The Fallen Can Rise Again Chapter 1

I brushed the hair from my eyes and sighed with exasperation. In the past, it would have been me throwing the first ice ball of the season. Now, it was my friends throwing them at me. I had ducked into the room of my next class, hoping that I wouldn’t be made to go back outside again. They were waiting for me, and they weren’t going to show me any mercy any time soon.

My English teacher, Mr Wilson, entered the room.

“A little early, aren’t we Cate?” he asked, setting down a pile of books on his desk for his next class.

I glanced up at him with a small smile. “I am. The snow doesn’t agree with me.”

“They’re still giving you a hard time, huh?” Mr Wilson perched on the desk beside me. He took of his glasses and polished them with the corner of his shirt.

I looked down at the desk, tracing my finger around someone else’s graffiti work etched into the wood. “I’m sure they’ll get bored eventually.” I replied softly, knowing full well that it was unlikely to happen. I knew how the minds of these kids worked. Once they had a target in mind, they would find more and more imaginative ways to make their days at school a living hell. Heck, I had found it funny that we had made three kids move schools because of us. It wasn’t so funny anymore.

“Look, I think it’s very honourable that you’re trying to better yourself, and focus on your schoolwork…” As he spoke, my eyes suddenly began to flutter closed and the teacher’s voice became muffled. “…better things to come.” I tried to blink the sensation away, but I could feel something overcoming me, bidding me to pay attention.

A rapid pain ripped through my head and stomach and I could do nothing but slam my palms against the desk and hold on. Images of an owl flashed across my vision, coupled with the flames and blood of the usual nightmares. I let out a brief cry as the pain moved into my back and legs as well, forcing my legs to give in. I fell from the chair, but the cool sensation of the tiles held a slight comfort.

“The fire…somebody has to stop the fire…” I tried to say as I rolled onto my back, my hands against the floor to try and regain my balance. Faster and faster, more images forced their way into my mind, different ones…or was it different angles of the same pictures I always saw? I saw what looked like a temple with grand pillars, a large statue of a man and woman embracing…but they were burning. Flames licked up the pillars and the sculpture, and the smell of burning began to fill my nose. The picture moved, and I was inside the entrance. The burning smell got stronger, and the pain it was causing was beginning to rival the pain that had errupted inside of my body. I choked back the sensation to wretch, finding it harder and harder to breath.

Bodies. I could smell the burning bodies. This awful realisation shocked me out of whatever vision I was experience and I began to see Mr Wilson’s face peering down at me. Well, I wasn’t writhing in pain anymore, but I wasn’t sure how I was ever going to be able to forget that smell.

Behind him, I could see the sniggering faces of my former friends and the rest of my class. How hilarious it must seem to them; they finally broke me.

Mr Wilson insisted that I visit the nurse, despite me begging him not to make a fuss; a fact which they all found hysterical. I pushed through them, making sure I hit a few shoulders on the way through. Even out in the corridor, I could still smell the burning, but it was faint now. I wandered through the corridors, not really thinking about my destination, just glad to have a few moments to sort through what I saw. By the time I got to the nurse’s office, the smell had all but disappeared. Until he burst out of the office, and the smell was stronger than ever. He caught my eye, disgust spreading across his features as he slowed to edge carefully around me. I felt like I was going to faint again, my senses feeling like they themselves were on fire. Then, he darted away without looking back, swinging his rucksack onto his back and the smell disappearing with him. 

I stood still for a moment, a little in shock. What the hell was that. I was going to have to start writing things down. These weird and wonderful incidents were happening more and more often now, and if I was going to make sense of any of it I was going to have to start somewhere.

A figure appeared in the doorway, shaking me out of my thoughts. Nurse Jensen smiled at me and beckoned me in.

“What can I do for you?” she asked, settling into her chair. I glanced at the chair opposite, wondering whether I could get away without having to sit down and tell her the whole story. Ha, the whole story. I could see how that might end. A nice padded room and me in a new jacket. Nope, I would be keeping this one short and sweet.

“Mr Wilson said I had to come and see you.” I shifted my weight from side to side, eager to get back to class and pretend like I wasn’t the freak that I knew I was.

She nodded, silently urging me to continue. “I just fainted.”

“And how are you feeling now?”

I put on my brightest smile, the one that works on my parents and every other adult on the planet. “Right as rain. Can I go back to class now?”

She chuckled. “Come on, now. Sit down for a second. I’ll check your blood pressure, and if it’s okay I’ll send you on your way.”

I sighed. Longer away from class meant more laughs when I got back.

~~~~

When I left the nurse’s office, he was waiting for me. Leaning against a row of lockers, looking at the floor. He had hair as dark as shadows. Short on the sides, with a messy, jagged fringe swooped back so that his entire face was visible. A face that was possibly the palest I had ever seen. He felt familiar to me, like I’d known him once. As I took a few cautious steps towards him, he looked up. He looked up at me with the brightest eyes I had ever seen. For a moment, I forgot that there was any other source of light in the world other than his eyes. Our eyes met, and I felt the most overwhelming sorrow growing inside of me.

It hurt too much too cry, but it also hurt too much to stand unaided and I put my hand out against the lockers. As soon as I did this, the sorrow dissipated and I felt light again.

He was closer now and had plastered a smile on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hi.” He said confidently. “I’m Aiden.” He offered a hand out to me, and I took it. Aiden shook it softly as though he were waiting for something to happen.

“Cate.” I replied, taking my hand back before it got too clammy. There was something about this boy, an intensity, that lay behind the showbiz smile and it was making me nervous.

I had no idea what impact this short introduction would have on not only my life, but the lives of countless others.

~~~~~