D.O.M.I.N.A.N.C.E: Book I: Wheat and Tares (UPDATED WEEKLY)

Introduction Part 1 (updated weekly)

Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others. –Edward Abbey                                                                                              

                                                                                          ***

Cassie was certain that she didn't belong here. Her heart did that thing; that thing that happened when she was nervous. Deep and intense beats. She felt herself starting to panic for no particular reason. Her heart was sent off into a pounding frenzy, throbbing against her tight chest and dispersing all the way through her entire body. She sighed, clutching her chest in a desperate attempt to breathe-in whatever air she could. She felt like she would die.

+Maybe if I can just distract myself then I'd feel better...try to look on the bright side

Eventually, like always, after many haggard breaths, the feeling faded away and she felt somewhat normal again. Cassie looked up to the skies (a plea to God perhaps?) and then found herself taken aback at the surroundings that stood so beautifully before her. She could now appreciate the trees; gorgeous, lustrous, tall and slender. They all shot up into the air without seeming to have an end. The sky was a dark blanket dotted randomly with innumerable stars. And, of course, there were people; lots of them, to her chagrin. She wanted not to be here. She had to get out of this place. She didn't like being around people. She could deal with one, two was pushing it, but fifty-six was...intimidating. Her mother, however, reckoned that this little retreat would help in her 'development as a young woman'.

+What's that again?

+Does it even matter? What Mom wants, Mom gets remember?

Hugging her feet up against her chest and breathing in deeply she swept her long dark curls across her shoulders and pretended to not exist. She was getting really good at it, too.

+Please be over, please be over, please be over, please be over, please be over...

But the mantra did nothing to help the cause. A bunch of nineteen year olds out in the woods on some ritzy camping grounds displaying their hormonal colors and cliquing out was not exactly her idea of fun. She didn't find much things fun anymore. Mostly, Cassie just wanted to be alone. Her alone time was her only escape. Was that such a bad thing? At least she wasn't hurting herself, right? At least not anymore. She'd moved on from that. Cassie felt good about this for a while but then remembered where she was.

+I don't want to be here... why am I here?

+Geez you're so annoying...Stop bitching for a second will ya?

But at least here she didn't have to be home where she was reminded of everything that happened. She sighed again and held back the tears that only made her feel even worse. She was getting good at that too. She didn't cry anymore. Why should she? Not caring was easier. She understood that being a teenager was not going to be a walk in the park but no one, not one person, ever mentioned that it was going to be this hard.

+Maybe that's because it's not suppose to be, idiot!

"Hey Cassie, you hungry?" Looking up with misty eyes she shook her head, not giving Emmett Farrago as much as a glance. He sauntered off, feeling sort of sorry for her. He noticed that she was always so sad and alone. She didn't have any friends either. Well, at least none that he knew. Once he saw her eating at the back of the school which must have been her usual spot. They shared two classes together, AP Biology and Trig. She participated in neither. Yet she always seemed to get good grades. He figured so since anything less than a 70% gets you kicked out of an AP class in The Hills academy. And well, she was still around, floating in and out of her classes, drifting through the halls until she disappeared.