Sunset Valley,
March 4th, 2013
The sun rose over the mountainous town of Sunset Valley, California, a small town bordering the ocean in a northern part of the state near the Oregon border. The town was fairly popular for tourists, as they had a military base to the north of town with a Shuttle Launch Pad, which although shuttles had been decommissioned a couple years before by NASA, it was still a nice backdrop for people to take pictures from.
Another famous landmark in the town was a recreation of England's stonehenge, created a long time ago by the founders of the town to get some kind of tourism. Well that was the rumor, others believe that it was created by creatures from a distant world.
One of these two stories was true, but the first was false.
However in one rather large house in the suburbs of the town, a strange group of people began stirring, waking themselves up to start the day.
This is their story.
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"Eli... always and forever."
March 4th, 2013
One of these two stories was true, but the first was false.
This is their story.
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"Eli... always and forever."
*BEEP* *BEEP*
Mei Coen opened her eyes and turned off the alarm clock next to her bed. Looking over, she saw her husband Elliot, or "Eli", sleeping soundly through the noise of the device. Smiling, she stood up, showered, got dressed, and began her day. She laughed and smiled at a mental picture of herself and her husband dancing the night before, when she told him she'd love him always and forever, in two different languages, English and Cantonese.
Mei Coen was actually born Mei Li in Shangri-La, China, a small town just south of a section of the world-famous Great Wall. When she was a teenager she picked up work at a marketplace in her home town, selling supplies to adventurers and explorers who came to the town to explore it's many many MANY mystical ruins and tombs. One day when she was coming out of the building carrying some supplies for an adventurer, she accidentally bumped heads with an American teenager, who was visiting the town with his family as part of a summer trip. The teen's name was Elliot Coen, and from the moment they met, the two pretty much instantly fell in love, as soon as their headaches went away that is.
Elliot spent every single day visiting Mei at her work, flirting and joking with her in English and whatever Cantonese phrases he knew. Over the next couple years, Elliot and Mei spent all the time on the phone and using the mail to send love letters back and forth to each other. Finally, when Mei turned eighteen she bought a plane ticket and went to Sunset Valley, California, using the most recent address Elliot had given her in his most recent love letter. When Elliot came out of his house one day to check the mail, she was waiting there on the sidewalk for him. Two years later they married. Two years after that they had their only daughter...
"Kelly!" Mei said as she walked into her bedroom. She still wasn't used to the insane amount of blue that Kelly had adorned her bedroom with, but realized that was her favorite color, so much so that the little girl asked Mei's roommate and best friend Maria Kethrin, who lived in the house with them, to alter her hair color to let her grow blue highlights naturally... when she was seven. Needless to say it took a bit of coercing Mei and Elliot to let this happen.
As Mei walked into the room, the first thing she noticed was Kelly wearing glasses, despite the fact that she was wearing sleepwear and looked like she just woke up. Sure Kelly's terrible eyesight had warranted glasses but not when she was asleep.
"You're wearing-Kelly why did you wear glasses to bed?"
Kelly smiled as she sat on the bed. "JUST in case I was going to have a dream that I needed to read a book!" She replied happily. "It happened before, and the blurriness of the book then was... bad. Really bad bad bad!"
Mei sighed, but with a bit of happiness. Though she expected her daughter to be into things that, well, girls of her age were into such as dolls, playing dress-up, and toys, Kelly was completely different. The girl, at ten years old, was already reading detective books at a tenth-grade-level and was capable of solving any mystery in the house, be it from missing socks in the dryer (which Kelly's cousin Tom had claimed Aliens stole) to ten dollars missing out of Mei's purse (which Tom conveniently blamed on the aliens as well). This level of perceptiveness was seen in Elliot's father on a fractional level, and even then he was touted as the greatest detective of his time. Mei knew that Kelly was destined for something beyond anyone's knowledge.
"Okay Kel, it's time for school! Get up!"
"Oh I don't feel like going!" Kelly said, jumping back into bed. "I couldn't sleep until late last night, I think I'm getting sick, I think I have allergies, I think I have the Black Plague. I think I'm trying everything not to go to school and I think it's not working. Please mommy can I stay home from school? Please? With blueberries, and whipped cream on top... and blue cheese. PLEEEEEA-"
"OKAY!" Mei said, half-laughing, "I'll call Mrs. Anderson and tell her you don't feel like coming to school! I don't get it, usually you love going to school? Maybe you aren't feeling well!"
"Well... book!" Kelly said. "I told my fans on SocialNet that I was going to finish this book review today. THINK OF THE FANS!"
Mei walked out of the room, slightly chuckling. "Okay. You can stay home today, but that's it. And NO going to the festival! It's right across the street from the school!"
"Awww maaaaan-I don't care." Kelly then got off her bed and started to get dressed for the day. Mei left the room and walked up the hall, knocking on the nearest door. "Johnny! Johnny it's time to wake up! You mom's taking you guys to school and if you don't hurry you're gonna be lat-"
The door suddenly opened and John walked out, wearing his outfit for the day as well as a pair of goggles, which he always wore supposedly to keep pollen out of his eyes. John smiled as he walked past Mei. "Hey thanks! I was worried I was gonna miss the ride! And I wasn't waiting for you by the door, I was actually trying to calculate the amount of time that you would knock on the door and I would open it... then I got distracted by a video game. Happens to me all the time. Anyway I thank you Mei for allowing me to participate in... a... study."
Hey is Scarlett up?"
"I was just about to wake her. She seems to let you wake her up, though, so I was gonna ask you to do that. She might be mad if I wake her up."
"Hey, you got mad at her for throwing a plate against a wall, happens all the time! She'll get over it!"
Mei shrugged, and walked away, but not before saying "You do seem to be able to simmer Scarlett down when she shows her temper, Johnny. How do you do it?"
"Well, it's easy! She... I dunno. Annie and I seem to be the only ones who can. Me especially. I'll go wake her. Talk to you later!" Mei walked off and John opened the door to Scarlett's room and walked in.
"Hey, Red." John said softly, calling her by her favorite nickname, which John gave her when they were toddlers. "You awake?"
Scarlett opened her eyes and looked at John. Her bright green eyes made John feel great to look into, especially when countered against the blood-red hair on her head and eyebrows. She smiled at him and stood up, walking over to him. "Hey Johnny! How did you sleep? Good? I hope you slept well because I hate people sleeping badly I know it's bad because I have bad dreams and I don't like having bad dreams and wow I'm rambling."
John smiled, "Yeah I slept alright! I trust you did as well?"
"Wonderfully! I had a wonderful dream that had you-UV rays in it! Ya I got a nice tan and everything it was so wonderful!"
John was a bit confused, but shook his head and said "Yeah. Hey, are you going to the festival after class today? I wanted to go but I need someone to accompany me. I don't know if Annabelle, Kelly, or Tom are going to go."
"Oh? Spring festival? With the love stuff and the love calculator and the love-based dance floor? Ya I was gonna go!" Scarlett smiled, emphasizing each use of the word "love", which she believed wholeheartedly in despite the fact that she was a mere eleven years old. "Hey hey since you're going, how about we go... together? I mean, as... us! The two of us!"
John smiled. "I'd like that."
The two stood in the room for a while, before John broke the conversation. "Hey I'm gonna go and let you get dressed, okay? We'll talk later. I can't wait until the festival, and I'm pretty sure it's the same for you right?"
"YEAH!" Scarlett smiled, "I mean... yeah, okay. It's cool."
The two chuckled together, then John walked out of the room, allowing Red to get dressed for the day. As John kept walking, he stopped and saw his mother Maria sitting in the dining room reading a newspaper, ready to take the children to school when they were ready to go.
"Hey mom!" John said as he sat down next to her. "Good morning to you!"
"Good morning Johnny! Did you sleep alright? Or did you stay up all night playing video games?"
"Um... define 'sleep', it's this word that I've learned about but forgot the definition of." John smiled, but Maria didn't. "Yeah I actually did sleep well last night. Um, I had a dream, it had red in it."
"Oh... Now is that red the color or Red the nickname?" Maria had known since John was a toddler that he had a serious crush on Scarlett, and had known that Red as well had a thing for her son. She constantly wondered when they were finally going to admit this to each other, and at the same time had done little things to push them a bit closer, such as give Scarlett advice on what John likes and give John advice on what to give her for Valentines Day. This question of hers brought out a word from her son that she was expecting to hear.
"Both."
The two sat there for a few minutes, before John stood up and walked out of the room, saying 'Well I have to get my backpack. I'll meet you at the car mom, okay?" Maria nodded and went back to reading her newspaper.
Meanwhile Mei was knocking on a door off near the back of the house. "Hey Tom! Tom it's time to wake up!" She opened his door and found that he wasn't in the bedroom. "Hmmm, well there's one place he is bound to be."
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"We love you, Tommy. We will always care for you."
Mei walked downstairs into the basement and saw Tom sleeping on a couch next to a chest. Tom's father had left him that chest in his will, which stated that he'd know when to open it. Mei thought back to that horrible day, when Elliot had opened a letter to find out that his sister Tina and her husband Thomas, two great explorers, had died in Egypt. Thomas and Tina left Tom with them before leaving, ten years ago, and as such Elliot and Mei raised Tom from a toddler to a child. Ever since Tom was old enough to understand that he had no parents, he'd come down to the basement every once in a while and try to pry open the chest his father left for him.
"Wakey! Wakey wakey Tommy Tom! You're going to be late for school!"
Mei Coen opened her eyes and turned off the alarm clock next to her bed. Looking over, she saw her husband Elliot, or "Eli", sleeping soundly through the noise of the device. Smiling, she stood up, showered, got dressed, and began her day. She laughed and smiled at a mental picture of herself and her husband dancing the night before, when she told him she'd love him always and forever, in two different languages, English and Cantonese.
Elliot spent every single day visiting Mei at her work, flirting and joking with her in English and whatever Cantonese phrases he knew. Over the next couple years, Elliot and Mei spent all the time on the phone and using the mail to send love letters back and forth to each other. Finally, when Mei turned eighteen she bought a plane ticket and went to Sunset Valley, California, using the most recent address Elliot had given her in his most recent love letter. When Elliot came out of his house one day to check the mail, she was waiting there on the sidewalk for him. Two years later they married. Two years after that they had their only daughter...
"Kelly!" Mei said as she walked into her bedroom. She still wasn't used to the insane amount of blue that Kelly had adorned her bedroom with, but realized that was her favorite color, so much so that the little girl asked Mei's roommate and best friend Maria Kethrin, who lived in the house with them, to alter her hair color to let her grow blue highlights naturally... when she was seven. Needless to say it took a bit of coercing Mei and Elliot to let this happen.
"You're wearing-Kelly why did you wear glasses to bed?"
Kelly smiled as she sat on the bed. "JUST in case I was going to have a dream that I needed to read a book!" She replied happily. "It happened before, and the blurriness of the book then was... bad. Really bad bad bad!"
Mei sighed, but with a bit of happiness. Though she expected her daughter to be into things that, well, girls of her age were into such as dolls, playing dress-up, and toys, Kelly was completely different. The girl, at ten years old, was already reading detective books at a tenth-grade-level and was capable of solving any mystery in the house, be it from missing socks in the dryer (which Kelly's cousin Tom had claimed Aliens stole) to ten dollars missing out of Mei's purse (which Tom conveniently blamed on the aliens as well). This level of perceptiveness was seen in Elliot's father on a fractional level, and even then he was touted as the greatest detective of his time. Mei knew that Kelly was destined for something beyond anyone's knowledge.
"Okay Kel, it's time for school! Get up!"
"OKAY!" Mei said, half-laughing, "I'll call Mrs. Anderson and tell her you don't feel like coming to school! I don't get it, usually you love going to school? Maybe you aren't feeling well!"
"Well... book!" Kelly said. "I told my fans on SocialNet that I was going to finish this book review today. THINK OF THE FANS!"
Mei walked out of the room, slightly chuckling. "Okay. You can stay home today, but that's it. And NO going to the festival! It's right across the street from the school!"
"Awww maaaaan-I don't care." Kelly then got off her bed and started to get dressed for the day. Mei left the room and walked up the hall, knocking on the nearest door. "Johnny! Johnny it's time to wake up! You mom's taking you guys to school and if you don't hurry you're gonna be lat-"
The door suddenly opened and John walked out, wearing his outfit for the day as well as a pair of goggles, which he always wore supposedly to keep pollen out of his eyes. John smiled as he walked past Mei. "Hey thanks! I was worried I was gonna miss the ride! And I wasn't waiting for you by the door, I was actually trying to calculate the amount of time that you would knock on the door and I would open it... then I got distracted by a video game. Happens to me all the time. Anyway I thank you Mei for allowing me to participate in... a... study."
"Well, it's easy! She... I dunno. Annie and I seem to be the only ones who can. Me especially. I'll go wake her. Talk to you later!" Mei walked off and John opened the door to Scarlett's room and walked in.
John smiled, "Yeah I slept alright! I trust you did as well?"
John was a bit confused, but shook his head and said "Yeah. Hey, are you going to the festival after class today? I wanted to go but I need someone to accompany me. I don't know if Annabelle, Kelly, or Tom are going to go."
"Oh? Spring festival? With the love stuff and the love calculator and the love-based dance floor? Ya I was gonna go!" Scarlett smiled, emphasizing each use of the word "love", which she believed wholeheartedly in despite the fact that she was a mere eleven years old. "Hey hey since you're going, how about we go... together? I mean, as... us! The two of us!"
John smiled. "I'd like that."
"YEAH!" Scarlett smiled, "I mean... yeah, okay. It's cool."
"Hey mom!" John said as he sat down next to her. "Good morning to you!"
"Good morning Johnny! Did you sleep alright? Or did you stay up all night playing video games?"
"Oh... Now is that red the color or Red the nickname?" Maria had known since John was a toddler that he had a serious crush on Scarlett, and had known that Red as well had a thing for her son. She constantly wondered when they were finally going to admit this to each other, and at the same time had done little things to push them a bit closer, such as give Scarlett advice on what John likes and give John advice on what to give her for Valentines Day. This question of hers brought out a word from her son that she was expecting to hear.
"Both."
Meanwhile Mei was knocking on a door off near the back of the house. "Hey Tom! Tom it's time to wake up!" She opened his door and found that he wasn't in the bedroom. "Hmmm, well there's one place he is bound to be."
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"We love you, Tommy. We will always care for you."
Mei walked downstairs into the basement and saw Tom sleeping on a couch next to a chest. Tom's father had left him that chest in his will, which stated that he'd know when to open it. Mei thought back to that horrible day, when Elliot had opened a letter to find out that his sister Tina and her husband Thomas, two great explorers, had died in Egypt. Thomas and Tina left Tom with them before leaving, ten years ago, and as such Elliot and Mei raised Tom from a toddler to a child. Ever since Tom was old enough to understand that he had no parents, he'd come down to the basement every once in a while and try to pry open the chest his father left for him.
"Wakey! Wakey wakey Tommy Tom! You're going to be late for school!"
Tom continued to sleep in despite his aunt's protests. "Five more minutes Aunt Mei!"
"No no no, five minutes is two hours for you. Wakey! It's only a half day, you can come home and sleep afterwards!"
Tom sat up on the couch and stretched, then walked over to her. "Okay, I get it! You know sleep is important to a growing boy, Aunt Mei!"
"Well so is school! Now get up, you don't want to be late." Mei said, then looked over at the chest, "Couldn't get it open, still?"
Tom sadly nodded. "No. I've tried everything! It's like... magic. I don't know how to explain it. My dad left me a message saying 'When you're ready' but I don't know when that is. I wish he could tell me what he meant himself."
"Yeah, me too." Mei and Tom stood there, honoring Tom's father silently, before moving on.
"So who's taking us to school?" Tom asked, "You or Maria?"
"Maria is." Mei replied, "I would ask your uncle to take you but he has to be at the fire station very soon. Maria, however, has the week off from the news station so she decided to drive you today for me so I can get some things done around the house."
"Okay! I'll talk to you later, okay?" Tom ran upstairs to get ready before Mei could reply. "Children. Hey Tom, could you wake up Annie? She's in the tree house!"
Tom yelled back an affirmation and continued running, while Mei sat down on the couch for the first time that morning.
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Tom got dressed quickly and ran back outside to the tree house in the backyard. Annabelle was the most... unusual member the Coen/Kethrin family. Unusual in her blatantly sarcastic personality at such a young age, unusual in her hair and clothing color choice which was a black and purple ensemble, unusual in her fear of Unicorns, and unusual in one more thing... a major, major thing.
"Annie! Annabelle wake up! Your mom's taking us to school! Wakey wake..." Suddenly Tom had one name pop into his head, that he knew would wake her. "Anna-bee!" Tom listened carefully for Annabelle's movements. He looked up at the tree house as it began to silently move around, and he quickly realized she was getting dressed for the day. "Hey are you ready yet? Your mom is taking us, she doesn't want us to be late! Can you even hear me?!"
"Actually I can't!" Annabelle replied, finally. "You're going to have to come a bit closer to the tree house, near the ladder! I can hear you better from there!"
Tom scoffed. He knew that she had something planned against him, but decided to brave everything and walk forward towards the tree. When he finally got to the ladder, he yelled up again, prompting Annabelle to stick her hands out to wave.
Then Tom realized she wasn't waving.
Annabelle's hands held on to a metal bucket of cold water, one that was presumably setting outside all night in the cool March weather. She overturned the bucket, and when the water met gravity it fell far, dropping onto Tom's head.
Tommy tensed up as the freezing blast hit him, then when it was done he angrily yelled back up. "You evil walking cabbage-patch! When I get my hands on you I'm gonna-"
"You're not gonna do anything!" Annabelle smiled, her veridian-green skin a stark contrast against the gray metal of the tree house. "And don't call me 'Anna-Bee!! If you do, I'll uh, eat your brain or something you think aliens do!" With those words, she ducked back into the tree house, stepping outside of it a few moments later, where Tom was still soaking wet from the water.
"Eeesh, what happened to you? Sudden rainstorm?" Annie smiled as she walked away. "Come on Buddy-boy, get your clothes dry and grab your books, we gots a studyin' to do!"
Tom growled at her. "I'll get you back for this, Anna. Don't worry." Tom then chased after Annabelle but by the time he cleared the corner she was already jumping into the car. Tom knew he couldn't outrun Annabelle, or out-think her, or do anything superior to her because she was clearly not of this planet. He didn't even know why she went to school, because she was that smart to not need it. Perhaps it was a way of connecting with the rest of the household, as she was the only one in the place that wasn't "normal" looking, even though the household was one of the only known people that could actually see her that way.
Maria's black SUV drove down the street heading for the school, loaded with children. "So what are you going to do for class today, kids?" The older woman asked.
"Well it's a half day! Today's the last day of the spring festival so Mrs. Anderson and the principal are letting us get out early to go!" Annabelle replied. "The whole school's getting out early!"
"So are you going to go?" Maria asked, talking to the four children.
"I might!" Annabelle replied, "Or I might go home and play some video games, who knows." Annabelle smiled, then said, "but I might need to get some dry clothes. I'm sitting next to Tom and I'm getting soaked here!"
"YOU dumped water on me!" Tom retorted. "Besides, this festival is all about LOOOOOOVE." The last word in the sentence drove Tom crazy, resulting in his sarcastic phrasing of it. "I don't have time for love! I'm eleven years old! Who at eleven LOOOOVES someone?!"
"Well actually I think it's possible." Scarlett said, "Very possible."
John was about to say something as well but the van pulled up in front of the school, breaking his train of thought. The four children got out of the car and walked into the building as the Five Minute Alarm bell rang. Maria smiled as her son and daughter walked into the school, closely followed by Scarlett and Tom. Even though she never thought she'd be a mother, to her it seemed that she was more than capable of being one. She climbed back into her car and drove home, all the while thinking of what had happened to her in her life to bring her to this point...
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Maria Kethrin was born with what most people would call "royalty". Her parents Valentine, or "Val", and Jamie Kethrin, were a pair of five-star movie actors living the glamorous life in Starlight Shores. She had everything she ever wanted when she was younger, but strived for more due to her master-level intelligence. When she went to school she advanced to a tenth-grade level when she was merely ten years old, and graduated high school at fourteen, earning a scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in the country located in Appaloosa Plains.
Back when Maria was in her third year of college at eighteen years old, she met a man named Robert Mathews, a ranch owner who lived in the town. Robert had just graduated from the college himself when they met. They dated for a few months, resulting in her pregnancy with her son John. However not too long after the revelation that she was pregnant, Robert won a high-class horse racing bet and became incredibly rich himself, leaving her behind, telling her that he only dated her for her family's money.
Distraught, Maria left school and Appaloosa Plains, but on the way back to her home at Starlight Shores, her car shut itself off on the highway, just outside of town. When she got out to investigate a green light enveloped her, knocking her out. She awoke a few hours later with a mark on her arm and a note written in a strange language that she never did understand completely.
When Maria was returning to Starlight Shores, she stopped and instead headed north. She realized that her family's money was the reason she was alone and pregnant in the first place, so she decided to go and try to make her own way. Finally she stopped at a small town on the coast called Sunset Valley, where on her first day there she went in for a job interview at the television station. She then used a bit of her own money from her parents to buy a small house where she intended to raise her unborn child.
Over the next couple months Maria developed a friendship with the star news anchorwoman at the station, Kathy Keene. Kathy was pregnant was well, and both of their respective children were born in the month of August 2001, just three days apart: Kathy's daughter Scarlett on the 14th and Maria's son John on the 17th. In October of the same year two events happened that would change both family's lives forever...
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Maria got back to her house and walked in. Inside she saw Kelly reading a book next to her father Elliot, who was reading a book as well. With nothing else to do for the next three hours, she ran upstairs, grabbed her jogging outfit and went out for a morning run.
The first place she ran to was a small, flat area up by the town's signature mountain, with a large, deep crater near the end of the area. Maria used to live there, in a small cabin, but she left on a date she'd never forget.
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On October 1st, 2001, Maria Kethrin was putting her son to sleep and going to bed herself when a massive whistling noise filled the sky above her remote cabin. She ran outside to check out what the sound was when seconds later she was knocked against a wall by an explosion powerful enough to tear a crater into the ground. Maria quickly got up and ran worriedly towards the massive blaze, terrified that it would reach her home and son. When stood there, she heard a small noise, looked down towards the crater, and saw that there was a single girl with green skin beside her.
Realizing the girl wasn't from this Earth, Maria grabbed both her and her son John and drove away from the cabin to Kathy's house. She asked for the three to stay but Kathy unfortunately had no room, and suggested to Maria that she take the children and move to a large house in the town where her brother Elliot was living with his wife Mei, their unborn child, and their nephew Tommy whose parents, one of which was Elliot's sister Tina, were killed in Egypt a couple months before, around the time John and Scarlett were born. Elliot and Mei knew her from when Kathy introduced them, and the pair offered Maria, John, and the strange green girl a place to live.
Over a few days Maria was keeping the green girl a secret from everyone outside the family, but when she came outside while they were chatting with a neighbor, they quickly found out that only a few select people could see the toddler for what she really was, everyone else saw her as a blonde girl with blue eyes. The revelation shocked Maria, who decided to adopt the girl as her own daughter, calling her a name that meant beauty and grace: Annabelle.
However, unknown to the entire group, there was something in that crater, hidden by the fire of the impact. No one would ever find it, and it would be buried forever, but still shape the future of the family.
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After thinking over the night she found her daughter, Maria turned around and continued to jog. She continued on until she found herself at the town's graveyard, which was always a dark, eerie place to her. Still, she walked inside the place and sat down next to two graves, both marked with a "fire" plate. The names on the tombstones filled her with a sense of sadness:
MICHAEL PAUL KEENE
1981 - 2001
LOVING HUSBAND AND FATHER
KATHERINE SCARLETT KEENE
1981-2001
LOVING WIFE AND MOTHER
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On October 9th, 2001 Maria was going to visit Kathy and Michael Keene at their house, and was horrified to find their home had begun burning to the ground. By the time Maria got there it was too late, and the cause was an electrical fire which spread quickly. Maria further fell into shock when the firefighters told her that Michel and Kathy died in the fire, and that their daughter was found outside. She took Scarlett back to the house, telling Elliot and Mei the sad news.
She'd never seen so much pain in someone's face as she did in Elliot's, who had lost two siblings in a matter of months. Elliot and Mei took custody of Scarlett to raise along Tommy, and in April of 2002 their own daughter Kelly was born. Thus began the househouse that would, unbeknownst to them, shape the history of the entire planet.
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The sun was hanging overhead when Maria opened her eyes. She realized that she fell asleep thinking about her best friends whose graves were sitting there, and thought to herself that she was more devoted to them than anyone else in town. Ya sure they were given a good funeral, but no one in town seemed to visit their graves aside from the family. No one in town cared for their freelance art aside from the family. Kathy was famous when she was alive, but in death it was like she never existed.
This fact was known to the Keene's own daughter, Scarlett, which Maria believed increased her hot-headed temper, which every member of the family had seen first-hand. The night before, when Scarlett didn't like her food, she slammed the glass plate into a rock wall, when she was seven she found out about her parents, causing an outrage unlike anyone in the house had ever seen nor had ever seen again.
Realizing time had passed faster than she expected, Maria ran home, took a quick shower, and drove to the school to pick anyone up who wanted to go home. Annabelle and Tom walked towards Maria, but John and Scarlett ran across the street to the park where the festival was.
"So did you enjoy your half-day at school?" Maria asked the two. "How was it?"
Annabelle looked up at her, "It was fun! We played a game of red-light, green light in the classroom."
Tom chuckled, "And I wasn't sure to go or stop when Annabelle was in front of me."
Annabelle shot an angered look at Tom, one that Tom had seen numerous times before and was sure to see again. Later on, after Scarlett and John had got home, the entire family sat at the dinner table to eat Dim Sum, which Mei loved to make, then Tom, Scarlett, John, and Kelly went into the living room to play a video game while Annie went outside to look at the stars through a telescope.
She saw a bunch of dark spaces and thought the lens was messed up, prompting her to go inside and stand next to her best friends, who she cared for. Annabelle grew up knowing that she was different, that she was unique from the rest of the world, and it was more than just by looking in the mirror. She could sometimes see miles away, and at the same time needed glasses occasionally to read a book.
She could also run faster than any girls her age and was physically stronger than even her uncle Elliot, and healed quicker from injury than others could. After coupling this with what little her mother had told her, Annabelle came to the realization that she was an alien life form, but also realized that she came to Earth as a toddler for a reason, and couldn't think of a better place to be.
"No no no, five minutes is two hours for you. Wakey! It's only a half day, you can come home and sleep afterwards!"
"Well so is school! Now get up, you don't want to be late." Mei said, then looked over at the chest, "Couldn't get it open, still?"
"Yeah, me too." Mei and Tom stood there, honoring Tom's father silently, before moving on.
"Maria is." Mei replied, "I would ask your uncle to take you but he has to be at the fire station very soon. Maria, however, has the week off from the news station so she decided to drive you today for me so I can get some things done around the house."
"Okay! I'll talk to you later, okay?" Tom ran upstairs to get ready before Mei could reply. "Children. Hey Tom, could you wake up Annie? She's in the tree house!"
Tom yelled back an affirmation and continued running, while Mei sat down on the couch for the first time that morning.
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Tom got dressed quickly and ran back outside to the tree house in the backyard. Annabelle was the most... unusual member the Coen/Kethrin family. Unusual in her blatantly sarcastic personality at such a young age, unusual in her hair and clothing color choice which was a black and purple ensemble, unusual in her fear of Unicorns, and unusual in one more thing... a major, major thing.
Tom scoffed. He knew that she had something planned against him, but decided to brave everything and walk forward towards the tree. When he finally got to the ladder, he yelled up again, prompting Annabelle to stick her hands out to wave.
Then Tom realized she wasn't waving.
"Well it's a half day! Today's the last day of the spring festival so Mrs. Anderson and the principal are letting us get out early to go!" Annabelle replied. "The whole school's getting out early!"
"So are you going to go?" Maria asked, talking to the four children.
"Well actually I think it's possible." Scarlett said, "Very possible."
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Maria Kethrin was born with what most people would call "royalty". Her parents Valentine, or "Val", and Jamie Kethrin, were a pair of five-star movie actors living the glamorous life in Starlight Shores. She had everything she ever wanted when she was younger, but strived for more due to her master-level intelligence. When she went to school she advanced to a tenth-grade level when she was merely ten years old, and graduated high school at fourteen, earning a scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in the country located in Appaloosa Plains.
Back when Maria was in her third year of college at eighteen years old, she met a man named Robert Mathews, a ranch owner who lived in the town. Robert had just graduated from the college himself when they met. They dated for a few months, resulting in her pregnancy with her son John. However not too long after the revelation that she was pregnant, Robert won a high-class horse racing bet and became incredibly rich himself, leaving her behind, telling her that he only dated her for her family's money.
Distraught, Maria left school and Appaloosa Plains, but on the way back to her home at Starlight Shores, her car shut itself off on the highway, just outside of town. When she got out to investigate a green light enveloped her, knocking her out. She awoke a few hours later with a mark on her arm and a note written in a strange language that she never did understand completely.
When Maria was returning to Starlight Shores, she stopped and instead headed north. She realized that her family's money was the reason she was alone and pregnant in the first place, so she decided to go and try to make her own way. Finally she stopped at a small town on the coast called Sunset Valley, where on her first day there she went in for a job interview at the television station. She then used a bit of her own money from her parents to buy a small house where she intended to raise her unborn child.
Over the next couple months Maria developed a friendship with the star news anchorwoman at the station, Kathy Keene. Kathy was pregnant was well, and both of their respective children were born in the month of August 2001, just three days apart: Kathy's daughter Scarlett on the 14th and Maria's son John on the 17th. In October of the same year two events happened that would change both family's lives forever...
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Maria got back to her house and walked in. Inside she saw Kelly reading a book next to her father Elliot, who was reading a book as well. With nothing else to do for the next three hours, she ran upstairs, grabbed her jogging outfit and went out for a morning run.
The first place she ran to was a small, flat area up by the town's signature mountain, with a large, deep crater near the end of the area. Maria used to live there, in a small cabin, but she left on a date she'd never forget.
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On October 1st, 2001, Maria Kethrin was putting her son to sleep and going to bed herself when a massive whistling noise filled the sky above her remote cabin. She ran outside to check out what the sound was when seconds later she was knocked against a wall by an explosion powerful enough to tear a crater into the ground. Maria quickly got up and ran worriedly towards the massive blaze, terrified that it would reach her home and son. When stood there, she heard a small noise, looked down towards the crater, and saw that there was a single girl with green skin beside her.
Realizing the girl wasn't from this Earth, Maria grabbed both her and her son John and drove away from the cabin to Kathy's house. She asked for the three to stay but Kathy unfortunately had no room, and suggested to Maria that she take the children and move to a large house in the town where her brother Elliot was living with his wife Mei, their unborn child, and their nephew Tommy whose parents, one of which was Elliot's sister Tina, were killed in Egypt a couple months before, around the time John and Scarlett were born. Elliot and Mei knew her from when Kathy introduced them, and the pair offered Maria, John, and the strange green girl a place to live.
Over a few days Maria was keeping the green girl a secret from everyone outside the family, but when she came outside while they were chatting with a neighbor, they quickly found out that only a few select people could see the toddler for what she really was, everyone else saw her as a blonde girl with blue eyes. The revelation shocked Maria, who decided to adopt the girl as her own daughter, calling her a name that meant beauty and grace: Annabelle.
However, unknown to the entire group, there was something in that crater, hidden by the fire of the impact. No one would ever find it, and it would be buried forever, but still shape the future of the family.
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MICHAEL PAUL KEENE
1981 - 2001
LOVING HUSBAND AND FATHER
KATHERINE SCARLETT KEENE
1981-2001
LOVING WIFE AND MOTHER
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On October 9th, 2001 Maria was going to visit Kathy and Michael Keene at their house, and was horrified to find their home had begun burning to the ground. By the time Maria got there it was too late, and the cause was an electrical fire which spread quickly. Maria further fell into shock when the firefighters told her that Michel and Kathy died in the fire, and that their daughter was found outside. She took Scarlett back to the house, telling Elliot and Mei the sad news.
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This fact was known to the Keene's own daughter, Scarlett, which Maria believed increased her hot-headed temper, which every member of the family had seen first-hand. The night before, when Scarlett didn't like her food, she slammed the glass plate into a rock wall, when she was seven she found out about her parents, causing an outrage unlike anyone in the house had ever seen nor had ever seen again.
"So did you enjoy your half-day at school?" Maria asked the two. "How was it?"
Annabelle looked up at her, "It was fun! We played a game of red-light, green light in the classroom."
She saw a bunch of dark spaces and thought the lens was messed up, prompting her to go inside and stand next to her best friends, who she cared for. Annabelle grew up knowing that she was different, that she was unique from the rest of the world, and it was more than just by looking in the mirror. She could sometimes see miles away, and at the same time needed glasses occasionally to read a book.
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