Children of the Elements

Chapter 8-When You Figure Out Your Necklace Isn't a Necklace But Also Is

I sat in a trance, staring at the empty seats that just minutes ago had my adoptive parents on them. My vision blurred and my chest rattled in heaving breaths.

They were gone.

Gone, gone, gone.

Probably dead. And it was all my fault. If I hadn't read the stupid letter then none of this would have happened.

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Gosh I'm so stupid! I should've just left it alone. Now I'm paying the fricken price. Stupid.

I need to get them back. My necklace burned against my collarbone and I glared down at it.

"Why didn't you protect them?! You left them alone when they were being mummified! Why?!" I screamed, yanking vainly at it. It wouldn't come off.

The necklace stayed around my neck but the bead rose up to my eye level. I glared at it.

Then the bead did the most annoying thing possible that snapped me out of my shock. The hot bead flashed in a golden blur and slammed into my cheek so hard my whole head turned sideways.

I angrily rubbed where I'm sure a red mark in the shape of the bead was forming. "What the flumpty dumpty was that?! Why did you slap me?!"

It had the nerve to bop up and down in a shrug and flop down limply onto my chest. "Hey! Are you listening to me?" It stayed still and I grunted, "screw you, man."

I wasn't finished but my argument with a supposed-to-be inanimate object was cut short by the sound of sirens.

That helped me realized we kind of crashed on the side of the road. Oh yeah. My bad. I let out a hiss of annoyance and tried to have a coherent chain of thought.

Ok. I need supplies. My eyes landed on Alesha's purse and snatched her wallet. I stuffed it in my backpack with my phone, laptop, and school supplies in it.

I swiftly tossed all the unnecessary stuff out and burst out of the car. I could hear the siren sounds getting louder and registered that their was a crowd gathering around the car. Some had phones out and were snapping my picture. I struck a cringy pose before roughly shoving people aside.

I needed to run. Luckily, I knew the streets of Seattle like the back of my hand. The only problem was getting out of here fast. I am not a runner or a track star.

My necklace seem to...sense this? It unclasped and...expanded? "Dude that is not supposed to happen!" I hollered in surprise. It grew what looked like wheels and flopped down next to me on the pavement.

I stopped running for a second to ogle at it. The skateboard was beautiful. Flat and perfectly my size, rough sandpaper-like bright yellow top. The wheels were clear with golden flecks of glitter. I couldn't see the bottom but as soon as I got far enough away I would flip it up and see what art was on it.

I shut down all thoughts of reason and science because none of what has happened recently should, well, happen. My anger with the necklace faded too as I smoothly stepped up on the skateboard and pushed off. My red Jordans contrasted the bright yellow in a pretty way I wouldn't expect.

I got lost in the familiar rhythm of pavement rushing past and cars blending together when I went fast enough. Even the sound of sirens and honking became white noise.

A distant thought came to mind. I'm gaining distance really fast and the skateboard is going faster then my old skateboard could ever dream of. Maybe because this one is some sort of magical skateboard-necklace thing.

I slowed down and hopped off when I felt like I left them in the dust, letting the board roll beside me for a couple seconds before kicking it up into my hand.