Crystal Fire

Chapter 1

Cassie Jane Duffield was a perfectly normal kid, thank you. She went to a normal school had normal friends and did normal kid things that everyone did. Except for the fact she was the exact opposite. Cassie's name was derived from the constellation cassiopeia, but most just called her Cass. The summer before her last year of primary school, she'd moved to a new town in London, leaving all her real friends back in Charlise to practically fend for themselves.

Cass was always the life of the party and encouraged her friends to do things maybe they shouldn't. When she got the news of her dad's promotion her life was tanked. Going to a whole new school during her last year, the year she was supposed to be on top. She was chucked into a shark tank of new students and hierarchies and she was livid.

Going from being praised and admired to barely even noticed changes how people act and view the world. Cass learned to keep her head down and pay attention in class. She always kept good marks but she dove even further into her studies to ignore the fact her social life was a plummeting stone of loneliness and a certain lack of attention from her school mates.

Not only did she see her last year of school cracking like old clay smashed across a dirty floor, some boys in her grade took extra care to make her feel the least bit welcome possible. Hair pulling, relentless teasing and taunting, anything the boys could get away with, they did it.

The summer of that year couldn't have come soon enough for her. She had the highest grades in her entire class but no one bat and eye at her. Her parents did their best, praising her and giving all their support but it was never enough. She hated school and those boys. She hated her teachers for not stopping any of it. But most of all, she hated herself for letting it get so terribly difficult to live a life without everyone's eyes lurking around the corner.

Waiting for secondary school to roll around was hell within itself. Once again fresh meat in a school she knew nothing about, with stricter teachers and harder assignments that made her dread each passing day even more.

Her summer was filled with reading and writing, studying for her impending doom, and on the side, playing with her childhood cat, Leo. Leo is a grey Nebelung cat that was given to her as a start of primary school gift. He did everything with her and was her best friend from the minute he arrived at her home. He'd sit in her lap while she read or studied, and slept with her on particularly hard nights.

One night in the sweltering heat of June, Cass lay in her bed staring at the alarm clock watching time tick by. She had finished her studying and was waiting, phone in hand for her friend from Charlise to call. They had promised to keep in touch but it was proving to be a hard feat on her friends' end. The clock finally turned to 8:30 and Cassie's eyes lit up. The seconds dragged on. 8:31...8:35...8:57...9:40...10:15. She gave up the hope that her friend would call and dragged herself up off the bed and into the washroom.

She turned on the shower and washed up from her long and very boring day. Cass's mom knocked on the door reminding her to bring the cat inside before she went to sleep, Leo, ever the adventurer. After she changed into her green silk pajamas, she opened the front door and picked Leo up in her arms. He nestled into her as she carried the cat to her bedroom. She set him on his bed and rested her head in her pillow. Leo jumped up and resumed his position between her collar and jaw. She drifted into a void of a dream, wishing she could be with her friends again.

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June 24th, 1991

Morning came with a light tapping at her windowsill. She peered through her open blinds to see rain pelting the glass. The excitement she had felt on her birthday in years past faded with its passing. Her birthday once spent with her best of friends now was confined to the small space of her family's studio apartment.