A Thousand Lies

Chapter 1-Christina

     The air was scented with burning flesh.                                                                                                                   Agonized screams came from every direction, reduced to a quiet whisper over the wicked sound of burning trees and falling buildings. I opened my eyes, vaguely aware I wasn't breathing. A huge wall of fire surrounded me, the blistering heat threatening to set me on fire. For some reason, I wasn't panicking. I was emotionless, feeling no fear as I stepped into the flames.

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   I woke up covered in sweat, realizing I had been holding my breath. I took a few seconds to breathe, then sat up in my bed. My alarm clock read 6:00 in the morning. Great, I thought, just before my alarm went off. Letting out a groan as I rolled out of bed, I started putting on the clothes I picked out last night. Tonight's dream had been the same as always, ending in the terrible scene where I was surrounded by flames. But for some reason, it had felt so real. I swear I could feel the heat radiating from the fire, and smell the flesh of the people being burned to death.

    What if my dream, however disturbing it was, was real? I shuddered, imagining the village being, or having been, real. Finally, something pulled me away from my morbid thoughts. Today was February the fourteenth. Valentine's day. I let out another groan. Maybe I could pretend to be sick, I thought glumly as I descended the stairs. Out of all of my friends, I was the only one without a boyfriend. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw a note on the table. I walked over and read it.                                                                                                                                                                   Happy Valentine's day, sweetheart!  Love, Mom.                                                                                                     I couldn't help but smile as I ate the heart-shaped chocolates sitting on the table beside the note.

Twenty minutes later, I walked into my school. My friends, Zoe and Natalie, came running towards me, huge smiles on their faces. Zoe started talking immediately. "Oh my goodness, you won't believe this! " She said, still grinning wildly. "Do you want to know what happened to me this morning?"She asked.                                                                                                                                           Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "I was waiting for the bus, then this guy comes up and asks me if I knew Christina. I said yes, then he told me to give this to you!"                                          She handed me a little piece of white paper folded in half. I tucked the paper into my pocket, more than a little bit confused.                                                                                                                                                     Natalie and Zoe started showing me the Valentine's day cards their boyfriends had given them, but I wasn't paying attention.                                                                                                                                   Who would of sent me a card? The last time somebody had done that was two years ago, and even then, it had been a prank. I couldn't think of anyone at my school who would have sent me a card, unless...                                                                                                                                                                           "Does he go to our school?" I asked, not caring that I had just interrupted my friend's conversation.                                                                                                                                                                    Zoe looked at me, confused. "You mean the boy who gave you that paper? "                                               I nodded. "I don't think so, I would have recognized someone like that." She answered.                  Her answer only made me more confused. "What did he look like?" I asked.                                               "He was really tall, and he was wearing a black hoodie." She paused, as if she were trying to remember something. "Oh yeah, he also had all these crazy tattoos all over his hands."  She was about to say something else, but the bell rang.

  The rest of a day passed by in a blur. I completely forgot about the paper in my pocket, until it was the end of the day.                                                                                                                                                           As I was walking home, I put my hands in my pockets because they were cold. The second my fingertips brushed the paper, I grasped it, then pulled it out. Opening it up with trembling fingers, I started reading:

/13/5/5/20/.../13/5/.../1/20/.../1/20/.../14/9/14/5/.../9/14/.../20/8/5/.../2/1/3/11/.../15/6/... /10/1/19/13/13/9/14/5/.../8/9/7/8/

   I read the paper over and over again, trying to understand. Was this some type of code?                I looked over it about three more times before I finally understood.                                                                Each number represented a letter! I ran all the way back home, exited with this new discovery and eager to read what was written on the little square of paper.                                                                Once I was inside, I quickly grabbed a pencil and decoded the note. 

Meet me at nine in the back of Jasmine High

I stared blankly at the words.                                                                                                                                             A total stranger wanted to meet me behind the school at nine? It was obvious I shouldn't go.      But, I was just so curious.                                                                                                                                                     Maybe if I only went over, just to see who it was...?                                                                                              I sat in my room, trying to decide, for the next two hours. Finally, I made a decision.                              I would go, even if I thought the decision was stupid and risky.

An hour later, I was on my was to Jasmine High School, still not sure why I was doing this.