I wrote this story when I was in like, 8th grade, soooo don't expect too much! Haha. It's not edited at all... Maybe one day!

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I stared in open-mouth horror at the scene that was unfolding before me. The smell, the sight, the feeling, it was all too real. The heat was immense; I could barely breathe. I reached out to touch the fire, but my hand passed right through it. The only thing that changed was that my hand became extremely hot. I retracted it quickly and held it close to myself.

Something shining caught my attention. I walked over to it and noticed it was a house number sign. I picked it up and read the number: sixteen. I frowned slightly, looking up at the burning house. My house was number sixteen.

Realization dawned on me. I had seen this before. And I knew what happened next. Before I could protest, the house collapsed into a pile of flaming wood and debris.

"Miss?"

I jumped and opened my eyes, staring around warily. A man with a grey mustache was hovering over me, looking slightly concerned.

"Yeah?" I asked, frowning at him.

"This is your stop."

I sat up and nodded. The taxi driver backed away from me and I got out of the cab. I smoothed down my hair, hoping it looked all right. My stomach growled and I blushed. I fingered the money in my pocket. The first thing I'd do was search for a place to eat.

The taxi driver pulled away from me before I could ask him for directions. Just great. It was my first time in a new place, not knowing anyone, and now I was alone. I scowled and began walking down the street. Hopefully civilization was in this direction.

I knew I had made the right decision when I turned and saw a street full of shops and people. Relief flooded through me as I felt a little safer walking around by myself when so many people were around.

I paused at the street corner, looking around for the button to press so I could cross the street. I looked down and raised an eyebrow. Someone had drawn a large square about ten feet by ten feet in chalk by the edge of the sidewalk. I felt a little funny standing inside it.

I shrugged and pressed the button and waited patiently, watching as cars slowly passed by.

"Hey!" an agitated voice called out from behind me.

I ignored the voice, thinking they weren't talking to me.

"Hey! Stupid girl with the messy hair!"

I scowled now, positive that he was talking about me. I thought my hair looked good, but apparently not. I turned on my heel, coming face to face with a young man who looked maybe two years older than me.

He was pretty tall and slender, but his arm's showed that he had muscles. His skin was pale, and his hair was dyed black and slightly spiked. His right ear was pierced and a small black earring hung from it. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a tight white shirt and a black jacket thrown over it.

What. A. Rebel.

"Are you talking to me?" I asked politely, even though I wanted to demand he take back his insults.

"Yeah," he responded, frowning deeply at me. For some reason he sounded anxious. "Can't you see that sign?" He pointed to something behind me.

I turned and saw a small piece of paper safety pinned onto the telephone pole. I squinted at it. It read: Don't step in white square from two o' clock till six o'clock. I raised an eyebrow. "That looks like a fake sign. Did you draw it?"

"It doesn't matter," the man said, stepping towards me. "You need to move." He grabbed my arm and began to tug me away from the sidewalk.

"Hey! Let go of me!" I demanded, tugging at my arm and trying to pull it free.

"You need to get out of here!"

"I need to cross the sidewalk! Let go of me!" I cried, squeezing his arm with my other hand and digging my nails into his skin.

"Ow!" he cried, letting go of me.

I fell back a few steps, back into the chalk drawn square and clung to the telephone pole. When was the light going to change so I could get away from this weirdo? The black haired man scowled at me.

"Listen," he started and then checked his watch. Suddenly his face grew dark and his hands clenched. "It's time."

"Time for wha-?" I started, confused at his sudden attitude change, but before I could finish I heard the squealing of tires.  

It was like a movie. Ice ran through my veins as I turned in slow motion to come face to face with a car. It was heading straight towards the place where I was standing, in front of the telephone pole.

I screamed and shut my eyes, preparing for impact. I was going to die. In a place I didn't know, where no one knew me, where I had no family.

Suddenly something hard ran into my side and I fell hard, into the street, landing on my back. My head ricocheted of the tar and my vision blurred for a second.

"Ow!"

"Don't move!" the black haired man ordered, his body covering mine, pinning me to the street.

There was another squealing of car tires and I shut my eyes, gripping onto the man on top of me. He half-smiled at me. There was deafening crash and I winced. The sound of glass shattering filled my ears. It was then silent until the sound of a car door opening and than shutting interrupted it.

The black-haired man rolled off me and got to his feet. He sighed deeply and grinned at me. "That was close!"

I stared back up at him, open-mouthed. It took me a few seconds to get my speech together. He reached down a hand and grabbed the front of my shirt, pulling me to my feet. I stared at him for another few seconds, gesturing with my hands.

"The hell?" I was finally able to force out.

"Here!" the black haired man said, tossing something small. "Keep this as... compensation."

I automatically reached out and grabbed the small thing he threw. I looked down and noticed it was a little glass bird. I stared at the black haired man curiously and he winked at me.

"Compensation?" I repeated, narrowing my eyes. "For what?"

"For dealing with the cops."

As if on cue, the wailing of ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks pierced the air. I jumped and looked behind me. The large white chalk drawn square, which I thought had been drawn for fun, now held inside it a small black BMW.

The car was half submerged in the store at the corner where I had been standing only moments earlier. The side of the store was destroyed, a large hole visible. Debris and glass surrounded the little car. A gaggle of people surrounded it, their curious eyes looking everywhere. One person was bleeding on the forehead and on the cheek; I guessed that was the person who was driving the car.

I looked down at my shaking hands. If that black haired man hadn't pushed me out of the way I could have been dead. I clenched and unclenched my fist slowly. How could he know that the car was going to crash? He couldn't have heard it before me. It was so sudden, so how did he know?

"How did you...?" I looked up and realized he wasn't in front of me. "Hey!" I called, watching him run down the street.

"Goodbye!" he called back, turning to wave. When he looked back around he ran smack into a pole.

I stared after him for a moment until someone seized my arm. As an automatic reaction I tried to yank my arm back. I turned and saw a man dressed in police attire trying to pull me to the sidewalk.

"It's dangerous to be in the street, miss," he informed me and I followed him off the street and onto the sidewalk.

I looked at the tiny glass bird in my hand. Didn't birds represent something about the future? And deaths? I looked at it for a moment longer and than stuck it in my pocket. Whatever, it didn't really matter.

I noticed I was being lead over to the ambulance and started to protest. The policeman quieted me, telling me it was only for precautions. I waited patiently as the people from the ambulance checked me over and made sure I was all right.

After the medics were done, I was handed off to the police to describe what happened as an eyewitness. They asked me if anyone else had been with me. I lied and told them no. That guy probably didn't want them to know he was here. I had to tell them my name, where I lived, my phone number and all that fun stuff until finally, after what felt like days but was probably only an hour or two, they set me free.

There was only one problem.

"Excuse me?" I asked one of the police officers. "Could you bring me to Bridge Street? I don't know where that is, I just moved here today."

The police officer raised an eyebrow. "Sure. I'll give you a ride in a minute, let me just finish up here."

"Alright," I responded, my shoulders sagging in relief. I thought I was going to have to find the place by myself. It was getting dark.

I watched the police officer talking to two others and after a minute he pointed at me. I blinked and than smiled back at the three cops. They turned back to each other and continued their discussion until finally the one who had offered me a ride came back over.

"Okay, you ready?"

"Yup," I responded, smoothing down my hair.

I followed him to the police car and got in the passenger seat. It was a short ride, and we didn't really talk much. When we made it to Bridge Road we slowed down.

"What number?"

"Sixteen."

The cop nodded and drove a little further down the street he slowed down in front of a tall white apartment. "Here?"

"Yes," I responded, glad to be able to get out of the car. I grabbed the door handle and pushed it open.

"It must have been one hectic first day here, huh?" the cop asked, leaning over the seat. "Let's try not to make this a habit?"  

"Will do," I responded and with a wave I shut the door.

The cop drove away and I slowly trudged up the path, digging my hand into my pocket, trying to locate the key to my apartment. My luggage was already waiting for me in front of my door. I moved it to the side so I could open my door. I stuck the key and twisted it. I swung open my door just as my new neighbor opened theirs.

I paused, staring at the open door. I couldn't see the person behind it. "Hello?"

"Oh, so you're my new neighbor."

I stared at the door weirdly. He was saying that without actually seeing me? I shrugged and bent down to pick up my luggage. When I rose up again I came face-to-face with the black haired man from earlier.

I jumped and dropped my luggage. I flushed in embarrassment as the guy chuckled.

"Fancy meeting you here," he told me with a grin.