Think
By: Jennifer Jussel
Chapter 1
"Stranger in the Woods"
Wild, that's what she was. He watched in agony, knowing he could never have her. Her fiery hair fanned out behind her as she sprinted down the colorfully marked track, coming in first, as always, as the other competitors still were taking their first step across the starting line. Her almost as gorgeous Amazonian friends waited at the finish line, all complimenting her in their sing-song voices, and the boy was enraptured by her enchanting, sparkling laugh. She was almost too good to be true, a Goddess. But since when had anything God-like helped anybody on Mars? Nothing good ever happened on Mars, and nothing ever would.
She was so free, so hard to tie down and excruciatingly hard to approach. And the boy had no talents, no powers, no speed, and no looks. He thought he was nothing. His only power was more of a curse. He could never speak. Not to anybody. His parents had always told him it was a gift, his silence. But he could never believe them, and he never would. Because the utter and forever silence that now filled them and had overtaken their now lifeless eyes didn't seem like such a gift. And now, he might as well be one of them, forgotten, left alone in the dark of silence. No, nobody ever payed attention to the dead, and nobody ever payed attention to that poor boy, Stranger. Yes, that was his name. And it reflected what he was. Nobody even stole a glance at him. Nobody knew who he was. He was a stranger to everyone.
He vaguely remembered the last time somebody did try to talk to him, during his first year on Mars . He'd tried to write them a response to their question, to write down his name, but the paper had gone up in flames, and the boy he'd been trying to talk to, a possible friend, had never approached him again. Now he was a freshman at Metanowatculivitzmerowgoringcroustivitch High. Yes, really. At any rate, nobody had ever tried to communicate with Stranger since then.
Living in his world of silence, it was often times like these that he would wish with all of his heart that he could tell this girl, Fiera, how he felt about her. But, her mutation, or power that she had was speed. Everybody knew it. Stranger couldn't even recall his surgery that he'd gotten before his great move to Mars. All he knew was that it was supposed to help him survive on Mars, but in turn had stranded him in utter silence forever.
Stranger tensed when he realized that Fiera was watching him stare, but before he could look away in embarrassment, their eyes met. Stranger realized that she wasn't recoiling away from him, scared, but leaning towards him, her head poking around her friends and peeking past their impossibly high up shoulders, looking, almost interested, and curious about him. She offered him a small portion of a smile, and Stranger tried to pull the corners of his lips up, but he felt like he was melting under the radiant glow of the girl. Or at least, his heart was.
"Does she know?" He thought to himself. All of sudden, her emerald eyes grew even more curious, and her head cocked to the side, her hair cascading over her shoulder, her perfect, curving, (even in a wrinkled navy blue high-school gym uniform) body leaning towards him. And, out of the blue, Stranger heard the faintest, most gorgeous, tinkling voice in the back of his head.
"Know what?"
Stranger whipped his suddenly aching head around, his eyes scanning his surroundings. Was there a mind reader somewhere around him? Somebody with telekinesis? He looked around excitedly. He'd never met somebody with those powers. Silence had it's advantages. He knew everything about everybody around here, whether they knew he existed or not. There was really nobody around him, other than a girl and a boy making little hearts out of fire and ice while sitting one the dust-encrusted brick wall behind them. Another burly, deeply set boy with super strength sauntered past them and coolly and quickly smashed the heart to pieces. Stranger watched as the ice shattered and broke into even smaller pieces as it hit the ground below.
Chapter 2
"Angel"
Stranger tried to ignore all of the seniors that pushed him around and ruffled his hair and taunted him as he opened his locker. It slammed shut again with a loud bang, rattling on it's hinges. "Great. A telepath." He thought angrily. He just didn't have time for them today. He was running late to science, his last class of the day, and Fiera was in it. He shot them a glare that could kill, it was one power per person, could it really be that bad? He could probably run if he needed to. But they almost never backed down.
"Oh hoh." One of the boys chuckled, taking off his blue and orange football team letterman jacket. (An extremely unfair game on Mars, football was) Stranger couldn't help but notice his muscles, he knew that there was no way a tall, lanky thin freshman could hold off a senior with a build like his.
"He's going to try to run, man. I'm seeing it." One of his friends warned the muscular senior with a distance look across his large, bulky face. His finger twitched quickly to the left, and just as it did, Stranger looked out of the corner of his eye and decided that left was the best way to escape.
"A fortune teller? How many different powers do they have?" He thought worriedly. Then again, one power each was still bad news when there were nearly twenty mutated football players in front of him.
Foretold or not, left was still his best chance at getting away from the gang. He lifted his foot to try to sprint, and before he could place it back on the floor, it flew up from under him, leaving him dangling in the air by it. Stranger hung there, upside down, and tried desperately to yell out, barely able to see with his long hair covering his face and his black rectangular glasses dangling dangerously on the tip of his nose. He thought for help with all he could, but he knew nobody could ever hear him. The team chuckled darkly, then the muscular captain gave a signal and Stranger was flung noiselessly through the air across the hallway, finally skidding to a stop as he hit the wall behind him roughly, head first. He looked up through his long, straight dark brown hair at the gang. They stood in a clump around him, laughing. "I hate telepaths." He thought in between blasts of pain, searing through his head. And, out of nowhere, there was the voice again, but it had an edge to it.
"Yeah, me too." And then a flurry of hair and red fire blew past him, flashing a dizzying aray of colors through the group of seniors, and not even the fortune teller could see the creature's movements to protect him self from its next move. Soon, the gang had altogether disappeared in a midst of surprised shouts, and now, Stranger's savior stood above him, hand extended towards him. Stranger took it, and warmth and comfort flowed through his entire body as he pulled himself up. And then he realized that his savior was more like an angel. It was Fiera. He felt himself become lost in her liquid-gold eyes, and he didn't let go of her hand.
"Are you ok?" Stranger felt his head rush at her musical voice, but he found the strength to let go and smile. It was a start. He opened his mouth to thank her, and then what reality there was on Mars struck once more, and he remembered. Realizing any hope of her talking to him again after this was gone. He decided not to build any hopes up, as they would only crash down. He simply turned and walked away. He could almost feel her worried eyes burning through his back, but he continued on to Science, knowing that she would probably never talk to him again. For the millionth time in his life, he wished he could rise from his silence.
"So that's why you walked away." The voice returned, a golden glow in his mind, but he convinced himself it was simply his imagination, sparked by lost hopes and dead fantasies that he would ever be able to talk to somebody.
"Can you tell me? Are you really ok?"
"Go away." If this was really his own voice, he could talk back to it. Besides, whatever it was seemed to be causing his head to ache persistently.
"I'm sorry." The voice sounded defeated and innocent, and truly apologetic. What happened when a boy living inside his own head went insane?
"I'm not crazy."
"No. I don't think you are. Are you?" Why was he asking himself questions?
"You're not. I'm the one asking questions." Walking into his science class, Stranger froze. There was Fiera, smiling and giving him a small wave. Of course she would get there before him, but her eyes glinted with something that made Stranger wonder, was he talking to… Fiera?
Chapter 3
"Scared Yet?"
"Well, I think you are." The voice returned, and he could hear the smile that he saw Fiera wearing. At that moment the most gorgeous, angelic sound that had ever emanated from any living creature rung through his head as she laughed softly in her thoughts. Stranger could have collapsed on the spot, enraptured.
"How are you….."
"I don't know. I'm not a mind reader, not a mind controller. All I've ever had was my speed. Don't you have anything?"
"Well, I can't talk. That's pretty much it. Great gift, huh?"
She paused, and Stranger worried he couldn't talk with her any longer. "Actually, yes. It is." Her voice was so sincere, Stranger's legs practically carried himself over to the seat next to her instead of that dusty seat in the back corner he always sat in. He slid into the seat, and for a moment, his hand brushed across hers. Her skin was so soft and perfect, her hands so….. while trying to figure out the perfect words describe something so…. so…….. his head erupted into blasts of voices, sounds, and colors and pain. He tried to hold in a scream that wouldn't have come out anyways. He jerked it back, and Fiera's eyes finally showed the fear he'd been looking for earlier. "What was that?" She was thinking the exact same thing he was.
"What were you thinking about just now, before I sat down?" He looked down at his hand. It shook uncontrollably, and he realized the very tips of his fingers were aching.
"The trip to Mars. That's all." He could tell there was more.
"What about just a second after that?" He was almost sure of what she was about to say.
"The operation." Her eyes filled with sorrow, and her voice nearly broke.
"I thought so. What did they do to you? That felt….. so painful."
"I hurt you? Wait, you saw what I was thinking? You felt it? How's that possible?"
Stranger thought slowly, trying to take it all in, fit the pieces together. "Well… I can hear your thoughts when we're apart, can't I? And you can hear mine? Maybe, when we touch…"
"It gets more vivid." She completed his thoughts.
"Did you feel anything?"
"Just fear… remorse. What were you thinking about?"
"It's just, the last time I tried to talk to somebody. I'll show you. Then… I want you to give up on this. You don't want to be inside my head. What if something happens to you?" Stranger, remembering the burning paper, realized what a terrible idea this might be.
"That's stupid. Of course I want to! Nothing's happening. I want to get to know you." He could hear the stubbornness in her voice, read it in her eyes, and it almost felt… urgent. But they had only just met, even if he had secretly loved her for years.
"Just let me show you." Under the desk, he pressed his palm to hers, trying to concentrate on that one time, trying not to hear her thoughts, trying not to feel her pain. But soon, his efforts weren't needed, as her feelings melted into his own, and they thought about it and watched together. He closed his eyes, and he could see her sitting next to him, watching it like a projection, together. Him smiling, his deep brown eyes shining at the blue ones belonging to the boy next to him, the notes, the fire, the look of terror on the boy's face… And then, in the middle of it all, he felt her mind resist, try to pull away, and he shut off the projection, and pulled his hand away. He opened his eyes, and studied her face. She was looking at him with a shocked expression, yet she still showed no fear.
"Scared yet? Still want to talk to me?" Stranger crossed his fingers under his desk, not sure what answer he was hoping for.
And then, still surprised, her lips trembled and moved, and she spoke. "Yes. Yes I do."
The entire class turned to look at her, swiveling around in their chairs, craning their heads, straining their ears.
The mechanical computer in front of her spoke in it's robotic voice, "Does not compute. No question asked."
The teacher that strutted around the class room paced haughtily over to her desk. "Ms. Flame, this is a typed assignment. You're supposed to find out why we only use solar panels, and type an essay. Haven't you been listening?"
Stranger thought to her, "Oh no, what are you going to say? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." As if those words had ever helped him. Not even when he was three and tried to write it out. In fact, those words had always worked against him. What if she was angry with him? He'd never had to talk to a teacher before. Was it a big deal?
Stranger's face turned a bright shade of red as she giggled in her thoughts to him. "Don't worry about it." She thought back. She was brushing it off easily. That was a good sign.
"Oh, sorry Mrs. Red, I was just trying to see if the speech sensors worked better on solar powered items than electrical items. You see, when I was younger, I found something that seemed to run on electrical battery, and it responds to voice activation commands. I was just comparing the two. I was just about to record the data." And that was all she said. But it was one of the best on the spot excuses Stranger had ever heard. And she pulled it off. Mrs. Red gave her a smile, complimented her on what an academic hard worker she was, and walked off.
In spite of it all, their conversation stopped.
Chapter 4
"Angel Grounded"
"I hate her name." Fiera thought randomly to Stranger as they sucked up their computers into their transport cubes, the blue light particles causing an eerie glow on her distant hazel eyes, and stuffed them in their jean pockets at the end of class.
"Why?"
"Because it's Red. That's a color, isn't it? My parents told me that Green used to be the popular last name, her last name. But nobody knows what green is anymore, so Mrs. Green became Mrs. Red. Can you imagine the color green? It bothers me to know that we will never see it. I hear it was all over Earth. Why can't we ever remember anything about it? Why were our memories so much harder to use before we came here?"
Fiera had asked countless questions, but Stranger knew she only wanted one answered.
Stranger somehow knew Fiera wouldn't like the answer, so he simply thought, "We were young then."
"Why else?" He turned to face her, and her eyes were practically digging into him.
"Well, I think they had to get to our head for the-"
"The surgery." Her voice became tainted with sadness, and she dropped her head, letting her long, ginger red hair frame her face and drape over her shoulders.
"Fiera, what did they do to you?" Stranger asked. He knew there was something she wasn't telling him.
"Nothing, I mean, just the same thing they did to everybody else. Made it so we could survive on Mars." She was still hiding something, he could tell.
"Everybody else said it was painless. I can't speak, but I'm not deaf. Why did it hurt when you were thinking about it?"
"Just leave it." Her voice grew cold and Stranger could read the pain in her eyes. He did as she said.
She looked up at him, eyes pleading. "Can we walk home together?"
Stranger wasn't really sure what to tell her. He didn't have a home. He lived in a small, cave-like crevice inside a boulder near the school. He had been ever since his parents died. He tried not to remember the orphanage house he'd been sent to first. He'd finally had to run away, as all of the orphans thought he was a show freak, sent only to be tortured.
"I-I guess so." He could leave her at her house and walk back to the school. They walked out the school's doors, and a gust of dust-filled wind hit their faces. The looked out on the plot of blood red, dusty land, speckled with students. Nobody was stopping to talk. Everybody was just trying to get back to their houses, back inside, back to safety. Stranger turned towards Fiera and realized that she was staring at him yet again. Her expression was so depressed, and before Stranger knew it, he'd opened his arms, and wrapped himself around her. She pressed herself into him, and he could feel her tears on his shoulder. He hugged her closer, and there was no end to the comfort he gave her. He could practically feel her heart warming, and he realized one of his dreams might actually be coming true. But then, he felt her getting warmer and warmer, until she was burning hot, and she was shrieking. She fell out of his arms and crumpled to the red cement steps below her. "Are you ok? What happened? What did I do to you?" And then, he remembered. He remembered what happened last time they'd touched. What had he been thinking about? How warm her heart was. He looked down at her frantically. She was clutching at her heart. He knew what he'd done to her.
Chapter 5
"Lips of an angel-tongue of a devil"
"I'm so sorry." He lay beside her in the dust, and tried to brush some of the red dust out of her already ginger red hair. She slapped his hand away, and he felt as if she'd slapped his heart. He knew such a quick romance with somebody he'd secretly loved for years was too good to be true. But there were more urgent tasks at hand. "Can I help you?"
A long, horrible screech burned through his thoughts, and his head ached. "Please calm down, I need to know. What can I do to help you?" He tried to think to her calmly, hoping it would rub off on her. "I'm so sorry."
She spoke to him, her voice cold with anger, high pitched from her pain. "Tell me you're sorry."
"I-I'm sorry?" He thought.
"No. Tell me." The burning look in her eyes was beginning to frighten him.
His heart dropped. "I can't." He stood, starting to walk off, realizing his hopes were going to crash down yet again. She would be fine if he left her, he thought. So suddenly Stranger barely knew what was happening, Fiera shot out her hand with lightning speed and gripped his ankle, yanking him back towards her and pulling him back down to her level.
"Say it." She hissed.
"I can't." He thought to her. "If I could, I would."
"You're just too shy. Why can't you talk to me? Just one word." She searched him with her eyes. Shy was an understatement, but he could never tell her that. Well, think it anyways.
"I can't. The surgery."
"I don't believe you. You said all the other kids said that it's painless. What about you? What did you think of it? "
"I just, well, I just don't remember it. But I know they did this to me. I'm not just shy. I can't talk. Ever."
"Fine. I still don't believe you though. I know you'll talk at some point in your life." She was being stubborn.
"Isn't it enough for you that I can talk to you like this? I said I was sorry."
"No you didn't." She retorted. "But it doesn't matter. I'm sorry." Her voice lightened. "I just-I was so angry, and then when we hugged I still saw nothing about the surgery. Just silence, and heat."
"That's because I don't remember it. You're never going to see it. I'm-"
She cut him off. "Don't say you're sorry." It was-
"Ego sum rumex." He cut her off.
"Uh, what?"
"It's I'm sorry, in Latin. You told me not to say I'm sorry, and I didn't, I said Ego sum rumex."
What was now Strangers favorite sound filled his mind yet again as she giggled at him. "Why again?"
"I don't know, I like Latin. It's romantic, and when you've got nobody to talk to, a little romance is always good.
"Well, the accusations- it was just a stupid impulse. We should get to walking home now." Stranger held out his hand to help her up, and then slowly began to draw it back. Fiera ignored it and stood up on her own, brushing herself off.
Chapter 6
"Star Dust"
They hadn't walked far before Stranger realized it was getting harder and harder to take each step. Something was fighting their feet, making it more complicated to trudge along in the dust roads. Fiera strode along, undaunted, but even she was beginning to slow her pace. Nobody was around, and Stranger began to wonder how long their little episode had gone on for. It seemed like everybody had already made it home. And then, Stranger, who had been staring at his feet, looked up. He saw what was making it so hard to walk.
A blinding light flashed across the horizon, and it looked like it was moving forwards, approaching the two. It blew up dust in its path and blasted gusts of winds towards them.
"A stray star." Stranger thought, trembling.
"A what?" Fiera yelled over the rising wind. "We're orbiting towards a star?"
"Fiera, just think. I can barely hear you. We've got to get out of here."
"Oh yeah?" She said, her voice almost completely drowned out by the wind. "Well I can never hear you."
Stranger couldn't help but glare at her, hurt. "Come on, we've got to get out of here."
Fiera fumed. "Why don't you tell me that?"
"NOW IS NOT THE TIME!!!!" Stranger was boiling over with anger. She'd been so understanding of his silence before, now she couldn't stand it. It'd only been a day? What happened?
"Fine, sorry, I don't know why-"
"COME ON!" Stranger didn't really know how you could scream in your thoughts, but he was pretty sure he was right then.
Before they knew it, the dust and wind was enveloping them in a sea of red grains. They could see almost nothing, and the dust nipped at their skin. Fiera coughed, and Stranger simply choked. Before he knew it, Fiera had her hand to his, and his pain and choking worsened, but only for a moment, as they were practically flying across the ground, moving at the speed of light. "Where do you live?" She thought to him. Wind and dust squeezed his lungs together, and for a moment Stranger was grateful he couldn't speak.
Stranger knew he couldn't lie to her, they had to get out of the storm, and his house was close by. "I'll think it to you." Stranger noticed Fiera shudder. "It's ok, trust me." He envisioned his cave-like home, and she sprinted in its direction as she studied his thoughts. And then, all of the wind stopped, the dust stopped scraping against them, the sound of Fiera's feet stomping through the dust was replaced with the sound of her feet pounding against stone and rock, and as Stranger opened his eyes, his vision became reality.
"This is your house?" Fiera thought to him, giving him a skeptical look as she tried desperately to comg out the dust that caked her hair.
Stranger sat down and put his head between his knees. He raised his eyebrows. "Would you rather be outside?"
"No! No. It's…cozy." She thought, absently sitting down next to Stranger and resting her head on his shoulder. He noticed she was careful to touch only his shirt. "So… Now what?" She looked up at him.
"We wait." He thought gruffly. "You're mood swings are making it kind of hard to think to you."
"Mood swings?" She lifted her head from his shoulder, cocking it to the side. Stranger took his head from his knees and turned on her in surprise.
"Yeah, mood swings. First off, your saving me from gangs of football players and telling me my silence is great, and now you can't stand it, and trying to argue with me out in the middle of storms."
"I'm just, so confused. You can talk to me with thoughts, but you can't say a word to me. You can't think to anybody else. It's making me feel like… like I'm not normal. Like there's something wrong with me."
"Something wrong with you? This is like, a second gift. For both of us. Like, we're the first people to have two gifts, like-" Stranger stopped talking. The look on her face was devastated. She placed her hand on his arm, and he could feel her inconsolable depression, and nothing other than it for a moment. A tear escaped from his eye and he quickly shook her off.
"People? Gifts? Stranger, we're mutants. We don't have gifts, we have curses. Silence is the best one I've heard yet. That's a gift. I like your silence, but not when it becomes a curse. Thinking to each other is a curse."
Stranger scooted away from her, feeling crushed. "You don't like this?"
"I like you. More then I think you even know. It's just… talking to you like this, it just feels like another fake thing added to us." Fiera's eyes burned into the stone ground. "We're supposed to be human. To fin what's special about us really, not with powers."
"Vicis est nunquam lost." Stranger thought to her. "Time is never lost." He pulled her back and she lay her head back on her shoulder. Her hair brushed his face and he felt a small glimpse of joy.
Stranger remembered how she felt about the surgery though, and he was determined to spread the joy throughout her mind. "Fiera, you have to tell me, what did they do to you?" He gently ran one finger through her hair, smoothing it and stroking it softly behind her ear. He put his finger under her chin and lifted it slowly, carefully placing his lips on her cheek, thinking all the while only of comfort and his feelings for her. She smiled, one small, little smile, and his heart jumped. Her sun kissed giggle at his reaction illuminated his otherwise dark mind.
Then, her smile disappeared. "They forced me to get the surgery. I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay on Earth."
"You wanted to die?" Stranger thought, wide eyed.
"No, I just knew only one person per family got to go, and I didn't want to have to live with the burden of life while the rest of my family was left to die. That's why it hurt. I was resisting." A silent tear ran down her cheek.
"One person?"
"Yeah, that's why you live here, right?"
"Fiera, I came here with my entire family. They died here in a dust storm."
"What? You came with them? My family- they could have lived? They didn't have to- they didn't have to die?" Stranger was scared to look at her face, but he did. He instantly regretted it.
"Maybe, maybe something came up. Maybe there was no room left, so they changed the rules. Your family couldn't die in vain." He tried to think as quickly as possible. Unexpectedly, Fiera threw her self into him, hugging him fiercely yet again; although this time she pressed her hands hard to his.
Chapter 7
"To Kill an Angel"
Stranger was immediately blinded, thrown roughly into another realm. He saw two men with brilliantly white hair, but somehow very dark, heavy set feartures, walking through a lab. Stranger could barely tell what it was, there was only plain white tile and shining metallic walls, but in the very middle of it all, there was a table, the same color and material as the walls. Next to it stood one steel table, with all types of surgical equipment on it, all with quite sharp, with grizzly blades. So, a lab.
Two men in extremely clean white lab coats to match their glistening hair strode into the room. There was no sound, but Stranger could tell they were speaking. The expression on their faces was solemn, and bleak. They picked up the lab equipment, wiping them down one by one.
Another man walked into the vision, dressed in lab attire as well, but his hair was much darker, a handsome brown, and his mood was much lighter, and he was laughing. For a moment the vision burst into sound, and Stranger heard the laugh. It was cold, hard, and it had a malevolent tone to it. It was almost haunting. Fiera must have wanted him to heart it. But where was she?
The vision faded back into silence as two more men walked in. Somehow, they didn't look quite as clean in their pearl-white lab coats and matching hair. Stranger soon realized with a sickening feeling in his stomach that their coats were covered in dark red stains, their hair hanging from all sides and they were dragging something along with them, slapping it harshly each time it struggled. It was so beaten up and bloody that the creature was almost unrecognizable. But Stranger understood. Fiera.
In her captor's other hand, they each carried a revolver. Stranger instantly knew what must have happened. And then the sound returned, and Stranger heard what the small, bedraggled girl was saying. "Where are they?" It's voice was so tiny, feeble, and defeated. "Where's Lynnie?" And now he did not know.
The laughing man strode over to her, still grinning devilishly. He lifted one hand and stroked her face, running it through her hair. "Oh, sweetheart." He clicked his tongue and chuckled. "Lynnie can't come. You know that." His hand, now blood-covered, grasped her hair, yanking it back so that she gasped and looked up at him, her face stained with more than just tears, her eyes black, and her forehead deeply cut. Stranger wanted to yell out to her, and he shook with anger. He had to get out. To attack that man. To get his filthy hands off of her. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare.
"We had a deal." She shook as she spoke, choking on her words.
"Oh, but deals are so easily broken, sweetheart."
"Don't call me that." She hissed, glaring at him.
"Don't be rude, feisty little girl." There was no end to the nauseating pleasure on his face. "You should be honored. I chose you over your sister. In fact-"
"I'd die for her." She choked miserably.
"I'd hope not." He taunted. "I think she's already done that for you."
"L-Lynnie?" The expression on her face was twisted with pain, anger, but mostly, pure depression. Worse than any she'd showed him before. Stranger's face felt very damp all of a sudden, and he realized he must have been crying at this.
"Well, yes, you didn't think I'd let her live, did you? No no, then you could break our new deal."
"She's dead?" Fiera lowered her head, trying not to show her silent tears.
"Why of course she's dead. She's nothing to us. There's nothing special about her. You, you're special." His every word seemed almost careful not to be anything short of a friendly evil. "Remember, you should be honored to-"
"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT! YOU MURDERERS! YOU KILLED HER! WE HAD A DEAL, ME FOR HER! AND YOU BROKE IT! YOU KILLED HER! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S-" Fiera broke into hysterics. "She's dead." She sobbed. "You killed her. You killed her." She struggled in the men's arms, trying to brake free of their grasp and do what Stranger wanted to do to the man as well.
The man, obviously the leader of the group, nodded at one of the men holding on to her, and he slapped her roughly across the face. She fell silent but continued to glare, her lip bleeding and a new scar added to her face.
"My dear, sweetheart, don't worry about her, she's one person. You'll meet tons more where you're going."
"I'm not going anywhere." She whispered, her eyes burning. "Send mom, send dad, but you're not killing them for me."
"Sweetheart, it's one person per family. You know that. Besides, we-" He gestured towards the men holding on to her and himself. "Have taken the liberty of saving them from a long, painful death. You should be thanking us. I bet you anything that their grateful right now, wherever they are."
"You'd bet your life on that?" She threatened.
"Alright, fair enough sweetheart." His lips almost brushed hers as he sneered smugly. "Now, let's end the betting. No more deals, no more games. Let's get started. You're going to be great sweetheart. I know it." The vision began to fade slowly back into silence for the last time as the guards on either side of Fiera began to drag her by the arms, against her struggles, towards the table in the middle. They picked her up off the floor, and one of the last things Stranger witnessed was the look of pure agony on Fiera's face as she tried to scream out, and the look of utter satisfaction on the leader's. The surgeons picked up their tools.
Chapter 8
"Follow Your Angel"
Stranger looked around him, back in his cave. He lay his head on the cool stone floor and took in deep breathes, but they split, and he realized that he was sobbing uncontrollably. He didn't have to look at Fiera to know that she was doing the same. His hands found the floor and he lowered his entire body down, and lay there, tears streaming down his face. Fiera lay across the cave, on the other side in a flash, facing the opposite wall, her back shaking with her every breath. Fiera didn't speak a word, and neither one thought a thing. They simply lay, sprawled across the cave floor, listening to the steady dripping of water inside the cave and the whoosh of the storm outside. And this is how they stayed, in silence, not even thinking a word to eachother, until there was no longer a storm to listen to.
Stranger finally opened his eyes, stood, steadied himself, and walked awkwardly to the mouth of the cave to check on the storm, and see what had happened in the storm. He stepped outside into blinding sunlight, so bright he wasn't sure where he was going, but his feet kept moving, so he let them go. He walked, squinting in the light, to the school, and sat down against a wall there. Almost immediately, Fiera was beside him. He stared at her, not sure what to think, but not able to look away.
"Now do you understand? That's why I need you so badly." Fiera asked.
Stranger nodded. It was all he could do.
"I'm sorry you had to see that."
Stranger looked at her, amazed. "I'm sorry you had to live it." And he'd wished he could remember his surgery. He'd pass on that. Fiera lay her head back on the wall with a clunk. A loud rumbling came from behind them, and the wall began to vibrate and quake. Fiera grabbed Stranger's arm, and they leapt off of the wall, turned around, and watched it crumble. The resounding noise echoed off of what seemed like the very edges of the planet.
"What just happened?" Fiera stared wide-eyed at the remains of the wall. But Stranger was looking at something much more remarkable. He was looking at the entire inside of the school. That portion of the wall was the last one standing. The entire school seemed to have met it's fate. It was all crumbles of rubble, bits and pieces off woods and wires and stone. There was absolutely nothing left standing.
"The star. It must have scraped the school." Stranger smiled rather widely, more than a little ok with this, but quickly wiped it from his face after seeing the look on Fiera's face, who had not doubt noticed his thoughts.
"How is that possible? How could anything move that fast out here? Why didn't we notice that before?" Soon, she realized she hadn't needed to ask. Of course, because they couldn't see through the brightness of-the sun and the dust? Or maybe, "What if that was a shooting star? Like a big one. Maybe a meteor? They glow, right, catch fire?"
They turned to face each other, Fiera grabbed him by the wrist, thinking only of excitement and speed, and they were off, soaring again, in a way. Stranger tried to hold his eyes open, against the wind caused only by sheer speed, but as they sprinted, it seemed only to get brighter and brighter, until they reached a large, shining boulder.
"You suppose this is it?" Fiera asked, letting her fingers unlock from around his wrist and slide off.
"Constituto" Stranger walked around it, shielding his eyes as he inspected it. It was the smoothest kind of rock he'd ever seen with the strangest sort of glowing slime covering it, looking almost airbrushed on.
"Did you think something?" Fiera turned towards him.
Stranger nodded slowly. "Yeah, it means, 'Positive'. "
"No, you thought something else to me." She stared him down, lifting one perfect eyebrow.
"No, I didn't. Really." And Fiera could read that he wasn't lying.
"Then who's whispering to me?" Fiera spun her head around, twisting in circles.
"Nobody. Fiera, we're alone." He stepped closer to her, worried.
"We're not." She continued to look quite alone. "At least, I don't think we are." She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's just me thinking."
"Well, you are inside your own mind. That's not all that hard to do." Stranger teased.
"Oh shut up." Fiera, who was studying the meteor with great interest, glanced back at him and thought, "Well, you know what I mean."
"Yeah. I don't think there's much to this rock. It was just a freak accident." Stranger concluded.
"Sure, but then why's it still glowing?" Fiera questioned. "And the exo-slime?"
"Maybe it's just still hot. How are we supposed to know? How about you just go find somebody to talk to about this who will actually know what to do? I'll wait here."
"No, wait a second." Fiera held up one finger, studying the rock intensively. "Uh, why don't you go tell them? I need to see this."
Stranger raised his eyebrows at her.
"Oh, oh! Stupid question, sorry. Just, just give me a second. I'm sure it's making noise."
"I don't hear anything." Stranger countered. "You're just thinking. That's normal." He thought sarcastically.
"Well I do!" She exclaimed. "Somebody's talking to me! Their whispering!"
"Ok, I'll play along." Stranger almost sighed. Almost. If he could have. "What are they saying?"
"Just…listen." She cocked her head to the side.
"I told you I don't hear anything!"
"No, they're saying to listen." She fell silent. "They want me to come closer." Her eyes scanned every portion of the rock with an almost blank expression.
"Uh, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like the best idea." Stranger had had enough experience from things like this. Punishments for those who broke the bounds of Stranger's mutation.
Fiera inched forward, hand outstretched. She was almost immediately immersed by the white light glowing off of the stone.
"Fiera? Fiera don't touch it. You have no idea what it might do. What if it burns you? What if it has a curse on it? Seriously, Fiera?"
She stumbled three steps forward.
"Fiera. Fiera?" Stranger was getting really concerned.
Her hand outstretched, she brought the very tip of her index finger out towards it.
Stranger looked instinctively behind him, and he noticed a crowd forming. None of them said anything, in fact, it looked as if most of them were secretly willing her to touch it.
"Fiera, don't touch it, seriously. I'm not kidding."
And then, the very tip of her finger tapped the stone, and she was blasted backwards. The stone became a dull gray, it's light put out by her touch.
"Fiera!" Stranger thought. Silence. His heart sank deeper and deeper as he ran towards her. His entire body went numb as he realized that she wasn't moving. He pressed him palms to hers, placed them on her cheeks. Nothing. He saw nothing, felt nothing. No feelings, only his own devastation and denial. He slowly lowered his head, and gently touched his lips to hers. Nothing. He practically threw himself onto her, trying to feel anything, a heart beat, a pulse, a breath. And then he felt it. The smallest, quickest, nimblest beating of her heart, and the tiniest breath. He lifted his head, smiling in relief. "Fiera." He thought.
Her eyes flew open, and she gasped for air. "Stranger?" They embraced, and Stranger heard what may have been the worst noise he'd ever heard. There was terrible shrieking and pain, pulsing through his entire body, all of his veins. He pushed away from her quickly, watching her in disbelief as he realized that she was not only screaming in her mind, but on the outside. He was grief-stricken.
"Fiera? Fiera, are you all right?"
Fiera's hands flew to her ears, and she covered them, shaking her head vigorously. "Ah, Stranger, stop." She gritted her teeth, her eyes burning and her hair seemingly catching fire, mixing with the flames into a wild swirl.
"Fiera? Stop? What do you mean?" Stranger was horribly confused, but some how, this was seeming to be his fault, and he had to stop it.
"Don't, Stranger, Don't THINK!" She screeched in agonizing pain, and Stranger knew what was happening. He had always thought this was too good to be true. But he couldn't simply walk away. He had to get her out of this. They'd never be able to think to each other again after this, but this wasn't about him. It was about Fiera. He paced over to the meteor, desperate to find some answer of some sort as to what he might do. There were no answers. It was only a stone, sent to stop him from breaking the binds of his curse.
"Stranger, you're still thinking to me! Stop!"
"What, I'm not! I'm-"Stranger stopped short, interrupted by her screams of pain. What could he possibly do to stop thinking completely? Then Stranger knew what had to be done. He opened his mouth, and began to try to choke out a word. He had always suspected that if he broke his own curse-like mutation, it might punish him and him alone. He felt his lungs clench together, but he continued to force up his voice. He choked and spluttered, but he had to get it out. His throat burned persistently when the clenched feeling reached it, and it began to climb up and out of him, until he spit out the words, "Meus Angelus, Fiera." My angel, Fiera.
His knees buckled as he heard the gasps of amazement coming from the crowd around him, and he heard, with a weight lifting from his heart, Fiera's breathing become even. And then, they were all rushing towards him, the crowd moved in, Fiera was holding on to him, but he could feel no emotions, nor think a thing to her. His heart seemed to be lifting away with the weight, becoming lighter and lighter until it felt like almost nothing. He saw his angel, crying above him, heard her musical voice one last time, "Don't leave me. I love you." But he could only smile at her beauty. And then, it all faded to black, and his faint, golden glowing angel returned, she gave him one, sweet, sweet smile, and then began to float away towards the Heavens, giggling her musical laugh. He had to follow. Had to follow… Had to… Follow… Follow His…. Angel.