Untitled (for now, maybe help me come up with a title?)

The call

  A loud siren erupts from the outside of Fern's cozy room. She's wrapped herself in at least three blankets and snuggled comfortably into her bed. She never liked storms and when the tornado sirens went off she couldn't help but start to feel sick.
  Though storms always scared her, it wasn't until last year that the fears strengthened, a lot.
  You see, Fern's father always comforted them when there was a storm approaching. He would even go outside a show everyone that nothing was happening to him.
  The story doesn't end there however, because one day, a storm took him. And that wasn't the only thing it took, it also took away the one person that Fern cared about most. Her home.
  Soon, she heard her mom's panicked voice call everyone to the basement.
  She grips a stuffed owl under her arm and quickly runs to the basement with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a tear caressing her face.
  Going down every creaking stair felt like ages and the voices hurrying her along made her want to cry.
  It's a few minutes before everyone settles in the small dark room.
  It smells like rotting wood and damp pipes.
  All she could hear were the shallow breathes escaping everyone's mouths.
  "Mom, I'm scared'
  She mumbled to her mother but her mother gave no reply, she only stared ahead of her with a fear-stricken gaze.
  Fern didn't understand, whenever she came to her mother, she got comforted. This time her mother seemed occupied with comforting herself.
  After a few moments an arm wrapped around her shoulders. It was her older brother. He pulled her into a hug and that's how they stayed for what seemed like hours.
  Fern wished her father was with them in that moment. He always told them he'd protect them when bad things happened, and nothing ever happened to them. This time, no one was protecting them.

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  Fern awoke to a punch of bright sunshine right in her face. Clumsily she waved it away as if that would make it stop.
  Annoyed that her strategy didn't work, she shoved her face into her pillow with a groan.
  "Rise and shine"
  Her mother called out from behind her.
  "It's a special day todayyy"
  Fern laid unmoving hoping that her stillness would make her mother leave.
  "You have to get up sweetheart, you have school today"
  Her mother spoke for an annoying third time before leaving.
  Fern sighed knowing she had to wake or her jaunty mom would just pop back in again 5 mins later.
  She stood and got herself clean and dressed for the day.
She took cold showers as those always seemed to wake her, then she picked an outfit.
Out of her drawer, she chose somewhat loose black jeans, and a darker brown hoodie. after putting on her glasses she exited the bathroom linked with her bedroom and glanced at her bed, holding a small stuffed animal.
  Fern remembered getting that owl from her father as a birthday gift years ago and hasn't let go of it since, even after getting rid of all the rest of her stuffed animals.
  Bringing herself out of her daze she headed downstairs for breakfast.
  "You know what day it isss??"
  Her mom asked cheerfully.
  Fern stood there without a word, not knowing what her mother was talking about, only wishing she could head back to bed.
  "Oh c'mon Fern, you don't even remember your own birthday? It's your sweet 16!!"
  Upon hearing those words Fern's eyes widened as she remembered.
  "Oh it is isn't it?"
  She said, still groggy.
  "Yes!! And because of that. Dum da da dUUMM!!"
  She prepared a dramatic entry way for a plate of steaming chocolate chip pancakes.
  "Your favorite!!"
  Her mom said excitedly.
  They were both aware that in fact, chocolate chip pancakes weren't her favorite meal, however only her father ever made her favorite meal and her mother never did anything that would remind any of them of her father. Ever.
  "Thanks mom"
  She said with a smile before sitting down to dig in.
Every bite was like heaven.
She was enjoying breakfast, up until the point where her younger brother burst in.
"Ooooh I want some!!"
He said.
"Aren't you supposed to be ready for school?"
Asked Fern, seeing that her brother was still in his pajamas.
"Not when there's a breakfast like this waiting for me!"
Fern was pretty convinced he liked pancakes a lot more than she did.
"Go get dressed, brush your teeth and take a shower, then you can have pancakes."
Their mother ordered him.
"Aww, fine."
He said, before adding.
"Don't eat all of them Fern, by the way, happy birthday!!"
Fern smiled as he ran off to get everything done before the pancakes cooled off.
  After breakfast she headed toward her school.
  To get to school she had to take a long path across half of the large town she lived in, that was, if she wanted to avoid going near the forest.
  Fern was of course very scared of the forest and always resided to the long route just to get no where near it.
She wandered the busy streets.
Musicians making their living, artists showing their work, clowns campaigning a store, Liveliness was everywhere here in the town.
  After arriving at the school, she met with her friends. They were named Jade, Petra, and Tracie.
  After a few words from the other two, Jade spoke.
  "Let's skip today"
  She suggested.
  "But I'm supposed to have a Biology test!"
  Complained Fern.
"I was studying for it all night!"
  "You can make it up later, let's go!"
  Coaxed Petra.
  After a few exchanges, Fern gave in.
  They walked for a few minutes having their own conversation, leaving Fern to trail behind them.
This happened nearly every day to the point where Fern just did it on her own, used to the fact that she wasn't a part of any of their conversations, just listening to gossip.
  It seemed like the girls had already decided where they would go and they wouldn't tell Fern where that was.
  "Hey girls, where are we going?"
  She suddenly asked.
  "Somewhere fun!"
  Said Petra.
  "Where??"
  She asked again.
  "You'll see!"
  "Come on guys! This isn't funny!"
Fern was skipping school for this, she wanted to make sure that they weren't going to do anything stupid.
  "Just follow us and you'll be fine!"
  Tracie replied.
  Fern thought for a moment. Where were they going where there was a possibility of not being fine?
  Before she could say another word of protest she spotted a large canopy of trees ahead of them.
  Now she knew exactly where they were going.
  "Are we going in there!?"
  She said with uneasiness evident in her voice.
  Her friends only smiled at each other and giggled without saying a word.
  "I-I'm not going"
  Fern protested but it seemed like she didn't have a choice because within a matter of seconds she was dragged into the forest against her will.
  "This isn't funny!!"
  She yelled back.
  "Come ooonnnn Fern, it'll be fun!! Don't ruin this for us!"
  They all said, somewhat over each other.
  Under all that pressure Fern felt like an idiot and stopped pushing back.
  They all walked into the forest giggling, besides for Fern obviously.
  She couldn't help but jump when she stepped on a twig, earning her a couple laughs from her classmates.
She looked around the dark forest, eerie rustles in the bushes made her heart pound faster and the wind moving the trees above her didn't make the situation any less scary.
  As they walked on she could feel the air getting humid and it wasn't long before her phone buzzed in her pocket, alerting everyone of a severe thunderstorm.
  "Guys, I think we should head back, a storm is heading our way."
  Fern said, very concerned.
  "We'll be fine, it's just a little rain."
  Said Jade.
  "Actually, my phone says there is going to be a severe thunderstorm."
  Argued Fern.
  "What, are you scared of a little thunder?"
  Fern was unconvinced. She wasn't going to stay.
  "Fine, we'll start heading back soon."
  Jade said, which put Fern's nerves at ease, at least momentarily.
  They walked on, and on, soon they had been walking for 15 minutes and they still weren't heading back.
  Fern could tell that they sky was getting darker and it was soon to start raining.
  "Guys, we seriously need to start going back, it's going to storm soon!"
  Fern said, very annoyed at them.
  "Fern, just stop, ok?"
  Petra said, much to Ferns surprise.
  "We did this for you, we thought you would have fun, it's your birthday, couldn't you be a little appreciative?"
  She said annoyed.
  Fern was shocked.
  "Stop being so dramatic, it's not like we're gonna die."
  Said Tracie.
  After that, they just continued walking and talking with each other.
  Fern was left was a heavy stone weighing down her stomach.
  Her fears were downgraded. She felt hurt and villainized.
  On top of all of that, it started raining and the thought of thunder made a deep wave of fear pass through her entire body.
  She decided to go back on her own.
  She didn't know where she was or where she was supposed to be, she was cold and scared, but she felt she had no other choice.
  "Don't leave us!!"
  Her friends yelled back at her whiningly when she didn't follow them.
  "It's not like I'm part part of whatever conversation your having anyways. You didn't do this for me you did this for yourselves. I don't want to be here, don't you get that?! I'm leaving whether you're coming with me or not."
  She said and turned around right before hearing a couple sighs and scoffs.
"So dramatic"
She heard just before leaving.
  Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears, nearly overflowing.
  She kept rewinding her friends words in her head. They seemed completely unbothered yet she was. This was something very personal to her, and her friend's seemingly harmless words punched her right in her heart.
  She looked ahead of her and the fear in her chest rose once more as the rain got harder and the clouds got darker.
  She knew it would start to thunder soon.
  She could hear whole trees creaking under the weight of the wind.
  Her neck stung from the rain slapping onto it.
  Soon the strength of the wind knocked her down.
  She was on the verge of a breakdown before she heard a distant screech.
  It wasn't long before she heard it again.
  She had no clue what it was but whatever it was, it was distracting her from the 100 pound stone in her stomach so she listened.
  She heard it once more.
  It felt familiar, comforting almost.
  She felt lighter, like she could float at any moment.
  Feeling stronger, she tried to stand, but as she did, a huge blinding light flashed before her eyes, and her ears were so shocked they felt like they were about to fall off.
  She heard deafening ringing and her skin stung as if she were drenched in burning acid.
  A couple seconds of this and she was out, stone cold.