The Saviors

Chapter 1(Part 3 - The US, 2015)

Upon entering the peaceful town of Grafton lies an abysmal building. Dejected and tired looking, the house is not at all like the rest of the homesteads that can be found throughout the settlement. It seems as if it is home to the only problems found in the town. With its crooked shingles and peeling wood the house is an unexpected sight in the seemingly perfect town. Surrounding the building lay bushes of crumbling leaves and a garden full of dirt and sticks. It's as though the former residents have moved out of the town and forgotten about their once beautiful home. Despite the appearance, all the townspeople know that the house is still inhabited. When walking by the house, a light can occasionally be spotted coming from the circular window located in the center of the house. And through that window lies the bedroom of a teen about to start her senior year of high school.

Hopping out of bed, a tall thin brunette with wavy hair and hazel eyes turns on the one light seen in the house. She grabs a bright yellow dress from within her closet and throws it on. In addition she picks out a jean jacket and her silver locket. Springing down the stairs, she enters the messy kitchen covered in books and dust. She spends a few minutes searching for whatever she can find to eat for breakfast. Finally, she emerges from the junk filled drawers with kale, a mango, a peach and some liquids she found in the fridge. The young adult starts chopping the green vegetable and fruit and proceeds to put the food into a blender. Once everything is blended together, she pours the liquified green muck into a clear mug. The teen grabs her backpack from one of the covered benches in the kitchen and proceeds to the front hallway. She puts on her clean white shoes that stand out hugely in the messy house and before exiting grabs her necklace looking out at nothing and whispers "Wish me luck." She then bounds out the front door beginning the long walk to the school found in the center of town.

Perched upon a small rise is an old fashioned brick building. The building takes up a small plot of land and is full of arches and windows. The grass surrounding the building is a bright green and covered in many varieties of colorful flowers. In front of the building, students mill about and friends reunite after the long summer. One girl arrives and immediately stands out in her flowy yellow dress. As soon as she appears, the energy in the atmosphere seems to change. Everyone turns towards her issuing a friendly hello. Right after she arrives, loud bass can be heard as a car nears the school. As the car gets closer, a group of four teens can be seen sticking their heads out of the windows of a blue truck. Their screams can be heard echoing around the school. The truck stops in front of the beautiful girl and a brown haired, blue eyed teen with dimples hops out. He runs up to the girl and pulls her into a tight embrace.

"Aspen, I missed you so much," he whispers to the girl.

"I missed you too," she replies. "How was the tour?"

"Amazing, but it wasn't the same without you." They continue their whispered conversation as they walk into the building.

The giant front doors swing open to allow the flood of students into the building. Chatter erupts around the couple muffling out their conversation. The giant swarm of students begins to break up as people turn off into different directions to get to their first period class. The couple wish each other farewell and head off in their separate directions. One goes off in the direction of the music hall while the other heads to the math hall. As Aspen enters her math room, she is immediately welcomed by friendly voices. She quickly walks over and sits down with three of her friends. As soon as the class is seated, the teacher appears ready to start the lesson. He starts going on about math and all the theorems they're going to learn and how important the class is, but the girl in yellow pays little attention. Aspen has started zoning off about some pleasant memory she always finds herself reminiscing. About halfway through the class, Aspen experiences a slicing pain, and she falls out of her chair making a huge raucous.

"Oh my god. Are you okay?" One of her friends exclaims in shock. The teacher quickly rushes to the back of the room, urging everyone to give her space. Her head starts to clear up, and she slowly sits up. The teacher tells her to go to the nurse, and one of her friends escorts her. Her friend tries talking to her on the way to the nurse, but she doesn't reply; instead she blocks out all the noise. Once they reach the nurse, Aspen walks in alone telling her friend to head back to class. The nurse gives her some medicine for her head and tells her to call a parent to pick her up. Aspen looks at her with a fake smile plastered on her face. She pulls out her phone, pretending to dial a phone number. She tells her phone that she needs a ride home and pretends to hang up. The nurse looks at her with a face full of sympathy. Aspen tells the nurse that she is meeting her parents outside and heads out leaving the school behind. Once outside, Aspen starts walking. She walks and walks unsure of where she is heading. Finally, she reaches the place she didn't realize she was going.

There in the middle of the grassy plain lies the most dazzling extension of the ground like an arm reaching up from the depths of the dirt extending its fingers to the sky. She remembers how life used to be. That upon the tree used to lay two untroubled children enjoying the crisp autumn air. Their laughter could always be heard slicing through the silence of the meadow. All around them leaves would fall creating an array of color as critters scurried preparing for the beginning of the desolate season about to come. She remembers everything that happened here at this tree with her brother, her best friend. She remembers the horrors that occurred here at this place that once gave her so much joy.

She remembers how they would be perched on the tree. She remembers that day when they hopped down and began a slow walk back towards their beautifully yellow house. She remembers that that day was just like any other. She remembers how they spun around admiring the blue sky as it turned to pink. She remembers that they jumped in the piles of red and yellow leaves shouting as they got dirty.

But she also remembers how all of a sudden in the blissful dawn her brother, the older of the two, fell on the ground violently shaking. She remembers how she stood there shrieking, grabbing her brother and trying to get him to stop shaking. She remembers how he continued to shake as she began sobbing. She remembers their mother who came running out of the house followed by their father. She remembers that their mother grabbed her while her father grabbed his phone and tried to hold onto his son. She remembers that the red lights appeared as sirens shrieked through the once quiet of the meadow. She remembers him being loaded onto the ambulance followed by his father. She remembers her and her mother piling into their car and speeding off after the screeching ambulance. After that chaos, she doesn't remember much except that she talked to her brother one last time. She remembers the last thing he ever said to her.

"I'm not always going to be here for you, but I will always be watching, and I know that you are going to accomplish amazing things. I love you, and I will be cheering you on as you change the world." After that he didn't say much more, he whispered stuff to their parents. Soon after, he stopped talking, and shortly later, her parents also stopped talking. Now, her parents only leave the house for work and barely say anything to anyone. She has been left to fend for herself in this massive world where her brother's last wish was for her to do something to change the world.