That First One.
Prologue
Tracy staggered across the road, finally falling over in the gutter. She was in labour – it was obvious. She panted and murmured. She looked down at herself. Slowly, a child came out. The umbilical cord slimy and grotesque. She cut it sharply with a rock, but it dangled from the baby. It was a girl. Tracy found a scrap of paper and dug a pencil out of her pocket. A kindly nurse was walking by, he had just finished his shift. He saw Tracy, and quickly rushed over to her side.
“Thank God.” Tracy said. “Take her to 14 Albert road. Her name – Animine Opalsean.” She looked down, and pulled a red hot stick from the fire beside her. It had a crescent moon on the end of it. She placed it firmly on Animine’s left wrist, and she screamed as it touched her skin. She finally let go, the mark imprinted on her skin. Tracy took her last breath, and finally lay still.
The nurse took the baby to 14, Albert road, and knocked on the door. The people came, and took Animine in their arms. The nurse explained what happened, and then he left. Leaving her in the worst place on Earth.
Chapter 1
Her
Animine Opalsean woke up in the wardrobe. The 12 year old girl was tall and slim for her age, had bright green eyes, red/brown, long hair, and freckles dotted around her face. She yawned, got out, and went downstairs to make the breakfast. Life never changed at the Sonson household. On the weekdays, she would get up at six, make the breakfast for seven. David Sonson, Maria Sonson and Jimmie Sonson would come downstairs for their breakfast. Animine would often have the leftovers, but there never was much. David, (Mr), would then go to work, and Maria (Mrs) would get Jimmie ready for school. Animine would go upstairs, get dressed in her ragged clothes, and grab her sack of a school bag, and leave pretty early to meet up with Zoey Manfeild. Zoey was her best friend, and only friend at that. She had blonde/brown hair, a slim figure and blue/grey eyes. They would meet up at the bus stop and then talk about – Well, whatever they talked about.
“Heya Annie!” Zoe said happily.
“Hia Zo” Animine replied.
The bus came, a number 5, and they got seats at the top.
“Did you do your maths homework?” Zoey asked anxiously
“Yeah, why?” Animine said.
Animine was easily the cleverest girl in the school. She just wasn’t liked at all. Jealousy, that’s what the others felt.
“Err…I kinda forgot to do it…” She said.
Animine gave her it. “Remember, deliberately –“
“Get some wrong so the teacher doesn’t sniff a rat.” Zoey finished for her.
The bus was silent, apart from the scratching of Zoey’s pen on paper. The bus finally glided to a stop outside the school’s bus stop. The got off, Zoey franticly writing now. They entered the school with a steady pace.
Shomty Ganor Senior school was nothing but a grey prison of a building, the walls covered in graffiti. The school had been standing for donkey’s years, at least since the war. It had four storeys, and each floor was as bad as the last. At the bottom was Drama, music, D.T, and the toilets & changing rooms. The doors weren’t locked, so if you didn’t wedge a piece of paper between the doors, it would often open.
On the second floor, there was English, Maths, Food & Catering, and Science. The third floor was the Assembly hall, P.E hall, Dance hall, and geography The top floor had Art, History and sixth form common rooms.
Zoey and Animine trudged up to Art, where their form room was. When they entered it was chaos, as usual. Boys threw paper snowballs at each other, and girls gossiped about god knows what. Animine and Zoey took their seats, and Zoey finished the homework with a flourish of her pen. She silently thanked Animine, as their form tutor had just walked in. He shouted for quiet. Everyone got to their seats as he called the register. He got all the way down to Animine before chaos erupted.
“Animine Opalsean.”
“Here sir!” She replied.
“Hey look, it’s old brainy box dummy!” A boy shouted
“Couldn’t she have stayed at home?”
“No, she has to have her hundred percent attendance!”
“Quiet!” The form tutor shouted.
Soon enough, the were out of form, and checking their timetables.
“I’ve got double D.T.” Animine said.
“Same here.” Zoey replied.
The two walked down to the bottom floor, trying to ignore the nasty names following them. They finally got to D.T, and separated, as they had it in separate classes.
“See you at break, Annie!” Zoey said
Animine walked into D.T. She was the cleverest at the school, but not so clever when working at physical subjects. She was better at the mental side of things, like maths, English, science, art, history, and geography. D.T was not her thing.
Two hours later, Animine was waiting for Zoey. She had broken three coping saws and an abrafile. She wasn’t happy. Zoey came out and showed her the clock she had made. Zoey was amazing at D.T.
“Come on, let’s go to the library!” Animine said.
They went to the library. Zoey showed the librarian her clock while Animine surfed the shelves. Something odd struck her. A leather bound book, that wasn’t there before. She pulled it out, and its title read ‘Marks’. She opened the book, and flicked through the pages until something caught her eye. A wrist with a crescent moon burn on it. It was identical to her own. She read the caption beneath it, and nearly dropped the book in surprise. It read;
The Opalsean Mark:
The Opalsean Mark is a burn on the left wrist. It signifies the family ties of the Pearlsehns, though the Pearlsehns have a different mark..
Animine looked long and hard at it. She carried it to the librarian, and asked if there was a book on the mark.
“Yes dearie, go forward, then turn left.”
Animine thanked her, and went to find the book. She found it, and read;
“The Opalsean’s mark consists of..”
Animine skipped this part. She went on to this:
“The Opalseans and Pearlsehns are related. They are cousins. But, as story goes, they became enemies over something to horrid. The story is:
The Opalseans and Pearlsehns were so close the seemed like brothers rather than cousins. One day, Jalke and Myrtral went on a hike. Myrtral, the Pearlsehn, started fighting the neighbours and killing the animals. Jalke tried to stop him, but Myrtral killed him in a fury. Ever since, the Pearlsehns have hated the Opalseans for always blaming them, and the Opalseans hated them for killing Jalke.”
Animine looked at this passage, and read it a couple more times, before moving on to the next part.
“‘Random facts about the Opalseans and Pearlsehns’
• They are clever at mental (thinking) subjects
• The family tree is now dead. The last Opalsean was Tracy, whom died in 2000
• The Pearlsehns mark is a star on the right wrist, whereas the Opalseans is a crescent moon on the left wrist.
• The mark must be burnt on in birth.
• The child must always take last name Pearlsehn or Opalsean, whether it is the father’s surname or not.”
Animine was shocked at this. Tracy Opalsean was her mother. She was the last Opalsean?! No, Animine was. She stared at the page in disbelief. She heard Zoey calling her, and put the book back, though it fell to the floor. The page it opened at read:
“When the tree is burnt out, it will not grow again. The prophecy made that few know state:
The Opalseans will flourish,
The Pearlsehns will trouble,
They will come together,
The moon and the star,
And together they will
Cause a fight that,
Will wipe the universe clean altogether”
“Come on, Annie! Third period!”
Chapter 2
Tracking the Truth
Animine had a pretty uneventful day after that. As they were walking, Animine was telling Zoey about what she found in the book. Zoey’s jaw dropped open.
“But everyone knows you last name! Why would Tracy be the last? Stuff like that reaches ears.”
“Yeah, it just doesn’t make sense.” Animine said.
They got to the park. It was deserted, and no-one but Animine and Zoey went there now. They got to the swings and started chatting. Mostly about the book. Animine swung on the swing until the saw two boys enter. Animine jumped, landed, and staggered to her feet. She went to greet them, even though she didn’t know them.
“Hi!” She said. She stuck out her left hand. “I’m Animine.”
The boy was about her age, and he stuck out his right.
“I’m Maximus.” He replied.
Animine glanced a star burn on Maximus’ right wrist as they shook hands. ‘No’ She thought. A Pearlsehn? She decided to leave.
“Come, lets go Zoey, I’ll be late for the Sonsons.”
They left, and Zoey said. “You’ve still got an hour before five.” She said.
“That boy’s a Pearlsehn” She said.
Zoey’s mouth dropped yet again. They travelled to the Sonsons in silence.
Animine walked in, and the Sonsons immediately started on her.
“You need to do this…”They all started, but Animine’s head was in the clouds. She snapped back to reality when the Sonsons told her to get a move on. She tensed her muscles, and started work. As she scrubbed the garden bench, the sun burning down on her neck, she thought about Maximus. - Maybe if she got to know him, the differences and hatred could be forgotten. Maybe they could start again? While deep in thought, her trained hand slid over the bench. By the time she’d finished she’d promised herself she’d find Maximus again, and when she did she’d help him out.
* * *
Animine and Zoey were on the bus again the next day. Zoey started chatting about the English project. They’d had to create a character and make a story for them. Animine had made up Violet, and her story of her was about magic. Zoey was non stop talking about her character, Jessie, whom loved horses and spent all day at an equestrian stable. Animine’s mind was elsewhere, wondering how they could track Maximus. She decided they’d go back to the deserted playground that day after school.
Soon enough, they got off the bus, and entered Shomty. Insults followed her in. Animine flipped her red-brown ponytail back, and ignored them all. Besides, now she knew she was defiantly better than them. She smirked every time they called her a nobody. <->when she got to form, there was a surprise - Maximus was there! As the register was called, his name was called in it. After form, she went to meet him.
"Hi!" She said. Maximus gave her a war smile.
"Hello" He replied. They examined eachothers timetables - they were exactly the same! Animine said goodbye to Zoe as she and Maximus headed off to Music. Maximus let her take the lead. He took out his phone and texted to his mate. "All going to plan - *evil smile*"
Critique appreciated.
Word bank -
Animine - Ann-ih-mine
Opalsean - Oh-pahl-sheen (Or opal-sheen)
Zo - Zoh
Jalke - Jahl-Key
Myrtral - Mer-trahl
Pearlsehn - Pearl-ze-n
