The ground is cold and wet beneath me, something I was not expecting to wake up to. Although, to be honest, I wasn't quite sure what I would be waking up to. My whole life has been switched upside down after I died. Death isn't predictable and I had no idea what was going to happen to me.
My lips are dry and when I go to lick them, I immediately taste dirt. I brush the back of my hand over my lips while spitting out any dirt. I push myself up when I see I'm laying on the ground, surrounded by woods. Dirt and small rocks stick to the palms of my hands and the back of my forearms. My head is throbbing. My head whips around, frantically. Everywhere I look, there's nothing but woods. This must be the Beacon Hills Preserve. At least, I'm hoping it is.
Slowly, with wobbly legs, I manage to stand up on my own. The throbbing in my head continues, which only makes me clutch it with one hand. The woods are dark around me, the moonlight shining down on me through the branches of the trees. I glance down at the ground, surprised when I see I'm barefoot. A pair of jeans hang on my waist, loosely wrapped around on my legs. A loose black shirt hangs from my shoulders as well. The cotton material soft between my fingers.
My eyes move up my body, locking on the blonde hair resting past my shoulders. Blonde? I pick up a piece of my hair, examining it. I would never die my hair blonde. Dark brown is the only hair color that ever looked good on me.
Right in front of my eyes, the blonde hair changes to an auburn color with a natural wave in it. I drop the hair, letting it fall back down into place as I yelp out in surprise. My hair just changed colors right in front of me.
"How is that even possible?" I whisper to myself.
"Here's the thing, when you wake up, you won't really remember any of this. I mean, you'll remember dying, but this memory of me will be faint. You'll be alive again, Clara, but things won't be the same. You won't be the same. You'll still have all of the same memories, but you'll never look the same again. Even with your new gift, you can't become your old self again."
Allison's voice pops in my memory, sounding as if she was standing right beside me. My breathing deepens as I spin around in a circle, desperate to see my sister again. She said something about a a gift. What did she mean by that? I suck in a breath, realizing that Allison said I would be alive again. I press my hand to my chest to feel my heart beating beneath it.
I'm alive.
"Allison?" I call out. Although, I know there is no point in calling out for her. Allison is dead and I'm alive. She brought me back to life. How? I have no clue. My mind is so foggy, like some of my memories are purposely hidden away from me.
The memory of me dying swarms my head and I stumble backwards into a tree. I wipe away a tear that slips down my face from remembering how sad Derek was. I died in his arms. I slowly raise my head up. I'm alive now. Derek is going to be so happy. Everyone will be happy.
I burst out running in a random direction, hoping I am going in the right direction. I was kind of in the Beacon Hills Preserve a lot, but not enough to know which direction is which. Eventually, I will find a road and then I can find my way from there.
After about ten minutes of running, I bend over out of breath. This isn't right. I don't get this tired after ten minutes of running. I could run for hours and be okay. I sharply inhale, needing more oxygen in my lungs. I rub the back of my calves, only to find little to no muscle there. I'm not in shape like I was before.
The muscle beneath my hand suddenly grows to match how it was before. Eyes wide, I yank my hand away, confused. How did I do that? That's not possible.
"What the hell?!" I exclaim.
I rub my hand over the newly formed calf muscle. This must be some weird side effect from coming back to life. This is nowhere close to being normal. Any normal person would have to work out to get calf muscles. They don't magically appear. I need to find my friends. Maybe they can help me figure everything out.
I push myself to run faster. Low tree branches scratch at my bare arms. I burst through a line of trees, finding myself out in the open with a road ahead of me. A car drives by with the headlights temporarily blinding me as they pass me by. I hold up my arm to block the light the best I can. They zoom by without a glance in my direction.
I lower my arm, sighing. Looking down either direction, I decide to start walking the same direction that the car was driving towards.
A yawn slips out of my mouth. Headlights shine from behind me, but I keep on walking towards town, seeing the small diner in sight. Surprisingly, this car slows down until it is driving right beside me. Automatically thinking the worse, I silently wonder if I could somehow out run this car if the person turns out to be creepy.
"Excuse me, miss." A very familiar voice calls out from the car window.
My head snaps towards the car, quickly noticing it's a police cruiser. Parrish's head is poking out of the passenger's window with his hand still on the wheel. His face holds a concerned look. I stop walking, grinning at him. Oh, thank goodness. A familiar face. Parrish stops his car and rushes to my side after climbing out with a blanket in hand.
"Are you okay, miss?" Parrish wraps the thick blanket around my shoulders.
"Parrish, I'm so glad to see you." I grab ahold of the blanket and holding it tightly around me. It's freezing out here.
Parrish frowns for a nano second. "What's your name? I'll take you home."
My brows furrow in confusion. He leads me towards the passenger side of his car, opening the door for me. I open my mouth to question why he keeps calling me 'miss' and asking what my name is, but stop when I catch a glimpse of myself in the side mirror. I fall into the seat with my mouth open. Parrish shuts the door and walks around the other side.
I lean forward to examine my face in the side mirror.The dirt on my face couldn't cover up the face beneath it. In loose curls, my hair falls past my shoulders in an auburnish color. My bangs are cut to the left side, nearly falling into my eye. My eyes are a light brown color when they should be a dark brown. Freckles are dotted along my cheeks and nose. My skin has stayed the same pale shade, though. I lift my fingers to my face, surprised at how slender my fingers are.
This is not me. This must be why Parrish frowned when I called him his name. He probably doesn't understand why this loner girl knows his name. Although, he is wearing a name plate.
Parrish falls into the driver's seat, hands instantly reaching to turn the heater up more. "What did you say your name was?"
I nervously swallow.
"Clara, you're not going to look like yourself. Everyone is still going to think you are dead. And, I know you will want to tell everyone that you are you, but you can't. That's one of the bad things about you coming back to life. You can't tell anyone that it's you."
Allison's voice reappears in my head once more. I jump in surprise from her voice, not expecting to hear her so clearly again. She sounds like she is right beside me, but she is nowhere to be found. Is hearing your dead sister's voice a side effect of coming back to life?
"Miss?" Parrish asks again.
I tear my gaze away from my reflection in the side mirror. "Uh- Claire?" I pick the closest name to my own name.
Parrish nods once. "Where do you live, Claire?"
I press my lips together, sitting back in the seat. My fingers tightly clench around the blanket. If I don't look like myself then there's no way I'll be able to get back to my apartment. Everyone believes I am dead anyways. My apartment will be taken over, forcing my friends and dad to clean it out.
I have nothing now.
"I don't." I whisper. "I'm on my own."
Parrish's face falls at those words. He places his hands on the steering wheel.
"I'll take you to the station, okay? Everything's going to be okay, Claire."
The car begins to move forward as Parrish drives us into town. My eyes stay locked on the side mirror, too shocked by my own reflection to look away. I'm alive now, but now, no one knows who I am and I can't tell them.
Everyone still thinks I'm dead.
XXXXX
Okay. So, this whole thing was not planned, but I've been feeling really bad about not being on as much because we've lost our internet for about a week now and I have no idea when it will be getting turned back on. So, I've been relying on someone else's hotspot to get on when I can. I feel really bad about not updating as much as I usually do. That's why I decided to officially post another preview of this story.
Now, you will know when I officially start it. You, also, get to have this first chapter. I'm not officially starting it yet.
However, how excited are you for this story? It's going to be so good. You guys have no idea what I have planned for this. What I have planned for Clara, who is using the fake name of Claire. Which is pretty clever.
This kind of gave you some insight of what has happened to Clara. Sadly, everyone still believes she is dead. I wanted someone to find her when she was walking along the road to really show that no one has any idea of who she is.
Question: What do you think of this whole thing?
So, yeah!