A/N: sorry for the long wait. it's been a long few months. please forgive me. and enjoy. and review. thanks!
Chapter Sixteen
I slept restlessly and awoke tired. I had dreamt that our home was attacked and my aunt and uncle killed, leaving me once again homeless and without family. In my dream, I had watched in horror as everything I had come to call normal had been stripped from the very earth itself. But in the dream, instead of sentinels, it was a tornado. And it ate my aunt and uncle.
I awoke to my aunt holding my hand and draping a damp cloth over my head with the other. My uncle was standing in the corner, his brown eyes looking at me with concern.
"Are you alright now, Carson?"
"What happened?" I asked.
"You were screaming like there was no tomorrow," my uncle replied.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"It's about three in the morning," my aunt replied. Her hazel eyes were searching me for an explanation.
"I had a nightmare," I said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Not yet," I replied. I sat up under her hand and let the damp towel fall to my lap. "I'm fine," I said. "Really."
"Okay then, dear," my aunt said. "We're gonna go back to sleep then. And you should try to go to sleep yourself. If you wanna skip school tomorrow, we'll understand."
"Thank you," I said as they left my room.
The next day, I skipped school. But not because I overslept. Actually, I awoke thirty minutes before my aunt and uncle. Once they were gone, I had the house to myself. I grabbed some cash from the emergency stash my guardians had and started packing. It was going to be a long trip.
I had a hundred and fifty dollars and fifty seven cents in my pocket. I had one chance at getting to New York. I had to do it now.
"One train ticket to Bayville, New York," I said. The man behind the window gave me an odd look. One that said "shouldn't you be in school instead of buying a ticket from Charlotte to Bayville?" But he gave me my ticket and I waited for the train.
When the train came, I almost turned back. I didn't have to tell my aunt and uncle where I'd be going. I was really saving their lives so it didn't matter. And it's not like I knew them that well. I swallowed my fear and my excuses and boarded. I would have to change trains twice. But right now there weren't many people on. I sat quietly in the back trying to read. But instead, I found myself thinking about New York and what was there for me. Would it be for the better or would I end up a dead mutant on the side of some alley? I started to feel sick. But there was no turning back now. I could have easily just accepted a one-way ticket to Hell. But there was nothing to do now but keep going.