Hello there everyone. This lovely thing called writers block hit me pretty hard the last few months and I am so sorry to have kept you al waiting so long. Without further ado here is the next chapter...
"Your sister is officially a freaking zombie."
Wow thanks Nat, way to break the news Dan thought sarcastically, after he had recovered from the shock of finding out his sister wasn't dead- even though she still technically is… Ugh way too much thinking for a Saturday. Alive alive alive.
He played out the facts in his head, Heart doesn't beat, super strong, anger management issues… fantastic. Not only was she now part of the undead but was now officially more crazy than before.
It was hard to wrap his head around it, that his sister was back, but wouldn't even visit. It was selfish, and cruel and holy … he was about to cry. Dan swallowed the lump in his throat and turned away so his cousins couldn't see him.
Too many emotions raged in him at once, fear, confusion, anger, elation, grief. She's alive alive alive. So many and for once he was incapable of sorting them out. He wondered how girls dealt with it day after day.
An endless vortex of feelings, spiralling down into the depths of his consciousness- He cut his thoughts off there. it was bad enough he couldn't keep his emotions in check, the last thing he needed was to let them dominate freely. He sighed loudly, "So…what now? Do we just sit around and wait for her to come past?"
Natalie held her hands in front of her in a placating position, "What other choice do we have? We can't go back and find her, her companion nearly killed us once, we can't risk that happening again.
Besides, we should focus all our energy now into finding Ian, it's been way too long, he should be back by now, especially now that we know what we're up against. Ian could be dead of all we know! Or about to be, I won't turn my back on another family member."
"We didn't turn our back on Amy! She tore herself from us! Instead of approaching us like anyone else would, she's too damn selfish to see that we can help." Alive alive alive.
Natalie relented, "Even so, Ian's my brother, he would have at least contacted us by now, something isn't right."
"Fine! We'll go play the hero and try to rescue the one person who has never needed saving his is whole damn life while my sister is out there- out… there … … out …" Out there alive.
Living as well as she could. without him. ALIVE ALIVE ALIVE. A single tear trickled down his cheek before he turned his face away from Natalie.
He tried so hard not to cry, had made it his focus every second of every day. It was a new obsession, a diversion if nothing else.
Yet now he stood before the girl who had succeeded where he hadn't, his head limp in his hands. Soft fingers cupped his cheek, a thumb brushing away a tear. Her feather-light touch sent shivers down his spine.
Natalie looked at him through her lashes, dark eyes glistening with unspoken words. He leaned into her hand, his tears now spilling into her palm.
Neither of them said anything, clinging to a fragile bond that had pulled them together. A sob rattled in his chest as fell into her, letting his illusion of pride wash away, down his cheeks.
Time didn't matter here, in this space, where he was in comfortable within the hollow valleys of agony carved into his heart. Pain was numbed, his mind full with emptiness. Natalie was crying too, not that she was any weaker for it, no.
The both of them were stronger as they cast their hopelessness into the air, into that moment in time. The steady rhythm of their hearts aligned, breathing matched. Hours later they surfaced, stretching out the muscles in their faces.
A sad smile passed between them, they both knew words could only ruin what they had just forged together, a new strength. Another minute of silence passed. Dan coughed awkwardly unable to stand it any longer, "Want to have some skittles?" And Natalie laughed, for the first time since Amy died she laughed.
Let it vibrate in her chest and rise up and out of her throat. Dan grinned too, before the both of them were laughing hysterically, chests tightening from the effort. After it had died down Natalie spoke up. "Ian, then Amy. At least we know she is ok." Dan nodded in agreement.
He could focus on Amy later, now Ian was their priority. Despite everything around them, they smiled again. Hope shining through splits in the darkness.
Amy watched as Luke warily studied the defiance in her features. "What exactly do you want to know?"
"What did he mean about my father's heritage." Suddenly nervous she rocked back on her heels.
Luke paused, bracing himself for an explosion, "Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."
"I'm not."
He nodded "You truly wish to know?"
"Yes, I need to know what my Dad had to do with any of this."
He sighed deeply, "Follow me."
Amy blinked and went after him, "Luke! Wait!." A homeless man looked up in surprise from a passing alley, unable to figure out from where such an enchanting voice came from. Amy ignored him, sprinting harder and faster in an effort to catch up to him. Following his scent, she eventually overtook him, tackling him to the ground.
She sat deftly on his chest, pinning him down, "Tell me." She growled.
Luke shrugged noncommittally "What was it you wanted me to tell you?"
"Don't play games Luke, you know exactly what I want. What of my fathers heritage?"
"What exactly do you want to know?"
Amy snarled, orbs burning.
Luke dismissed her silent threat, "His mother ingested a small quantity of the serum by accident, lovely woman, it truly was a shame when she died. Then by extension the serum was passed down to you. Some other fiends predicted it would interfere with the changing, the end." Amy fell back dazed and Luke took the opportunity to sit up.
"Why did you have to take me all the way out here?"
"Can't one enjoy themselves from time to time?"
"So that's what you think of all this, it's only a game to you?"
"Quite the contrary, it is because I take it so seriously that I find the need to be amused."
Amy scowled again. "What are you keeping from me?"
"Why must I be concealing something from you?"
"Do you take me for a fool?"
Luke was still, not deigning to respond. Amy let him be, and stalked back to the house, embers of anger still clouding her vision. She strolled slowly, letting her thoughts gather and disperse, breath ebbing and flowing out of her throat.
Amy knew Luke was keeping something from her, She had only walked a small way when she found him. The once cooling embers were now erupting with flames, fuelled by anguish and horror. It was him.
As in him.
The him who abused her as a child, who managed to drive a seven year old to the edge, and proceeding to throw her off himself.
It had been below him to respond to her. Amy was in too much of a shock to say or do anything… only sank into a calm, her anger a writhing, caged beast beneath her skin. He looked the same as he always did, hauntingly handsome, barely able to conceal the wicked gleam in his grey orbs.
Maybe that was why he was 'visiting' her so often, or how else would he be able to turn and twist her parents' loyalties against each other?
"I thought you were dead."
The man smiled disarmingly, "So did I."
She took a step forward, "Then who saved you?"
"An angel."
Amy grimaced, "She can't of been much good if she decided to spare you."
A wry grin spread across his lips, "Well, aren't you just as charming as the last time I saw you."
"What do you want?"
"Straight to the point? You really have changed since the first time we met, haven't you?"
Amy flinched, repressing a memory, "Stop playing games."
"You do remember don't you? Little Amy was writing in her little sparkly diary sitting at her little wooden desk. Oh I used to love your room, so sweet, so cute, but you've grown up so much since-"
"Get to the point will you?" It was pushing harder now, trying to resurface in the forefront of her thoughts.
He ignored her request and continued his rambling, "But that first day my my, they say the first time is the hardest, that it just gets easier and easier. Not the case with you though was it? Only seven! You had no defence… right up until the day you snapped. Can you remember that Amy?" He looked her in the eye now. "The smoke, the screams-"
"Shut up." The pressure was almost too much to take now, too many memories pushing up against her resolve.
"Why do you think your oh-so-lovely parents let me in? Practically led me down to your room, telling me to make it hurt more this time. That they wanted me to break you, push you further than they themselves could stomach. The door was open for abuse wasn't it? Hope and Arthur-"
"You don't deserve to say their names!"
"They let it happen, poked their head around the door in-between your cries of pain, asking if I wanted some tea."
Amy clasped her hands around her head in a final effort to keep her spotty recollection of that first time from rising up and forcing her to relive it. She could feel the pain and anxiety already overcoming her mental defences.
Light pierced her vision and an image started fading into view.
*Flashback*
Amy had just turned seven, and boy was she exited, six was…. old! She was a big girl now!
The doorbell rang furiously and she rushed to answer it, wild crimson curls bouncing in her wake. Amy flung the door open wide, throwing herself off balance with the sudden rush of strength.
A handsome man stood at the door, eyes caught somewhere between amber and grey, ebony hair contrasting against his deathly pale skin. One hand hung loosely in his dress pants, the other balancing a cigarette between his fingers, bringing it to his lips every so often and blowing out a thick grey smoke.
Amy stepped forward excitedly and the man's nostrils flared in response.
Hope put a hand on her shoulder, a slight, but effective restraint. Well, as much as you could restrain a hyper six year old. A strange emotion, completely unreadable shone in Arthurs eyes as he invited the man in.
The man helped himself to some tea, and the adults started talking about grown-up stuff. Y'know politics, their children, how annoying their neighbours were. Amy retreated to her room, picking up a glittering sapphire notebook, and writing furiously… for a six year old.
Oh well, at least she could write, her best friend Lizzy could barely read. The book was her release, where she could rant about anything and everything, away from her brother and parents.
Something was wrong with her she was sure, what else would explain the thoughts circling her mind? Things dark and confusing, unfathomable ideas, worming their way into her consciousness.
The book was her last hold on sanity. The squeak of hinges interrupted her turmoil of thoughts. She whipped her profile around to face the figure in her doorway. A jagged smile and grey eyes… no one came when she screamed.
*End of flashback*
She turned back to face him head on, wrestling her memories back into their cage. She wouldn't let them escape so easily again. Her eyes met air. How was it possible that these memories controlled her vision?
That even with this new body he could slip through her fingers again.
She guessed nothing made sense these days. A slow walk back to the house, she took several detours, needing to take her mind off everything.
It was like she couldn't tell good from bad anymore, that the most basic instinct of humans had left her when she was changed.
Her heart was a gaping black sea, all light was absorbed in to the darkness, until they were one and the same.
Life and death intertwining as equal evils. It was no longer black and white, for she was the result of both. Morphing in to the inkiest black, the purest, most innocent white. Two sides of the same coin. The only one who could understand that in the way she did, was Ian.
She would find him, and… and then she would reveal it to him it all. Her soul yearning out in reach of him, she almost lurched out in front of herself then and there. The full grief of missing him, of Dan of her family, Fiske, Nellie.
Lying to Natalie, Sinead and Hamilton's faces… when they asked for the truth, when she looked them in the eye and lied, even as they trusted every word coming out of her mouth. For the first time since she changed she felt sick.
What was the point really? Sooner or later they would have to find out the truth. She had just made it that much worse. But right now, Ian was her priority. She could figure out Luke and Him later. She decided to track Ian the old fashioned way, sprinting back to the city to try to pick up a trail.
She would find him, and she would not fail him this time. No, he would not suffer, nor perish while she still roamed this earth.
Hi again sorry about the ridiculously long wait for this chapter. I will update within the next couple weeks, hopefully get it back to an update a week. Ily all of you!
~Craycray3