Amber's Journey Prologue Redux

Prologue – Reedited


Keep running keep running, my mind tells me as I ran through a grassy meadow. What I'm running from I don't know. All I know is that something or someone is chasing me, saying the same thing over and over. I try to hear what it is they're saying but all I hear is mumbled voices. I want to stop and turn around to see who's chasing me, but my legs won't obey me.

You have to keep running you have to keep running.

But why? Why am I running for my life and what from? I thought back but got no answer. I try to turn my head to see what's chasing me, but that turned out to be a bad idea. As soon as my head was turned I tripped over something which caused me to tumble over a large hill. When I reached the bottom the voices sounded a lot closer than before.

Run! RUN!! my mind shouted at me as I struggled to get up. But just as I was about to start running again, a lightning bolt came down from the sky and struck me dead on! I froze in shock and horror as the power of the lightning bolt surged through my body.

"AAAAAAAH!!!" I shouted as I shot straight up, covered in a cold sweat. Immediately I take a look around to find out I'm no longer in the meadow getting hit by lightning. Instead I'm in my dorm room on campus.

"Hey are you alright?" my roommate, Sarah Werling, asked me with concern.

"I'm alright, just another bad dream," I say to her a relief washed over me.

"Let me guess, the struck by lightning dream again?"

"You guessed right."

"Jeez, that makes it the third time this week. Why do you even dream about that one anyways?"

"To be honest Sarah, I don't know."

"Well you better start dreaming about something else soon, because your screams are making my ears go deaf," she said as she went back to her laptop.

"I'll try, but no guarantees though," I reply as I get up and start to make my bed.

I guess by now I should probably introduce myself right? Well, my name is Amber Richardson and I'm a college student here at Fort Hays State University in Hays Kansas. College life here isn't all that bad, well…except for the homework assignments that you get for the day.

Anyways, as I was starting my regular morning routine, my so called lightning strike dream kept playing over and over in my mind.

Why? Why do I keep having this dream and why won't it go away? You see…this week wasn't the only time I had this dream. In fact this dream had been coming to me for the past few weeks now. At first I thought it was my college nervousness that created this and that it would go away eventually. But, as the weeks went by it never did.

I just hope that this dream of mine goes away soon, cause it's starting to make me worry a little.

But then, all of a sudden, an excruciating pain hit at the end of my spine. It felt like something was trying to tear my skin out and extend it. Then as soon as the pain started…it stopped suddenly.

Okay, that was weird. What the heck was that about?

I decided to shrug it off, thinking it was probably nothing. And with that, I continued my regular morning routine and got ready for another day at Fort Hays.

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You would probably think that it was just a normal day for me on campus right? Well, you would be dead wrong.

What in the hell is going on here?

You see, all day my dream kept repeating over and over in my mind. Usually it just goes away after I wake up, but this wasn't the case for it today. Also that unknown pain I felt this morning…that wouldn't go away either. Every couple of minutes I would feel a certain stab of pain, which would cause me to disturb everyone in my classes.

This day just keeps getting better and better for me, I thought as I laid down in my dorm room.

Just then Sarah came back from her classes. As soon as she looked at me, a look of worry and concern came over her face. "What was up with you in class today Amber? You were groaning like you had the flu or something."

"Actually Sarah, I was groaning because I've been experiencing terrible back pain all day." Well that wasn't technically true, but the pain had been hitting at the end of my spine which is close to my back.

"Well didn't you take any Aleve for it?"

"As a matter of fact I did take some. The pain stopped a few minutes ago," I lied. Just then another wave of agonizing pain hit my spine. I flinched in pain and bit my tongue as hard as I could to stop another groan from escaping.

Sarah gave me a look that clearly said, 'I'm not so sure about that,' but she just shrugged it off. "Anyways didn't you say you were going home for your birthday after class?"

"Uhh…yes! I was planning on leaving after I had some lunch. In fact I'm gonna head there right now." I grabbed my purse and headed for the door, hoping to get away before Sarah questioned my "back pain" again.

"Oh, okay. Well, happy birthday and I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." I closed the door and sighed sadly to myself. How am I supposed to have a happy birthday, when I don't have a clue what's going on with me? My mom had always said that turning nineteen would be the greatest day of my life, but now I'm not so sure anymore.

...............

After grabbing a quick lunch I headed back to my dorm room to pack a few things like my laptop, my portable CD player, my Nintendo DS and a few games. Then I headed to the parking lot where my vehicle was waiting. Just after I put my book bag inside, another stab of pain hit me. But this time the pain wasn't as mild, it was the worst agonizing pain stab ever. It felt as though something was trying to tear me from the inside out. Then as fast as the pain had started it stopped suddenly.

"What…in…the…hell…is…happening…to…me!!" I panted. "Maybe…it would be best if my mom tried to figure this out. After all she is a nurse."

After the decision was made, I climbed into my car and started to drive of campus. To distract myself from my problems I turned the radio on to listen to some music. What I got instead was a weather report about a dangerous thunderstorm heading towards Kansas.

"That storm will probably never hit Brownell. Every storm that has come into Kansas always missed us. And frankly my dad is getting sick and tired of it."

...............

"Mom, Dad I'm home," I shouted as I got inside, but got no answer in return. "Mom, dad, you guys here?" I looked around but saw no one. That's when I noticed a note on the kitchen table that said,

Amber,
An emergency situation has come up at work so your dad and I had to attend to it immediately. I know that us not being at home isn't the best way to start your birthday, but I promise that we'll be home as soon as we can. Then we can celebrate your birthday the way we planned it. Love you, and I promise we'll be back soon.
Mom.

You see, for as long as I can remember, my parents had this special type of job they always had to attend to. They wouldn't tell me what it was, but all they could tell me was that it involved helping others. I originally thought this particular job was about my mom working at the hospital and that my dad went with her to assist. But he's into mechanical not medical. Just what the heck are they doing anyways?

"Well at least them being gone gives me a chance to catch up on my Pokémon Black version for a while." Yeah I'll admit it; I'm a fan of Pokémon. I know it seems kind of weird for a college freshman to be in that sort of thing. But hey, they don't have an age limit if you can play Pokémon or not.

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My birthday was going according to what mom and dad had planned. Well, except for one thing. Grams was originally gonna celebrate with us, but something had come up in Healy that she had to attend to. She had however invited us to come over to her place next Saturday which we all agreed to. For my birthday she had given me a new Pokémon game that I had my eyes on for a while and a plushy of my favorite Pokémon, Shinx.

Before long it was time to open my present from my parents. And I was surprised at what they had given me. For inside the box was none other than our family's crystal. Attached to a long silver chain, the sapphire prism glowed beautifully in the light.

"Mom, dad, I don't know what to say," I said as I picked the crystal up to get a better look.

"A thank you would suffice," my dad replied.

"But, mom. You had this crystal for years and you've never let me hold it. Why are you giving it to me now?"

"Well I…we decided that it was time for you to have the crystal now. You're old enough now to have it."

I put on the crystal necklace to see how it looked. It was surprisingly comfortable around my neck. Overcome with happiness and joy I gave my parents a big hug. "Thanks mom. Thanks dad. This is the best birthday present ever." And indeed it was.

"Isn't it about time you head off to bed Amber? Didn't you want to wake up early tomorrow to catch your morning classes?"

I pulled out of our embrace and looked at the clock to see that dad was right. It was already 11:30 p.m. If I didn't get to bed soon I will probably be sleeping during my classes. "Yeah, I should probably head off to bed. Night mom, night dad."

"Goodnight Amber."

I headed upstairs and changed into my pjs. Then I covered up in my bed sheets and fell into a deep but peaceful sleep.

This has been the best…birthday…ever.

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