Day Break Academy Series book 1

Chapter 2: The Letter

"Ava! Get up already it's past ten!" Shouted my foster mom Dianne from the other side of my door.

I yawned and stretched out to my full length, blinking back the light that streamed in through the window. At the thought of the window, memories of last night flooded in and sobered me fully awake. My nerves were fried and I'd had a tough time getting to sleep, but had finally managed.

I shoved my feet into my slippers and padded off to the kitchen where everyone was indulging in Diannes Saturday morning breakfast. She always did a big breakfast on Saturdays but today I just wasn't that hungry.

"Morning" I said, snagging a piece of toast off my foster brothers plate for the principle of it.

"Hey!" Jonah whined.

"Get your own plate Ava" Dianne chastised me. I gave my best smug smile in return, and trodded over to the coffee pot. I paused suddenly, beacing my handa on the edge of the counter. The toast rolled in my stomach and I bit back the bile that threatened to come up with it. Huh. Maybe I'm getting sick. This is the third time in 2 days food has tasted like cardboard. Suddenly the coffee didn't seem that appealing. I was desperately thirsty though so I snagged a cup of water and chugged it back. Again bile rose up my throat, but i couldnt hold back this time. I hurled into the kitchen sink.

"Oh my God, ew Ava! Are you alright?" Dianne gawked.

I licked my lip and took a deep breath in to steady my guts, turning on the faucet to clear away my incident.

"Uh, yeah sorry mum. I'm just not hungry" I mumbled.

"OK…and that makes you puke?" She eyed me with a mother's concern.

I gave a casual shrug and apologetic smile "just kind of came up".

"Hmm, well hopefully you aren't coming down with anything, make sure that you brush the hell out of those teeth yeah?…Oh by the way, there's a letter for you on the front mantel" my foster mom said.

"Mail on a Saturday?" I asked, putting the bitten toast back on Jonahs plate. He looked up at me with repulsion.

"I don't think so…someone rang the bell, but when I went to answer it there wasn't anyone there just the letter on the step." She shrugged, scanning the newspaper in her hands.

"Hm.." I murmured and went to investigate.

The envelope was standard with just my name and no return address. Quizzically I walked to my room with it, perching on the edge of my bed. I pulled out the hard piece of poster paper inside. The writing was an old fashioned calligraphy, weird. It read,

"Meet me at the corner of sunset and palmer at dusk. I have access to information pertaining to your parents, and your true identity. You're not what you think. You'll know me when you see me. Ignore this message and you'll continue to get sicker, the blood is calling."

What the actual f**k? I reread it three times before sinking back onto my bed. I couldn't process what the letter meant. 'You're not who you think'? I snorted, and what the hell is up with that 'blood is calling' stuff? The mention of my parents made me still though...

This sounded like some crap the asshats at school would set up to make one last good mockery of me before they graduate. Get me to show up and then film me while they throw s**t at me in a drive by or something. I'd been harassed so much over the years for being held back a year and an "orphan" like that was somehow funny to them.

I chucked the letter angrily onto my bed and headed for a shower. My eighteenth birthday was 3 days from now, same day as school ended for the summer. Thank f**k.

Despite the idiotic note seeming abundantly fake, I had a feeling I couldn't shake about it all. It seemed dark. Besides, how did anyone else know I'd been feeling Ill? Was I not crazy after all? Had someone really been watching me? Suddenly the face of the guy in the hallway filled my mind, and refused to leave. I knew I'd be showing up tonight despite the obvious instincts telling me not to.

.

.

.

Steady rain cascaded around me in the dark night where I stood waiting. Despite the evening cold I felt feverishly hot with apprehension and uncertainty. Was this a cruel joke to make me look stupid, or was there some truth to the letter? The obvious answer would be the first, however the fear I felt gripping me made me feel otherwise. Somehow I just knew the letter held some deep truth.

My feet were desperate to run, but I kept them concrete beneath me as I stood under the street lights illuminating glow. I needed to know what this person thought they knew, and what this meant for me. A solitary car approached, low bass and laughs reverberating from the inside, and my breath caught. For a moment I felt stupid falling for the prank. Yet I eyed it as it carried on without slowing. Heaving a sigh of relief I let out the air I'd been holding in and shut my eyes.

Just then a heavy hand grasped my shoulder hard from behind and spun me around. My eyes flew open, and I screamed.