Present the Past
Okay you guys, this is my first Everworld fic. Just thought I'd warn ya!
The story takes place after #11. I know, I see a lot of those, but hey… Anyways, here's the story:
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Hard can't even begin to describe life after Everworld.
Not that Everworld was something we loved. Far from, actually. Far from.
I sighed as I heard my parents sobbing in the background. I wonder what they would think if they knew that I was the one who murdered her. My eyes wandered towards a newspaper clipping I had placed on the floor in front of me, its headline reading Local Girl's Body Found in Lake. It was dated over a week ago, yet headlines were still in the paper about the mysterious occurrence. Funny, how that even with Senna dead she still remained the center of attention.
My mind then focused on the final days in Everworld, as it so often had. Senna lay dead at my feet. It didn't even register that I had actually killed my sister- half sister- before the gateway opened. I was a blur- I thought that Senna, the gateway, had died- I thought that we were stuck in Everworld- I thought I should've been dead by now. Then my head suddenly cleared and one phrase stuck with me- Welcome to Everworld. A glowing white light surrounded us, and the next thing I knew… I was home, watching Survivor with my parents.
CNN News Update! I ran out of the room, images of killing the witch overtaking me. A mixture of vicious glee and raging disgust made me fall to my knees. I could hear my mom's worried voice mingled in with my dad's, cries of "April, what's going on?" or "April, are you okay?" from the living room.
I did my best to reply "I'm fine," before running up the stairs into my room. The memories that night were so violent, so, so… powerful- my whole Everworld experience flashed before my eyes. I felt like a junkie who was having a flashback because I'd overloaded on the acid. After the news update had finished, I gave in to the darkness that had been tugging at the back of my head. I passed out.
My mom opening the door to my room interrupted my thoughts. "Honey, get ready for the funeral," she said. I looked at her. Her eyes were red, and I could tell that she had been crying.
Why would she cry over Senna? I wondered. It's not as if she was even my mom's own child. But I just nodded in response, and my mom closed the door.
After Senna's death, there were no more trips to Everworld. We had finally made it home. But home wasn't the same home that I always knew. It had drastically changed since Senna- since Everworld.
I realized that Christopher, David, and Jalil went through the same flashbacks as I had- Huitzilopoctli, Loki, Hel, Galahad… everything. And as if that wasn't enough, the haunting images returned every night in our dreams. Actually, nightmares is more like it.
A few days later, Senna's dead body was found in the lake where the whole Everworld journey began.
That's when we realized that our lives would be seriously screwed up from then on.
"April! Are you ready yet?" my dad's voice pierced through my thoughts and brought me back to reality.
"Give me one more minute, dad," I said.
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I met up with David, Jalil, and Christopher outside of the church where the funeral was being held. A lot of people from school were there, all of them who'd maybe talked to Senna once or twice, or not at all, but had oozed with fake sincerity when they heard of her disappearance, and later on, her death. To all the kids from school who were here, this was just an excuse to have a day off. I was surprised that this many people had showed up, really.
"Does anyone else wonder how Senna's body got into the real world?" Christopher asked.
"Shut up, Christopher, this isn't the time for that," David said, staring Christopher down. Christopher backed off.
We stood in silence for a while longer before we all entered the church. My mom and dad were barricaded with neighbours, friends and family who were offering their consolation, so I took a seat next to Jalil and Christopher in one of the pews. The ceremony was about to begin, as one of the priests stood in front of the closed coffin.
Everything he said I seemed to block out- I couldn't focus on anything going around me. It was as if God were looking down on me, knowing that I was the one who murdered Senna. Knowing that I was condemned for the rest of my life. Knowing that He had my attention. Knowing I shouldn't be here, yet I was.
A startling roar caught my attention, as well as everyone else's. Fear began to build in the pit of my stomach as crumbs of plaster sprinkled on the tops of everyone's heads, and everyone looked up to see an enormous Loki peeling the roof off of the church.
We then knew that we weren't the only ones who had come back to the real world through the gateway.
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I'll try to have a sequel up soon if I get a couple reviews! Remember, this is my first EW fic so don't flame me!