Hello Lee! I know it's too late to enter the contest, but I did this one shot as sort of a practice for myself. I had this really great idea, and I know I could rest until I wrote it. I really hope you like it!
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Something flashed in Courtney's eyes. She reached for the necklace, and to Valeriana's shock, pulled it off. The chain broke with a small snapping sound. And although it was almost completely silent, to Valeriana, the sound was deafening.
"What..."
Shock coursed through Valeriana's body. Blood rushed to her ears. She could hear her heart pounding, the sound deafening in the now silent hallway. All she could see was Courtney's face, and all she could hear was her own heartbeat. In the back of her mind, she could sense Corvan, yelling at her, shaking her, before finally picking her up and running. Where, she didn't know.
Boom boom. Boom boom.
We were younger. Jareth was sick with the flu, and I had brought him his homework from our school.
"Aww come on Val, did you have to?" he asked.
"Yes, you need to keep up with school. How else are you going to get into a good college?"
Jareth pouted, and I couldn't help but smile. He looked so dejected and forlorn, until I pulled a surprise from my back.
"CANDY!" He was a kid whose birthday had come early. She had gotten him a box of chocolates, one of his favorite foods. "Thanks Valeriana!"
Boom boom. Boom boom.
"You need to understand how important it is to be able to defend yourself." A brown haired, brown eyed man stood in front of Valeriana. "The world is filled with bad people. When you go off to live in this world on your own, I can at least let you go knowing that I taught you self-defense. I'm not doing this to hurt you. I love you, kiddo."
"I love you too, Daddy," Valeriana replied, before starting over. Uppercut, uppercut, hook, kick. She repeated these moves over and over again, before her father finally told her it was enough.
Boom boom. Boom boom.
Valeriana sat next to her mother. Ironically, the day was bright, as if the world was taunting her. As if her father's casket didn't lie less than five feet in front of her. Guilt flowed through her body, she had shed no tears since she had heard about her father's accident. Shouldn't she be sobbing? The man she had loved most in the world was dead. Her father was dead, and he wasn't coming back. She couldn't help but think that it was a mistake. Her father couldn't be dead, he had to come back to them, he had to.
Boom boom boom.
"You're a jerk, Corvan!"
"And you're a witch!"
Valeriana stood in front of Corvan, a sword in one hand. Hair stuck to her forehead, and she was dripping sweat. It irked her how he managed to not look the least bit winded.
"I told you to never drop your guard!"
"I was saying hello to Chavi! Could you not have waited fifteen seconds while I greeted my friend? Did you have to hit me with your weapon?"
"Never let your guard down," he repeated, before turning his back to her and walking slowly toward their dorms. Maybe Valeriana shouldn't have done what she did, but she was so angry that she was seeing red. She charged toward Corvan's back, her sword, ready to teach him a lesson once in for all. And she would have succeeded, if Corvan didn't turn around, his sword meeting hers.
Boom boom boom.
"Never let go of the sword, no matter how much you want to. Always hold on to your weapon," Seraphina warned Valeriana. She took Seraphina's words to heart. She knew how important this duel was. It was the only way she could prove to the school, once in for all, that she belonged here.
Boom boom
They say your life flashes before your eyes before you die.
Boom
Valeriana's world went black.
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Valeriana woke up later in an unfamiliar room. At first, she couldn't figure out what she was doing there, until the previous events came rushing to her. She took in the white walls, tiled floors, and Corvan, watching her from a chair near her bed.
"Am I dead?" She asked.
"No, you're just as alive as I am," he replied. Something flashed in his eyes, gratefulness, fear, and something else she couldn't read.
"How?"
"Lord Aeron says you're not human."
"Not human? But... how?"
"Shhh, he's going to explain it to you. I'm not really sure of it myself."
Not human? That was impossible. She had to be human. She lived on Earth, and her parents wouldn't keep the fact that she wasn't human to themselves. She would know if she wasn't human. She had to know.
Valeriana needed answers, and the man who would give them to her walked through the door a second later.
Valeriana bowed her head as best as she could while lying down on a bed.
"Lord Aeron."
