “May! May, are you her?!” she screamed through the rain.

“Help me!” screamed another girl. Rosalie knew this wasn’t May’s voice, so it had to be Lillian. She ran to help, despite it not being her friend, and hoped Tyler was having luck with May. When Rosalie got close enough to see, she found a girl with her hands tied to a tree branch above her head.

“Lillian?” Rosalie asked.

“Yes! Help! Please!” Lillian screamed.

“Okay, just stay calm,” Rosalie instructed. She started trying to untie shoe lace holding Lillian to the tree, but it was wet and slippery, too much so for Rosalie to get a grip on it. After a minute, she stopped and her arms fell to her sides. “It’s too slick. Maybe I can cut it?” she asked. The wind got louder. Rosalie looked around for the source of the wind, and as she did she saw it.

The tornado was right on top of the football field, and Rosalie and Lillian could feel the effects. Bits of debris were flying everywhere at dangerous speeds. “There’s gotta be something sharp around here!” Rosalie shouted. She couldn’t untie the shoelace. She needed to cut it, but of course, schools didn’t allow knives.

The wind screamed as it sped past Rosalie’s ears. “Look out!” Lillian screamed. Rosalie turned around, only to see a large piece of glass from the greenhouse’s window flying towards her.

It was too close and coming too fast for her to dodge it, and even if she did jump out of the way, it would smash right into, and possibly even kill Lillian. Rosalie threw her arms in front of her face as a defensive instinct and shut her eyes tight as a reflex. She waited for the impacts of the glass, but it never came. Instead, there was a loud sound, much like the crash of a vase as it falls to the floor and breaks into pieces. What was that? she wondered.

Rosalie hesitantly opened her eyes, and she saw a large sheet-like wall of translucent, pink light hovering in the air, just in front of her arms like a riot shield, having deflected the glass. Rosalie stared at the light with a dropped jaw as her arms slowly and subconsciously lowered to her sides. The wall of light disappeared and Rosalie brought her attention back to the situation.

Rosalie turned to face Lillian, who was stunned by what just happened. Rosalie felt the same way, but knew she had no time to worry about it now. What can I use to cut the shoe lace? she wondered. The it hit her. The glass!

Rosalie turned and knelt down by the large pane of glass, now shattered by the force of its impact. It laid on the wet ground, broken into roughly a dozen large, sharp pieces. She grabbed one of the shards, not caring whether or not she cut herself, and prepared to cut the shoe lace when the unimaginable happened.

Lightning shot down and struck the tree Lillian was tied to. It took half a second, and she fell unconscious. Rosalie began to panic, but knew she couldn’t. Not now.

Rosalie took the shard and used it to cut Lillian free. She fell limply onto Rosalie’s shoulder. Rosalie did her best to support Lillian’s weight as she began to head back to the school. As soon as she started walking, the tornado disappeared. This was bizarre, and Rosalie prayed to herself that Tyler and May were alright, before stumbling back to the school.