Atrum Vis (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1

A/N: Hey guys! This is very different from the things I normally write, but I hope you like it! :)

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Fire-red hair tumbled down around her shoulders in an intricate braid. Her grey eyes hollow, yet intent on gazing out the enormous window. She stood at five foot five, that was my guess after careful inspection. It seemed as if she were engaged in some sort of internal battle, it was written clearly on her face. She stood motionless, still peering out the window, and whether or not she was aware of my presence was still unbeknownst to me. Who is she? Why is she here? I had to ask myself. Why exactly was I here? It sure wasn't to study a woman and make note of her features, that's for sure. Maybe I wouldn't be here if somebody, anybody, had listened to me. Maybe, just maybe, that one girl who lives on Tate Street isn't as crazy as everyone thought. Maybe my mind stretches well beyond my small town of Bellbrook. Maybe my dreams are too big for all of Ohio. Maybe. Or, perhaps, everything they always said about me is true. I have no concept of reality, and this is all pretend. Right? 

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MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008

"That's the crazy one," a giggling freshman said to her friend. "That's the Amy Thomas."

I could feel my cheeks beginning to burn as I picked up my pace. It was only the first day of school and I knew that this year could be the worst yet. I tried to remember the mantra my mother told me to recite when things got rough. I am strong, I will be okay, I mentally chanted. I used to think that the idea of reciting a phrase of empowerment was just plain ludicrous, but when my mom died, it was the only way for me to get through the day. Now, it was my way of surviving the terrors of high school.

"Ames!" I heard dimly from across the room. I glanced to my right to see my best friend trotting up with his enormous bass in tow.

"Hey, Evan."

"Why the long face? It's not even second period and you're already miserable?"

"They're talking about me," I whispered, squinting my eyes shut. "Even the freshman know about me."

"What's there to know? You're just Amy. I'm lucky enough to say that I've known you since we were six. The day you moved to Tate was the best day of my life!" 

I let a smirk slide across my face at the mention of his story. Evan always said that Tate was the best street in all of Bellbrook because all of the coolest people lived there. In reality, it was a small, rundown cul de sac with only five houses on it. Back in the sixties when the houses were first built, it belonged to a lively neighborhood filled with peppy, young mothers chasing down their dainty daughters and trophy husbands playing football with their spirited sons. It is rumored that in the late eighties someone was murdered on our street, and that is why everyone left. I don't particularly buy it, but the decline in purchases begged to differ. I guess that is why it was such a great choice for my Dad and I. My brother, Addison, was sixteen at the time, my father was newly widowed, and the house was cheap. Now, with my brother out on his own, our humble abode was a perfect match for the two of us. A misfit home for a misfit family.

"Well, I think they've heard..." I said, letting my voice trail off. "About my dreams."

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"Help me," whimpered a small, blonde boy. "I don't know where I am."

"Shut up, kid," a man snickered. 

"I have a name," the boy said stifling his cries. "It-it-it's Tommy."

"Well, Tommy, until your Daddy pays me for our little 'deal'," the man spat. "You're staying right here with me."

Wiping his dripping nose on his sleeve, Tommy spotted a dog toy just a mere two feet from where he sat. Tommy stuck his arm outside of his small cage through a hole in the containment, and reached for the toy. When he grabbed it, he squeezed it tightly in his hand to hear the squeal of the inflated bone.

"What are you doing?" the man shouted.

"I wanted t-t-to see if you had a dog," Tommy hiccuped.

"I did, until he rubbed me the wrong way."

"Where did he go?"

"I slit his throat and sent him to hell, where he belongs."

Tommy began to wail. "W-wh-wh-why would you do tha-a-at?" He said angrily.

"Because!" the man yelled, kicking Tommy's cage. "He made too much noise."

The man drunkenly stumbled over to Tommy, now in hysterics, and dragged him out of his cage with his knife drawn.

"I don't think that pieces of shit that make too much noise deserve to live," He said slitting Tommy's throat.

"M-m-mommy," Tommy weeped. He took one last acute, concise breath and his lifeless body slumped to the floor.

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I woke up in a cold sweat with my hair matted around my face. I ran down the stairs to the living room and turned on the television.

Take a deep breath, Amy, I scolded myself. You've been through this before.

I took the remote and flipped to channel seven and read the headline:

BOY, 5, KILLED BY SUSPECTED DRUG DEALER

A woman spoke sadly as they showed a picture of the boy, Thomas Dean Billingsly, in his mother's arms. "...Thomas, or as he preferred to be called, Tommy, was kidnapped late last week by a man who is believed to be a henchman of the infamous drug dealer linked to the drive-by shooting in downtown Boston last spring. The Boston Police Department believes that Tommy's father, Kevin Billingsly had done business with the man and he held Tommy ransom to get to Kevin..."

I turned off the TV and fell to my knees, Tommy's piercing blue eyes stained my every thought. I could have saved him.

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A/N: Taadaaaa! See? I told you it wasn't like my normal writing! I know there were like 800 characters introduced there, but really, you only need to know about Amy, her dad and Evan. And keep the red head in the back of your mind. She will come back. As much time as I spent describing Tommy, he was only an example of Amy's visions and is not going to be a major character. I hope you guys liked this! Leave your comments below so I can get some feedback.