Forgotten Immortality

Chapter 1 - Tia

*UPDATED*

I never asked for my life, blanking out and then waking up minutes, or even hours, somewhere else - somewhere new.

It's not like I pass out. I don't. I just get taken over, I think. That's what it feels like anyway. I feel possessed.

§

My eyes slowly rise from the floor and I see my mother, with tears rolling down her soft cheeks, staring at my psychiatrist Mrs Lyro, with pure hatred in her sapphire eyes.

'Sandra,' Mrs Lyro starts, 'Your daughter is making no progress whatsoever. I'm afraid to say that I will have to put her on different medication.' I groan. Mrs Lyro takes no notice and continues, 'I must also suggest that she should change schools for, lets see... the sixth time? Yes, five schools in three years, so coming up to your sixth one. Anyway... I don't think Westland is doing any good for your daughter, but Tyraid Institute for Troubled Youth may offer improvement.' She tries to hand my mother a brochure, but she just waves her hand dismissively.

I grit my teeth hard enough that my jaw aches, 'I am not troubled!'

'Tia-' Mrs Lyro starts, but I interupt her, 'I'm not depressed either! Just becuase I cover my face with my hair so no one sees me and I think about death for most of the day, doesn't mean I'm depressed. It's just who I am! Okay'

'I agree, she isn't troubled, and she won't go to that school. Tia will go to the one her father suggested.' My mum says, her voice screaming.

'And that is...?'

'None of your buisness!' My mother screams, 'We no longer require your services!' She throws all the documents about 'progress' (or lack of) my storms out and I quickly chase behind her, being careful not to make her snap at me too.'

My mum runs towards our car and turns the engine on before I'm even inside. The second she closes the door, she slams her foot down on the accelerator.

We sit in silence for the journey back to our flat. I daren't look at her, so I pull my black hood over my face, blocking out the world and keeping my tears in. I don't want the world to contain more suffering, so I won't let it see me - out of sight out of mind.

I must have drifted off because when I pull my hood down, my mother is no where in sight. I reach for the door handle, figuring that it must have been left unlocked. It hadn't.

'Mum!' I scream. I know she can't hear me, so I give up.

I reposition the rearview mirror so I can look at my reflection. I rarely look in a mirror, so it takes me a second to adjust. My dark, shady eyes are barely visible under my under my jet-black, straight hair. I pull away my fringe and look into my black eyes. They are the complete opposite to most black eyes; instead of drawing you in, they push you out, just like I do to everyone I meet.

I turn my head to the side and look out the window. A large man with one eye in the middle of his head stands there. No, that can't be right, Cyclopses don't exist. But, he's right there. I stifle a scream.

He just takes a step closer to me. Daughter of death, he says without moving his lips and in a voice that can't possible be his, and four more, will lead a battle that you can't ignore. Fighting for a life that is neither new nor old, one's truth of life will begin to unfold. He takes a large step back and runs in the opposite direction, away from both the car and the flats.

I look straight in the mirror and my head begins to throb. Something in the back of my mind is trying to erase what the Cyclops said out of my memory, but it's not working. I can still hear it as clearly as if someone was whispering in my ear.

My head turns from a gentle throb to a harsh ring and I feel myself falling off my seat, but I'm not moving. I try to reach for the door, but my mind switches off..

§

Half an hour after I wake, my mother returns with a bag full of my things. My head still aches, but I try to cover it. When she gets in, I snap, just like she did.

'What the hell was that all about?! What's going on?!'

'Don't say hell.'

'What should I say then?'

'I don't know,' She turns to me, 'You'll see when you get to school.'

'What's that supposed to mean? Plus, it's Saturday!'

'It doesn't matter.'

'Anyway, don't you have to fill out some forms and wait, like, two months before hearing back.'

'This school is different.' Is all I get as an answer.

'In what sense?' But I could see the case was closed, so I look in the other direction, out of the window.

§

After two hours of painful silence, we pull up into an orchard. There's no school here, just an old shack in the middle of the trees.

I can't see any evidence of human life, apart from the fact that the trees are perfectly pruned and there are no rotting apples lying on the floor, waiting for the unwilling victim to tread on them, splatting mouldy apple everywhere.

My eyes turn toward the shack. A strange feeling enters my mind: something, someone, is in there.

I glance at my mother, who gesture towards it. 'You've got to be kidding me,' I mutter.

I find myself knocking on the door two minutes later. I don't know what to expect, but the door creaks open making me jump backwards, nearly crashing into my mother.

'Sandra!' An old man stands in the darkness of the hut. My mum steps forward and gives him a gentle hug. All of a sudden, the man's grey eyes settle on me, 'Ah! Yes, Tia. You're finally here, two years late, but here all the same. I can tell vaguely who your father is, by your looks alone. But I can't tell his form as yet.' He notices the baffled look on my face, 'Tia your father was an ancient god, so that would make you a demigod.'