Elena.

The gravel crackled below my sneakers as I walked home from school. I slowly made my way upstairs to my apartment when the door opened, revealing Mom with a small smile crept across her face. She and I were the only ones that lived there, for I was an only child , my parents divorced and I had no contact whatsover with my father since I was four.

"Hi Mom. Why are you home from work so early?" I asked her as I gave her a hug and walked inside.

"We're expecting visitors, so I came home to cook something extra special."She said, walking back to the kitchen. I asked her who we were expecting when I had set down my things in my room."You'll see in the evening, they're really nice people." She started dicing some vegetables.

"Want any help?"I asked. With an expected "No."I walked back to my room to change into fresher clothes. i was almost done when the phone rang. I opened my door noiselessly and just enough so I could hear who was calling. I was hoping it was the guests calling to cancel, so i pressed my ear to the opening and listened.

"No, she hasn't yet," she whispered. Then in a louder voice she continued,"Alright then, Friday instead." She replied a little louder. She must have added something else in the end, but it was inaudible. I closed the door just as quietly, finished getting dressed, and walked outside to ask her who it was.

"One of our guests is postponing the dinner until next Friday, no biggie though, I had to cook anyway,"she replied. This meant I'd have to wait a week to know who they were. No matter how much I had asked that weekend who was coming, she wouldn't tell me.

It was Monday, which meant I had to go back to High School. I'm a Junior, which meant I was sixteen. I was a bit younger than most Juniors, but my height didn't make me feel so out of place.I saw my best friend, taking out some of the books from her locker next to mine. She saw me and smiled.

"How was your weekend?" She stood up to meet my 5'8'' frame. She was a little shorter than me. We were like opposites. She had long, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes while i had short, naturally jet black hair and gray eyes. I didn't know what my father looked like, but i guess it made sense that I had gotten that from him, I don't remember what he looked like though.

"It was a little frustrating-long story,"I said quickly adding the last part when I saw she was about to ask.

"Oh...okay? Did you get Fridays homework? I didn't understand what we had to do answer questions 3 and 5..." I knew she wasn't going to ask about my weekend anymore, and for that I was grateful.

The day went on with the usual routine, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until lunch. i started feeling nauseous, so i sat down at the nearest lunch table and put a hand to my head, knowing it wouldn't help anyway. She offered to go get a nurse. I shook my head as I picked up my books and slowly made my way through the crowd as the lunch bell rang.

In class, I tried to pay attention to my teacher which I knew was going to be a difficult task. My head started to feel worse and worse with each moment. it felt as if someone had attached a block of ice to my head. It was almost summer, but I was freezing cold. The teacher must have said something, but I couldn't make out the words. Everyone turned to look at me, but their expressions went from amusement to horror. Almost everyone was as horror-struck as the teacher, except Jerry, the school outcast. Instead of even looking at me, he was looking at a wall with a serious expression on his face.

Everyone started crowding around me when I saw a last glance of Jerry who was still at his desk, a glance so brief all I have time to see was a tear rolling down his cheek as he looked at me.

I couldn't hear anything anymore, and I was surrounded by darkness.

If only that was all that had happend, but that was just the horrible beginning to the new life I had never asked for, but had been born into.