woke. | II

hady

"There was a time I would think believing your dreams are real is a bit of a stretch," He said, "but those days are long gone now."

Alex joined us with Mr. Everleigh at a quarter past four, chatting like old buddies.

"I'm telling you, their equipment is totally out of this world, Mr. E!"

"And I'm rather confident we would be able to replicate it. However, that cure they mentioned, do you believe they were telling the truth?"

"Honestly, J. I don't know. The memory modifier serum destroyed them." Alex shook her head and her black hair cascaded like silk curtains over her face. There was a time it was blue. And before that, pink. Red. Orange. Green. All the colours of the rainbow. The only colour I'd never seen her in was blonde or brown.

"Liquefied them, more like." Danny interjected.

"Well, as I told both of them earlier, you'll have a trainer come by to show you how to properly defend yourself in an exactly thirteen minutes. You will come by after school every day, except when you have other activities," He looked pointedly at Alex who was staring at the side of a computer studiously.

"I do not expect you to disrupt your everyday lives for me and neither should you have to. On weekends, we could also have something, unless you have plans with your family, in which case, you should always prioritise family."

We nodded in agreement with Daniel's father, but we also know that it is something we would try not too hard to uphold. My brother was lying on a cot in his underground laboratory. My family is here. I needed to bring Cam back as much as Daniel had to save Dana.

Also, my grades were already suffering and I wasn't about to let calculus or some mundane schoolwork get in the way of fighting my way out of eversleep's grasp. It would be ironic if I failed and would never get to use what I've learnt from school.

"Now, I personally do not think it is safe to trust anyone or anything in the eversleep. However, you should try your best at gaining the trust of others in order to get the truth. Do not take everything at face value," Jason continued sternly, "Try not to fight, unless you are in immediate mortal peril."

I tried not to look smug and succeeded. This was nothing to compete over. We had a date with a life or death situation every single night. There was no time for inflated egos.

"Meanwhile, I shall take it upon myself to find this cure. I do know some people who might be able to reach the inner workings of the government but it will take some time. There are connections to be built and relationships to be strengthened before it can happen." Jason nodded to Danny and he gave an almost imperceptible nod in return.

"Be careful, father." Danny said and his father exited with a curt, "Thank you, Daniel."

The trainer showed up five minutes earlier than expected and when he was done with us, we wished we never set our eyes on him at all.

Jun was a man of small stature, but lean and powerful. His movements were very precise. He made us do burpees, mountain climbers and an array of exercises I have never even heard of.

When we were exhausted from the workout, he announced we were done with warming up and that it was time to truly begin. He walked us through some Aikido, a little bit of Wing Chun to Alex's delight and then he paired off music with Capoeira to really finish us off.

To end the lesson, he had us doing planks while he walked around screaming about core muscles and kicking us in the abdomen. Making any noise of complaint resulted in a short and passion filled mini speech about how were weren't engaging the right muscles that resulted in another round of exercises.

By the time Alex and I stumbled on home, I couldn't feel my stomach and Alex said everything was on fire.

"You were so cool though, Hads. I didn't know you could move like that." She gushed.

"Neither did I." I said, shrugging. It was surprising to me too how quickly I caught onto the moves and I had found myself on several occasions willing the other two to just get it already. The moves weren't that complicated and felt natural to an extent. When you're moving either to attack or defend, it should be as fluid as dancing but they made it look as though Jun had asked them to explain quantum physics through charades.

Alex slapped me on my sore back before heading off towards her house, "See you tonight."

"Yeah, see you."

When I reopened my eyes after going to bed, I didn't see Alex standing in front of me. For as long as I could remember, she had always been the first face I saw. Tonight, it was different.

The mist surrounding me felt sinister, as though they hid monsters. And they did. Evil ones with great black eyes and hairless skin that shone luminously. Another people would think that they were elegant and ethereal... But I knew better.

I didn't try to call for Alex or Danny or my brother, I just started walking deeper into the woods... Trying to make as little noise as I possibly could.

Moonlight cast itself all around me, making everything much creepier. Funny, I remembered it being brighter. There had always seemed to be a perpetual glow to midland. Like the blue hours before sunrise, but now... It was dark and dappled in ghostly rays of light. As I was taking note of my surroundings, a figure loomed from the shadows. Startled, all the training went out the window and I stood frozen and still, thankful for the pressureon my right arm where the lethal weapon was still attached. I held it up infront of me and waited as the human figure approached and showed his face.      

"I know you." He whispered softly and wonderingly. "I had hoped I would never meet you again, but not because I didn't want to. But if you're here, then... It means you're an Abnormal."

I felt like I should be offended, but I was too stricken by the fact that another human being was standing in front of me who wasn't someone I knew. Can he be trusted? How do I extricate myself from this situation?

"An Abnormal?" I smirked, channelling Alex and hoping I sounded flippant and nonchalant, "There is nothing abnormal about me. I'm the most normal person you'd ever meet," I paused for a moment, noting his dark hair and deep set features before saying, "but I can't stay, I need to find my friends before I get killed or worse, eaten." A little hysterical laugh made its way out of me before I offered, "You're not going to do either, are you?"

"No..." He said again in that soft voice, brows furrowed in thought. It made me uneasy.

"Look, I gotta go, uhh...?" I trailed off, not knowing what to call him.

"Emiliam." God, Alex would have such a good laugh at his name. Amy-Liam?

"It was nice meeting you, Emiliam."

"It was nice seeing you again, Hadilynn." He said before melting into the darkness.

I froze. He wasn't kidding when he said he's met me, was he?