"Ron? Ron!? Veronica?!? Wake up!" I hear David's voice calling to me. I open my eyes. For some reason, I am on the ground.
"What happened?" I ask, sitting up. "Where are the guards?"
"They're gone. You... did something to them," David says, a touch of fear in his voice.
"David, what did I do?" I say, uneasy.
"I don't know exactly. But you closed your eyes, and they all were thrown away from us. They're unconscious. Then you just dropped to the ground, and we had to wake you up. Now come on, let's get out of here." He picks Cinda up and we run. We run as fast as we can, out of that dark, terrible place, and out into the light.
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We make it back to the farmhouse in pretty good time. But Cinda isn't doing well at all. She has turned a sickly green, and is barely holding on to consciousness. She is hot with fever. David lays his sister down on a bed. He leaves the room to find some food and medicine, and I stay with her. I hold her thin, frail hand and try to think of what exactly had happened. She had been healthier back at the prison. I can't shake the thought that it might have something to do with what I did to the guards.
David comes back into the room, carrying a small bottle of what looked like green mush, and a bowl of water with a cloth. He hands the bowl to me and told me to start gently dabbing her forehead.
"And what is that supposed to do?" I ask, nodding to the bottle.
"Honestly, I don't really know. I just know that when I got sick, the lady of this house gave it to me. It fixed me up pretty well, so I figured we would see if it helped her," David tells me. Even though his voice is calm and even, his eyes reveal the storm of emotions he is trying so hard to conceal.
I set the cloth down and reach out for his hand. I don't think about it, I just do it. "It'll be okay. Somehow, it will be okay," I say. My words seem to comfort him, and, somehow, the hole of doubt in the back of my mind is sealed up. The words that were meant to mend David mend me as well.
Words are powerful things.
YOU ARE READING
Ruby
Teen Fictionin a futuristic world, sixteen-year-old Veronica has been abducted, had her memory of her old life taken from her, and she's been tortured, all by an evil group with rubies for pupils. when she manages to escape, she must learn who she is and what s...
