It was a regular, spring day at the academy, and Daren lay next to Lucy, his girlfriend, in the tall flowing grass of the courtyard outside the traveler studies building. The sun was shining, and the waves could be heard crashing up against the rocks of the cliff just a few hundred feet away. "What do you think you'll do after graduation?" Lucy asked propping herself up on her elbow. "Honestly, I don't know, my parents want me to be some great student of the traveler, but all I really know is that I want to be with you no matter where I choose to go." "Oh" Lucy said "so, big plans for the future." "Yeah, I guess so." They were quiet for a minute before Lucy said "Daren, I don't want to follow everyone else's wishes, I don't want to go to the big cities on mars, or to Earth to look at that giant friggin orb everyday. What I want is something that no one will let me have so I'll just have to take it for myself." Laying back down she whispered into Daren's ear saying " I want to escape to mercury, to paradise, and I want you to come with me." " Okay Lucy, we'll escape, we'll go and we'll never turn back." The couple laid there for hours holding hands and daring up at the sky until rain started pouring and they had to take refuge in the traveler studies building. They sat on a bench in the deserted lobby, seeing as it was spring break and nobody felt the need to visit those stone cold hallways. They watched as a deep fog set in over the campus thinking how strange this storm was seeing as though the forecast was 90 degrees fahrenheit and sunny. The wind started howling and huge streaks of lightning could be seen shooting down from the clouds. The pressure on the glass grew stronger and stronger until the windows shattered sending shards of glass everywhere. Then, slowly the fog crept in the room, "run!" Daren shouted, but Lucy could not hear his words for the wind was too loud, the fog crept closer enveloping them in its dark tendrils until their eyes were useless because of the extreme dark. And that was when they felt a dark, heavy presence envelop their minds, crushing their souls into bits. Daren heard Lucy scream and that blood boiling sound was the last thing he remembered before falling into the darkness. That was, of course, the last thing he remembered until he saw a light. It was a faint light but a light none the less and it started expanding, stretching glowing tendrils out as if to grab him and pull him out of the sea of dark that he had been in for what seemed like centuries. He heard a voice that steadily got louder as he was being reeled in, away from the darkness. Slowly it got louder until he could almost make out the words it said and he could see something floating above him. "Hello guardian, I am a ghost, well, actually I'm your ghost and I've been looking for you for a long time." Sorry if this story was kind of long, I tend to get carried away when I start writing, I know it's not the best and I probably have a ton of errors in it but thanks for reading anyway. P.S.-IF YOU DID NOT READ THIS STORY I WOULD VERY MUCH APPRECIATE IT IF YOU WENT BACK AND READ IT. IT'S HARD TO REALLY BE CRITIQUED WHEN THE ONLY PEOPLE YOU HAVE ARE FRIENDS AND FAMILY.