(chapter 1)  : T  H  E   G  R  A  D  U  A  T  I  O  N 

Waking up to people running around, smoke filling the air, and fire burning hotter as ever wasn't exactly a situation I wanted to be in. I stood up, making my chair screech on the floor and looking everywhere to see people panicking and rushing towards the exit.

Everything felt like slow motion.

Like everything that was happening wasn't even real but somehow it was and it is happening right now but as insane as it sounds, I wasn't as affected as everyone else because to me it felt like home. The fire felt like warmth to me as it caressed my skin, the smoke infiltrated my nostrils and lungs but somehow it made me feel like I was breathing fresh air.

The entirety of all this happening was still so surreal to me like how can flames make me feel invigorated than being burned like everybody else? I was still walking around the library, people bumping into me as they hurried themselves towards the door eager to breath crisp and clean air.

"Jie Ni," I heard someone whispered my name as it dragged onto the smoke-filled air like an echo or was it a calling? I'm not sure. My mind told me to run and get the hell away from that voice but it's like my body was not listening to me and instead followed the direction of the voice going deeper into the hands of the flames.

"Jie Niii," the voice called out more urgently and my body reacted by running towards the voice. I was nearly close enough to being engulfed by the flames but next thing I know, I was tackled to the ground by a mysterious guy. The guy was basically shouting at me but I couldn't hear a word that he was saying. It was like he was muted and all I could see was the words he was shouting.

Run.

Then I woke up with a gasp and started coughing, holding my throat and thumping at my chest like I was punching the smoke out of my body. Sitting up, fresh air started entering my lungs normally, I observed my surroundings and found out I was in my bed inside my bedroom. I heard a cough beside me and saw my wonderful-of-a-devil aka my brother standing there with crossed arms staring at me with an I-don't-give-a- look

"After you're done acting sick, everyone is waiting for you downstairs so hurry the up because I'm missing my game," Luke spat his words at me before leaving me in my room for me to dwell on my thoughts. I immediately slammed my body back on the bed and stared at the ceiling with my arms out on the bed. Knowing that I looked like a ed-up teenager asking the ceiling for an answer, I sat up from my bed and put on my furry black slippers and heading to the bathroom.

"It was just a dream, Em. Nothing too serious. You just have the jitters because today is the day you are finally leaving your high school life and heading to college, yeah yeah you'll be fine," I muttered to myself trying to convince myself that it was just a dream and none of those are true. I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as I finally got my senses back.

i looked at the mirror and saw my black eyes. I didn't have those striking blue, or electrifying violet, or misty green, or sunlight brown that some of my classmates had but instead my eyes looked pure black, like a blackhole that you can get into if you stared at it too long.

Well, that's what I think anyways.

I hastily prepared myself as I showered. Running the vanilla and strawberry scented shampoo on my hair, I massaged my scalp a little bit to remove the little of a headache that was starting to form because of the coldness of the water. I quickly washed my hair and my body then stepped out of the shower to dry myself.

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