The Illusive Prospect

Chapter 1: The Elements Unleashed

Shane Robinson slumped in his seat as his mind continued to wander into the strange abyss of boredom. Sitting idly in his chair, his eyes wandered carelessly over the vapid and ineffective feats of entertainment that flashed before his heavy eyes.

The movies had never captured Shane’s interest when it came to outings with his friends. He considered the very idea on the extremes of anti-sociality. The way he saw it: if you get together to be with friends, you should want to enjoy their company and be able to interact with them. By placing the group in a setting of silence, that hope was completely abandoned. So as he sat through The Prowl, the all-new blockbuster action sci-fi thriller, he pondered the various thoughts that entered and left his head.

“Psst, Shane. How does Ground Point sound after the movie?”

Colton, a long time best friend of Shane’s, was always the type to act on impulse. Never thinking before acting, an idea would strike him and he would pick it up and run with it. In fact, this particular outing had been spawned by one of those impulses, and he followed the same ideals and habits in every aspect of life, including football, which often meant regular speeches from the coach on the values of teamwork and how vital that factor was in attaining any meaningful team victory. If it weren’t for the fact that he was the star quarterback for the Vipers, he would be out of a very flattering high school hobby.

“I’d rather go home,” Shane replied. “It’s going to be midnight by the time this movie is over, and I need to get some sleep before practice tomorrow. You should probably do the same.”

“Oh come on, practice isn’t until ten. A couple more hours out won’t hurt you. You’ll have fun and be in bed with at least seven hours left to sleep.”

“That’s assuming I go to bed at three and wake up at ten already in uniform and on the field. I’d have to be up by at least nine to be ready and at school in time to start.”

“Fine, be that way then. We’ll just go without you then, won’t we baby?”

He turned towards the young lady next to him.

Alana, a brown haired, brown-eyed beauty, with a shapely face and lean, toned figure, waved her boyfriend off as he repeated his last phrase again, looking for a response.

“Shh, can’t you see I’m trying to watch the movie?” she whispered.

Alana detested distractions. Confident yet cautious, she provided a surprisingly effective yin to Colton’s yang. Whenever Colton would get carried away with his frenzied ideas, Alana was always there to slow him down and bring things back into perspective. At school, she dedicated her time to her academics as well as to her cooking.

“I really have nothing better to do,” she would often say.

She claimed time and time again that the culinary industry was her calling, although she and everyone else knew that her skills paled in comparison to her passion, and unfortunately, it was a passion that also doubled as a hideaway from her problems at home.

Alana would spend hours at school before and after classes, personally working to improve her cooking skills while also avoiding that trip home that she despised. She knew that every time she reached home and stepped through that door she would find her father passed out on the couch, with either a beer or a shot glass in his hand. It tended to vary based on how his day had been. She’d hang her keys by the door and go upstairs to her room, where she would sometimes get a quick visit from her brother saying he was going out with friends. It never failed that once he got home, he would be unbearably peppy and flamboyant, lavishing his sister in conversation that began nowhere and came full circle as well. Often times he’d walk out in the middle of a sentence, and Alana would continue to hear his persistent blabber until the door to his room finally shut. It was then that Alana would turn up her music, hop into her bed and lose herself in her homework, periodically glancing up at the picture of her mother, sitting on the corner of her nightstand.

She would give anything to have her mother back. She would also give anything to have a needle put into the person that killed her.

It was shortly into her teenage years that her mom had died. She had worked as a very successful and respected lawyer in town, and it was her passion for the law that brought her her untimely death.

It was a case involving aggravated rape and manslaughter. Jordan Fuller, mayor of Chicago at the time, was believed to have committed the crime. A highly respected and prominent politician, Fuller was as good as elected when it came time to vote in the upcoming election. He was a man of projected integrity and impeccable manner, and a beloved citizen of the city. After the media received wind about his new position as primary suspect in a murder case, the city went into an uproar. It was ridiculous and unbelievable to think that he was capable of such a thing, for he had only done good things for his city and its inhabitants. But when evidence was found that proved he wasn’t all that he appeared to be, affiliates and supporters with a stake in the upcoming election provided adequate incentive to keep the evidence under wraps and keep Jordan a free man. But Lucia, knowing full well the consequences her actions could procure, set out to right this wrong. She knew full well that Jordan belonged in jail, and whether the public knew that or not was irrelevant to her, because with the evidence found, there would literally be no case to defend, and the public would finally see the truth about their beloved mayor. But getting hold of the evidence was a task in and of itself, and a tricky trail to navigate. Through extensive bending of the law and a few strategically placed blackmails, she succeeded in receiving enough evidence to pin Jordan to a cell bed.

Though she now had all the information she needed to get a solid conviction, she threw herself into harms way when she finally pursued a trial date. In the eyes of the public she was the devil’s advocate, a selfish and conceited lawyer looking for nothing more than a juicy case to help boost her career and glorify herself. She carried that image until her dying day, yet chose to remain one of the few who knew the truth and was sensible enough to believe it despite the consequences it implied. She was steadfast and strong, always wanting to see justice rightfully served. The date was set. Sunday, the fifteenth of February – a declaration that sealed not only Fuller’s fate, but her own.

The next day Lucia was shot, gunned down as she left her office. Next to her blood soaked body was left a note reading, “Sweet dreams to reality. Leave it to the imagination.”

Her killer was never found, and the note was left in mystery, nothing more than words clipped from magazines and pasted together. No fingerprints were left, no weapon found. It was as if the killer had disappeared into thin air.

With Lucia dead and no other lawyer brave enough to keep the case open, Fuller was off the hook, and the city fell back into ‘business as usual’ virtually overnight. Not even the murder remained news for more than two days.

The mere thought of what happened made Alana furious. She would give anything to have her mother back. She wanted so much to learn from her experiences, to inbreed her strong personality into her own, to become a women of stature and strength, one who could be sure of the future and certain of her own capabilities; and even though she knew this was indeed possible, her life wouldn’t allow it. How could anyone be certain of them self when their family was trash? Her father was the most pathetic sight she had ever seen. Ever since her mothers death he had become some sort of vegetable.

“Why can’t you just try and move on?!” she would cry. “Don’t you see what you’re doing to us? You don’t think I feel the same way you do?! She was my mother! I loved her just like you did! Why can’t you be strong like her?!” He would simply remain sprawled on the coach and reply, “Go to your room. I’m sure you have homework you need to do.” Alana would cry in utter disgust and yell, “I hate you! You call yourself a man?! Mom was more of a man then you’ll ever be!” He would say nothing.

Her brother, merely nine when Lucia passed, had no one but his sister to discipline him as he grew into his teenage years, and though they shared a special bond, she was never around enough to keep him from getting into things he shouldn’t, and once he surpassed her in size, there was nothing she could do about it anyway.

She longed to just have stability, and that was why she loved Colton so much. Despite his impulsive and often reckless personality, he was kind, loving, and most of all, loyal. He treated her the way she deserved to be treated, and he was the one person in which she could always confide in and cry on. To her, losing him would be like losing the last bit of hope she had for her life. She made herself beautiful for him, and held on to hope because of him. “We’re meant for each other,” she would say, and he would smile, kiss her, and reply, “Yes, and when we’re married we’ll have that family you always wanted.”

“Right baby?” Colton said again.

“Wait, what?” Alana replied. “I told you already, I’m watching the movie.”

He sighed, “Never mind then. I’ll tell you later.”
“Thank you.”

After the movie finished they all wandered outside into the crisp, winter night.

“So, you in Shane?”

“Nah, I’d like to but I really need to get some sleep, so I’m gonna head on home.”

“Wait, where are we going?” Alana asked.

“Ground Point. That all I wanted to tell you in the movie. But yeah, I’m not really tired, and I figured since we’re out and about we might as well go hang out somewhere, and that’s as good a place as any.”
“Aw, but baby, it’s late and I’m tired. Can you at least take me home first?”

He put her arm around her. “Well I don’t want to go alone.”

“Please?” She smiled.

With a hint of a sigh he replied, “Oh fine. I guess.”

“Thank you!”

Colton turned to Shane, “Well, that ends that idea then. So I guess I’ll just see you tomorrow at practice man. You have a good night. Drive safe.”

“Will do. You guys take care,” he replied.

And with that they went their separate ways. Shane got his car, and headed home. He turned on the radio and cruised through the clear roads.

Suddenly he heard a thump. Then two. The thumps became more persistent, and he watched as hail bounced on and off his car, becoming progressively bigger and bigger.

“What the hell?” he thought.

He sped up and pulled into a nearby gas station. Everything seemed eerily empty, even the streets. He got out and walked to the edge of the overhead cover to watch the phenomenon that was unfolding. Hail the size of baseballs was falling, and he seemed the only one privy to witnessing this event.

Then as quickly as the hail had started it stopped, and the temperature shot up. Shane began sweating, and couldn’t believe his eyes as clouds morphed out of thin air and began spewing rain. The winds howled and lightning streaked across the sky, and Shane fought to hold his footing.

Silence. As if time had frozen, everything came to a halt. The winds died off. The clouds transformed, donning a light green purple hue, and fear gripped Shane’s heart. There wasn’t a single sound. Not even the leaves dared to move.

He ran.

His footsteps were the only thing heard for the next few seconds. An omen hung in the air, and suddenly, without a single warning, it hit. A funnel burst from the sky, and the sound of an apocalypse filled Shane’s ears as he made a run for somewhere, anywhere that would protect him. The tornado landed where he had stood and trekked in his direction, howling and screaming with a ghastly roar that would petrify the hearts of warriors. Trees, cars and everything near were swallowed up, spit out and flung in every direction.

Shane ran for his life, not daring to look back. But running did him no good. The strength of the winds lifted him up and swung him around like a rag doll. He could see nothing but the dizzying spin of his surroundings and those mesmerizing colors in the sky. He closed his eyes and awaited the worst, not planning on waking up once this was over.

He flew, then hit the ground hard and fast. Silence dominated, and everything went dark.