The Tredinians

Chapter One: Anger

The storm was raging above us. Frightening lightning bolts shred the sky. The darkness covered as far as I could see. People were running back and forth screaming at me for no reason. It was like Anger wanted me gone. I couldn't leave. My parents wouldn't let me. Earth wouldn't let me.

My name is Ricardo. I live in Anger. My home is one of the most hated quarters of this earth. My family, Jocelyn, Myrna and Joseph are the angriest family known to Anger, maybe even the world. My mum, my dad and my sister are all the same, angry and annoyed. I am different. I live in happiness and that is how I will stay.

"Ricardo come here right now!" Myrna was screaming over the hundreds of people shoving their way through the crowd. I was ready for the crimson red eyes of my furious mother an Myrna. All I saw was my dad holding the struggling Myrna in his arms. I could here the mechanics working in my mind. What had I done? Why was she so angry? I had no Idea what to do. I stood there speechless while my head throbbed from thinking. This couldn't be real, my mum had gone crazy. She was going crazy because of me and I have no idea why.

"Rick, just say something" I was sitting on the cold wet ground. How did I end up here? My dad's face peering down at me from above, looked stern and almost in pain. "What is happening? Why am I on the ground? Where is mum?" The look on my dad's face was worrying me now.

"Ricardo, slow down. You hit your head on the concrete. You just fell, you were looking at your mother and you fell. Your mother is in bed at the hospital. She started yelling about how you will turn against us, against Anger. She said we can't trust you." At that my eyes rolled back and my body crumpled back to the ground.

As I lay their lifeless on the cracked ground I remembered the feeling of love, honour and despair. That is why my mum hated me, I felt emotions I wasn't meant to feel. Through my dreams I saw images of a girl embracing me, men and women crying and kids fighting off savage animals to save one another. All of this was forbidden in Anger. These people I dreamt of were from the other quarters not mine.

The cold hands pulled me out of my own mind. Desmond was standing there. He was tall skinny and always annoyed. Everyone was angry, but my family and Des were the masters of Angry. He lived a few houses down, We have been friends since we were born which is 13 years ago. "Rick, snap out of it. You're in the middle of the street. You will probably be bashed if you stay any longer."

"Thanks, that lifted my spirits."

"Shut up and move" I did what I was told but I only moved a couple of paces before I fell once again. This time Des grabbed me under my pale arms and dragged me off towards safety.

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My mind was racing over time as I lay there in bed watching the minutes tick by. More images flooded into my mind. This time they were of war. Pictures of all the quarters fighting each other. This hasn't happened in millions of year. As the images stopped, I waited for more to follow but they didn't come. I could only lie there and think. What did they mean? Why was I the one remembering the awful times?

A voice dragged me into consciousness. "Rick you alright." Des was standing there once again waiting for an answer.

"Des, why did the quarter war start?" I was onto something I could feel it.

"Weren't you listening all last year, that is the only thing teachers would talk about? The quarter war started because a boy from Anger crossed the border into love to contact a girl. As soon as one person crosses that border the whole population of this earth knows. The war broke out because one stupid boy crossed the border." There was a long pause after Des spoke. During that time I could see Des thinking about it, I could see the victories and the losses in his eyes. It took about three minutes for him to talk again. "Wait. Why did you want to know that? You're not going to cross the border are you? RICARDO, if you cross that tiny little death line I am going to kill you before anyone else. You here me!" To stop Des from rambling I simply pulled up my hand for silence and stopped him half way through a deep breath.

"No I am not going to cross the border. I dreamt of another. That's all. Thank you for bringing me home but I'm home now so you can leave." I came straight out with it so I didn't have to listen to Des ramble on about my dream. "Fine, See ya Ardo." Des left with out another word. He has ten nicknames for me and I hate 'Ardo' the most.

I rest still, staring up at the boring white roof thinking of how boring my life was. Why I was receiving these images through my mind. I bet everyone had those dreams when they turned 13. Surely other people had them. An image flicked into my thought. I stopped breathing, my mum way lying motionless on a hospital bed while my dad whimpered next to her. "Dad! What is wrong with her? Please, somebody help her!" I was screaming at nothing, just a vision in my head. But it looked so real. It was real.

Darkness terminated my thoughts once again.

The blue veins pulsing up my mother's throat. Her heartbeat steady. Sticky sweat was released from her burning skin. The baby blue sheets becoming clear with tears. Blood swelled up the small veins silencing my mother's screechy breaths. Joseph's hands clasping the pale white hands. 'Ricardo, Ricardo is the downfall. Ricardo is the downfall.' My mum repeating the phrase. The dream was filled with thousands of people chanting the same phrase, over and over.

The dream was cut short. I lay on my bed sprawled across the sheets. Still in complete darkness. Again left to remember the images and think about the deaths I have witnessed.