Chapter One
About 70 million years later…
A huge old oak, a pond containing golden trout, untended lawn surrounding, and small rolling hills beyond that...this was Istelle Williams' happy place.
She visited regularly, whenever she felt stressed or upset.
It wasn't the place itself, really, that compelled Istelle to visit so often, but her best friend, Samuel Douglas, who lived in a house on one of the bigger hills surrounding the pond and would see her coming and come out to see her. He could always tell when she was upset, and he acted as her counselor in such times, since nobody understands young teenagers better than other young teenagers. It had all started with a simple exchange:
"Aaaah I'm so frustrated!" Istelle had moaned one day on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
"Why?" had been Sam's response...
"I just really want to talk to someone!"
"Well, I'm right here."
I'm right here.
Since then, Istelle and Sam had spent many afternoons leaning against the oak and talking about anything and everything. So if you peeped over one of the rolling hills around the pond at the right time, maybe you'd see the two, two heads of wispy light brown hair, one of them moving their hands and talking animatedly while the other listened quietly, sitting against the tree or sitting on the edge of the pond, feeding the fish and occasionally commenting on what their friend was saying.
I'm right here.
Those were the words Istelle played in her head over and over again when she was unhappy, reminding herself that she had a friend to talk to…a friend.
Well, Istelle was most definitely unhappy right then.
She muttered angrily to herself as she made her way down a hill to the pond, stopping her muttering only when she reached the bottom and was relieved to see Samuel already there at the other end near the oak, throwing some bread into the water for the fish.
She sat down by the foot of the tree and waited for him to join her, which he did after a few minutes.
"So how are things going?" he asked her.
"Not so great."
"What's up?"
"I hate all this drama stuff going on! Between school work and social life, I'm so stressed…last night I couldn't sleep, I kept hearing Maddie's words in my head over and over again. I went to bed by ten but I only fell asleep by two, and I was so exhausted and frustrated, I was just lying there, crying…"
"Why? Are you okay?"
"And I had this song stuck in my head the whole time, a sad one, it was killing me."
Samuel looked at her, concerned.
"How are you?" she asked. "I'm good. I was a little bored 'till you got here."
"Cool. On a bright note though, Sam, I talked to Jude and Linaria today, they're both on my side, and I'm so grateful. They're such good friends! And I just can't believe Joshua and Sarah and Reed…"
"I think Liz is just staying out of it as much as she can, and Reed is trying to do the same."
"Change the subject."
"Okay…"
"Ha you're funny"
"I don't know aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Istelle laughed, then stopped. "Do you get lonely?"
"Yeah." He started drawing in the dirt with a stick. "And sad" she added.
"Yeah."
"What do you think are the three negative emotions you feel most often?"
"Sadness, anger, loneliness…"
"Dread. Rage. Isolation."
Nobody said anything for a few minutes as Istelle sunk into her own world of thought...Finally, Samuel said, "You finished your homework yet?"
"Uh, no."
"You should then."
"I know. But I don't want to yet. Do you watch anime?"
"Not anymore. You should really get your homework done Istelle. So that you're not as stressed, you know."
She sighed, standing up. "Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
And Istelle set out for her house.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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