The Unmarked

Chapter 2: blood and dread

Lina woke up gasping and sweating. She lied there a moment contemplating her dream, but it had already managed to escape her mind and mix in with her other thoughts. A boy, that's all she could remember. A dark skinned, grey eyed, blonde boy, but she was certain she had never met anyone who fit that description. She glanced outside her window, which revealed a dark rainy sky. She sat up groggily and slowly hopped out of bed while checking the time. It read 7:27 am, she made her way toward the dresser opposite her bed and yanked open one of the drawers. After pulling out a grey skirt and a wrinkled shirt, she set her gaze on the various objects situated on top of the dresser.

A small clay vase she and her sister had made when she was 5. A box of earrings, for when she could pierce her ears. A small, framed picture of her and her best friend Zaiden. A... what? She stopped and stared at an empty space; she could have sworn something had been there. Upon closer inspection she found a small circular clean spot in the midst of all the dust, like something had been there. That was odd, she doesn't remember there being anything else. She only put her most personal items up there, if something had been there, she would have remembered. However, she just couldn't shake the feeling something was missing, and not just on her dresser.

She had been battling with this uneasy feeling all week, constantly waking up in a cold sweat and in a disoriented state. Lina figured she was just worried, Zaiden's birthday was in a week, and he hadn't gotten his mark yet, but she felt it was more than that. There was no good way to describe exactly the way she felt, it was like an emptiness, a longing, a fear. Why was she scared? What was there to be scared of? So many thoughts were racing through her head that she almost didn't hear her mother calling her,

"Lina! LINA!" She was suddenly thrust back into reality,

"Yeah mom!?" she answered.

"Hurry up! Zaiden is here to pick you up!" she took one last look at her dresser before hurriedly slipping on her skirt and buttoning her shirt. Grabbing her shoes, she stumbled out her door and down the stairs. She made a quick stop in the pantry to grab a granola bar before bolting out the front door.

"Remember not to spend all your allowance at the arcade dear!" her mother yelled after her,

"Don't worry mom I'm not that stupid!" Lina yelled back before closing the door and making her toward their driveway. Parked right next to her dad's car was an old, black, beat-up, jeep that had a headlight missing and one of the windows taped with cardboard.

"Hurry up idiot!" the driver yelled honking the horn, "I'm hungry!" Lina opened the door to the passenger's side and sat down in the ruined leather seat.

"Oh, stop whining Zaiden." She said and handed him her granola bar. He happily accepted and practically inhaled the entire thing, "How big is your throat!?" Lina inquired laughing,

"You're the one who made me skip breakfast so we could go out to eat!" Zaiden responded,

"And I'm paying for all of it." Lina said while slipping on her sneakers,

"And I'm driving, because you 17 and still can't freaking drive." He said mockingly,

"Judging by the condition of your car I'm not sure you can either." He stared at her for a second before they both broke out laughing.

"Alright you win, so where are we going again?" he said and accidentally hit the lever that controlled the windshield wipers with his hand. They went up and down once before he turned them off.

"I was thinking Fran's diner." Lina answered,

"Oh, come on you only want to go there because the old woman gives you discounts."