Spark [ Enlight Series Book One ]

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Words: 1411

Lightning crashed over Hawthorne Lane, leaving a brilliant flash of light after. This weather wasn't unusual in the spring, but that didn't make it any less stranger.

If a person were to drive through the street that usually was littered with yelling children, they would find it deserted. Every child would be inside, loudly wishing for the rain to go away.

 Every child that is, except for the kid who lived in the house on the edge of the neighborhood. A girl of 13 years.

This strange girl loved strange things. Most kids ridiculed her, but the honest truth is that they were afraid of her. Some people called her a witch, and others called her a vampire. But like probably every rumor that is out there, none of these rumors were true. 

 But the girl didn't say anything against them.

 For her, it was an advantage. More cafeteria space, more available desks, less noisy cheating people...and less questions.

It wasn't that she didn't like questions, because that wasn't the case. It was simply just that questions led to answers, and answers led to the truth. To her, it was better to believe lies than to wait for truth to bring unimaginable pain. In fact, to her, she didn't just dislike questions, she didn't like talking. Period. 

A statement could either be a lie, or a truth. She thought both brought suffering just the same. A lie could bring distrust, and a truth could bring secrets that were better left undiscovered. So, the girl just didn't talk. 

Some thought she was mute, and others thought she couldn't hear. When someone asked her a question, she nodded her head yes, or no. If it wasn't a yes or no question she didn't answer. When her teachers made a mistake, she didn't correct them. She left that for other people. When someone asked her her name, she didn't say Alexis, she said nothing. Nothing. That is all everyone heard from her.

Everyone knew who she was, but nobody knew anything about her. There had been a time when she was like everyone else. A lot of friends. A lot of company. A lot of questions. Now people who used to be friends with her pretended as if she was a complete stranger.

She was fine with that. Occasionally the school would welcome new kids who didn't know about her silence, but they ended up learning soon enough.

If she was lonely, she didn't show it. Her teacher tried to find her friends or partners for projects, but they were always unsuccessful. Some people felt bad for her, because they thought she was lonely. 

What they didn't know was that she wasn't lonely, she always kept herself occupied. She was always in her room studying for tests, or doing homework. Her favorite subject was Writing. Since she never talked to people about anything, she always listened. She knew a lot of things about everyone at school, but she had nobody to tell. So she just wrote it down.

 She loved how in narrative writing, there wasn't a truth or a lie. There was only an imagination, and imagination couldn't be right or wrong. She was always an A plus student, and had won the state award for creative and opinionated writing. 

There wasn't a country award for writing, but all her teachers had bet that she would have won it. "Alexis is a rare bird." They would say. And of course, Alexis wouldn't say anything. Her writing talent everyone knew about, but there was a hidden one. Not even her father knew about it, but then again, he didn't know much about her.

 For a girl who didn't talk, anybody who found out about her talent would be shocked. Nobody heard her voice, so they couldn't possibly just figure it out.

The truth was...she loved to sing. Not just sing, but write songs. They were a great way to express herself in ways that weren't the truth, but weren't a lie either. She didn't just love to sing, she was good at singing. The only person who had ever heard her sing was her mom, and she had been so surprised. For her mom there was no way to describe her daughter's, Alexis's, singing voice. 

It was nothing short of magnificent. It was soft, but strong. Shy, but willful. Shocking, but soothing. All at once. Alexis loved to sing, but she had only shared this with her mom and older sister. She had planned to share this secret with others by singing on her 10th birthday, but instead, her mom and beautiful sister had died with the secret. 

Her closest family had died, not only carrying the secret, but Alexis's will to talk for the rest of her life. After their death, Alexis vowed to never to sing ever again.

Her dad was sad too, but he never restricted himself for anything. He was surprised when Alexis wouldn't speak, but he thought it was just a phase. After a month of not hearing a word out of her mouth, he took her to a therapist. The therapist asked questions. Alexis only shook her head. Her dad begged her to say a word, but she never did. She only spoke inside her head. Her father got used to it. Everyone did. 

She lost her friends, love, likeness. But it suited her just fine. She never really had a connection with her friends, not even her father. Her mother and sister were the only thing that mattered to her. She had confided everything in them. She didn't even know how they died. Or if they died. They just never returned to the house again. Their bodies were never seen again. Her mother's beautiful full lipped smile was never seen again. Her sister's sparkling eyes were never seen again.

 The search for them ended, simply classifying them as dead. Alexis had cried, oh how she had cried. But her tears and begging didn't make a difference. They were still lost, or dead, somewhere else in the universe. Nothing made a difference. When they had first died, she had removed everything that reminded her of them. Gifts, pictures, drawings. But there wasn't anything she could do about her looks.

Ironically, she didn't look anything like her father. Only her mother and sister. It wasn't like she could get plastic surgery. Anyone who saw her thought she would be insane to get plastic surgery. 

She was beautiful and elegant. She had wavy flaming red hair, and sparkling blue eyes. Her long, slightly curvy, eyelashes gave her eyes a nice shade. Her full light red lips gave a smile that allowed people to instantly trust her. For the people who really knew her, which was nobody, they would say you could rely on her better than anyone. 

Before the death, she had been able to prove herself the perfect friend. Now , her only friend was the sadness that occasionally loomed over her. But again, this suited her just fine. Sadness felt as old a life now. It felt like the only thing she had ever felt. Not happiness. Not annoyed. Not angry. Just sad.

 Sadness was the key for unlocking a safe world. It made you more aware, because to be sad, you needed to experience pain. And pain was always in an unsafe world. Sadness and caution was all Alexis felt. Every second or every minute of every hour of every day. And her sadness wasn't contagious.

Her dad was happy, even if his wife and his daughter were dead, and his other daughter was practically as close to dead but alive as can be. He didn't question anything, while his daughter questioned everything. If he was still heartbroken from his beautiful wife's death, he didn't show it.

 It wasn't that he didn't show any emotion, he just didn't show any negative emotions. He didn't shed one tear or even look sad on his wife's funeral. This made Alexis ask herself if he even cared about Alexis's mom. The obvious answer was no. 

If it had been dad who died, Mom would never stop crying. And here is dad, acting like she's only on vacation! Alexis told herself angrily. He is heartless. He is despicable. He is selfish. Alexis could've come up with countless more mean adjectives to describe him, but smartly decided not to waste energy on insulting him. Because again, it wasn't gonna make a difference.