The Rift

By Grace Sagun

Victoria Lockhart, a college student of Skirrow's Medical School, disappeared in Bewilder District Hospital after being confined for an unknown cause. And after a week of missing, she just showed up like nothing happened. As she went back, a lot of things changed. She found out who and what she truly was. Will she be able to protect the family she has always longed for, her friends who became like real sisters for her, or the person she pretended to hate but she deeply fell in love with? What will happen if she found out that the only way for her to protect the people she love is for her to die? What will she do? What will she choose? Will she accept to real story behind her family? Will she know which friend to trust? Or will she risk the life of the man she love to save her own?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grace Sagun
• Release date: Feb 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311068026

Grace Sagun

My real name is Donna Grace Sagun Casorla. I was born on September 14, 1992. I started my passion in writing when I began reading the books of Sarah Beth Martin, the author of "One True Ocean", and Claudia Mair Burney, the author of "Exorsistah" and "X Returns". At first, I just started imagining things the way I want them to happen, then I realized that writing and documenting those thoughts I have would be better than simply imagining them and letting them disappear. Thus, I'm making all things I want to happen be written in books and be known by other people. "The Rift" is the first ever novel I have written successfully and completely. I started making it way back 2011 and I have just finished it this year 2014. Right now, I'm working on its second part. I am looking forward of having my books be shared with everyone. Thank you and God bless.

Book preview

The Rift

Grace Sagun

Published by Grace Sagun at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Grace Sagun

Chapter One

Death, an act of dying or an end of life.

Everyone is scared talking about death. What if…. Death becomes the beginning of a new life? Would you accept it? Or would you still be afraid of it? Everyone knows we’re going to die. However, nobody wants it. If only people can predict that they’re going to die on a known day, they will surely do things differently. How can we ever be prepared to die? Why is it so hard to think about dying? What are we scared of? Is it those creepy creatures that will eat our flesh under our graves? Or is it because we are afraid of seeing and causing pains to all those people we will leave and see them all crying in front of our coffins? What if we die without anybody, even friends or family that will go on our funeral? Isn’t that…..scary to know?

Death is such an alarming issue. Most people nowadays walk around and understand things as if they are sleepwalking. They don’t experience the world fully and consider only those things they want to ponder without looking on the other side of the situation; because they are half-asleep. They’re just doing things they automatically think they have to do. They strip and disregard away all any other stuff and focus on what they think is important.

There are moments that we need to experience how to die and learn how to live again. If we expect that we can die at any time, then we might not be as ambitious as we are now. So many people walk around with a meaningless life, chasing wrong things and doing wrong decisions.

We must get a meaning into our lives, devote ourselves loving others, our community and at creating something that will give us purpose and meaning. Let us learn to live through dying.

Ow! Victoria Lockhart felt a ball of paper thrown at her by her friend on the other corner of the classroom.

Victoria Lockhart, 18, born in 6747 Springpark Ave. Walsh City, Nashville, Tennessee. She moved to 1250 Bewilder St. In Memphis, Tennessee to study in Skirrow’s Medical School.

Whuttt??? she whispered. Her friend pointed on their professor, looking at Victoria like some kind of cat with fluorescence in her eyes on some horror movies.

Uh… yes??? she asked hesitantly.

Miss Lockhart! Are you listening to my class? the Professor yelled.

Uhm. Nah???

What were you thinking a minute ago?

I was thinking about…. she hesitated, but since Victoria is a very vocal and frank person, she was thinking of letting her Professor know what she was thinking.

About what?

Death.

Death her Professor repeated.

Uhuh

Whose death?

Yours? It seemed so hard to tell herself how she looked so sophisticated that her smile became satirical.

The entire classroom was covered with laughter, sarcastic laughter from her classmates. It faded when her Bacteriology Professor gave them all that scary eyes of hers.

Miss Lockhart! If you don’t want to be sent in the discipline’s office, watch your words.

Okay. she whispered. She found her as some kind of neurotic person who takes advantage of everything. A stupid and neurotic woman she never thought she would hate like that. She’s always a cold persistent current beneath everything, threatening to wash away their little mess of happiness.

Victoria hated her. She felt sick of her. She would have liked her from the start if it hadn’t been for her bitterness. She just wanted to give her a grand-scale of sympathy for her grand-scale bitterness. She often sounded like a friendly enemy, a religious woman who always goes to church but often ended up as a rude Witch inside their class. Whenever Victoria looked at her, she always thought why good and religious people were often hideous. She’s not good, just religious and at the same time, hideous. Victoria could feel her Professor’s face staring at her like an appointed gun for no reason. If she look at her, catching every glance she gave, she’ll suddenly look away as if she had thought better of something terrible and dropped the gun out of the window.

Victoria’s that typical kind of student who doesn’t care much on what she says. Whenever she loves to insult someone, she will never think anything more but to say whatever she has in mind. She doesn’t have anything good to say to anyone. She’s a scholar in the university but she doesn’t act like one. They say she has a better brain than theirs, but lacks in good attitude, which is obviously true. She liked to watch the nerves on other people’s faces. She had become the woman of opposites - she’ll often make a fun and interesting conversation become despicably hateful. She just doesn’t realize it and her friends thought she will never be able to realize how fun it is to look the other way around. Maybe not until she finds that person who will soften her cold heart. She doesn’t know when will kindness strike her and when she will have to take it without questioning why.

End of the class:

Victoria! What have you done this time? Carmel Goldberg, one of Victoria’s friends.

It’s not like it’s the first time to screw our Professor, but it’s actually the first time you weren’t paying attention in the class. Is something wrong? What happened?

Umm...Which one should I answer first? Victoria paused.

Ah…. The one I remembered. she smiled and continued.

Hmmm…. Blah blah… nothing’s wrong. I’m hungry. Let’s eat. she avoided the questions ‘cause honestly, she doesn’t know what’s happening to her, maybe not until she finds out why she was thinking about death a while ago. It bothers her, a lot. She’s dying inside. She knows it. She can feel it, or she can even breath it, or hear it. It’s rotting inside her. The problem is, she can’t find the reason why.

Her giant friend, Genie Bridgewater, the one who threw a paper on her, the one who brought back her consciousness in the middle of the class, snapped her with her giant hand on Victoria’s head. She could feel that her brain vibrated for few seconds.

God, why did you give me violent friends? she wondered.

That was a nice hit for Miss Fiona. Giant said so happily.

Victoria ignored her and continued walking, heading to the cafeteria. She can feel her stomach gurgling in hunger. She craved for food and she’s almost shaking. No time for any conversations yet. She just wanted to eat something. Her emotions are as blurry as her thoughts. She doesn’t know why she doesn’t feel so good even at that very moment. She feels so…..weak and terribly miserable inside. Likewise, she doesn’t know why. She’s craving for anything more. Something she still doesn’t know what is. She’s bored with her life and she’s not enjoying living it anymore. Maybe that was why she’s been thinking about death during class.

How would it feel? Dying and being cried.

Annoying. Victoria whispered to herself.

I hate crying and being cried of. I hate seeing anybody cry. They look so stupid and I hate stupid people. she thought.

Lunch done:

Victoria’s friends are having a conversation about Faddy. Faddy’s Carmel’s future ex-boyfriend (as how they always address him), the guy in her heart, a varsity player, and a good-looking tourism student. And yeah, he has braces. And Carmel wants braces too.

What’s so good about guys? Victoria wondered trying to join the conversation.

Inspiration Kim answered.

Distraction Victoria answered back with a grin in her face.

No. It depends on the person. If you know your limitation, it wouldn’t be a distraction. You should be intelligent enough on handling it. Know your boundaries.

It’s bullshit. Love does terrible thing in your Nervous System.

For you! ‘cause you haven’t experienced it, loving and being loved.

Kim! Giant stopped her.

I never wanted to experience it anyway. Victoria let out a smirk though honestly, she felt a little ashamed of herself. Maybe because she doesn’t know how it would feel. She can’t even remember when was the last time she fell in love with someone. Was it on her senior year where he dumped that guy she has been secretly liking since she was on her third grade? She dumped him and after a couple of years, she saw him again and she harshly asked him to be her boyfriend. Well, she dumped him first and on that moment, it was his turn to dump her. After that very first heartbreak, she cursed all men and swore she will never fall for one again.

You can say that by now, but the moment it’ll come, you’ll be amazed, it’ll make you become a better person. Kim showed Victoria that sparkling eyes of hers. She’s so in love because she has a boyfriend.

As if I’m not. Victoria whispered, trying to sound cool though she knows inside her that she remembered that moment her first love dumped her. It could have hurt the same way to that guy when she also rejected him the very first time. Now, she just thought love is just a game of revenge between people hurting and hating each other. Nothing lasts forever, not even those forever promises people make when they were still so in love.

Enough for this conversation. Let’s go back in the classroom. Victoria’s simple, conservative and shy friend, Ran Walker, interrupted and let the conversation end. She stood up first and everyone else followed her back to the classroom.

I’m worst at this. Hoping to be a part of their conversation then ended up messing it. How rude of me. To say things I wouldn’t think will be bad for my friends. Victoria was thinking as she walked up the stairs.

Every day, she has a struggle between what she should say and what to keep for herself. She always finds herself in need of a pause because even though it wouldn’t hurt her, yet, it will hurt everyone else around her. She has always thought that she doesn’t want to know too much about how they feel. She doesn’t want to say anything because she doesn’t want to hear it, and see them hurt.

And for thinking that she said the right word without sounding so mean, it still ended up worst than what she was expecting.

In a way, she’s glad that she still has her friends although she is so different from them. She has different perceptions, and she thinks differently, far beyond their expectations. She thinks more, expectmore.

Right now, she feels so weak. So empty, messed, and wasted.

Why? she wondered.

Do I also….need inspiration? No. That is nonsense. She wanted to scream out loud.

For her, Love? It doesn’t exist. They say it’s like music and color wherein people in-love blend together as one. Unconditional, choosing that kind of excitement towards the person they love. Thrilled and disregard the ideals of an unconditional love, and let things happen eventually, uncontrolled.

How annoying it is to let those kinds of ideas enter in my humorous mind. I don’t want love. I’d rather go in a safe way. Avoid it for I know it will only bring pain. You’ll be in love in the beginning and end up crying. And sometimes, beginnings are as messy as endings. she thought.

Why is she thinking about it anyway? It feels so NOT HER. Not her thing. She thought about death, now love. What seriously is wrong with her?

Victoria? Are you okay? Elizabeth Wright, another friend of Victoria, asked her and held her at the back. She wondered why they care a lot about her even she’s a bad person and she has lots of bad thoughts.

Yeah she replied and smiled.

I’m okay, I’m just having battle with myself. Victoria wanted to say but she just let out a smile.

God, bring back my consciousness. I don’t go to church but I beg you, I need you to bring back my brain to normal, enough for being emotional or whatever. In my mom’s lexicon, I am an ‘odd person which means for her, anyone who doesn’t believe in God. I need to focus on class right now. And when I said NOW" I definitely mean NOW.

Chapter Two

Mom?

Honey? Are you okay?

N…Uh-huh. Victoria’s voice was shaking.

Are you sure?

Y..es.

Honey, I need to prepare for a presentation for the meeting tomorrow. I’ll call you, okay? Goodnight honey.

Uh..w..wait… line ended. Victoria looked down the floor for a couple of minutes thinking of nothing. She forced herself not to let out those tears.

Don’t cry. Hold it in. Hold it in. She’s been telling herself as she felt her heart pounding and struggling for an oxygen.

No, please. Not this time. she whispered as she felt bunch of thorns in her respiratory tract as she gasped for air.

I just missed my mom. She has been living all alone since she entered college and all she wanted that very moment was to be with her mom. Even just to listen with her mom’s voice, she hoped it would be possible to do that even just for hours. Her mom’s always busy and has no time.

I want a mom. Victoria’s been screaming inside her.

I want a mom who will be beside me, taking care of me, and watching over me before I sleep. A mom that I can crouch to.

That’s what she wanted. She wanted that so bad that all her bones hurt. She always felt like she had a mother who will always tell her that she’s going to be a failure.

She envy those people with their moms