• The Mystic Ring
    CHAPTER I - BEGINNINGS

    ______The final bell rang as Mika threw books into her backpack with haste. "The sooner I'm out of here the better", Mika would usually mutter to herself, as she would watch the last seconds on the clock tick. In her scurry it didn't take very long to find her friend Ren. He was always in the same place after school, by the fence waiting to walk her home. "How do you always get here before me?" Mika asked. Ren gave her a teasing nudge, "Easy! I can go more than five seconds without falling on my face" he replied with a smirk. "Ha-ha, good one. At least I'm not the one with a 'kick me' sign on my back" she said with a giggle. Ren’s eyes widened “WHAT!? Who? JARED!! When I get my hands on him!” …


    ______Mika laughed even harder. “Chill out. There isn’t even anything there I was only kidding” Mika said as she fought to let the words out over the laughter. “That wasn’t very funny” Ren said with an angered gaze. The two continued their walk home. “Hey, Mika…” Ren started. “Yes, Ren?” she urged him to continue. “If anything happens… You’ll tell me, right?” he asked. “Of course I will! We’ve been best buds since before I can remember.” Mika assured him. “Why the weird question all of the sudden?” she asked, a bit puzzled. “Nothing, it’s just a good thing to hear.” he said with a content smile. “Weirdo” Mika teased. Ren’s angered gazed returned shortly after.


    ______Finally they reached Mika’s house. “See ya’ tomorrow!” Ren waved as Mika walked into her house. “Promise me you’ll be alive when I come back in the morning!” he added. “I guarantee nothing!” she yelled after Ren as he walked away. Mika went upstairs to her room to finish her homework, usually a futile effort considering her track record with school work. Mika thought she heard a voice, but ignored it and went to bed. In the middle of the night she found herself jumping out of bed hearing the same voice as before. “Two dreams, one star” the voice whispered.


    ______Mika quickly rushed to the window to see if she could find the source of the noise. The sound vanished again, and Mika couldn’t find the source so she just went back to sleep. The next thing Mika heard was the sound of her alarm clock the next morning. She went about her normal routine and got ready for school. Everything went the way it normally did. Only, she heard it again. “Two dreams, one star” the voice from last night repeated.


    ______This time Mika rushed outside to see if she could find the strange bystander who was giving her this message. In her rush, Mika ended up with her face getting acquainted with the pavement on her way out the door. “I usually would like dinner and a movie first, but this works too.” Ren said, a bit muffled. Mika wasn’t the only one thrown to the ground by her fall. Mika giggled and peeled Ren of the cement of the walkway. “Sorry” she apologized. “Do we have all our marbles this morning?” he asked. “Sort of” she replied. “Did you hear a voice just now?” Mika asked cautiously. “No… Are you sure you’re feeling OK? That was quite the fall.” Ren said. “Nah’ I’m fine.” Mika assured him with a smile.


    ______Once again her day continued an as usual, until once again something, or someone, disrupted it. Mika walked into class and sat in her usual spot. Next thing she knew there was a poke on her back from the girl who sits in the desk behind hers. “What do you want, Sorano”? Mika asked a little annoyed, and with a sigh. Sorano let out a quiet giggle. “I know why you can’t find the voice” said Sorano. Mika looked back at her in shock and suspicion. But before she could ask anymore questions the teacher walked in and class began.



    ______After school Mika rushed out of class, but it wasn’t for her eagerness to go home that drove her haste. This time she was trying to track down Sorano. Just when Mika was about to give up hope she found Sorano sitting under a tree. “Tell me what you know!” Mika demanded. “Tell you what I know about what?” Sorano said with a giggle. “You sure as heck know what I’m talking about! Don’t play dumb!” Mika replied. “My word, it looks like we have a feisty one on our hands. Or should I phrase that the other way around?” Sorano muttered to herself. “Can we get to the point please? Or are you just playing some stupid trick on me?” Mika said impatient.



    ______“Fine, just cool your jets hot-rod.” Sorano said with another giggle. Mika tapped her foot with more impatience. “Two dreams, one star means two dreams will come, on the way to a new star” Sorano explained. “What? Is that supposed to make more sense?!” Mika asked a little angry. Before this question could be answered Sorano disappeared, leaving nothing but the echo of her laughter. Ren walked up behind and put his hand on Mika’s shoulder. “Are you ready to go, Mika? I can’t wait all day for you” he said. “Yeah, I’m good. Let’s go” Mika answered. The rest of the way home Mika heard Sorano giggling. Almost as if she was watching. She tried her best to ignore it.



    ______They finally made it to Mika’s house. The two parted and said their good byes as Mika walked inside. She continued upstairs into her room, laid on her bed, and began to do her homework. Suddenly Sorano popped out from thin air and was sitting at Mika’s desk. “Look out the window” Sorano said before Mika could respond. Being as far into this as she was, Mika figured it wasn’t worth freaking out. So Mika did as Sorano instructed and looked outside the window. All she saw were the little neighbor kids playing across the street. Then she was surrounded by a bright light. Sorano had taken her to another place, or perhaps another world? Mika wasn’t sure. All she knew was that it was dark. Where ever it was.



    ______Then out from the darkness, a box appeared. It was shaped like a star. Mika grabbed the box. In a flash, she was back in her room. A little confused Mika continued to open the box slowly. Inside the box was a golden ring, with a milky white stone in the center. Perhaps against her better judgment, Mika put on the ring. The stone turned into clear sapphire color and began to glow. Brighter, and brighter the glow became until Mika was practically drowned in it. That was the last thing she saw before her alarm went off the next morning. The ring was still on her finger, but the stone went back to the same milky white as before it started to glow. “What in the world...” Mika left her sentence drifting still a little sleepy. Then she remembered. “Sorano, where are you?” Mika called out. Sorano was nowhere to be seen. “Figures.” Mika muttered to herself.