Chapter 57 Mourning a loss

Seconds later after the explosion the people in the street turned on their outside lighting and a few even stormed alarmed out of their houses. A man from across ran just clad in his boxer shorts and an open bathrobe towards the mess. Shocked he eyed the destruction, the many melted pieces of the former jeep, the burning scraps lying around and the glass splinter strewn on the lawn. He had to shield his face from objects flying from the fire in the car. In all this chaos he saw an arm sticking from under a ripped off door. Immediately he went to it and pushed the broken thing from the body. Surprised and scared he found the sheriff with shredded clothes, burned flesh on arms and face, bleeding wounds and closed eyes lying on the ground. Swallowing hard he bent down and pressed his finger on the artery on his throat to look after a pulse. Relieved he felt it, slow, irregular and faint. But it was there.

" Did somebody call an ambulance", he screamed at the people standing a few feets away, afraid to get hurt themself.

A young woman held up her cellphone. " Already on the way Harry. They will be here shortly".

He stood up to look for another wounded. He made a wide berth around the wreck and discovered Amy lying in the arms of someone. It was hard to make out with all the blood and the dirt. Slowly he approached the two and kneeled besides them. Stunned he bit back a sob when he saw Maria look up at him with sad eyes. She was badly hurt, an open wound was gaping from her head, her arms were burned, her clothes blood soaked and shredded at a few places. " Sweety. Did you look if she´s still alive?".

" I´m too scared to do that. I´m afraid she´s dead", the choked up emotions in her voice was heartbreaking. But at least she was still able to talk, even if she was in shock.

Harry took Amy out of her arms and did the same he had sone with Jim, namely feeling for a pulse. He gave her a small smile when he noticed a slight drumming. Amy was not dead, but she needed help soon. " It´s not too late. She´s still with us".

Maria was relieved to hear that, but she didn´t know what happened to the rest of her family. With shaking legs she tried to stand up. But unfortunately she didn´t have enough strength to carry her weight and she dropped down again. Suddenly she felt two pairs of arms pulling her on her feets. Firstly she saw in the unharmed face of her brother to her right and then she turned to the left to see her cousin slightly grinning at her. He seemed to be without a scatch, too. Happily she enjoyed the feel of their arms around her, sure that they were alive.

" Oh god. I´m so glad to see you", Kyle had already discovered his father. He and Sean carried him a little away from the wreck and laid him on the lawn. Harry was just in the process to do that same to his mother, while the boys distracted a obvious out of it Maria. She didn´t seem to realize what happened around her.

All of the sudden she wriggled out from the arms holding her and watch all directions, seemingly searching for something. " Where´s Lindsey? Did you see her?".

Sean put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him. Worriedly he noted the tiredness in her eyes. He wished he could do something to help her. Faintly he could sirenes in the distance and he was never so relieved to hear that sound. " We took care of her".

" Where is she?", as much as Maria was standing besides herself at the moment, she noticed the strange tone in his voice and she feared the worse. Breaking away from his grip she pushed him aside, surprised about the strength still in her body. Just as she was about to walk from his arms, which were trying to catch her again, she saw the little body of her sister lying near the front stairs. Shakingly she went to her and glanced down at her marred face. The eyes were wide open, lifeless staring above and blood was dripping from their corners. Her nose as well as her mouth and her ears were bleeding. Maria felt suddenly so numb. Before she felt coldness seeping in her bones and fear. But now everything was gone and there was just this nothing. Without shedding a tear she slumped on the ground besides her sister and stayed in this position. She didn´t react when Kyle and Sean talked to her. The noise and the surroundings just disappeared. When the paramedics came and laid her on the stretcher she didn´t even flinch or blink.

Hospital

Kyle was sitting in the same ugly plastic chairs standing in the waiting room he had been when Maria got hurt from this small troll. His right leg shook up and down nervously, his hair stood up in every direction because of his hand brushing through it every few seconds and his eyes kept darting from one door to the next. Two hours, two fing hours he was waiting for news about his family and not once came a doctor to tell him something. For all he knew he could be a orphan already. He cursed his own cowardice. He had noticed his sister reacting pretty strange and he didn´t pay attention to it. He heard her screaming at her parents that a bomb was under the car and couldn´t move his legs, fearing for his own life. Because of that his little sister was dead, his parents as good as gone and his other sister not present mentally. Angrily he jumped to his feets and punched the nearest spot of wall he could find with all his might. People around him stared either shocked at him or in sympathy. When he saw down on his bloody hand something in him snapped and he slide down on the ground. Hiding his face behind his hands he started to cry violently. Why them? They didn´t had anything to do with this shit.

" Hey man. Here drink this".

Kyle looked up with his red rimmed eyes and saw his cousin holding a hot steaming cup of coffee in front of his face. With shaking hands he took it, but didn´t make an attempt to drink it. He just stared at the cup with tears still streaming down his face. " Thanks".

Sean winced when he saw the blood on his cousins hand. He glanced at the small dent in the wall and wondered how many bones were broken. Luckily Kyle wasn´t an alien or the hospital would be on Mars already. " You should let check your hand. It looks bad".

" It´s nothing. At least the pain distracts me a little", he was glad to feel anything. The last few hours were like a bad LSD trip. Everything happened so fast, that he realized what had been going on when they stepped through the entrance of the emergency room. Three stretcher had been shoved through the doors, one with Maria, one with his father and one with his mother. Lindsey had been brought immediately to the morgue.

Sean slumped besides his cousin. He knew that one himself. When everything seemed so bad in his life he had started fights with guys twice his size. He often came home with a bruised face, a few broken bones or a concussion. But it wasn´t about the fight at all, it was about pain. He liked to feel it and it had taken his time in juvie to give that up. " Don´t do that to yourself. It´s not of use for anyone when you start hurting yourself. It´s just painful and nothing had changed. The empty feeling will stay either way".

Kyle took a small sip from the coffee and hoped that it would warm him a little. He felt so cold and exhausted and like he finally hit the bottom. If he had known what would happen, he would have send his family far away the moment they had prove about the present of their enemies. " What do you know? I just lost my little sister, my parents could be dead at the moment and my other sister isn´t really there with us right now".

" Hey, no need to attack me. They´re my family, too", Sean was sure that his cousin didn´t mean it like that. They both had been through hell tonight and it wasn´t over yet. The nerves were bare and the emotions heightened.

Kyle rubbed his face tiredly with his left hand. He didn´t know what was going on with him. On the one hand he was so furious that he could take apart this hospital with his bare hands and on the other he was so worn out that he wasn´t even sure if he had the strength to stand up. " I´m sorry. But I´m just so a mess right now. I can´t think straight and it´s probably better if you don´t listen to me".

Sean laid a hand on his cousins shoulder to show him that he was there for him. He was just in the process to say something comforting, although in this situation there weren´t comforting words, when he noticed a familiar boy rolling towards them with a wheelchair. One leg was in cast held from both sides with a strange looking frame and was lying in some holder. " Hey Al".

" I heard what happened. A nurse told me about the explosion. Are there any news yet?", Alex had noticed the whispering outside and called for the nice nurse to find out what was going on. When she told him that Sheriff Valenti and his family had been brought in because of an exploded car, he had immediately left his bed, not even caring about his injured leg, planted his butt in the wheelchair and went searching for them. Thankfully Sean was pretty noticable with his rugged look.

Kyle shook his head. In the same moment he saw a doctor finally coming through the electric doors. He headed straigth towards them. He and Sean immediately jumped to their feets and braced themself for the verdict. Faintly he felt a touch on his back and a hand squeezing his.

The doctor stopped in front of them and his expression didn´t give anything away. He was blankly staring at the teens, who looked like a wind could blow them away. " Are you the son of Jim and Amy Valenti?".

" Yes", Kyle had to swallow hard to get his mouth a little damp. " How bad is it?".

The doctor sighed uncomfortable. He hated this part of the job, especially when the relatives were still so young and it involved both parents. " Your mother has a bad head trauma and is in a coma right now. Her brain was damaged because she crashed pretty hard on the ground with her head".

Kyle noticed his legs wobbling under him and the light seemed to get darker for a second. He was glad that his cousin was keeping a strong grip on him or he would have fallen to the floor by now. " Does she...will she...is it possible that she wakes up again?".

" I don´t know. We have to wait to see if the swelling will be going down. I can tell you more in a few days", the doctor wasn´t so sure if he was telling the truth. Most persons with so bad head injuries didn´t wake up again or became an invalid forever. The chances were fifty/fifty that she would heal.

Sean felt the air knocked out of him at that. Amy was like a mother to him and the closest adult in his life. He didn´t want to think about what he would do if she died. He turned to his cousin and noticed that he obviously shut off. So it was on him to get the other information. " What about Jim?".

The doctor eyed the chart in his hand and he made a weird face when he looked back up. " His burns were so severe that we had to place him in an artificial coma. Tomorrow a skin grafting expert comes and he can tell you the details about the process of any further treatment. He will survive, but he may never look the same".

" That doesn´t matter, as long as he lives", at least one good news. Even if it sounded bad right now, it could be worse. Sean was glad to know that Amy and Jim weren´t dead. " And what happened to Maria?".

The doctor glanced at his chart again, lifted a few sheets of papers to look there. But obviously finding nothing. Confused he stared at the boys in front of him. " I don´t know who you´re talking about. I just treated Jim and Amy Valenti. There´s nothing about someone named Maria. But if it helps I can ask around and ask the doctor in charge to talk to you".

Sean smiled gratefully at the man and stretched the hand out. " Thank you".

" They´re in good hands", the doctor squeezed the hand, turned to the white, pretty tired looking teenager at the side and laid a hand on his shoulder for a second before walking to his next patient.

Alex glanced up at his friend and was shocked to see him close to collapse here in the middle of the hospital. It wasn´t even a surprise after the news he got. His parents were floating between life and death, no information about his twin and on top of that just lost his little sister hours ago. " Sean. Bring him to a chair".

Sean whirled his head around and noticed the paleness of his cousin. Quickly he steered the other boy towards the sitting arrangements near the wall and put him in the brown chair. Worriedly he scanned the place for a nurse, maybe she could give him a cool cloth or something in this direction. " Alex, you stay here with him. I´m hunting down help".

" Okay. Maybe you should get him something to eat or a coke", it was the best thought popping in his mind. At least the best thought he could tell without getting labelled as a freak. It was bad enought that he got knocked out from a bookshelf, but his ego wouldn´t survive that.

Sean nodded, already thinking about that himself. Then he walked away with fast steps, desperately trying to find a deserted place to let all his grief out without losing some of his macho image. Besides Kyle was sad enough, he didn´t him his own cousin dragging him down more. When he saw the sign from the chapel he decided to get in there, even if he wasn´t a very religious man. Quietly he opened the door and peered inside. Except for an old woman sitting in the front row and praying, the room was pretty much empty. Nervously he went in and choose to sit at the rear end. His eyes wander around him and he observed his surroundings. Impressed he saw the many candles, the small altar, the cross with Jesus hanging there and the rack with books, probably holy bibles. The atmoshphere was calming and depressing at the same time, maybe because it was dark in here and just the candles gave enough light to see everything. Crossing himself like he learned from his mother he kneeled on the uncomfortable pew and clasped his hands. He looked at the cross in front of him and tried to find the right words.

" I know I´m like the last person to ask you for a favour. I´m not the most honest person or even religous. But I´m willing to change my mind if you would save my aunt and her husband. They both are the only persons in my life who care about me and treat my like their own child. I know I hadn´t been always a good son and I had been a problem child. But if you help me I can show you that I can change. But please, don´t let me loose my family".

After he said that a cold breeze grazed his neck and a few candles near him got blown out. Startled he looked around to search for the source of it. Alarmed he jumped to his feet when he saw the old lady, who had been praying at the front was gone. Pretty scared he almost fell during his escape from this room. When he closed the door behind him he tried to appear normal, after all nobody would believe what he saw or didn´t saw. Breathing out relieved he made his way to his cousin again. On the way he found a snack vending machine and one for cold drinks. Rummaging in his jeans jacket he found a few dollars and put them in to get a can of coke and a candy bar. With his gain he walked in the direction of the waiting room. Already from afar he noticed that his cousin wasn´t alone anymore. The whole group arrived while he was gone. He wondered if they had a radar and could feel when one of them was in trouble or if they communicated through mindreading. Hopefully not, he didn´t want some dudes snooping around in his head. " Great, all the power rangers together again. Did someone shoot the batsignal at the sky or why are you here?".

Michael glared angrily at him. How could the jerk joke around when they didn´t know anything about Marias condition. He was tempted to break the other boys skull with his bare hands. But he forced himself to stay calm, because his anger wasn´t directed at him actually. " Did you already get your ass kicked from a power ranger? If not I´m pretty willing to be the first".

" Michael! Control yourself", Liz put a restraining hand on his chest and tried to push him back. But she was aware that she was no match for him and if he wanted to beat the guy she wouldn´t be able to keep him from it.

Sean let his eyes wander over the strange group of teenagers. So young and yet destined for greater things. He stopped his glance at his cousin sitting together with his girlfriend. She was holding his hand and whispered something in his ear. Then he saw to Liz and Max keeping close to each other and giving comfort. After that he looked at the odd pairing of Alex in his wheelchair with the blonde babe at his side and rubbing his good leg. And lastly his sight slid to the guy his little cousin had the hots for. He was leaning against the wall and keeping his gaze on the floor. Sean felt so much out of place right now, like he had no place to be here. But that was bullshit, he was family and they just friends. Suddenly he noticed that everybody viewed a spot behind his back. Confused he turned around and realized that a man in white was making his way towards them.

The doctor, this time another one, a younger version, walked calmly in their direction and his expression wasn´t so empty like the one before. He seemed to be surprised about the amount of people waiting for him. " Are you the family of Maria Valenti?".

" Yes", Sean blurted out before he could keep himself from it. He didn´t want to much chaos, just get the information real quick. No beating around the bush like this well educated snobs were trained to do. " How is she?".

The young doctor noticed the tension within the group and decided to not bore them with medic latin. They wanted answers and not some empty phrases. " Physically she is alright. Except for small burns on her arms, some on her hands and a laceration on her forehead everything is fine. We´re just worried about her psychic wounds. She seems to be absent mentally. Like you look in a house and inside everything is empty".

Michael left his place at the wall and stepped closer to the doc. He was relieved to know that Maria wasn´t badly hurt. But he didn´t understand exactly what was wrong with her right now. It had nothing to do with her body, so far he could follow. " What do you mean with that?".

" I´ll show you. Come with me", the doctor went ahead in the direction of the end of the hall. Shortly before he came to electic doors for the intensive care unite he made a sharp turn and disappeared into a room there.

The others followed him hesistantly, afraid in what shape they would find their friend. They were so used to see her all over the place, keeping everyone on their toes and always bring the right words to the right time. She was usually so alive and cheerful that the thought alone she could be different was unbelievable for her friends. As soon as they walked into the room they saw Maria sitting on a chair and staring out of the window with her bandaged arms lying on her lap and the ugly hospital gown on her body.

Kyle was the first one who dared to step closer to her. Nervously he kneeled on the ground and took her face in his hands to turn it around to him. He wanted to see for himself if his sister was gone. Shocked he noted her emotionless eyes staring right through him. The doctor had been right, the house was really empty inside. " Ria. Can you hear me? Please don´t do that to me now. I lost Lindsey already and Mom and Dad could be next. I don´t want to lose you too".

But all he got from her was a blank look. She didn´t even flinch or blink. It was like talking to a dead person. There wasn´t one indication that she heard him or understood the words he said. Defeated he stood up and went to the window to observe the lights dancing in night. Tears were slowly making its way down his face, which he tried to wipe away hastily

" Is she...Can she hear us?", Sean didn´t have the guts to ask if it was possible that she would never wake up from her condition. It was eerie to see his cousin like that, especially when he thought about the way she had been as a child. Wild and untamable. But this was just a shadow of the girl he knew.

The doctor glanced at the hopeful faces of the young people standing around the room. It was hard to not be able to give them a better information. But he and his colleagues didn´t have every answer, they were sometimes as clueless as everyone else and all they could do was wait and observe. " We think so. She´s still alive, but all her unimportant functions are shut down. It´s like she´s trapped somewhere in her own mind".

Liz moved away from Max´ side and went to her best friend. Saddened she took the other girls hand and squeezed it. She heard a lot about coma patient who came back to the living just listening to their favourite songs. Maybe they could do something like that. " Will she ever recover?".

" I don´t know. Some people manage to come back from wherever they had been and some don´t. We just have to wait and see", the doctor stared perplex at the chart at the bed. Quickly he took it and eyed it properly. Oha, there was something he had overlooked the first time. " There´s good news. The babies are alive and well. They hadn´t been injured or disturbed at all".

Suddenly the room got really quiet, so much that you could have heard a pin drop. Just the noise from outside and the breathing was audible. Kyle even stopped crying and was now facing the doctor with a stunned expression. Tess, who was at his side to comfort him, almost lost the bubble gum in her mouth. Liz eyes were twice as big as usual while Max was holding the air in his lungs. Isabel and Alex held their hands in middair, obviously had been talking to each other. Sean swallowed uncontrolled and Michael blinked with his eyes repeatedly.

Kyle was the first of the gang who found his voice again and asked the questions everybody thought about. " Babies? Do you mean my sister is pregnant?".

" Yes. It´s standing right there", the doctor showed him the chart and pointed at the spot where someone wrote about the positive pregnancy test. There was even something about a ultrasound examination to be sure that the babies were alright.

Immediately after that Kyle whirled around and punched Michael so hard that he stumbled at the nearest wall from the force. Everybody jumped into action and while the one side tried to hold back the furious boy the others were shielding the hurt boy from another attack. The doctor looked at his watch and told the teens he had a important meeting. Without waiting for a reply he stormed out of the room.

Isabel used her powers to keep Michael from killing his friend. Now that he realized what had happened he was angrily trying to reach his friend and give him what he deserved. But she was putting all her strength in restraining her. " Stop it. Don´t take it personally. You would have done the same if Tess would be pregnant".

" Yeah. He didn´t mean it like that. He´s just a little out of it right now", Tess made her brother look at her. She hoped she could get through him and he would listen to reason. Both males were scared of losing Maria. But it was no use if they beat the shit out of each other.

At that Michael stopped fighting. He glanced at the blue clear eyes of his sister. She was right, he would have reacted exactly like that. Well maybe a litte bit more violently than that, but he would have done it. Breathing to calm himself he stared at his roommate, who was held from Liz and Max. They must have told him something too, because he wasn´t struggling anymore and he lost the crazy look in his eyes. " Okay. I´m willing to forget this incident".

Kyle mulled it over for a few seconds before he nodded his head and turned around to his sister sitting in the chair and looking out of the window again. It seemed like the little fight didn´t even interest her. Sadly he kneeled at her side and tried to find the reason for her to stare out for so long. But other than the dark sky and the many stars there wasn´t anything interesting to see. He faced the others, because he knew it would take a while and there wasn´t something to do and a few of them were probably tired. " You can go home. You can´t do anything anyway. I will call as soon as her condition changed".

" We´ll stay", Tess wouldn´t leave here. Firstly her boyfriend would be staying with his sister and Michael was probably gonna spent the night, not moving away from his spot. Besides she was afraid to go and Maria would be gone, that this was all a dream and her roommate was dead.

Kyle shook his head. He didn´t want anyone around him right now. He felt like he needed this time alone with his sister, no he knew that. Since they went to college they spent less and less time with each other, both busy with living their own lifes. In highschool they did everything together, going to parties, driving to the football games and even went to open air festivals. But that seemed like it was a lifetime ago. " No offense, but I want to be alone with her".

Michael was against this idea. He didn´t drive this long to spent his time lying awake in some bed and wondering if his girl needed his help or if he could even help her at all. " You can´t do that. We all want to be there for her. And for you by the way. Don´t shut us out".

" I´m not doing it. But I can´t remember the last time I talked to her, really talked to her. Not about aliens, powers, enemies or some war. Give me a little alone time with her and you all can come back tomorrow. Then you can be with her all you want", Kyle just felt that his sister was locking herself away in her own head and she would probably react to him without the others around. He had tried reaching her through their bond, but nothing happened and it scared him.

Tess noticed that her brother was about to object and quickly interfered before the two boys would exchanges blows again. She dug her nails in his upper arm and dragged him towards the door. " All right. We´ll be back by morning. If you need us call".

Sean glanced at Kyle to be sure that he could leave him without a doubt. Maybe he should stay with him and to keep him company. But all of the sudden he smelled the scent of burned flesh and smoke. Glancing down at his clothes he decided a trip home wouldn´t be so bad. At least he could change his dirty shirt and shower to get rid of all the blood at his hands. " I´ll take everyone home with me. Try to get a little sleep".

" Yeah, I´ll try", Kyle didn´t even turn away from his sister or even register that his friends were one by one leaving the room. All he could focus on was the face of Maria and searching for a sign of life in her, maybe just a little spark. But the eyes were blankly staring at one point. Furiously he jumped on his feets and paced the length of the room. Everything around him was slowly falling apart and he couldn´t do anything to stop it. Finally realizing how Marianna must have felt when she saw everyone she cared dying, he felt a new wave of rage towards his sister. If she knew what would lay ahead of them, why hadn´t she tried to prevent it or even told their parents the truth earlier and sent them away? He stepped near her again and looked in her empty eyes. " Why didn´t you do anything before this shit happened? You could have done something to protect Mom and Dad, even saved Lindsey´s life", at that his voice broke. He still couldn´t believe that his little sister wasn´t with them anymore. That she would never complain to him about the unfair behaviour towards her or the fights she had with their father about the increase of her allowance. " Why did you allow that I stayed behind like a coward while you tried to do something?", the truth dawned on him. He wasn´t angry with her, he was angry at himself for standing on the porch like an idiot and watch the car exploding with his family close by. Even Sean had made a try to follow Maria, but was knocked back from the force of the shock wave. " Please, If you can hear me, come back to me. I need you right now, more than I ever needed you before. You´re all I have left at the moment", he swallowed a sob and noticed that his speech didn´t make a difference with his sister. She was still just sitting there and glancing in the distance. In that moment his patience snapped and he banged his hands on the armrest of Maria´s chair. " Dammit, don´t just sit there and stare at me like a puppet", depressed he walked to the window and slide down the wall to take a seat on the ground. He bent his legs close to his body and laid his head on his knees to observe his sister. At some point she had to move and he wanted to be there for that. For hours he sat on the dirty floor and kept his eyes trained on her, he even forgot to blink a few times. But he didn´t stand up or look away. Until he heard how someone opened the door quietly. Surprised he recognized all his friends stepping into the room.

" We couldn´t sleep and we couldn´t wait until morning. So we thought we should be here with you", Tess smiled apologetically at her boyfriend. They all had tried to fall asleep, but nobody had gotten their eyes closed. Fear and worry had kept them awake. At one time they meet in the hall of the Valenti house and decided to go to the hospital to give their support to their friends.

Sean stepped around the girls in his way and stretched his arm out, which held a carton full of coffee cups. On their way to the hospital they stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got something to eat. " We even thought about taking breakfast with us".

Now Michael brought a box with Donuts and other sweet pastries forth, which he had hid behind his back. He opened the lid and smelled happily at the tasty treat. He had been trying to snatch one of the jelly filled donuts, but Tess and Isabel had slapped his hand away. " Donuts. Yum"

" You´re all crazy. How did you get past the nurses and security?", Kyle felt despite the things happening to him in the last few hours not so down anymore. He was touched that his friends were there for him, even if he behaved like an ass before. Slowly he stood up from the ground and groaned. It wasn´t good to sit in the same position for too long. Stretching his muscles he made his way to fetch himself something to eat. Now that he saw the food he noticed how hungry he was.

Tess smiled warmly at him, relieved that he wasn´t angry with them for not following his wish to be alone with his sister. But to their defence, they had resisted longer than they thought they would. Especially Michael, who almost went up the walls with worry. " Sometimes it´s good to be an alien with special gifts".

Kyle, busy with stuffing his face with a choco donut, raised his eyebrow questionally at the group in front of him. He wondered what they did, because he didn´t hear an explosion or screams, so Michael hadn´t been the one. Isabel, he knew, was capable of entering dreams, which left her out, too. Max was the healer and could create a protection shield. " What did you do?".

" My sister made us invisible", Michael reached happily for a jelly filled donut and bit hungrily in it. Finally he could eat something. The drive to Roswell he had been too nervous to get something down, after he got the message from Alex about the accident it was worry that let his hunger disappear and now he was glad to fill his stomach again.

Liz and Isabel looked over the shoulders of Kyle to check the shape of their friend. Disappointed they saw that nothing had changed since they had been here hours ago. Maria was still in the same position with the same expression. Max, realizing what the girls were watching, noticed it,too. " It seems like nothing had changed".

Kyle turned around to look at his sister. No, he had spent hours waiting for a small move from her. But nothing happened. She just sat there like a puppet and stared outside. It was like she was a stuffed animal standing in the living room of some person. Everything that made her Maria seemed to have disappeared. " Sadly no. I watched her almost all night and nothing. Not even a twitching of some part".

" I want to try something. I thought about it the whole time I was staring at the ceiling of your home. The doctor told us that she appeares like she is trapped in her own mind and I thought I could try to reach her through dreamwalking", Isabel had mulled over the idea so long that the more she got into it, she thought it could work. If not, they at least made an attempt to help her. She hated to sit around and do nothing.

Alex believed in his girlfriend most of the time. But with his best friend since childhood, he didn´t want to take chances and they couldn´t just play with someones mind like that. All they could do was to wait like the doctor told them. " Honey, she´s not sleeping. What could you possible do?".

Isabel looked down at him. She was sure that he didn´t mean it like it sounded. Maria was his best friend, close to a sister and he didn´t want somebody experimenting with her. She could respect that, but she wouldn´t hurt her. Just trying to find a way in her subconscious to see what was going on with her. " She´s in a kind of trance, not awake and not asleep. But maybe I can reach her. What have we got to lose?".

" Do it. If there´s just a small chance of getting her back then I won´t stop you", Kyle was grateful for the offer and he would do everything if it would imply that his sister would be at his side again. Besides Isabel said it already, what did they have to lose? Absolutely nothing.

Isabel watched the encouraging faces of her friends and for a moment she panicked. What if she didn´t make it? What if she damaged something while searching for their friend? What if she disappointed everyone? But then she felt Alex hand squeezing her arm. Nervously she got a chair standing at the ugly white table at the wall and put it in front of Maria. Sitting down she tried to get her shaking hands under control before laying them on the other girls head. Concentrating hard she looked in the lifeless eyes of her friend and breathed in regular intervals. Seconds later they started breathing in sync and Isabel left reality.

Marias mind

Isabel stood in front of a nice house. It wasn´t that big or even expensive looking. But it had a homey charme and it was emitting warmth. The porch was old fashioned and had just a small bench on it. At the moment a young woman was sitting there with a baby on her arm. She seemed to sing something to it while it sucked on its fist. The woman looked suddenly up and eyed the front lawn, where two little children were playing with an young man. It was obviously the father of the kids. They were running around and trying to catch each other. The girl laughed loud when her father caught her and threw her over his shoulder. The boy puffed his chest out and screamed that he would save his sister before storming towards his father. Unfortunately he didn´t succeed and was now in the same position as the girl. Both children were happily complaining that they wanted down. The moment their feet touched the ground again, they started to whizz around. Isabel watched them with a small smile on her face, which froze the moment the girl looked up at her. Oh shit, that was Maria as a child. Startled she tried to hide her shock when she noticed that the girl was walking towards her.

" Hey. Who are you?".

Isabel thought about something. That had never happened before. She had been often in dreams of other people. But they never realized she was there with them. " I´m Isabel. And who are you?".

The girl stretched her little hand out and a small smile appeared on her face. A smile showing that her front tooths were gone, a strange contrast to her long light blonde hair, which were tied to two pigtails. " My name is Maria. What are you doing here? Do you know my mommy? You´ve got a nice name. You look like a princess".

" Woaw little one. Slow down for a minute. You´re a inquisitive little thing, aren´t you?", Isabel was stunned about the many questions thrown her way in a short span of time. Thank god that Maria had discarded that habit or she would have made everyone crazy with it.

The young Maria seemed to get shy at that. Her rosy cheeks started to get red and her posture shrunk. " Yeah my dad tells me that often, too. I´m sorry".

Isabel felt bad for saying something. She didn´t want to scare her. It must be the part of Marianna that was afraid of the reaction of her father when she didn´t behave properly that made her act that way. Because as much as she heard Maria had a really good relationship with her human father. " Don´t be sorry. I was the same at this age", she noticed that Kyle and his father were still playing. They didn´t seem to realize that someone was gone. " So, do you live here?".

" Yeah", she turned around and pointed at the people there. " That is my father, my mother with our new baby Lindsey and the icky boy is my twin brother Kyle", she wrinkled her nose at the last part.

Isabel couldn´t hold back her laughter. The small Maria was so adorable. She remembered that she had the same thought about her own brother when she was younger. Well she thought like that today, too once in a while. " I also have a twin brother. His name is Max".

Maria´s eyes changed for a second and it appeared like the older version was staring back at her. But the moment was gone and there was just the joyfull face again. The dimples in her cheek deepened. " What are you doing here?".

" I want to bring you back in the real world. Kyle and your parents are waiting for you there. They´re worried. All you´re friends are. And Michael is so lost without you", Isabel kneeled down to be more her level and to look into her eyes. For a small amount of time the real Maria had been present. Now she wanted to get her back in her old form.

The younger Maria shook her head and stepped back scared. She glanced at her parents, her baby sister and her brother. They were all smiling at her and winked in her direction. Tears appeared in her green eyes when she turned to the beautiful girl. " Why are you saying that?".

Isabel bit her lip forcefully. She shouldn´t have coming so strong onto the scared child. She wanted to take her back and not push her deeper into her created world. " I don´t want to scare you. But I´m telling you the truth. We´re all waiting for you at the other side".

" I don´t believe you", Maria whirled around and stormed towards her family. She was halfway there when she fell on her knees, because she tripped over a plant bucket standing there. The tears had made her lose the sight for a moment.

Isabel knew that she had just one option left and it was the most hurtful. She thought she could spare it. But now she had to do it, it was her last way out. " I´m so sorry", she lifted her arm and seconds later the scene from the exploding car appeared. A loud bang sounded through the street, everywhere splinter, chaos and ripped of parts of the jeep.

Maria turned around when she heard the explosion. Afraid she jumped to her feet and saw her parents lying on the ground, with closed eyes and pretty hurt. Saddened she ran to them to help when she stumbled over a body. Startled she looked at it and discovered her sister, obviously dead. Seconds later she observed her older self getting pulled of the ground from her brother and her cousin before walking in her direction. Angrily she faced Isabel. " Why did you show me that?".

" Because we need you with us", Isabel witnessed how the younger Maria turned into her present form. She felt really bad for taking this road, but if it meant she would be back with them, she didn´t care about being nice. And like it seemed she had succeeded.

Maria stood up from the muddy lawn and glared at her friend. She liked it here. In this world she was happy with her parents and her siblings. There wasn´t a war, enemies and her freak status. There was just her and her family. " Why couldn´t you leave me here? I was content and happy".

Isabel moved closer towards her friend. She didn´t want to be the bad guy or get told she was a bitch. She would have done it a different way if she would have knew one. Unfortunately she didn´t and so she had to choose the most painful. " It´s not real. This", she indicated around her. " is just the figment of your imagination".

" And who would it hurt if I would stay here? My sister is dead, my parents probably, too. I´ve got nothing holding me in the real world anymore", Maria hadn´t been trapped in her own mind, she choose to be there. She found a memory she loved and didn´t leave. She was scared to come back into reality to face the truth. The truth that she failed her family again.

Isabel grasped her friends shoulder roughly and shook her slightly. How could such a bright girl say something so incredible dumb? Did she forget about her friends? The love of her life? Her cousin and her brother? " Yes there is. We´re counting on you. Kyle, Sean, Liz, Tess, Michael, Alex and Max. They´re all waiting for you to come back".

Maria tried to wiggle out of the tight grip. For the first time she understood why Rath had been so strange when his family died, she felt the same right now. She hoped that as long as she didn´t see it, it wouldn´t be true. " I can´t face them. I don´t deserve to live with normal people. I wish I was dead".

" Don´t say that. Think about your children", Isabel was afraid that the other girl would do something stupid and kill herself or starve herself to death, which would happen as long as she would stay in this realm of fantasy. But she had to consider the feelings of others in this decision. And maybe she would think about what she said when she knew about her state.

Maria stopped with her self pity for a second and stared at her friend like she a second head would grow from her throat. What was she talking about? Children? " What?".

Isabel was desperate, but thankful that she had the full attention now. She let her hands wander from the shoulders to the belly and touched the spot where the babies were resting. Maybe she imagined it, but she thought she felt something there, like a pull. " Yeah. You´re pregnant".

" Oh shit!".

TBC