"Renee help!" A voice cried out in my head, arousing me from my wonderful world of dreams. Agony filled my heart. This could not have been happening again. My eyes flew open yet again, but found nothing abnormal. The darkness of the night filled the sky and saturated the ground. Little gusts of cool wind blew against my rough skin. Still next to me, Mike was sound asleep. He sleeps just like my dad sleeps. You could honestly assume that he was dead, for his breathing was so relaxed so slow, you could not see his chest move up and down. Crickets chirped, but nothing else was heard. I relaxed a little tiny bit knowing that it was just a figment of my startled imagination. For once I did not have to go to the bathroom during the night, nor was I thirsty, thank God. I knew drinking before I went to sleep would quench my thirst for the night. I yawned and put my right wrist to my face and pushed the glow in the dark button on my watch. 2:52 am. There was ample time to sleep, unless Mike decides to wake up at six in the morning to start our journey again. Exhaustion coated my bones, and I closed my horrified eyes to float down the stream of dreams that lay in my mind.
Sunlight shown through my thin eyelids, and woke me up gently. At first I thought where I was, was normal, until I rubbed my sore eyes. The rough sound of an engine vibrated the seats of the silver car I was resting in. Unbelievably my father was driving the car. He was wearing a suit without the suit jacket, his clean-shaven face had grown a bit of grey stubble and his eyes were sunken in.
"Morning daddy." I yawned. Though I did not think it was abnormal, my mind didn't fully get it, and then a light bulb finally went off in my groggy head.
"Wait. Dad? Who… Why... How? Ehhh…." I shook my confused head.
"It is okay sweetie, you are fine now." He ruffled my hair. Dad never used to do that. I guess an event like this would change you. Feeling my side to see if I still had my important backpack, I situated myself comfortably and flinched when my leg brushed the seat.
"What happened?" My dad glanced at me.
"Nothing, just a bruise." I fibbed. He looked me in the eye and I spilled the truth.
"Um. How do I put this delicately? I was shot. Yeah." I rubbed my hands together, anticipating how he would react. Minutes passed by and I noticed in the corner of my eye that he was turning red. Anger maybe?
"Tell me who did that to you!" He raised his deep, deep voice. Nothing else happened. Usually my dad would visibly get angry: his face would turn red, a frown appeared and there was always this one vein that would bulge out of his lean neck. Was this also part of the shock from what he has been through? Surely it will wear off soon, leaving him to his old self once again.
"The people who captured you. Mike was shot too." I echoed. Mike… Mike!
"Where is Mike?" I looked around, panicking. He was nowhere in sight. No one was sitting in the grey back car seats. A resonating laugh blasted my eardrums. Weird, dad doesn't laugh like that. I flicked the thought out of my mind, and laid back into my seat, letting out a sigh.
"I sent him to be a decoy. Okay?" My dad grinned. This day could not get any stranger.
"Renee." A silvery sound whispered. Startled, I looked behind me to my left. No one was there.
"Yes?" I replied.
"Who are you talking to?" My father rasped. My face transformed into a confused mess.
"Uh… No one. Must have been day dreaming there." I hoped I was right.
"You are not safe." Another icy voice pleaded with me. I rubbed my face hard and slowly. Was I going insane? I didn't feel alarmed, but I felt sick to my stomach with anxiety and groaned with impatience. I turned to the window to observe the scenery to clear my mind. Dear God, please help me! I prayed constantly. It was only about maybe eleven in the morning, but the night seemed to have overtaken the misty day. I must be day dreaming, was the thought that I forced myself to believe. So I let myself drift of into the unknown realm of my imagination. Mike appeared before my eyes on the ground just standing there, saying nothing as if he couldn't do anything. Then he was melting, yet he did nothing. He turned inside out, literally, and then a figure crept out of this molten body. I can't, I wouldn't, describe what the figure was. I blinked, I pinched myself, I turned to my father, in which he patted me on my shoulder, but the thing was still there. On the verge of insanity, I focused on something positive, which ended up not working.
The figure turned into dust, and then my mother rose up from the ashes unscathed. Guilt and sorrow broke down the barrier in my mind of my mother. It was all my fault! I knew that she was allergic to the medication. Why didn't I ask the doctor for a different medication so that there was no chance of my mom taking the medication by accident? She looked so innocent and forgiving. I never really looked like my mom, but I had her personality. Her hair was a light brown, and it was wavy, not curly. Her eyes were a dancing deep brown and she always wore the loveliest dresses. What I loved the most about my mom was that she always made me feel better about myself, even when I felt the most down. And in just a second, she was gone and everything was normal.
Finally, my dad drove us to where we needed to be: a small barn. Interesting, but better than nothing. Once we were inside, I was surprised about what was inside. Torture devices! Why would we be here, we are the good guys and we didn't even have any prisoners anyway. I whipped around to see not my dad, but some random guy who was stout.
"Who are you?" I squealed in horror.
"Not your father." He snorted. Just when I figured out he was a shapeshifter as well as my dad, I was already strapped to a torture bed, cold and hard. I panicked, there was nothing I could do, my abilities were not working. A familiar stench replaced the somewhat clean air.
"How many of you guys are there?" I whispered.
"Plenty." The green man smirked. The two evil men chattered and argued, mainly about me. Then they left, leaving me here to die.
"You've gotta be kidding me! You can't leave me here! You know you guys are lame! You were only here for like five seconds!" I uselessly tried reasoning with the two enigmas nonchalantly walking outside. It was muggy inside here and the ground was just dirt. Plain and simple. The devices were very disturbing and there was nothing else in this petrifying barn. I was so terrified; I couldn't register any type fear, panic or emotion. I had to think quickly, my abilities still didn't work. My eyes bounced from the ceiling to the desk and all around the table. Aha! This bed was not made of metal, but wood. Old wood, and had a crack where my lower back is. All I need to do is break it, then go off from there. I started to ram my butt onto the table. Creaking started to sound, and then it happened: it broke. All of the table broke, even the legs broke off.
"Okay. How am I supposed to get off of this thing?" I puffed. The hard wood pulled me down and I struggled to stand. I could just make out the devises organized on the other tables when the obvious thought struck my drowning mind: the knife! But how to use it? There is no way I could use the darn thing without dropping it on my foot or who knows what. Even though it was light outside, it was very dark and murky in here. I could pick up some sort of sound, but I was too concerned about my wellbeing at the moment. Giving up, my knees buckle and I plummeted to the floor, with my bottom hitting the mushy floor. My pants started vibrating, and I thought it was my phone for a second, but remembered it is in my sweater pocket.
"This feels very weird." I said to myself. Worried, I get on my knees and tried to crawl my way to the side to observe what I fell on. Buzzing and soon sparking, a panel was buried under the floor. It seemed lethal to me so I battled to get onto my feet. As soon as I had my balance, I started to smash the electric panel feebly. It started to set off an alarm, or at least it said so on a flickering sign on the panel. Aggression rose in my parched throat, which led me to bash the panel to bits until the sign was not visible. Nothing could stop me now, except allergies. A burning sensation filled my nose and I opened up my mouth to sneeze. ACHOO! I blasted myself through the old barn's wall and out into the open, crushing the gigantic burden on my back to free myself from the weight. Wonderful breezes cooled my hot head and the sound of long grass crunching under my feet eased my mind.
"So that is how they do that! Smart. But how does a panel do that? Whatever, doesn't matter anyway." I grabbed my backpack and went off walking, not knowing where to go or what to do. And as I started my long trek to find my dad and Mike, I talked to myself to clear what was in my head.
"This sucks! This is so annoying; none of this makes any sense. Mike would know what to do and dad would know how to do it. I know nothing and I almost got myself killed. This is just what happens to me in school. I take migraine medication and get sleepy instead of going home. Then, I have to lie to the teacher about having anxiety. I don't have anxiety! Maybe that is why the only friends I have are Mike and Serenity. Having a billion friends are not important though, but it would be nice if people would notice me now and again. I mean, I try to make friends and I act as if I care about stuff that don't matter so I can have a freaking conversation… Wait a sec… That makes no sense! Every one at school comes to me for advice and I am actually quite popular among my classmates… Must be my mind going shock. It just must be." I pleaded to myself. Tears formed around my eyes, making everything blurry. Figures showed up from nowhere, taunting me and whispered unrecognizable words. I gagged from indescribable fear and realization that I was going crazy, no doubt about it. Some words I was able to make out, but they were not pleasant in any fashion. They said that I would die a horrible and slow death, gasping from the sight of seeing my body contorted and bloodied. I stopped, to frightened and flustered to move or breathe.
"God! Tell them to stop! Please please please! Send someone to save me from my mind! Help!" I wailed, shaking uncontrollably. God answered my prayers even before I wailed them out into the empty distance. Cold hands held me and pushed me down to the grassy ground.
"Sh, sh. Renee, what is wrong?" Mike whispered in my ear. And they were gone.
"Help me. Help me." I whimpered. My wrists were sorer than ever and nothing seemed to be able to be accomplished.
"You are with me, okay? Just don't let go of me the rest of the way and you will be fine." Mike encouraged me to get up from my mental misery.