Chapter 2:

Joey

Janie ran and ran, not caring where she was headed. Her eyes were blinded with tears anyway.

Anger, rage, and hatred boiled inside her. The nerve of that man! The sheer nerve of him!

“How dare he read my diary out loud!” she angrily thought, “That ignorant asshole!” She continued to run.

She ran out of the town. She was going to continue running as far as her feet would carry her. Or at least until she ran out of breathe and passed out.

A half-hour later, she came to a stop, in front of a graveyard.

Janie collapsed next to a nearby grave. As she fought to catch her breath, she noticed that the grave belonged to her old childhood friend Joey Voldo.

Joey had been her one and only friend since preschool. She had always felt so comfortable with him. Janie knew that she could trust Joey. So she usually told him every thing. He was a very nice boy. He liked her, and really cared about her. This was the reason for his death…

Janie’s heart ached and she felt tears begin to well up as she remembered that tragic horrible day…

Two years ago…

Janie was 14 years old when it happened. It was a beautiful autumn day. Janie and Joey were walking home from school.

They were both happily talking to each other. She was so happy and carefree; not a care in the world.

They stopped at a crosswalk, and that’s when Joey noticed that his shoes were untied.

“Go on ahead Janie; I’ll catch up with you in a minute.” Joey said.

Janie smiled at him and continued walking across the crosswalk.

Suddenly, a car came shooting down the road, right towards Janie. And it wasn’t stopping either.

Janie didn’t notice. However, at the last moment, Joey did. Realizing the car would not stop, he hurled himself towards Janie, without any thought of his own personal safety. The car was within inches from Janie when Joey jumped in and shoved her out of harms way.

…Putting him right in the direct path.

In the very few seconds he had before the car barreled over him, He looked at Janie.

She looked at him.

Their eyes connected.

Janie saw the fear and despair in his eyes. They had a desperate glint to them, a pitiful horrible glint. She saw something in his eyes; he knew he was about to die.

Time seemed to stop as the car slammed into his body. His arms and legs flailed about wildly almost like a puppet.

Janie might have cried out to him. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. She couldn’t remember if any sound had emitted from her open mouth. Her throat had been so tight and dry.

Even if she did, it didn’t matter anyway, the only sound Joey could hear during this time was the pounding of his very heart.

He hit the pavement with bone-shattering impact.

Janie rushed to his side immediately. Tears flowed from her eyes. “Joey!” she exclaimed as soon as she found her voice again.

He slowly opened his eyes and gazed upon her.

“ja-nie” he said.

She cried and wrapped her arms around him. He was really cut up and bloody but she didn’t care. She just held him in her arms and cried into his chest.

He painfully leaned forward and whispered in her ear,”I…love you…Jan…ie…!”

“I love you too Joey.” She said through tears,”I always have…”

He didn’t smile, but Janie saw it in his eyes; he did love her and she saw pain in his eyes. Pain that could only come from losing a loved one.

He took his last breath and slowly lied back upon the ground. His eyelids slowly closed, never to open again…

Janie had lost more than a best friend that day. She lost a part of herself. She was never again the same person. After that day, she slowly began to slip in to deep depression.

It was only when Janie had come across the diary in her attic one day had her life begun to improve. The diary had once belonged to her grand mother. It had really attracted her, it was red with a beautiful blue crystal imprisoned within the cover.

Oddly enough, Janie had found no traces of her grandmother’s writing on any of the blank pages.

The book had been completely empty when she found it. There was nothing written in it.

Nothing.

Back in the present…

She remembered every painful detail of that day. And she couldn’t handle it.

She threw her arms around Joey’s grave and softly cried.

Her tears ran down her face and onto the cold stone grave, she missed him horribly. She sat by his grave for quite for quite awhile, recalling good memories of him and her together. She tried to relax, to close her eyes. She clutched onto the grave, thinking of Joey, until she drifted off to sleep.

Janie felt as if she were floating. She was in some kind of dreamy magic vortex.

“Where the heck am I?” Janie thought. “This place feels so weird.”

Suddenly a bright light flashed out of no where, and a figure emerged from the heavenly light. The light cast a silhouette over the figure.

“That’s funny, and I expected a giant floating head and some old guy hiding behind a curtain.” Janie remarked.

“It’s been too long Janie.” The figure said, “It’s been far too long.”

Janie stared at the figure, “Do I know you?” she asked.

“You know me only in a past life, a life you have long forgotten.”

Janie gave the figure an odd look, “What are you talking about?”

“Janie,” The figure continued, “You’re life is about to change drastically. You must welcome these changes, for they will transform magically.”

“Come on!” Janie snapped, “I already hit puberty what more do you want?”

The figure ignored her and continued, “A mystic adventure awaits you, and like a brave and noble warrior, you will face perils and go where ever the path of destiny takes you.

“A great evil will threaten you as well, but fear not, you shall experience an emotion that have long been forgotten. In the end, learn to trust those you shall meet, face you’re journey with an open heart.”

Janie raised her eyebrows and turned her back on the godly figure.

“Right, nice story. You should consider writing fairy tales.”

“You should take heed to my words Janie. Only a fool goes into battle lacking knowledge on who they are fighting and why.”

“You really don’t give up do you? It’s a real nice story, I love it.” Janie remarked. “I’ll try to catch it when it comes out in theaters. I recommend you try to get Jonny Depp for your movie. Now if you don’t mind, I got a dream to wake up from.”

“Ok, you can choose to ignore my advice. You win, I shall leave you now. But take heed to these words; you must dispose of that wretched diary.”

Janie froze,”Why?”

The figure ignored her and continued, “Set that infernal diary ablaze with flame. Only then shall your dark clouds part to reveal light.”

The figure began to disappear, “What!” Janie called, “Who are you?”

The only reply was;”Dispose of the diary…”

Janie jolted awake the diary in her arms. She sat up, still lying against Joey’s grave. She looked around the graveyard, but saw nothing but cold, hard, dead stones.

“I wonder,” She thought to herself, “Who that figure was.”

But no answer came to her. Remembering the mysterious figure’s warning, she began to look in her bag for her lighter. Janie didn’t smoke, she was a pryo, meaning she liked to burn things. Soon she found her lighter and prepared to burn the diary.

But, she hesitated. This diary was really precious to her and she had written down quite a lot of things in it. It would really be quite a shame to lose all of those thoughts and feelings forever. Maybe, she thought, it wouldn’t hurt to read a few passages one last time.

As she opened the diary, she gasped in shock, nearly dropping it. Every page, every single page in her diary, was completely blank! Not one single word remained! The only thing in the diary was a short inscription on the inside cover;

What lies beyond remains unseen?

What wonders await in a world of dreams?

Rekindle the fire fuel the soul.

Tell the tales that have yet to be told.

Do not fear, destiny has thrust you on to this path.

Be brave, just continue on and see;

How far your fate will take you from here.

“What the hell is going on here?” Janie cried out. She was dumbfounded what could have happened to her diary? There wasn’t any pages missing anywhere, so the pages weren’t torn out. No trace of any white out or eraser marks on any page. It seemed that the words just… disappeared;

“How in the world?” she said to herself as she quickly flipped through the blank pages; Searching for something. Anything.

She closed the diary and stared questionably at it, almost silently pleading with it to answer her questions. As if in response, the blue crystal on the cover began to glow. She dropped the diary in surprise. This was getting too freaky for her.

She clicked her lighter, and a tiny flame burst from it. She set fire to the edge of the diary, and it immediately ignited in flames.

Suddenly, without warning, the diary exploded in a flash of light!

Janie had just enough time to shield her eyes before she was blown off her feet. But the strange thing was...

Janie did not feel like she was being thrown back wards, but rather she felt as if she were being pulled forwards.

She landed on her feet her eyes still covered.

“That was weird,” Janie thought, “I wonder what happened.” Oddly enough, she felt as if she were no longer in the graveyard. She slowly moved her hands from her eyes, and froze. She was in a tree!

“Ok stay calm Janie, don’t panic, or you’ll fall and break your neck.” She told herself. She began to calm down and tried to figure out where she was.

“Hey! What are you doing up there?” A voice called out. Janie jumped in shock. Before she could do anything. She lost her footing and fell towards the cold hard ground below…