Jupiter's Storm

Prologue- The Dreams

     The sun had finally began to touch the land surrounding me. Its gentle glow warmed up my face as my cheeks tingled. The buildings have been completely covered in snow. Winter has just begun, but the air is still warm. The flowers have wilted, the leaves on the trees have fallen, and everything is covered in ice and snow.

     The colors, they're all gone. The blues and greens, all diminished to ugly browns, greys, and whites. The endless canvas is now frozen from the earth being too far from the sun. Life on the streets have paused, everyone stopped. People sat inside with their families watching relaties they will never live. Everybody has become drones to the endless repeats of life, and reliving the same thing every single. The colors in people's lives faded to black, dead. Everyone walked about with a tired look on their face.

     "You are the brightest fire and no one will ever put you out." My grandfather always told me, "Fight against the ice, or you will freeze along with it."

     My mind had always been set on never becoming apart of that endless, dead cycle. I never went to school, not even once. I read stack of books, stacks upon stacks. My knowledge of the world was boundless. I could not get enough of this beautiful information, the world worked in such a beautiful way, but yet so cruel. Everyone and everything is forced into one big clock, and the clock begins to tick the day someone is born. A clock is the only way my mind can think of the way time works.

     I had the freedom to run free, I didn't consider being homeless as a curse. I didn't have to pay bills, or worry too much about money. The only problem I have is people being afraid of me, and I still don't know why. I've had people stare at me, call me names, and kick me out of places. I could never understand why because I am a very attractive person. I've never hurt anyone intentionally.

     It occurred to me that I was sitting on top of a swing set on a children's playground. There were several children screaming in fear and pointing at me. What was I doing wrong? It wasn't like I was revealing myself or anything. I jumped off of the swing set and began running into town as mothers threatened to call the authorities on me. I cut around a corner and I got clothes lined by a man's arm.

     "Do you want to know why people are afraid of you?" He said, standing over me. I nodded my head, "You have the mark on your head. You don't even know who you are do you?"

     He walked into the darkness and faded away. I stood up and yelled for him to come back, but he was far gone before I could do anything. What did that even mean? His words made almost no sense.

     Suddenly I woke up on the floor of the place I had found to stay. My grandfather stood at my side.

     But how? He whispered words that I could not understand and began to reach for my hair. I grabbed his arm, he died many years ago in a car accident. I will not fall for a phony. I pushed him away and began running toward the door. I swung it open and ran. My feet weren't being held up by anything, and suddenly I was falling. The buildings around me all had eyes, staring at me as I fell. When I was about to hit the ground, I woke up again in the same spot.

     The man from earlier sat next to me this time, "Do you even know who you are?"

     "Who am I?"

     "Doomed if you don't figure it out soon."

     His body dissolved into darkness and arms suddenly began pulling at me, snickering things about me. Eyes and mouths appeared in the void, all laughing at my weakness. They suddenly let go and the man appeared again. He mouthed the word doomed as he began to pull out a gun.

     I stood up and kicked his hand pulling out the gun, but the gun didn't move. I screamed stop in my mind, and the words also came out of my mouth.

     Everything stopped and I woke up in the alley way. I got onto my feet and ran into the center of the city. It was already night time, and not a soul walked the streets except for myself. My mind couldn't comprehend what was happening to me. Was I lost? The only light on was far down the street, and a figure stood under it. I walked toward the light, but the street seemed to be getting longer and longer. Have I been hallucinating?

     Finally everything got bright again as the darkness vanished and everyone reappeared. People walked by and stared at me as usual. I must've gotten too lost in my thoughts, people were already trying to call the police on me again. I forgot I had my hood off, people might not be calling for help.

     Nothing made sense, things began to fall apart. The world began to crumble before me. I heard people whisper a name. A name that I hadn't heard in a long time. The Controller.

     "Who is that child? What is with the mark on her head? Is she one of the children of that man."

     I don't know who he is. My grandfather made sure I didn't hear that name at all. He said that saying that name would make my tongue turn black. He covered my ears when people said it. Many men had come by to collect me for something involving him, but obviously I never went. Most of the time, grandfather's excuse for not letting me go was because my colors were dull that day. Colors were very important to me, so we both talked about colors as something you can feel.

     Every person was saying the name, the name was the only thing I could hear. I could see a hand reaching for my shoulder out of the corner of my eye, and I spun around and grabbed the person's arm. The man merely smiled at me and began laughing.

     "You're quite the jumpy person." The man said. I turned in the other direction away from him. He followed behind me, "Stop for a second."

     I stopped and waited for him.

     "Not going to speak? Alright, well I need to ask you something. Are you the girl with the mark?"

     I remained silent. Answering his question could be dangerous. He grabbed my arm and spun my around, taking off my hood. A smile crept across his face.

     "Good, I thought so. Think fast." He said pushing me into the road. Cars rushed past me, the wind threw me off my balance. My feet couldn't stay planted down onto the ground and I began to stumble. I looked forward and a large truck was headed right at me.

     I woke up again on the floor in my house. Was I dreaming? Why do I keep having these horrible nightmares? I dragged myself outside. Why does it feel like I've already done this?

     "Hey kid, do you know who you even are?" The guy from before said. I shook my head, "Well Jupiter, it looks like I'm here to help then."