Elementalist

Picnics

I fell into a pile of leaves. Well, here goes my perfect start to the day. I dusted myself off, collected my things and headed back. Humming to myself, I caught a dark shadow following my at the corner of my eyes. But turning around, nobody was there.
Tracy was waiting for me at my house.
"You're late again Ali"
"I brought strawberries"
"Tempting. Okay hand them over", she chuckled.
We sat down on a picnic blanket near the bushes. Tracy looked at me questioningly, "So? How was your first week at your job?"
"Boring, but it'll do"
"Hey. You have to learn to socialise and have fun too"
Tracy was very pretty. She had red hair, green eyes and freckles, she was tall and slender. She had a fiery temper and energetic nature.
"Ok, get up." She pulled me up. "I'll race you."
"You're on"
We ran through the trees and laughed, just like we have done for the past years. Just like when we were kids.
Then I stopped. There was a clearing that I had never seen before. Tracy was behind me so she ran right into me, sending us tumbling. We stood up but I wasn't smiling. Looking at the scene would make anyone stare in shock. The forest  beyond that point was completely charred. But not because of a fire. It looked like a black inky smoke had engulfed the forest and all the trees were made of ash and could collapse any second.
My mind filled with images. Flashing images of my childhood. I don't remember anything or anyone except that I had a twin brother Conner who had chosen to be what my parents taught us to be. And what was that? I have no clue. Then the pain started. A burning in my chest. And I blacked out.

I woke to find Tracy looming over me with a bucket of icy water. She dumped it on my head. "Hey! Don't! I'm awake."
"Oh sorry"
She sat down next to me. I was in my bedroom. She must have carried me there. Or dragged me .
"Hey, it's okay. You gotta learn to move on and forget about the past. I know it's hard."
I didn't know what to say. She wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. She is the only one who I could trust, like a sister to me. We sat there holding each other for a while, knowing that we were the only family we had.