Author's Note:

I give thee... chapter 11!

This is for .dee (or something along those line, you know who you are). Apparently they were having a rough day and my last chapter made it better. Well... this chapter is dedicated to you. Hope this makes you happy as well.

Hope you enjoy!

Emerald

While the other Benendicts drift off to do their own things. To do the laundry, go to work, make passionate love to their soulfinders...

Okay, maybe not the last thing, but, seriously, if I had a soulfinder...

Will stays with me. Talking to me and laughing while I'm trying to eat. The boy – or man, but with that smile, he just looks so young – is extremely good-looking. But I have not eaten in so long, so I'm ravenous.

I attack the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, hash browns and toast with a vengeance, barely pausing to breathe. Will barely bats an eyelid, carrying on about how their family owns the ski lifts or whatever, and how they all have to work there in the winter. But now that it's summer, they all do their own things. Unfortunately, because of me, they've all been called back from whatever they were doing to come home and help me out.

I want to scream that I don't need their help.

That I'm fine.

But maybe they can help Other Me.

Will is really starting to irritate me. He keeps talking and talking and talking. And laughing as well.

Doesn't he realise that there are people dying all the time?

How can he laugh like that?

How?

I want to punch him in the face. And his family seems to be hovering around me. I can feel them, in my head, trying to get in, but my shields are so strong I don't think even I could take them down if I even wanted to.

Which I don't.

I push my plate away, my appetite sated, and I look at my attire.

Still in the dressing gown.

Will stops mid-sentence and looks me up and down too. I would've blushed, if I was a normal girl. But I'm not a normal girl, so I don't blush, because I am so skinny nobody could find me attractive.

As if he can read my mind, he goes to the cupboard and comes back with a full packet of chocolate cookies. About thirty of them. He hands them to me as I get the tingly feeling that means he's using telepathy.

"Here, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you need to gain some weight." I take the cookies and cram them down my them. About five minutes later, they're gone.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I haven't had chocolate in so long!

A minute later Mrs. Benedict bustles into the room, carrying a pair of denim shorts and a black T-shirt. She smiles warmly as she hands them to me.

"Hi dear, my name's Karla." She grins. "Welcome to the Benedict family." She takes me by the arm and waves Will away, with a little explanation of "girl things".

She leads me upstairs and into her room, where she turns around as I get dressed.

"We'll have to bring you out and buy you your own clothes, dear. Get you fitted for a bra and all that, as I'm sure you've grown. The Net gave us money to help you, so don't you worry about a thing. Unfortunately, I'll have to take your measurements, as Saul doesn't really..."

"Trust me?" I offer as I turn around. She turns also and smiles at me.

"Not the best fit, but you still look lovely."

I look down at myself and frown. "Creepy and malnourished" would be what I'd describe myself as at the moment.

At least I'll have fun fattening myself up.

I trudge behind her, my hair covering my face, as we go down the stairs and back into the kitchen. I'm about to sit down, waiting for Will to start his inane chatter, when I stop and see who's actually in the kitchen.

Will's gone.

In his place are Zed and Sky. Sky sitting on the kitchen counter with her arms looped around Zed's neck and her legs wrapped around his waist as he tangles his fingers in her light blonde hair. Next are Xav and Crystal. Both standing tall in the corner as Xav trails a finger around her face as she tries to duck away from him, her face flushed. Then there's two other couples. A dark haired boy with glasses, rubbing the back of a dark haired girl as she sits on his lap, and then an older, taller man, with a petite girl with short dark hair.

My stomach flips and sinks to my toes as I realise the bond between all these people.

They're soulfinders.

I don't think you understand. Nobody can really understand unless they're in a savant's position. Knowing that out there, somewhere, there is a person who is literally the embodiment of perfection for you, it's a killer. I mean, it really is. My soulfinder could be on the other side of the planet, or I could've passed him everyday on my way to school.

And then my heart stops for a second.

What if my soulfinder was in that prison with me? On the other side with the boys. What if, like me, he had spent years and years, slowly losing his mind as fantasy after fantasy of freedom and his soulfinder came to mind.

And I realise, as I watch these people with their soulfinders, that I hate them. How dare they? What makes them more special, more deserving than me to have a soulfinder? What have they done that's better than what I've done?

Any kindness I felt towards Karla evaporates in that moment as I realise, she too, has a soulfinder. She looks up at me and smiles as she motions for me to sit down, in between all these soulfinders.

I stare at her, incredulous.

Is she an idiot?

I run.

I know it's cowardly, maybe I should've stayed and hurt them. Showed them that they shouldn't be happy. That there are things going on in the world. Hell, what about all those people I was imprisoned with? What about them?

I turn around and run, going through the hallways and then bursting out into the sun, flinging the door open. I don't pause to gaze lovingly at the sun, instead I just keep running. Down a winding drive and then into a forest. A huge forest with huge green trees and my bare feet pound against the earth, jumping over fallen branches and dodging trees. I slice the bottom of my feet as I sprint over sharp rocks, but I don't care. I need to leave. I need to go. I NEED TO GET AWAY!

It isn't fair. I want to go home. I want to be with my mom and dad and I want to blink and find out that this is a dream. A horrible dream that I thought would never end, but instead I'm in my bed. I'll wake up and realise I have school. I'll get up, put my uniform on and put on some eye-liner and mascara, coating my bronze lashes with black and wondering if Darren Andrews from English likes me back. I'll wonder if I'm sick, or just feeling queasy about seeing him. I'll wonder if I'll be able to go to that dance with Cara and Lisa, or if I'm still grounded for "accidentally" breaking my phone. I'll wake up and realise that I need to decide what to wear for that date Matt asked me on, and that I need to figure out if I like him more than Darren.

But as my breathing becomes ragged after about five minutes of running, and I get a stitch, I realise this isn't a dream. After years and years of being locked away and only having my cell to jog around I am completely out of shape. No longer the fastest girl in my year, or that track star.

But I keep going, afraid that I'll vomit if I stop.

But I don't run for long, as I hit a problem.

Well, not a problem... a person.

And I don't hit it, it hits me.

I have about a second to scream as I am rugby tackled to the forest ground, dirt going into my mouth as my face and body go skidding along. My hands clawing at the dirt.

I have another second to lift my head up as my attacker looks into my face, before I vomit all over him.