Lauren Sparks squinted at her test paper hard. It was the last period of the day and she wanted it to finish as fast as possible. Lauren thinks she is one of those unlucky sixteen – year olds who aren't just gifted when it comes to academics. She wasn't sick or anything. She didn't have any disorder as an excuse as to why she was struggling. She was just stupid and unmotivated. She flipped her long blonde hair away from her face. She glanced at the clock and realized she had five minutes left before the bell rang. She sighed, scribbled her best guesses before the bell signalling the end of school rang. She stood up and gathered her stuff before going to the front of the room to give her test paper to Mr Wayland, her physics teacher.
"Don't forget about your five page essays that you have to turn in tomorrow." He reminded as everyone filed out of the room.
Lauren rolled her eyes as she walked out the door feeling even worse than she did earlier. If there was anything she hated more than tests, it was making long essays. Wasn't all the boring discussions and pointless tests torture enough? She looked to her right and saw her brother, Tyler, leaning on the wall beside the door of the classroom. She tapped him on the arm to make him aware of her presence. He turned around, took her book bag from her and smiled. Tyler Sparks is your typical dream guy. He's handsome with his dark brown curls and his blue green eyes and a charming smile. He's athletic and gets decent grades. Every girl would exchange their boyfriends for him.
"I'll just get something from Claire." Lauren told him. Tyler nodded and followed Lauren to the other end of the hallway where her best friend, Claire Johnson, walked up to her.
"Thanks for letting me borrow it." Claire groaned. She handed her the book that she borrowed last weekend. "I can't come with you right now. I got detention from blabbing my mouth in class today."
Lauren smiled. "Of course you did."
Claire sighed. "I better get going or I'll get another detention slip for being late to detention." she waved and walked away to the opposite direction.
Lauren and Tyler quietly made their way outside. Tyler and Lauren didn't talk to each other a lot. They didn't dislike each other. In fact, they had a close sibling relationship but they just weren't the type of siblings who talked and argued 24/7. Despite this, they knew a lot about each other that even their best friends had no idea of. Lauren went inside Tyler's car and buckled herself up. As soon as Tyler got in, they sped away. After a twenty minute drive, they reached their three- storey house. She opened the door and saw her mother, Violet Sparks, walking about the room. After her father's death last year, her mother worked hard to keep their family alive. She worked every minute of every day and rarely had a day off. At home, she had to take care of their nine– year old sister, Melanie since she couldn't afford to hire a babysitter.
She walked over to the stairs her mother, not noticing her. She glanced up and saw Lauren when she was halfway up the stairs. "Lauren you're here" she greeted. "I didn't notice you come in."
Lauren stopped and stared at her. "It's okay," she said. "I'm too unimportant to be noticed." Lauren began making her way up the stairs.
"Lauren –"
She was cut off when Lauren finally reached her room and slammed it shut. She sighed and leant against her door. She didn't mean to snap at her mother but she couldn't help the bitter feeling that coursed towards her whenever she saw her mother. They were never close. It was always her and her father. She always used being adopted as an excuse of her and her mother's distant relationship but that was equally horrible as being her biological daughter and still being distant. Lauren fell down on her bed, exhausted, shut her eyes and fell asleep.
The air felt tense as Kaia walked around the dark forest. She shivered with fright as she saw a shadow move. She began walking backwards but tripped on a log in the process. She shut her eyes too afraid to see anything.
"Kaia, where are you?!" she heard a voice scream.
"Please help me." Kaia whispered.
"Kaia, please! You have to tell me where you are!" the voice screamed again. Kaia tried her best to stand up. Her legs were shaking and every time she would try to walk she would fall down on the ground again. A black mist began circling around Kaia. "Come with me." it whispered. "Give me your power." Tears streamed down Kaia's face. "Please help me." she whispered. "Please help me... Estelle."
Lauren sat up from her bed panting. She felt her head throbbing and realized she had hit her head in the headboard of her bed. She remembered the dream she just had moments ago. 'Who is Estelle? And why was I being called Kaia?' she thought to herself. Lauren's throat felt dry. She stood up and walked to her door. She silently opened the door and left it open before she trudged downstairs to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and got the pitcher of water and poured herself a glass. She gulped down the cold water and sighed with relief. She looked out the window when she thought she saw a shadow move. She moved closer to the window and gasped. Standing outside was a girl that looked like her. She was wearing a ripped ball gown. Her light blonde hair was in a mess and she was covered in dirt. Lauren rubbed her eyes but the girl was still there. Lauren stood frozen. She didn't know what to do. Was this even real? Even worse, the window was left open. The girl could just jump in and strangle her. What did the girl want? Lauren's eyes widened as the girl held up her hand and reached towards her.
