:|Another Time, Another Place|:

:|Chapter 3|: Akari's POV

I awoke, gasping once again from the dreams that seemed to haunt my unconscious mind. Still, I couldn’t make any sense of why it seemed to me that there was more to this dream. It was as if it was trying to send me a message in some way, but I just wasn’t able to decode it at the moment. Sighing to myself I took a long, hot shower before changing into a bright blue tank that matched perfectly with my abnormal hair, and threw on some ripped jeans. Looking at myself in the mirror, I frowned a little at my appearance and wondered why I was just so abnormal and it seemed like I had never fit in here.

Shaking off the thoughts, I put on my blue converse and made my way downstairs where my mom would most likely be cooking breakfast. When I made it down the steps, I paused and sniffed the air. The normal aroma of bacon and eggs didn’t greet me. I just smelled the citrus smell of the house and it seemed eerily silent. I cocked my head to the side in wonder. This was the first time that my mom wasn’t here in the morning when I woke up, it just seemed a bit… off. I walked cautiously towards the kitchen.

I gapped at the sight in front of me when I walked in. Lying on the ground unconscious was my foster mom. Standing in front of her, examining his/her work was something that looked otherworldly. I couldn’t even tell whether it was a boy or girl. I gulped, not sure what to make of the creature standing there in armor. When he noticed me gapping at him, he froze completely in shock. I had absolutely no clue as to why he was the one to be surprised when I was the one who caught him about to kill my mom! He stared for a moment more before taking a step in my direction. It didn’t take me long to snap out of my deliria after that. I dashed upstairs to my room and began gathering the closest things to me that were important and then turned to look at the door to see whether the creature had followed me.

After a moment of silence, I could hear footsteps coming towards my room. Panicking a little, I dashed over to the door and locked it, then turned towards the window and made a run for it. Just as I opened my window, the door shook as the beast pounded on it. Gulping back my fear, I forced myself to climb out of my window. I carefully maneuvered myself onto the tree beside my window and then climbed down it, swiftly landing on my feet. I looked up at my window to see the creature rushing towards the window. Sighing that it was a little slow, I ran towards my car and drove off.

I wanted to rush over to Chris’s house, but I didn’t know what I would do there, so I made a quick decision to follow wherever my gut told me. Checking my baggage, I found that I had packed up all my savings. I felt a little guilty for leaving my mom there, but I knew that she would’ve wanted it this way. It was better that one of us at least got away. I wanted to call my foster dad, but I wasn’t sure how I would explain to him that a big monster-like creature tried to kill mom and is now chasing me. I was beyond freaking out, my heart beating a million miles a minute. I tried to calm down to think things through a little.

Somehow, the creature looked a little familiar to me. I realized, completely bewildered by the resemblance that creature had to the guards in my dreams. I shook away that thought; because there was no way that a creature from my dream could really be real; chasing me nonetheless!  

As I drove, time seemed to fly by and I had no idea where I was anymore. I just drove, following my guts instructions. This was the first time that I have drove more than to the store or to run errands for my foster parents. This world seemed foreign to me now. I had no idea what to think of it, although it seemed as if this was destiny. As if where ever I was headed, was where I belonged and that me living here… had been a mistake to begin with.

Shaking the thoughts off, my mind wandered back towards my foster mother, lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. I bit my lip to stop the tears from flowing down my face; I was all alone now, and I had to be strong now, for myself and for my foster parents. Maybe then I’ll be able to comprehend what the hell was going on in my life right now.

While my thoughts had wandered off into their own world, I hadn’t been paying attention to the road, and so when I saw a boy around my age standing in front of my car, as if a deer caught in headlights, I immediately hit the brakes, although I knew that it probably wouldn’t stop in time. I closed my eyes and then there was the sound of a dull thump as my car ran into the boy. Hurriedly, I took off my seatbelt, deeming myself safe enough to help out this boy.

I ran towards the body that was on the ground and crouched down. He seemed to have a dazed expression on as I stared at him. Taking a deep breath and cursing myself for not paying attention, I tapped the boy gently, bringing him out of his own dazed thoughts. His dark blue eyes focused on me then. He looked a little confused, but then he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“Umm… are you ok?” I asked hesitantly, but then cursed myself once again when I knew that was an idiotic question to ask a person that was just hit a car. I face-palmed at that, but when I looked up, the boy seemed amused by my actions.

“Well, considering that I was just hit by a car… I’m feeling quite wonderful.” He said jokingly. I smiled warmly and apologetically, before replying back to him.

“I am so sorry, I hadn’t seen you coming. I should’ve been paying more attention. Do you want me to take you to a hospital or something?” He rolled his eyes at me, but then shrugged indifferently.

“I’m fine, but I would like to travel by car instead of walking. I’ve been walking non-stop for about 2 days now.” My eyes widened at his words and I scrambled up, holding a hand out for him to grab.

“Well, as a payment… I should allow you to travel with me because I don’t really have a specific place I’m going. So, since you don’t really want to go to the hospital, come on.” He looked at me in disbelief for a moment, but cautiously took my outstretched hand. Remembering that I had no idea what his name was and vice-versa, I decided to introduce myself. “Oh, by the way… I’m Akari, and you are?” I asked politely, teasing a little as well. He smiled crookedly before responding.

“Well nice to meet you Akari, my name is Ahnyx. Not to be rude or anything, but is that your real hair color?” I chuckled a little at his blunt reply and then took in his appearance. He was quite handsome. His hair was a weird shade of dark violet, almost passing at black, but I could tell the difference. His eyes were a dark shade of blue, as if staring into a deep void that went on for eternity; he seemed muscular as well. When I met his gaze, he seemed to look amused. I then noticed that he knew I was checking him out. I held back the blush that was threatening to erupt onto my cheeks. Rolling my eyes as his amused look, I remember the question he had asked me.

“Oh, well actually it’s real… but I could say the same for your hair as well.” I chuckled at his surprised expression; he was probably surprised because no one really noticed his hair color before. He looked away for a moment and then I noticed that we were still holding hands. Moving my hands away discreetly, I rolled my eyes once again and then motioned for him to follow me.  Today was a very long day to say the least.