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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.