Crystal Powers

~1~

School didn't improve any after her encounter with her dreaded math teacher. He gave her a warning after class, saying that if she was late again, he would give her detention, which put a raincloud over her head. She still couldn't explain why her hair looked that way. It ended up fading back to her normal blonde by her third-period class and after that, no one really looked at her.

After school had ended, Sapphire made her way home without delay, delighted to relax.

She had walked through the door, tossing her bookbag and her computer near the shoe rack. She was a little shocked to see her mother at the table, over a bunch of papers. Sapphire wondered what her mother was doing, but when her mother heard the sound of the door opening, she quickly stood up.

"Oh hey Sapph!" her mother greeted her, her face was turning red.

"Hey...Mom." Sapphire said. She cocked her eyebrow at her mother, trying to figure out why exactly her mother was acting like this.

She was about to ask about the papers when her mother quickly put them into a neat stack and stored it away into a folder. They chatted for a bit before Sapphire went upstairs to read a bit of her latest book she's checked out from the library.

The sun had gone down and Sapphire was working on a worksheet for her science class. It wasn't due for a few days, but she had been caught up on the rest of her homework. It's what happens when Sapphire had too much free time.

She scribbled an answer on the blank, feeling satisfied that she knew the right answer. She had gotten halfway through her worksheet for science when she began to suddenly feel unwell.

She clutched her head, a terrible headache was pounding her head. Her hands began to shake with how much pain she was going through. And at all at once, her mind went blank as she fell forward onto her homework, out like a light.

~~

Sapphire was in front of a large brick-walled area. It was a weird concept, but somehow she knew that it was a castle, even though she hadn't seen anything but the walls.

She heard something around the corner. Curiosity got the best of her, so she went and looked to see what it was. The only thing she was faced with was a boy her age. He had dark red hair and bright yellow eyes that almost glowed.

He made eye contact with Sapphire, which startled him. He seemed almost frightened of the girl nearby. "There's....there's another one," he whispered. 

He looked back into her eyes, trying to calm down and appear to be fine. 

"Please...don't be scared of me. I won't hurt you." he stuttered,

"I'm here to help." 

~~

When she finally woke up, Sapphire was a little confused, to say the least.

She wasn't where she thought she was going to be. Instead of her bed, she was on her floor, across the room, nowhere near her bed.

Her head was pounding and she felt tired and fatigued. She stumbled as she lifted herself off of the floor. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out where she was. What was going on?

She was curious how she had gotten to the other side of her room - even her homework was still where it was before she fell asleep, although it appeared to be damp with smeared pencil marks.

Somehow, she ended up on the floor, but her glasses were on her bed. How strange...

She grabbed her glasses and put them on her face.
She sat on the edge of her bed until she felt stable enough to move.

She went downstairs where she found her parents talking in the living room. They had worried expressions on their faces as they talked softly to each other. She paused - did they not hear her coming down the stairs? Sapphire didn't want to interfere with whatever they were talking about, so she hid around the corner, and listened in on the conversation.

"She's a teenager now, Marilyn. It's about time that we tell her." her father said.

Her mother began crying, as she hid her head into her father's shoulder, "How are we supposed to...you know...tell her?" her mother asked.

"We have to make sure that we tell her up front but not harshly. We gotta be gentle with it. It's a lot to take in when you're told that you are adopted." he explained.

Sapphire knew that she wasn't supposed to hear this conversation, but her feet wouldn't move. She couldn't move even if she tried. The tears trailed down her cheeks as the words of her parents bounced around her head.

She decided that it would just be wiser if she went back into her room, and tried to forget that any of this ever happened.

She sat on the bed and leaned up against her wall, bringing her knees to her chest as her mind whirled.

"I'm adopted?"