PROLOGUE

Dr. Carlton was a scientist, one who specialized specifically in the field of biogenetics. He was currently working on the behaviour of human cells in different conditions, which explained the large amount of microscopes, and peatrie dishes in the room. He would have been handsome accept for the fact that he was tired- looking and somewhat disheveled. He had short brown hair and a pair of plain brown eyes. His figure was disguised by the large white lab coat he was wearing, although one would guess he was quite skinny.

Dr. Carlton stood in his lab going through a folder. Many of these folders lay scattered around the lab, and each had a number neatly printed on the front, but that was about the only thing in the whole room that was neat. Each folder had several pages worth of numbers and information about the test subject it represented.

The doctor was preparing to study the genes that belonged to the folder he was currently looking through. He lay down the folder and leaned over a telescope next to him. He peered into the lens, only to step back with an amazed look on his face moments later.

"Incredible!" he whispered in shocked amazement. "Absolutely incredible!" He leaned over and peered into the lens again as if to confirm what he had seen. He stepped back with the same look on his face.

"How is it possible?" he asked himself. "How can these cells do this at such a rapid rate? I must document this phenomenon!" He walked across the cramped room to a drawer filled with stationary and a large amount of used up pens. He pulled out a lined note-pad and searched the drawer for a pen that worked. When he finally found one he sat at the bench and wrote, all the while muttering to himself how “amazing” and “incredible” the sight from the microscope was. He lay down his pen and ripped the paper from the pad and placed it in the folder that belonged to the sample. There was a knock at the door.

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CHAPTER 1

“Crazed Cassie” they would call me. It was somewhat ironic since I was one of the smartest girls in the school, but I didn't like to make a point of telling everyone that. It was just a sure- fire way of getting yourself pummelled by Jeanette, the school bully. The taunts I received from Jeanette were a daily ritual, as well as a beating whether I deserved it or not. I was just glad I could breeze through my so-called education, so I wouldn't have to put up with her for too long.

I'm not one of those stereotypical smart girls with the oversized glasses and the awful clothing choices. I had clear skin and at least enough fashion sense that I looked at least average in whatever I wore. I have longish auburn hair and green eyes (some have called them beautiful but I don't like to toot my own horn).

Anyway, back to Jeanette. Jeanette was only one of the school bullies. The other was Brad, her boyfriend. They had been going out since the start of high school, each terrorizing their respective half of the schools populace. Anyone who preferred to do the bashing rather that be bashed was part of their exclusive posse. All of them either seemed to be heavyset or sneering, including Jeanette and Brad themselves. Due to their 'arrangement' I would receive my daily punishment from Jeanette, seeing little of her other half. Today was no different.

They stood in a semi-circle around me, with my back to the brick wall and one of Jeanette's goons on either side of me, holding me to the wall. I knew what was coming.

"So girls, which eye will it be today. Left or right?" Jeanette asked the girls around her. After receiving no answer she said "well, last time it was right, so this time I think it will be LEFT" she punctuated the last word with a punch to my left eye.

"Aaaggg!" I couldn't help yelling in pain. The pain subsided slightly to a throb that felt like a heavy metal band was playing in my eyeball. I worked up the courage to ask "why... Why do you always do this to me? What did I do to deserve it?"

"One" she held up her finger "because you're weird, two" she said holding up her second finger "I got an F on that essay you did for me" she gave me an evil smirk that made me feel worse was yet to come.
"Isn't there anything I can do to get you to stop you doing this to me?" I asked desperately.

"Yeah, do my homework right next time" she replied with a punch to my gut. I looked at her and she seemed to be... thinking? I could almost hear the gears slowly turning in her head. "I’ll tell ya what, I’ll make you a deal. If you do a little dare for me, I won't beat you up for a whole month. If you don't, you get double beatings for the next month". She smirked, expecting me to turn her down, but I thought to myself, when was I gonna get another chance at something like this?

"What’s the dare?" I asked.

"Well" she gave me an evil look "you have to go into the forest at the edge of town, in the middle of the night and stay there". My eye's widened, and she began laughing at my expression.

"Fine" I said before I could stop myself. "But how will you know if I’ve been there at all?"

She abruptly stopped laughing and gave me a look. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"What about the ruins Jeanette, she could go there and get one of them pretty rocks" one of her posse supplied.

"Good idea. Glad I thought of it". She grinned evilly. "There you go, so we can make sure you went, go to the ruins in the middle of the forest and get one of the shiny rocks there, and the next day show it to me". She watched for my reaction but I kept my face blank. "Lets go girls. I’m bored with this"

Suddenly her goons weren't holding me to the wall anymore and I fell to the ground shaking. I raised my head to see her and her posse walking off laughing.

I sat there with my newly formed black eye and wondered to myself if it would ever stop? even after this offer, would she ever stop? maybe by some miracle she would get tired of beating me up every day. In that moment my life felt hopeless and empty, and I began to cry.

I sat there crying and crying, losing all track of time.

"Are you ok?" said a male voice, and I jumped about three feet in the air because I hadn't heard him walk up to me. I looked up with a tear-streaked face to see the best- looking guy I had ever met. He had short jet black hair that stopped just below his ears, and the most amazingly blue eyes I had ever seen, and he was asking me if I was ok.

"Um, um, yes I'm fine don't worry about me" I said not wanting to involve him in this.

"I saw what that girl did to you are you sure you're going to be fine?" he asked, helping me up.

"Yeah, I'm used to it by now" I said, still feeling a bit depressed.

"By the way, my name is Sean. What would your name be?" he asked me politely.

"I'm Cassie" I replied lamely.

"Well I'm glad to meet you Cassie. I hope we bump into each other again. I certainly wouldn’t mind getting to know you better" and with that he walked away.

I felt wonderful! What a sensitive guy, he was so polite and friendly. I thought about him all the way home and how great he probably was.  Considering I had only spoken to him for five minutes it was mostly based on assumption.


When I reached the door to my house I took a deep breath and opened the door. I knew what was coming. As soon as I walked in the door my mother walked up to me and kissed me on the forehead and surveyed my new black eye.

"I'll go get the ointment" she said to me and rushed out of the room.
My father gave me a disapproving look.

"Why don't you fight back honey? Why do you let them do this to you all the time?"

I gave him my usual reply. "Because, dad, there was a whole group of them. There was no way I could have fought my way through them all, I'm not strong enough. And besides, if I fight back it'll just get worse"
He muttered something and went back to his newspaper. Meanwhile my mother had returned with the ointment and was rubbing god knows what onto my black eye.

"Ouch!" I protested. "Mum, that hurts!"

"Just sit still and it won’t hurt as much, ok?"

My mum is the kind of mother who stays at home, looks after the house and takes part in all the community activities; she was a very social person. My dad however worked a lot of the time and didn't always get home in time for dinner. Our house was comfortable but not extravagant and we were happy with it. The house was very plain, the predominant colour of the house being an off- white creamy colour, and the mess level tended to stay pretty low.

"You can't keep getting into these fights honey, you could be really badly hurt someday" mum said, looking at me with concern.

"I don't ask them to do it mum, it's not like I enjoy being beaten up every day" I replied somewhat huffily at what she seemed to be implying.
She let the subject drop. "Well dinner will be ready in a few minutes, ok?"

"Ok mum. I’m going to my room for a bit then" I replied. I had to think of a plan to make sure my parents wouldn't worry about me when I didn't come home tomorrow, I certainly couldn't tell them I was going to the forest.

I walked into my room and fell on the bed. I looked at the familiar scene. I spent most of my time in this room just reading. I loved to read almost anything. The walls of the small room were a lavender colour and the carpet was a slightly darker purple. It was a small room but it didn't need to be big. All I used it for was reading and homework. The furniture consisted of a bed, desk, wardrobe and a small bookshelf full of a few of my favorite books.

I had to think of something so my parents wouldn't know I was out of the house in the middle of the night. The ‘pillows under the blankets trick’? No, my parents weren't stupid. They would never fall for it. Maybe, in order to get out of the house, they would have to think I was already out of the house doing something else. I could tell them I was at a friends place to sleep over? But what if they rang to check on me? No getting past it, I would have to tell Lucy so she covered for me if they rang. It was a plan, not a great plan but it was something.

"Cassie!" mum called. "Dinners ready!"

"Coming!" I replied. I’d ask them at dinner.

As I came into the dining room I hit a wall of delicious smells. I stood there almost in a daze breathing in the great smell.

"You going to sit down honey or are you going to stand there all night while your dinner gets cold?" my dad asked.

I snapped out of my food induced daze. "Sorry, it just smells so good!" I smiled and sat at the table and began to eat my dinner. About half- way through I made my move "um, dad?"

"Yes honey?"

"Can I sleep over Lucy’s house tomorrow? We’re working on an assignment together".

"As long as it's ok with her parents you can go, but don't stay up to late alright?"

"Sure thing. I’ll ring her when I finish dinner". I let out a breath, not realizing I’d been holding it.

I finished my dinner as fast as possible and rushed to my room with the cordless phone. I dialed the number and after about three rings a female voice answered.

"Lucy is that you?"

"Yeah what’s up Cassie?" replied Lucy’s voice.

"Well I have a bit of a problem. You see, I made a deal with Jeanette so that she would stop beating me up for a month"

"That’s great Cassie. So what's the problem?" she asked, suspicion sneaking into her voice.

"Well... the deal was that I have to go into the forest on the edge of town and go to the ruins and bring back a rock"

There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"Lucy? You still there?"

"Yeah...but Cassie, why did you agree to that? You know your parents will never let you go out late at night!"

"That’s where I need your help Lucy" I said, hoping she would help me. We were friends after all.

She was silent for a minute or two, as if thinking about her answer. "Ok I’ll help, but promise me you'll be careful".

"I will" I said, trying to reassure her. "I told my parents that I’m going to be at your house for a sleep over and that we're working on an assignment together. All I need you to do is cover for me if they ring"

"Ok I don't feel good about lying to your parents but I’ll do it" she said, sounding slightly unsure.

"Oh my gosh! thank you so much Lucy, I owe you one".

"You bet you do" she laughed. "I have to go. I’ll see you at school tomorrow".

"Ok see you then. ‘Night"

"’Night!" she hung up.

I could have jumped for joy! I didn't deserve such a great friend as Lucy. She always had my back even when it was to the wall.