Rebirth

Chapter 1: Shattered

To make sense of everything that I'm about to explain, I should tell who I am first. My name is Justin Burrow. I recently turned 17 in the past month, and I'm currently a junior in high school. My skin is a very light shade of brown, my hair is black and eyes brown. I'm not very tall, about 5'5, and I wear glasses. Personally, I don't think I look very, well, anything. At best, I'm average looking, and the best quality about me would be my personality, maybe. I lack confidence in certain things, and had a serious case of depression when I was in 8th grade. After coming into high school, I met some really great friends, people I can really count on. Even now, somehow, I actually have a girlfriend I really care for. I also believe a bit in the superstitions of the world. I even carry around 2 lucky charms at all times. One looks like a clear cut ruby, with the bottom slightly chipped off. The other looks like a diamond, that swaps between violet and white colors in certain light.

My grades aren't the best either, but they're not terrible to me. I don't view myself as smart, or anything like that. I sometimes feel I just simply, exist in a sense, without any major or real purpose or ideas. My friends would disagree, but honestly, I'm not too sure. Truthfully, I'd like my life to be different. More exciting. It WAS wishful thinking, until that day.

The lights cut out in the shop. My heart skipped a beat at how sudden it was, and I looked up from the textbook. Everyone there wasted no time in talking about what might've happened, and we may be going home early. The thought made me smile a little, but thinking about the power outages the school had before made it fade. This wasn't the first, and it most likely won't be any different than before. However, I kept the thought to myself. Spoiling everyone else's sudden plans didn't seem very interesting to me, even if some of them did deserve it. I won't starting naming everyone in here, because most don't really interact with me, and vice versa, but one of the familiar faces in here is Bruce Quito. He can be a little weird at moments, but he's pretty cool most of the time. Aside from him, I feel like a basic person to everyone else, sometimes even annoying.

Not too long after the power went out, the speakers cut on and everyone went quiet. The principal began telling everyone that we were lucky, getting out so early. That was all that everyone needed to start cheering. Even I found myself mentally celebrating. It was always good news to hear that we could leave this place earlier than normal.

It didn't take long to gather our things and head to the cafeteria. My eyes scanned quickly over the spot, and locked on the familiar faces of my little click. Two females, and one male. Approaching them, I also spotted another couple females. Three had glasses, one with darker hair than the other two. Two of the girls were short, about 5 feet tall maybe. The darker haired one was Zhaniah Oliveras, and the other was Cynthia Rodriguez, two people who, to my guilt, I became a bit overprotective over. Who wouldn't with these two, after all, to me, they're like little sisters. The male with them was Richard, nicknamed Victor by Zhaniah. The story behind that was something I couldn't remember at the moment. The other two, named Julienn Meira (a shade of brown hair) and Ashley Priest (a lighter to darker blonde hair color), didn't stand too far away from everyone. Among them, a couple others were missing. My girlfriend, Jocelynn, and my other friend, Michael. Naturally, I just assumed they didn't arrive yet.

There was a strange sense of small relief whenever I was around everyone, as well as a small tension. Friends like them, it was nice to have. Zhaniah was a lot like me in personality, even if we differ on some subjects, so it was always a bit easier to talk to her when I wasn't feeling intrusive. Cynthia, I've known the longest out of the bunch, but even then we haven't talked much lately. Her depression plays a part in it, but it was also something else that happened recently.

I've known myself to hold lots of negative feelings inside. The dark thoughts that result from them I've begun addressing as my "second half" or "dark parts of my heart". It wasn't something I could exactly control, because I felt that voicing my feelings won't change anything. My feelings on subjects don't exactly matter, because my knowledge about said subject always ends up sounding one sided. It even got to the point, when my naiveness was at it's peak, that I broke down, crying in the darkness of my room alone when I realized how idiotic I was. My friends were in means perfect in life, they have their own fair share of problems, and knowing how I was, I wanted to help. The realization I couldn't do anything hit me harder than anything, and I just snapped.

Only a few of them know about that, Zhaniah, Cynthia and Jocelynn. It's funny, that the three people I trust more than anything is these three girls.

I approached behind Zhaniah, but didn't immediately speak. She was speaking to Richard and Cynthia about something, and I didn't feel right to interrupt. When she finished, she turned to me, almost startled, and punched my arm playfully. "Say something next time you show up! I thought there was some creep standing behind me.," She said, looking at me. Her eyes were a bit darker than anyone else I've seen. I'd dare say they were completely black, but that's just me. Coughing into my fist nervously, I smiled back at the group, "Sorry sorry. I just didn't want to stop the conversation."

"Mama, it doesn't help that you're taller than her. You could literally rest your chin on her head," Cynthia said quietly. "Mama" was something Cynthia called me since middle school. If you asked me why, or how it started, I couldn't answer, because I wasn't sure myself. It's happened so much, it doesn't even affect me in public anymore. It's actually pretty heartwarming.

"Still, I know when to speak and when not to," I replied shrugging. I nodded at Richard, at least acknowledging his presence. Ashley walked closer to me then, poked my side, and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I didn't exactly feel uncomfortable, but I tried not to be around Ashley as much as possible. It wasn't hate, or a strong dislike or anything, I was just worried how Jocelynn would take the idea of someone she didn't particularly like hugging her boyfriend. It's not something I would appreciate anyway. After at least patting her head, to not seem rude anyway, I waved at Julienn (or Jules as we called her), and Michael arrived, followed by CADD and the Fashion shop.

My eyes instantly looked at Fashion. It was Jocelynn's shop, and I was really expecting to find her among the crowd before we all left. Sadly, it wasn't the case. It wasn't immediately that it came to me, but after I checked my phone and messages, I mentally slapped myself when I figured out she went home with a ride from her mom. Growling, I put my phone away as the principal started speaking. He was basically just dismissing people to the buses as they showed up, so everyone had to listen close. It grew quiet, and I could feel tension building in my stomach. I wasn't sure why, so I clutched my stomach and closed my eyes, hoping the feeling would go away. I felt a bit sick inside, like my insides were churning.

"All of the buses except... Bus..." He stopped talking. The murmurs picked up around me, and I opened my eyes. The sun that was shining brightly outside was now blocked by clouds. Red clouds. We could see it in the distance. Looking at it made my stomach churn more, and the nervousness grew in my chest. "What's going on?"

"I.. Don't know.. It just got dark all of a sudden.." Zhaniah said, before she gently grabbed my sleeve. Zhaniah has anxiety, so her reaction is to be expected. It'd make sense to be pretty extreme, after all, everyone was freaking out quietly. "Ok, everyone just.. Remain calm, and stay where you are," The principal began. I questioned why he would even say anything, no one was doing anything anyway. The two I was most worried about right now was Zhaniah and Cynthia. Strong willed as Zhaniah is, even she can be afraid of the unknown. Cynthia seemed to be the worst of the two. She was shaking visibly in her seat, clutching the edges of the benches of the table to the point her knuckles turned white. I tried to think of words to comfort the two, but nothing came to mind. "It'll be alright.." Was all I said.

Zhaniah looked at me, giving a subtle nod. That didn't calm me however. I was worried sick about Jocelynn. No one knew what was going on, and the thought of something happening nearly drove me insane. ".. Tell me again." Zhaniah tugged my sleeve a bit harder. "I'm freaking the hell out right now.. Just say it'll be ok."

I was a bit shocked that she'd ask me for comfort. I thought I'd be the last person for something like that. Hesitating, I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Yeah. It'll be alright."

She looked down, averting my eyes and spoke quietly. "Thank-"

My vision went completely white. All sound vanished, the air felt lighter and nearly nonexistent. Zhaniah's voice was gone. All the sound around us was gone. I thought someone had just suddenly hit me with something hard. How wrong I was, and how I wished that's what happened. In those moments, my final vision was of Zhaniah, her body completely vanishing as if becoming ash. Like her, Jules, Ashley, Richard, Cynthia, even Michael. To me, it all seemed paused, as if something wanted me to watch in slow motion. I looked around, everyone taking similar effects, and it was then I looked at myself. Me too. I thought it was too far fetched, that my mind was playing tricks on me. No. Instead, I felt and thought nothing as everything around was enveloped in light, and gone in a nearly invisible explosion.