When Lightning Strikes [COMPLETED]

Chapter 12: New Start (Part 1)

She glanced at the clock on the white table by her bed. 7:15. Her eyes narrowed. Where did the last five minutes go? Didn't she just look at the clock?

She started to get up but felt something hard clutched in her hands. She looked down. It was the red diary she wanted to look at the morning of her birthday. She held the book open already, her hands gripping the sides. Like she was already reading it.

On the Way to the Academy.

Julie read the page. She thought about that night again and all the other odd stuff. Her face flushed red, her heart raced, and her stomach turned over. Tears formed in her eyes.

She blinked.

Why was she sitting on the floor? Why was she crying? She still had to eat breakfast.

She looked down. Her hands were cramping. She was grasping the small red diary like a lifeline.

What was this? Was that her handwriting? She blinked fast as she read the words.

On the Way to the Academy.

Her face blanched. Her mind raced with all the thoughts it had the first time she read the page. Her heart thudded a little faster than normal, and she continued to cry. Julie felt like she had run a marathon.

Did she write this? She didn't know where the letter was, what was going on, if her parents knew or were even a part of this. Worst of all, she didn't know if she was losing her mind.

Her heart lurched.

Strange thoughts crept into her mind. What if they weren't her parents? No, no, her mom was real—she was sure of it. Wasn't she? But there something wrong with her. Was that the secret? Was she sick? Or maybe it was Jamie...

She glanced at the clock. It was 7:35. The last time she remembered looking at the clock was 7:10.

Twenty-five minutes. She couldn't remember any of it.

Her hands clenched on the book again. It was something to do with the book. The answers were here somewhere.

"Julie?" Andromeda yelled from downstairs. "We need to go. We're running late."

"Okay," Julie tried to rasp out. She cleared her throat. "Okay, be right there."

She stood up, still holding the book. No way she was leaving this thing here.

What if she forgot this? What else was she forgetting? Her head hurt. She laughed at herself. She was going crazy. Or she already was crazy.

Her school was tiny, and the other kids that went there all seemed weird and spacy. The three boys in her class following Kara and her around. The conversations that she felt like she didn't understand the full meaning.