She's The Lie (She's The Enemy Sequel)

Isla

"I'm watching, I'm waiting, I'm aching... suffocating. I'm breathing, I'm speaking, can you hear me?
I'm screaming for you."

What's the most painful thing you can ever feel? Death? Hate? 

Loss?

I remember a moment in my life in which I longed for the feeling to not feel at all. And now, sat here, seeing the world ahead of me, shimmering like a mirage painted on the surface of a lake. I feel nothing. It's as if I could close my eyes and my body would become still and silent. Like a whisper in an infinite void. Like death. So empty and lonely and yet, so peaceful.

Because when you feel nothing and see nothing, you become nothing. You lose your position on the earth. Being able to feel is a blessing, passed on to the human and Fae races so that they can never get lost. And yet so many people are lost in their own minds, lost in a world of their own creation. I think that is a worse feeling than death.

I wonder if Emelie is in pain. Some small shred of me is holding onto the idea that she is still alive, that the reason that I don't feel like someone has pulled my heart out of my chest is because my mate is still breathing. Maybe she is... In a world different to this one. One where we made different choices, became different people.

I want to cry; I need to cry. And yet, I do not cry. I just sit and stare ahead of me, listening to the jaws of the earth clench together, the same jaws that had just devoured the girl I love. And yet, I still do not cry. Instead, I feel my arm begin to shake, small light green particles rising from my skin like a wave of gas. They swarm me, filling my senses, weaving in between my bones. I just watch it, my breath becoming short, eyes becoming weary. And that's when I hear my name; when I watch a boy scurry to my side, his eyes ice blue.

"Isla..." He reaches out for me but as his skin comes into contact with mine, it shrivels, darkening. "What the hell?" His eyes narrow and I suddenly notice that many more people are staring at me in alarm, their eyes wide, bodies stiff.

If I could feel, I think this is the most alone I would have ever felt.

The particles cluster together, rising higher and higher, beginning to choke me under their weight. And amongst the swarm, I hear a voice. Emelie's voice, soft and light, floating as it wraps its way through my ears. It was a small chain of words.

She ran and ran and ran and ran and ran... 

The same sentence over and over again and it was suddenly the only thing I knew. Until it wasn't. Until the particles disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, leaving only the memory of those words burned into my skull.

"Isla...?" Ty states cautiously, his eyes narrowed. 

"Yes?" The word leaves my mouth much less timid than I thought it would. I slowly raise my gaze to his. It had been so long since I had last seen him. So long since those eyes had gazed into mine.

"Are you okay?" He continues, adding far too much breath to his words. I nod slowly, getting onto my feet. I can't bring myself to care about what had just happened. I can't even bring myself to actually register the encounter in my brain.

She ran...

The world outside of the palace silences, even the rain stilling.

People are staring avidly, their eye trained on me- their queen. And I'm breaking in front of their eyes. I feel Ty rest his hands on my arms, settling me.

"You want something to eat? Maybe a glass of water?" His voice is soothing as it echoes around my skull and I'm suddenly eager to be anywhere but where I currently am.

"Yes," I state. Short and simple. 

***

We are sat at the dining room table. Part of the wall on one side has caved in, light-coloured bricks scattered across the floor and a large mound of earth in its place. It all happened so quickly. So suddenly. I take another sip of my water.

"Hey..." Adrien enters the room, Naidia following close behind.

"That was a hell of a party trick, Isla," Naidia exclaims before Adrien glares over at her. She rolls her eyes at him, biting her lip so hastily that if you hadn't had your gaze fixed onto the lips for the entire time in which she was talking, you wouldn't have seen it. She turns her head to meet my gaze, "But... I'm guessing you didn't mean to do it..." A slight look of guilt passes over her face as she studies me. I was 15 when I first met Naidia. She must've been around 42 then. 

Naidia is just so bright and cheerful and full of energy, even in her worse moments. I mean, she can also be a narcissistic, sarcastic asshole, but, I think that's part of her charm. 

She's always been like the big sister that I never had.

And the one thing that this girl could do better than anyone was cheer a person up.

"Emelie's dead." My expression remains blank as I say this. Naidia's eyes soften and Adrien twitches slightly behind her. "But she's not..." I continue my sentence, "I heard her... I feel her..."

"Isla-" Adrien begins.

"She's alive. I know she's alive... I have to find her. I have to save my kingdom and then I have to find her," The words cascade from my mouth, without me having any knowledge of what I'm saying. 

"I think you should take a break. Let us deal with the kingdom, we'll send out search parties to hunt for any survivors, maybe see the sears in order to figure out what happened..." Adrien trails off slowly as he watches the expression on my face twist.

"I can't-" I start but am interrupted by a new face that walks through the door.

"When a mate of a royal Fae dies, it messes with the connection that enables that Faerie to use magic. You'll be in an unpredictable state for the next few days and that is why you need to take a break." Xavier locks his eyeliner with mine, "You're going to be feeling a lot of strange and alien emotions in the coming days, you probably feel a lot right now... You just need some time..."

I feel nothing.

Xavier's voice wavers as he speaks.

"We will mourn Emelie in due time. But for now, there are more important things at hand." Adrien glances over at the other boy as he says this, narrowing his eyebrows slightly, "Adrien, why don't you and Ty try and assemble a search party... and Naidia, ask around to see if anyone knows of a sear who lives nearby, Shea might have a good idea." The three of them nod in turn, each one reluctant to leave my side, an action that is greatly appreciated. However, eventually, they all leave, allowing me and X to have the room between us.

X runs a hand through his moonlight coloured hair, breathing out heavily before taking the seat opposite me. He leans over the table slightly then glances quickly at the door before saying two words that I'd been begging to hear.

"Emelie's alive."

A/N

As a writer, one of the most important things that you have to understand is the reasons and purposes in which people do things and basically 100% of the time this is backed up by emotion. So in order to write you need to know which emotions affect which actions and so forth. 

Personally, I find this incredibly difficult as I struggle to understand and separate my own emotions and, this chapter portrays this feeling through Isla's loss. I only say this as I know it reads quite confusingly, however, sometimes the human brain is impossible to understand and that was partly the message I wanted to get across. Although, I am always open to constructive criticism and please lmk if you think this chapter is too difficult to follow!

Anyways, thank you so so so much for reading and I really hope you have a wonderful day!