Things looked exactly as I remembered. It was odd. The way life had been moving around me it felt like so much time had passed. But here it felt like time had stopped. Like the carnage was frozen in time. It was eerily quiet, like a long forgotten abandoned town. There didn’t appear to be a single soul to be found. Vivian and I walked the streets. Looking at each other with puzzled expressions. Were there any people here still? Had Charles already completed his goal? I didn’t know how to feel. It didn’t look like there had been any human life here for at least a month. Where had everyone gone? I wandered if they were all at the lab building Charles had locked me in. It was still day light; it would be far too dangerous for us to venture towards that place. Even thinking about it put a shiver down my spine.Night fall couldn’t come quickly enough, but it also came too quickly. I wanted answers, but I feared the answers I would get. Aren’t you meant to not ask questions if you won’t lik
My mind often drifted to Birdy now. She had always just been there, so my mind never used to linger on her the way it did now. I thought of my past memories with her. How she made me feel as that unloved child. The way she looked after me. The way we communicated so easily despite the language barrier. I could never repay her for the love and joy she brought to my otherwise empty past. My mind would flicker to the imagine of her laying there. Her lifeless eyes and hallow body. The way the blood stuck to her coat. I felt empty, in a way which was hard to explain. I think you never truly know how much something means to you until its gone. You take their presence for granted even when you don’t mean to.Pain was something I was accustomed to. I hated to admit it, but I was right at home here. Consumed by emotionally suffering. This was what I was used to. I stared up at the ceiling, wishing the whiteness of the walls would just swallow me. I never asked for this. I had to wonder what I
There I was walking down the long corridors. The walls white, machines beeping in the background like a hospital. Men surrounded me. I wasn’t chained but I might as well have been. I looked around trying to keep my mind distracted. Trying to think of good memories. My mind always wanted to slip into the memories of the last time I was trapped in a place like this. The screams, the cries, the pleads for mercy. I really didn’t like my chances of getting out of here. It was heavily guarded; Charles wasn’t taking any chances. It reeked of bleach; it stung my eyes. Tears dripped slowly down my cheek. Trying to wash out the irritation. Bleach in these settings was only ever for covering up blood. My mind wandering to my people, were they still alive?The further we went the colder it got. The air causing goose bumps to appear all over my skin. No natural light made its way in here. It was disorientating. The same level of light all hours, the same noises. It was impossible to tell the time,
I awoke to a man standing at the foot of my bed. I jumped out of my skin and let out a small scream. The man looked down at me, showing no ounce of emotion. He pointed at my clothes, which had been set out. He continued to stare at me blankly. He was giving me the creeps. He was the same man who had escorted me back to my room after I had been found outside. I hadn’t been told I couldn’t leave this building. I had made an effort to avoid the red areas. So, I wasn’t sure what his problem was. Maybe he just didn’t talk? He stood at the corner of my bed still. I picked up the clothes sitting neatly on the table in the left corner of the room. With that gesture he turned and left. Not a word was muttered or any indication of what I was to do next. Odd, like real odd.I got dressed and ready for the day. Since I think that was what I had been instructed to do. Yesterday I thought I was getting a better gauge on what was going on. Well that was until I saw the town. Where was this place? W
The girl sat across from me. Charles had left her and I in a secluded room. I didn’t know what I was meant to do with her. If I was honest, I was a little scared of her. Shadows didn’t sound like safe friends. But I still couldn’t help but feel bad for her. She looked just as scared as me.“How did Charles find you?” I ask. Hoping to get a gauge of the situation.“Find me? I don’t know what you mean by that. I am his daughter”What! How could that be? Could gifted kids even become shadows? “Were you born this way?”“No, he made me this way. Through his experiments. But it turns out the unstable magic didn’t make me strong. It’s just killing me. He doesn’t know why my body rejected the magic. I guess that is where you come in”“How could he do such a thing to his own daughter” I say out loud, mainly to myself.“It sounds bad I know. But he is a good dad to me. He never meant for this to happen. He only wanted to make me strong. So the city couldn’t hurt me, like they hurt him when he w
I borrowed a jacked from someone to blend into the crowd. I had no clue why everyone was gathering around this stage looking thing. It was like 9pm. A weird time for everyone to be out. Was it like a party of some kind? Come on that’s crazy talk, surely not. I mean did anything surprise me at this point. No one took any notice of me. To them I was just another faceless person walking among the growing crowd. It was pretty easy to blend in; everything was so dimly lit. Bamboo torches were the only forms of light. I guess they never bothered to get power this far into the forest. Everyone had matching jackets. It felt like I was walking through a cult ground. Omg it’s like a cult thing isn’t it? That would make so much sense. Good god are they going to be worshiping him or something.Everyone had to be here, there was so many people. Maybe they had to be? The stage came to life, as Charles entered.“Hello, my people” He announced over a microphone. “It’s another good night to be alive.
Justen POVThe village was quiet, you could hear the wind whistling through the trees and houses. I sat, looking out towards the forest. My eyes felt heavy and I had a consistent headache. I hadn’t slept at all last night. I had spent weeks scouring every book I could find. I still hadn’t been able to find anything about finalising the bond. I was beginning to feel a little helpless, which was a new feeling for me. Vivian was on my case like you wouldn’t believe. Which was no help to anyone. She was stressing me out. I hadn’t been able to feel anything from liberty since she was taken. I wasn’t sure if she was, drugged, dead or too far away. That knowledge sent Vivian into a fit. I hadn’t seen her in such a state before.“Have you found anything? Anything at all?”“No, I looked all of last night. I can’t find anything”“We need to find the answers to the bond. We are running out of time to find them and save her”“Can’t we just save her and find this all out later?”“No” Vivian yells.
I could feel the peace around me beginning to shift. I didn’t want it to change. It was nice here. A dim glow appeared, highlighting a door floating in the distance.“That’s the way back home” A mysterious voice said.“Do I have to go?” I ask the voice.“No, but if you stay you won’t be able to return there”“Can I think about it?”“Of course,”Did I want to go back? As I floated peacefully in the abyss, I realised I must be in some state close to death. Right now, death felt like a peaceful end. I didn’t feel pain or suffering. The thought of letting everything go felt nice in its own kind of way. Nothing would matter anymore, the hurt, the fear, the expectations. Wouldn’t it be peaceful to just not exist anymore? But on the other hand, what would happen if I did? Would Charles win? Would the bond disappearing have consequences? I think truthfully a part of me really wanted the peace that death could offer me. I was tired and death was the easiest answer. At least for me. But was it