Chapter 1
I wanted to hear a story. Something different. One of greatness and heroism; of absolute bravery. With knights and dragons. A kingdom in a faraway place. I wanted to find my happy ending. And I did, I get told a story of misfortune and war, but where I inevitably prevail.
“Sunn Dai is going to do great things,” they say. “Sunn Dai is so perfect,″ they’d praised. “Sunn Dai will have it all one day.”
I was always told how my life was going to end. Little do they know, my story followed a different path.
And it all started at school.
After the longest hour and a half of my life, the bell rang for the end of the day. I take the long walk from my class in the main hall to the buses on the other side of the campus only to see my best friend flirting with a guy. Rolling my eyes I walked over to her and grabbed her arm. “Delilah, can I talk to you for a second?” I said through gritted teeth.
Without giving her time to respond I pulled her away from the guy, watching him walk away from us. As soon as we are a suitable distance away I let her go so she can yell at me; just like she did yesterday when I did the exact same thing. “Sunn what the hell? I was about to get that guy’s number!!” she practically screeched.
“I don’t care. That’s the fifth guy this week. This isn’t healthy Delila,” I said in a serious tone.
She gave me a withering glare that could have frozen my heart if she really wanted to. I love Delila, but she needs to stop doing this to herself. Not only was she hurting herself, but it got to the point where it was beginning to severely affect the relationship between me and her.
“Says you. Just let me have some fun every once in a while,” she spoke coldly. “Honestly, I’m tired of your holier than thou attitude. Sunn, you are so controlling, it’s actually really annoying.”
Hearing her say this put me in a shock.
I regained my posture, knowing that she isn’t usually like this. “I don’t care if I have to do it for the rest of my life, Delila. You need to stop doing this to yourself; it’s honestly not healthy.” I repeat.
She just looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Look, Sunn, just because Jake left you for Sidney, doesn’t mean every guy I talk to will treat me the same way. Maybe if you had stopped trying to control everything and let go a little bit, none of that would have happened to you.”
Jake was my boyfriend during my sophomore year. We started dating during the start of freshman year, and on our 2 year anniversary, he broke up with me with one of my closest friends, Sidney McAllister. I gave her a cold glare making sure it was obvious to her she went too far. She knew that was a sensitive topic for me. She pulled away from me right as my bus pulled up. I stood there watching her walk away from me before climbing on the bus and sitting down.
I pull out a book I have been reading for the past few days and settle in for the bus ride ahead. Suddenly someone sat next to me. Looking over I realize it’s the guy I just pulled Delilah from.
“Thanks for saving me out there,” he said in a strange accent.
I look at him and give a slight smile. “It’s ok. I keep telling her she needs to stop harassing guys like that.” He smiles a bit before looking away.
After a few minutes, the bus stops at its first stop and the guy gets off. Finally, I was able to take a breath from that weird interaction. I continued reading my book and happened to get through two chapters before my bus stop came into view.
As I’m walking home, I think about what just happened with that guy. Thinking back, I realize he had some really weird features about him. His weird accent, and the fact that he’s taller than anyone I knew. One feature stood out to me the most, though. His eyes. One of them had a scar going across one of them and they were a mix of gold, silver, and black; A feature that is not common for people, but something that I remember from an old story I heard as a child.
They were just a stupid part of a scary children story my parents would tell me to keep me from acting up.
I finally make it to my house, shouting as I walk in, “Mom, I’m home!” She didn’t answer, meaning she was probably at work. I walk up to my room and put all my stuff down before falling into my bed. I lay there, my mind wandering again.
Thinking about him made me think about Delila. I wonder if she’s still mad at me.
Just as I was about to take a shower, I got a call. It was from Delila. “Hey Sunn, can you please come over? I need to talk to you.” It was Delila, her voice void of emotion.
“Why can’t we just talk it out now?” I said lightly trying to diffuse the tension.
I hate it when she gets like this, it makes me feel small.
“No. We need to talk about this in person. Come over now.” She hung up and left me there confused.
Why would she want to talk about this in person? I didn’t think it was that serious. I got my shoes on and started walking over to her house. She only lived two blocks away so it didn’t take me that long to get there.
I walked up to her door and knocked.
“Hello darling how are you?” her mother asked answering the door. “I’m good Ms. Valdez, is Delila home?” I asked, half-hoping for a no so I could avoid the fight I know we are going to get into.
“She’s up in her room, you’re welcome to go up there.” her mom said moving so I could go in. Taking as much time as possible, I made my way up the stairs to Delila’s room.
As I reached the top step she was standing there with her arms crossed waiting for me. Without a word she led me into her room and closed the door. After a few seconds of silence she spoke up and my head spun as she voiced her thoughts.
“I can’t deal with you anymore. You make life so hard. Anything I do you try to correct me, and make me like you. I’m done. You want to be a special little snowflake then go ahead, but I actually want to live life.”
I stood there, attempting to show no sign of emotion. I was confused and hurt, but finally answered, “What do you mean? I thought everything was okay”, I finally answered with a somewhat shaky voice.
After what seems like hours of her thinking, she answered, “Because you are delusional and stuck in your own world. You’re too controlling and overall you just not at all what I’d thought you’d be. It’s suffocating. And I can’t be friends with someone who has so many trust issues. Plus you’re too weird. I’m sorry but I just can’t be associated with you anymore,” I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest and crash on the ground.
After a minute of sitting there taking it in, I decided to respond. Trying to not let my voice waver again and give off that I was about to cry, I faltered, “If that’s what you want then fine.” She stood there silently and I took that as my cue to leave. I passed her mom who called to me but I was too upset to listen to what she said.
Once I got out of her house I started running. I had to get away from there.
As I ran down the street burst into tears as questions flood my mind.
Why, after all these years, would she just get rid of me like that? Where did all of this come from? And why does everyone leave me?
Before I knew it I was in front of my house on Frontier Street, the thoughts still plaguing me. We’ve been through so much, she’s like a sister to me. Yet here she is, leaving me.
I sat on the porch to collect my thoughts before going inside. I felt hurt, why did this happen to me?
I stood up and started walking inside when the door swung open. “Whoa there--”
“Sorry, I didn--”
We started to talk at the same time and then we both stop. I looked up and saw my adoptive-brother Daimon with his keys in hand.
“Sunn what’s wrong? ” he said, noticing my puffy eyes and tear-stained face.
I looked at him, words failing me so I just shook my head.
Putting the keys in his pocket he hugged me. He rubbed my head and tried to calm me down. He pulled me down to sit on one of the rocking chairs on the porch
“So what happened?” Concern laced in his voice.
I try to speak but I could only feel the lump in my throat. I gave up and decided to just cry it out.
After a few minutes, he sighed and said, “Why don’t we go take a walk through the woods, that always seems to make you feel better,” I nodded my head, thinking it was a good idea as well. We stepped down the stairs and went back behind our house until we reached the entrance to the woods.
We walked in complete silence, Daimon a few steps ahead of me. With all of the thoughts racing through my head, I didn’t realize that I lost Daimon. After a few seconds, I walked in and started down the path when I felt pain in the back of my head, falling to the ground and looking up. All I could see was a familiar head of hair and piercing gold, black, and silver eyes looking back at me before I blackout.
