Summer Storms: Prologue

 

I thought I had everything. I thought I could trust those closest to me. Everything I thought I knew, was wrong. It was just oh so wrong. I had a family who loved me, friends who adored me. I did well in school, kept to myself, worked hard at a job I loved. It was during the summer of my high-school graduation where my life literally turned upside down. I went from being ‘normal’ (or whatever the closest thing to ‘normal’ was) to something else entirely.

        My family wasn’t poor, in fact we were well off. Not only were we well off, but we were all close. Something that was uncommon. My father Michael was an accountant. He was an average built man, with a height of 5’9” and roughly 175 pounds. He wasn’t jacked up with muscle, but he could still definitely hold his own. Michael had chocolate hair and brown eyes. My mother, Ruby, was the manager of the towns flower shoppe. She was roughly 5’5” and 125 pounds. She too, was athletic with auburn hair and green eyes. I also had a brother, Xavier who actually seemed like and appeared to be my twin. We were both roughly the same build as our parents, both with brown hair, and blue eyes.

Remember when I said that we weren’t poor? Well, we weren’t considered rich either. That didn’t mean that I asked for everything over the moon. As someone who had her own job on top of high school, I had a habit of buying my own things. I had a job at the towns elderly center, taking care of the residents. It didn’t pay much, so I saved often, but I loved the job. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. When it came to spending my money, it wasn’t on clothes or the latest fashion or the newest gadgets like most of my classmates. If I had books, music, movies and art supplies, I was happy. I spent most of my free time in my bedroom, where I was known for creating. Be it in writing, sketching or painting-I was always creating. It was my release from the many emotions I carried, from the stress school and work caused. It was an outlet that didn’t require me to bother anyone or allow anyone to judge me based on actions or words said. Xavier was more of a jock in school, more outgoing than I, but still always protective of me if someone stepped out of line. We protected each other from the judgmental sharks in school. We preferred it that way.

        In school, I pushed for straight A’s and never took a summer off. Doing this allowed me to graduate a year early. My parents were so proud, they decided to gift me tickets to a cruise for the whole family that summer when I graduated. It was the first trip I was taking since I was a young girl. Most teenagers wouldn’t want to take the trip with their parents; and I guess that’s what made me unique. I loved and cherished everything my parents did for me. I knew that without them I wouldn’t be where I was in life. I mean… Xavier and I were both the legal age of eighteen and still living at home-not because we couldn’t afford it, but because we made sure our parents knew we appreciated them. Looking back on the last semester in school, I was lucky.

I was sitting in a row of my classmates, listening to the valedictorian speak. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining, almost like a spotlight down on my graduating class. I was a year early, being the only junior mixed in with a class of seniors. My chocolate hair was curled slightly and pinned into a messy bun on my head. Under my grey cap and gown, I wore a purple sundress, with black flats.

The valedictorian was preaching about how hard we had all worked, and how we all survived our own tragedies and faced our own fears. Throughout the last three years, our school lost three members of its own, and each of us were touched by at least one death. I slowly drowned out the voice talking and got lost in my own thoughts.

I remember this boy, named Finn. I met him freshman year and there was something mesmerizing about him. It felt like I had known him my whole life, and I had no idea why. There was a major case of déjà vu, however the day I was going to ask him questions and try to get to know him he was killed. At the time it seemed like some freak accident. Little did I know then, that it was just an illusion.