So I'm going to start making the description of my story a suspenseful-bit of my current chapter. Good idea?
Again, this is not one of my favorite chapters. I've been getting really anxious about getting everything started. I also have been really distracted with an AU I thought of. Like, one of the high school kinds? But I'm trying to make mine as different as I can, because all of the high school AUs are unique in their own way. I've been trying to find my "unique element," and I think I have...and...and I'm like rambling.
So here's Chapter Ten!
Chapter 10 - Tears
I was standing outside of the computer lab, fighting with Dana.
Go in! Find the freaking list!
No. I'm sorry, this is getting ridiculous.
She had been manipulating me, and I knew it. Throwing memories of Jeff and the Collin-boy. Katie, too. I didn't love any of them, actually. This body did.
You are a clever human, Dana.
What!? Actually, whatever. The computer lab! Move before someone sees us!
I am not weak though. I know my duties.
I pushed Dana. Not pushed her, physically, but more of shoved her back in my head. I slammed her through one of her walls.
It seemed to crumble immediately. The memory flashed up immediately. The girl, the one I was speaking to in the dark, under the floorboards. I could see her.
We were under the floorboards of a small house, by the swamp. Our house, our safe house. My family's safe house.
We were speaking about the Seekers in the area. Yes – that's why we were sleeping under the floorboards – in case they found the house. I remember we had moved anything important into Jeff's backpack. Things like pictures, maps, pretty much anything from our old lives. Anything that could be used to identify us.
I remember my dad – My dad!
I tried to picture his face as another memory obliterated the one I was focusing on.
It was a sorrowful memory. A powerful one, one that changed this body's life.
I was bent over someone in the snow. A man, one I knew had once been so strong, but was now very sick. My father.
He had nearly everything I owned wrapped around him. Blankets, quilts, my parka. If he could, I knew he would protest against this. He was too weak to talk.
His vomit was everywhere, and his fever seemed to be rising with every passing minute. My breath was shallow in the freezing cold. I was only in a t-shirt and jeans, now that my parka was wrapped around him.
My father's forehead was hot to the touch, but I remember trying to convince myself that it wasn't him. That it was my own freezing, brittle fingers that made him seem so warm. That he was actually a perfectly normal temperature.
It was completely hopeless.
Snowflakes landed on my dark lashes, my eyes burning with stinging tears. It was so unfair. We had made it so far.
The others were back in the tent. It was nighttime, and we needed to get moving by dawn. Though it was dangerous with Seekers on the lookout, we had been in the same, open snowy field for days, trying to see if my father would recover. It was clear he wouldn't.
I leaned against the hallway wall, searching my memories of who was in the tent.
Jeff and Brenna. My siblings.
Brenna. I smiled to myself. Another Hatch sister. Her face filled my mind. She looked almost exactly like me, except for a spattering of sun freckles and a stronger jaw. Only a few years older than I.
I felt happiness dance through me. This was the way things were supposed to be. My body, my mind, my memories.
Still though, I thought of Jeff's smiling eyes. Collin and I, kissing in the art room. The way Katie would braid my hair into all sorts of twists and knots.
I tried to hang on the happiness, but I could feel it leaving me.
I could also feel Dana's presence coming back.
You bitch. I hate you.
She was weak though. Her voice was strained.
I was extremely curious about the computer lab though. I did want to know whether Katie and Collin had been found.
Silently, I turned the handle of the door behind me, and eased into the dark room. The lights flipped on, detecting my motion.
I was feeling more and more suspicious. If Star Blanket had said I was dangerous, then shouldn't I have less…freedom? I thought a Soul in a Resistant Host was supposed to be monitored? Quickly, I threw a glance behind me.
I shook off the strange feeling, sitting down into the closest desk chair.
I tapped the mouse, and the computer flickered on to meet me with its bright glow.
It wasn't locked. There was no need for it.
I had never been particularly good with computers. This body, I mean, had never had the knack for them that her brother did.
Jeff. Jeff is good with computers. I couldn't help but grin. The constant flow of information was completely liberating. I knew things now, things about this body's past.
Despite my lack of knowledge on computers, I easily found the folder labeled Rogues Humans. There was a collection of documents in it. I clicked on the one labeled After Initial Wave.
The ones that ran, Dana said distantly, ran from you…parasites…
I admit it, I was slightly hurt by her comment. I sighed. Before Star Blanket came into the picture, we had been getting along so well. It was quite a foolish alliance though.
I scrolled through the list, as names jumped out at me. A few of my classmates. Rick Willard, the jock. Rosalie Bray, the quietest girl in the school. Belisma Blanca, the girl who moved from Spain.
Edna White. I laughed. Mrs. White, Dana's English teacher during the First Wave. I smiled, imagining the frail, frizzy-haired woman running from her silver-eyed 'enemies.' I wondered how long she'd lasted.
Katie Honeywell. The Katie, the brown-haired-ponytail Katie. Jeff's girlfriend. I felt a touch of sadness for him. He and his loved ones on opposite sides of the invasion.
Carrie Hatch.
I started to float down into the memory. I was sitting, picnicking with a woman –
Every wall in Dana's head went up. I felt her slap me.
Everything was stinging on one side of my face. My hands and cheeks rang, vibrating with the burn of skin smacked against skin.
Get out of my head before I kill the both of us.
I see I've struck a nerve there.
My voice echoed with a human-like taunt. Dana said nothing.
I continued scrolling through the list, looking for Collin.
"Everly, Everly, Everly…" I mumbled as my eyes hit the last name on the page. Painstakingly, I scrolled back up the list, whispering each name. No Collin.
You liar! I hissed, the human emotion of anger filling me, He is a Rogue!
What? Dana was befuddled, temporarily forgetting her hatred of me, But I wasn't…but…but he said –
A memory slammed me, knocking me back into my chair.
It had been just me, Jeff and Brenna since…since my…
Another one of Dana's walls slammed into me, toppling over my chair with me in it.
I laid in the dark room, panting, with my legs and arms sprawled at odd angles. Thinking quickly, I dodged her wall and dove deeper into the memory.
I knew my dad was coming home soon, but I didn't expect him home so soon. He was returning from a trip – a very long one. One on which he had taken Collin.
When Jeff saw the approaching figure, he immediately shoved us inside our small, swamp cabin. I remember stumbling alongside Brenna as she pushed me underneath the floorboards and into the dark.
Within minutes, the disguised hatch that allowed us to access the space under the floor was opening from the outside. Brenna and I were walking out to meet a very happy Jeff, with his arm slung around my father.
I looked around, joy and love blooming in my chest. I snuck a glance through the window, searching for Collin. There was nothing outside but the trees.
I turned to my father as he pulled me into a weak hug. I pushed away from him, taking two stumbling steps back into the wall.
"Where's Collin?"
The question hung in the air like a disease, killing the laughter and happiness in the room.
I stared down my father, acutely aware of the tired lines beneath his smiling face.
"Where's Collin?" I demanded. His smile started to drain away. And then I knew.
I snapped out of the memory. I felt a warm, saltiness dripping down my face. I rocketed up, alarmed.
Blood?
I traced the path of the liquid and examined my fingers. There was no redness, no bitter flavor.
Tears. They were tears.
Perhaps there was a mistake in the list, I sniffled, knowing that this was untrue. Souls did not make mistakes, especially careless typing errors.
Collin, the boy that Dana had thought to be dead to her for so long, was actually alive in his own body.
The light's flickered on. I wheeled around, leaping up from the tangle of limbs and chair legs that I had become after Dana knocked me over.
Fallen Flower stood, leaning against the door and clapping her hands slowly.
"Alright," She said, turning to my Healer, who had stepped out from behind her, "I've been defeated. She has become a danger to herself and others. Take her out."
So yeah. Luna was being followed, if it was unclear why Fallen Flower and Healer Flames were there.
Reviews pwease? Harsh ones are very appreciated!
Thanks for reading!
Happy Mariano Rivera Day. Mo, you will be missed /3