Immortali

Chapter 1- Descent

The clouds floated by like giant boats of fairy floss on the ocean. As the breeze pushed them further across the sky, it also brushed the girl's fiery red curls behind her shoulder. She watched the serene movements of the clouds from a branch in her maple tree.

"Raina?" a young voice called out to her from below. Raina turned around with a grin. Standing beneath the tree was a young girl in a white shirt and jeans. She had Raina's red hair and sparkling green eyes, but was much younger.

"Yeah?" she asked. The young girl huffed. Raina thought that it must have been an inconvenience for her to run all this way to find her sister.

"Mum says you need to come inside soon. Grandma and Grandpa just got here," the girl told her. Raina nodded, but didn't want to leave her safe haven just yet.

"I'll be down in five minutes. It'll give Mum some time to finish off the 'surprise' birthday party she's throwing me."

Her younger sister continued to look unimpressed, but the slight twitches at the corners of her mouth didn't go unnoticed. Finally, she allowed a small smile to brighten her young face.

"Whatever, just don't make me come out here again," her younger sister threatened before walking back to the house. Raina shook her head. She'd always found that her little sister, Taylor, (who was little more than 9 years old) acted a lot older than she was. Sometimes, her maturity even scared Raina, who would try to protect her from the darkness of the world. Unfortunately, information was so easily obtained these days. All Taylor had to do was sit down and watch the news. From there, she learned about some of the most horrific issues that plagued the world.

Perhaps this bothered Raina the most because she often wished she could go back to her childhood and live in a much simpler world; one where people weren't afraid of being out after dark. Or high school, which, to her was much worse.

As bad as the darkness's of the world were, they didn't come close to Raina's greatest Frustration; High school. It was one of Raina's pet peeves, and not because she was lazy and didn't do her work. It had more to do with the people in high school. They were the cruel ones. There were people who were 'in' and people who were 'out' and the ins and outs were constantly changing. One day, something might be considered uncool, and the next day, everybody was doing it. It didn't make sense to Raina. To her,

Maybe that's why she'd often fantasise about faraway lands or mythical places from the past, like Mount Olympus or Atlantis. Maybe that also explained why she loved history so much. The older something was- be it a story, place, or artefact- the more it would resonate within Raina, as though something about the artefact was linked to something within her, and she could never explain why.

Leaning back against the tree trunk, Raina tried to forget her oddities, of which there were many. Too many, the girls at school had told her. She wasn't tall enough, she had too many freckles, her eyes were too green, her skin was too pale, her hair was too curly, blah, blah, blah. Raina could've gone on for eternity with their nit-picky rantings. But, what seemed to irk the girls the most, was the fact the Raina was seldom bothered by their words. Often she would look at them for a moment, think of something smart to say back, say it, and walk away. Other times, she would see them picking on some other poor soul and step in. She didn't really mind what they had to say to her, after all, she was another human being, just like them. She had a heart, a brain and blood that flowed through her veins. What was the difference between her and the other seven billion people in the world? Nothing. There wasn't one, she was just another person going about her life. So, just because she had pale skin, freckles and curly hair didn't really make her a freak or an alien specimen, they made her human. And if she was just another human being, why should she feel out of place amongst other human beings? The answer was that she shouldn't.

As she continued to watch the clouds drift past, she knew it was time to go inside and celebrate her birthday with her family. In spite of the happy occasion, Raina wanted to stay in the tree. She liked it here. It was a place where she felt safe and calm. Here, she could simply sit and think about whatever she chose to think about, whether that be the world, or the mysterious places she saw in her dreams. Either way, she always found it relaxing just to think and imagine.

Sighing sadly, she knew it was time to leave. She carefully manoeuvred herself until she was standing up against the tree trunk. Then, as she was about to precariously slide onto the branch below her, she felt nerves tingle in her gut. Some part of her, no matter how small, knew that something bad was about to happen. She could never quite describe why, or, for that matter, how, but she'd always had a sense about bad things, particularly when they were just about to happen.

It's nothing, she told herself. Just the height, that's all.

It didn't matter what she told herself, because the feeling wouldn't go away. It bubbled in her stomach like a simmering soup. It was an itch she couldn't scratch; a fly she couldn't swat. It bothered her to no end. Perhaps that's why she barely noticed the change in the wind when it picked up, turning the summer breeze into a gusty gale that violently shook the tree.

Abruptly, Raina lost her footing. Her stomach did a somersault as she felt the branch beneath her move. In a desperate attempt to save herself, her now clammy hands gripped the tree branch above her.

Her heart raced like a stallion. Fear crept into her like spider that covered her mind in cobwebs spun from panic. There was nothing she could do. Nothing she could think of, except for the drop below her, which was a good four meters.

The wind continued to pound the tree. Its wild force shook the branches and the leaves. The branch that Raina was hanging onto bounced like a bucking bull. She felt her grip loosen.

This is it, she thought. I'm going to fall and die.

As Raina accepted her fate, she felt the rush of the wind fall silent. She heard nothing but the blood pounding in her ears. She felt nothing but wild fear. Fear of what lay ahead. Fear of the unknown. Fear of death. And, as her hands could no longer hold onto the branch, she felt herself fall. She watched her descent as if in slow motion. Her last few thoughts were of how beautiful the waving branches looked in the dappled sunlight.