Marissa had returned to life. It felt weird. She had destroyed herself, no destroyed her. She would make sure he never forgot it. It was too late for that now though. She wanted to ensure that it never happened again. The foolish child that she once knew was gone. The Solars had told her so much, and if they were to be believed, school and life as she knew it didn’t matter anymore. Her mother told her to get ready for school, but that wasn’t minimal compared to what really mattered. She had a chance to change the world, and make an impact that would last thousands of years. This wasn’t something she would pass up. Looking back at the life she had wasted, no others had destroyed, she wouldn’t let that happen again. She would fight back harder and never again give up. Nothing would stop her from doing the impossible.

“Marissa, are you coming down?” Her mother was getting more persistent. Rolling her eyes, she had to survive high school first. There was nothing that she could do right now. There was no point. According to the Solars, things didn’t start getting weird until 4 years from now. When she, no she wouldn’t finish that sentence. The pain was too much to think about. She didn’t want to go through that experience ever again. She got lucky, and was brought back to life. Others didn’t have that luck, at least as far as she knew. She wasn’t going to waste it. Marissa jumped down the stairs two at a time, grabbed a bagel, and ran out the door. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to me Marissa?” her mom yelled after her.

“Sorry mom, gotta run. Love you!” Marissa did mean it, there was just so much to do and so little time to do it. First, she had to try out these new powers the Solars had given her. The way they described it made it sound useless, but who knows. She knew she wouldn’t be able to see Thane for a while, and she hated herself for that, but the world came first. Plus, he had his own angle right? According to the Solars, some people were essential, but others were not. What the fuck was up with that? That felt messed up. As Marissa approached the bus stop where she normally stopped and waited for the bus for school, she just kept walking. She had to find out what power the Solars gave her, and how to use it as soon as possible. She was now gifted unlike others, and she would make sure that she took advantage of it. She would not be brought low like she had before. She walked off the sidewalk into the woods. She knew a spot that would be perfect. What they had told her sounded weird and useless, and apparently she had the ability to increase an item’s functionality whatever that meant. She flexed her fist and punched it into a tree and tried to enhance it, but she didn’t really know what she was doing. It hurt and that did not work. What in the world was she supposed to do this felt weird and just stupid. The Solars though were real, they had to be real, which meant that the power she had gained had to be real, right?

Instead of going to school this is what Marissa did. She wanted to understand how empowering her own body worked, so she did what came naturally to her. She pulled out her headphones and phone, and got ready to run. Marissa adjusted her shoes so they were as comfortable as she could get them. She could feel every fiber of her being thrumming with excitement. She hadn’t ran since she died. She had been more excited about this than seeing Thane again. She crouched, getting ready to be released from that chain. She felt the whole world about to be released to her. One second she was crouching, and the next she was up and sprinting. She felt the entire world rushing by her, the music pounding in her head, and her feet pounding against the ground. It filled her with emotions and love for this putrid world. She hated the world so much, but when she ran everything seemed less bad. She ran faster than she had ever before. She pushed her emotions into each stride, and she felt a surge of speed. Now she was moving even faster. She pushed everything she had into it, Thane, the ruined world, her death, that bully, leaving Andrew because of her dumb brother, and every other conceivable emotion into her running. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks, but she wouldn’t stop, not now not ever again. She would do something worthwhile with her life no matter how hard she had to fight.

Everything was zooming by her, at this rate. She was running the same trails she always ran by her house. They were normally used for hiking, but for her they were perfect. They were long and had a range of different terrain. She loved the feeling of leaping over the logs and rocks in her path and as she moved faster than ever before she started to leap and dart around the trail faster than ever before. She knew every part of this trail, and could do this with her eyes closed. The things changed. She had gone beyond the trail, and was in unknown territory. She believed though. She could do this, and there was no way she would fail now. Bouncing off the trail like a pinball she focused on registering what she saw before and reacting. Marissa couldn’t, no she wouldn’t stop. A huge tree had fallen in front of her, and normally she would go around, but today was a different day. She stopped, ran back a few feet, turned up the volume on Woah Woah Woah and sprinted. She would do this, and leaped. The tree had to have been at least 3 feet in diameter and she hurdled it like it was nothing. Marissa could feel the grin etched onto her face. For the first time in her life she felt control in her life. This was why she ran, she ran to feel the parts of her life she could control, but now more than ever she felt control over her whole life. The bullies wouldn’t stop her, and neither would these demons. She didn’t choose to be here, but she would play with the cards she was dealt. Another boulder, and yet another obstacle that was inconsequential to Marissa. As she leaped over it though se saw a problem that could not be solved easily. The path had become more crowded with trees and the path was gone. She could not go on any further. Marissa turned to head back, but a thought resonated in her head, “I will never give up again.” That’s right she wouldn’t ever give up ever again. This was her moment to prove that new way of life. She glanced at her watch, it was 7:30. Marissa had about 30 min until school started, and seeing Thane was definitely on her priority list of things to do. Another day perhaps, she would pierce through the underbrush and see what lay beyond it. Nothing would hold her back any longer, not even the supposed gods that existed.

* * *

Thane went to his first class and, all his classes really. He did the work and paid attention the entire time. He felt out of the zone today though. One thought kept zooming around his head. Where was Marissa. He hadn’t seen her in fourth period, which they had together, math. The entire time, he was looking around the room for her. It wasn’t that big, but she had never skipped class like those dumb jocks. She loved learning, at least that’s what he remembered.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Distracted Thane?” He had been caught not paying attention. Mr. Hendricks was too strict a teacher to be teaching at this dump of a school. He was a good math teacher too. Thane actually learned in his class, unlike the rest of the classes where he felt like he was just memorizing facts.

“No sir, I just noticed that Marissa isn’t here today, and was slightly concerned for her well being. She’s not usually someone who misses class.” Thane didn’t feel like lying today. It had already been a letdown of a day.

“Well you’ll be able to find her after class.” The class resumed as normal and then it happened. Marissa came into class 30 minutes late. Thane tried to get her attention and get her to sit next to him. Mr. Hendricks had other ideas though.

“Why don’t you sit right here, I want to make sure you don’t miss any more important facts before our upcoming test. Which is on Friday by the way, just so the class is aware.” There was an audible groan from the entire class as this reminder was announced. Thane thought he would be fine, but his attention was more focused on Marissa. No way would he trust the idiots in his class with a message to pass to Marissa, so he waited.

As soon as class was over, he saw Marissa glance at him and they both dashed out the door.

“Marissa, wait!” but she didn’t slow down, so he sped up. He couldn’t catch up. It was like she was sprinting ahead of him, but she was clearly walking. He sped after her though, he had to talk to her. They both sped down the stairs, and as they rounded into the area in front of the school, Thane managed to stop Marissa.

“Marissa, please you can’t leave me again,” She was turned away from him. She obviously didn’t want to stay, but Thane had to see her and talk to her. She was the only one that made this terrible world, well not so terrible.

“Thane. I’m sorry. I can’t talk to you right now. I want to, but there’s some things I have to do. Please believe in me. Believe in yourself, and take care of yourself.” Marissa had pain in her voice as she said it. If Thane saw her face, he wouldn’t be surprised if she was crying. Her voice and tone still screamed defiance and determination. Marissa seemed stronger than she had ever been before.

“Marissa,” Thane was on the brink of breaking down. He believed in her so much, and had missed her so much, but here she was leaving him again. He didn’t want her to leave him alone again. He was tired of being alone, and Marissa. No, he wouldn’t accept this. “I’ll come with you then. Whatever you need to do, I’ll help. We can do this together.” The desperation in Thane’s eyes was real and Marissa could see it. “We’re only 14, you can’t do this alone.”

Marissa gave a sigh, and said, “I’m not going anywhere Thane, not yet at least. I have to wait at least 4 years until anything happens, but until that time. I need to be ready for what’s coming, and I can’t watch you get hurt again. I can’t lose everything again, no I won’t let that happen. If you don’t think I hate this then you’re dead wrong, but I need to do this Thane. I’ve missed you like crazy, and I don’t want you to leave ever again, but I need to make sure that I’m ready. World changing things are going to happen, and if you had any sense you would get ready as well.”

She was right, he couldn’t be weak any longer. He picked himself up emotionally and mentally, and focused everything he had. Amy had said he had powers beyond his wildest dreams, now was the time to test them out. He thought of what drove him, it was the connections he made. The few friendships he had, and the emotions he loved feeling. Then they creeped out of his hands. They were golden chains, forged from his happiness. “I will join you in the preparations then. There’s no way I’m letting you beat me.”

At this Marissa turned around, “About damn time the old Thane was back, I was hoping you had turned into a blubbering child. What seems to be your power though?”

“My emotions I think, it seems like I can materialize them into certain things.” Amy at that moment floated down from the third floor wings out and stretched wide.

“There you two are. We need to get out of here. There’s a time distortion that is about to hap-” The space around the three of them rippled. “Damn it we’re too late! Thane use your chains to connect us all. It should stop it from completely affecting us.”

“What, I don’t understand” Thane stood there a little shell shocked. Things weren’t normal, Thane had definitely had been overloaded with information today.

“Thane, chains now!” This time Thane responded. Chains appeared and linked Marissa and Thane.

“I can’t do it!” Thane was trying to guide his chains towards Amy, but they wouldn’t budge. He felt like they didn’t have any energy left to use to guide the chains.

“You have to Thane, if you don’t I could cease to exist. I don’t know the full power of this spell. It can strike at any time and so far anywhere on the mortal plain.” Amy seemed to  shout these words, but they came out of her mouth no louder than a whisper. Then the entire area began to distort. Time and Space seemed to be bending under the weight of this spell, as Amy called it.

“Now Thane!” Amy’s voice was getting quieter and quieter. Thane was reaching his hand towards Amy and the chain that was holding onto both him and Marissa reached towards Amy. The chain didn’t make it in time. Everything turned black. When the darkness finally left, there was a pile of ash left where Amy was standing. She was gone. Everything around them had aged. The trees were taller and the school building looked aged. Nothing was the same, and as Thane looked at Marissa, he noticed her hair and everything about her had grown. Thane imagined this was true for him as well. Marissa’s phone rang.

“Marissa, are you ok?! Please don’t give up just yet, there is so much more to live for in life.” The voice on the phone seemed panicked and scared.