Chapter One: A Dream


“Happy Birthday. Here take this,” she shoved it into the little girl’s hands. The five-year-old looked up curiously.

“Why?” she asked. The older woman smiled.

“It’s your birthday present. From me,” she answered. The girl looked down at the necklace then lifted her head up to reveal bright, crimson eyes. She hadn’t gotten a birthday present before, or even really celebrated her birthday. This was the first time ever…January 6th, now 1995, five years after the day she was born….that she had ever gotten so much as a “Happy Birthday” from anyone. Her first present: a small garnet heart on a silver chain. She beamed at her aunt.

“It’s so pretty,” Garnet said, her eyes shining happily. Her aunt smiled again.

“Keep it safe. It’s a very special necklace, alright?”

“Thank you, Aunt Cassie!” She struggled a bit trying to connect the chain around her neck. The heart was the color of her birthstone, the birthstone of January. And that was Garnet all knew of her birthday, or even her birth month.

Her mother had never answered any questions about when she was born, where she was born, or how she was born, whether it was a painful birth, or a painless one, even when it was another adult who asked her, or whether it was family. Those were questions she had always ignored or avoided in any way possible, whether it was changing the subject of the conversation or not talking at all.

But…to Garnet, that was okay. It was alright for her mother to avoid such things. She never saw anything wrong with that. As long as her mother was happy and smiling, Garnet was okay.

Garnet was a quiet girl. She had dark, red eyes that explained her namesake, long red hair that cascaded down her shoulders, pale skin that contrasted shockingly with her eyes, and a soft voice that barely rose above whisper when she talked. It was hard to believe that this girl was going to be an older sister. Her mother was pregnant with another baby girl. Garnet had promised that when the new baby was born, she wouldn’t be jealous, like most kids often were, when her mother had to spend more time with the baby than with her, so she spent as much time with her mother as she could.

“Garnet, it’s time for us to leave now, sweetie,” her mother called. The five year old nodded and bounded over to her mother, smiling cheerfully. She took her mother’s hand and they left the party, which was held at the central park.

“Mommy? Aunt Cassie said that this necklace was special. Why is it special?” Garnet asked, tugging at the chain around her neck as they walked along the sidewalk. Her mother looked down at her questioning eyes.

“It’s not, Garnet. It’s just a regular necklace.”

Garnet’s eyes flashed with curiosity for another second before she looked back at the ground again.

“Oh. Ok.”


A video camera monitored the mother and daughter as they continued their walk. The woman in the bushes took her walkie- talkie from her pocket, pressing the talk button.

“Is that them?” she asked her boss while a visual image of the two pedestrians was sent to their headquarters as they spoke.

“Get the girl. I don’t care what happens to her mother,” the static-filled voice came from over the device. The woman nodded and put the device back into her pocket. They were nearing her attack point. She charged at them when they were directly in front of the bush. Garnet let a fearful scream escape her small, red lips. Her mother pulled her back protectively.

“Who are you?” she asked defiantly. She kept a hand over Garnet’s mouth to keep the young girl from screaming again.

“Marie, you know very well who I am,” the woman answered back, surveying Garnet with wild eyes. Marie froze in her position, still holding Garnet closely against her body.

“How do you know my name?” she questioned, her voice starting to drop to a whisper. Garnet began to sense her mother’s fear and she started to tremble, afraid. She clutched the hem of her mother’s skirt.

“P-Please…” she said softly, though her voice held absolutely no authority, “Leave us alone. W-We haven’t done anything to you.”

“Garnet!” Marie hissed, “Be quiet!”

The woman chuckled. “What’s wrong, Marie? The child has a right to say whatever she wants, doesn’t she?” She laughed once more and then snapped thin, long fingers together. Four tall, lanky men in black surrounded Marie and Garnet, preventing their escape. The woman’s command was loud and it echoed in the empty park, a cold and venomous voice.

“Take the girl.”

Two of the men hit Marie on the back of the head with the butts of small pistols, while the other two grabbed Garnet from her mother’s arms. The red-head struggled to get free.

“Mommy!” she screamed, watching as her mother’s unconscious body fell to the floor.
“Mommy! Please wake up! Help me!”

Marie continued to lay still, knocked out.

“Mommy, pl-”

The sixteen-year-old sat up with her eyes wide open. A blood-curdling scream escaped her mouth as her legs forced themselves to carry her out of her room. She ran, full force, to the foot of the steps. Just as she was about to run down, a strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist and she was pulled into a nearby room, still screaming. The lights flickered on, filling the room with a bright illumination.

“Mahido, is it happening again?” a woman asked anxiously as she rose from her bed. The man nodded his head, trying to focus most of his attention on his daughter’s actions.

“I’m afraid so,” Mahido answered. He began to shake the screaming teenager.

“Gabrielle! Gabrielle, wake up sweetheart!” he shouted. Gabrielle seemed to be awake, her green eyes wide and fearful, but her body did not seem as if it was under her control. She began to thrash around in Mahido’s arms, her white hair whipping around her face. Then, as soon as the episode had happened, it stopped and Gabrielle’s eyes closed, her screaming stopped, and she fell back into a deep sleep.

For years, before Mahido and Sayo had adopted Gabrielle, she had been having strange dreams, and those dreams normally transformed into night terrors. Even before she was five. The couple expected the terrors to end when she turned twelve, and they had…

For a week.

Gabrielle was screaming again within a week after her twelfth birthday.  At first, Mahido and Sayo had gone to the doctor without the girl, concerned that these terrors were lasting longer than they should have.

“It’s nothing to get worked up about. These things are common in stressed children. Is she having trouble at school? Any huge tests or anything that she might be stressed out about?”  The doctor had asked. Mahido and Sayo said that Gabrielle had been stressing a lot over her final exams, but they were over now and school was out for the summer. It was worrying the couple to the extent that they even watched the girl as she slept at one point.

It seemed, that each night terror was triggered by a strange, reoccurring dream that Gabrielle had. She could always recall the dream, but never what she did after, which her adoptive parents always had to fill in for her. Her parents took her to a psychiatrist after they spoke with the doctor.

“What do you dream about Gabrielle? What’s this dream about?”

“It’s….it’s about a girl. A girl named…Garnet. It always begins at her fifth birthday party, There, she receives her first ever birthday gift: A small garnet heart on a silver chain from her Aunt Cassie. At first, that was all that happened, but I saw through the window a menacing looking woman staring…watching the party from outside and then…nothing.”

“I see. That’s when the night terror came up,” the psychiatrist concluded. Gabrielle looked up from her chair.

“Night terror? What’s that?” she asked. The psychiatrist stood up, grabbing Gabrielle’s hand and escorting her to the door.

“I’m sorry Gabrielle, I’ve run out of time.” He opened the door, shoving her out.

“But you—!”

Gabrielle had gotten used to the nightmares. She’d gotten used to not being able to see the end…if there was an end. What if these dreams were never-ending? Or what if these dreams and their endlessness drove her out of her mind? What if she went insane?!

She woke up the next morning, sweaty and clammy, her white hair sticking to her face. Emerald eyes blinked and her vision cleared, going from blurry and teary to clear and sharp.

Again? She thought, why me of all people? I’m just an average girl, nothing special. Just a normal teenager.

“Gabrielle! School’s starting soon, you better get going!” Sayo shouted up the steps.
“Alright, Sayo. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Mahido and Sayo Karachi…her parents…or so she called them. They adopted her at the tender age of six; the foster home she was staying at didn’t want her anymore, saying she was “a disturbance to the other children”. She would talk in her sleep or scream, fighting imaginary criminals and other strange things.  Sayo was a pale woman with red eyes and blond hair, while Mahido had dark skin, mahogany eyes and black hair.

Gabrielle‘s footsteps echoed in the hallway. Mahido walked by just as the girl came downstairs. He noticed Gabrielle’s tired eyes and that her hands were shaking a little.

“You okay, Gab?” he asked, brushing a strand of her white hair behind her ear. Gabrielle nodded.

“I’m fine, Mahido. I just didn’t get enough sleep last night is all,” she grinned to prove her point. Mahido let her go. However, the interrogation did not end there; as Gabrielle entered the kitchen, Sayo saw fit to ask her adoptive daughter questions as well.

“Are you alright, dear?”

“Sayo, I’m fine,” the fair-haired girl answered, becoming annoyed.

“Are you sure? Is there anything special you want for breakfast? French toast? Smiley face pancakes? Anything?” Gabrielle sighed.

“I’m too old for smiley face pancakes. And I’ll just have breakfast at school.”

“Oh, come now Gabrielle. You know I don’t like you having breakfast at that dump you call a school. I’m worried you’ll catch the plague or something,” Sayo admitted, her crimson eyes showing how worried she was. Gabrielle said nothing but instead headed for the door, her backpack in hand.

“Sayo…please, don’t worry about me. I’m fine, I promise,” and with that, she left for school.


“…..Karachi….Ms. Karachi….MS. KARACHI!”

Gabrielle’s head shot up from her desk, alert and slightly surprised.
“Yes, sir?” she asked, her voice innocent. Her teacher, Mr. Kiroshii, glared at her with severe disdain.
“Honestly, Ms. Karachi, you should get a medal. You’ve slept through my class for three weeks in a row!” he fumed. Gabrielle flashed a sweet smile.

“I don’t think I could accept that, sir. It would be quite impractical to receive a medal for sleeping, don’t you think?”

Mr. Kiroshii growled under his breath as the rest of the class laughed. For a teenager, this girl was smart. She knew just what to say make him angry every time. He turned back to the board.

“Yes…yes, I suppose it would, Ms. Karachi,” he muttered quietly, barely being heard.
“What was that, Mr. Kiroshii? We couldn’t hear you!” a student in the back piped up. She was a red-head, with cerulean eyes that were always twinkling mischievously and a smile on her face. She was one of Gabrielle’s friends, Evangeline Narina. Mr. Kiroshii ignored her, not wanting to be embarrassed again.

“Ahem, turn to page 620 in your textbooks please,” he instructed. Evangeline gave Gabrielle a thumbs up, which was halfheartedly returned by the white-haired girl.



“Hey! Gabi, your birthdays in a couple of days, right?” Evangeline questioned, slamming her tray on the lunch table in the cafeteria. Gabrielle nodded.

“Yeah, four days from now: January…6th,” she trailed off.

January 6th, now 1995, five years after the day she was born…Gabrielle’s eyes widened, the green irises shrinking a little. January 6th…the same day that….

“GABI!”

“What? Oh, I’m sorry…I was thinking of something. What were you saying, Eva?” she asked. Evangeline pouted, she hated having to repeat herself.

“I said what do you want me to get you for your birthday?”
“I say this every year. You don’t have to get me anything, E-”

“I know…I’ll get you a new necklace! You’ve had that one since Mahido and Sayo gave that to you on your fifth birthday, right? A gift celebrating one year of your stay there?”
Gabrielle’s hand flew to the bright, lizard-green oval at her neck, connected by a silver chain. It was swirled with white as well. A bright and soft light would hit any opaque surface the oval was pointed at whenever sunlight would hit it. Mahido said he’d chosen green because it reminded him of Gabrielle’s unusual eye color. Sayo had chosen it because she that the white reminded her of Gabrielle’s long, white hair. It was the most beautiful thing in the world. And it meant everything to Gabrielle, she couldn’t just abandon it.

“Don’t’ worry, Gab, you won’t have to get rid of it. You can wear them both!” Evangeline exclaimed, bouncing up and down in her seat. “Oh! And we can throw a surprise party, too!”

“Ha, it’s not really a surprise party if I know its coming, Evangeline. But….I am having a party. No surprise parties!” she snapped when she saw the red-head’s face brighten up.

School went by quickly and Gabrielle was soon on the bus. Evangeline had to stay after school for her study session. She didn’t need it, though. Evangeline was the smartest girl in class. She always got all “A’s”, she breezed through her homework, and aced every test and pop quiz without even studying.  The stylish red-head missed almost two days a week and still knew the answers to the tests that all her teachers just so happened to pass out the next day.

The only reason she stayed after was so she could flirt with the boys that were there. Even geniuses had their flirtatious moments.

Well, that’s Eva for you, Gabrielle thought. She pushed a strand of her white hair behind her ear. She looked down at the necklace, contemplating what the red-head had said.

“I know…I’ll get you a new necklace! You’ve had that one since Mahido and Sayo gave that to you on your fifth birthday, right?”

The chain was starting to get a little small around the girl’s neck. It was no longer at the point that she could just slip it over her head like she used to, or even connect the chain around her neck without some difficulty.  It could be time for a new one….