Hello! Summer is finally and officially here for me!:) I'm so glad too. This chapter is much longer than any of the previous chapter which is good, I suppose. Sorry about any spelling, grammar, etc. errors. Review if you want! Thank you to anyone who has reviewed and also thank you to my readers as well!:)
She could've sworn that she heard someone calling her name, but she couldn't hear it over the sound of heavy objects being thrown and screams. The voice sounded blurred like the rest of her hearing and vision was. She didn't even know what was going on. She couldn't visibly see and her hearing was off. Everything was black, like darkness enveloping every inch of light there was until there wasn't any light at all. There was another heavy thud that sounded like a table being thrown onto the ground and then there it was again, the muffled voice calling her name. She tried to focus on the voice, only the voice. She drowned out any other noise and listened for the voice. The voice became clearer and any other noise faded from her hearing. She recognized the voice, it was her sister's.
Suddenly, she jolted awake and everything around her was blurring. Waking up from her meaningful dream was like being pulled out of the ocean after holding your breath for a couple of minutes. Everything was blurred and your head ached. You could feel the change as well; the change from being under something to being above it. Seven sucked in a couple of breathes and concentrated on them. Each one was slow and she held it for a short moment before releasing. She watched as everything, shapes and colors, faded back to normal.
She was lying in bed or rather was lying in bed before she sat up from her dream. She looked to her left side and saw that she was gripping the covers. Sweat glistened on her wrist, her palms, her arms, and almost everywhere skin was evident. She tried calming her breathing, trying only to focus on her breathing. She turned her head to the other side and saw her sister staring at her with worried eyes. Six was standing beside the bed hesitantly. Seven sucked in another breathe before her older sister sat down on the bed side.
Six eyed her over. She could see the way the blanket crumpled at her ankles, the unnatural glow that came from her ankle underneath the blankets, the light sheen of sweat glistening over her legs, the almost steady breathing pattern of her chest, the way her arms tense and her hands gave a vice-like grip on the blankets, the sweat that occupied her arms, neck, dip of her collarbone, and face, the way her lips parted, trying to suck in more air, and the way her eyes seemed to dilate. It was something that struck terror and worriment in Six's heart.
Seven twisted the covers trying to focus on anything, but the throbbing thrum in her head. It seemed to mimic her heart, beating as one. Seven breathed in and held in for a moment before drawing out the breath. The throbbing slowly subsided and she released her grip from the covers, her fingers hesitantly and a little fidgety uncurled from the blankets.
She glanced at the other Lorien who face was etched with worry that touched every angle and curve of her face. She hated seeing her older sister so worried and it wasn't because she was being stubborn about her taking care of her because she knew that was ridiculous, no-it was the fact that her sister had to. She had to worry about her younger sister. Seven always felt like she was just a huge burden that her older sister had to bare and she hated that.
"Are-Are you alright?" The Lorien asked with a voice that held as much terror and worriment as her face. The voice sounded very much unlike her; it was slightly rough, but sounded like honey being poured over an ice cube, it cracked in the middle and was tinged with sadness.
Seven managed to steady her breathing pattern. Her throat felt dry and it stung when she swallowed.
Number Six hesitantly touched her sister forehead tentatively as if wanting to see her reaction. She gave a small wince. The fingers that touched her temple were cold and stung a bit. It was like her mind and head were very sensitive in that moment.
Six pulled her hand down, not wanting to cause her sister anymore harm than she already had. Sometimes she felt useless, like she couldn't help her sister no matter how hard she tried. It was an awful feeling.
Her younger sister gave a soft and over exaggerated nod, as if trying to convince herself that she was in fact okay. It was an uneasy task, trying to lie to yourself and she was no exception.
"Mhm." She said softly as she ran a hand through her slightly dark and damp hair.
Six looked at her. She was lying again and Six could tell. She was just about to say something when her younger sister pushed the rest of the crumpled covers off of her and shifted off the bed. She walked past her worried-stricken sister and into the bathroom that resided at the left of her former position. She walked into it and just as she was about to close the door behind her she turned and looked at her sister.
Her sister sat in the same spot, on the side of the bed, her face lined with worry and something near sadness. Six looked up at her with a small, but still very much there, frown.
"You shouldn't worry so much. I'll be fine." She said and gave a reassuring smile before closing the door.
Six sat there and had a feeling an utter uselessness occupying her mind. She sat there for a moment before giving a sigh and walking out of the room.
Seven came out of the shower twenty-five minutes later clean and dressed. She walked into the living room of their current apartment and found Six looking at a dagger. The table had two duffel bags on it. They were both rather small in size. They were the color of a moonless night. One held an innumerable amount of weapons. The other held their almost nonexistent amount of clothes. There was also a backpack on the ground that held a GPS, a couple days amount of food, mostly granola bars, two bottles of water, a disposable phone; they couldn't risk any tracking, and a small foreign dagger. It held Number Seven's things that her older sister always made her keep with her just in case. You can never be to careful.
Number Six was dressed in all back. She had on tight-fitted jeans, a leather jacket, and black shoes. Her hair fell in disheveled waves down her back.
Number Six put the dagger down and grabbed the belt lying on the table in front of her. It was as black as everything else.
Number Seven was wearing tight-fitted jeans as well, since she could no longer wear shorts because of her loric charm acting up. Normally, her ankle sock would cover the charm, but since the loric charm began to glow uncontrollably in the past few days she had to resort to wearing jeans. They didn't want to risk anything happening, anything unnatural happening especially in a public place. A bright pink tank top adorned her torso and she wore black shoes as well. She managed to pull her hair up into a ponytail, her side-swept bangs feathering over one eye.
Six fastened to the belt over her hips and jeans. She grabbed the dagger and sheathed it.
She heard soft footsteps, the kind that was careful as if hesitant about something. She glanced up to see that it was her Lorien sister walking towards the table.
She met her sister's gaze and there was something understanding in the way that they looked at each other. A silent forgiveness and upstanding passed through them and a small smile slid on their faces.
Seven grabbed the disposable phone laying on the wooden table and slid it in her front pocket before grabbing her backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. Seven grabbed the keys to the apartment and one duffel bag while her younger sister grabbed the other. The bags were slightly heavy, well the one with the weapons was.
They walked out of the apartment and closed the door of another apartment before returning the keys to the owner.
Number Six was walking with a fast pace and her younger sister had to jog to keep up.
"Mind telling me where we are going?" She asked once she noticed her sister's urgency.
The other Lorien looked at her with a smile, but still kept up the fast pace.
Once they got to the motorcycle, Six got on it with the same urgency as before. Seven swung herself on the black motorcycle before being handed the other duffel bag quite quickly. She slid the duffel bags between her chest and her sister's back. The duffel bag was about half the sixe of a normal duffel bag, maybe less. She wrapped her hands around her elder's waist. The motorcycle roared to life and just as quickly took off down the road. Seven's hands tightened around her sister's waist. She didn't know where they were going and she was sure she wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon.
By the time they reach their destination, hours have past and the once dawning sun is now setting. The sky is an array of orange, yellow, and pink. It's quite beautiful.
They pull up to the last of the road and sand begins to take its place. Six swings herself off of the motorcycle and Seven does the same, expectantly. She hands the duffels bags to Six who give a reassuring smile to her sister's confused face. The island is covered in sand and trees. Houses that aren't very sturdy freckle the land and an ocean adorns it.
The older Lorien walks up the somewhat steep slope of sand and her younger follows, trailing behind her.
Seven tightens the straps on her backpack the settles on her shoulders because its just something to do. She wondered why they were at the beach. Her hands were suddenly clammy. She gazed at the beautiful serene.
Her sister disappeared through a short tree whose leaves feathered out and over the impending view. She pushed her way through the mass of leaves and saw her sister trailing up. She followed up the sand path. The path curved to right side, opposite of the beach. She jogged up to keep up with her sister, the sand making it hard to run. Once she was beside her elder they were just by the curve. They sand no longer trailed upward, it stayed flat, well as flat as sand can be.
She saw a beach house. It had white stairs descending from it. The house was colored a shell pink and the occasional white line adorning the corner of it. The roof was painted white as well. A soft palm tree stood beside it, faithfully. Six stared at the house with accomplishment. The younger Lorien looked at the sand below and say a small pile of ash tainted the sand. She rushed to it for no reason and kneeled down beside it. Seven tried to put the pieces together. They were at a beach for a reason she didn't know and she doubted they were here to stay. Her sister was very urgent with her doings that morning. There was a pile of ash in front of the house. She felt like she was forgetting something. She tried to remember anything in the pass few days or weeks that would help. Then she remembered it and something clicked. The video she saw. Realization dawned on like the sun did earlier that morning. They were in Florida at four's use-to-be house, but why?
Her hands were more clammy than they were minutes before and the loric charm on her gave the unwelcome tug again, that one rougher that the other's. She felt the heat of the loric charm.
Her sister came beside her.
"They must've burned there identities, judging from the pile of ash." Six said with knowledge.
Seven glanced up at her older sister before pulling herself up and eyeing the house.
"Why are we here?" She asked with curiosity.
Six grinned at her sister before she dropped the duffel bags and rummaged through one. She pulled out something that she had wrapped in her hand.
She threw it unexpectedly at her younger sister who caught it, a little off guard. It was smooth and the shape made her question it. She opened her hand and saw that it was lighter, a dark purple lighter.
She looked at her elder sister who was rummaging through the duffel bag again.
"We're going to burn it?" She asked with astonishment.
Six looked up from the duffel bag and straightened pulling a carton of gasoline with her. She gave a reassuring smile that said 'yes and I know what I'm doing.'
"Yep," She said as she walked into the house," Come on."
Seven guessed that she shouldn't have been surprised because, really this was Six we are talking about and if you've ever met her or lived with her you know that this is exactly the type of thing she would do.
She walked up the stairs and with each step she took closer to the house she felt the loric charm heat up even more. Her skin was warm and it made her feel a bit uncomfortable. She stepped into the house and felt a jolt on her ankle. She ignored it.
The younger Lorien heard the sound of dropping wood and followed it. It lead her into a room where her sister was pulling at the drawers and letting them fall to the ground.
"Are you just going to stare or are you going to help me?" Six asked as she pulled out another drawer.
Six walked toward drawer and tipped it over. She could see the urgency in her sister's actions so she help pulling at the drawers and tipping things over. Her sister opened the gasoline tank and spilled it everywhere, covering the entire house in it. Seven walked behind her trying to avoid the gasoline. She came into view of a particular room and was drawn to it somehow, which I know sounds silly. She looked at the room with curious eyes and at that moment she felt the loric charm that was warmly nestled on her ankle prickle. Ow, she thought. The prickle felt like when you light a lighter. You rub you thumb over the switch and then there's that little flick of sound and fire. It felt exactly like that.
She looked down at her ankle and then at the room accusingly before she was nudged by her sister to keep moving. The prickle didn't draw out it was about a long as the flick of a flame.
She kept moving until the house was covered in gasoline.
Her elder held a hand out expectantly, a smile adorning her face. She smiled back and handed to purple lighter.
"Thanks. You should get out of this house though." She said with kindness.
Her younger sibling nodded, understanding, before running out of the house. Which each step she took she felt the loric charm get less warm and her hands less clammy. But she also felt the loric charm tugging more forcefully, as if it wanted to go back. She resisted and hid behind a tree far enough from the house. She heard the whoosh of the flames and eventually saw it as well.
She heard footsteps and stepped away from the tree to see her sister smiling with not a burn or ash on her.
"Mission accomplished." Number Six said with a smile making her little sister laugh.
They walked back to the motorcycle after that and Number Seven turned her head back to the burning house. She felt drawn to it somehow or maybe it was the people that use to live there.