Elemental Trilogy/Book 1/Chapter 1

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Chapter 1
The Alarm Clock

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Avari heard a sound in the sub-consciousness of her mind. She winced as the shrill ringing invaded the peaceful quietness of her dream, yanking her painfully back into reality.

Stop, she thought, it was all she could think. She wasn’t asking much was she? No, she just wanted to sleep, not that much to ask.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

She groaned, willing the thing to stop with her mind.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

It was no use. Instinctively her hand shot out and smashed the alarm clock to bits; she hadn’t even bothered to look for the snooze button.

Avari could feel a smirk tug at her lips as she placed her hand back in its normal position on her fluffy pillow.

She laid there for a minute, her mind absorbing the quietness and slowly settling back down. She was about to fall back asleep when she felt a dampness start to spread across the fabric of her pillow case to her fingertips. What is that, she thought.

Then it hit her, blood. Pain shot through her hand as it sometimes does when you first realize you’re bleeding. Suddenly her senses were on full alert. She jumped out of bed, knocking her head against the top bunk and creating a sound that resonated like a gong across the room. A stream of curses escaped her lips as she got up, clutching her head with her undamaged hand.

That was the fifth alarm clock this month, she thought. Though this was the first time any of them had decided to fight back, she added, frowning at her hand.
Sighing, she walked over to her bedside table and opened a drawer, pausing for a moment to glare as the shattered remains of her alarm clock. She tore her hate filled gaze away from the clock and began searching in the drawer for bandages for her hand. After a few seconds she removed her hand from the drawer holding the bandages. She smiled triumphantly as she began to bandage her hand. After she finished she placed the bandages back in the drawer and shut it gently. She glanced at the alarm clock, trying to decide what to do with its remains; finally she decided to put them in the trash can now instead of waiting till later.

Even though her hand was still in pain the thought of just how much more damage the alarm clock received was comforting. It was even comforting enough to keep her smiling as she brushed the evidence of the brief “conflict” into the plastic waste basket.

What day is today, she thought, Friday, crap that meant school.

She moved towards her closet to get some clothes for school. The closet door squealed in protest as she opened it. She gave it one big shove and it finally gave in. She searched in the closet for pants, finally emerging with a pair of light tan cargo pants.

She tossed the pants behind her, watching as they fell to the ground. She resumed her search for the rest of her outfit. She grumbled to herself at the mysterious difficulty of finding matching clothes. Eventually she emerged with a blue T-shirt that said “alarm clocks suck” with a smashed alarm clock on the front.
Ironic, she thought.

Finally she had once again completed the morning ritual of “clothes hunting”. She backed away from the closet door to shut it. Again it squealed, not wanting to be shut. This time it wouldn’t obey so she just gave up, leaving it half way open. She walked away frowning as she picked up her pants and walked into her bathroom. Despite the difficulties she had thus far she couldn’t help but smile as she was greeted warmly by the smell of blueberries her candles emitted. She always kept them in good supply, there was always at least one burning in the bathroom. She dumped her clothes in a pile on the floor as she let the water heat and took off her pajamas so she could take a shower. She put her hand under the bathtub faucet to check the temperature. Perfect, she thought, as her hand made contact with the hot water. She stepped into the shower and turned the middle knob. After a second or two the water began to fall from above, cold at first, but quickly warming until the temperature matched that of the water before.

The warm water felt good on her sore muscles and aching head. She could feel her body absorbing more and more of its delightful warmth. She rubbed her shoulder massaging the tense muscles. When she glanced down at her shoulder, she saw her birthmark. Birthmark, the word sounds so harmless, she thought, Heh, this thing was anything but harmless, well, what it stood for was harmful. By itself it actually was harmless. It was proof that she was an elemental. She didn’t know what her element was, but considering the shape, which was sort of like a sun, she thought it was probably light or fire. She’d know for sure in a month’s time, when she got her element. This day would be very special, sort of like graduation. She would receive her element, her elemental weapon, a telepathic connection with her teammates, plus her mini-elemental, whatever that was. She couldn’t wait.
By that point Avari was rinsing the last bits of conditioner out of her hair. She stepped out of the shower, steam swirling around her body. It drifted away, spreading out evenly through the room. Without the steam the air felt cold and frigid against her warm skin. Shivering she walked over to the closet and pulled out a soft towel, wrapping herself in it. She shivered as she quickly dried herself off the best she could. She proceeded to pull on her clothes. Then she walked over to the mirror fixed her hair and brushed her teeth.

After making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she walked out of the bathroom, grabbed her cell phone, and walked downstairs.

Avari went into the kitchen to see if her mom had left yet. She had, but it didn’t really matter, Avari walked to school anyway. She checked the time on her cell phone, early. She decided to wait in the garden for Ky and Zen to come by to walk with her to school. Kyril and Zenith had been Avari’s two best friends since childhood. They, like her, were elementals.

Avari walked into the living room and slipped on her shoes, before opening the door and walking outside.