The Sankari Legends Book One: The Scars We Hide
Chapter Thirteen: Alia

You can’t give up.

It was less than a whisper, a drifting, fleeting memory of something I was failing to hold on to. I felt like I was rising up out of the thickest, deepest fog ever imagined. The images came and went, bursting in a staccato against my eyes. Walking into the facility. Alec being ripped away from me. Screams that filled the halls as I fought to get back to him, curses from the konna thrown out of my path. Darkness as I felt something sharp prick my neck from behind. Anger as I was woken only to be shoved in a room with three of the konna fighters. Darkness spilling from Tyrone and engulfing me. Shock at seeing my brothers face, bloodied and bruised.

Give ‘em hell.

The words floated, suspended across my mind. Had I said that?

I was coming back, the images flashed faster, my mind was sharpening with the passing of each one. I saw Alec’s face, dark eyes whose emotions seared into mine, screaming at me while his lips stayed motionless. Something was burning. The images stopped. The burning sensation intensified. My eyelids no longer displayed the show of light and rapid fire pictures. They were slowly growing brighter, pain searing into them with the increasing light. The burning was bordering on unbearable.

What was going on?

The light was terrible, the burning too intense to ignore. I had to open my eyes. I tried, but they wouldn’t move.

The burning was spreading. With a startling realization I was aware of my body. The pain expanded beyond the confines of my mind. The burning was me. I was burning. Panic grew in my chest, I had to open my eyes. Something was wrong. Something was happening to my body.

A single image of a face flashed across my still closed eyes. Then the memory of a name with it.

Tyrone.

My eyes wrenched open with such force that my whole head jerked. My chest was heaving, I couldn’t breathe. Then I felt it against my bare skin. The burning was everywhere. I wanted to scream, but all sound lodged in my throat along with my breath. I jammed my eyes shut as my back arched, the pain taking priority, shoving everything else to the edges of my mind. It was rampaging, igniting every nerve ending. I clamped down on my lip, and tasted blood as the skin broke. I had to get away from the burning, but I couldn’t move. I thrashed, trying to jerk my arms away, lift my legs up, or roll on my side. Anything. Something hot was pouring down my cheeks. Tears. I felt it, smelled it, and heard it. The crack popping soundof my skin against whatever was doing this to me. The smell of burning flesh was all that would process besides the pain. The burning continued for an eternity.

I must be in hell.

Then, just as I was about to scream out against the pain, it stopped. My body collapsed and my eyes remained closed. I felt myself retreating back into my mind, into the bliss of unawareness.

Words garbled as they made their way to my ears.

“Tell us how to get to Eonith.”

A choking sound, then,

“Never.”

Footsteps walked in a circle around me. I was limp, fading, and unable to summon the energy to move even a finger.

It’s Tyrone. He did this.

I forced myself to hang on, grabbing at the edges of my consciousness, keeping myself from slipping into the painless black. I cracked one eye open, roving, seeking his face. Our eyes met and he stared back into mine with a hatred that burned into the core of me. My other eye opened and I let all of my pain and hatred pour into them, my eyes mirroring back into his.

“Fine.” His lips were tight as he said the word, eyes now on my brother, who I could see out of the corner of my eye.

His fist crashed down as a growl escaped his lips. It filled my vision as it impacted with the right side of my face. My head snapped to the side, my left cheek bouncing it back up off the table. I felt the reverberations rock my skull, pounding out a rhythm that made it almost impossible to even think.

“Tell me,” the words now tight and short, angry.

“I don’t know.” Tired, weak, and on the verge of collapse.

He can’t break.

He was close, I could hear it in his voice.

I knew what they were doing. They were using me to get to him. They knew he wouldn’t break if they only tortured him, but they had me, so that changed everything. They would torture me until he talked, and then most likely kill both of us.

Do something, Alia.

I had too. I had to do something. I wouldn’t let Alec give up, especially not because of me. The thought of even trying to talk made me want to vomit. Not that there was anything left to come up. I heard a door open and close. I had to do something. I had to move, to at least look at him. I rolled my head over, almost blacking out as the pounding in my head increased and the pain from the burns screamed for attention.

Not now. I don’t have time to pay attention to you.

Finally, my head was turned towards Alec. My right eye was swelling shut, blocking my vision, but as my good eye met his, I saw everything I need to see.

Pain. Anger. A hurt that was eating him alive. All those negative emotions and more flowed out of his gaze. But amongst that, I saw the one thing I was looking for: strength. He wasn’t giving up, he was still fighting.

Atta boy, you’re still giving them hell.

I tried to smile at him, to reassure him that we were going to keep fighting until we got ourselves out of the crazy hellhole. I’m pretty sure my smile came out as a grimace, seeing as how I couldn’t really feel part of my face, but he understood, I saw it in his eyes. He sent his own smile/grimace back, and I wanted to laugh, but couldn’t.

I heard my door slam open as two sets of footsteps entered. The head turn and smile/grimace had spent me. I couldn’t muster the energy needed to turn and see who it was that’d come in. Fortunately (or unfortunately), they walked around to stand in front of my table, cutting off my view to my brother. I was drifting away, no longer able maintain being conscious. Blackness encroached around the edges of my eye, giving me tunnel vision. The only thing I saw before faded out was a blonde girl, and then the accompanying thought,

Do I know her?

Flashes of light and bursts of images danced their way across the black landscape of my eyelids. Or at least I hope it was my eyelids, I couldn’t tell anymore. Didn’t care. Maybe I was blind. Maybe they’d taken away my sight as part of the torture.

I heard a snapping sound beside my ear, someone was yelling at me,

“Wake up, you useless waste of space!”

I felt my head loll to the side, then someone let out an angry huff.

“Hit her with it,” she said impatiently.

Every nerve ending in my body screamed out and rebelled in unison as my body was wracked with electricity. I gritted my teeth together, I was awake, and I would not scream for them.

My good eye was open, and then cautiously my other one edged open. Weird, how long had I been out?

“Ah good, you’re finally awake,” a voice sing-songed in front of me.

It was Daphne. She started talking again, but I tuned her out as I assessed my body. I looked down and was slightly mortified to find myself in only a sports bra and a pair of tight shorts. Would it really have been that hard to put me in a t-shirt and pants? I started at the top and worked my way down. My head was no longer pounding, which was a good sign. My face had seen better days, but I now had use of both of my eyes, which would be good when it came to a fight. Chest, stomach, and arms were covered in cuts and bruises, but oddly enough the deepest cuts had been cleaned and stitched up. I had a cast on my left wrist, an injury that I didn’t remember receiving. I flexed my fingers, expecting pain to come when I did, but I felt nothing. Weird. My legs were as beat up as the rest of me, but not broken, which was also good. Then there were the burns. They were covered in clean white bandages and I knew they were there, but again I still couldn’t feel them, the pain should be there and it wasn’t. They must’ve pumped me full of some pain suppressant, which I would bet money on was a power suppressant as well.

The snapping interrupted me.

“Are you even listening to me?” Daphne said, annoyed.

“Trying my hardest not to.” My voice sounded like hell, but I managed to get the words out.

Daphne frowned back at me and then flicked her wrist towards me, which was apparently a signal to the big dude beside her to hit me with his shock stick. I bit down on the inside of my cheek and tasted blood as the electricity paralyzed and held my body captive. He jerked the rod back and my body went limp in the chair I was restrained to.

“I said,” She said, “that you should be grateful that we’re taking such good care of you!” She injected peppiness into her tone, “Normally we’d have killed you and your brother by now, but apparently you’re ‘important’ or something, so you’re getting the special treatment!”

I rolled my eyes up to her face. “Well then, I guess I should just join up with you guys, since you’ve taken such good care of us!”

Ugh, my voice sounded like it belonged to a man. A very large manly man who smoked a couple dozen cigarettes a day.

“Really?” She sounded suspicious.

“Hell no,” I forced a laugh out with it that sounded like a dying cat.

She glared down at me. “You won’t be making snappy comments like that when she gets in here!”

“Oh?” I tried and failed to raise my eyebrow. Whatever. “And who exactly is she?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” she said smugly, turning towards the door. “Come on, Lettner, we have to go and fetch the other one.

As the door swung shut I started analyzing the room as best I could. No vents, no ceiling tiles, metal floor and walls, metal chairs, metal restraint. Geez, they really didn’t want Alec to be able to use anything in here to his advantage, or me either for that matter. The room was bare except for my chair and the other one beside me, which I assumed was for Alec. They were bolted to the floor, which should not be a problem for me to move, normally. I flicked my hand upwards, in a motion that should have ripped the bolts from the floor. Nothing. On the upside, it turns out my hunch about the pain suppressant being a power suppressant was right. On the downside, my hunch about the pain suppressant being a power suppressant was right. Fabulous.

Time passed and I reviewed fight scenarios that could happen when Alec and I busted out of here. Unless they magically forgot to dose him up, we were both powerless, which wasn’t great, but it wasn’t the end of the world either. We’d both been trained in hand-to-hand combat (military regulations) and we were both strong and decently fast... we could manage it as long as we stayed together. I was thinking of strategies we could use against the konna whose powers I was aware of when the door swung open and Alec stumbled through and fell to his knees. Following him through the door walked a blonde haired woman, as soon as I saw her a buzzing started in the back of my mind. Did I know her?

She said something to Alec and he came and sat in the chair beside me, flinching slightly as the restraints snapped into place. As she paced in front of us she said,

“Are you two aware of just how valuable you are?” She stopped walking. “I mean not just as hostages or informants, but just as people in Sankruus?”

Was this chick serious? I tried and failed to clear my throat, if she wanted to play games then that’s what she would get.

“One of my instructors told me I was special once,” I tried and kind of succeeded at laughing, then glared, “only I don’t think he meant what you mean.”

A scowl puckered her lips and she leveled an icy glare at me, “Very funny, Alia. However, one would think that the position you have yourself in right now wouldn’t one for making jokes.”

What a pretentious witch. “Maybe if you’re you, in all your overlord dictator power.” I winced, that was terrible, my brain must still be partially scrambled. No going back now. “I however, find that jokes make for great conversation ice-breakers. Such as right now, we are conversing and my joke was a success.”

Good recovery, Alia. I needed to get her pissed off. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Jokes are not the reason for which you are here, Miss Parker,” the blonde said icily. Ugh, she is such a killjoy.

I rolled my eyes, thankful that the movement didn’t hurt. “Then why are we? What are you going to do with us?”

Well pissing her off wasn’t entirely working. May as well try and find some things out while she’s feeling chatty.

“I am,” she paused, looking like she was in deep thought, “a last resort option, you could say. I use my gifts when others have not accomplished the objective with theirs.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“Well then,” she clapped her hands once, as if she didn’t already have our attention. “Let’s start with Alia, shall we?”

She walked over and knelt in front of me. A sinking feeling ran through my stomach, the phrase ‘last resort option’ echoed through my head. Whatever. Even if she was the most last ditch effort ever, she still wasn’t going to get Alec to talk. They obviously didn’t want us dead, so what else could they do to us?

I refocused on the blonde, I wish I knew her name, as she said, “This will only hurt for a moment, I promise.”

Then she reached up and tried to put her hands on either side of my face. I jerked my head as far as I could away from her grasp, my mind racing through possibilities in a matter of a second. She was using her hands, and had no obvious weapons, that meant that her power is mental. Immediately I slammed up walls around my mind. They were steel, strong, and had been battle honed through practice with other telepaths at the academy.Mental powers against mental powers were dangerous, and I’d long learned how to protect my mind from unwanted mental invasions. I would not let her penetrate my mind willingly. My second was up, but so were my walls.

She had a hand on either side of my face, index fingers resting on my temples. I focused on my wall, squeezing my eyes shut as I felt her mind slam into mine, but not enter it. She couldn’t get in-

A scream ripped from deep inside me, primal and desperate. My brain was melting. Being liquidized as a rod of searing, agonizing heat forced its way through. This wasn’t right. She wasn’t supposed to be able to get in. But she was. I could feel - through the heat melting my mental walls down - the ice of her mental abilities sliding through the holes in my defenses. Anything would be better than this. Even my body burning on that table felt peaceful compared to this. Then, as soon as it was there it was gone, and everything was black.

Then came an overwhelming unbearable tide of emotions. Emotions that I’d tried my hardest to bury and forget about. Emotions that I clung too and kept so close to my heart that no one else had ever seen them. This could not be happening.

I fought against the feelings. I am in control. I control my feelings they don’t control me.

I tried repeating the familiar phrase in my head, over and over. Then an image popped up. It was a memory, long stored away in my “Do Not Open Under Any Circumstances” box. But here it was, playing out before my very eyes.

My aunt Mori, who I’d lived with after my parent’s death, crouching down in front of me. Her eyes were soft and calm, and a feeling of reassurance seeped into me. She reached her hand up to cup my face, and then pulled me into a hug.

“Alia, baby, this needs to stop” her voice was soft and warm. “It’s not your fault. How many times am I going to have to tell you that?”

She looked over my shoulder into our driveway where there were rocks of various sizes scattered everywhere and a tree over the road.

I saw myself, standing there in her embrace. Stubborn and unmoving, upper lip wobbling and an angry fire in my eyes. My mouth opened to say something, to fight back against what she was saying, but I couldn’t. I started crying and threw my arms around her neck and sobbingly said, “I’m so sorry, Aunt Mori. I’m trying, I… I miss them! I...” I hiccupped out a sob. “I want my brother! What if something h-happens to him too?” I felt the panic welling up in me.

I felt myself rebelling as the memory made its way to the front of my mind, overwhelming everything else. After my parents had died I’d gone to live with my Aunt Mori. It’d been hard for her to keep me at first, because I’d have flashbacks during which my newly developed powers would go berserk. I had even unintentionally hurt people a few times. It was a time in my life that I’d repressed so hardly that seeing it now was like living through it for the first time again.

Aunt Mori stood, picking me up with her. Her hand stroked across the back of my hair and she shushed me. “Alia, your brother is going to be fine, he’s with your other family so he can use to learn his power. It’s good for him to be there.” She squeezed me tighter and rocked back and forth as I continued to cry.

“B-but what if something happens to him and I’m not there to save him? Wha-what if he dies too?” A new round of crying broke out.

“Baby girl, he going to be fine, I promise. It’s not your job to save everyone. You’re going to have to learn to trust that people can take care of themselves.”

I nodded into her shoulder, trying to stop the tears. She put me down on the ground and crouched back down in front of me, swiping her thumbs under my eyes to wipe off the tears. She smiled at me and said, “Now I’m going to tell you something that I never want you to forget, okay?”

I sniffed and nodded.

“You couldn’t control what happened to your parents, Alia. But something you can control is your emotions.” She gestured behind me, towards the destruction that I’d caused. Shame welled up in me. “Baby girl, this isn’t going to last forever, but it is going to hurt for a long time.”

She pulled me close again, this time I let her without a fight. She spoke quietly into my ear as she said: “I want you to remember that you are in control, you control your emotions and your powers, and they can’t control you unless you let them.” She squeezed tight and then let go, but still held on to my shoulders. “Do you think you can do that for me?”

I looked into her eyes and nodded, and felt a resolve growing inside of me. I would listen to my Aunt Mori. I would take her advice and never let anything have power over me over again, I would make myself strong, make myself the master of my powers and emotions. I would do this so that I could be in control of myself, and use my powers to keep others safe.

The memory faded and panic rose up in my mind as I felt my consciousness being pulled down out of my reach. Fight it, Alia. You’ve got to… got to… the blackness pervaded and I was gone.

Absorbed in the black, I felt panic rising. What was going on? Why couldn’t I see anything? Slowly light started to filter in. I blinked away the brightness, wondering what had happened. Had I passed out or something? Sound reached my ears and I heard a voice whispering furtively beside me.

“Alia what do we do? Alia?”

I shook my head, brushing the cobwebs out of my mind. Megan was beside me and we were crouched behind a rock, looking out over several small hills where a battle was raging. My senses buzzed with alarm, and acting on instinct I used my powers and pushed Megan out onto the field, before taking off into a run myself. Two seconds later an explosion rocked the ground where we’d just been crouched. I looked over to see Megan standing, guns in hand and glaring in the direction where our attackers were now all too aware that both she and I were in the open.

My heart was pounding in my ears and sweat dripped down my face as I ran towards the group that was running towards Megan.

“Megan! Go over and help Sabin!” I yelled to her. “He’s over on the other side of that hill.” I pointed east. “You have to go and help...”

I was cut off as I reached the attackers and had to engage. Thankfully Megan took off. Two of the attackers broke off to follow Megan, but I grabbed them and threw them back into the trees, then turned to face the others. One brought out a gun and aimed it at me. Before he had time to cock it I ripped it from his hands and flipped it midair to point at his forehead. Then with my other hand pulled my knives out of my belt and with a twist had them separated and pointed at each of the attackers.

They stood, frozen, and for the moment neutralized. I looked over towards the hillside where Megan and Sabin were fighting a group by themselves, and looked to be pushing them back. My senses went off in a cacophonous roar. They were going to be blasted off the hillside. I took off in a dead sprint towards them, extending my senses as far as they would go, searching for any way to save them.

I caught sight of a figure emerge from the trees, behind where Megan and Sabin were facing the konna attackers. I recognized him immediately.

“No, dammit! Megan!” I was screamed as loud as I could, “Sabin! It’s Tyrone! You have to go!”

Two attackers came up in front of me, I ducked low and flipped one over my shoulder while swinging out my left leg to trip the second and continued running. I had to get to Megan and Sabin before Tyrone did, but they were still out of my range.

They hadn’t heard me.

I was quickly gaining ground, and I tried yelling again. “Tyrone! TYRONE!”

I saw him turn towards me, still out of range of my powers, but he could hear me.

“Leave them alone!” He turned back towards Megan and Sabin and planted his feet with his hands held out in front of him.

“NO!” I screamed. “No don’t hurt them! You want me! Stop it!”

I wasn’t going to make it to them in time. I stopped and jerked both hands forward, putting as much force behind my power as I could, which resulted in Tyrone being knocked off of his feet and flying 20 feet through the air. He was not going to hurt my friends. I took off running again, adjusting my course towards where Tyrone was lying. I quickly got there and saw that he was unconscious. I moved away and started running to Megan and Sabin, determined to get them out of there. I skidded to a stop when I hear a deep yell behind me.

No.

It happened in slow motion.

“Sabin, move!” I yelled. He turned as he heard me, and I saw his eyes widen as he saw what was about to happen. Tyrone was back up and before I could react he sent twin blasts from his hands directly at my friends.

“Megan, Sabin, move! He’s going to...”

I flew backwards as the blast made contact and was thrown onto my back. I rolled over and looked towards where they had been standing, but there was nothing.

“NO!” My scream echoed through the surrounding hills. The sounds of the battle faded as I continued to stare at the space where Megan and Sabin had been just seconds ago. I pushed myself to my knees, tears burning hot trails down my cheeks.

“No.”

It was a broken sound. I hadn’t made it in time. I hadn’t been good enough. Because of me my friends were dead. I felt myself losing consciousness, not able to cope with what had just happened.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed as the black entered my mind and overwhelmed me.

My feet were pounding the ground, I was sprinting towards someone as my chest heaved, trying to keep up with my body’s demands. It was nighttime and we were on an open field, I saw a structure rising against the sky to my left. The outer wall of Edil Academy…

Why was I here? What was happening?

Bombs were dropping all around me, igniting the battlefield in a terrible orange glow. I could hear gunshots echoing all around. Still I ran, my gaze raking the landscape. I didn’t know why, but I needed to find Alec. I tore across the land, throwing konna out of my way as I ran, and stopping bullets to reverse their paths. Finally I saw him. He was running a couple hundred yards in front of me with a dozen konna fighters chasing him. As he ran he would throw a hand back and a blast of wind would knock a few down, or a rock would go careening through the middle of their group, but he was outnumbered and looked ragged. He was bleeding out of his side, and had cuts and gashes all over his body. I needed to help him.

I increased my pace, practically flying as the distance closed between us. As I ran he looked back and made eye contact with me, and I could see the relief in his expression. As quickly as it came the expression was gone as it morphed into one of panic and horror.

“Alia!” He kept running, trying to circle back to me while pointing at something behind me. I spared a quick look back and felt my stomach drop straight through to the ground. A half dozen tanks were making their way across the field along with a platoon of konna warriors between them. There was no time to think, only time to react. I had almost reached Alec when I stopped and turned, facing the group that was pursuing him.

With a quick jab of my hand four of the konna flew a hundred feet into the air and then dropped as I released them. Two pulled out guns, but I had them out of their hands and had fired into their chests before they had time to realize what was happening. Three on the left were blasted back a few hundred feet by a powerful gust of wind. Alec was fighting with me. We made quick work of the last two, and then turned to face the platoon and tanks that were quickly gaining ground.

“Alec give me some ammo!” I yelled to be heard over the explosions around us.

He bent his knees and pushed his arms upwards, the earth responding to him as he hefted a house sized chunk of earth over his head. I quickly took the boulder, twisting my hands and breaking it into chunks, holding them in the air and then launching them at the tanks. They made impact and two of them exploded, but the other four kept on, and the platoon was now running towards us. Their front line made a move and a wall of fire came right towards us, burning white hot. Alec quickly jumped in front of me and brought both hands down together with a powerful gust of wind that parted the fire around us. I grabbed two of the warriors, flipped them sideways, and plowed them through the other soldiers, using them as battering rams to knock over their comrades. The tanks were firing at us but Alec was intercepting the shots midair before they could reach us. As I turned to push a line of soldiers back I saw something move behind the tank on the end then felt a bullet flying through the air towards me. A sniper. I grabbed the bullet and sent it whizzing back, but they’d already moved, and I couldn’t focus on them. I still had half of the platoon to deal with. I yelled and charged towards those left standing. Then something like alarm bells triggered my senses, and I stopped dead and looked wildly around. I saw Alec fall down to one knee as he deflected two simultaneous blasts. He needed to get out of here.

I looked back and yelled, “GO!”

His eyes snapped up to meet mine, then broke away as he rose to his feet and used a wall of fire to dissolve a blast. I started backing towards where he was until I was beside him. “You have to get out right now! I’ll hold them off.”

I yelled. He looked over and met my eyes, his gaze pure steel as he looked at me. “I’m not leaving you! Just take care of them!”

He motioned towards the still standing warriors and took off running at two of the tanks.

“No, NO!” I yelled, seeing what was about to happen.

“ALEC LOOKOUT!” I screamed, but it was too late. He’d approached the two tanks to go on the offensive, but the sniper had jumped out from behind one. I saw his body jerk twice as bullets tore into his body. I felt to my knees and cried out as my chest exploded with pain, with Alec’s pain. The konna warriors had reformed and were running towards me, yelling an unintelligible battle cry, but I didn’t care. My tear blurred vision went red. They would not get away with this.

With a yelled that dwarfed the warriors’ I raised my hands and focused my mind, singling out the warriors and the tanks, and slammed my palms on the earth with as much force as I could and sent out a blast that knocked not only the warriors hundreds of yards away, but sent the tanks flipping end over end with them. I quickly ran to Alec, who I’d sent the blast around. He was lying flat on the ground, eyes glazed over, looking above with sightless eyes.

I slid to a stop on my knees beside his head, gently grabbing it in my hands.

“Alec,” my voice was quiet. I didn’t believe what I was seeing, but I felt it. Two holes in his chest, oozing blood that dripped onto the ground. Pain like a slow dull throb, aching outwards. Two bullet holes for him and one gaping hole for me, where my connection to him was, both irreparable. I moved down and gripped his shoulders, leaning over him.

“Alec, NO!” I shook his shoulders, trying to get a response out of him. This couldn’t be happening. “Wake up! Alec! Please!”

I felt my body shaking, and I couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t real. He couldn’t be dead. With a gasping breath the pain invaded and sobs wracked my body. I bowed my head down to his chest, tears pouring in steaming rivers down my cheeks.

“Please,” my voice cracked as a sob tore through me. I took a gulping breath, the tears muffling my voice, “Please, you can’t leave me.”

It was my fault. My brother was gone. Dead. Because I hadn’t been fast enough to save him. I sat there for an eternity, rocking with Alec’s head in my lap, bent over him as the tears dripped down my cheeks and onto his.

“Alia,” the wind blew, I must’ve just heard something. No one was there to say my name anymore. “Alia.”

Again, this time louder. I swung my head around wildly looking for someone was saying my name. There was no one anywhere. I bent my head back over Alec. I was just hearing things. I wanted him to be alive, it was wishful thinking that I was hearing someone say my name.

I jerked around on reflex when I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder and Alec’s head slid out of my lap and onto the ground. What I saw when I whirled around stopped me dead.

“Alia,” his voice was breathy, a whisper. It was Alec, my brother, standing there, translucent and colorless in front of me. He reached his hand out to me. “We need to leave.”

The words floated over to me, but I couldn’t register what I was seeing. I looked wildly back and forth between the broken lifeless body of my brother, and this form of him that was standing in front of me.

“Alec?” I could barely hear my own voice when I said it. Tears sprang up in my eyes again. I reached towards him, but he took a step back when he saw what was behind me, his body, dead. His eyes met mine with a haunting sorrow.

“Oh Alia, I’m so sorry.” The words were soft, sad. He reached his hand out, “Please. Come with me.”

I could be with my brother. He was asking me to come with him.

“Okay Alec,” My voice was calm, steady. “Okay.”

As I reached out and took his hand everything around us faded, the color drained out of the landscape. It felt like we were moving up, or everything else was moving down extremely fast. My calm feeling was dissipating quickly. I looked back to ask Alec where we were going, but he wasn’t there.

“Alec! Alec where are you?” I yelled into the blank nothingness around me.

“Alia!” I heard a voice screaming back.

“Alec!” My voice was desperate and scared. “Alec don’t leave me!”

“Alia,” the voice boomed around me. “I need you to wake up!”

“What do you mean?” I looked around for something, anything, but everything was white, and I was in the middle of it, suspended and alone.

Suddenly everything started moving again, black was seeping into the nothingness, like I was being pulled upwards into a black hole.

“No,” I screamed while trying to move around. “No, Alec! What’s happening?!”

“ALIA!”

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