You ever wake up in the middle of the night and just wish you were a different person? These thoughts always seem to come at us in the middle of the night when your defenses are low, when you’re surrounded by shadows that you were trying to run away from. It didn’t seem like I would ever get out of where I was, a small town nonexistent to everyone but the residents. One high school, one college, one everything. I always had an itch to be someone everyone knew. That was my wish on almost every birthday, every full moon, and every shooting star. I just wanted to be known by everyone not only by my neighbors. I watched TV saw all those people everyone knew by name and wondered if I would ever get there. If my death would make first page news, if people I didn’t know would cry over my death. I wanted to be special, and not only to my mom and dad. I wanted to be known. I always heard that I should be careful for what I wished for, but I never really listened.




*****

He was the new boy in school, the one everyone watched. We rarely got new people in our school, we usually had the same people through every grade in our lives but he was different. So of course he was the most interesting person. He was handsome to no one but me. Growing up in Texas made everyone believe that handsome meant star football player blonde hair blue eyes and polite to his mother. But this boy fit none of those boxes. He was tall and lean, long black hair and cutting blue eyes. Where he came from was a mystery all the parents tried to figure out, all they had to work with was that he came to live with his aunt. I was the first one he talked to since he sat by me in first hour. I couldn’t stop watching him as he took his seat next to me. He caught my eye, and I blushed looking away.

“Hello.” He said his accent so much different then my southern one.

“Hi.” I responded, and then blushed deeper. Couldn’t I find something different to say to this boy, something more creative?

“Im Jade.” Jade? Isn’t that a girl’s name? But instead I smiled.

“Caroline.” I said simply, ending the conversation. I looked away, biting my lip. Talk about creative.

“Ever hear about Judo?” He asked me in his peculiar voice, so different then my southern accent.

“Judo?” I said simply, shaking my head,” No. Is that a person?” I don’t know why but this made him laugh. He had a laugh so loud that everyone turned to look.

“No, no it’s not a person. Its magic, I was wondering if you knew it.” I sighed deeply; this kid must be playing a trick on me. How could he tell so fast that the people in my school always called me a witch? It was because of my fair skin, red hair and cat like green eyes, uncommon in Texas. They always picked on me, calling me witch and sorcerer ever since I was young. Sometimes I would believe I was. I couldn’t be I knew, but there were times when I thought something would happen and then it did or when I wanted something to happen and it does.

“Why would I know it?” I asked, my southern voice turning icy. I hated when people called me witch and I knew that my eyes were sending out green fire to Jude. My eyes were frightening when I was mad I knew.

“Your arm.” He said, pointing simply to the moon crest birthmark I had on my wrist.

“It’s a birthmark, it means nothing.” I said, uncomfortable with the talk. He flipped over his wrist and showed me his birthmark, the same one as mine.

“I came here to find you Caroline, im a tracker.” He said simply,” Its time for you to do you’re calling. Its time for you to fight.”




*****
BRING. I woke up as the bell rang, signaling our dismissal from class. I sighed, another dream that would never happen. I always had dreams like these, usually in my fourth hour math class where I would be transformed into something extraordinary. I gathered my books and walked out of class, savoring my dream before it went away. My eyes were down, and I was imaging my fight to save mankind when I bumped into someone, dropping all my books.


“Im sorry.” I said, bending down to pick up my books. He bent down with me, handing me my red notebook. I looked up at him and met his blue eyes.


“Hello Caroline, my name is Jade. Have you ever heard of Judo?”