Dealing with Melancholy

A year after Elizabeth's from her family's camping trip in the mountains, she began to experience severe withdrawal symptoms. Her very being craved returning to the mountains to be by Samuel's side.

Though her cravings were not strong enough to cause her to go awol, they were still strong enough to cause her discomfort.

Her school life was greatly affected by this situation as well. She had dropped from her usual rank as a straight A student to having B plusses and B minuses. Although, to the average person, having B's in school was a luxury, but for a perfectionist family like hers, this was a clear cry for help.

Her parents put her through series of extra classes and counseling sessions to try and restore her groove but the end result was just the return of a few A's in her grades.

Elizabeth remained in a state of constant melancholy. A state which seemed to slowly push her friends and classmates away.

On the suggestion of her counselor, Elizabeth was enrolled in a mixed martial arts dojo in addition to all her other extra curricular activities. The idea behind the suggestion was quite simple; whatever that was bothering Elizabeth was clearly mental in nature, therefore, the best way to curb that was to keep her too busy to ponder on it.

This gamble worked; for as the months went by, her melancholic nature slowly disappeared. The unexpected caveat was, by focusing her attention away from thoughts of Samuel, the faint dragon blood in her veins caused her aggression levels to skyrocket.

Her mixed martial arts master, fearing for the safety of his students her age, bumped her to the higher ranks. She was soon able to keep up with a few of her seniors. Unfortunately, she still had her limits given her young age. Her newly acquired increase in aggression didn't help her much.

Following an advice given by her master, Elizabeth took up meditation to calm her aggression, which appeared to work. Months into her meditation, although still highly inexperienced, she managed to calm the raging blood in her veins; learned to focus them, so much so that she graduated from her status as amateur fairly quickly in the dojo.

With her new predisposition, she managed to mend her relationship with her friends.

Months later, she was soon back to her status as a straight A student; happy and hearty in all her classes.

It was a day like any other. The sun was high in the sky and the birds were dancing through the air. Elizabeth sat in her history class, a few minutes away from the closing bell.

Elizabeth's gaze turned towards the window only to find swarms of birds covering the skies heading in their direction. "Are they migrating?" she asked herself as she turned to get a better look. The squawking of the thousands of birds drew the attention of the rest of her class. The birds appeared to be flying away from the direction of the mountains. The sight was very much outstanding to them.

The building suddenly began to shake; in fact, the entire city was rumbling.

"Kyaah!! What's going on?" the students screamed as the building shook. "It's an Earthquake. Everyone ... get under your desks and keep your heads tucked between your legs", the teacher instructed.

The students continued to panic and scream while following the teacher's instruction.

Elizabeth's senses suddenly heightened as the distant sound of a roar reached her ears. She smiled as she felt the vibrations of the familiar sound of her beloved. "We will see each other once again... I promise ", she whispered to herself as the shaking finally stopped.

The school day soon ended and all extra curricular activities were suspended for the day. Fearing an after effect, the students were instructed to go straight home.

Elizabeth walked alongside the road with a few of her girlfriends in the direction of their homes, as was their tradition. Of course, she could have had her driver pick her up but she enjoyed the walk; as well as the gossip.

A few meters behind them, an inconspicuous van with four men was slowly following them. "Which one is she?" the driver asked the dude by his side.

"That's her right there; the tall one", he replied pointing. "What did the boss say to do to her", one of the guys on the back seat asked.

"Weren't you paying attention? Her father is the regional superintendent of the police. The boss wants to send a message to him that getting involved with the affairs of the gang has consequences. We have to mess her up and get it on video. Tony is all set up and waiting for us", the driver explained.

"But dude, she's still just a kid. Do we really have to go that far?" the other guy in the backseat asked. "Stop bull shitting. It's a job from the boss. We couldn't refuse even if we wanted to. And besides, I'm not saying I don't want to", the driver said with a shit eating grin.

One after the other, Elizabeth parted ways with her friends until it was left with just her on the sidewalk. She hummed a song as she skipped along the road recalling the events of the afternoon as a gray van suddenly pulled up alongside her.

Several arms popped out and grabbed her pulling her into the van as it sped off. The van drove into an abandoned warehouse and parked.

The men came out with a tied up Elizabeth and carried her into a prepared room. There was another of the men with multiple, already-set-up tripod cameras at all sides of an already worn out queen size bed.

" We should send a message to the boss and let him know the plan's progress", one of the men suggested and they agreed.

After the message was sent, they turned their attention back to Elizabeth.

"Heh! I can't wait to get started. I've got dips on the first round", the driver, supposedly the leader of their group, said as he pulled Elizabeth towards himself to untie her and remove her clothes. After all, what was there to fear from a kid who was barely a teenager.