Blazing Shadows

Chapter One: Storm Surge

                I plopped down in my swivel chair with one of my books. It was titled, "Pokémon Legends and Myths" and it told about strange hearings of different Pokémon. I gingerly opened it where I had left off, page three-hundred-and-twenty-seven. It was the start of the legends and myths about the Pokémon named Absol. There were also pictures and facts about the elusive Pokémon. Absol was claimed to bring disasters and bad luck, as it was always spotted before a natural disaster.

                I read all of the time, and even at times, my mother said that I read too much. Though reading seemed to be the only other thing I could do besides paint and bake, as I waited to have a Pokémon of my own. My mother had made me wait until I was eleven, but then my father disappeared and I was taken hostage by Pokémon thieves for an entire year. It had been two years since I had been let go, and I still didn't have my own Pokémon.

                I knew that it had to be close to six-thirty in the morning as I listened to the sound of my mother getting ready for her morning jog. I let out a sigh as I continued reading about Absol. I could already picture myself meeting one and befriending it. The picture was vivid, almost too vivid to be anything except a memory, but that was how I saw things. I pictured what I read almost as vividly as if I was watching it happen in front of me.

                I scrunched my nose and closed my book before I managed to finish the page. I was too distracted to read, which didn't happen very often. I looked around my room as my mind wandered. It was simple for a girl my age, with four aqua walls and a grey carpet. In the center of the north wall were two huge windows above my oak dresser. At night, the windows were closed off by grey and white plaid curtains which were opened as soon as I woke up at six every morning. The oak dresser had a few hat stands on it, each with a different hat. In the northeastern corner, to the right of the dresser stood my tall, grey and white plaid lamp that I turned on at night if I stayed up late researching. Against the center of the east wall was my oak desk, covered with my Lenovo laptop, a few fountain pens, some opened notebooks and a neat pile of rented books I had yet to read. On the corner of the desk stood a small, framed picture of my parents and me before my father left. In both the southeastern and southwestern corners, a few feet away from the door, sat two huge, oak bookshelves, packed with books. Against the center of the western wall, to the left of the bookshelf was my twin bed's black, metal headboard. My bed was already neatly made with grey and white plaid covers and a small, single, Absol stuffed animal I had received from my father as a child. To the left of the bed was a small, oak side table on which sat my pokéball alarm clock and reading lamp. In between my bed and side table was a small metal trashcan, piled high with crumpled notebook paper. In the northwestern corner of my room, between my dresser and side table hung my full-length mirror.

                I placed the book down on the top of the small pile on my desk with a sigh and stood up, stretching. I walked over to my mirror, noticing that I would probably have to clean it soon to clear it of the smudges and marks. Looking at myself, I didn't see anyone special, just a fourteen-year-old girl that was the height and weight of a twelve-year-old. I was four-foot-nine and weighed only eighty pounds, but the only reason people knew I wasn't twelve as because of my chest and hips. I wore a black wife-beater and baggy, blue pajama pants. My skin was a creamy pale and I had a clear complexion. My thick hair hung in white blonde waves to my thighs while my shaggy side bangs covered my left eye and half of my left cheek. My large, round, child-like eyes were a bright ice-blue surrounded by long, dark lashes.

                I took a deep breath and moved my bangs out of the way, flinching at the sight of the x-shaped scar that still remained there. It was plainly visible, and had happened during the time I was a hostage. Luckily no physical damage had been done to my eye, but the emotional damage from the memories sent my body into a shock. I collapsed onto the floor breathing heavily and shaking. It was so vivid to me, as if I was still there, that I didn’t even hear my best friend and neighbor, Shauna come in. I was unaware of her presence until she was helping me off of the ground. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I had collapsed, but it had only felt like a few minutes.