The wind howled quietly in the air, tousling the yellow leaves on the ground and lashing onto anything in its way. The moon reached its zenith high up in the air, looking down to the earth with its pale grey eyes indifferently. A few wolves cried hungrily from afar. Everything else was sleeping soundly. A pair of shadowed eyes schemed across the street outside the forest from behind one of the many trees. The dark figure breathed in the cold damp air slightly as if sniffing like a curious canine. A smile stretched across the shadowed face.
Near. It’s near.
A dark red liquid was dripping from its coat onto the dried leaves under its feet. The sound was small but so clear in its ears. It turned to the slim figure lying motionlessly on the ground behind it. It had been a terrible long time since it had last done this. How memorable and remarkable the feeling was. The girl was so very young and beautiful. It almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
It raised its left hand as if it was touching an invisible wall. A rush of heat flow from its chest to the entire body and then gathered around its palm. A flash of red flame sparked off from nowhere and grew in size with the number of trees. All the trees were engulfed by the bright, angry red flame in a blink of an eye. The body was no longer in sight, the same for the dark figure.
****
A girl with long wavy auburn hair was sitting at the very last desk at the corner of a white classroom. Although her bangs had covered most of her eyes, it was clear that she had long eye-lashes and dark green eyes. She did not have a tall, skinny body like the other girls at school. Instead, she only had a height of five feet four and a...healthier figure, as she called it. She was as pale-looking as always. And quiet, too. She did not like to talk much, one of the many reasons she was branded as a Nobody.
To put it simply, not many people knew of her existence. She did not blame them, though. It was her primary goal to not standout in the crowd, or better yet, to not get any attention at all. She had an average height and figure, an average look, and average grade in the class, which was why sometimes even the teachers forgot about this particular student. Even the name, Robyn Winston, was so ordinary. What a sad, average girl I am, she thought. But this was because she did not know what was coming.
Mr Morgan, her English literature teacher, asked a question and waited patiently for someone to answer. She knew the answer but she would never raise her hand. She was not particularly interested in literature. She had only taken it because of her. The last bell rang before Mr Morgan could get an answer for his question but he still managed to torture them with an assignment to interpret one of Tennyson’s poems before they flock out of the class.
Robyn slung her backpack on her shoulder and was ready to leave when a hand tapped on her other shoulder. She turned to see a girl slightly taller than her, with straight jaw-length red hair smiling brightly at her. Her pale green eyes glimmered at Robyn like fresh emeralds.
“Could you, perhaps, help me with the assignment?” She bit her lower lip and looked at Robyn pleadingly.
Robyn sighed. Does she even have to ask?
“It’s a yes, right?”
Robyn gave her a faint smile and rolled her eyes.
She jumped onto Robyn and gave her a hug, with a huge smile on her face. “You’re the best, Robyn.”
“You know, I took literature because of you. Don’t you think it’s ironic that you are relying on me?” She grinned.
The girl pushed her hair behind her ears. “Well, I’m not gifted in literature like you are. You should thank me for dragging you into this.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and grinned like a child who had just won a fight over a toy.
Stella Stravinski, Robyn’s first friend at Lucien East High School. She was rather popular among the boys because of her delicate features and personality. She was always down to earth and selfless to the point that she could not reject any request for help from people. She even had difficulties to reject a boy. She and Robyn were practically from different polars of personality. Robyn was private, self-conscious and quiet. Stella was kind and compassionate to everyone she met, and bright. Despite of their differences in terms of personality, they became the best of friends over the years since seventh grade.
Robyn walked down the usual path to home. She was living in the greenest neighbourhood in Donnsville. Bushes and trees were everywhere. The sweet and calming scent of the flowers and leaves was always in the air. She breathed in slightly. She loved this place. She loved the subtropical climate the most. Hot and humid summers; Mild and rainy winters; And the contradiction during autumn when pink blossoms bloom brightly against the golden leaves and bright blue sky. Most of the houses in Donnsville were built in southern style — spacious and airy with tall ceilings, large front porches and veranda, and roofs with dormers. Evidently, Robyn’s house was one of them. Hers was a two-story, pale green house with a wrap-around porch and three gabled dormers on the roof.
She strolled toward the large green front yard and then the dark cherry wood door. The moment she opened it, a fluffy golden fur ball came rushing down the stairs and pounded onto her. That would be Nelly, her beloved golden retriever. She patted Nelly on the head and looked around the house. She fed her some snacks and went up to her room. The walls were painted in alizarin red with the floor carpeted with cream coloured soft carpet. There was a large dormer window on the other side of the room. It had a dormer window seat with matching colour to the walls. Her queen-size brass bed was covered with white and grey blanket, bed sheet and pillows, decorate with pale blue floral print. The room was bedecked slightly in Victorian style, like all other rooms. Her room, however, was darker than the others.
She closed the door and put away her backpack and books. She took off her black shoes and socks and stepped into the bathtub half filled with cold water. It was her little quirky habit. After changing into her normal clothes, she tied up her auburn hair and heated up a plate of leftover spaghetti.
Robyn was not the type of person that enjoys after-school activities. She very seldom hung out with her friends after school, including Stella. The sun had set. She sat in front of the television for hours. She was not actually listening to the reporter reporting on the weather. It was not until a flick of an image on the television that she paid attention to the news.
“...started last night at Riverdale without an apparent source. The firemen said it might have been a natural forest fire intensified by chemical combustion. As—“ The reporter stepped aside and revealed what looked like red, transparent fire, burning furiously. “— you can see, the fire has a very peculiar colour. The firemen are still trying to put it out. Up until now, there is no report of injury or death. Hopefully, there won’t be any until the very end...”
Riverdale, the town about five hundred miles away from Donnsville. A forest fire? How could it have happened with all the humidity in the air? And there wasn't a lightning storm. She stared at the screen, hugging the pillow tightly.
The bright red flame continued to flicker on the screen. A feeling of uneasiness bottled up from the bottom of her stomach. She could not understand why she was so afraid, why she felt that the fire was neither naturally nor chemically illuminated, and why she felt as if there was something coming. She was not afraid of the fire but something else. Something unknown.
She jumped a little when the front door closed. An adult, and more beautiful, version of herself came walking into the living room.
“Why so jumpy?” said the twenty-five years old woman.
Robyn sat up straight on the couch and clenched her jaws. She bit her lips. “You’re late today.”
“Some extra works.” She took off her coat and hung it on the hanger. “Did you cook?”
Robyn stared at her plate on the coffee table. The woman’s eyes followed her gaze and then rolled her eyes. “Sluggish pig.” She walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “Go order some Chinese. I don’t feel like cooking.” She poured the apple juice into a glass and gulped it down her throat.
Who’s the pig now? Robyn picked up the phone and order some noodles from a nearby Chinese restaurant. After putting down the phone, she turned to the woman. “Ashley, I need your help on calculus. Are you free?”
“More numbers? As if it’s not enough to look at them 24/7,” she whined.
Robyn frowned. “Fine. Sorry for asking,” she said bitterly.
The woman who was called Ashley put away the glass and looked at Robyn apologetically. “Oh, come on. You’re my little sister. ‘course I’ll help you. But not before I have my bubble bath.” She smiled at Robyn and walked up the stairs before Robyn could say a word.
Robyn slid down the couch and was about to change the channel when Ashley shouted like a trumpet from upstairs, “How many times have I told you not to leave the clothes around? And clean off the dust on your desk!”
Robyn sighed. Ashley was a typical Virgo. A complete clean and control freak, unlike Robyn, who's also a Virgo. Robyn wasn't as sensitive about cleanliness as her, and she didn't like to take charge of things, too. But it couldn't be helped, Robyn thought. Ashley was in charge ever since their parents moved to Spain as she was the only adult in the house.
****
It was raining outside when Robyn was sound asleep in her warm bed. It was only a mild rain. She had her first dream in weeks.
There was this old Georgian clock which its second hand was ticking slowly and sluggishly as if it was spoiled. The minute hand was only a few millimetres away from the roman number twelve. But finally, the clock struck twelve with a melody ringing all over the air. The moon was high in the midnight sky but it was neither silver nor yellow. It was red. The surrounding sky was infected by its redness to the point that the sky looked like it was bleeding.
It was a strange dream. Dreams are bound to be illogical, silly. The little voice in her head said so. It must be because of the forest fire I saw on the news. Yeah, it must be.
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