In Our Hearts

Chapter 1 - Fresh Air

The sound of roaring flames filled the atmosphere. The entire village burned in a sea of blazing embers and the cries of the people echoed into the night. The young silhouette watched as the flames ripped their way through the buildings surrounding them, tendrils of smoke reaching desperately into the sky as if trying to escape the blazing inferno below. The wood from the houses crashed to the ground. With each fiery flare that went into the night, the young silhouette's rage grew and walked into the distance, never to be seen again...

The loud sound of large gates creaking, and the chatter of townspeople was one of the many first impressions of this new place. A small girl with light brown skin and dark brown, shoulder-length hair, wearing an off-white long-sleeved shirt, with brown pants, and a darker brown vest, accompanied by black boots that reach up just below the knee. She enters the large town, with a small box and her cat by her side. With her multicolored eyes, she scans the town as she walks to her destination. Occasionally stopping at places along the way, she noticed the town is lively with people and children running about. Among the chatter of the citizens, the sound of banging metal can be heard from the nearby weaponsmith, she would greet him with a smile before continuing on her journey through town. The youngster reaches a large cottage, with a large plot of land behind it. She sighs and says "Well Elly, this is our new home, a farm in Phoenix Valley."

The brunette opens the door to her new home, the house lets out a loud groan as she steps inside, some of the floorboards are torn up and others are perfectly in place. Cobwebs decorated the stone walls. She walks up the rickety stairs and is greeted with bright sunlight. Seeing the kitchen run down and another set of stairs leading up into a loft, she takes her box, and walks up into the loft, setting the box onto the old, dusty bed. She unpacks the box and pulls out a large stick with feathers at the end, and within the box was another box, but this one was small and dark brown. She walks downstairs and back outside to start tending to her farm. A few hours went by and the girl was weeding the ground, plowing the soil, and planting crops for her to grow and sell. It had taken her almost the entire day to get her work done. The sun was close to setting when a man approached her from behind and asked her a question.

"Fancy seeing a new face in town." The girl turns and answering him and states: "If you're talking to me, my name's Maya" The man smiles and says that his name is Gregory: "I run the butcher shop just down the street." Maya nodded to Gregory and went back to weeding the stubborn growths invading her new home. Gregory kneeled down next to Maya and began to help with her yard work.

"Excuse me, but why are you helping me?" Maya stated. Gregory looked over at Maya and beamed a bright smile. "It's because you seem like a good person."
Maya froze and looked at her hands in fear. A tear rolled down her cheek as a dark image played in her mind. Gregory started to catch on to the fact that what he said was not the best thing to tell her.

"Hey! Woah. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Gregory fell silent and continued to do his part of the job. "I came here to forget the past." Maya also continued to do her weeding and mumbled to herself, "And you're not helping me."

"Listen." Gregory placed a hand on Maya's shoulder. "If you ever need anyone to talk to, you know where to find me."

The man who was once a stranger wanders off into the bustling town. As the night grew near, Maya had finished weeding most of the farm. She stood up and raised her arms far into the air, stretching out her back. Maya heads inside and notices a feather on the ground and picks it up. It had a faint glow to it and sparkled. The feather had colors of autumn swirled together. Maya stared at it, carrying the feather upstairs and placing it by her cat, Elly. As she walks up the second set of stairs, she's marking things off on a mental checklist; meanwhile getting into bed and closing her eyes.

Loud shrieks, banging, yelling, and crackles surround her. Maya turns around and in the distance watching as a beam falls on an unsuspecting person. She turns, but while doing so she begins to feel an intolerable pain in her chest, grabbing her shirt as if that would ease it. She kneels to the ground, a large silhouette stands before her glaring down, she'd call out for help to the person, but the pain leaves her mute. Sitting up in a cold sweat she glances at her surroundings, sighing and grabbing a pillow to hug, the pain within her seemed to have vanished. With another heavy sigh, she looks out into a nearby window at the dark, cloudy sky to calm herself.