Chapter 1

I’ve been lying in bed for the last hour just waiting for my alarm to go off. It’s the first day of my senior year today and I’m not sure if it’s excitement I feel or maybe fear. A strange feeling has been coursing through my veins for the last three weeks that I haven’t been able to explain. It’s as though something big is about to happen, I just can’t seem to figure out what it is. 

On top of that, my dreams have been highly strange lately. I keep seeing myself running through the woods like I’m a dog or something. If it had only been once, I wouldn’t have found it so strange but it has been the same every night for the last month. To add to my confusion, I could swear there was a faint voice in the back of my mind that didn’t belong to me. I can’t so much hear it as feel it. It’s like someone is trying to talk to me from miles away.

Finally, my alarm started playing its familiar tune ripping me away from my thoughts. Time to get ready for another year.

Getting dressed for school has always been a quick process for me. After putting on the simple outfit of jeans and a t-shirt I had laid out the night before, and running a brush through my long chestnut brown hair, all that was left to do was apply a light foundation and a small amount of mascara to draw a little attention to my deep blue eyes. I’ve never been much of a girly girl, instead opting to keep my make-up to a minimal and my clothing choices favoring comfort. Taking one last look at myself in the mirror I decided that I’m ready for the day ahead.

Before going downstairs, I grabbed my gym bag making sure I had my clothes and shoes for practice after school today. Going into senior year I was the team captain of the varsity softball team for the second year and was a shoe in to be the captain of the volleyball team later in the year. I’ve always been really athletic. When not in school sports I take kickboxing and jujitsu classes at the local gym just to keep active. My best friend Seth always jokes that I am good at everything.

Descending the stairs, I was met with the pleasant smell of bacon coming from the kitchen, mom always makes me a full breakfast before school. Something I have always been thankful for.

“Scrambled or fried today, sweetheart,” my mom called as I round the corner into the kitchen.

“Hmm, surprise me!’ I responded with a smile.

My mother has always been a very beautiful woman.  She was about three shades paler than me, looking like she had never seen the sun before, with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and bright green eyes. I had always envied how flawless her skin always seemed to be with the only marks being the few faint freckles that covered her nose and cheeks.  We looked nothing alike.

I would have more surprised growing up that I looked nothing like either of my parents if it hadn’t been for them telling me at a young age that I was adopted. As the story goes, I was found in a small town about 30 miles west of where we now lived. The whole town had been burnt down and I was the only person found anywhere among the ruble. Evidently, it was a miracle that I survived being that I was only around 9 months old at the time, at least that is what the doctors guessed me to be.  I’ve never been sure of my birth date but the one the doctors had given me was only one week away. This time of year, always had me thinking of my past.

Every once in a while, I wondered what had happened to my birth parents. Were they alive and just left me? Or had something terrible happened to them? Sadly, these questions never came with answers. So, I would always just remind myself how lucky I was that Ashley and Leo had adopted me. They hadn’t been able to have kids of their own and a lost lonely baby was all they needed to make their family complete, our family. Leo had a fantastic job in finance and they had provided me with an extremely comfortable life and a fully stocked college fund to boot.

“Sarah, are you listening to me?” Mom said pulling me back into reality. I hadn’t realized she had been trying to talk to me as I ate and drifted away in thought.

“Sorry, what?” I mumbled.

“I asked if you had decided what you want to do on your birthday,” she replied with a sigh.

“Uhm, I think Seth and April and planning to drag me out to the club Saturday if that’s alright.”

I can see her eyes fill with amusement; she knew I am not big on dancing but that my friends loved to drag me there every chance they got. “If that’s what you want, then it’s ok with me. Just no drinking this time,” she said with a playful smile. 

“I promise to only have two if I can get away with it,” I joked. Mom knew I had never drunk before and loves to tease me because of the number of times I had brought April back a little past tipsy.

A knock came from the front door, I looked down at my phone and sure enough a text from Seth highlighted the screen.

“I’ll get it,” I said getting up from the table and placing my now empty plate in the sink. “it’s just Seth here to usher me away to school again.”

“Alright, have a great day,” mom called as I walked towards the door. “And tell Seth to stop by for dinner sometime. He hasn’t been over in too long.”

“I will,” I called over my shoulder as I opened the front door.

On the other side stood my best friend Seth. We’ve been friends since we were five. He had moved in next door around that time and we became friends instantly. He was the one person I knew I could talk to about everything without judgement. Though I had always found him to be extremely attractive, I had never seen him as more than a friend, something that made our other friend April happy. She had been in love with Seth since 7th grade when we met her. 

“You ready for today?” Seth asked looking down at me with a smile. Standing at 6”4’, Seth even made me feel short even though I was 5’8” and decently tall for a woman. Even though I had never been interested in being more than friends, no one could deny that his sharp jaw line, perfect smile and shimmering green eyes made him a catch. I knew if it hadn’t been for his dyed black and blue hair and tendency to wear nothing but black, Seth would have had girls all over him.

“Yeah, I guess. Do we have any classes together?” I asked pulling his schedule from his grasp to compare it to mine. “English and History, nice. Oh, we have lunch together!”

We set off walking the four blocks to school together. Two blocks later we heard a familiar voice call from behind us. 

“Hey, wait for me!” April exclaimed. “Did you guys forget about me again?”

In truth we had. We got so caught up in talking about the first day and plans for my birthday we hadn’t realized we were walking by April’s house.

“I’m sorry, we got distracted,” I replied with a shy smile on my face.

She gave me her traditional pouty look before causally joining in on our conversation. Thankfully, April also had lunch with us but unfortunately no classes. She always took honors courses so it was rare that she was ever in class with dummies like Seth and me.  For as long as we had known her April was always the smartest person in our grade and a shoe in for valedictorian. Even though she was way smarter than us, April never talked down to us or acted like she was better than us as a lot of the other brainiacs in our school tended to. It was what we both loved about her; that along with her easy-going sense of humor and completely free spirt. 

“We have arrived!” Seth exclaimed gushing fake excitement as we rounded the corner and looked upon our school.