Elementalists (completed)

Orginal Elementalist version

I feel numb all over. Shocked. Bewildered. Confused. Why? What?!?

My eyes scan the message again. No. No, it's not possible. It isn't true.

Dear Olivia Mary and Oliver Troy Boardel,
We are very sad to inform you that your grandfather, Mr. Ted Boardel, has recently passed away. In the box you received you will find what he left for you in his will. There will be no official reading of his will.

I have to read the short letter over three times before the words sink in. Grandpa Ted died? When? How? I look over at the small box that came with the letter and then look up at my twin brother, Oliver. He looks up at the same time I do with a confused expression, matching my feelings exactly.

"Grandpa Ted? Isn't he the blind one?" Oliver asks.

I nod. Grandpa Ted is our only living relative. He was a nice old man with a cane and a cheery smile. Me and Oliver used to be scared of him when we were little because he is was blind. That is the reason we are stuck in this orphanage. The lawyers or whatever thought that he was incapable of taking care of us because he is blind so we were sent here. I frown and read the letter again.

"Should....should we open it?" Oliver asks, indicating the little brown box that came with the letter. Oliver is my twin brother. He and I have the same long brown hair, freckles, matching green eyes, and like the same things. We have been best friends since birth.

I look at the box and pick it up. It is a smooth brown wood with a small, unnecessary green bow on top. Oliver looks at me and I shake the box. There is a small clink of metal against metal. I glance at Oliver and pull the top off the box. He looks over my shoulder somewhat hesitantly to see what our dead grandpa left us.

Inside there are two necklaces.

I look over at Oliver and he shrugs. I don't know what I had been expecting, but this was not it. Money, maybe? Property? Maybe his adorable Collie, Boot, but not necklaces. I look examine them. The necklaces have the same silver chain but the charms are different. As I stare at them, I feel a weird pulsing feeling coming off them, like their alive, and the more I stare the more I am convinced they are.

The necklace on the left has a beautiful swirling blue and green charm, like the ocean. It radiates a calm, safe feeling, like I will never feel pain ever again. I look over at the other one and am fascinated. It has the same swirling look but different colors. A fierce orange and yellow. This one radiates power and speed.

Hypnotized, I reach out for the orange and yellow one. My fingers curl around the cool metal and I pick it up. I feel a strong feeling of possession for the necklace, like something I had but lost. I slowly put it around my neck, vaguely aware that Oliver is doing the same with the blue and green one. My fingers find the clip and I snap it together.

Suddenly, the ground disappears and I am floating in a black void. Hundreds of pictures and videos fly by my head, rushing around me like wind. My long black hair whips around my face. I just float there for a moment, confused, but then I feel a weird need to have an image or video. I reach out for them. They slip through my fingers like bubbles. I have it and then it kind of.....slips away. I reach and grab, touch and lose all the images as I slowly get more and more frustrated. Angry. After a long time I get so angry I just glare at the annoying pictures, hating them and wishing they would be easier to grab,.

Suddenly, my body start tingling and the images and videos slow down. I just stare at the swirling things around me for a moment, slow as though they are moving in molasses. I snap out of my daze and reach out again, grabbing one. This time, however, the image doesn't wriggle out. Time returns to normal and the pictures around me zip about, but all my focus is on the video in my hand. I clench it with all my might, feeling my anger and frustration pour into my hand as I squeeze it. It wriggles in my hand and I pull it closer to me. It cries out, but I just pull it closer. The image is tugging away from me as though it is a powerful magnet trying to reconnect with its opposite pole. I cry out in frustration as the wriggling thing almost gets loose and with one more powerful tug I pull the image to my chest. The minute it makes contact it explodes a brilliant white and I feel a powerful heat radiate from it, but for some reason it doesn't hurt. It feels comfortable, like someone just put a warm blanket around me, but I know it shouldn't feel like that. It should hurt. It should hurt really bad.