Chapter 1 ...... A Change (Irina's POV)
Author's Note:
Hi Everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read my story. First of all I want to thank the reader who has completely read my story up till the third chapter. Guys this is my first story so I might be missing some key things when it comes to framing a good story and there will be grammatical errors but I hope you don't judge me. Please feel free to comment whatever you find was good and bad about the story.
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“Irina?” Aunt Susan called me softly from outside my dimly lit room. Her usual sweet yet firm voice established the beginning of every new morning and I woke up reluctantly, feeling groggy.
“Are you dressed yet?” she asked me, but her voice held no sign of hope. Perhaps she had been waiting for me to show signs of life for too long, I thought disconsolately. I hurriedly pushed the covers away and sat up in bed, putting on my pink and fluffy flip-flops and stumbling across the room to open the door.
Aunt Susan was standing patiently at the doorway, the corners of her mouth pulled up in a friendly smile which made my heart glow in response. She was thin, blonde, fair-skinned. Her coal-black eyes were staring at me intently. She looked relieved that I had woken up.
“About time, Irina dear. I’ve been trying to wake you up since forever. Now hurry up or you will be late for school”, she continued. Her eyes were filled with somber concern for me but her earnest smile was still in place, a ray of light in the pitch-dark room of my life. I suppressed a yawn, knowing better than to demonstrate to Aunt Susan just how tired I was even after sleeping later than I had intended to.
“Just a minute Aunt Susan.”, I replied, barely awake to bother with the coherency of the statement. Picking my phone up from where it lay on my bed, I found to my utmost horror that I had dozed off after the alarm had rung, switching off my phone in case it rung again.
I had woken up an hour later than planned which meant that I was left with hardly more time than ten minutes to take a bath, change and eat breakfast if I had to reach the school on time. Well, there goes everything, I thought to myself disdainfully.
Aunt Susan seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me because she sighed deeply, the weary look on her face making my heart clench guiltily. But she still managed to treat me kindly, I added as an afterthought as she patted my shoulder and said, "You overslept, Irina dear. Well, that was bound to happen. I don't blame you, honey. " This was meant to be a comforting gesture but it only managed to amplify my guilt and I mentally cursed myself for my irresponsible behavior. I should have made more of an effort to get a good night's sleep so that I could have woken up on time, I thought regretfully. Oversleeping on a school day! That was about as dangerous for me as throwing myself to the sharks. Maybe not so much dangerous, I reconsidered, looking at Aunt Susan's smiling face.
Aunt Susan chuckled at my expression, a sweet sound quite similar to the tinkling of bells. Was I that obvious, I wondered dubiously.
Either my face was exceptionally easy to read or Aunt Susan had quite a talent for determining my emotions. I dismissed the latter with an internal laugh. For a second, I was actually debating over the fact that Aunt Susan could read my mind.
Perhaps I had been reading the Twilight Saga too much. But I loved every book in the series and I was particularly interested in the gifts of the Cullens- the mind-reading ability of Edward Cullen, the way Alice could see the future, and the way Jasper could sense and control emotions. Not to mention how Bella could create a shield to protect her loved ones from harm. It was simply phenomenal.
"It will take time to adjust to, Irina. But I'm sure that you will be accustomed to waking up early in no time at all. It's just because of the change in your sleeping patterns.", Aunt Susan comforted me. I smiled at her. She didn't need to go through my misery, I decided determinedly.
However, Aunt Susan was wrong about one thing at least. I had not overslept today because I was not accustomed to the change in sleeping patterns. Instead, it was because of the nightmares which I saw every day which made me so restless that I could hardly get any sleep.
Aunt Susan smiled at me one last time and then left the room.
