Time Will Tell

Chapter 1

“You don’t find love, it finds you. It’s got a little bit to do with destiny, fate and what’s written in the stars.” –Anais Nin

An alarm clock is set to go off when you want or need to get up in the morning. The young people in the house where Cheyenne lives mostly agree on this, barring Cheyenne. The extremely alarm-defiant Cheyenne.

The device she put on top of her nightstand makes a screeching noise, which she angrily hits with her fist to stop because otherwise it would reach her aunt's auditory range, grasping even the slightest noise an ant could make—a precise sensory attribute that only mothers considerably beyond belief possess.

When she hears her aunt acknowledge the alarm going off, her hopes are dashed like a building bubble, and her pillow-covered face scrunches up with a grumbling grunt.

“Five minutes!” she responded in a low growl, hoping her aunt would hear her out. Her plea fell on deaf ears as her aunt called out her name one more time, only this time much firmer and annoyance could be heard laced along with her voice coming from outside her locked door, echoing from downstairs.

“Cheyenne Celeste Eliott!”

And there goes the complete name rolling off her tongue like venom, which indicates that it should be the last call before World War three.

Cheyenne goes by a number of names depending on who calls her; many people refer to her as Cheyenne, but her close friends refer to her as Shay. Her mother, who sadly passed away when she was only a young teen, was given the moniker Cece, though. She prefers being addressed by her given name.

Although her aunt wasn't constantly at odds with everyone in the home, that particular day was extremely different. She opened her eyes, and everything was different. Before the alarm clock phenomenon, she could still recall her dream. Recalling everything, it was the third time she had dreamed of something in a repetitive sequence, every night, always the same thing: a vivid image of a place, like a room on the second floor of a luxurious house with a soft pink color sequence, and on the side, seemed to be an open door that leads to a balcony that seemed to be replaying inside her mind in the form of a strange dream. There are no characters; just the same image repeated.

She doesn't pay attention to the dream, instead focusing on potential events for the day and trying to match the strange feeling she had been having all morning. Her everyday routine, as she mentally went through it, made no mention of the odd gut instinct she had when she had been bugged. She had to get up early to study for the quiz she missed on today's special.

She grunts and lifts herself up in a sluggishly seated position. With her eyes still closed, she pats her surroundings in search of her phone. The screen showed off the date today, November 5th of 2018. Monday.

“Great. Okay, I’m up”

Getting ready was not a complicated task to finish. It only took her about ten minutes tops to take a shower and dress up altogether.

When she arrived downstairs, she was met by her busy aunt who was pacing back and forth on the kitchen floor while making breakfast for the entire family. She swallowed hard when she realized that none of her cousins had made it downstairs to help their mother.

The plate, which contained the seductive aroma of sizzling corned beef and scrambled eggs on the side, was ready to fall from her aunt's grasp when she seized it with agility and greeted her with a "good morning" before setting it safely on the table with the other options for breakfast.

“Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you helping me around here, dear. I mean, you’re not obliged to do that, but yet here you are,” her aunt Margaret’s sweet voice complimenting her, contrasting the loud venomous voice she used earlier that day in waking her up, seconding the failed attempt of the alarm clock.

“That’s not a problem for me. I mean, you offered me free shelter with food to put in my mouth every day. What else can I do to top that?”

“You’re family, you don’t need to feel obliged to do these things. I just wish those slobs upstairs would wake up earlier than they’re supposed to.”

Cheyenne snatches a slice of toast from a serving plate and shoves it in her mouth while chuckling. She then sits down in one of the chairs and begins to flick through her notes in an effort to study for her test that morning. She gives herself a mental high five for at least trying, even though nothing appeared to stick in her head. Perhaps she will be lucky and find some information tucked away in the back of her mind to use during the test.

Soon, the dining room was occupied by her cousins, among which three were boys and one girl.

Her attempts to store complicated knowledge related to science were given up in exchange for existing right at the moment. Listening to her cousin, Erika ranting about a boy she’s supposed to meet on the weekend who stood her up and the rest of the boys talking about video games became sort of a background noise. It was a usual morning routine she never wished to exchange for anything else. She only wished for someone to join the unoccupied space on the table, which belonged to her mother. If only the world hadn't been so cruel to give her cancer, which caused her death, then it would have been perfect.

The rest of the time, they enjoyed their breakfast before it was time to leave for school.

“Shay!”

Cheyenne hears someone from among the huge crowd walking in the school hallway. When she turned around to look for the source, it was her best friend, Aera.

“Hey, what’s up? How’s your weekend?” Cheyenne started as they walked alongside them in the hallway.

“Eh, nothing new. All’s pretty much the same. My parents took me to the rest house to spend some family time, which is every weekend, by the way. I don’t know, my parents probably still hate me for sneaking out to join a party.”

Aera was one of those high-maintained kids in her school, with both parents working in a law firm, with two separate huge houses to choose from aside from their rest house and a weekly allowance that sums up as thrice of Cheyenne’s weekly, everybody basically stares up in awe at her aside from the fact that she is beautiful with her straight dark brown hair, her Filipino roots evident in her tanned skin and brown eyes.

“A party? I thought your rest house was in a secluded area”

“Yeah, but a few kids from the next town constantly go to the lake a few miles away from the rest house to have a party. I didn’t have anything to do aside from stare at the picture frames and smell my mom’s scented candles.”

“So, you left.”

“Yeah. I mean, making new friends wouldn’t hurt, right?”

“Mhmm…”

The two made a left turn to stop by Cheyenne’s locker to drop some things and grab textbooks for her first class and Aera leans on the locker next to her friend’s as she continues to tell her story.

“What hurts I guess was the embarrassment; it made me wish I hadn’t come to the stupid party at all.”

Cheyenne closes her locker and leans her weight on her locker door, facing Aera so she can pay more attention.

“How come?”

“My parents caught me.” Aera displays her frustration by screwing her face up.

“We were having a nice time, and I even met this cute guy, Tyler, and we were talking and we almost danced! Until my dad’s car pulled up and my mom started freaking out in front of everyone.”

Cheyenne cringed for a little while before sympathetically clicking her tongue for her friend.

“I’m so sorry to hear that. So, what happened after that?”

“They took me back home, of course. Tyler was obviously embarrassed for me that he hid himself in the crowd.”

Cheyenne scrunched her face up in disapproval.

“So yeah, my parents grounded me for god knows how long and put me on a short allowance. I mean I don’t give a damn about the allowance, I just wanted to have some fun. So much for nothing new.”

Cheyenne expressed sympathy for her buddy and gave her a light shoulder tap in an effort to make her feel better. When Cheyenne's phone rang from her pocket, the two of them had barely begun to stroll down the corridor. Her aunt's name displayed on the screen as she looked at the caller ID. She was a little concerned because her aunt never calls her at this time of day, especially while she was in school. She answered the call after the third ring.

“Hello?” she started, trying her best not to let her voice shake.

“Hey, Cheyenne. Sweetie, are you busy right now?”

“I’m just about to head to homeroom. Why? Is there something wrong?”

“I went out to do groceries and the car just broke down in the middle of nowhere. I tried calling Erika and she’s not picking up, just like the boys. I didn’t want to bother you, but I was left with no choice,” her aunt’s voice was a little shaky, stressed by the situation and she did not hesitate one bit.

“Okay, can you send me the address? I’ll come and get you,” she responded.

“Okay dear, I’m sorry. Will you be late for your first period?”

“No, it’s okay. I still have a couple of minutes to spare. I’ll be right there. I'll end the call so you can send me the address, okay?”

And she hung up the phone. Not a few seconds later when her phone beeped and she received her aunt's location.

She was quick to make her way toward the exit. Aera, who was confused, stopped her.

“Hey, aren’t you going to homeroom with me?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’d love to. But Aunt Margaret’s car broke down somewhere. I needed to get there ASAP.”

“Well, my class won’t be there in the next hour or so. I can drive you.”

Knowing she had a friend like Aera who offered assistance without her even asking for it made Cheyenne's heart overflow with appreciation.

“Really? You’d do that?” she asks in disbelief.

“Of course, silly. Why wouldn’t I? You wait for me outside and I’ll get the car.”

The wind blew a little too strongly for Cheyenne that day. She stood outside the school, waiting for Aera to drive by. The wind blew her hair into her face in a very unattractive way. Leaving her with no choice but to tie her hair, despite her dislike of the idea. She returns to rubbing her arms to warm herself due to the cold wind, and the sun is at its peak, but the cold tells her otherwise.

“What’s taking her so long?” she asked, more to herself, and leaned her head to check the gate to see if Aera would be there any sooner. She’s still not showing up.

Cheyenne could only groan in the cold and wait for her friend.

She was startled out of her place as an unknown voice interrupted from behind her.

“Cheyenne?”

She didn't recognize the voice, which was male. It was tinged with the desire that it would somehow get her attention. She spun around to see who it might be, and there in front of her stood a man she didn't know. He had blonde hair that reflected the glaring sun and was at least in his twenties. His intensely blue eyes pierced hers. His expression suggested that he had been looking for her all along and had finally found her.

Knowing that Cheyenne didn't associate much with her town and only knew those she was close to made it odd for her.

“Umm… I’m so sorry. Do I know you?” she asked nicely. She studied the man's features more closely, her brow furrowing in interest.

“It’s you, Cheyenne… I found you…”