Prologue
LAURA 02.05.2012
I look around the familiar landscape: a crook by the lake, and a lump of wood from a tree cut off, way before I discovered this vast expanse of water. The familiar cry of the storks, the usual rustle in the leaves. It’s so peaceful here, undisturbed by any human, living or dead, except for me. I walk around the lake for the umpteenth time, music blasting in my ears, forgetting all responsibilities, distancing myself from the world. Not a soul around, you could say it wasn’t crowded, but then again I know this place usually isn't. I sit down next to the water, kick off my sandals and take out my black notebook from my handbag. My toes are just touching the water surface, and I cringe at how cold the water is, even on a spring morning like this. I fumble through my long blond hair; trying to find the pencil I had hidden there this morning. I take the pencil, and lean it to the paper... Words pour out, as if they were going from my brain, past my arm, down to the tip of my fingers, and finally onto the paper. Words just… Come to me like that. Some say I have a gift, but I find it as easy as some find it to cook, or act, or whatever. I know that my story probably doesn't make sense at the moment, but it feels good to know that I have this escape. That I can get away from being the smokey-eyed punk rock teen that everyone put me up to be. It’s true that for the past few years, not much has drawn me back to “the real world”, to the traumas and dramatic exits of the society I belonged to. Belonged. Not anymore, so much has changed since then, I couldn’t recognize myself even if I tried.
I write a few thoughts down, then stand up again, throw my book at my feet, put the pencil back in my hair, and rush to pick up a small stone, and toss it hard as far as possible, before it falls into the lake with a small plop. A sound, ruffling in the bush behind me makes me jump. I turn around, and yell out “Why do you do this to me??” Panting, I fall to my knees, holding my head in my hands, shaking off the vision I had just seen. When I finally stand up, I know that he’s gone. A scream. Blood. My head is spinning, and I stumble back to the tree stump where I had been sitting.
Truth: I hoped he had gone. He wasn’t, really, there was nowhere for him to go, he was in fact trapped. Part of me, you could say. Because, I am what many would call delusional, messed up. I like to present myself as schizophrenic; I sound smart and that’s what the scientists say I’ve got. I also think that the people who diagnosed me that fateful day, when I was ten, were slightly off. They didn’t know what had caused the boy in my vision to come, again and again, haunting my every move, observing my every step. And they obviously were unaware that I actually had been seeing that boy in my visions since May 4th 2007. Since the accident. To this day, I can even name him: John. John Graham Lansee.
Five years ago, I was a naïve young girl, ready to experience life at its fullest, ready as anything to go forward into the world of glamour, cameras and Hollywood’s hottest. Now…. what can I say? So much has happened, and so much has yet to come. To fully understand what has happened to my life, to those around me but also to me, one must look back at May 4th, 2006, the day of the accident, but also, and more importantly, the build up to what happened that day.
YOU ARE READING
The Accident.
Genç KurguLaura is a student at an elite school in Hollywood. Previously, she was the queen of the school. This year, the rules have changed; and with the arrival of a new freshman student, John, whom she later finds out is depressed, many things lead to he...
