July 18, 1981

                  AURORA WAS BEGINNING TO GROW IMPATIENT. As she sat in Dash n'dine, an old Diner located in Brookfield, Connecticut, waiting for her sister Judy to finish ordering dinner, she felt her patience growing thinner by the minute.

"There!" Judy said as she came back from the counter, sliding into the booth and sitting across from her sister.

"About time." Aurora muttered, pursing her lips as she placed her hand on the table, her palm open, "hand it over."

Judy rolled her eyes but placed the receipt in her sister's hand nonetheless.

"You know there's an old saying......hmmm—ah yes, 'patience is virtue'. You should really try being a bit more patient and stop being such a control freak, Rory." Judy mumbled the last bit as she watched Rory's eyes skim the contents of the receipt.

"I'm not a control freak. I'm just—wondering why you took ten minutes to order 5 meals that are exactly the same. All you had to do was walk up to the counter and say: 'can I please have 5 combos of the number four, size medium and all the drinks will be cokes, thank you' and that was it." Aurora replied sassily.

Judy glared at her and leaned across the table, snatching the receipt back.

"No, you're just making excuses now. You were checking receipt to make sure everything I ordered was on the list and that they didn't miss a single thing. Be honest and admit that you're a control freak." Judy said, sending Aurora a pointed look.

Aurora sighed and leaned back against the booth seat, not saying anything because her sister was right. She was a control freak.

Everything had to be perfect, neat and to her vision or else she'd lose her shit. And she wasn't the kind of person to have a loud outburst or tantrum, no; she was the type of person who bit her lip because she was too afraid to say anything. She hated confrontation and tended to push things back, letting them simmer inside of her until she was too filled up with stress and instead of boiling over, she would explode.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Aurora asked Judy ignoring her last statement.

"No." Judy grumbled, pushing the salt shaker around with her pointer finger. "Even if I did, which I don't, I can't because some of us still go to school and have homework to finish."

"Ah yes, summer school." Aurora grinned at Judy, delight taking over her features. "Where's your textbooks anyways? Get to it!"

Judy glared at Aurora and mumbled a string of curses and she Brant sideways and grabbed a stack of textbooks, slamming them onto the booth table and grabbing the attention of every person in the diner before she put her notebook on top along with her pencil bag.

"Kill me now." Judy whined,staring at the stack of books.

"You should've just stayed home and gotten it done." Aurora frowned, eyeing the stack of textbooks.

"No way. Staying home alone creeps me out ever since the whole Annabelle incident and besides, being in a public place with complete strangers motivates me to work harder." Judy declared as she determinedly grabbed her History of Art textbook and began reading it. Aurora didn't push Judy to go home, guilt creeping up on her and snagging her around the throat.

It'd been her fault they'd almost gotten their souls taken away when Annabelle had gotten out of her cage and she felt guilty over almost letting her sister die. A part of her, the dark part, felt as though Ed and Lorraine would kick her out if anything had happened to Judy that day.

They told her a thousand times they didn't blame her, that it had been the babysitters fault for going inside the room in the first place but she couldn't felt but wonder if they secretly did blame her. She surely already blamed herself.

When Aurora was younger, she'd been the victim to lots of bullies for her flaming red hair. It wasn't until middle school when a rumor about her being adopted spread around that made her question if she truly was Ed and Lorraine's daughter. She was the only red head in her family that she knew of and it didn't help that many notes were shoved into her locker daily, calling her an adopted freak either.

So she sat them down and they had a talk, a long talk. Eighteen years ago she'd been left on their doorstep. Lorraine had instantly fallen in love with the baby but Ed was a bit reluctant. He forced Lorraine to go with him to the hospital. There was no reports of any ginger babies being born in the past month in that area and child services said they hadn't heard any new missing children reports for a newborn baby.

It wasn't until the child service lady tried to pry young Aurora out of Ed's arms that he told her to unhand his daughter. Lorraine nearly cried at the sight. Since no one knew the exact date of birth of the newborn, they made her the day they found her, her birthday; September 1st.

It was like Aurora and Lorraine were connected in some way. Growing up, Aurora could sense when her adoptive mother was calling out to her despite her being a long distance away. She could sense when her loved ones were in distress and her presence alone cheered them up. Everyone around her felt it.

While Lorraine could see things others couldn't, see the past and create connections to the things from the other side, Aurora was different. She could see the dark things, beings and make them go away, destroy them. It was more complicated than it sounded but quite simple at the same time.

Ed called her pure. She was like a light during a blackout or water during a drought; salvation. She could create connections with people and astral project, her soul going to them when they were in danger. She wasn't over powered or anything, it took at lot of energy and always drained her right after. It was also very dangerous.

While astral projecting, she leaves her body vulnerable to any demonic possessions or attacks so she rarely ever did it. Aurora didn't know why she could do the things she could or see the things she saw but she didn't push to know either. A big part of her felt like she didn't want to know or that there was no real explanation, just like her mother didn't actually know either.

When Judy was born, the Warrens did everything in their power to show the girls that they were both equally loved but that didn't stop the doubt from growing inside of Aurora either. It bit at her everyday, sinking its teeth into her and planting its seeds of insecurity.

Aurora silently watched her sister for a total of twelve seconds before she slammed her book shut and frowned, childishly crossing her arms before she slid out of the booth.

"Whatever, I hate this. I'm going to the bathroom." Judy mumbled before she walked away, leaving Aurora alone with her thoughts.

The diner's doorbell jingled and Aurora's head turned slightly, curious. And that's when she saw him. Arne Johnson.

He was tall, about 6'2 as he strode in. A plaid shirt clung to his body, the sleeves rolled up halfway while the top part clung around his biceps. He was lanky and wearing jeans with timberlands. His hair was a shade of the lightest brown Aurora had ever seen, lighter than she'd remembered and he didn't even so much as glance at her as he made his way to the counter.

He placed his elbow against the counter top, leaning the side of his body against it as he lifted his other hand to ring the bell.

"Hey Stan, here to pick up the order I called on for." Arne said, his fingers drumming against the counter top nervously or impatiently. Aurora couldn't tell and she decided she shouldn't care as she turned away.

Aurora reached over the table, dragging the receipt back towards her before she went over the contents in an attempt to keep herself busy. She sighed, blowing the air out of her nose before she pushed her head backs against the booth seat before looking back at the receipt at frowning.

Judy had forgotten to order Drew his chicken nuggets and chocolate chip cookie that he'd wanted.

Deciding she couldn't wait for Judy, she reluctantly skid out of the booth and walked over to the long counter, sitting in an empty seat that spun around a few feet away from Arne. She could feel his light eyes drilling holes into the side of her head but she simply pretended hi didn't exist as she reached over towards him and rung the bell infront of him.

Stan ignored her, so she rung the bell again. And again and again until finally Stan turned around and snatched the bell away from her.

"Excuse me.......Stan." Aurora said sweetly, turning her charm on as a middle aged man who was balding turned his attention towards her. "Yes hi, I'd like to add onto my order—number....83." Aurora trailed as she read the order number off her receipt.

"What would you like to add?" Stan said, mocking her nice tone. Aurora's eyebrows scrunched in annoyance before she decided it wasn't worth it.

"Ten piece chicken nuggets and a chocolate chip cookie please." She replied in a sweet tone. Stan lifted an eyebrow at her.

"What are you? Six?" He asked and her mouth dropped open at the audacity of him even asking that.

"They're not for me!" She said defensively, "they're for a friend! And there's nothing wrong with wanting that!" She added, defending Drew as she accusingly pointed her finger at Stan.

"Mhmmm, a friend." Stan drawled but wrote down her order nonetheless.

"C'mon Stan, stop harassing the nice girl." Arne playfully scolded Stan who only grumbled a response before walking away.

Aurora turned to face Arne who was already looking at her with an amused expression. His lips were turned up in a slight smirk that made her heart skip a beat. She quickly cleared her throat.

"They're for a friend!" She repeated, feeling her face heat up from embarrassment and turn the same shade as her hair.

"I never insinuated that it wasn't." Arne replied before he cleared his throat, "yeah uh—don't mind Stan. He's grieving right now so he can be a bit grumpy."

"Tell me about it." Aurora mumbled before she placed her chin on top of the palm of her hand looking back at the restroom doors, hoping Judy could come and drag her away.

"I'm sorry but do I know you from somewhere? You seem very familiar." Arne asked, shifting over closer towards her. Ah, there it is.

"Hmm no. I don't think you do." She said nonchalantly, flipping through the diner's menu.

Of course he didn't remember her. She'd looked completely different two years ago in highschool and didn't get her glow up until a few months ago when the bullying had reached its peak completely torn her down. Besides she'd be surprised if he remembered any other female he'd gone to school with considering he'd always been so absorbed with his highschool sweetheart, Debbie Glatzel.

"No...you look really familiar." Arne mumbled to himself, his face a few inches away Aurora's as he continued to stare at her.

"What did you say your name was?" Arne finally asked her, his body leaning against the counter as he crossed his arms and continued to stare her down, filling her stomach up with butterflies.

"I didn't." Aurora quipped and Arne's lips curled up into a smirk. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by none other than Stan.

"Here you go Johnson." Stan said, placing a large thick takeout bag in front of Arne who tore his attention away from Aurora and passed Stan a twenty dollar bill.

"Keep the change." Arne told Stan before he gripped the bag, sliding it off the table and made his way over to the exit but not before he looked back at Aurora and sent her a cocky smirk.

"See you around, Rose." He said and Aurora immediately turned a deep shade of red as she angrily stared at his back. Of course he remembered her but in her most embarassing way yet.

Back in her last year of highschool, she ended up skipping a grade and getting put in with the Seniors. All it took was one look at her hair before the bullying started. At first it was small teasing but then a ridiculous rumor say that she would dye her hair with period blood began to go around and she was called bloody Mary for the rest of the year. It wasn't until the last month of school when she got all pretty that people started to call her Rose because they said it matches her beauty. What a bunch of bull.

As much as she hated to say it; she hated everyone from highschool. They were all jerks and mean and surely forgotten all about her; the girl they tormented but she hadn't forgotten them.

Arne Johnson wasn't in any sports team or insanely popular but their highschool had been small and everyone knew the golden couple. Arne Johnson and Debbie Glatzel had won prom king and queen while Aurora was stuck in the girls bathroom washing punch out of her hair and dress.

Just when her night seemed to hit rock bottom and she got ready to leave the dance, she ran into him. Prom King leaning against the schools exit breathing heavily.

"Oh god, are you alright?" She asked him, her once white—now blue dress clung to her body like a second ugly skin as she rushed towards him, touching his arm.

Arne looked at her and then at her hand which she immediately snatched away, ignoring the sparks that left with it and got ready for his attack. But he didn't yell, insult or recoil from her—no. Instead he smiled at her and for a moment Aurora's night hadn't gone to total shit.

The next day, she made changes that had been coming for a long time and that was also the first day her nickname of Rose started to go around the school. As much as she wanted to deny it, a small crush on Arne was grown that night because of how kind he'd been to her. But the next day when she sat beside him in Calculus, he didn't so much as glance at her. Not even when she asked for a pencil despite having five extras in her bookbag. Instead he handed it to her all while he focused on his work and after class he met his girlfriend at the door and gave her kiss. Aurora stopped trying after that very failed attempt at flirting.

"Hubba hubba, who was that?" Judy asked, snuggling up beside Aurora as they watched Arne's truck disappear off into the distance. Aurora rolled her eyes at her sisters crude words but didn't scold her.

"No one I know." Aurora replied, a frown on her lips as she practically heard the smirk in her sister's voice.

"Well something tells me he wants to know you. Like really know you. Like in the sheets kn—"

"JUDE!!"

NOT EDITED
POSTED 6-16-21
THOUGHTS? REMEMBER THIS IS JUST THE PROLOGUE TO GET THE STORY GOING. CHAPTER ONE SHOULD BE UP TOMORROW OR FRIDAY. DONT FORGOT TO COMMENT! IT MAKES MY DAY.