Oblivion

Chapter 9 part 2

       "She maybe old but I wouldn't put it against her to try anything. So be on your guard." he let me go and followed the old woman into the building.

          Everything in the building was dry and everything was broken, dirt lay in thick layer on the floor and on everything else. Orion, Allister, and I all sat in a semi-circle around the elderly woman, waiting for her to start her story.

          "It was a week ago, when the lights came in the middle of the night. Everyone was freaked out; running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But this boy, Tyler Markus, didn't even move, he just looked up at the sky and soon a blinding white light shown down on him and soon it pulled him up into this- this thing and he was gone. After that the town blew up." The woman explained; she seemed so nonchalant about the whole thing.

       I was very confused; it didn't make sense. Lights can't just pull people up into the sky! It was Allister who voiced my thoughts, "People can't be pulled up by lights!"
The lady looked at him with anger, "Do you think I would lie about something like this? I realize how crazy it sounds, believe me I know. But believe me or not, that's your choice, I know what I saw."

        "Come on." Allister and I looked over at Orion who was on his feet, dusting the dirt from his pants. He reached into my backpack, pulled out a loaf of bread and a canister of water and hauled it at the woman. "That's all she can tell us about the destruction of Ashby." Allister opened his mouth to protest against him but Orion silenced him with a look and Allister stood up to follow Orion out of the building.

        "Wait! Wait!" the woman stopped us, her boney reaching out to grab my arm. "There is one more thing I can remember. If you three want to hear it." She waited for us to sit, but Orion just kept standing, his hands crossed over his chest. When it was clear that we weren't going to sit back down, the woman straightened but the best she could and started her story.

     "There was also a girl with him. Pretty thing, unique looking, bright blue eyes, blonde hair and striking pale skin. She was right behind him when the lights picked up the boy, but she wasn't sucked up along with him." She fell silent.

          "What happened to the girl?" I was surprised by how desperate Orion sounded.

The woman looked at him up and down, debating if she would tell him or not. "She disappeared when the boy was taken. Where she went, I don't know. All I know is that she was gone."

    I saw Orion's shoulders visibly relax and I was even more confused.

      "Alright," Orion figured became ridged again, he looked from me to Allister. "let's go you two."

The woman watched us leave without complaint, her face fell as the two boys left the building. Allister and Orion left me behind, both were walking pretty fast. I was about to exit the building when the woman's boney hand grabbed my wrist, catching me by surprise.

        "Don't go." She whispered, her eyes shifted from me to the exit where Orion and Allister walked out of.
I was confused, "What?"
The woman's hand was a lot stronger then it looked, "You mustn't leave! You're not safe!" I grew more confused, but the look on her face scared me. It was crazy, she looked psycho, like a dog in fear.

        "Let go of me!" I hissed at her, yanked my arm away from her. The woman looked disconnected from reality, her eyes were glazed over and she didn't even seem to see me.

          With a shaky breath, the woman spoke, "Those two boys will only bring you misery. Remember, the devil wasn't an ugly red creature with horns, he was once beautiful and desired." And the woman stood up and walked off towards a stairwell leading towards the other stories of the building.

      Something close to fear broiled under my skin. Her words seemed like an ominous warning; she was trying to tell me something very important without actually telling me. I was so deep in thought I didn't even hear Orion come back into the building looking for me.

           "Addieca, what are you doing? Come on we have to leave this place." He grabbed my arm and started pulling me to the door. I let him drag me out of the door into the blinding sunlight. Allister was sitting on pile of rubble waiting for us.

       "Where did you go, Red?" Allister asked, a grin plastered on his face as he threw his arm around my shoulders. His arm weighed heavy on my shoulders.

      "Come on you two." Orion commanded, glaring at us. Allister smirked and dropped his arm off my shoulders and we started to follow him to the road that led out of Ashby.

         "Stop!" a shrill, high pitched voice rangthrough the air; we all stopped to see the old woman standing at the top of the broken building. She stood barefoot at the edge of the roof. From here I could see that she was shaking.

       Her voice held a slight tremor, "Y-you won't take me! You've taken away my town and now you can't take me!" The woman screamed and I heard a sob escape her mouth. I didn't even have time to process what she said before she took a step off the building, falling to her death on the jagged rocks below. I cried in distress and I rushed to her side, hoping that by some miracle that she would still be alive, but as I drew closer my hope dissipated completely. The woman's head was split open and blood and a gray mass that I expected to be brains seeped from the wound, her eyes were open and glazed over, her tongue poked out of the side of her mouth. I couldn't help but cry in horror. I have seen so much death in the past few weeks. What was she talking about? Who was going to take her away?

      A hand pressed against my shoulder and I jumped, Orion was behind me; his face was expressionless. "Addieca we need to go now."

          I shook his hand off my shoulder, "And go where, Orion? Where do we go from here?" I was starting to become hysterical. "We can't go back to Everlost because that burned down to the ground and I don't want to go back to Hallowdrive. So where do we go, Orion?" I was screaming at him now. I was angry, I felt weak and helpless, I didn't know what the hell was going on or why all this was happening. If anyone had asked me a month ago, if I would have had to face any of this, I would have laughed at them and told them to get off my property. I was breathing heavily now, staring at both the boys, waiting for one of them to answer. But they didn't have an answer, we were thrown into a pitiful silence.

     "Well... Red, we can't stay here, now can we?" Allister said, a small smile eased his face. He walked carefully to me, like I was a frightened animal, I wanted to fight but I was too tired to push him away. I let him slid his arm around my shoulders gently, and lead me away from the woman; his one hand rubbed my shoulder. He was whispering to me but I wasn't paying him any attention, all that would cross my mind as we left Ashby; I didn't even know her name.

*END OF PART 2*