Hi guys! Sorry it has taken me a while to get this one up - I have been having terrible problems with my internet! It was so frustrating not being able to get online. However it did give me the chance to get some writing done!
I've had a few people now asking me when I was going to introduce a certain character into the plot - well here they are! I hope you're happy with what I've done :-)
Please let me know what you think!
Lucas:
I was sat in the corner of my cell, my knees against my chest. My chin rested on my arms that I had coiled around my legs. I must have looked like a child in a tantrum. But it was the only comfortable position I could get in. The cell was so cramped; there was no way I could straighten out. Even when I stood I had stoop slightly so as not to hit my head against the ceiling.
It was quiet that night. Normally Caine would pay me a visit, but there had been no sign of him. I wondered vaguely if that meant something had happened that needed his attention. I hoped there had been a breach in security and that he was about to get shot. He was better off dead.
I was rather glad for his absence, even more so than normally. It gave me a chance to really think about his so called offer. The thought of forgetting Skye was unbearable. It didn't matter if she had never really existed or if she was dead; I needed to hold onto the thought of her. My memories of the two of us were the only things keeping me sane. At night when I was locked in my cage, the image of her beautiful blue eyes was what pulled me through into the next day. Sometimes, I swore I could hear her voice whispering to me in the darkness. When I was in that void place, just between sleep and consciousness, I could feel her beside me. Her presence was so comforting.
I couldn't imagine that all the recollections I held in my mind were false. Every day I had spent in the wild, surviving alone, had to have been real. I could still feel the desperation, the starvation, the loneliness. I stroked down the scars on my neck, remembering the Nykoraptor that had nearly made me its lunch. Surely that had been real. The scars were there, in the exact same place. I couldn't have gotten them any other way. Then there was the scar on my chest. I checked that it was there every single night. Skye really had left her mark on me. That could only have come about from her shooting me; who else would have left me a scar like that?
A light tapping on the door distracted me then from my thoughts. I looked up to see a familiar face. I smiled weakly at the young girl. Every day at the same time, the girl would come by the cells delivering meals. In my opinion, she looked too young to be doing that job. She couldn't have been more than nine or ten.
I got to my feet as she opened the small hatch in the door. She took a covered bowl from the trolley she was pushing and slid it through the opening. I took it carefully and smiled joyfully when I realised the bowl was still warm. I hadn't had a hot meal in weeks.
"Thank you." I remarked.
She smiled at me. She was quite a pretty girl. Her skin was a deep mahogany colour and she big brown eyes like a puppy dog. Her shiny black hair was pulled into a tight ponytail that fell midway down her back. That day she wore a baggy lilac coloured jumped and jeans.
"That's okay." She replied in a small voice. She passed through a spoon to me. "Enjoy the food." She commented as she closed the hatch.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" I hurriedly asked as she started to turn away.
The girl looked warily back at me, mistrust in her eyes.
"I'm not supposed to talk to the prisoners." She informed me quietly.
I tried to look as relaxed as possible so as not to frighten her away.
"It's just one question. It would really help me out if I knew the answer." I commented. She pulled a face as she thought. Then slowly she nodded her head. I smiled gratefully at her. "You give food to all the prisoners, right?" She nodded again. "Have you ever seen a woman with long blonde hair and green eyes like mine?"
The girl thought for a moment before she shook her head.
"No." She answered.
I frowned. I had wondered if I had still been in an illusion when Caine had allowed me to speak to my mother.
"Okay." A stab of hurt passed through my heart. Part of me had been desperate to believe that my mother could have still been alive. Yet another part was almost relieved. If my mother was dead then that meant Caine had been lying to me. He'd been messing with my head. That told me Skye had to be real. "Thank you." I said to the young girl.
She smiled and turned back to her trolley. I also went to sit back down.
"You're Lucas, aren't you?"
I glanced back at the girl. She was watching me carefully. I nodded my head emotionlessly.
"Yeah I am."
She fidgeted nervously where she stood. Her eyes glanced down the corridor, both ways, before she spoke again.
"I heard them talking about you." She announced quietly.
"What were they saying?" I queried curiously.
I moved closer to the door so I could hear her better through the air holes that were at the top of the door.
"The General sounded happy that you were here."
I sighed and leant the side of my head against the door.
"Yeah well we go way back."
The girl frowned as she looked at me then. She tapped her right temple with her finger.
"They've been taking you to the lab, haven't they?" I touched my own temple and felt the rough scab that had formed over the broken skin. I recalled then lying on the bed and feeling those metal probes puncturing through my flesh. A shudder escaped from me and I nodded. "I've seen them do this before. The last prisoner that had those marks went mad after a few weeks."
I swallowed and frowned.
"I won't let him do that. I'm stronger than he is."
The girl narrowed her eyes.
"But you're already doubting yourself, aren't you? That's why you asked me about that woman, to see if she really is here?"
I regarded the young girl then. She seemed much wiser than her years.
"You're very perceptive." I observed. She kind of reminded me of someone, but I couldn't work out whom. "How old are you?"
"I'm nine, but I'll be ten soon."
I smiled.
"You seem too young to be here." I commented. "Where are your parents?"
She shrugged.
"I never met my dad and my mom went away to work."
I frowned.
"And she left you here?" The girl nodded. "What's her job?" I queried.
The girl raised her shoulders into a shrug once more.
"I don't know." She looked miserably down at her feet then. "I don't remember her very well." She was quiet for a few seconds before looking back up at me. "I just know she's gone to stop a bad man."
"A bad man?" I frowned to myself. I supposed on a normal day I would have figured it out much sooner; but as Caine had been messing around with my mind, I was processing things slower. But when it did finally hit me, I nearly burst with joy. "You're Sienna." I remarked.
Her brown eyes widened in a look of shock and fear combined.
"How do you know my name?" She asked.
I grinned at her.
"I know your mother, Mira." I glanced away from Sienna, feeling a rush of emotions explode within me. "Mira exists and she's gone to Terra Nova. It's real. It's all real. I knew it couldn't have been made up. That means...Skye." I rambled to myself. Then I looked back at Sienna. "Skye's real."
Sienna stared at me.
"I told you prisoners go mad once they have those marks."
I sniggered at her. I probably would have laughed at anything in that moment. Suddenly everything was crystal clear. I could have hugged Sienna for making me see the light.
"I'm not mad. I mean I probably was but you've helped me realise the truth. Thank you."
Sienna frowned.
"I don't get what I did..?"
I grinned.
"Your mother, Mira, I know her. She's a sort of friend of mine. You're here that proves she's real. That means it's all real. Caine was trying to make me doubt my own memories. But I've beaten him." Sienna still looked at me like I was a mad man. I probably did look a tad delirious; I felt euphoric. "And you're here." I commented, regarding her properly. "You look like your mother."
Sienna stared at me mutely.
"You know my mom?"
I smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. She's saved my life a few times." I replied. "She told me about you. She misses you so much."
Sienna's mouth twitched up into a smile.
"Really?"
I nodded.
"Yeah." I forced myself to take several deep breaths, calming myself back down. "I promised her I'd help her find you again."
"Are you here to rescue me?" She asked.
I smirked.
"Yeah, I suppose I am."
Sienna regarded the cage I was locked in.
"You're not doing a very good job." She observed.
I chuckled.
"I know. But I am working on a plan." I announced. "I give you my word if I find a way to get out of this place I will bring you with me."
Sienna's face lit up at the prospect of leaving.
"Promise?"
I nodded.
"Yeah."
She beamed at me. Then suddenly her head snapped to her right.
"Someone's coming. I have to go or I'll get in trouble."
I nodded.
"That's fine. We'll talk more tomorrow."
Sienna nodded. Then she hurriedly began wheeling her trolley down the corridor. I stood watching her for a moment before returning to where I had been sat. Once seated, I took a deep breath. I couldn't believe what had just happened. But it was like a fog had been lifted from my brain. Suddenly everything was clear to me again.
