I am back! It turns out I have arthritis in my elbow. And while I'm still a teenager, too! I am outraged!
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It took a moment for the information I had just received to sink in. I played his sentence over and over again in my mind, each time, desperately trying to make them mean anything other than what they did. But, even with my efforts, they took the same path every time. I was Jeb's daughter. There was no denying it, even I could see the resemblance, the sharp jaw, high cheek bones.
Unless, he was lying. Which, of course, would make sense. Max had called him a filthy rotten traitor. Which would mean that he had lied to them! Yes, that's it, he was lying! I was sure of myself. Absolutely sure. Invincibly sure. But what if I was wrong!?
My inner turmoil was interrupted by Jeb's voice. "So, how are Max and the others? Are you getting along all right? I hope they're being nice to you." his voice held only kindness, which I didn't trust, though it did make my thoughts waver for a moment.
I put on a monotonous expression. Never let the enemy see your emotions. A lesson I'd learned from Max. Jeb rambled on for a couple minutes, before realizing I wasn't answering any of his questions. I remained indifferent as he sighed, reaching for my kennel. Instinctively, I shrunk back, getting ready to bite him. He let his hand drop at my frightened expression. "Oh, Ella. What have they done to you?" he asked, almost to himself.
"I guess I can't stop what's started." at this, he stood up as Missi gasped out a string of almost inaudible mumbles.
all I made out was "Now, you've doomed her, too? How many deaths do you need? Wasn't my brother and friends enough for you?" she said, her accent contrasting terribly with the horror in her voice.
Jeb ignored her, only looking at me. "I hope it doesn't hurt, Ella." he said, as he began walking away. Not five seconds after he left, white coats came to collect us. I was frozen with terror, but I was forcibly removed from my kennel, anyway. I was drug out by the feet, falling to the floor, where I was roughly told to get up. I slowly stood up, shakily opening my eyes, then began walking.
Before stopping dead in my tracks.
The children in front of me had something black protruding from the back of their shabby clothing. no, it couldn't be. they seemed to have wings, but not normal bird wings like Max, but bat wings. They had bat wings. My mind worked overtime as I tried, without success, to comprehend what I was seeing. I had one more moment of confusion, before someone grabbed my arm, sticking a needle into it. Not again, I had time to think, before the world faded away, along with my worries.
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My eyes opened, and the world hit me like a wrecking ball. Even the slightest scraping of a chair was like a train spike driving itself into my brain. I clutched at my head, trying to squeeze the pain from it. When my hands moved closer to my ears, I felt fabric. I opened my eyes, but only black was there to greet them. I panicked, and began trying to tear at the impossibly strong bandages. I could feel Missi breathing next to me, but she said nothing until I had given up on the bandages. When I let my arms drop to my sides, she softly spoke, so as not to aggravate my head, "I am going to explain what they're doing to you. The operation you received today will enhance you're hearing, but at the cost of your eyesight." I gasped, while she sighed. "You won't lose it completely, just partly."
Her words became true when, a couple days later, my bandages were removed, and I took in the world. Everything was just a tad blurry, and, though I could make out the features on people's faces, I could hardly read anything. I soon found out from Michael that my eyes were no longer the electric green I had come to know. They were red, like Missi's and his. I didn't know what to think, on the one hand, I wasn't an outsider to them anymore. But on the other, more heavily weighed hand, this made me an outsider to my family, and friends, and Iggy, whom I cared much more about. That was when a thought crossed my mind, heading straight for my heart. What if they hated me now? What if they didn't come to save me like I first thought? What if I never got saved? Everything always seems fine until the what-if's creep into your ear. I spent my time playing the word game with Missi (Michael wasn't much of a talker, he kinda reminded me of Fang, actually), sleeping, and crying, of course. Sometimes my dreams made me happy for a split second before I woke up, and cried. Sometimes my dreams were of Iggy, what he and I could have done differently, we could have had so much more time together. I don't want to get into the details of those little dreams, let's just say that I couldn't open my eyes for days after those dreams, they were so swollen from sobbing.
So, I guess it goes without saying, my life was literally living hell.
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This chapter was like, a seven out of ten. Not my best work, by any means. Hope you enjoyed it anyway!