Time is the only thing death cannot touch.
The last time the phone rang was the day that Aubrey's parents had died. For four years the phone booth had remained stationary with not a single sound from the ancient telephone placed inside, until that night.
For those four years Aubrey had tried her best to forget the haunting noise that ultimately lead to her parents death. In New York, it was easy to forget. In fact she had almost forgotten about it completely but now she was back and so were her nightmares and all the voices she heard.
And so was the boy.
Aubrey was up the minute she heard it ring. She had been having one of those dreams again, the ones that her parents used to blame on her over over active imagination. For a second she closed her eyes tightly hoping that the sound would just cease so that she could just tell herself that she had still hadn't woken up.
But it continued to ring.
Her aunt was out of course even though it was the middle of the night. She wanted to resent her aunt for ignoring her but even Aubrey knew that was asking too much. Her aunt didn't resent her, she just didn't know how to communicate with the seventeen year old that had been dumped her way when Aubrey's grandmother had died.
Her aunt used to be fun, the kind who would probably get you a fake ID or take you to a bar and give dating advice. But after Aubrey's parents death four years ago she had changed too.
After the accident her grandmother became her guardian and Aubrey vowed never to come back to this place but then destiny was a funny thing and when her grandmother died she was sent right back to Spade.
Her aunt did the best she could but Aubrey couldn't blame the fear she saw in her aunt's eyes everytime she glanced at Aubrey.
She knew what had really happened the night her parents died and all Aubrey could do was be grateful that she hadn't told anybody.
RING! RING!
The Queen shall rise!
She shall reign!
Aubrey fumbled for her meds on the table beside her and quickly swallowed two in hopes to stop the voices but instead they became louder.
RING! RING!
Her eyes once again fell to the phonebooth in the backyard and she bit her lip. It was an odd place to have phone booth Aubrey had to admit it, smack dab in the middle of her aunt's backyard. Her dad had always made jokes on how it was a direct way to the Ministry of Magic.
RING! RING!
The tone was urgent and desperate as if it was almost calling out to her. She hesitated for a moment but then ran down the stairs as if her life depended on it.
RING! RING!
She had to pick up the phone, for some reason a sudden urge of panic built up against her like a tidal wave forcing her feet forward and down the steep stairs.
RING! RING!
She peeled through the cold night air and across the grass barefoot. She reached the phone both finally and got the door open.
RING! RI-
"Hello?" Aubrey said breathlessly into the receiver.
There was static on the other end and for a second there was no response.
"Aubrey?" The voice belonged to a boy. She knew the voice, but she just didn't know from where.
"Aubrey, you have to run." He says frantically,"You can't meet-"
His voice cuts off as there is large bang in the background.
"Aubrey!" His voice was distant and desperately panicked which told her that he was no longer near the phone anymore and must have dropped it.
"Warning her won't help." Another mans voice says faintly and Aubrey griped the reciever closer to her ear, frozen with curiousity,"It's her destiny, no matter what time, which-"
There is a thundering noise which makes Aubrey drop the reciever. Her ears are still ringing as she scrambled to pick the phone up.
"If you hurt him, I will rain down hell upon you."It's a girl who
was speaking now, her tone low and dangerous and once again Aubrey is hit with this uncanny feeling of familiarity as if she knows the person whose voice it was for her entire life.
"You're here." The man says and his voice drips of satisfaction,"You're always so predictable, its boring."
The static on the phone rises to such a level that Aubrey can't hear a thing but then it stops and an ear piercing scream echoes through the phone before promptly cutting off, leaving Aubrey alone in the quiet phone booth.
She stood in shock for a few seconds her hands curled tightly around the reciever the scream echoing through her ears. A scream she could recognise just about anywhere.
Because it was hers.
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The Queen shall rise.
The dead shall walk the earth
and it has begun once again.
"Had a good nights sleep?" Her aunts tone was was polite but she didn't make the mistake of looking up at Aubrey.
"I did."
It had always come naturally to her, lying that is. At first she made an attempt to tell her parents the truth, she told them about the thousand whispering voices in her head saying all kinds of things, she told them about her dreams of the two boys who would alternate in another vivid nightmare every night.
That had landed her a trip to the pyshciatrist who diagnosed her with a mental disorder with a fancy name and even fancier medicines. They asked her every night how she was and whenever she made the mistake of saying the truth she had to take more meds, schedule more appointments with her shrink, so she started lying. When her parents eased out on her Aubrey learned a very important lesson, people only want the truth that they want.
The prophecy shall finally be complete.
"First day of school." Her aunt said as she poured the coffee into her cup,"Excited."
"Very."
Another lie.
Her aunt finally looked up, her face in a forced mask of expressionless,"Do you want me to drop you to school?"
Aubrey shook her head as she finished packing her breakfast sandwich,"I'll be fine, I know where it is."
The seven shall finally rise again and our queen shall lead them.
To war!
To death!
"Okay."
Her aunt went back upstairs as Aubrey closed the door behind her. It was a cold day and the tress were moving as if they were shaking in a soft breeze that was blowing.
There was no wind.
You need to be careful.
The voice was so loud that Aubrey had to cover her ears. But there was something different about this voice, familiar almost.
Break the prophecy.
Stop the war.
Believe in us.
Aubrey looked upand the boy was standing right across the street. He was leaning against the neighbours mailbox easily as if he had all the time in the world.
Everything in Aubrey's body told her to run the other way but she stood their frozen. It was something that happened every time she saw him.
A fear almost like paralysis would overwhelm her along with this unknowing need to somehow reach him and talk to him.
Both of her instincts would oppose each other violently leaving Aubrey standing frozen in her spot staring at the boy.
She had first seen him the day her parents died.
His hair was darker than midnight and his eyes were the most beautifully unique thing that Aubrey had ever seen. They glinted of cruelty, arrogance but at the same time warmth.
Aubrey saw him in her dreams too along with the faceless boy with golden hair and the ability to summon storms like no other.
It's starting, you need to be ready.
His lips don't move but his eyes are trained right at her. His voice was rich, royal and familiar.
And its certainly the one she had heard on the other end of the phone last night.
The same voice that had frantically called out her name through the receiver and told her to run before her scream echoed from the other side cutting her off.
"Who are you?" Aubrey whispered softly.
The boy across the street blinked and stood up straight. She could have sworn that he smiled a little before vanishing into thin air.
The minute he was gone the voices came back. They had been a non stop thing since yesterday nights dream and refused to leave her alone.
She was tempted to take another one of her pills but they never helped and the last time she wanted to do was get labelled a druggie along with a psycho.
Aubrey hurried to her car and jumped in. She sat their for a while trying to control her frantic , heavy breathing.
The voices were fading slowly as if they had calmed down reducing to a whisper.
They hadn't ceased after her dream and had kept her awake all night telling her about their queen and the mystery prophecy that Aubrey had never heard about.
She started the car and pulled out of the driveway. Aubrey knew that the trip wouldn't take long. Spade was a small town in the middle of nowhere USA.
It was located at the top of a mountain and everywhere you looked all you could see were dense green woods and damp roads.
Aubrey was no stranger to Spade. She had been to Spade twice before to visit her aunt with her parents, the first time when she was seven years old and the next time was when she was twelve when her parents drove off the very mountain the scenic town was located on.
Break the seals,
Raise the dead,
Our queen calls us.
All hail.
The school was a small but a modern one. The glass window reflected the faint rays of the sun that had managed to weave through the dense clouds that always wrapped Spade in a blanket.
The parking lot was full but Aubrey managed to get the last spot which was the furthest away from the entrance.
Aubrey grabbed her hoodie from the back seat and put it on. She tied her hair in a bun trying to go for the most incognito look possible and then took a deep breath before stepping out.
The voices had become ten fold louder, screaming at her, all hundred voices trying to catch her attention.
The Queen is here!
Her own on voice echoed through her mind overpowering everything else. The thought had come from nowhere, it was almost like a feeling.
She had finally reached the door of the school building where everyone mulled around, most of them throwing curious looks her way.
He's here!
The fallen shall rise again!
Our queen shall reign!
The-
And just like that they stopped. Each and every one of them stopped, leaving a hollow silence in Aubrey's head.
"Are you all right?"
Aubrey froze and every hair on her body stood up. She looked up and saw a boy standing in front of her as the still wind outside suddenly picked up speed and the clouds let loose a torrent of heavy rain.
He was the storm bringer. He was the boy whose face she had never been able to see and yet in some inexplicable way she had always known how he looked like.He was the boy who she had seen in her dreams.
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