America

Elle couldn't remember much of her dream, but she knew it was terrifying.

She awoke in a dark room, or at least, what she suspected was a dark room. It was pitch black, with only a small, white light in the distance. Confused, she sat up, staring at the light source, trying to work out it's origins. As she sat, she realized she could hear voices, originating from the darkness. She turned her head, trying to locate the source of the sounds, but it was no use. Everywhere she turned, the voices just began emanating from elsewhere.

And then she heard her voice. Her mother's voice.

In the distance, she could see a blurry silhouette of a couple. One looked like it had something coming out of it's back. She squinted, trying to make out the blurry people. Instead all she heard was a whisper of 'We love you, Elle.' and then they were gone. There were other voices, too. More menacing voices. They clamoured at her mind, whispering something she couldn't make out, and then -

She was sat in front of her mirror, curls in their normal state, hanging down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a white floor length dress, and in the mirror staring back was a boy. He had brow hair to his shoulders, and almost black eyes. He also had pale skin, and just smiled at her, although it wasn't in a friendly manner. Finally, he spoke.

"Who are you, Elle? Are you who I'm seeking?" He was replaced with a boy with a lot shorter hair, who had a familiar face, who also disappeared.

Then, the nightmares really began.

Elle stood, paralyzed, in the middle of a battle field when she next awoke. Men and women with feathery wings stood closest to her, holding weapons that almost seemed to be made of light. They stood on green grass which spread out into a beautiful meadow behind them, complete with a blue sky, mountains, and a forest that seemingly spread for miles around. But on the other side of Elle was the complete opposite. Dead, withered grass crunched beneath her feet, and men and women that seemed surrounded by shadows grinned mercilessly at the winged people. Suddenly, they all pulled weapons out of the shadows, and their dark, thunderous sky loomed overhead, crackling with lightning. Elle knew she could stop it, and it was only when the began to charge at each other did she speak up.

"No, wait! I can stop it." She yelled, hopelessly, and the boys from earlier both stepped out from behind me, and said at the same time. "We know, but will you?"

The ground opened up, and swallowed Elle into it's darkness. When she woke up for the last time, she was sat in a chair, and immediately screamed. Crawling all over her body were spiders. Shaking and sweating, Elle screamed out for help, but none came. "This is what you get if you stop this war." A voice in the darkness purred, before cutting a perfect nine pointed star in her collarbone, just like every night.

Elle's eyes flew open, and she made sure to stifle her screams with a pillow as she sobbed with fear and sadness. She couldn't even remember her mother's voice. Tears still streaking down her face, Elle glanced at the alarm clock on the side of the table. 5 AM. Great. Knowing she wouldn't get back to sleep, Elle sat up and decided to go for a shower. She hurried to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face, hoping it would wash away the signs of the tears. She turned the hot water on and climbed in, rhythmically washing everything from her hair to her toes, and then she just stood there until the hot water ran out. She climbed out slowly and dried herself with a towel, before pulling on her favourite pink argyle top, leggings, and knee length black boots, before combing and drying her hair, and finally, pulling on her mother's locket. She always wore the necklace, just because it was her mother's, and the only thing she had left of her. She placed her index finger on it, looked at herself in the mirror, and sighed slightly. Perhaps she could escape the fear for a little bit. She wandered downstairs and grabbed a granola bar, carefully unwrapping it and using her fingers to pick apart the chewy oat bar until it was in tiny pieces. She ate each one slowly and thoughtfully, before grabbing her brown leather handbag, her phone and car keys, as well as her agenda and homework, before heading out to her truck.

The sun was only just beginning to rise, much to Elle's disappointment. She'd hoped it was a little later, but her car's dashboard said it was only quarter to 7. She decided that she'd take her car to school and sit in there until class started. She got in and started the ignition, thinking about her dreams, or at least, the parts she could remember. She shivered whenever she thought of the spiders crawling across her skin. The idea repulsed her.

Elle drove slowly, and was soon at the school. She made her way to class, despite what she had planned earlier, as it was much later than she had planned, and visited her locker, grabbing her book and pencil case, before heading to English class. She sat at the back, at her desk, and began reading - Jane Eyre, currently. This particular copy was given to her by the orphanage in Montana, which she greatly appreciated. She sat there reading to herself quietly, totally alone. Not even the teacher was there yet, and for Elle, it was bliss.

But, obviously, bliss wouldn't last for long.

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Troy sat up with a sharp gasp escaping over his parted lips, his pillow drenched from his night sweat. He raised his hand up and wiped away all the sweat he could but it just drenched his hand as well. While sitting up, his eyes danced towards the clock as he read the time - 5 A.M. He leaned back down on his pillow then immediately sat back up because of the now cold, drenched pillow. Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, he got out of bed after slipping the covers off of him and going over to the bathroom.

Upon entering the bathroom, he turned on the light and walked to his mirror. He ran the water then cuffed his hands underneath it then splashed it against his face. While turning the water off, he reached out to the left and grabbed a small cloth then dried his face off with it. As he looked back up into the mirror, he saw a light figure standing there and it made him jump and turn around but nothing was there. His mind was playing tricks on him early this morning. A soft sigh escaped over his lips as he ran himself a warm shower.

After a few minutes of showering, he stepped out of a steamed filled bathroom and back into his room. His hands outstretched towards the doorknobs of his closet, which he opened widely. His finger tapped at his chin then the rest of his fingers made their way to stroke his chin. "Now..." He breathed. "What to wear?" Troy questioned towards himself as he pulled out what seemed to be the perfect outfit for him.

Before leaving his room, he reviewed himself over in the mirror. He had an all black shirt, which had a design on the front of flames, his long black jean pants matched along with a pair of black motorcyclist combat boots. Troy nodded his head then grabbed his phone and keys then rushed off towards school.

He arrived just in time as when he got out of his car, the bell rang for the kids to get their day started. Troy felt a strange aura in the air and seen the female angel. His face had a slight look of disgust plastered against it as he walked past her car, banging his fists on her trunk, hoping to scare her. He laughed a little then turned back around and winked at her then turned heel again, only to bump into the principal.

The principal, Mr. Helms, leaned down and whispered in Troy's ear. "Mess with my angel again and I'll have your head." He straightened up and smiled while lightly shoving him away. "Now, get out of here, kid." Mr. Helms said as he turned to face Elle's direction and gave her a wave along with a thumbs up.

Troy scoffed at the comments then continued to walk around like the words of the angel didn't get to him - Which they did. He stopped by his locker then headed off to his first class, which was Miss Day's English class. Troy was surprisingly the first one to enter the classroom as Miss Day raised a brow. "What's wrong, Troy? Are you sick?" She joked towards him because it was unlikely for him to be the first person in class. She laughed while walking towards her door, standing there in a greeting manner as she welcomed the students to her class once again.

This was going to be a long ass day. Troy could just feel it in his bones that it was.

Elle sat there, reading her book, when the boy that had hit the trunk of her car walked in. He obviously hadn't noticed her, and neither had the teacher. Elle decided that she honestly didn't care, and went back to her book, but couldn't help thinking he was impossibly cute.

While reading, Elle tended to get lost in thought. And that's what was happening for a few minutes right then. Elle just couldn't think why Mr Helms had waved at her earlier - was he hitting on her? He was the headteacher, though, and that was a little bit out of character for him. Then again, everyone was acting a little strange today. I mean, hadn't this 'bad boy' character just walked into class with almost nobody else in there? Maybe she could avoid the tense situation and sneak out, then walk back in later like it was no big deal?

She was about to stand up and leave when the other boy came in. Elle tried not to choke on air, because it was the long-haired boy from her dreams. The one in the mirror. As he walked in, he winked at Elle, before striding confidently to the front, before slipping his signing sheet onto Miss Day's desk. Then, he took a seat at the desk in front of Elle, before carefully ripping a piece of paper out of his notebook silently, and hastily began writing on it. Elle was confused when the paper piece sailed through the air and then onto her desk, where she opened it up. She was surprised at the contents of the note.

Hey sweetheart,
How were the dreams last night? ;-)

In her shocked state, Elle didn't reply, but a few minutes later, the second note landed on her desk.

Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll look after your friend here, and then I'll come back later, how does that sound?

See you at break.


The notes freaked Elle out, to say the least. She dropped them into her school bag and pretended not to have seen them, but the boy in front seemed to have noticed her discomfort. She pretended to ignore him, as suddenly students poured into the classroom. She supposed the bell must have rung and while she was daydreaming she hadn't heard it. She shivered suddenly and grabbed her exercise book off the book shelf, before returning to her seat.