Aftershock

STINA HEKS

Dear Diary. Today the Council sent scrolls to everyone in the Lost Cities, with instructions to open at exactly 9 am. Of course, my parents and I opened ours as soon as the messenger left, but that's because the Council's rule is old and ineffective. What's the use of knowing information if you can't know it before anyone else?

She read over her work. It looked good so far. With stony determination, she continued.

Anyways, there was a big storm last week. Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee were down in the caves around Havenfield's small beach when a tidal wave swept in and pulled them out to sea. Alden Vacker and his search party found their registry pendants at the bottom of the ocean a week or so ago. He called it, "a terrible accident" and "a tragedy our world won't soon forget." And I agree. Even though Sophie and Dex got on my nerves sometimes, they didn't deserve to die. I might actually miss them.

Stina bit her pencil's silver eraser and stared at her diary page. Nope, too sappy. With an elaborate eye roll and an especially guttural groan she tore the page out and tried again.

Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee died too young. They were only thirteen twelve twelve/thirteen

Even worse. How did she not know how old they were? How long had she been going to school with Dex? Another crumpled up page landed on the floor next to the garbage can.

Two kids died a couple days ago. Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee. They were super annoying, but...

Stina ripped page after page after page out until she was so frustrated she threw her pencil across the room with an infuriated shriek. Why did she feel like this? She hated Dex! And she especially hated Sophie! But it wasn't like they'd deserved to die.

"Ugh. Why are relationships so complicated?" she asked out loud, rolling over and looking up at her canopied ceiling. But she had to get this down. When she was famous and millennia old, people would want to read her thoughts on every little detail of life. And this was a pretty big detail. So she grabbed a new pencil and stubbornly tried again.

Dear Diary~

If anyone asks, I'll deny everything. Absolutely everything. So don't go trying to humanize me. But to be honest, Foxfire's been boring ever since Sophie and the Dizznee  kid died. I sort of miss them. But I miss them in the same way I'd miss school. It's like, while it's there it seems like the most annoying thing ever, but once it's gone...I don't know what to do with my life. Who else am I supposed to tease about their bad match parents or freaky eyes? Everyone else is too depressed about their deaths to respond to my jokes, or they don't care about anything in general.

And they were only in Level Two at Foxfire. Think of what they could have accomplished. Well, Sophie could have accomplished. Dex probably would have created some kind of serum that covers you in a permanent green slime. But Sophie, she was already one of the most accomplished Telepaths in our world, according to the speech Councillor Kenric gave at her funeral. She could have...I don't know, become our best Keeper or Emissary or something. Like Alden Vacker. Only, more talented.

Gah! You don't have any idea how hard that is for me to say. Until her funeral, I thought Sophie was just another Talentless freak. But to think she manifested before me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous. I bet I'll manifest soon. Hopefully, I'll be a Vanisher. That would be exciting. Vanishing is the most sophisticated ability. I wouldn't mind being an Empath either. In fact, I bet that's what I'll be. Following in my mother's, and my grandmother's, and my great-grandmother's, and my great great-grandmother's—etc.—footsteps.

Back to the subject at hand. Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee didn't deserve to die. They will forever have a place in my our memories.

Sincerely,

Stina Heks

Stina read over the diary entry one more time. 'Yep,' she thought. 'It's perfect.' After carefully placing her diary in the top drawer of her desk, she crawled into her plush canopied bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.