Amora stood in the shadows again gazing at two figures but could not see their faces. It felt like she was there and also felt like she wasn't there. She saw the two figures running away from something. She could tell that they were terrified she tried to reach them but she felt grounded to the spot where she stood.
Amora could feel her entire body sweating now as she tried looking for the figures but couldn't find them. She heard a gentle tap that slowly increased and with that, she jolted right from her sleep. Her long red hair had come loose from the ponytail and was now a tangled mess.
It was the knock from her mother that had brought her out of her dream.
"Amora, it's five-thirty" that was her mother's voice coming from behind the door.
"Ugh!" she grunted as she found her way out of the bed and into her bathroom to wash her face and do her hair into a tight ponytail. She quickly put on her workout clothes and rushed downstairs to meet her mother who was already wheeling out the bicycles.
"you are five minutes late Amora"
"sorry mum"
" quick ten jumping jacks" the older lady sounded very stern now.
"but mummmmm" Amora tried to wiggle her way out but the glare she got from her mother made her stop right in her tracks and made her start the jumping jacks.
Louisa Jackson, a retired brigadier of the army was very stern with her daughter when it came to fitness. She drafted a weekly workout routine for them and since it was Friday, they were going cycling Amora hated that particular exercise because of the steep road of San Geneva.
Louisa noticed her daughter's frown as they rode out into the chilly morning and laughed.
" you should be used to this now Mora, it's been like eighteen years" she was just right beside her daughter now cycling slowly.
" First, I'm not eighteen till tomorrow and I definitely will never get used to this, not now, not even in the next hundred years" Amora passed her mother as she pedaled harder. Louisa laughed at her statement and pedaled her bicycle to catch up with her.
"we might not be here in a hundred years" she laughed some more.
"I'll be like a hundred and seventeen and you'll be like a hundred and forty-five, instead of bicycles, we'll be on old rocking chairs knitting, and sleeping every two seconds of each knit" It was Amora's turn to laugh now at her statement as she imagined an aged version of herself and her mother still doing the things they loved doing together.
The duo joked and laughed as they cycled on through the streets, only stopping at "Mama Maggie's" a bakery, to get some chocolate bread and muffins for their breakfast.
"what's my schedule for today Lexi?"
"good morning Amora, you have physics, literature, math, gymnastics, and birthday discussions with Lesley" That was Amora's android assistant talking. She designed Lexi to help her with difficult assignments and for reminders.
Amora hurriedly prepared for school wearing grey joggers that hugged her curves perfectly and a tank top that exposed her nice shapely hahandshanks to all the intense workouts.
She quickly grabbed a muffin and some hot cocoa.
Louisa slapped a metal bracelet on her right wrist and returned to typing on her tablet.
"do I have to wear this tracker?" Amora fiddled with the bracelet that was now glowing blue as a result of what her mother was doing on the tablet.
"yes baby, security reasons"
"what if I go to do um, you know hot stuff can I take it off?"
"not even when you are riding my dear, you keep it on" Louisa winked at her daughter who was red from embarrassment now.
" then this weird blue light glows when I orgasm. Ha! Just great mum"
Louisa noticed the sarcasm in her daughter's voice and simply just drew her in for a hug telling her that everything was for a reason. Amora broke the hug soon enough and rushed out of the house to head for school.
Louisa sighed as she watched her daughter leave for school. She sat on a chair sipping her coffee. She intensified the security systems in the house when she woke up one night to an eerie sound coming from the kitchen. She grabbed her pistol and went in search of the person or animal making the sound, but didn't find anything there. She could feel the presence of something or someone watching her and this had been going on for weeks, she knew she had to protect her daughter but Amora wouldn't just understand that.
" teenage girls...sigh"
......
San Geneva high school was the only high school in the area, so it was quite populated. The parking lot had different vehicles belonging to students than teachers.
The hallway was crowded as usual with students loitering here and there. Amora's looks always got her stares from teachers and students alike. Her long red hair that dropped to her waist, pale skin, red lips, almond shape eyes the colors of the deep blue sea, all gave her an ethereal appearance. All these in addition to her impressive grades and sports reputation, she was a queen but somehow wasn't in the popular kid's zone.
She searched the hallway for the only face she wanted to see, Lesley Harold her best friend.
"Hey there Les" She was now walking with her friend who had a baggy hoodie on.
"hi Amora, what's up" Lesley sounded quite dry.
"my birthday is tomorrow and I'm super psyched" Amora was doing some kinda dance now which got her glares and murmurs from other students passing.
"yeah, great" Lesley hid her face from Amora as she replied.
Amora noticed that her friend sounded very off. She held her hand and made her stop to face her and then Amora saw the hideous black eye her friend had been covering with the hoodie.
"oh my goodness! Lesley! Look at your face. He hurt you again didn't he?" Lesley couldn't reply instead she let her tears go sobbing like a baby.
"That bastard! Oh Les honey, we have to report him"
"no no he is going to kill me" Lesley was shaking out of fear as more tears kept falling.
" oh damn it, Les, this is not right. He can't keep abusing you and you keep mute about it"
Amora saw a boy looking at Lesley's swollen face and whispering to his friend.
"what you looking at huh?" she shot the boy a glare and the guy hurriedly left the place he was standing.
"with a face like that, you won't get a prom date. Come now, let's go see the school nurse". With this, Amora whisked her crying friend to the school clinic to get her face treated.
Soon it was lunchtime and the cafeteria was packed with students. Amora and Lesley sat in a corner eating their meal.
"I've gotten a close break" Lesley sounded enthusiastic as she chowed down her ham sandwich.
"what break?" Amora's mouth was full as she asked.
Lesley brought out an object that looked like a remote but with two antennas joined by a wire.
"my realm detector picked up a strange frequency coming from the north which is where the willow woods is located"
"uh, okay" Amora sounded uninterested.
"Well, that only means there's a realm somewhere and it's just beyond the woods" Lesley's voice sounded awake filled with hope.
Amora burst into laughter when Lesley made the last statement. Lesley shot her a glare which immediately stopped the laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" Lesley looked annoyed by the sudden laughter.
"Alright, alright, first of all, there are no such things as realms and secondly, your whatever detector probably just picked up a radio frequency " Amora sipped her juice as she made her point clear.
"Why do you think realms don't exist? you believe in wormholes and time traveling"
"yes I do believe in those because it has been proven to be quite possible through quantum physics"
" This is also quantum physics Mora, there are realms where mythical creatures live" Lesley was pushing the object to Amora's hand.
"you know, you should probably quit those sappy fairytale movies you watch and grow up girlfriend. Look if there were realms out there, it should have been discovered eons ago and you wouldn't be here enduring brutality from your psycho foster father, you would have escaped Les". Amora's voice was rather too cold for Lesley.
Lesley felt hurt by Amora's words and tears began to gather and threatened to fall.
"no, no Les I uh didn't mean it that way" Amora tried to reach Lesley who was already packing up her lunch to leave.
"I find your view quite disturbing Amora" Lesley walked away from Amora.
"ah sheesh! Les" she called after her friend as sheoacked her things to go after her.
Lexi's face popped up from her watch shaking her head.
"very dark Mora, that was very dark"
"shut up Lexi" Amora turned off the watch and went after her friend.
Amora soon found Lesley eating outside watching a bunch of jockeys do their thing.
"go away," Lesley said as she saw Amora approach her.
"I'm sorry Les, I didn't mean it like that" .
Lesley was silent for a few seconds before motioning her to sit with her. Lesley brought out a similar device and handed it to her friend.
"I was thinking we were going to work on this together following all the scientific procedures before jumping to conclusions. Isn't that what scientists do?"
"yes. I'm sorry about that" Amora collected the device and put it into her bag. They continued to eat out there watching the guys play and clown around.
"hey Jackson, catch" That was a jock's voice coming from behind Amora. She heard a flying swooshing sound and immediately raised her hand catching the object which happened to be a stick, without looking back.
"Nice catch nerd" The guy teased.
Amora's reflexes were very fast and she was very agile even for her age and gender.
"agility has no gender" her mother would say to her when she spoke of it. Amora was thankful for the workouts that she thought gave her agility and fast reflexes.
Amora was also very short-tempered when it came to jockeys and their teasings. Lesley begged her to remain calm but she wouldn't listen.
"maybe you shouldn't go around throwing things" she snapped at the blonde jockey.
"Come now Mora, let's go" Lesley dragged Amora off by the hand so she wouldn't get into any more trouble.
"what you gonna do about it huh? Do some of your mummy's dance moves on me?" This comment got laughter from the other guys and that got Amora angry. She yanked her hand out of Lesley's and charged at the boy. With one swift move of her legs, the guy was lying on the ground while she pummeled him on the face causing the other students around to shout and cheer. Lesley tried dragging her off but she wouldn't budge.
IN THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE;
Amora was raising her voice trying to explain herself to the principal .
"I don't want to hear anything else miss Jackson, you broke the school regulation of no violent behavior "
"but he started it" Amora tried to defend herself.
" no excuses miss Jackson, detention after school" The older lady dismissed Amora and the injured guy with tawave of her hand.
"Serves you right " the guy made a face at her as he walked past her. Amora wanted to hit him again but Lesley held her back.
"it's official Les, I hate boys"
......
Amora was just rounding up detention she had spent arranging books on the library shelf in alphabetical order. She had a little help from Lesley but she was very much exhausted after everything. They were about leato leave the Z section of the library when something caught their attention.
It was someone wearing a thick brown jacket and he was floating around the shelves around the P section.
"what the? How is he able to float?" Lesley whispered to Amora.
"I don't know and don't care, he's stealing a book and I have to stop him"
Amora moved closer to the floating person. "who are you and what are you doing?" she asked.
The person jolted and fell to the ground with the gigantic book he had stolen. He made to pick up the book and run off but then Amora caught the coat and their eyes met. Although he was wearing a mask, Amora could still see that his eyes were a piercing emerald green.
"aaahhhh!" Amora groaned as the person stomped on her foot and took off with the book.
"quick after him" .
Lesley and Amora chased after this mysterious thief from the library to the hallway and suddenly couldn't find him anywhere. The guards had said that they didn't see anyone go in or out of the building.
"great just great! Now I have to pay for that book. his is the worst day ever" Amora lamented.
.....
It was late into the night and Louisa was awake again because she had heard that familiar eerie noise. She grabbed her pistol and activated lockdown on all the doors.
She walked down to the kitchen pointing her gun at no one in particular. She heard a woosh and turned around to see what it was but nothing was there. She began to hear eerie whispers coming from the living room
"who's there?" She was pointing her gun now towards the direction of the whisper. She saw a black smoke emerge and a pair of dark eyes in the smoke.
"Who are you? What do you want?" her lips trembled but her hands gripped the pistol firmly.
"Mum?" That was Amora's voice now. Amora stood on the stairs staring down at her.
The smoky image had disappeared and all Louisa could see was Amora.
"why are you up sweetie?" she asked as she watched Amora walk down.
"I heard you talking. Why are you holding your gun?" Amora scratched her eyes and yawned.
"it's uh, I um thought I heard something "
Louisa drew her daughter into a tight hug stroking her hair. "whatever happens, fight back, survive " she whispered.
"uh, what's that about? You've been acting all strange for weeks now"
"stress my dear, just stress. Come let's go sleep in my room" Louisa held Amora as they both went up the stairs. Louisa kept looking back to see if the smoky image would return.