Bound by fate or a curse?

For as long as I can remember, there was nothing but one dream of colors contorted with the sound of the wind blowing through the hollow branches in winter, nothing but the still silence of the early morning when the winter coat had yet to be touched by a single soul. "Sarah..." The same husked voice would always whisper as the trees twisted into something of a dark nature. The world was spinning cold above my still body, growing even colder against the flakes of snow covering it. A warmth of red flowing from my chest encased me in a sense of comfort like a babe in its blanket upon its mother's breast. "I'm so sorry Sarah..." Yet... no matter how many times I tried to reach, unmask the identity of the blurred presence above me, my body refused to disturb the snow clinging to my flesh. "Please forgive me...in the next life" And just like many times before, I would wake up at the exact moment the presence would say those words. For years, I have questioned it. Whether the dream was that of a child's wild imagination or whether it played a more serious part in my life. A distant memory perhaps? "Please forgive me...in the next life." No. Surely not. As expected, when I told my parents of the tell-tale in my dream, they waved it off as nothing more than a child's fantasy, however my long-time friend Elizabeth, aka Lizzie for short, was taken by the dream I confided in her with. The girl is a natural reader, absorbed by the fiction of fairies and dragons and long-lost romantics in the words of a good book. So, naturally, she was essentially hooked on the idea of my dream being some love letter to myself from a past life. I will admit I indulged her and her wild ideas of what my dream could potentially mean. Just watching her eyes sparkle with the many versions of my dream's meaning was enough to make me smile at the possibility of it not meaning much of anything at all and, as a result, I learned to dismiss the dream altogether. I sat up on the edge of my bed, my chest still heaving from the sudden wake as I do every morning. With a heavy sigh, I feel for my glasses, putting them on as I glance at the prescribed sleep pills I take every night with no effect next to my phone on the bedside table, which is alight with a morning text from Lizzie. I reached, picking it up with a small smile as I read 'Gooooood morning! Did you finish the History homework? Mr Giles will have my ass. I swear Picolo ate it this time! I'll see you in 10 xx' I placed the phone back down as I shook my head at the thought of her blonde ball of fur, Picolo the pomeranian wolfing down the homework in question, which was almost as excusable as the story of her previous homework being flushed down the toilet by her little brother Ryan. With a deep stretch, I got up and made my way to the bathroom to freshen up, styling my hair in the usual low braid with a red ribbon at the end before swiftly placing on the already-ironed uniform with the Mulberry high crest sewn to the breast pocket. As promised, I hear the sound of Lizzie's new Mercedes pulling up into the driveway as I make my way down the stairs, Dad in his usual spot in front of the television surrounded by empty bottles of brew from the night before. The sight was also a daily occurrence after my mother passed away when I was all but ten years old. She was on her way home from working the graveyard shift when a drunk happened to be speeding, head-on collision. I could only hope she passed painlessly that night as my father's cries still scarred my mind. Only now, it withered him into a drunk. Funny how the world works that way, causing a man to cling to the very poison that took her life, but who am I to choose his mourning? I reminded Dad about the leftovers in the refrigerator before grabbing my old backpack with sewn straps i had to mend the month before. I could ask Dad for a new one, but that would only be met with the soulless look of a broken man, so I chose to use what I had available. Sitting in the passenger seat of Lizzie's car, she offered a piece of peppermint gum, the same one she was currently chewing away on, to mask the smell of the cigarette stench before we got to Mulberry. Her uniform tucked in her skirt as always with the shirt a button too low for school regulations with her tie loosened to show off her blessed assets. The only reason Lizzie got away with the indecency was because of her father's 'generous' donations to the school board, causing them to turn a blind eye. Despite her flashy, polar opposite look to mine, her personality outshone her in the best of ways. Propping her sunglasses into her blond, beach-waved hair, her blue eyes beamed at me with the same sparkle every morning. "Sooooo, did it happen again?" I rolled my eyes with a smirk while playing with the radio to blast our 'ultimate bangers' playlist we made three summers ago which consisted of songs that would be definitely pass for a bipolar disorder if playlists were able to have one. "Yes, same as always" I sighed half heartedly as she tossed her sunned locks over her shoulder, pulling out of the driveway while I placed the fresh peppermint into my mouth, savoring the taste. "Damn, Sarah im telling you, it's a prophecy. Girl, I bet a man is just waiting around the corner, ready to swift your ass off your feet. OH, maybe! Maybe it's a sign that whoever you date is bad for you girl. Hmm, I bet that's it, like a guardian angel or some s**t is looking out for you." I smiled at her rambling and the nodding of her head at her own words as we drove while grabbing Lizzie's bag, copying down the history homework she claimed Picolo mysteriously ate last night. "I bet Picolo's going to have a hard time shitting this one out today huh" I smirked as she rolled her eyes, fake eyelashes fluttering as she focused on the road "I mean it, that little runt took the whole thing a gobbled it like he'd been starved his whole life" She pouted, reminded of her little pooch as we got to the high school gates, parking up as i finished the last of the answers before sliding it over to her lap as she clapped her hands "Girl. Ah! You're a f*****g life-saver. Thank you." Cupcakes after school? "My treat." She beamed as we grabbed our stuff. "You know I wouldn't miss it for the world." I chuckled, looking forward to our sacred routine of cupcakes at Betty's every Tuesday as we got out and headed for the entrance. Many heads turned towards us. Well, more like looking at Lizzie. She was the school's gem, so to say, and standing next to a bookworm like me only intensified her features to others. "Oh yeah, how's Mr Dale? "Any change?" A look of hope flashed across her face as she glanced at me while walking together. "Nah, same old dad I'm afraid" I smiled as a way to make her feel less silly for asking a question with an obvious answer. Lizzie was there through it all, holding my shattered heart in her hands when my mother passed, cupcakes every week to 'eat the pain away', she'd say. It's been our routine ever since, and I can't thank her enough for it. She placed a small, sorrowful smile on her lips before hooking her arm around my shoulders, not sparing the onlookers a second glance. "Then let's make todaaaaaay..." I rolled my eyes as we shouted in union "A FAN-f*****g-TASTIC DAY!" we both laughed, oblivious to the teachers scowling and muttering at the distaste of our colorful language either that or we just didn't care at the expense of our own happiness. When we got to our lockers that happened to be next to one another, I started by grabbing bio and chemistry books, the most insufferable classes to be tackled at the start of the day, thankfully. Lizzie was already refining her make-up for probably the third time this morning in her little heart-shaped mirror while my gaze hung on the growing crowd of people at the end of the hall. "Hmm, did we have any announcements for today?" I questioned Lizzie as my eyes tried to peer through the gaps of bodies to see what was making them flock. "Hell if I know, why, what's wrong?" she said, half distracted while checking her teeth before I nudged her and nodded to the ruckus. She looked just as confused as I was, giving a look at each other as we watched from a distance, noticing the Jock and the leader of the football team, Dion. He was smirking his way at Lizzie while surrounded by Hailey Brooke and her lackeys, whom I had warned Lizzie to steer clear of in the long run. Luckily, Lizzie took my advice, but the current eye-goggling suggested that my words were not enough to make her stay back for long. I shook my head and sighed as I looked down at the subject of today's bio class, evolution. How wonderful. Nose-deep in the words of a historic phenomenon of bacterial growth, I barely managed to catch Lizzie's gasp. Before my eyes could even register the cause, I was met with a very tall, well-built chest in front of me with my eyes continuing to travel up to a sculptured jaw, sandy brown hair in a textured cut with deep, sharp, cold-looking eyes...