I woke up with a start, there was a loud bang on my bedroom door "go away" I mumbled before putting a pillow over my head "Mom wants to see you Bee, she says it's important" my brother, Finn yelled from behind the door "Yeah whatever" I groaned and sat up in my bed to get dressed.
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A few minutes later I walked out of my room and down the hall to the dining room where Finn was eating breakfast. "Wow you're up quicker than I thought you would be. I was about to spray you with a water gun or something, Mom made you breakfast" He said pointing to a plate across from him at the table "She never cooks" I said suspiciously "Yeah it's probably poison, I'll check to make sure it's not don't worry" he said while grabbing a piece of bacon off of my plate "What does mom want anyway?" I asked "I dunno don't ask me" he responded while stuffing his face "I'm just the messenger" ... "Yeah whatever I said turning around to head to our mom's room "Oh, and happy birthday!!" He called after me "Thanks." I called back as I walked further away.
I'm going to be honest, I forgot it was my birthday. It's kind of easy to forget when no one celebrates it. My mom always favored my brother over me because of my deadbeat dad who I've never even met. According to my mother he left before I was born and was just some stupid college mistake. She took her anger about him leaving out on me but spoiler alert (I don't want to be here just as much as she doesn't want me here) anyways you get the point.
I've never received a gift, never gotten a cake, and I don't think she's wished me a happy birthday since I was 5 but maybe now she wanted to try to be a parent who's actually present in her child's life? I walked up to my moms bedroom door and knocked "Come in" she said. I walked into the room, she was sitting on the bed with a small neatly wrapped box in her hand she held it out to me, I grabbed the box and looked up at my mom "Open it" she said eagerly. I unwrapped the box slowly, I felt like it might explode or something, this was the first gift my mom had ever gotten me.
I didn't even know she knew when my birthday was. If you asked last year what October 29th is she'd probably just shrug. I ripped the last of the paper off of the present, it was a small wooden box. I opened the box and inside was an old bronze ring with a small trident engraved on the band. "Uh thanks?" I said curiously "Well don't thank me Isabella, thank your father. He instructed me to give you that when you turned 14. I didn't even know what was in the box until you opened it" she remarked when my brother yelled from down the hall "COME ON THE BUS IS HERE WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL." I put the ring on my pointer finger and shoved the wooden box in my pocket before running to the front door, slipping on my shoes, and grabbing my stuff for school.
I swung the door open and ran out to the bus almost tripping on my untied shoe laces. I made it just in time, I sat down next to my best friend Ginger across the isle from my brother and his friend. "Happy birthday!" Ginger said as I sat down next to him. He handed me a gift bag "open it open it" he said basically jumping up and down in his seat. I took the tissue paper out of the bag and pulled out the gift "what is it?" my brother asked from the other isle "A bracelet" I responded holding up the bracelet for my brother to see.
It was a blue and gold handmade bracelet I assumed ginger made during our "Fun Friday" activity, Ginger and I chose bracelet making. "Thanks ginger it looks really cool!" I said turning back to my friend "You're welcome!" Ginger replied. I slipped the bracelet on the hand opposite of the ring "What's that?" Ginger asked, pointing to the ring on my finger just as the bus lurched to a stop. "I'll tell you later" I said standing up to get off of the bus "Okay" Ginger replied.
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I looked at the clock "Ugh it's only 10:00" I muttered under my breath. "Are you waiting for something? This is like the 7th time you've looked at the clock" Ginger whispered behind me "No, but Mr. Coleman keeps looking at me weirdly" I whispered back "Is there something you would like to share with the class Izzy?" Mr. Coleman asked in an unusually deep voice, the class started snickering "No, sorry sir" I responded, annoyed.
"I'm sure you are" Mr. Coleman said as he walked back over to his desk. I looked behind me expecting to find Ginger laughing at me but instead he looked scared, I was about to ask why when something whipped past my head, my fight or flight instincts kicked in and I grabbed Ginger by the shirt collar and pulled him down to the floor. Whatever was thrown shattered on the wall where Gingers head was a few seconds before, the class didn't notice anything unusual I looked around the room to find the source of the object when another crashed right next to me on the floor, I zeroed in on where it came from. Mr. Coleman's desk, He looked the same but where his body normally was there was a lion with a scorpion tail, he was laughing maniacally. I stood up and pulled Ginger up with me, Mr. Coleman charged at us, he drew his claws and sliced at my face, I leaped to the side; thankfully the claw only scratched my cheek.
Ginger pulled out reed pipes and started playing, I thought this was a weird time for a song when vines came out of the wall and grabbed Mr. Coleman by the tail, then his arms slowly trapping him against the wall. Ginger kicked off his pants, grabbed my arm and ran out out of the class room as fast as he could, he let go of my arm "FOLLOW ME THOSE VINES AREN'T GOING TO HOLD LONG " He screamed "WHAT'S GOING ON" I screamed back and he gave me a look like "I'll tell you later" So we continued down the hall, Ginger in front and me trailing behind. We passed a couple of kid's but they didn't even flinch I looked down at Ginger and squeaked I realized Gingers legs weren't human anymore, they were goat. I was about to ask Ginger what was going on when Mr. Coleman's voice boomed from the other hall "You can run but you can't hide demigod"
Ginger and I made it to the front of the school and booked it out the door so fast the security guard couldn't get a word out, I looked behind me which was a stupid idea because 1. It slowed me down and 2. I saw Mr. Coleman smashing into lockers and slashing at the walls, I didn't want to know what would happens if he caught up to us. I decided that this was the perfect moment to remember my brother was still in the school, I stopped dead in my tracks "WE HAVE TO GO BACK FOR FINN" I yelled at Ginger who was now about 10 feet away "HE'LL BE FINE" Ginger yelled back as he ran back to grab me. Mr. Coleman was gaining on us, I decided to believe Ginger because really it was my only option, we ran until we got to the highway, I looked behind me to see if Mr. Coleman was still following us, "WATCH YOUR STEP" Ginger warned, Unfortunately I did not watch my step. I tripped over a rock, hit my head, and passed out.
