Freaks

44 • eye of the storm

"Don't worry about that, we've got this under control. We're contacting the other islands. We'll stop them."

"No! Emma, you don't understand! This isn't it. This is nothing. There are more. They aren't going to stop until they're in control. Oh God, I can't die like this. There isn't enough time."

Valerie's panic starts to rub off on me. Even though we're in an open field, I start to feel suffocated. The little hope that had kept me going starts to dwindle. "I don't — I don't know what you want me to do, Valerie. What am I supposed to do?!"

"Let me touch your forehead."

"What?"

She must have lost too much blood. She's delirious. Why am I letting this conversation go on for so long?

"I don't have enough time to explain everything, but maybe if I could show you my memories, you'll be able to..." She reaches out to touch my forehead but I jerk away.

"What do you mean?"

"For once in your life, Emma, stop asking questions and let me do this," Valerie says before squeezing her eyes shut and pressing the tips of her fingers to my forehead.

I don't get a chance to protest: the moment her skin comes in contact with my forehead, I black out.

❧

When I open my eyes, I am surrounded by four white walls.

Gazing around the room, I'm struck with a sudden pang of familiarity.

It's like I've been transported back in time. The eerie silence that envelops me is a dichotomous contrast to the chaotic clamours that was ensuing outside.  My eyes settle on a hospital bed placed near the corner of the room, where a blonde girl dressed in a hospital gown lay, her head facing the wall, turned away from me.

Unconsciously, I take a step closer, watching as the girl turns to her other side, revealing her face.

It's... me?

Suddenly, I recall what Valerie said earlier: this isn't my memory, it's hers. As I venture closer to my sleeping self, I try to figure out when the memory could be from. When could Valerie have visited me in the infirmary?

Of course. It must have been last year, around late November. I'd landed in the infirmary after falling from 60 feet in the air during an obstacle course at the Dome. It had been the day I first managed to consciously control my powers, though evidently, the novelty of the moment didn't last long.

I must be seeing this through her eyes; how I must have looked like to others after the accident. Weak, frail... powerless.

Valerie is careful not to wake me up, and it makes me nervous. This is a memory of me that I have no recollection of. Through her eyes, I watch as Valerie's hand cautiously approaches me, latching onto the necklace around my neck.

This again? What's so special about my mother's necklace?

My past self begins to stir awake, frowning subconsciously in response to the absence of the feeling of the charm resting on my neck; though thanks to the wide assortment of medication I was under, I don't fully wake up.

Once Valerie secures the necklace, time speeds up. One moment, she's padding out the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click, the next, she's in her and Willow's shared room, sat behind a desk, tinkering with the charm at the end of the chain.