It was a dark stormy night….an extremely dark and stormy night…

The skies were clear, and cirrus clouds floated playfully against the azure atmosphere. A small breeze blew softly and encouraging the trees and plants to dance. Leaves flew past the windows of a small cottage.

If a traveler looked through the windows, he or she would spot a young girl sleeping on a soft bed comfortably, her dark locks falling to her shoulders and hanging off the bed and the rest of her hair tumbled across her back and the pillow. The girl's name was Jade, and she was more than she seemed.

…"No! Don't touch that! Please! It's dangerous!"

A white light. A black light. A blurry haze. A strange sound.

She screamed as her friend was engulfed in those. Vaporized. Gone. Disappeared. Never to be again unless resurrected. She fell to the floor…

Tears flooded out of her eyes, streaming down her face and soaking the pillow. Her eyes opened. They were green like the healthy grass growing in the area around the cottage. "Justan!"

Somewhere else in the house, someone shuffled. "What is it?" Footsteps headed toward Jade's room. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Jade nodded.

Justan sat on the side of the bed, and Jade fell into his arms. "You're too tense. Nightmares result from that."

"I worry too much…" Jade leaned against Justan's shoulders.

"Yes, you do. I'm the one that's supposed to worry. You have to train."

"So, technically, I still have to worry."

"…you know what I meant…"

Jade grinned and flopped back onto her bed. "Fine! You know, this bed is very soft. It's so comfortable to sleep on!"

"I don't sleep much…" Justan pointed to the sofa. "There's a reason I sleep there." He sighed. "I'll be back. I'm just going to pick up some supplies."

"Okay!"

"Be good."

"Sure."

"Seriously."

"Sure."

"Alright, I'll see you then."

"Sure." Jade watched Justan leave and dressed. She thought to herself and shrugged. She had gone a long way. Yes, she had. She headed to the study and wandered about, looking for random books whose titles might pop out at her.

She was human. Yah. That she was. She had hoped not and had fantasized herself to be other than that, but it was not the case. She had been born human, and she hadn't wanted to be unhuman so much that she would have gone through plastic surgery or some sort of strange genetic experiment. Besides, what had gone by had gone by.

Jade plopped down on a chair and smiled. It was funny, come to think of it. She actually wanted to look back at her memories of her life. Fond images of nursery school came into play…. singing all those crazy childish songs…. Graduating with pins and funny clothes… she had enjoyed it….

Elementary school was a different matter. She was the minority. As hard as she tried, she could not fit in. Everyone had his or her own groups… whether it was being rich or from religions… Jade felt tears come to her eyes, but she held them back. It wasn't her fault that people thought others to be inferior. It was her fault that people were racist or full of discrimination. After all, she was the minority in the area, however much she hated that. She had lived through it though and won some battles against the conformed officials of the school system. It had been hard, but she had achieved some sort of success. One particular memory in her summer elementary years stuck out like a sore thumb…. golf…. Golf? … She couldn't play golf. Her first hit… into the instructor's face… she had decided never to play again…

The people in the middle school were better, but rumors, as always spread about the minority and others, but there were more people to make friends with and more to group and guard against. Middle school years were joyful years with strange happenings in music classes and clubs. Ties broke though when certain friends grew distant from differing grades. Jade had never understood that either.

She kicked the table in front of her in the study and sighed. There were so many things in the world that puzzled her. Perhaps, she was sheltered a bit too much. There were just some things that she would never find out. Besides, many people were like that. Science and technology and archeology and others… no one knew everything…

She blinked and stared at the fallen table. High school…. A time of more independence and freedom and less racism due to the fact that her school was extremely diverse… a town away from the elementary and middle schools….

Perhaps, she had kicked a bit too hard… A secret compartment…. Jade lifted the bottom of one of the legs out. It was a small box. Inside was another smaller box. This one was ornate. Lachrymose…. Tears? A box decorated with tears and ancient blood red as if there were so many lacerations that the box could never be restored to a nicer color.

Justan always lampooned those around him. He was always full of laxity and leery, but Jade felt that he sometimes had large largess, whether it was a curse or a responsibility. Justan was some sort of guardian though Jade wondered why when he was full of honest legerdemain. She fingered the box. Maybe the box had something to do with the guardianship.

Was it right for her to peek into the box? She was so curious. She shook her head and put down the box and stared at it. It was so captivating, so appealing. Why was she so tempted to open the box? It was red and old and strange. She sighed and reached towards the box.