Phenomenon

How It Began

Everything started going wrong when the world really went bad. It wasn't when Donald Trump became president (I actually think that, other than the wall, he could do something good for the United States. Maybe. Probably not, but a girl can hope.), although half of the people I protect believe that he caused it.

My name used to be Kathryne Barron, but after it happened, I changed it to Delta. It wasn't because it sounds so much cooler (although that is a bonus) or that it sounded fierce compared to some of the other names (another bonus that helps when facing down those who think I'm not prepared for this role). It was because I needed a change from my old name. Kathryne just...didn't fit me anymore. Officially, I am now Delta and nothing else to the people I watch over.

But let me explain how this all began. It was only thirteen hours ago, and yet it feels like thirteen years. Thirteen very long, incredibly exhausting years.

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It began like any other day, at 5:15 in the morning. I was sitting in my bed, writing like I always am. It was still dark outside, but that time of day is one of my favorites because of how beautiful the sky looked. When my awesome alarm clock(which I still have with me) hit 6:00, I jumped off my loft bed (using the ladder because I'm not stupid) and packed up my backpack with my regular supplies-my binders, several of my notebooks, a sketchbook, several smaller books, and a couple hardbacks that I keep on top. I also packed my pencil bag. My school workbooks were in there already, and I slung the beastly pack onto my shoulders, wincing at how heavy it was. After a short breakfast, brushing my teeth and my hair and doing most regular things teens who have to be in the car at 6:30 am do. Basically, packing your lunch, saying goodbye to the dogs, and making sure that you have your lunch in your backpack.

At school, I was on the computer for a little while (from about 7 to 8:45) before heading to class. It was as normal as it could be. Which, for my class, isn't normal at all except that we do work. First of all, you have Josh throwing pencils everywhere, Erick is on his phone, and then Miranda is just chatting with her friends. My friends, Amber, Leilani and Dawn, are all within one desk of me when it comes to distance. Amber sits next to me on my right, Dawn's in front of me, and Leilani is diagonal to my right. Amber is talking about the latest episode of one of her favorite shows, and Dawn is listening. I'm writing when Leilani suddenly broaches the question: "What would happen if you knew the world was going to go apocalyptic and you had six hours to prepare for it?" She glanced at me in particular. I glance at Amber and Dawn, who do the same. They looked surprised.

"Well, I would find someplace to hide." Amber points out.

"The real question is how is the world going to end? Nuclear war? Black Death?" I suggest things from my memory of how the world could have ended. Trust me, there's a huge list.

"Umm...I dunno. You're usually the person who comes up with all the random and creative questions." Leilani winces as she talks. She's much prettier than I am. She's a Japanese girl, so think thick, straight black hair (with an extreme side part on the left) , brown eyes so dark they're almost black, and a great somewhat dark tan. She's wearing a grey sweatshirt with dark blue jeans and small grey shoes with tiny white diamonds on them and white socks. She also has black glasses. She's shorter than I am, about 4'11" or 5'1" at most. I'm 5'3", but I'm supposed to keep on growing. We all are, because we're not eighteen yet.

Dawn is lovely too. She's got dark brown hair with these gorgeous curls (sort of like Caitlin Snow from the Flash) that she wears in a middle part, these awesome hazel eyes, and pale skin. She's also got rosy cheeks and I think that's pretty great. She probably wears makeup the most often out of all of us, but she doesn't need it. She's wearing a white t-shirt, a black jacket that ends just below the bottom of her rib cage, a light turquoise skirt, black leggings, and black boots. She looks great, and she's a little bit taller than I am. And yes, she does appear to like black.

Amber is beautiful. She's Spanish/German, which means she's got straight brown hair (also in a middle part like Dawn's hair) that reaches to her shoulders and these epic dark chocolate brown eyes she says are plain boring but I think make her look awesome. She's also naturally tan (not as dark as Leilani but darker than I am). She's wearing a dark blue t-shirt, blue jeans, grey Converse, and a dark grey jacket from Old Navy.

I, meanwhile, am rather boring to look at, or I'm just really odd and unnoticeable. I have medium-thick chestnut brown hair with natural blond and brown highlights. I normally keep it in a braid like now, but when it's down it's really curly at the ends since I leave it in a braid for days at a time. It is naturally curly, thanks to my parents, but only really at the ends. My bangs are parted on the left like Leilani's, but it's in between a real side part and a middle part. My eyes are a color Amber calls 'dark hazel' but are really green-tinted brown with a bit more than a green shade at the edges. My eyes are partway done changing to green, and I have perfect 20/20 vision, so it's not me just wearing contacts. My skin tone is somewhere between olive and tan. I'm wearing a light grey t-shirt(normally I don't wear grey, but I was just too lazy to pick another t-shirt from my clean laundry), dark blue jeans, black running shoes, and some other random accessories. One (well, technically seven) are my bracelets. They're in dark blue, cerulean, green, gold, yellow, orange, and dark red. That's because there are probably thirty colors, and those are just the ones I have at the moment. Then there's my chain. It's not a necklace-it's a five or six-inch long chain with two little rings at the ends (one's larger than the other). It's got two little metal things that I believe are auxiliary cord pieces or some part of a microphone I somehow got a hold of at one point.

Maybe I should get to what happened after school, because that's when things really took a twist. After school was like any other day. If you'd walked up to me and said, "Hey, by the way, the world's going to end," I'd probably laugh in your face and call you crazy.

That was until I felt the earth shake, and I knew that something was going to go wrong very soon. One of my brothers was up in SLO, and my other brother was at a track meet in Carpinteria with my dad. I was home alone, because Mom had gone to SLO, and then she was going to take my brother to the track meet. Calmly, carefully, I picked up my backpack, slid anything necessary into it, and walked into the bathroom. Placing it down, I went back into my room, grabbed some pillows and a blanket, and prepared for the worst.

The dogs were outside, so they'd be fine. I was the one in any real danger.

If only I knew how bad the carnage would be.