Empyrean Obscurum

Chapter One - A Normal Day?

I wake up to the rattling of the window shutters. I sigh, annoyed at being woken up. Especially  on a school day. My bed creaks as I get up out of it. I pull open my shutters and squint at the light that shines through. 

'Stella! Breakfast!' a voice calls from downstairs.

'Coming!' I yell as I pull on a t-shirt and jeans. My feet pound down the stairs as I walk to the kitchen. Walking in I notice that my dad isn't in his usual spot. Actually, he is nowhere to be found. 

'Stella! Stop standing there and get some breakfast! You'll have to leave for school soon.' yells my mom. I roll my eyes. My mother, how do I describe her? Ah, yes, she was always very hurried. I never knew why until the day that it happened. I sit down at the table and grab the cereal. I pour in the cereal first and then the milk. I chomp down on the cereal. In the back ground, I can hear my mother nagging my brother to hurry up and eat breakfast. Timothy stomps into the kitchen with a frown on his face. 

'Alright, alright I'm here! Are ya happy now?' he says nonchalantly as he plops down on a chair. 

'You know I wouldn't nag you if you were downstairs on time,' my mother says over her shoulder as she makes coffee. 

'Where's dad?' I ask as I take my empty bowl to the sink. 

'He went to work early, something about an emergency with another town.' My mom pours some of the coffee into a mug. She then walks over and sits down at the table with a sigh.

'There's been a lot of emergencies recently with the other towns, I hope it isn't war.' She says to herself.  She pauses a moment and then looks at the clock. 

'Hurry up! At this rate you are both going to be late to school!' She pushes us both out of the door. My brother and I walk down the steps and onto the sidewalk.

'Mom worries too much,' my brother says he starts walking.

'Yeah I guess, but dad has been to a lot of emergency town meetings in the last few weeks. I wonder what's happening,' I say thoughtfully.

Timothy groans, 'Not you too!' He jogs ahead, to meet up with one of his friends. I sigh, typical younger brothers.  I walk by myself on the sidewalk. The school is only a couple streets away. I take in my surroundings. This town is always so beautiful to look at, the other kids don't really pay attention to it. Most of them think the town should be updated but I find the rustic charm of this place really pretty. Today the air is cold and you can kind of see your breath. The trees are slowly growing their leaves back and the weather is slowly warming up. Around me, I can see signs of spring. A small patch of green grass. A couple of small leaves on some of the trees. Some flowers beginning to bloom.

I suddenly stop. As if told by someone to stop or held by something. I find that I can't move. And slowly as if pulled by an invisible string, my head slowly turns towards a couple of bushes and for a minute-no a couple of seconds I think I see a figure. But as fast as I see it and as suddenly as I had stopped, it is gone like a breath of fresh air. 

'Hey! Stella! Why are you just standing there?!' a voice breaks my concentration. I blink and then look around me. I am staring straight ahead, as if I had never turned my head. I look and see that my friend Annie Dixion waving her hand at me. Behind her I see that the school is closer than ever. Only that, I don't remember walking. All I remember is stopping in place. 

'Oh, hey...' I say quietly as I try and think about what just happened. 'What just happened? I'm pretty sure I stopped moving and what was that thing?! I barely saw what it wa-' 

'Hey!!!! Earth to sleepy head!' Annies' voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I snap my head up.

'Woah, are you ok Stella? Did you get enough sleep? You look like you've seen a ghost or something,' she says, putting her hand on my shoulder.