I couldn't have known what was behind that door, and yet my psyche was itching. You could even say I was clawing my way to it...To Get To Him.
• • •
-2046-
The world is always going to be in a constant uproar of torment, but in the most recent deca...
"Mourning the loss of you was the realist of it all.. seeing your mother's face as they lowered your casket. I had never known hurt like that." He speaks, yet my mind glazes over what he says.
A small lump forms in the back of my throat, as I look into the darkness with unshed tears.
"Wh..what do you mean? I died?" I ask shakingly.
All I get is the silence between us to signify the truth.
"There was this nagging feeling right after your death, even before your funeral. It almost felt like life wasn't real, it wasn't a coincidence when your mother was feeling the same way. She told me that she kept having these dreams, and so did I. It was the same over and over again...
"The dream was so vivid... I was a little kid—in a house of some kind. My mother was sitting at the dining room table with the phone to her ear. The look on her face was sheer terror, that's all I can say. It kept repeating itself for days... A week or so after your funeral I had gone over to your house. To check on your mom and Lilly, try and distract myself. I got there and your mom was a mess..." He spills the words like liquid and my heart constricts as they stream over me.
"She kept repeating the same thing." He pauses for a moment, taking in a breath— then shifting in the seat beside me, his leg pressing into mine a bit more. This time I let the intimate weight of his thigh press into mine.
"She kept saying that you weren't dead, that she had left you both behind. Finally, when she was comprehensible, she explained her theory, that we were all asleep. She said a part of her woke up and she started having dreams. Like me. She said they were the same one over and over again—of a conversation she had with you when you were a little girl." The strands of words he is forming sound foreign to my ears.
A deep chill carries its way through my spine, sending electricity through my veins. His explanation was provoked but I let the words spill into the dead air. I cannot imagine what kind of life my mother has led—what kind of lie...
He continues. "She came up with the theory that we were all being fed reality and you killing yourself was not a part of what they were feeding us. Once you died things shifted, Lilly started acting weird, wasn't talking to anyone but herself. Stayed up in her room all day, didn't bother to eat at all. Your mom didn't think she was real.... She thought that if they didn't mean for you to die that you must still be alive—. I still don't know how she came up with that theory."
"I...I don't understand..." I stammer. He continues, not a pause after I speak.
"Before you had died you got distant. You kept saying it felt like you didn't exist, your mom must have connected the dots maybe? I don't know—but she handed me a piece of paper before she explained this and... Everything she was saying was starting to be pieced together and as it was I felt like I was physically falling. I woke up strapped to a stretcher, bright lights all around." His voice grows distant.
"I'm able to control the gifts of those around me and luckily the man that was monitoring me was able to control heat, so I was able to burn my way through the bands. Things went by in a flash from there... I don't remember anything after I started running. The last thing I remember is the streets I was wandering down right before your people picked me up." The truck jumps up and knocks us both together.
"Did my mom get out? How'd you get the note?" I ask. It doesn't make any sense; the confusion lays a muddled layer over my mind.
"As I said, I don't know. I don't know how she predicted that I'd still have the note, but I found it in the pants pocket of my scrubs. She may have made it out or she could be stuck in there..." His tone is hesitant, I assume because the information he's giving is a strain on my mental status.
My chest constricts, simulating the sensation of drowning. I take in heaves of air without realizing the spinning feeling enveloping me. A windstorm of emotions sweep over me as I slowly process all of his words
Questions continuously pile themselves up at the front of my mind.
I look to the front of the car and notice the sun rising over the horizon. My eyes start to adjust and make out shadows of the sleeping figures next to us, the small ability to see what's in front of me alleviates my wheezing a bit. Yet the crushing weight of endless questions replaces the relief I had for a brief moment.
His explanations give no answer to the questions I had but only write out more of them...
"You okay?" Devin asks, the worry slipping through his words.
"Yeah. Fine." I respond flatly.
* * * * * * *
Eyes around me fly open as the truck comes to a stop. I estimate it's around eight in the morning by the position of the sun in the sky, a sliver of a cloud tries its best to cover the shine.
Zombie-like moans of the morning echo through the car, and I feel the shake of the driver side doors being slammed shut. A guard jerks the back ones open letting the sunshine fall through, and I squint my eyes in adjustment to the light. Devin falls out of the van and into the arms of the Patrol, the once occupied space beside me is left bare as he's held tight by the shoulders at the side of the truck. Lilly is up and awake at the front of my legs, stretching her arms out and almost hitting me in the face at the motion.
Stepping out of the car, it takes a moment for my eyes to take in the new environment. And as they do I notice how crowded the street is, towering buildings surround us. Glancing up at the warehouse we're stationed at, I take note that it doesn't look much different from the last.
A little less rust, and a lot taller.
Traffic noise echoes off the buildings of the street we sit on. There is a sliver of an alley across from the truck lineup; through it, you can see pedestrians walking the streets. I notice business signs up in the windows rather than the barren shops I'm used to seeing. My lips curl up to a smile as the feeling of isolation starts to break away.
"It's the biggest city in the western territory," Tom's voice comes in from behind me "according to our records. More than five hundred thousand people reside here— this city is big on industrial production so the numbers have not fluctuated in the past few years, we should be safe in the population. If all goes as planned."
I turn to face him and my shadow casts onto his chest. Camp's people are stepping out of the trucks beside us and file in line to get their things, as Devin stands in the grasp of one of the guards positioned next to Tom.
"There are a couple of things you should probably hear..." I say. Tom shields his eyes from the shine of the sun he's facing, creating a line of shadow above his white wiry beard.
He nods. "Let's get set up and then we'll be able to talk, okay?" He asks.
I nod slightly as he steps around me to the rest of the trucks.
"So, what happens now?" Devin asks from the van.
I shrug. "We wait."
• • •
A/N: A little side note, I am feeling MUCH BETTER this week! Hopefully I will be able to get to writing again and updating with a timely manner, I missed last week's update so I'm uploading today and Thursday to make up for my missed week!! I hope you stick around for them 🤞
Are enjoying the melding of characters here and the world building so far?? There is A LOT to take you on and I hope you are on for the rest of the ride💗
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
