Twisted associates

Chapter 1

Sophie'S POV
It was 1am. Pitch black, except the insignificant moonlight lighting up a small portion of her desk, barely. Pin-drop silence. There was none of the crickets, the vehicle noises, none of the familiar white noise that she took for granted. Or used to take for granted.

Sophie at her laptop, desperately searching something that has been occupying her mind for long. At 1.02am sharp, she stared at her backyard, outside the window. Her gaze fell on the familiar silhouette of her mom's wild blueberry bush. Through the dark blanket that draped the night, she could make out two blood red eyes staring back at her. She looked away quickly and shuddered, rubbing her arms to warm up her skin. This was the third time now and was rather disturbing.

She had tried confessing to her friends, but she couldn't muster the courage to. It wasn't like anyone would believe her anyway. Sighing in frustration, she furiously typed away in her laptop, but nothing could be found. Unsettled, she dozed off.

Julien  POV
Julien always looked forward to going to school. Being the brains of the class was also an advantage. She loved spending time with her pals and she's extremely quiet. the past few days she thought sophie seemed off. She did want to help, but she had problems to deal with herself. Julien was an early bird. She'd wake up early as 4am to  start her morning routine. She lived in a small apartment with one room. Every morning, she'd enter the hallway just to find a trail of feathers leading to the window. The first time this happened, she shrugged off because she thought  crow broke in. but it became repetitive and she found it concerning. She tried closing her windows but somehow the creature always opened it again. She thought she should confide in Dhee soon.

Dhee's POV
The youngest. The most childish.
Lately, she finds leaves of paper lying here and there. When she picks it up, it'll always disappear. Just like that. She confided this to meena but not anyone else.  She wasn't ready to.
She tried researching. She tried figuring the material of this bizarre disappearing paper. To no avail.

MEena
The only sane one. Nothing peculiar or bizarre was going on to her. She thought what dhee said was a joke. 

One day, Meena, Julien, Sophie and Dhee went down to their cafeteria for lunch break. As they were going down, they screamed lame jokes which were silenced by stifled laughter from julien and the pain-killing roars from the rest of the three. Once they reached the second level, four pairs of hands grabbed their shoulders, dragging them into a room. They have never been there before.
"Such a room existed?" Thought Dhee. the four wanted to scream but nothing came out.
"Who did this?" Thought sophie.
" i JUsT wANt TO EAt MY fRIeS!" yelled meena.
Julien was scanning her surroundings. She has definitely been here before. The place was on the tip of her tongue.

"YES. THIS IS MR JAKE'S ROOM!" realized julien, informing the other three.

But, why were they there?
Someone turned on the light. They could see. Someone wrote words on the board. Their myopic eyes could not read a single thing.  Mr. Jake came into the room.
"you have been chosen." he said. He handed us four handslaps.
We have been observing yall. Yall were meant for this. One brain, one artistic, one responsible and one athletic. You'll make the perfect team. Every year, 4 people are chosen. This comes with great responsibility. Use it wisely. Do not tell anyone about this. Dhee was confused.
"WHAT? Chosen for wHat?" she asked.
Well, every year, 4 members from different countries are chosen to attend a camp together. Here, yall will be given training. Pass and you'll gain a superpower. Your responsibility is to keep your residence and vicinity safe using your strength/superpower.

We sent a black bar-wolf to Sophie's house to monitor her behaviour, and our beloved crow-sparrow jennie to test julien's curiosity. Dhee was sent our emergency paper to test her agility and response to unexpected situations. "We think dhee handled it pretty well!" remarked mr jake and dhee's heart fluttered.

Training starts tomorrow. Told mr Jake. Sophie, meena and julien made sure they'll be present. They were still unsure and found the whole experience unbelievable