Rude Awakenings
**Lycia? Come with me; will you Lycia? Be my angel....**With a jerk, the young woman flung the covers off of her and jumped out of bed. She grabbed the nearest thing she could, hoping to use it as a weapon if needs be. Sweat beading her brow, she looked around, panting heavily. What met her eyes was an apartment bedroom in disarray. A dresser lay against the far wall, a mirror hanging above it; a desk set under a window with drawn blinds, covered with paper, charcoal, pencils and ink; a wooden chair in the near corner; and a bed in the center, its covers laying halfway on the bed, halfway on the floor. The young woman sighed and relaxed out of her defensive position. Glancing at the weapon in her hand, she cocked an eyebrow: a wooden spoon. Some weapon. She sighed again and tossed the spoon to some corner of the room. Laying back down on the bed, she placed her arms behind her head and stared at the ceiling. She had been having the same dreams for at least a year now. And she couldn't figure out what it meant. She was about to fall asleep again when the alarm clock next to her bed went off. Grumbling, she went to the bathroom to shower. Stripping herself of her white tank-top, dark blue shorts, and her underclothes, she stared at herself in the mirror. She sighed once again and turned on the warm water. Slinking into the hot bath, she started to relfect on some things. Nothing specific...just things. Because of her late-night sketching...she starts to fall asleep in the bathtub. **Lycia? Come with me; will you Lycia? Be my angel Lycia...please? Come with me...** The voice brought her back to consciousness. She quickly got out of the tub and wrapped herself in a fluffy white towel. Drying herself off she quickly walked to her closet and opened it up. Picking out fresh undergarments, some socks, a pair of dark blue jeans, and a black long-sleeved shirt, she hurriedly got dressed and dried her long jet-black hair. Tying her hair into a loose braid, she grabbed her brown leather boots, and her backpack with her drawings in it, and left out the front door. About two seconds later the young woman comes flying back through the door, grabs a pendant off of the dresser, and leaves again; a soft clicking could be heard as the door was locked. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Walking down the sidewalk, the young woman nodded to a few people along the way. When she came across a slightly hidden path she turned onto it and trotted up the semi-rocky slope. After a minute or so she made it to an outcrop of rock, overlooking the sea, and sat down. Taking out her sketch pad and spreading out her charcoals, she began to sketch the sea-scape before her. And strangely enough...she doesn't sketch the sea at all. But a figure...She notices what she is doing and stops. She hadn't gone far enough to see what the figure looked like, but there was enough of a picture to study. A lone figure stood atop a rocky outcropping like the one she sat on. A sword hung on the figure's belt and a cape flowed from the figure's back in the wind. Other than that, nothing was discernable. With a shrug she looked at her watch. Going wide eyed she cursed lowly and stood up, gathering her things. With a flutter of leaves, she ran back down the path and back to bustle below. ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Rushing towards the fairly nice building, the young woman heard a shrill bell inside. Groaning, she pushed open the door and dashed in. Hurrying into a room with about nine or ten other people in it, she quickly found a seat and tried to make herself unnoticable. "Kinda late Li..." a young man muttered behind her. She nodded slightly and blushed. "Hiya Lycee, a little late today, aren't we?" a whiny voice jeered from the front. The woman sneered and looked away. "Anna...that's quite enough." A middle-aged woman standing in front of the room says sternly. She then turns to the young woman. "But she is right Lycia. You are late. For the fifth time...." The young woman, Lycia (Li), nodded, blushing slightly. "You'll have to learn to be prompt young lady. You are nineteen. I expect much more out of someone like you." the woman then turned to the canvas in front of her. "Now all of you pay attention. Today I want you to try to finish the paintings we started last week. Your grade will be affected by this." All of the students then rose from their seats and took their positions next to canvases. The young man from before took a place next to Lycia's. "Close one Li. I thought you were a goner for sure." he smiled, showing his perfect white teeth. Dark blue eyes reflected from behind a strand of brownish-blonde hair. Li only blushed. Her real name was Lycia. His nickname for her was Li. She liked it, and often told people to call her that...but from him...she always blushed when he said it. "Yeah, well... I expected the same...." she answered lamely, taking out her personal brushes and paints. "Yeah Lycee. Close one." Anna's voice rang out. Li winced. She hated that nickname. Anna turned to the young man. "I don't know what you see in her Ty. She's always late, always has her mind in the clouds, and always draws and paints those weirdo pictures." she sneered at Li's painting. Li glanced at her painting and growled slightly to herself. What's wrong with drawing and painting dragons and such all the time! It was her style. "I'm sorry Anna. Maybe I should paint flowers and swans all the time like you." she muttered, dipping her brush in some scarlet paint. Ty laughed and Anna blushed. She hrumphed to herself, then turned back to her painting, ignoring Li as if it was damaging to Li to do so. Li slightly smiled and turned back to her painting. **Lycia? Come with me; will you Lycia? Be my angel...** Li dropped her brush and it landed on the hard floor with a splat of paint. She looked around frantically. That was the first time she had heard it when she was awake.... "Are you okay?" Ty's voice shook Li out of her wake. "What?" "Are you okay?" he repeated, picking up her paintbrush for her. "You look like you just saw a ghost." Li gingerly took the paintbrush from him. She nervously look around her once more and shook her head slowly. "I'm fine, " she gave a false smile to her words. "I just thought I heard something..." "Alright..." Ty said, turning back to his canvas. "If you say so.." Li turned back to her canvas and started to paint again. Her hands trembled slightly and she soon had to put down her paintbrush. She gave the excuse that she wasn't feeling well and the elderly teacher excused her for the day. The last thing she saw was Ty giving her a worried look and Anna smirking and sticking her tongue out at her. ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Li walked slowly along, her sketch pad and charcoals tucked under her arm while she carried her backpack over her shoulder. She thought hard about what had happened back in her class-room. But no solutions came to her head. Before she realized it, Li was heading up the same semi-hidden path from before. Finally finding herself...she paused a moment, then kept going up the rocky trail. Finding her spot from before she put her sketchbook back into her pack, sat down, placed her elbows on her knees, and looked out over the sea. Leaning back she placed her arms behind her head and quickly nodded off. "Lycia? Come with me; will you Lycia? Be my angel..." Li bolted upright. The voice was not in her dream this time. It was right next to her!!! When the sleep finally left her eyes she saw a tall figure before her. It was a male, obviously, because of the voice. He had a sword strapped to his belt and a cape flapped on his back in the wind. She couldn't see his face because the sun was directly behind his head. "Lycia? Come with me?" The man beconed again, this time reaching out a hand. Li cringed away, pulling her backpack to her chest. There was a flash of bright light, and then everything was black. ~&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&~Well...that's the first chapter. Hoped ya liked it. If you want, continue to the next chapter. If not...then you can go explore other things on my pages.
