Forgotten Eyes

Chapter 1

The Beginning

It all started the day of the tornado. The newspaper said it was a threat level 9 and that all residents must prepare to evacuate at all costs. My family however, refused to go.

My mother wanted to tend to the garden that took years to grow and needed to take care of my baby sister, Eliza. My grandmother could barely move now that she was sick. Papa just returned from battle and he didn't want his home to blow away when it was still recovering from the last storm. Elias, my older brother, didn't want to leave his love Maya and still wanted to tend to the family farm. No one asked me if I wanted to leave.

I don't want to leave because my family just moved into a new neighborhood in Caldoron from SparTown, and things are hard enough already. I don't want to leave a home I've just got. And when it's destroyed, they'll probably rebuild and sell it to a white family. But we were lucky enough that my father was rich and owned the land, being as though we were a family of a darker skin tone. They won't kick us off our own land...... not without a fight they wont.  

We heard a bang. It wasn't a gunshot. It was thunder. That means the Tornado is getting closer. Eliza started crying, mama tried to calm her down. While I tended to Grandma, papa and Elias started boarding up the doors and windows. And then I saw the back door out of the corner of my eye. "Someone get Eliza," mama said. I got up and walked towards Eliza and carried her away from the back door. "No Eliza you'll get hurt." I notice something outside out of the corner of my eye outside the back door. I see something shiny. I wanted to collect it for my collection of strange shiny things. I put Eliza down and quickly put on my sweater.

"Eleanor Melody Ashing, where do you think you're going?" Papa asked. Whenever he or Mama uses my full name, they're either mad, very serious or worried. By the sound of the tone in his voice, he sounded very serious. "Oh papa, I'm just going outside to check on the farm animals. To see if they're okay and calm." "No you're not. It's too dangerous. You could get hurt." "Why can't Eli come with me then?" "Sorry sis," Elias says as he's boarding up the windows. "No one is going outside," mama says. "Maren," my grandma says, "Let her check.... on the animals." Grandma kept coughing and hacking mid through her sentence. "Fine, mother but you need to rest," Mother said as she tended to grandma.

"Im... okay daughter. Melody, come... here." "Yes, grandma?" I said as I walked over to her. "Bend down Melody." My grandmother's voice sounded so raspy. Her skin looked really pale, and the wrinkles on her face made her look even older then she actually is. I wonder how long she'll be around for, considering the fact that she's 78 years old. She reaches for the amulet around her neck, takes it off and tells me to turn around so she can put it on. "This is the amulet of the Forgotten Eyes. The people who possessed such power used it to protect all. With this Amulet, nothing will harm you. I promise." After she's done putting on the Amulet, I stand up and take a look at it. "It's beautiful grandmother. Thank you." "Just hurry up. I don't want you to get caught up in that storm." mama said worriedly. 

As soon as I go outside, the shiny thing I saw before moved toward the barn a little bit. I followed it. It kept moving more and more towards the barn. How is it moving and why am I following it? I wondered. The more I followed it, the more the shiny thing kept urging me towards the barn. And soon enough that's where I ended up. I followed the shiny thing into the farm house, and then all of a sudden it stopped. I bent down to pick it up and I examined it closely. "Hmmm," I say as I examine it. "I'm not sure if I've seen something like this before. Looks like a silver key, but I'm not sure if it is."

Suddenly, the barn doors closed by themselves. I turned around in a state of shock and fright. "Hello?" I run against the doors. "Anyone out there," I say. "Someone open the door please! Elias, if this is another one of your pranks, It's not funny." Then I hear it. The ear-splitting sounds of thunder and lightning. And the sound of the tornado heading my way. I think I can hear mama and papa yelling my name.

Next thing I know, I fall to the ground with a thud and the barn house starts floating up. I quickly grab onto something bolted to the floor. I'm scared, worried, terrified that I may not live. I just hoped, no, I prayed that my grandmother was right about the amulet. Then, at that second, the roof came off. The horse and the pigs start making noise which made it sound like they were also frightened. I wanted to calm them down and tell them that it would be okay, but I wondered if it actually would. After that, that walls tore apart and the animals flew away along with them. "NO!" I scream. For almost an hour I've been in the tornado. And for almost an hour I felt weak and felt like I was about to die. And then everything went black.....