Fire Talks

Prologue

A/N- Hi guys! I'm currently writing this story for NaNoWriMo, and it's my first one yet. Hopefully, I will be posting everyday but no promises. Anyway tell me what you think so far at the end of the chapter. Bug out!

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I trudged up the hill, trying not to let my difficulty in doing so show. My twin sister, Avonlea had it easy, she was always good at the physical stuff, always running, jumping, catching, throwing.

I saw her smirk at me from the side, the little devil, she could tell exactly how much of a toll this hike was taking on me. I'd only agreed to come to the class trip for her sake, god knows she wouldn't have come on her own. As much as she liked the outdoors, she wasn't going to go without me especially since a little roach by the name of Maria Telaka was starting to take notice of her, and not in a good way.

"...mber, Ember!" she called at me. "Sorry," I replied sheepishly, she playfully shoved me but had to grab my arm when I lost balance and started to fall. "Lea!" I squealed, "you know you shouldn't do that, do you want me to fall, hit my head, and get eaten by a zombie?" I asked jokingly. She rolled her light brown eyes-identical to mine-at me "you need to stop reading". She climbed up a little further and I groaned, "how much farther do we have to go?"

"You can see the cabins in the distance, it's not that far, pick up the pace!" Mrs. Lakey, our sixth-grade teacher bellowed. She must have heard my complaining, oh well at least this torture was almost over.

We hiked like that for a little while, just enjoying each other's company. The whole class of 20 kids circled the teacher and Vice-Principal, who was here to supervise. "Ok, there are 3 cabins, one each for boys and girls and the main cabin in which we will be eating and doing other activities. Each student has been assigned a bunk and there are cubbies to place your belongings for the weekend. Breakfast is at 7 AM, lunch at noon, and dinner at 6 PM. We expect lights to be out at 9:30 PM, absolutely no talking. Let's get settled and meet back here in 15 minutes." The Vice-Principal's loud voice boomed through the forest.

I couldn't wait to get inside, my feet were killing me and I just wanted to sit down. I brushed my raven black hair out of my face and wiped my sweaty forehead with my sleeve, what I would give to be back home with a book in my hands and music playing in the background.

Avonlea and I followed the other girls into the cabin. It wasn't very large, but it had a homey feel to it just as I imagined it would. There were 6 pairs of bunk beds lining the beige walls which was more than enough because there were only 9 girls in the class. I was delighted to find out that me and Lea (my nickname for Avonlea for as long as I could remember) were sharing a bunk.

Thank goodness, I couldn't bear it if I had to share with someone like Maria, who thought she was superior to everyone just because she had a rich father. She loved telling everyone that she was prettier than Cinderella with her light brown hair and glittering green eyes. Her best friend, Alice, was just as bad, if not worse. By the way, she walked around with her nose in the air as if she was constantly smelling something bad, which, to be honest, was probably herself. She reeked of sickly smelling perfume that made you want to throw up with just one whiff. But not all of them were bad, and I quite enjoyed talking to Sana, who had a bubbly personality, and Elena, who was sarcastic but smart, just my kind of girl.

"Ember, are you going to come out with me?" Lea asked after roughly shoving her bag into the small compartment. I stared at her weirdly and told her to go on without me, being used to her not caring about her stuff. On the other hand, I carefully arranged all my things so they would be easiest to grab in the order that I needed them and sat down on the top bunk (which I had already claimed) to read for a bit.

That's when I first heard them, the whispers. They filled my ears with their voices, some soft and some rough, some that were easy to understand and others that you had to listen to and put all your attention on to be able to decipher. My spine stiffened and I tried to understand what they were saying, but they kept getting fainter and fainter until I could no longer hear them. I attempted to convince myself that I was just tired, but there was still a sliver of doubt in my mind that it was something more, more than just my mind playing tricks on me but I shoved the thought to the back of my brain.

I headed out of the cabin into the clearing that had a big fire already burning, with a bunch of benches surrounding it in a circle. I looked around, scanning the area for a familiar ponytail of unruly black hair. "Aha! There she is" I muttered to myself. I started to walk over to her but froze when I noticed Maria standing in front of her. This couldn't be good. I got closer and noticed that Maria was sneering and Lea was on the verge of tears.

"Why do you even dress like that anyway? You look so ugly, it would be better if you just never showed your face over here again. I was counting on you not showing up but I was disappointed as soon as I saw you." That's it, no one insults my sister, except me of course. I was about to walk up to her wipe that annoying sneer off of her face when I heard her next words.

"You always need that annoying sister of yours to stand up for you, can't you do anything yourself?" I never thought of it like that, my sister was always shy around others, so I felt the overwhelming need to protect her at all costs. After all, I was older than her by 12.5 minutes. My sister was more than capable, even more than me at times, because I tended to get lazy.

I walked up to them and pushed Maria away from her just as I had wanted to a few moments ago. "Watch what you say" I snapped, sparing her one last menacing glare before gently pulling my sister away from her. "You ok?" I asked her once we were out of earshot. "Yeah, thanks, sis." She sniffled, pulling me into a hug. "Anytime," I responded, wanting to say more but knowing it was better to just stay quiet for now.

We hung out a bit until it was finally time to roast marshmallows. We poked them with our sticks and held them over the fire until they were the perfect golden brown. We bit into our marshmallows enjoying the sweet treat with a gooey interior.

"I brought stuff to make s'mores!" Someone screamed. "Can I have some?" Another asked. "Me too!" excited murmurs echoed around the fire and everyone went to get graham crackers and chocolate. On our way there, Lea bumped into Alice and quickly apologized, but she wasn't having it.

"Ugh! Watch where you're going you freak" she screeched shoving Avonlea to the ground and kicking her. I tried to get to them but people were crowding around them chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" I shoved a boy out of my way and rushed toward Lea helping her up.

"Enough!" I screamed. My voice was threatening, feral even. "What are you going to do?" Maria taunted "Throw a book at us?". I scowled in annoyance, I'd had enough of her. The whispers came back, getting louder and louder. My sister's voice pleading with me to just walk away was getting drained out and all I could focus on was the voices.

They were going to pay, and they were going to pay hard. They gasped, staggering back. I could faintly hear people saying something about red eyes. I didn't care, I could feel the air heat up, getting hotter and hotter. All the kids except the four of us were gone then. The adults were trying to call 911. Why? I didn't know.

Fire engulfed us, burning red, sizzling everything it touched. Pretty soon the whole forest would be in flames. Weirdly, I didn't feel a thing, in fact, I was thriving in this new environment. The whispers completely took me over. But then seemingly out of nowhere, a giant wave of water splashed over us, and the last thing I heard was Avonlea calling my name before it all went black.

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1479 Words