Bound by Loneliness

Voices

Their screams were everywhere. Haunting her just like their faces, torn into grimaces in the moment of death, with hollow eyes and blood-covered bodies. Mylo... Claggor... Vander. Powder still didn't want to believe that the two boys died because of her. That it was the sole fault of the explosion caused by her makeshift-granade to end their lives.

All she had wanted was to save them! She never planned to hurt her friends. Despite Mylo always being rude to her, having no faith in her abilities... Despite Claggor always looking at her as if she was nothing but a toddler... They had been like brothers for her. Just like Vander had been her father. And Vi...

Powder woke up with a scream, the salty taste from tears everywhere on her quivering lips. Everything about this was foreign to her – the bed, the smell of the blankets, the noises, the lights in the distance. This was not her home, but she had lost home the moment Vi had abandoned her.

Hugging herself tightly, she tried to calm down her rattled breathing. This was her new home now. Silco... he said he would take care of her. Show her how to become strong enough to show everyone they were wrong about her being useless.

But she missed so many things! The noise from The Last Drop, always full of action until the next dawn, had been kind of her lullaby for so long. Vi's arms were no longer holding her, caressing her hair when she woke up after a nightmare.

Distorted faces were still painted within the shadows, their screaming voices painfully loud in Powder's head, and no one was here to soothe her. No matter if she closed her eyes or held them open, they wouldn't leave. They would never leave.

It's your fault. You killed us. Because you're a jinx.

A jinx doesn't have to be something bad at all.

Silco's voice joined them, louder than the others, but he didn't scream. It didn't hurt listening to him.

Powder wrapped herself out of the scratchy blanket and let out a whimper when her naked feet touched the cold ground. She wouldn't be able to sleep again, and her stomach growled. While she didn't know these barracks well after the few hours she had spent here, she was sure to remember where she could find something to eat. Sevika hadn't given her much before she had been sent to bed, and it had tasted terrible. There had to be more though, no matter how bad the taste, since it would at least ease the hunger. Powder just hoped she wouldn't meet Sevika again tonight... this woman was scary and obviously didn't like her.

Everything seemed different during night, although the green lights coming from distant buildings were the same, and while Powder had been sure to recognize the kitchen door when she found it, there was nothing coming even close to what she remembered. But the deeper she sneaked into the shadows, the louder became the voices in her head and the images she could see at the corners of her vision.

They frightened her, and with the growing hunger nagging at her insides, the tears began to flow again. She didn't want to cry. Only babies cried, right? And she was a big girl already! But in the end, Powder had to realize that she didn't even find the way back to her room anymore. She was tired, she was hungry, she was lost. For a brief moment, she thought about curling up in one of the corners, but the shadows would swallow her. Maybe hurt her, even.

She could run away, far away from the shadows and closer to the lights, but what then? Different shadows would wait for her, and different people. Evil people.

A sob escaped her mouth, echoing too loudly in the darkness, and Powder covered her mouth with both hands. That was when her eyes caught a shimmer of light, just a small line making its way under a door close to her. Powder didn't know where the door would lead, but since there was light, it meant that someone was in there. And whoever it was could help her find back to her room. She just hoped it wouldn't be Sevika.