Emma Hawthorne, a beloved student at GreenValley High School, and a wonderful daughter as well. As Emma stepped out of the pristine building on the last day of summer, she let out a grin, her braided hair falling in front of her emerald eyes. She walked to the rusted van, well-worn and loved. It had stickers plastered all over the hood, mostly pride stickers. She smiled and leaned on the van.
"Wait long?"
"Yeah, been here for hours." Emma chuckled, giving Cassidy a smirk,
"Well, just be glad I got here at all, you know how iffy my mom was about this trip." Cassidy smacked an agender pride sticker onto the hood before jumping into the driver's seat, while Emma got into the back left seat. The two made meaningless conversation until Jace hopped in next to Emma.
"Hey love." Jace said, planting a soft kiss on Emma's lips, his messy hair settling on his head.
"Hiya baby, how are you?" Emma asked, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and letting him nestle into her shoulder. Cassidy acted offended that no one was cuddling it, throwing out swears like they were dollar bills. Emma only shook her head, smacking Cassidy on the back of it's afro.
"Hey careful! You're gonna mess up my hair." Cassidy yelled. Emma merely laughed, letting Jace snuggle into her dark top. Soon enough, their friend Kay arrived.
"Hey guys! Hope I didn't make you all wait too long!" Kay said, hopping into the passenger seat,
"No problem Kay-Bear." Cassidy smiled, ruffling Kay's hair. Kay giggled, attempting to put their hair back into place. Emma groaned,
"Hurry up and kiss already, enough with the pining." She yelled. Cassidy angrily stammered, flustered, while Kay silently blushed, hiding in their MCR hoodie. Emma burst out laughing.
"Oh man Cass, if you weren't black you'd be a fuckin' tomato right now!"
"I WOULD NOT!"
Jace and Emma continued laughing while Cassidy went on angrily about not having a crush on Kay, who was still hiding in eir sweater.
"Hey, where's Niall? He should be here by now." Jace said. Kay nodded, craning their neck in an attempt to find them.
"D'You think bun got detention?" Emma asked.
"It's the last day of school, teachers may be cruel but that'd be low even for them." Cassidy said. All of a sudden, Niall burst out the door.
"SORRY! Sorry, I lost my bag." He let out a light chuckle, before jumping into the right hand seat.
"Finally! What is it now, 4:30?" Cassidy exclaimed. Niall let out an awkward laugh, dropping his bag and pulling out some weed. He rolled it up and reached around in his pocket.
"Shit, anyone got a lighter?" Bun asked. Kay pulled a lighter out of their pocket, it was black and had hand painted roses on it. Niall muttered a thanks, quickly lighting the plant.
"Oh c'mon dude not in my car!" Cassidy yelled, rolling down the windows and turning on the AC. They sat talking for a few more minutes, before Cassidy reversed out the parking lot and headed onto the open road.
It was a nice car ride, not quiet, but fun. They screamed out lyrics to their favourite songs, played games and watched movies. They were headed towards Arizona for a couple weeks, which was a twelve hour drive, so they decided to stop at a motel for the night.
"Well. This is... a room." Kay said, clearly disturbed at the limeish walls, which they were sure was not by design. They sat down on the stiff bed, clearly uncomfortable. It was damp, and they weren't sure they wanted to know what from.
"It's alright Kay-bear, cause I'm here!" Cassidy threw itself onto the bed, immediately getting up and cringing at the wetness. A chuckle escaped the others, as they all got into the beds and drifted into a peaceful sleep.
The next morning they were back onto the open road.
"Cassidy, Cass, turn on the radio." Niall said, tapping Cassidy's shoulder.
"Alright, fine, I'm getting it, jeez." It turned the radio on to a channel, only to get static.
"Agh, shit, gimme a second." Cass turned one eye to the radio, twisting and turning the knob, trying to get the radio on. It couldn't see the truck swerving in and out of lanes, too focused on the radio.
"CASSIDY THE ROAD-" It was too late, the truck rammed into the side of the truck with a deafening crash. The truck rolled over into the forest. When it was over, they were tipped onto the side of the truck. Cassidy let out a groan, crawling out of the truck. It's leg was damaged, the bone twisted at an awkward angle. Emma soon crawled out after, blood trickling from her head.
"Y'know, never mind about my radio request, I'm good now." She coughed before dragging out Jace. His arm was bleeding heavily, the bone slightly visible. Cassidy dragged out Kay, who had seeming avoided anything more than a couple scratches and bumps, and Niall who was coughing and spluttering. He gulped and looked up at Cassidy, visibly out of breath,
"Cho- hah- choked on my weed, heh..." Bun grabbed buns throat, still out of breath slightly.
"Everyone alright?" Kay asked, examining Niall.
"Broke my leg, but I can sorta walk." Cassidy said, coughing a bit. Emma touched her forehead,
'Warm...' She thought.
"I'm bleeding from my head but other than that I'm alright." She said. Jace was silent, scarily so.
"Jace?" Emma turned around to see Jace staring at his arm, stunned in shock. He had tears streaming down his face.
"My arm... it, it's fuckin, it..." He stuttered, terrified.
"Holy shit, Jace, I'll go find help." Emma ran off, searching for anything. She saw a small light, unnatural. She ran towards it, hearing the others plodding along behind her.
"Hello? My friend, we need help!" She called out, hoping for a response. She ran towards the light, but came to a screeching halt. The light was emanating from a blue, translucent dome, encasing what seemed to be an olden village. Not thinking, she ran in. The townspeople all turned to look at her, shocked. She stared right back.
"We need your help." She spoke, out of breath. They all looked around.
"And we, yours."
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First chapter! Any questions can be asked in the comments, and I'll answer them at the start of the next chapter. I'm aiming to post every Saturday, but it may come a day or two later. Hope you enjoy!
-L. Young
YOU ARE READING
Shattered
Fantasy"We need your help." "And we, yours." Emma was a normal girl at high school, she had a nice group of friends, amazing parents and good grades. When she goes on a roadtrip with her friends however, her entire world is turned upside down after findin...
