Transform Plate Boundaries Book Two

Chapter 3:

Yitian paused right before she stepped into the dark center of the storm. The winds were uncontrollable now; she felt as if they were going to blow her away. For a moment, she considered turning back, back to her normal life, back to James. But she couldn't. She had already made her decision to go. Yitian took a deep breath, and stepped in.

Immediately, she was falling. She didn't know which way she was falling or where she was going. Every bit of light faded as the dark grew stronger, eventually engulfing even the smallest, weakest glimmer. For the first time in, well... almost forever, she felt as if she knew nothing. She tried to focus her mind by thinking of simple formulas and facts, but even those were a huge, jumbled mess. She couldn't breathe. She could barely think. There was one last huge rumble of thunder, then everything was silent. Absolutely silent.

She couldn't see anything; there was nothing to be seen. When she closed her eyes, it was brighter than when she opened them. It was a strange feeling, yet there were worse things happening. When she tried to say anything, she couldn't function. The silence was deafening, but she couldn't escape the lair she seemed to be trapped in.

The quietness was a weapon of the darkness, violently yet stealthily engulfing all hope of escape. Everything seemed not to matter, because nothing could save her. The desperation and helplessness swarmed over her as tears streamed down her face.

Yitian felt like a test was being laid out in front of her. She had to overcome the darkness. She had to overcome the silence. She had to find a way to get out of this terrible, terrible place. But no matter how hard she tried, the trap would not yeild, and she could do nothing.

Slowly, she realized that she had to focus to escape alive. When she realized that standard form for a parabola was y=ax^2+bx+c, a sharp pain entered her mind. The shard of memory that had entered her brain hurt — and it hurt terribly. It would be painful to find a way back to reality. But she had to do it.

She fought for control. As she stole another memory for herself, the pain this time felt like she was being stabbed. Yitian's mouth fell open. It hurt... It hurt so badly. But she saw James's face and pushed. She had to make it — for James.

"AGH!!!" She managed to scream. The pain of taking back her memories was almost unbearable. A tear fell down her face as she helplessly struggled to regain more of her memory. Yet it hurt so badly she couldn't describe it. " painpainpainpainpain..." the darkness seemed to whisper. It felt like a scream.

Yitian felt like she had been falling for forever, alone in the dark and silence. "This is the end of me..." her weak mind thought. "I'm sorry, James. Please forgive me for leaving you. I guess I should've listened when you tried to stop me..."

Now that Yitian was probably never going to see James again, just thinking of him stabbed a terrible pain in her mind — and her heart. What once were golden memories now haunted her like nightmares. But the good memories weren't the problem. The problem was that she hadn't realized how much he loved her. Now that she was torn away from him, the knowledge of his love hurt her more than any nightmare. But she didn't want to lose it. Because if she did, then the consequence would be worse.

**FLASHBACK TO 1 YEAR AGO**

"Come on, James!! Go kiss her!!!" yelled David.

"Yeah sure Jack... NOOO!!!" Yitian shrieked, and started bolting away.

"Catch her!!" screamed Connie gleefully.

"Oh no," Yitian thought as she sprinted further.

She heard footsteps behind her and kept running.

"I don't want to kiss her though," James had said. "Because she doesn't want me to."

"You better kiss her or else we're not forgiving you for crashing my date with Connie," David threatened.

"Honestly, what Yitian thinks is more important than your opinion, David. I don't care whether you forgive me as long as Yitian gets what she wants."

At that point, David and Connie gave up and turned away, with James walking in the opposite direction as well.

**END FLASHBACK**

"If only I realized how much James cared for me before now," Yitian thought, "then I would've listened to him and stayed. But now I can't turn back. It's too late."

In the distance, she thought she saw a glimmer of light. Had she passed the test, or whatever it was? It was so far... and she didn't even know whether it was real. It seemed to get closer. She concentrated on that one tiny glimmer, the one spark of hope that could mean life or death. She willed her mind to focus on the light and warmth.

The tiny glimmer grew larger as Yitian moved closer to it, but somehow she knew that it was only her concentration that was pulling her closer. By focusing her brain, she could conquer the vast ocean of space and time that was spread before her. And after she crossed that ocean, she would have reached the alternate world. Alternate world. Those words sounded like a haven, safe from the misery of the journey in between. A week ago, they were just an unproven theory, an unlikely dream. Now, it was the key to... well... survival. Yitian stretched out her hand and reached for the glimmering light...

Then, suddenly, the spark exploded into a shower of light that fell from and towards every direction imaginable. Rays of warm sunlight and cool starlight swirled around Yitian, then eventually converged into one huge mass, growing brighter and brighter. There was a huge, blinding flash of light...

And everything was still. Not the deafening silence that came with the darkness to haunt Yitian; instead, a warm, compatible silence that felt strangely... safe.

"The worst is over," thought Yitian. But little did she know, her quest was just beginning.