IGNIS- Final
IGNIS
I was born on a rainy day in October, my mother always wanted me to be born in the summer so she could name me something like sunshine or some tree name. But instead I got stuck with the name Rain. “ Little Rainy “ is what she would call me as she would braid my hair with assorted ribbons. Dressing me in little blue dresses and yellow rain boots, we would bike all around our little town, Cannon Beach and go pick daisies. We used to do that everyday, our house filled with bouquets of daisies and daisy crowns. We would sit at home and make long strings of daisies to hang up all the way around my room. We would do that everyday until she died. My mother died when I was eleven, we were taking a family day on the beach and while we weren’t looking, she got caught and carried away by a sneaker wave. I remember very little from that terrible day but the last I saw of her was her beautiful blue eyes. Every year since her death, we go to the same beach and throw in daisies, for her collection.
I’m seventeen now, my Junior year in highschool. I work at the coffee house down the street from my house. Well, technically it’s not my house, I’ve just been living there for five years. My best friend Grayson took me in after it was too unbearable to live with my father. *Ding*, hearing the bell ring broke me out of my thoughts. Thank God, I don’t want to think about my father.
“Hey Rain”
Oh good, It’s Grayson
“Hey Gray, why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
Grayson works at the bowling alley a few blocks away. This small town has everything.
“They don’t need me, no one is gonna go bowling when it’s like 80° outside. Come on, get out early!! Let’s go to the beach!!”
The beach. After I stopped living with my father, I stopped going to the beach. It was too hard to go alone. Plus, I never told Grayson.
“How about instead of the beach, we could have a picnic by the water tower. It’s such a pretty view. Plus the beach is far, and my car is in the shop.”
“Oh, come on Rain, trust me. The beach is fun, there will probably be a party or something we can go to.”
I then realized that I was at work and Grayson was holding up the line.
“Okay, I’ll think about it. Come back when I’m off, now go away unless you’re ordering.”
He ordered a smoothie and then left.
Next thing I know, I’m in the passenger seat of Ozzy’s car. I got shotgun because I’m a faster runner than Grayson. Ozzy is my other best friend besides Grayson. I don’t really have any friends that are girls, guys are more real. I never really connected with girls. They always judged me for not wearing makeup and not following the trends. The guys always saw me for me and they all made me feel like I belonged.
Stereotypically, my arm is out the window and swaying to the beat. Ozzy turns up the music and I can feel the base in my toes. The blue John Lennon glasses I gave him hang from the mirror and shimmer in the light. I look out of the window and the trees turn into a horizon of the prettiest blue water, reminds me of my mother’s eyes. Stepping out of the car, I take my shoes off and start to run. My hair blows in my face and Grayson lets out a huge laugh. From afar, Ozzy points out a bonfire down the shore.
“Yes! A party!”
I could tell Grayson was excited because he hadn’t been to a party since he had one at his house, so now it’s to school, work, and then home. The only reason he got away with coming to the beach is because he told his mom that he was volunteering at a homeless shelter. Cannon Beach is a small town, so she’ll catch him. We start walking towards the large group of people huddled around the fire. As we get closer, we realize that they aren’t partying but just sitting silently around the fire. Grayson tried to cut the silence by saying,
“Y’all ready to party”
No one replied , I could hear the crickets. They all stared at us in unison their hands still warming by the fire. They all stood up and started walking away into the woods, Ozzy starts to follow them, as if he was under a spell.
“Ozzy wait! Where are you going?”
He hears me and turns to give me the blankest stare, like his soul left his body. I turn to Grayson to ask him what to do but he was gone. The next thing I remember is running through the woods, I had taken off my shoes earlier and left them in the car. I regret that now. Running through the woods for what felt like an hour, there was no sight of them. My feet were starting to burn and it hurt to breathe.
Finally, I saw one of the weird strangers walking into a cave glowing orange from inside. I followed him from afar so he wouldn’t see me. As I walked into the cave, I saw all the strange people. They all were wearing red cloaks like they were a part of some cult. I hid behind a rock to look for my friends, I couldn’t see them but the huge wooden structure looked suspicious. Luckily, there was a pile of extra cloaks so I could blend in. I nonchalantly snuck past the crowd and into the structure.
“Guys! Psst, over here.”
They both turned their heads and looked at me like they had never seen me before. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, the figure had its hood up so I couldn’t see their face.
“Who are you? Why’d you kidnap my friends? What do you want!?”
The figure didn’t reply so I grabbed their hood and pushed it off their face. The first thing I saw was her striking, blue eyes.
“My little Rainy?”
The only person that called me that was my mother.
“Mom? This is impossible, you’re dead.”
“I’m sorry I never came back for you, Rain. I did get caught in a sneaker wave, so that wasn’t a lie. I was rescued by the IGNIS group, my new family. Your father couldn’t bear to tell you that I ran away to join some cult, so he lied. I’m sorry.”
I turned to Grayson and Ozzy and completely ignored what she just told me.
“What did you do to them? Change them back!”
“They are fine Rainy, they are just in a trance, if you look into a member’s eyes, you’ll be hypnotized. Right now they are being convinced to join us. Become IGNIS, become fire.”
I couldn’t imagine losing both of my best friends to a cult with my mother. I would NEVER let that happen. My calm demeanor turned into a rage. I slapped Grayson and Ozzy in the face in one motion. They snapped out of the trance and looked at me with sheer confusion. I grabbed both of them by their arms while all the other members started to chase us, and grabbing at my hair. It felt like I was swimming through a sea of fire. All the red gave me a migraine. As we were escaping, I could hear my mother’s voice yelling at me.
“Wait, my little Rainy, we could be happy here together, please join us!”
I look back at her one last time before we left the cave, the fake sadness on her face made me realize that she never cared for me in the first place.
We ran through the woods, past the bonfire, and to the car. The whole way home we were silent. They didn’t remember anything that had happened. I’ll tell them later when they’re ready. I know we should’ve gone on a picnic.
Tanka
Trees
Trees continued-
Summer ends, fall starts
Green leaves turn to yellow leaves
Cold air hits my face
My cheeks turn red, my ears burn
I miss the warm, sun, light rays
Hallways-
Claustrophobia
Personal bubble is popped
Trapped with no escape
Trying to get to next class
Will I survive these hallways ?
Haiku
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
Strawberries –
Red, juicy, and sweet
Strawberry fields forever
Losing track of time
Trees –
Summer ends, fall starts
Green leaves turn to yellow leaves
Cold air hits my face
Free Verse: Confused
Confused
Confusion ponders all day on a simple choice
She sits and waits
The sun sets, questions unanswered
Confusion still rests on the same choice
Sitting, waiting
Confused
Rhyming Poem : Sight
The colors start to fade as I close my eyes
No more blue skies
The yellows turn to grey
Everyday is a Monday
The grass is no longer green
A rainbow is unforeseen
Why must you leave, Sight?
Day will always be night
Only One
The Only One
“Iris. Iris. Wake up.”
I open my eyes slowly, and try to follow my mom’s voice. When the fuzziness leaves and my sight starts to clear, I see my mom is not there. No one is.
The last thing I remember was singing in my car to the O’Jays, “Sing a Happy Song.” And now I’m in a hospital bed. Definitely not a happy song place. I hate hospitals, with papers and files everywhere, bright lights, old people, crying babies, all too chaotic for my OCD Libra personality.
I yell for help. I need to understand why I’m here, but no one answers. The hallways are silent. There are no babies, nor any patients, not even doctors or nurses. No one.
I decide to walk home and find my mom. The hospital is too creepy. My mom will definitely know what has happened.
I see my almond-colored, small house that I share with my mom and my younger sister. I assume my mom would be sitting on the bench outside, but she’s not there. I don’t see my sister either.
Just then a dark figure runs out of my house carrying a couple of bottles.
“Hey! Wait!” I yell.
The mystery figure turns and freezes in his tracks. He’s classically handsome, and I can see his striking blue eyes from afar. He has an ease to him, like he could do anything he wants, and he’s not afraid of anything. I instantly feel drawn to him.
He introduces himself as Jack, and then, as he stares deeply into my eyes, he grabs my arm and says, “We are the only ones. Come with me. I want to take you to a special place, a fun place.”
“The only ones? What happened to everyone else?” I cry out, but we’re already running through the woods. My mind races. How long was I out? Was it a zombie apocalypse? Nuclear war? Everywhere around me are the same buildings and landmarks I remember. It couldn’t be any of that. But then what happened to my family? What happened to everyone else?
I’m having trouble keeping up with him, and am running and stumbling as fast as I can. We arrive at a creepy old cabin. My mind is reeling, and now I feel like I’m in a horror movie. I followed some stranger into an old, decrepit building in the middle of nowhere. It is littered with cans and reeks of alcohol. If scary music were playing I’d have no doubt I had wandered into a slasher movie. This is definitely not a fun place.
Suddenly in the corner of my eye I see Jack coming at me with a broken bottle, and staring at me with killer eyes. Then I feel a sharp pain in my neck, but know it can’t be Jack because he was still on the other side of the room. I look up and see a woman soaring through the skylight grasping a shovel. It must be the shards of glass that hurt me.
Without hesitation, she hits Jack and grabs my arm, dragging me out of the house.
“Who are you? Why’d you save me?”
“I’m Susan,” she says. “I saved you because I knew if I didn’t get you out of there, you would die.”
She leads me out of the woods and I see my beloved town again. Though instead of the busy streets and music all around, it is deathly quiet. It’s so eerie and feels like a ghost town. Some memories start flooding back into my head from the night before. I remember listening to the song in my car, and now I remember leaving the street party. I look down and see the remains from the party littering the ground. Walking along, straining to remember what could have happened to me last night and why I’m stuck in this nightmare. Where is everyone?
Distracted by my thoughts, I trip and fall over one of the hundreds of beer bottles littering the ground. As I fall to the ground, images rush toward me. I’m walking all crooked to my car, swaying and fumbling with my key. I’m in my car, singing at the top of my lungs as the street rushes by too quickly. Oops, there was a stop sign, I laugh. Then Crash! Screech! Bang!
And everything is dark.
I’m afraid to open my eyes, for I can’t stand the thought of being all alone again. I just want my mom, my sister, my friends, even the crying babies in the hospital would be better than being all alone, with only that scary Jack trying to kill me, and the stranger Susan who don’t know..
“I don’t want to be the only one! I don’t want to be the only one!” I scream, though it seems like I make no sound.
“Iris. Iris. Wake up.”
What is happening? I swear I hear my mom again, but am very afraid that I’m just starting this nightmare all over. “I don’t want to be the only one!” I scream with as much force as I can.
“You’re not, Iris. I’m here.”
I open my eyes, and there’s my mom. I feel an overwhelming rush of relief, but also so much confusion. And is that Susan sitting at the foot of the bed? What in the world is going on?
“Oh, Iris, thank goodness you’re awake. We thought we’d lost you,” my mom cries.
Lost me? I was the one who lost everyone. What is happening?
“You were in a drunk driving accident. Your friends said you had been drinking whiskey all night, and they told you not to drive. But you said you were invincible, that you’d be fine, that you didn’t need anyone else telling you what to do. You ran a stop sign and crashed into another car. Thankfully, Susan was out walking her dog, saw the accident, pulled you out of your car and called 9-1-1. She saved your life.”