Delirium is Lauren Oliver's book. This is just my way of guessing what comes next..
I in no way own the rights to almost anything in this story. I was just so mad when I finished Delirium that I had to write a sequel to keep myself from freaking out. All the credit goes to Lauren Oliver. Love your books!
P.S. If you haven't read the real, true, maddening, and amazing Delirium yet (by Lauren Oliver), I don't suggest reading this yet.
This was written for my own amusement and the amusement of others while waiting for Pandemonium and Requiem. If anything happens to be the same as in what is supposed to be in any of the sequels, it is because I can read to much and can guess plots. It is of my own imagination what will happen next.
Please don't sue me. Just ask me to delete the story if you don't want it.
By the way, *Spoiler alert* starts from here on out.
Enjoy.
ChapterOne
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep-while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
—"Dream within a Dream" a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, banned, listed in the Comprehensive Compilation of Dangerous Words and Ideas, , .
It's just like any other day this summer—sunny, overly hot, sticky—but it's nice to be outside, just like always. The sun's glare on the buildings is blinding as I look up into the sky. No clouds today, just heat. It comes in waves, like baking in an oven, and when you don't have an air-conditioner, there is no escape, even under the trees in our garden at 37 Brooks. The house is even worse, the air stale and motionless. Besides, it is always better to be outside, just like how I grew up.
"Alex!" I hear Lena shout and her footsteps thumping softly in the grass. My Lena. And as I turn around to catch her in my arms, tell her I love her, everything changes.
Lena is across the fence, nearly in the wilds. She's watching me, breaking her promise to not look back. I can see in her eyes that she understands I am not following her. That she understands and hates me for it, but loves with all her soul.
"Run!" I yell to her, and she does. She turns on her heel and runs full speed into the Wilds, my last glimpse of her hair vanishing quickly. She'll survive, I know, but I may not. Then the pain hits me, all over my body just before I explode.
That's when I wake up to hell. There is so little light and no windows—no sky. No freedom. Thankfully, I lost my sense of smell weeks ago—or has it just been days, or years even? There is no time here. No escape. No life.
But no death either. There is no death for me, no end. No matter what they do, you still do not die—they make sure of it. And yet you do not live, in this in-between hell in the Crypt. Level 6. Where they keep the political prisoners, the sympathizers, and the rarely captured (I hate this word) Invalids. The same place my father was for fourteen years. The place where he died.
There is pain here, though. Terrible pain all over that never stops. The blood pooling around me comes and goes. I nearly never move, I can't move even if I wanted to. Too much pain for the effort and not enough energy or motivation.
Worst of all, I have to live with my memories. Memories of the night I was captured. Being terrified for Lena after getting that note in the Governor. Then seeing her in her window and the ruckus that rose from inside. My heart jumping into my throat when she actually jumped out of her two-story window and the pure joy of having her squeezed against me on the back of that motorcycle even while being truly terrified for our lives. We couldn't get captured. And the dread that slid into me when I realized the fence was electrified. My determination to keep her alive, even if I die. My regrets that I didn't kiss her more, tell her I loved her every second I was around her.
Best of all, I have my memories to live with. The memories of her sweet kisses are the only things that dull the pain, let me come close to living. That day between the dumpsters when she told me she loved me, the morning before everything went wrong. The night in the Wilds, curled into each other under the stars, finally home. But it all makes me miss her. Magdalena. My Magdalena, who I love more than breathing, more than the Wilds, more than my own freedom.
Always, we have the Infection.
Chapter Two
You can't be really happy unless you're unhappy sometimes.
—Said by Hanna in recent past in a different life
Alex told me to run. He never told me what direction to run, where to run, or what to run to. I'm turning back, now. To see for myself.
It has been three weeks since Alex saved me and sacrificed himself. That night, I ran blindly until I fell from exhaustion. I was completely lost in the Wilds. I was terrified. A part of me wanted to die with Alex, but I have to save the other people I love. It took me days of wandering, but eventually I wandered into a field, with a road cutting through it. I wandered it until I found the preserved house. I found the path we traveled that night to the settlement. It was dark. I moved into Alex's home. My home.
The next morning, I met the people Alex had told me so many stories about. They were nice and accepted me, but were really concerned about my story and how I got there. They were concerned about Alex. No one knew anything of my mother.
I want to help those I love. I have to help them. Hanna has probably already had her procedure, but maybe I can bring her back, reverse the affects. Maybe it didn't work right on her, like with my mother. Hanna has always been strong-willed. I have to go back for Grace, though. I can't let her grow up in a bed of lies like I did. It is so free here. Maybe it would help her. Let her finally speak her mind.
As much as I want to save them, the thought of going back into Portland, passing back over the boarder, sickens me. After what happened to Alex, I never want to go back. The thought of crossing the boarders, saving the ones I love, and leaving the rest to the government is just as sickening. Everyone should know the truth about the cure and have a choice about having it or not. Have a choice in pairings. Have a choice to fall in love. There's that word again: choice. Funny how it keeps popping up. Hanna was so right about some things.
The rest of the people in the settlement agree with me. How can we just leave all those people to suffer? We have to do something. We have to take down Portland. So we're planning it. It's slow going, though. The good news is that they were already planning this, before me, but what I've been telling them has helped. It will be a few more weeks before we can take them down, but it's something.
"Lena! You're going to want to hear this!" Aunt Jenny shouts to me. I wonder what it's about. So I run over to her. James is there. He lives in the city, like Alex did, and brings us messages and news. He helps us pull tricks like they did on my Evaluation day, with the cows. It was Alex then, but James brings us a lot of rumors. Important ones.
"Hi, James," I smile, wondering what rumor I want to hear.
"Hey, Lena. There's a rumor going around…well…it's just that…I'm sorry, Lena. Alex is in the Crypt."
"Okay," I answer. Then what he actually said hits me. Alex. He is alive. A smile grows on my face, but almost immediately dissipates. And in the Crypts. Oh, no. "I…I…you're certain?" Please let this just be a rumor, nothing concrete. Don't let this be a certainty.
"Yeah. Frank has been bragging about it."
"I…Then I'm going to…to…"
"No! It's a most likely a trap. I won't allow you to go!" Aunt Jenny gives me a stern look. She is most like my mother here in the Wilds. She's a little overprotective of me.
James sides with her. "If Frank was bragging about it, the government wants us to know. It is a trap for you. We're not just going to let you fall into it."
"Could Frank be lying, maybe?" Oh, God, let him be lying. Let Alex not be in that hell hole. I love him. I'll have to go to him if he really is there.
"I'm sorry, Lena. He's there."
"But how do you know?"
"We sent someone in to check. Pulled off a similar farce to the one you and Alex pulled. He's there."
That's when an awful, wordless sound rips through the air, pure pain. Then I realize its coming from me. "No! Alex…" So I cry.
I love him. Alex. He's mine. I can't leave him. I thought he was dead, but he's not. He's somewhere worse than death. Hell on Earth. So I will save him. I'll sneak back into the city, into the Crypts. Even if it is suicide. I must. I can't live without him if he's still alive. I won't live without him. I'll slip away tonight.
"Stop thinking about running back to him, Lena," Aunt Jenny scolds me. "It won't do you any good. You'll just be killed, ruining his sacrifice." She pauses for a minute, thinking, then turns and shouts to one of the men planning our ruining of Portland's society. "Peter!" she shouts to her husband, our unofficial leader.
He comes over with a grin on his face, but it fades when he sees all our serious countenances. "What's wrong?"
"Alex is in the alive," Aunt Jenny answers. "And in the crypts. How soon could we pull this off?"
He pauses and considers me. He seriously thinks about his answer, knowing I'm hanging onto it like a life line. "Four weeks. If we try any sooner, our chances of succeeding are miniscule. We just need more time. I'm sorry, Lena. We can't do it any sooner." I just nod distractedly. Four weeks…Imagine what could happen to him in four weeks…
"Now, Lena, stop thinking about planning your own rescue mission! It's not going to happen," scolds Aunt Jenny.
"But Alex could be dead in four weeks! I can't wait! I have to do something. I have to try!"
"Lena," Peter says softly. "We need you here. If you go, it will take us even longer. You'll set off alarms and they'll be ready for us. We would have to wait until everything cooled down, then set everything up again. It would be at least another year, minimum."
All I can do is stare at him for a few seconds. He actually makes sense, which irks me. Now I really can't go if I want to have an actual chance of saving Alex.
I nod. "Four weeks then."