by Rachel F., 6th grader
*Editor’s Note: Before Your Fate is Sealed includes the first chapter of a book the author began when she was eight-years old. If you are interested in reading the full story, please see Rachel F. on the 6th grade floor.
Disclaimer:
Any similarities between the people in this story and people in real life are merely coincidental. If you see any words you don’t understand, that’s because there is an alternate language in this book. If they just so happen to mean something else in a different language that is also just a coincidence.
Chapter 1: The Night It Started Was Prom
Hi there! I’m Neira, or at least I thought I was. Have you ever felt like life was perfect until that one dude that’s always there finally says something to you? And you know what I mean. I mean when you’re hanging out with your friends, there’s that one dude who you don’t really think too much about, but he’s seem to always be there. But then you start to recognize him because he’s almost everywhere you go, and you’re all like is he stalking me!? Well, this guy has only been ‘stalking me’ for about two days. And here’s how it goes.
I was at my house with my best friend Ursula. Let me tell you a bit about her. She’s Caucasian. She’s 18 years old. Also, Ursula is a strict vegetarian! She’s always like, “Do you have any idea what meat does to your colon!?” She has wavy, pale ginger hair. She has a very large, pointy nose too, like a bird beak. She also has an unnatural shade of lime green eyes. She often wears make up when she doesn’t need it, and it looks terrible on her. Just don’t tell her I said that. She was born in California, but she moved to Vermont when she was 2. She has a fear of smoke. No kidding. She’s scared of smoke. It’s not even because it comes from fire. She’s just terrified by smoke. It can be pretty funny. We can just be walking down the street when she’ll scream and push me in front of her and point at a chimney yelling SMOKE!
Ursula can be a bit of a snob at times and is a total perfectionist. And she loves flowers. A lot. Also, she’s a straight A student. Her after school club is the leaf collecting club (who invented that!?) She actually thinks having a summer time job is fun, even if it means working the register in some laundromat! She’s an Aries. She’s very good at spelling. She could probably ace any spelling bee you put her in. Also, her voice is so high-pitched, I bet when she tries to hit a high note in chorus (Did I mention that’s one of her school classes?) she probably makes all the dogs within a mile of her howl.
Now let’s talk a bit about me. I’m technically Caucasian, but I’ve gotten a really heavy tan. I’m 18. Also, I hate vegetables! I love me some meat. Meat is my baby. Steak, baby back ribs, bacon, hamburgers, drum sticks, mmmmm! My hair is the color of melting chocolate. People say I look like an elf with my sharp eyes, dainty yet, pointy nose, large, slightly pointy ears and sly smile. I’m one of the few people in the world with violet eyes, which I inherited from my dad. I almost never wear makeup because I’ve watched too much “appearances aren’t important and make up doesn’t matter self esteem stuff.”
I was born here in Vermont. I have a really stupid fear. I have a fear of betrayal. You might say. It’s okay. That’s rational. But I’ve never been greatly betrayed in my life. At times I can be a little paranoid due to that, and I can have trust issues at times. I am all about fooling around and not caring, and I am such a slob. I like loud music with lyrics that are totally stupid if you actually sung them or looked at them but the tune is good so it’s good for me! At least my grades are C+ most of the time. I sometimes go to the library for study hall after school but other than that, no after schools. I’m never getting a summer job, I hate work. I’m a scorpio. I’m good at telling what others are feeling. I can be a human lie detector when I want to. My voice is normal. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s slightly low-pitched, but only if you’re looking for something that makes my voice different. You might be wondering, how can two people who are so different, be friends? Honestly, I don’t really know. It’s one of those things that just work out.
Back to my house! Tonight was prom so Ursula came over to try on dresses, which drives me insane! When I do go shopping I just grab the least expensive dress (that doesn’t make me look fat or stupid) and then I’m outta there. It’s simple. But Ursula gets thirty dresses and comes over to try them on or drags me with her to the mall. Ursula for some reason, brought her pet parrot, Mickey, in his cage, with her. She claims that he knows everything when it comes to fashion. She asks him yes or no questions and apparently he’s a living Magic 8 ball.
Me and my cat, Sylvia, just shook our heads when we heard this. Sometimes I feel like Sylvia and I have some special bond or something. It’s like we know what each other are thinking. Ursula claims to have that bond with Mickey, or Miki as we call him, but I think she’s just jealous. I had found Sylvia on the streets when I was thirteen. She’s a beige tabby she-cat with wise, light green eyes. We think she’s some sort of Bengal breed or something due to the fact that our next door neighbor’s purebred Bengal had kittens a month before I found Sylvia and one of them had gone missing and Sylvia was still a kitten when we found her and looked a lot like our neighbor’s cat. We’re guessing that Sylvia’s that kitten. Our neighbor let us keep her just in case she wasn’t one of the kittens.
Anyways, Ursula was going on and on about how she asked some boy she has a crush on out and how he said yes. I don’t know much about him other than the fact that his name is Roderick, and that he just transferred to our school last year and joined the boys’ baseball team. But that’s it. I’m not going going with a boy. Our friend Kristi is coming with her brother, Nathan. We’re not going out on a date or anything! We’re just going as friends. But we’re going to make it look like we’re going together, so we don’t look like losers, but we aren’t going to really be together if you know what I mean.
Kristi and Nathan are twins, but you’d never guess. You’d probably do a spit take if you found out that they were related. Anyways, Kristi is a lot taller than Nathan. She’s at least four inches taller and that can be annoying when you’re the shorter twin, I bet. Nathan just needs a growth spurt. They are Vietnamese. Nathan has soft, bright blue eyes while Kristi has piercing hazel eyes. When Kristi was 8, I had been at her house, and we played basketball and she tripped on her shoelace, which had come undone and fell into a rose bush and cut her ear on one of the thorns. Luckily, she was okay but since then, there’s the tiniest scar on the back of her left ear, and when she’s nervous she rubs it.
Kristi is thinner than Nathan due to the fact that she just went on a giant diet and actually lost way too much weight. Kristi is always ready to tell you the hard truth while Nathan always tries to sugar coat everything. Kristi often acts all brave and stuff, but because I know her personally, I know otherwise. I remember when she was younger she was the biggest coward in school. Using my observation powers, I can tell she’s often terrified of things that she’s acting so brave about. Sometimes when we come home from school to one of our houses she breaks down. I try my best to comfort her, but mostly we just wait for it to pass.
As for Nathan, he isn’t brave, but he isn’t a coward. He’s really loyal to his friends, but he can be a little to trusting. He doesn’t hide much, and don’t tell him I told you about this, but when he was younger and I’d come over to there house every Monday, and they’d come over to my house every Wednesday after school back in, I think it was first grade. It might of been second. He’d jump on me and Kristi and yelled, “I’M A WEREWOLF. AWOOOOOOO!” And he was obsessed with werewolves and would wear his mom’s fur coat and pretend it was his wolf fur. Whenever I bring it up nowadays he denies it and is all, “No, that never happened.” Sure.
Kristi and Nathan are around two months older than me and were born on the full moon of December which is ironic due to all his howling about werewolves that he did later in his life. I’ve been at their house on the nights of a million full moons. He didn’t start getting body hair ‘til he was fourteen. He’s not a werewolf. They moved to the US from Vietnam when they were 3 and lived in Wyoming for a while before moving to Vermont when they were 6.
They got a golden retriever as a moving to Vermont present that they named Nana after the dog in Peter Pan, which was their favorite movie when they were 6. Nana had a litter of 5 puppies with a greyhound that lived on the corner of our block when we were kids, but died giving birth. Nathan, Kristi and their parents bottle fed the puppies, and Nathan and Kristi each got to pick one to keep while the other three were given away. Nathan chose the runt of the litter, who he always felt bad for and had always been his favorite and named it Trăng, short for Mặt Trăng, which I think means moon or something in Vietnamese. I don’t know for sure. Kristi chose the one who looked the most like Nana and named her Nani after her mother, just changing the last letter.
Nathan always wears this silver ring that belonged to his grandpa. It was in his grandfather’s will that Nathan get the ring because apparently Nathan had always wanted it or something. I don’t know the details. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kristi wearing the same pair of earrings two days in a row. She’s always switching them. I pet Sylvia anxiously and snuggled up against her. She licked my cheek as if saying, Yes, love me, and I’ll love you, and I’m your loyal pet who’s here to comfort you, but your mom’s making salmon, and I want in so put me down. I put her down.
“We’re leaving in fifteen minutes!” I told Ursula.
“But I have seven more dresses to try on!” Ursula said as she squirmed out of the dress she was in. I politely turned away while she put on her next dress.
Two more minutes and then the boys would be here. Let me tell you about my room in the meantime. It has a pale (barf) green shag carpet over an alder wood floor. The walls are a pale blue, like the color of a puddle on the sidewalk. I have two dark asparagus bean bags in the corner of my room next to an old, spruce wood book shelf. In the opposite corner I have a full sized bed with grey sheets and light Russian blue throw pillows. Next to my bed is an oak wood dresser with three drawers and some space under it that I’ve stuffed with dirty clothes so my room looks clean.
Next to the door I have an oversized grey camouflage moon chair in front of a pine wood desk, littered with old homework assignments. Hey, might as well be comfortable while studying right? I have lace curtains covering the two windows I have in my room. One window is next my bed and the other is next to my bookshelf. Pushed against the wall is my closet. There’s not much to say about it.
Over my bed is a giant bulletin board that is almost completely empty because I never use it. I have this small detachable white board on the back of my door, so I started doodling on it while Ursula put on her dress that she’d wear to prom. I drew a car with the purple marker. I then drew a flower with the red. I drew a worm with the blue. I drew a muffin with the yellow. I then drew a giant meteor squishing it all with the green. Miki was squawking a lot and pruned himself. I erased my board and started to draw him with the lime. He kept on moving which was annoying. I put down the white board and tossed the markers like darts towards my marker cup and missed terribly. I walked up to his cage and asked the parrot,
“Alright, Magic 8 ball! Tell me, do you have anything useful to say?”
I didn’t expect anything, but I was disappointed when Miki only looked up at me. Stupid parrot. I turned around and an eerie voice said:
“The world of Greats will end soon by kin’s own hand. A storm will be lead by shadow and take over the land.” I turned around to stare at Miki. His eyes were glowing gold. “Our saviour is rare as life, along with a Khat and Numaird, they’ll save the world from strife. But one must be there, to protect them all. They’ll leave old lives behind and all could fall.” Miki rasped before his eyes turned back to normal, and he continued to prune himself. What the cheesecake is a Numaird? What about cats?
“What!?” I shrieked, “Just happened!?” Miki looked up and cawed.
“Khat. Numaird, too!” He called before tucking his head under his wing and going to sleep. What had I just scene? Then there was the Di-lou of my door bell.
“Hey Neira! Open the door!” Kristi and the boys were here. I’d have to figure out the omen speaking parrot another time.
“Hey guys!” I said cheerily as I opened up the door. My jaw dropped. “Kristi! You look gorgeous!” I said. Kristi blushed at avoided my eyes. Using my observation skills I could tell she was acting modest but secretly loving the attention and complement. She had applied her make up perfectly and was wearing the prettiest shade of blue eye shadow. She was wearing a strapless red dress with a lace up back.
Nathan was just wearing a simple light grey suit with a large ice blue bow on his chest. This was the first time I had seen Rodrick up close. He had dark skin, he looked a little Hispanic. He had neat black hair and dark brown eyes. He wore a cute black suit with a blazer and was wearing a navy blue tie with gold designs on it.
“Urse. Get down here!” I yelled.
“Coming!” She called down.
I heard the clopping of her spring bud green high heels coming to the door. She pushed me out of the way and stood in the doorway, flipping her pale ginger hair. She was wearing a sea foam organza prom dress with lace flowers with a sweetheart neckline. “How do I look?” She asked turning and flipping her hair everywhere. I rolled my violet eyes. “Come on, my dad said I could drive his car to prom. It’s parked at the corner.” Said Roderick. Ursula giggled like he just told a funny joke. She went through the door and stood close to Roderick. I went outside to and breathed in the fresh, crisp dusk air. I pulled my chocolate hair behind my shoulders.
I was wearing a true aqua chiffon dress with a silver waist and gold colored sandals. I was also wearing bezel-screw-diamond earrings that I had borrowed from my mom. We walked to Roderick’s car. It was a grey BMW 6.
“Nice car.” I said, eyebrows raising.
“Thanks.” Roderick said without looking at me as he got in the drivers seat.
“You girls sit in the back. Nathan and I will sit up here.” Before I could object Nathan was sitting shotgun and Ursula tugged at my arm.
During the ride there Kristi started texting one of her friends who was already at prom and getting all the news. The boys were talking a lot about stuff that I couldn’t care less about. Then I realized this might be a good chance to tell Ursula about Miki.
“Urse.” I whispered.
“Yeah?” She asked softly.
“Has Miki said anything strange to you recently?” I asked.
Ursula’s eyebrow raised. Using my observation powers I could tell she was confused and a little worried. But it wasn’t worried like someone was finding out a secret. It was worried like you think someone said something bad about you and you’re worried for the person they said the bad thing to, but you’re also worried about yourself and the thing they said about you.
“What did he say?” She asked cautiously.
I paused. Should I tell her? But she’d think I was crazy! Or maybe she’d start worrying. Should I just pull a “Nevermind.” Or a “It’s nothing.” No. She knew something was wrong. We had known each other since we were two and have been best friends since we were six. She could tell. It was too late. Should I lie?
“Neira?” She asked gently before putting her hand on my arm.
“What’s wrong?” Concern lit her eyes.
“I’m making it seem bigger than it is.” I assured her. It’s just that your parrot told me some prophecy thing.
“Miki was just squawking some strange things.” I said with a roll of my eyes.
I could tell Ursula didn’t believe me, but she turned her head and asked Kristi what’s been happening at prom. I stared at the window until hearing Nathan say “Girls, we’re here!”
It was a lot to take in. There were people everywhere parting. I decided I needed to take a break so I exited through the back entrance into the garden. I sat down on a bench that was under a pear tree and began taking some deep breaths. Then I sensed someone was watching me. I looked up I saw this guy staring at me from the other side of the garden. I’ve seen this guy around before. A few times in the school yard. Another time on the gymnasium terrace.
And he’s not a kid, mind you. He’s an old man. He had bushy grey hair, the color of a raincloud. He also had an extremly bushy moustache. The off putting thing was his eyes. They were grey. I’m not talking grey blue. I’m talking actual grey, like, designer grey. He had probably the palest skin I’ve ever seen. Like, I’m pretty sure if his skin was the slightest shade lighter it would be straight up white. He wore a tux, but for some reason had a butterscotch cape with a little collar and everything. Honestly, he looked like some sort of Albert Einstein vampire. I always thought he worked at the school, but if so, why wasn’t he with the teachers? Maybe he had noticed me exiting and had followed me to see where I was going, to make sure I wasn’t getting into trouble.
But still, we held eye contact for a while and he didn’t say anything. I was getting major creepy vibes, so I got up and went back into the gym. His gaze followed me and I tried to ignore it, but it struck me like lightning. On one side of the gym, people were playing basketball on the other side everyone was drinking and eating and dancing. I just stood in the middle, so if the guy came in on one side I could go on the other side. See, I told you I could be paranoid.
I did a half hearted dance until someone tugged at my wrist and pulled me under a table. I screeched in surprise and started flailing my arms in the direction of whoever, or whatever, had pulled me under the table.
“Whoa! Easy! It’s me! Kristi! Second best friend!” I looked up and indeed, Kristi was crouching uncomfortably in her prom dress.
“What do you want!? I thought you were playing basketball!” I said agitated.
“I saw a freaky guy staring at you!” She said.
“Yeah, noticed…” I said poking my head outside of the table looking for him.
“Do you know him?” Kristi asked, poking her head out to.
I shook my head as I began to crawl out. “What are we hiding from?” A new voice whispered.
I leapt up before I was out from under the table in surprise, hitting my head. “Ow!” I turned to my side and saw Ursula.
“Someone’s stalking Niera.” Kristi said before I could stop her.
“Is he a cute boy?” Ursula asked, her eyes widening.
I hit her. “Oooo you like him!” She said.
“He’s an adult man dressed up as Dracula!” I grunted.
“Should we tell the principal?” Kristi asked, looking around nervously as if she was expecting someone else to poke their head under the table. “Maybe he’s a teacher?” Offered Ursula. “Yeah. And I’m Frederick Douglass.” I said.
Okay, I had originally thought that, too, but I was sure he wasn’t.
“If so, why isn’t he with the teachers? And why was he only watching me!? Also, what teacher wears a black suit with a red cape who’s pale as death!?” I asked, shaking one hand. I hoped no one could see us like this. Even though I was being stalked, this was still prom and would be one of the most important parts of my life, and I didn’t want someone with a camera to be walking by me right now.
“Are you telling me that Count Dracula over there is a vampire!?” Ursula asked. “Maybe he’s just a parent who has a really bad fashion sense.” Thanks a lot, Urse. I’m sure that’s what he is. I thought. I peaked out from underneath the table again. I still couldn’t see him. Coast is clear. I thought as I got out while Kristi and Ursula conspirazied.
“Okay, saying that he is a parent. Why is he staring at Neira?” asked Kristi, who had begun to slink out from under the table, too.
“Maybe his child’s a friend of mine?” I said with a shrug before helping Ursula up who was whimpering about her heels.
“I’m going to tell the boys,” Ursula decided aloud.
“Ursula, please!” I said exasperated. But it was too late, she trotted off towards where Roderick was tossing around a tennis ball with some of his friends.
“Great. She’s going to turn it into a police case,” groaned Kristi. Ursula talked a lot and was making hand motions and all that stuff, and then she turned to Nathan who had just came over to get some punch. The boys seemed surprised and their gaze wandered from me to the door. No, not the door. The man had come in and he was looking at me and walking straight towards me. Soon Roderick, Nathan and their friends ran up to me and asked a million questions about the vampire dude.
“Do you know him?”
“Is he an actual vampire?”
“Why does he look at you like that?”
“Is he a teacher?” Blah blah blah, cheese cakes. I held up my hands.
“Guys! Nothing’s up. This is all some big misunderstanding and Ursula stirring up some gossip.” Ursula scoffed at that. “He’s not stalking me.” I said trying to assure them. Then Nathan did something that made me throw my face into my hands and say, “Oh, geez.”
Nathan stormed up to the man and yelled, “Hey! You!”
The man stared at him and mumbled something under his breath. “Why are you staring at Neira? Also–why-WHY are you here at a high school prom? Hmm!?” He yelled and all eyes in the gym stared at him or me.
“Out of my way infantile Great.” The man said before stretching out his arm and shooting lightning from his fingers, blasting Nathan across the room.
My jaw dropped and my eyes widened with shock. A gasp erupted from the room. Everyone near Vampire Dude took a step back in perfect sync. What the cheese cake is a Great? I wondered. Kristi screamed and ran to her brother’s side and touched his face. I took a step back into Ursula. Everyone was watching. A lot of people shot me an accusatory look. Like it was my fault!
“I’ve come for your leader,” Vampire man boomed. “My name is Voidious.”
A gust of wind spread through the room. A girl I recognised from the cheerleading squad was swept off her feet and blown into the air. She screamed and started waving her arms, all the color draining from her face. “Surrender or this child will become living barbeque.” Voidious threatened, his fingers sparking with electricity. The girl started to cry.
“Put me down! Put me down please! Don’t kill me!” Her screams lit the gym. Where are the teachers!? I wondered. All of a sudden everyone was talking.
“Who’s he asking to surrender?”
“Leader? Does he mean the principal?”
“Who does this guy think he is!?” Whispers from the crowd rose like smoke from wildfire. I gulped and for some reason thought he was talking about me. The girl started to get tossed around in the air, squealing like a pig.
“Some one has to stop him.” I murmured quietly. I have to stop him.
My heart beat a million times a minute. Let this be a bad dream. Let this be just another I’m scared of going to prom dream. Parrots don’t speak omens. Vampire people don’t shoot lightning. Let this be a dream! I closed my eyes shut and didn’t move when I opened them I realised that no matter how hard I tried this wouldn’t be a dream. This was a living nightmare. I felt something shove me. It was Rodrick.
“What?” I asked.
“I think it wants you.” He said before nudging me. So it wasn’t just me.
“Go on. Do something.” I began to walk towards him before Ursula grabbed me and pulled me back.
“Neira. Don’t do this. Why would he want you?” She was crying and looked red as a strawberry.
Mmmmm… strawberries. How can I be hungry at this time!? Then a plan started to form and I told it to them.
Photo credit: http://antarcticaedu.com/investsouthernstar.jpg
