She couldn't believe she was running late today of all days.  The entrance exam would start in 30 minutes and she still had another two miles to run to get there.  Clutching the wooden block which registered her as an exam participant, she sprinted like she was running a 100 meter race.  It wasn't like she was winded or tired or anything like that, she had been running marathons for a while now, but the rumors surrounding the school mentioned that the entrance exam was hell on Earth and that only 10% of those present would pass at most.  She couldn't be late, she couldn't let all her hard work up to this point be for nothing.  She couldn't let the memories and the suffering they brought be for nothing... Oh God she was sleepy.

"No," she thought to herself, shaking her head as if to get rid of all the darkness inside," I have to focus, this day is too import-!"  

WHAM.

The impact sent her spinning, her hitting the ground with a whump, all the wind knocked out of her.  The world spun as her head hit the ground, the clouds above becoming a blur of white.  Whispers from the other pedestrians pricked at her ears, the words were all too tangled to understand.  Maybe she should just close her eyes for a little while, take a little nap.

"OH MY GOD DON'T DIE!" The voice wailed in her ears.  It was a nice voice, warm and deep and filled with worry.  It had been a while since anyone had worried for her.  She smiled when she heard the voice again, perhaps a little too dramatic when it stage-whispered "L, what will I do???  I killed a person."

"Calm down," a second deep voice answered back, this one a little cold and unimpressed by the first's drama," She's obviously still alive, she just half-smiled you fool."  There was ten second pause and then she felt a large hand sharply tap her face.  Shocked by the sudden sting, her eyes opened involuntarily and she suddenly remembered she was going to be late.  She sat up quickly, not realizing there was a worried face about ten inches from her head.  Her head collided with a remarkably hard skull and she was sure she would pass out again if not for the warm arm which s its way around her lower back and caught her before her head hit the ground again.  

"Hey, hey," the cold voice was accompanied by a prod to her left shoulder, "Could you stop trying to hurt yourself and slowly open your eyes.  We have places to be and we don't need your accident-prone self messing up our schedule.  Do you want us to call an ambulance?"

"No," she gasped, the pain making it hard to form words," I have to get to Sterling Institute... exam... can't fail."  She opened her eyes but all she saw was black and she knew the darkness was coming, coming for her again.