Project Gracie

Chapter 1

Behind her, where she did not notice, the wall burned black where she touched. Her hand dragged behind her as she walked forward. She's never felt brick before. No one was around her. The sun was just waking up and peaking up in the sky. It was beautiful. Oranges, pinks, and reds exploded into the sky. The girl with the purple hair admires it. It was her first sunset.

As she reaches the end of the wall, she pauses. She looks around in admiration. She loved everything she saw. It was her first time outside. Professor Zon always had her in the lab room with no windows. 

Her stomach growls. She takes her hand off the wall. She looks around and then keeps walking.

*****

"James!"

James's head flings up. Drool runs down his chin. He aggressively wipes it away when he realizes it's there. Small snickers emerge and die down. 

"Can you answer the question on the board?"

It was some algebra equation that wanted him to solve for x.

"Just plug it into the calculator," he mumbles as he puts his head back down. The teacher didn't enjoy this and she screamed his name again. He looked up and gave her a dirty look. 

"On the SAT, which you will be taking in a month, you won't be able to use a calculator-" James cuts her off.

"There are twenty questions I can't use it on. Now, if you'll excuse me." He puts his head back down and refuses to hear the teacher's cries.

~~~~~

James closes his sketchbook. He looks up and his bulletin board is filled with drawings. Most of them are of his favorite memories. The soft lamp light barely fills the room, as it reaches to hit the corners. The light was a reminder that he had once again stayed up too late to get a decent amount of sleep. He leans back as his tired expression searched his bulletin board. In the middle, surrounded by multiple drawings, there was a single picture, placed perfectly in the middle so he could see it. 

That picture was taken days before his eighth-grade graduation. It featured two very special people to him: Gracie and Henry. They were his best friends. Now only Henry remained. Today was the second anniversary of Gracie's disappearance. Henry, her older brother, refused to show up to school today. Gracie was the same age as him. That was how he had met Henry: through Gracie. 

He looked at the younger version of himself. The lightness of his skin completely contradicted his hair and eyes. Though now his hair had lightened up a bit, he was still, however, the palest kid in his class. His eyes travel to Henry. Small, scrawny, dorky, Henry. Henry was always quite a dork. In the picture, he had square-framed glasses that covered a good chunk of his face. Not much changed with him. He grew taller, lost the glasses, and gained some muscle. 

Then there was Gracie. His eyes slowly travel to her. She was so happy looking in the photo. Ending middle school at the top of the class. She was smart. She was innocent. She could kill a man if she needed to. She loved her friends. She loved her family. She loved herself. Her hair went well past her shoulders and past the brown, you could barely see the fading blue that was being cut off from the picture. Her smile was big, bright, and beautiful. James tears his eyes away from the picture. It brought him grief, but joy at the same time. It was nice to see Gracie. Not that much changed about her when he last saw her. The only thing that changed was the blue in her hair.

James shakes his head. He was exhausted and knew he was going to be in the morning. He stands up to go to his bed. As he does, the wind from the force knocks his sketchbook over to reveal he was drawing that exact photo.