Chapter 1

It's a weird chapter, but it's mainly just to try and create a world in my head. I'll edit it once I feel I have a good enough grasp on the world I want to make.

            “Mommy, Mommy! Why are we leaving so soon? “ I asked. “We just need to leave Ven. There’s going to be a fire soon, and you don’t want to stick around for that, do you?” She replied. I shook my head, thinking of flames and destruction.

            At the time, being three years old, I had no idea what she meant by a fire. Once I turned 18, everything she worked so hard to keep from me came to light when she passed away.

           

-------------------------------------Chapter 1-------------------------------------------

            “Raven! Open up man, we gotta go! We’re gonna be late!” Chase’s voice called from outside the door. I sat up in bed, disoriented by the dream of fire tearing down my childhood home. “Go on and leave, Chase. I just woke up.” I called out. I heard him sigh, and then his footsteps departing down the hall.

            I get out of bed and walk over to my dresser, wishing that my insomnia would just let me get a decent night’s sleep for once. I got dressed and looked at the wall clock in my room. I was going to be fifteen minutes late to my first class in college. “Might as well make it thirty minutes, right?” I said aloud to myself and headed out of my room and to the kitchenette in the apartment Chase and I shared.

            I was about to open the fridge when I heard a knock on the front door. “Raven? It’s Dominic. You going to come to class? I woke up late and saw Chase leave without you, so I figured if you were going to go, we could go together.” Dom’s voice said through the door.

            I looked at the clock and figured if I didn’t get to class soon, I probably would just skip it anyway. “Yeah Dom, we can go together. Give me a sec.” I replied. I grabbed my backpack from my room and closed my door, making sure to lock it. I liked Chase; I just didn’t know him that well.

            Dominic was leaning against the wall when I opened the front door. “Hey Ven. What time did you manage to get to sleep last night?” He asked. Unlike all the other people I met when I came to the student apartments, Dom shared the same troubles as I did when it came to sleeping.

            “Around four in the morning, like usual. What about you?” I asked. He just shook his head, which means he didn’t sleep and he’s going to probably end up passing out during class. He did the same when I first met him. I walked into the main apartment building to fill out the final paperwork, and I was standing in line behind him when he just left the line and went to the seating area and crashed on the couch.

            “Just make sure to wake me up if I snore man. I don’t want the teacher thinking that I’m a bad student.” Dom said to me as we were walking to our first class. I nodded, and plugged in my headphones as we walked. By the time we got to the building, it was forty-five minutes into the hour and a half long class. I glanced at Dom, and he just shrugged. I felt the same way.

            We walked inside the building and started trying to find our class. There were three hallways, but no map to point out where our classroom was. I shrugged and took out my headphones, looking back at Dominic. “Well, we could just walk into the first classroom we see and ask where room 138 is.” He said, yawning midway through his sentence. 

            “What are you two doing just standing out here?” We heard a girl’s voice call from down the middle hallway. I looked up and saw the girl poking her head out of a doorway. “Well?” she asked. I blinked at her, and she narrowed her eyes at me. “We’re trying to find room 138, but there’s no directory in here it seems.” Dominic said from behind me. Trust him to be the one who talks on less sleep than me.

            She seemed to understand that reply, and walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. “There’s not a directory just yet because this building was just renovated. It was finished yesterday, and so they haven’t had time to put the finishing touches in. I know where it is, come on and I’ll show you.” She said, motioning for us to follow her down the hall.

            “My names Tate by the way. I was lucky enough to get here early before my class starts, so I’ve been talking to the professor a lot and getting a feel of how this class will work. My professor has a map of the campus and where each class is located, so I asked if I could take a picture of it to use and he said go ahead, so I was going to go take a look around anyway to find out where everything is.” She rambled.

            Luckily, Dominic picked up when she finished talking. “Would you mind if I got your number so you could send me the map? I could really use it.” He said. I mentally rolled my eyes. I’ve known him for a few weeks, but I already know how much of a player he is. “Sure, I’ll give it to you after class today. Meet me at the class I came out of and I’ll give it to you.” She replied, winking at him.

            He smiled, and we followed her a couple of doors down to a black door.  “Beyond this door are all the 100 classrooms. These are the advanced classes… Both of you are in 138 together?” She asked. I nodded, my voice still not working. Dominic looks like he could be in an advanced class, but me? It’s no surprise she was wondering if this is where I belonged.

            “Well, class 138 is the fifth door on the left down the hall. I gotta get back to my class, it’s about to start. I’ll see you after class…?” She asked Dom. “Yeah, for sure. I’ll also give you my name then, so you have something to look forward to.” He said, returning her wink from earlier. I gagged and went through the door, hearing Tate laughing behind me. I’ll let Dom work his magic alone, and just wait outside the door for him.

            When I got to the door, I slumped against the wall and closed my eyes.

 

Wake up.

 

I jerked awake, worried that I had actually fallen asleep, but when I checked my watch, only a minute had past. I sighed and slumped back against the wall, hoping Dom wouldn’t take too long. I closed my eyes again, just wanting the light to dim down a little.

 

You have to wake up. If you don’t, the fire will kill you.

 

            I stood up, not wanting to hear the voice anymore. It always happens when I close my eyes. It’s happened to me ever since my Mom died a few months ago. That’s when my insomnia got worse, because of the damn voice. It was a male voice, definitely older than my own, but not anyone I knew. It only came whenever I closed my eyes to try to rest.

            I shook my head to clear it and heard the black door to the advanced class hallway open up, and saw Dom smiling as he walked towards me. I just laughed, wondering what took him an extra five minutes just to say goodbye to the girl.

            “Well, that was a good way to start the day. Much better than being to class on time.” He said when he stood beside me. “Are you ready to have everyone stare at us as soon as we walk in?” I asked him, knowing he doesn’t like being the center of attention unless it’s with a girl he likes. His smile dropped from his face, and I laughed again when he tried to punch me.

            “Thanks for ruining my moment Ven. It was a good one too…alright, let’s deal with the nosy a*s people.” He said, opening the classroom door. I walked in behind him, wondering how many people were in the class. I stopped as soon as I stepped into the classroom. It was empty. “Where is everyone?” I asked Dom, knowing he had no idea.

            “Are we even sure this is the right class? Maybe Tate just wanted to mess with us.” He said, and the way his face looked made me laugh again.  “Don’t get to crestfallen Dom. I’m sure this is the class. She said that this building was being renovated, so maybe our class is just in a different room for today.” I told him, hoping he wouldn’t be too mopey.

            “So…what? We just head back to the apartments and see if we had class today or not?” He said. I nodded, and started to leave the classroom when I head a distinct ringing in my ears. “Go ahead and leave Dom, I’ll catch up to you. I’m gonna see if I can get some sleep in here for a little.” I told him. “Alright man. Good luck. I’ll see you back at the apartments.” He replied, heading out the door and closing it behind him.

 

Raven. I need you to promise me something. Promise me the flames won’t consume you. Promise me you’ll make it through this. Promise!

 

I woke up on the ground of classroom 138 with my mom’s voice still wanting me to promise. I still had no idea what she meant by fire…once I grew up and had access to the internet, I had looked up fires for the year I was three. From what I saw, there weren’t any apartment fires in my hometown, just forest fires from a couple of kids being stupid.

            So why was my Mom so worried about a fire?

Author's Note

Tell me it sucks, or it's good, I don't care, as long as you tell me why.