The Seven: Origins

{Cadance}

"Riot, you shithead!" I yelled as my best friend laughed as I hit the ground.

Ever since I was maybe four years old, this was what our friendship was like; immature, hilarious and semi-abusive.

My earliest memory was of Riot Regan, telling me in preschool, that I was destined for greatness. He had apparently heard his parents say the phrase alot and thought it might win him some friends. It worked on me and we had been inseparable ever since.

It was more like being siblings. We looked out for each other and that hadn't changed so far.

As children, we caused trouble together. In junior high, we fought together. In high school, we skipped school to go to the lake and get high.

We were typical kids aside from the fact that we're capable of ripping living beings in half, jumping over 40 feet and had fangs. Turns out, Riot was a convenient friend. We knew about each other being more than human and we could talk about it.

One day as we sat on the dock at the lake, I rolled a joint and asked him about his family.

"I'm not sposed to talk to even you about it, Cadan..." He sighed.

I rolled my eyes. Riot didn't abide by rules. It wasn't in his nature. I inhaled the fresh air deeply.

Nature was the closest I felt with my real family and God. Strange for such a rebel to be so spiritual. Riot calls me a hippie. I grow all sorts of rare herbs and flowers to make medicine or remedies of sorts. I even grew my own weed.

I had been gardening since my mother died. My adopted mother, I mean. Maybe my real mom was alive, who knows. My adopted dad took care of me since I was eleven. So far, he was doing his best. I knew he missed her. So did I. But gardening was something I did with her that helped me remember her fondly.

Riot didn't ever question it or make fun of me for it. In fact, when we were in high school, some guy joked about how gardening was for old ladies and Riot punched him so hard he knocked two teeth out.

He often called me Thumbelina, implying I was born of a flower. He said it explained why I had grassy green hair and bubblegum pink eyes.

My parents told me I had been born unique and why shouldn't God mark how unique I was with colors?

But no matter how unique everyone told me I was, how unique I felt, I was lost. I had no idea what to do with my life. I had no idea what to do with myself.

I prayed about it every day and waited patiently for a sign from God.

Riot told me I'd find one soon. I tried to accept that and focus on other things. But it was difficult to do that, when I slept and dreamt of familiar faces that I couldn't remember when I woke.

I often had dreams of a rainbow-haired woman but all I could remember seeing was her beautiful locks of multicolored hair.

I also dreamt of a huge beautiful garden, that I had decided was heaven.

"You know, Riot was not wrong when he said you were destined for greatness, Thumbelina." My dad smiled, as we ate dinner one night.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Because I believe you're going to be a big part of the world. You might even save it one day. I just have a feeling that you're more than what you think, Rhythm."

I smiled at my childhood nickname and pondered this later that night. I sat in my garden, hopelessly praying that my father was right, somehow.

I mean, I was twenty-five, I had no job and no ideas about what to go to college for. I was clueless and frustrated. I was missing something. A huge chunk of my soul was missing and the open gap threatened to release what was left. I needed to fill the gap before I lost myself completely.

I sat in the garden, sobbing quietly and I didn't hear anyone approach. I felt it. I looked up from the ground and gasped. A beautiful young man smiled softly at me. The sides of his head were black but the rest was grassy green and his eyes were bubblegum pink.

"Rhythm...." he murmured, holding a hand out.

I took it and smiled as he wiped my tears away with his other hand.

"Lyric." I stated.

I didn't question it. I knew him. He was part of my soul. He was here to fill the gap.

"I'm not the only thing causing the gap, Rhythm." He murmured.

Childhood memories of playing with him, his brothers, Riot, and several other girls were filling my head.

Lyric handed me an envelope and I opened it and read. As I read, I felt the other parts of my missing soul drawing nearer.