I feel numb all over. Shocked. Bewildered. Confused. Why? What?!?

My eyes scan the message again. No. No, it's not possible. It isn't true.

Dear Olivia Mary and Oliver Troy Boardel,
We are very sad to inform you that your grandfather, Mr. Ted Boardel, has recently passed away. In the box you received you will find what he left for you in his will. There will be no official reading of his will.

I have to read the short letter over three times before the words sink in. Grandpa Ted died? When? How? I look over at the small box that came with the letter and then look up at my twin brother, Oliver. He looks up at the same time I do with a confused expression, matching my feelings exactly.

"Grandpa Ted? Isn't he the blind one?" Oliver asks.

I nod. Grandpa Ted is our only living relative. He was a nice old man with a cane and a cheery smile. Me and Oliver used to be scared of him when we were little because he is was blind. That is the reason we are stuck in this orphanage. The lawyers or whatever thought that he was incapable of taking care of us because he is blind so we were sent here. I frown and read the letter again.

"Should....should we open it?" Oliver asks, indicating the little brown box that came with the letter. Oliver is my twin brother. He and I have the same long brown hair, freckles, matching green eyes, and like the same things. We have been best friends since birth.

I look at the box and pick it up. It is a smooth brown wood with a small, unnecessary green bow on top. Oliver looks at me and I shake the box. There is a small clink of metal against metal. I glance at Oliver and pull the top off the box. He looks over my shoulder somewhat hesitantly to see what our dead grandpa left us.

Inside there are two necklaces.

I look over at Oliver and he shrugs. I don't know what I had been expecting, but this was not it. Money, maybe? Property? Maybe his adorable Collie, Boot, but not necklaces. I look examine them. The necklaces have the same silver chain but the charms are different. As I stare at them, I feel a weird pulsing feeling coming off them, like their alive, and the more I stare the more I am convinced they are.

The necklace on the left has a beautiful swirling blue and green charm, like the ocean. It radiates a calm, safe feeling, like I will never feel pain ever again. I look over at the other one and am fascinated. It has the same swirling look but different colors. A fierce orange and yellow. This one radiates power and speed.

Hypnotized, I reach out for the orange and yellow one. My fingers curl around the cool metal and I pick it up. I feel a strong feeling of possession for the necklace, like something I had but lost. I slowly put it around my neck, vaguely aware that Oliver is doing the same with the blue and green one. My fingers find the clip and I snap it together.

Suddenly, the ground disappears and I am floating in a black void. Hundreds of pictures and videos fly by my head, rushing around me like wind. My long black hair whips around my face. I just float there for a moment, confused, but then I feel a weird need to have an image or video. I reach out for them. They slip through my fingers like bubbles. I have it and then it kind of.....slips away. I reach and grab, touch and lose all the images as I slowly get more and more frustrated. Angry. After a long time I get so angry I just glare at the annoying pictures, hating them and wishing they would be easier to grab,.

Suddenly, my body start tingling and the images and videos slow down. I just stare at the swirling things around me for a moment, slow as though they are moving in molasses. I snap out of my daze and reach out again, grabbing one. This time, however, the image doesn't wriggle out. Time returns to normal and the pictures around me zip about, but all my focus is on the video in my hand. I clench it with all my might, feeling my anger and frustration pour into my hand as I squeeze it. It wriggles in my hand and I pull it closer to me. It cries out, but I just pull it closer. The image is tugging away from me as though it is a powerful magnet trying to reconnect with its opposite pole. I cry out in frustration as the wriggling thing almost gets loose and with one more powerful tug I pull the image to my chest. The minute it makes contact it explodes a brilliant white and I feel a powerful heat radiate from it, but for some reason it doesn't hurt. It feels comfortable, like someone just put a warm blanket around me, but I know it shouldn't feel like that. It should hurt. It should hurt really bad.

The white light spreads until it is all that I can see. I squeeze my eyes shut but it blares through my eyelids, blinding me. Two words ring in my ears, "Good job."

"What?!? WHAT?!" I scream, and then the white disappears, only to be replaced by a darkness so black I can feel it. I can feel it pressing on me. Closing in.

I reach out my hands blindly, feeling my stomach tighten and my breathing quicken. I am terrified of the dark. I start to hyperventilate.

"HELP!" I cry, panicking. Something's out there. In the dark. Something's going to eat me. I'm going to die. I don't want to die. I want to live a long life. No, no, no, no calm down!

"HELP! SOMEONE! ANYONE!" I scream, feeling fear creep up my throat, filling it...suffocating me....

"HELP!" I wail. The darkness closes in. I try to calm down. I take deep breaths. I'm not going to die. I'm not....I'm not....I'm not.....but I am. I finally lose whatever self-control I had before and run for it. I blindly run into the darkness. And run. And run, waiting to slam into something horrible or to fall off a cliff and die, but I don't. I run for what feels like forever, faster and faster, feeling my stomach and throat tighten in fear so much it hurts. I run until I can run no more and collapse on the ground, my lungs and throat burning, my feet hurting from pounding on the ground.

"Stop. Stop. Make it stop." I whimper to the dark, squeezing my eyes shut. "I hate the dark. I hate it. Let there be light. Please." I rock back and forth. "I don't want to die here, in the dark, scared and alone. I really, really don't want to. I want to live a long life before dying of old age, with Oliver beside me." I whisper. I want to live a good life. An important life. When I get out of the orphanage, I want to do something to the world, make it better. I don't even know what kind of job does that, I just want to help. I don't want to die now. I haven't even said goodbye to Oliver. I hadn't been able to say good bye to my parents, either. I feel a single tear slide down my cheek as the memory of that horrible night washes over me. I wipe it away angrily as the memory comes.

"What!?" Oliver cries as silent tears stream down my cheeks. I grab Oliver's hand and squeeze it hard. The MsDonalds jingle on the TV sounds in the living room, but to me it sounds warped and distorted.

"I'm sorry." The man with the awful black fedora and dark sunglasses says. "You two will be taken to an orphanage in the morning. Ms. Peck will be with you tonight." He says, and, turning on his shiny black shoes, he walks out the door into the rain outside, the door slamming shut behind him.

Oliver looks at me and I look at him. I see tears are streaming down his cheeks as well and at the same time we run out of the room and upstairs to our bedroom. We look a each other again.

"I hate fedora's." I whisper.

"And shiny black shoes." Oliver whispers back.

We slept in the same bed that night, and stayed up really late talking about all our good memories with our parents. The time we went camping and I almost set a bird on fire. The time we went to that amusement park and Oliver threw up after going on the ship that rocks you back and forth. The time we went to the zoo and Oliver almost fell into the penguin exhibit, but mom caught him in time. The smaller things, like the first day of school or when mom showed us how to eat corn on the cob. We cry ourselves to sleep, memories of our mom and dad going through our heads.

Then I stop. I sit up. Oliver. What happened to him? Is he safe? I gasp. What if he's in the dark like I am? Giving up? I stand up. No. I will find him.

"OLIVER! OLIVER ARE YOU THERE?!?" I shout. My voice is engulfed by the dark and I frown. If I am going to find my twin brother I'm going to need light. But how? I look around, squinting. I open and close my eyes. How will I get light? I'll have start a fire, but there is nothing to start it with! I huff in frustration and fall to the ground again, my temper rising.

After a couple minutes of fuming I try to think of a way, any way, to get light. The more I think about it, the stronger I feel the need to have a light, and the most obvious way would be fire. I need fire. I growl in frustration and squeeze my eyes shut. Fire....fire....how to get fire....I need fire!

Suddenly, I feel a small blast of heat and my eyes fly open. There, sitting on my hand, is fire. I jump back with a yelp and the fire disappears. My heart pounds against my chest as I sit there for a few minutes, very startled.

What. Just. Happened. I stare at my hand. Why was it on fire? And even more startling, why didn't it hurt?

Once the surprise starts to fade I do a face palm and groan, why did I put it out? I could have used it! I close my eyes again and concentrate. What had I done to make the fire? Imagined it? It can't hurt to try. I focus all my attention on fire. Hot....orange....cooks marshmallows? I feel a soft heat on my face and, opening my eyes, inhale sharply. In my palm there is a small blob of fire. And it doesn't hurt.

I concentrate very hard on the fire, willing it not to disappear. It flickers a little but doesn't go out.

I stand up, my heart racing, and look around. I do a 360, looking for something, but all I can see is black, black, and more black. I am about to give up when something catches my eye. A light. I turn around and see the video from earlier that I caught. I walk over and look at it. Definitely the video, but it isn't moving. I pick it up.

Suddenly, it starts to grow and morph into something. I gasp, drop the video, and take a step back, squeezing my eyes shut, as the room gets brighter and brighter until it is blaring in my eyes again. It starts to dim but I keep my eyes closed until it no longer hurts, and when I do open them, I see something so unbelievable I can't speak for a couple minutes.

"Hello, Olivia. Long time no see, huh?" Grandpa Ted says with a small grin. My mouth opens and closes like a fish's a couple times before I am able to speak, and once I am all my questions pour out of me at once, "Where am I? What's with the fire? Where's Oliver? Is he safe? What're the necklaces for? Why am I here? How are you here? Aren't you dead? Where's your cane?"

Grandpa Ted chuckles and puts his hands in front of him, indicating for me to slow down. I stop, waiting eagerly for him to tell me.

"Let's start with the easy one. Oliver is safe." He says.

I sigh in relief, but then more questions pop into my head and I open my mouth again, but before I can say anything, Grandpa Ted interrupts, "Not now. I will explain, but first, let me ask you a question. When you first came to the Test, you were in a room with pictures and videos swirling around you, yes?"

"Yes, but-"

"How did you catch this video?" Grandpa Ted interrupts, the video appearing in his hand.

I frown, wanting answers not questions, "Well....I kept trying to get it and I couldn't so I got angry. Then it sort of slowed down enough for me to grab one." I explain.

Grandpa Ted nods slowly, "And do you know what these are?"

I shake my head, "No."

"They are memories."

"Who's? And why did everything slow down?"

Grandpa Ted sighs, "You ask a lot of questions."

I cross my arms, "I'm a naturally curious person, that's all."

He chuckles and turns around as a video appears behind him, projected on the wall. I frown at it for a minute before recognizing it.

"That's me." I mutter. Grandpa Ted nods. The video on the wall is of me when I'm in the first room.

"How about I show you what the whole scene looks like." He says, and the video starts. At first I don't move, looking very confused, then I try and grab the memories. After each one, you can tell I get more and more angry, until I just stop and glare at the memories. Suddenly, electricity starts to crackle all over my body, especially in my eyes, and with the speed of lightning I reach out and snatch a wriggling memory out of the sky. The sparks disappear and I slowly pull the memory toward me, my face creased with effort, until it touches my body and explodes in a white light. The video disappears and Grandpa Ted turns to me.

"So?" Is all he asks.

I slowly turn to him, doing the fish thing with my mouth again. "What....what happened? Why was I all sparky? How come I could move so fast? Why was I in a room full of memories?"

Grandpa Ted grins, "There you go! I knew you had some questions in you! Let's start from the beginning again. You are an Elementalist."

"Elementalist?" I ask, getting a bad feeling about this.

He nods, "Yes. You inherited it from your mother who got it from me."

"What's an Elementalist?"

"Well..." Grandpa Ted chews his lip, "You see....." He sighs, "How about I tell you what they can do. An Elementalist is basically a person who can control an element. Electricity, water, fire, and earth. You control electricity and fire, and, I must say, are surprisingly powerful for a beginner."

"Hold on! Control an element? Why haven't I been able to do this all my life?" I interrupt, both confused and amazed. Electricity and fire? That must be why I could hold fire in the cave and why I suddenly became super fast when I was trying to catch the memories! It's like a super power!

Grandpa Ted points to my neck, "The necklace. You got the fire and electricity one."

My hands go to my neck and I fiddle with the necklace, "And Oliver got earth and water?"

"Yes."

I pause and take it all in. "So....why do I need the necklace? And where am I? And how are you here? And which two elements did you have?"

"I had fire and water, which is strange."

"Why?"

"For one, fire and water are different classes. Fire and electricity are the powerful ones while earth and water are more healing. They can be powerful, of course, and electricity and fire can be healing, but they usually stay to their classes."

"You said 'for one,' what's the other reason?"

Grandpa Ted sighs, "Most people only have one or a half of an element. To have half of an element means you can't fully control it. I had half water and half fire, but some people have, for example, half earth, or full electricity."

I chew my lip, "What about four full elements? Or three? Or three or four half elements?"

"There is one person in the world that has three full elements but four is unheard of. Neither is three half or four half."

"Who is the person with three full elements?"

Grandpa Ted rubs his eyes, "You sure ask a lot of questions!"

I glare at him and he continues.

"Fine! Fine! His name is Gary Green! But everyone calls him Double G."

"What elements does he control?"

"All except fire."

I frown, "You still haven't answered how you're here, and where I am."

"This is the Test. You chose electricity and fire, so you have the chance to be able to control them, whether it be only one, or both half, or one half and one full. You have passed the tests and are apparently able to control both fully." Grandpa Ted scratches his head, "Somehow." He adds, "And I am here to explain everything to you if you pass! And you did! Whoo hoo! Goodbye and good luck!"

Grandpa Ted starts to disappear, "Oh, and congratulations! You and your brother both passed both full!"

"NO! NO! WHAT DO I DO WHEN I GET BACK?! HOW DO I CONTROL IT?! GRANDPA TED!!!" I shout as it suddenly gets really windy and Grandpa Ted disappears completely. The wind whips my hair as I fall to the ground, my arms over my head and my eyes squeezes shut. The wind roars in my ears so loud I think I'm going to go deaf, when suddenly it all stops.

I slowly open my eyes and find myself in my room, with Oliver beside me. He looks at me and I look at him. I can see it in his emerald green eyes, we're both thinking the same thing.

What the heck just happened?
*********
So that was what it was first going to be, but I wasn't sure where to go from there. Did you like it?

I don't know. I guess it's okay, but like I said, I had no idea where to go from there so I tried again and poof! Elementalist was born. I know, right?

Well...comment what you thought.

MOO
XOXO,
Rascal