Always Amali

THis is for entering in the contest. If you want to read it, you can read it chapter by chapter in the other copy.

Once
 upon a time...

Chapter One

Amali was hurrying to toss clothes into her suitcase, when she heard the kitchen door slam. Slamming was so frequent she didn’t even flinch. When she heard her mother storming up the stairs, she slid on her combat boots and grabbed her keys.

She pushed past her mother on the stairs, hearing her rant but not taking in a word of it. Her mother didn’t even pause, turning to wave the bad report card at the back of Amali’s head as she followed her.
“Don’t you ignore me, Amali!” she yelled.
But Amali was done. She hopped in her car and drove, with no destination in mind. Her curly, dirty blond hair waved in the wind from the open windows and she hurried to close them. The wind whistled in the tree tops and rain was starting to come down. The road she was on was unpaved and the car was rocking precariously. She found herself at the town’s lighthouse, got out, and slammed the door. Her black outfit clung her into the wind, the color matching the clouds roiling above. She heard the ocean crashing against the cliff, in addition to the storm. She hugged herself shaking, and jumped at a flash of lighting. Going back was not an option. She ran blindly through the torrents of rain, and groped around to find a set of stairs. She reached the top and gripped the railing and looked over the edge.
The water was black as night, except when the waves foamed and crashed on the rocks. She turned around and was immediately blinded by the lamp of the lighthouse. Taking her hands off the railing, she covered her eyes and with a sudden gust of wind and clap of thunder, she tripped backwards over the railing.

Chapter Two

Panic gripped her heart as Amali fell to her watery death. The water was black and foamy beneath her. It was crashing and churning against the rocks. It would swallow her. There was no hope of surviving, but then-

she opened her eyes.

Every inch of her body was sore. Sore, but dry; and she was alive. She stood up, ready to find her way back to the car, but was so dizzy she collapsed onto the bed and sent up a cloud of dust. Coughing, she pushed herself up onto her elbows, and looked around. The bed she fell on was covered in moth eaten blankets and beside it was a shattered lamp with a crooked lampshade, standing on an old nightstand. In the opposite corner was a bookshelf. It, along with all its books, was gray, obviously covered with a couple inches of dust as well. On the same wall was a window. Or what used to be a window. Now the screen was ripped off and the panes were smashed. More carefully this time, she stood, making the floor creak as she did.
She took a few, shaky steps and made her way over to the window. Leaning on the windowsill she looked out to determine where she was. Outside was a decrepit old swing set, and a doghouse, overgrown with grass and weeds. She looked down the street, if you could call it that. It looked as if there had been an earthquake. It was divided and cracked into hunks of tar littered everywhere, and there were holes filled with dirty water. All the houses looked the same too. Falling apart; over grown. It was like no place in her town that Amali had ever seen.

She needed to get out of here.

Turning, Amali moved toward the doorway, which was really all it was. Once there had been a door, but now you could only see the hinges it had been ripped off of. As she was leaving the little room, she gasped, standing on her toes, fighting to regain her balance. Right in front of the doorway was a gaping hole in the floor, leading to the next level, and she had almost fallen down through it. She caught her breath and moved around it, carefully testing the floor in front of her before every step. She didn’t want to be the next one to make a hole. The rest of the house was not so different from where she woke up. Holes in the floor were everywhere, and every window was smashed. She had reached for the handrail on her way down the stairs, but it was so dusty she had decided against it. Every nook and cranny was laced with spider webs.
Soon Amali discovered what must have been the living room. Something seemed more off about this room. The furniture had been dragged around more; there were tracks in the dust. There were also foot prints, looking as if people had fought and fled, and a shattered vase was on the floor next to a small table. She had a very bad feeling about this place, all of it. She needed to get out.

Now.

But before she could, Amali was surrounded.

Chapter Three

A group of boys around 17 or 18 had jumped through the broken glass door and surrounded her before she knew what was happening. They had their fists raised, ready for a fight.
Maybe it was the martial arts training she’d had as a little girl. Maybe it was the practice from teaching the creeps on the street a lesson when she was burning of anger at her mom. Maybe it was both, combined with the adrenalin from this whole crazy experience kicking in, but one by one, she went around the circle and knocked them all out.
Finally only one was left standing. He looked a bit wary now she had defeated all his colleagues. They seemed used to being tough and feared, so this must be a new experience for him. Amali decided she probably had the upper hand, and turned, lowering her fists, to talk, not fight. As she turned, she raised her head, and time seemed to stop. Her green amber-flecked eyes met his dark brown ones, and both dropped their fists completely. It was like nothing she had ever felt before, and she only wanted more of it. But the moment was over all too soon. He seemed to feel it too, because he gave his head a little shake, making his dark hair flip wonderfully. Amali’s stomach did a back flip. She let him take her.

Chapter Four

They turned a corner and entered a musty old garage where he led her to a trap door going underground. They descended what felt like millions of stone stairs, finally coming to the doorway of a cavernous room. Gently, he picked her up and she felt his breath tickle her ear.
“Pretend to be passed out,” he whispered.
She obeyed. They entered the room. It seemed to be a meeting place, full of men and women and children. The boy walked up to a man.
“Ah, Dustin,” the man greeted him.

“I found her in the old Pender House. The others went-er-to check the other houses. Should I bring her to a cell?”

A cell? Amali thought. What?! Now Amali started to panic. And she thought he was trying to help her!

Still, she didn’t move. It would be easier to take him down on his own than in front of all these people. Even so, his voice made her shiver happily.
“Yes. Tell her nothing. We must learn how she came to be here before we tell her anything about us.”
Dustin nodded and hurried off with her still in his arms. When they were a good distance away, he put her down and pulled her along.
“Let go! Where are you taking me?” she yelled.

“Shh, not here,” was all he would say, annoying her further.
They turned into a room that was nicely furnished, much better looking than the old houses. It was not at all what she would call a cell.
“Look, you can not make any noise. I’ll be back and I’ll explain everything. Do you trust me?”
He was looking at her so intensely with those eyes she melted and nodded.
Good.” He turned and left.
Throughout the next few days, Dustin proved true to his word. He would bring her food, and they would talk. She learned that they were on a small island in the Pacific Ocean. It was forgotten by other countries, and while they had tried to live normally, they had needed to come together and live like this. Their leader thought that anyone who mysteriously showed up was sent from another country that wanted to take over their land, and they were treated horribly. Mostly it was lost sailors, and sometimes Dustin didn’t agree with this system, and sometimes would take her with him as he went around giving them extra food. In turn she told him how her dad had left, her relationship with her mom had fallen apart, how she had tryed to run away, fallen off the top of the lighthouse, and found herself in the old Pender house.
One night they were sitting on the floor, leaning on the bed where Dustin spent his nights (Amali took the couch). There was nothing left to say, all the food was gone, and Amali was staring at her hands when he looked sharply in her direction. Startled, she looked up and their eyes met again. Gently brushing her hair out of her face he whispered, “You feel that too, right?”
Before she could nod, he leaned in and their lips met. His kiss was soft gentle and sweet. It was the same time-stopping feeling as when their eyes met, only better. Dustin pulled away.
“Run away with me. I hate it here. We can get a nice house on the mainland. Live above ground!”
He was standing, pacing excitedly. He lifted Amali off the ground. Twirling her around, they kissed again. He put her down and gripped her shoulders.
“Say yes, Please say yes!” he begged.
“Yes. Yes, of course!” she said.
He lifted her again and they twirled and kissed and laughed for what seemed like an eternity. She hadn’t been this happy since she was a little girl.

Chapter Five

In the morning, Dustin pulled her out of bed and gave her a gray shirt, black jeans, and sneakers- the uniform of the gang that had first surrounded her. He was already dressed. She put her hair up and hid it in a black cap.
“We’ll sneak out by saying we’re going to patrol the houses,” Dustin explained.
Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the hallway. She kept her head down to avoid being seen.
“I have food stored on one of the sailor’s old boats. We can take it to the mainland.”
Dustin stopped in the cavernous hall Amali had been in when she first arrived, to explain where they were going. Once, they had to beat up someone who thought he recognized Amali before he could sound the alarm. Then they ran before he could wake.
Dustin steered the boat while Amali marveled at how much her life had changed in just a few days. She stood up and gave him a squeeze, looking out over the water.

Epilogue

5 Years Later

“You did it! We made it!” Amali exclaimed, stepping off the boat. Dustin followed, grinning braodly.

Amali remembered that day fondly from her new living room. Dustin was outside, working on the yard. She loved thinking about that day. The day that started her happily ever after.

Once upon a time

Two people learned

That from bad pasts

Can come good futures

They fell in love

And that was all they needed

For a

Happily Ever After

Author's Note

Please Vote!