18 Hour Earlier

18 Hours Earlier

   

    Lureva, Gregory, Trenton, and their father entered the clearing where they had set up camp. Lureva was arguing with her twin about which was better, Digimon or Pokemon, while Trenton scampered towards the tent he shared with their father, no doubt to pull out a chocolate bar or some other candy he had brought with him that he didn’t want to share.  Their mother had stayed home to take care of their dog, but both Lureva and Gregory thought it was just to be away from Trenton. Lureva and Gregory were both 15, born in different years with a 10 minute difference between them, and Gregory always claimed to be the first one out, though no one could remember which one was first. Lureva had silver hair and green eyes, while Gregory had black hair and dark brown eyes. Trenton was their younger brother of 10, though he acted like he was 5, who had brown hair and similar eyes.

    Once they had collected enough firewood Gregory started the fire, while Lureva went to the cooler to pull out the hot dogs they were going to cook. Once they were done with dinner Lureva and Gregory went to their tent to go to bed, they wanted to get up at dawn to see what sunrise would look like out in the woods. Trenton of course was refusing to leave is seat by the fire claiming that if he left it his hands would become, “like ice-blocks.” So their father sighed and told him to put out the fire before he went to bed, then continued to his and Trenton’s tent.

    “How are we related to that brat?” Gregory asked once he and Lureva had gotten into their sleeping bags. “How should I know?” Lureva responded, “but at this point I’m suspecting the mailman. now lets get some sleep, we want to see the sunrise, don’t we?” “I guess we should, there’s no point in wondering how we got stuck with him, we only have a couple more years until college.” Gregory paused here, and Lureva thought he was going to say something, until she heard the subtle rhythmic sounds of Gregory breathing. once she heard a quiet snore, she shrugged her shoulders and rolled over to go to sleep.



    A few hours later Lureva woke to and extremely warm tent, and a lot of light. She quickly shook Gregory awake, thinking they had missed dawn and it was the light of the sun making the inside of the tent warm. They opened the tent flap to see that Trenton had not put out the fire. and the campsite was full of flames. They were frozen there in fear and awe, until they saw the fire was right next to their father’s and Trenton’s tent. They were about to run over to warn them, when they saw the tent catch fire, and that the site was divided by fire.

    Lureva’s vision was blurred by tears, and she lost all sense of time. after what seemed like years, but was probably seconds, she felt a tug on her arm and some cloth wiping her eyes. Gregory urgently shouted, “We have to run!” It took her a moment to get her legs working, but she soon caught up with Gregory. Looking back she saw that her tent was now blazing and the other had been vaporized. Her eyes tried to tear up again but she stopped them by turning and continuing after Gregory.

    She ran faster than she thought she could, and longer than she ever had, watching as the forest around her changed colors from the light and heat of the wildfire. The only things she thought about was that  she wished she could draw what the forest around her looked like, and how amazing adrenaline was. She had to stop for a moment to catch her breath, and made the mistake of looking back. She was instantly mesmerized by the size of the fire, and its brightness. She would have probably stayed until she burned alive, but she felt a sharp pinch on her arms. She yelped as she turned around, looking to see who had pinched her, and didn’t see anything, but the blast of heat on her back caused her adrenaline to surge back through her body, and she started forward. She panicked when she couldn’t see Gregory, but that caused her to run from the fire all that much more urgently. This was a mistake, she was soon out of energy, with the fire literally at her heels. She collapsed, unable to hold herself up, feeling the heat on her feet become more and more distant. She crawled forward, now barely feeling anything, distantly knowing she had to get away. the surface beneath her became smoother as she crawled onto a flat rock and let herself drop completely. She lay there as the fire blazed by, not finding jumping onto the rock, which was amazingly devoid of plants and leaves, with the closest thing to her mind being that the soot and ash looked kind of like snow, and she actually smiled at that. This was the last thing she thought before darkness washed over her.



    A few hours later she opened her eyes, feeling nothing, not pain, not the rock beneath her, and before her was a Dark Shape. This shape was interrupted by a flash of blue, the color of Gregory’s sweater, as he knelt down to look at Lureva’s face. Gregory looked like he had been crying, there were streaks in the soot, and tried to say something and failed. With a voice that was harsh and dry, Lureva croaked out, “I guess I missed the sunrise.” Gregory’s eyes spilled over again, as he whispered with a slight smile on his lips, “Yep, you did.” then Lureva’s eyes rolled back, and her body went limp as she went unconscious again, not to wake back up, the Dark Shape had reappeared in front of Gregory, and seemed to grab hold of Lureva, and gently pulled her from her body.

    She saw her surroundings with sudden clarity, beneath her was her body, with extremely toasted skin, and she would probably be a pile of bones if she hadn’t been on that rock, and next to it was her now blacken brother, dryly weeping over her body. Every bit of vegetation had been burned away, or left as a black husk, and anything non-flammable was left black. She then looked to what was holding her in the air. The Dark Shape was no longer just a black blob, but was now clearly defined, and could only be described as Death. It was wearing a colorless robe, and Its face and hands was white, bony and ageless, and  It had and expression of genuine sadness that she had died. It looked at her expectantly, silently asking her the question that 18 hours earlier, she would have said no to, and she nodded yes, still in awe of Death in front of her.

    Once It had Its answer, Death grasped around her, in what seemed like a hug, and began to speed away from Earth, to where ever Lureva was destined to go. As they went Death underwent a gradual transformation, from Grim Reaper to Angel. Its dark robe was going from colorless to white, but seemingly full of color, Its hands smoothed over and gained color, as did Its face. Its face now seemed vibrant and joyful, with just a shadow of grief. Then by Its sides appeared two swords one was large and dark, the other was made of fire. Finally large glowing wings grew on Its back, and it sped faster towards their destination. The hug suddenly deepened, then she was released, set lightly on a firm surface. It left her with a salute with Its sword, and blurred as It sped back to Earth. Lureva turned around and advanced through the gates. She felt a little strange, she had expected the trip from her body would be forced and against her will, and she would feel like she was leaving everything she knew and would feel empty. But in reality she felt like she was going home at long last, and she grinned, she knew that where ever she went, she would belong.