The dark waters| ✓

1.THE VISION

I won't survive.

I'm sure of it.

I stand on a high rock in the middle of a vast, dark and wild ocean. I don't remember how I got here. Not that it really matters. The strong wind ruffles through my clothes and hardly allows my eyes to remain open. I'm surprised that I am still standing on the rock and not flying around in the wind. Huge waves crash down upon the rocks making deafening sounds. I open my eyes wide enough to see the next wave coming. As it comes towards the rock, it reaches the height of a three-storey building and seems to loom over me for some time, like a monster looking at its prey with hungry eyes, before finally crashing down towards me like a waterfall.
While it comes down, one single thought crosses my mind: this is it.

This is how I die.

My eyes flutter open. Early morning sunlight filters through the gap in the curtains and falls on my eyes. I can no longer feel the hard, cold rock under me but only soft bedsheets. I bring my hands to my eyes and look at the opposite wall. Posters of 'the 1975' band cover up most of the wall. I see my mom's beaming face smiling at me in the photo on the wall and I smile back. Although it has been several years, a pang of sadness always goes through me every morning.

A guitar lies in a corner, a pile of CDs next to it. My bag occupies the other.  A heap of clothes lie nearby.
My room.
It is anything but tidy. My left hand instinctively starts searching for my phone, and when I find it, I play on my favourite playlist. As the sounds of the electric guitar and the drums fill the room, I feel awake.

Crap.

It's the first day of high school.

I sluggishly walk towards my bathroom. When I look into the mirror I see a pair of hazel eyes set in an almost oval face looking back at me. I tie my straight brown hair behind, to keep them from falling on my face. After brushing my teeth and having a quick bath, I wrap a towel around and walk towards my small wardrobe. I decide to put in more efforts into my outfit but I eventually give up and slip into my cosy sweatpants and a black
t-shirt having 'WICKED' written on it. I quickly grab my bag and run downstairs.

Janet is sitting on the dining table reading her daily newspaper. She is my mother's sister. After my mom's death, she kindly volunteered to keep me at her house, in Lucerne. She was the only one who seemed to care about my mom, everyone else in the family was either fake pretending to empathise with me on the funeral without offering any help or just insensitive.When I pull up a chair and sit down, she looks at me with her beautiful brown eyes and offers me a smile.

" Good morning Leah. Have your breakfast quickly before Liam-"

"I'm home!" a voice comes from behind.

I know who it is even before I look behind.

Liam Anderson has been my best friend since second grade. He lives right next to my house. Before second grade he used to live somewhere else. Then his parents died in an accident and he came to live with his uncle. Maybe that's one of the reasons why we became best friends. We both had a similar history. Same things to cry about.

"Hi, Janet. How's life?" Liam says smiling. He removes his jacket and throws it on one of the chairs and sits down on the couch.

"All right..." Janet says with a smile.

"now have your breakfast quickly Leah. You don't want to be late for the first day of school"

"Yep"

I quickly have a bowl of Cheerios and step out of the house to start the new day with Lee.

                   ***************
"Most of  our planet is covered by water, out of which only five per cent has been discovered"

Really? That's interesting. I should definitely become a sea pirate. I might even discover a treasure or two.
Before I can fantasize more, someone gently nudges me from behind and I turn around to find Liam looking at me with a smile.

Right, he's upto something.

I have been so accustomed to seeing his face that I can draw it.Well, I doubt it would look anything like him. He has pale golden hair that is ruffled and untidy, falling on his forehead in curls. I had always tried to make them look neat and tidy, but his hair is just like him.

Messy and wild.

I had then given up hope entirely. Puberty had hit him like a hurricane. He had gone from a chubby child to chiselled teen. But nothing other than his looks changed.

"It's your birthday week. Wanna go to the club today?" He asks smiling.

"Since when did you start liking going to the club? Anyways, I would love to come but I will have to ask Janet first. And I don't think I'll be allowed to go..."

"Leah you are turning sixteen. Can you believe it? Of course, you are allowed to clubs. And even if they don't, your friend has contacts." He says winking. "don't you worry, I'll convince Janet"

" You two at the back, shut it." our geography teacher says loudly.

" Sorry, Miss Lawrence" I mutter.

" What's your name?" Miss Lawrence asks, with an edge to her voice.

"Cordelia Lynn," I say silently.

"And he is your boyfriend right? what is his name?" She says slyly.

I feel the colour rise up to my cheeks.
Great. Really great. Perfect start.

"Hey, Leah could you please tell Miss Lawrence that my name is Liam Anderson. And yes, tell her to keep to her own business," Liam says indifferently.

" That's detention, Mr Anderson, " says Miss Lawrence as she walks out of the class, flushed with embarrassment. The class breaks into hoots and claps. Liam gets up, gives a little bow and sits down. One of the girls who had been staring at him throughout the class, I had oddly noticed, comes towards us.

" Nice work Liam. Are you guys really dating though?"

Funny you ask.

"No, we're just-"

But before I can finish, blackness overtakes my vision and when it clears I am back on the rock in the middle of the wild sea. The monstrous dark wave rises and it all falls down again.

I open my eyes.

A pair of blue, concerned eyes look back at me.

"Are you all right? You turned pale real quick." says Lee.

" Yes, I'm fine, just...happens with me all the time nothing to worry about, okay?"

"Okay."

" Anyways where are we going today?"I ask to my mind off the topic. I really can't be thinking about my weird dreams now. But they never really happened before. What changed?

" The Cascadia? I am calling Bria and Matt as well," says Lee.

"Okay cool"
________________________________
Hi. These suckers have kept me waiting for 3 hours. I'll reach home at 7. Be ready. Okay bye, talk to you later.

Lee's message flashes on my screen when I reach home.

I text okay and walk into my room to lie on my bed. All I can think of is that vision  I had.
That vision.
My instinct tells me to worry about it. Think about it as an indication.Find it's stimulus. I can't trust my own stupid dreams. Maybe I'm just overthinking. Maybe I'm not. Guess I will find out.

Or at least, I hope so.
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AUTHOR SAYS HELLO

Hi! This book is being edited as of now, kinda. I see parts in the first chapter itself that are SO CLICHÉ like I'm sorry guys at this point idk if I even want to edit this.

Keep reading trust me it gets better!
(The sequel is a lot better tho but we'll talk about that when it is published)