Luminescence

Twenty-five.

Looking around the giant airbase, it had to at least be a few hundred yards high and four football fields long. It made me wonder how many people it took to build this and how they weren't found by the Plague during its construction. I was only halfway to the exit, when suddenly I could've heard the softest voice saying my name.

"Mara."

It rippled through my ears like a song, as if it were so addicting my brain couldn't get enough of it. My pace slowed, as I tried to get a sense of where the voice was coming from.

"I love you, Mara, please remember that."

It was a female voice. It sounded so urgent, almost as if it were pleading to me. My feet began walking in a direction towards a shady hallway towards the far side of the air hangar where fewer ships seemed to be landing or taking off.

"Mara, be strong for me baby."

The voice became stronger with each step I took towards the dark hallway. I was just now yards away from entering the dusty place, as I look around for anyone who might be watching. I saw nobody. I couldn't help but feel a pair of eyes on me though, until the voice called my name once more.

"Mara!" The voice shouts full of urgency, and I begin taking quicker steps towards the voice. It echoed through the halls, as it sounded so familiar yet I couldn't seem to wrap my finger around it. The voice was almost like a static, giving me trouble deciphering it. Until realization hit me like a wrecking ball.

It was my mother's voice.

"Mara, hide here. You'll be safe from them."

I now faced a dark hall. Only an old yellow lightbulb illuminated the rusting walls around me. I could sense a room just beyond the darkness, one that was fairly big. There was something in there too.

My brain tried to run away, but my body was too curious to see what was in there. The voice was so clear now, as if my mother were still in front of me today. I play with my sun necklace nervously.

Suddenly the sound of a distant gun being fired echoes through the halls, making me jump. I draw my sword immediately. But despite the commotion, I saw nor sensed nobody around me. The gunshot echoed throughout my head and vibrated my chest to the core. It sounded exactly like the guns my parents were executed with— and I would never forget that sound.

Just milliseconds after the sound, the lights around me began to turn on, illuminating the large room and every detail around it. And inside the room, was something I never expected to see.

There was a ship, one that looked vaguely familiar. A flashback suddenly plays in my head, the day of my parents' death. I was face to face with a window trying to see my reflection with my brand new necklace that my dad had just given to me, but instead I saw a ship with its guns pointed directly at our apartment. Then it fired, as my father pulled me back and I was immediately snapped out of the flashback.

I fall back in horror. This was the same type of ship used the day my parents were killed. The exact same one that I stared at through the window when I was only seven years old.

What on Earth was it doing in the Rebel base?

And sure enough as I look, the exact same symbol was on the side. The golden star, with a red line cutting straight through it.

Fear consumed me, eating me alive like a starving piranha. With quick steps back, I began to run faster than I had ever ran before. I received countless eyes by the time I had reached the exit to the hair hangar. But I could care less. Priscilla and I had to get out of here somehow.

Because the same people who killed my parents were probably in this base somewhere. And my biggest fear, was that Priscilla and I would be crossed off their lists next.

I prayed to whoever was watching over me that Priscilla was in her room so I could talk to her. I didn't know how we were going to leave, but we had to get out of here one way or another.

I finally reach the exit to the air hangar, running to Priscilla's room. I opened the door. Priscilla sat there with a surprised face, probably wondering why I was so out of breath.

"Priscilla," I gulp. "We need to get out of here right now," I say to her, attempting to grab her hand and pull her out of her chair, yet she wouldn't budge.

"Mara, what happened?" She exclaims. Clearly she was in the climatic part of the book she was reading, and I had just interrupted her.

"Can you read memories?" I say out of breath. "I-I don't know how to explain it, but the Rebels killed my parents, Priscilla. They killed your son. And next they're going to kill us if we don't get out of here."

She grabs my hands softly. Of course she didn't believe me at first—this place had been her home for decades now. "You're not lying..." she says softly, her voice trailing off. "Show me. What did you see, Mara?"

Her blue eyes stared into mine. I thought first of the night my parents were killed. I showed her how I had first gotten the necklace I was wearing currently, and the ship that was in my reflection, including the symbol that was on it. Then the explosion happened, and I shift the memory to what had just happened a minute ago—when I saw the same exact ship in the same hallway, sitting there rusting away as it had already seen its days.

As she pulled out of the memory, it looked like she was having trouble processing everything until it hit her all at once.

"Mara," Priscilla says breathlessly, completely stunned. "It..." she pauses. "It had to be Wes that led the attack that night," her voice cracked, as she recalled her painful past. "Wes is one of the oldest people in this base, and knows everything about the history of the Rebels. Now, it all makes sense. I believe he killed off your parents, because he knew that Hudson's father, my son, was considering joining the Plague. Your and Hudson's parents were very powerful people, Mara. Wes knew that if they joined the Plague then it would be over for him and the Rebels. This is horrible..." her voice trails off. "Wes was only in it for the power all along."

A momentous rage suddenly filled my chest as I look to the ground in disbelief. I couldn't cry. I felt like all hope had been shredded away from me in an instant. Dropping to my knees in anguish, I had never wanted blood so much more in my life than Wes'. He stripped my family from me, and now I wanted to strip his life from him.

"Mara, stay with me," Priscilla demands softly, cupping my cheek, and for a moment my anger went away. Suddenly, a new alarm began to sound throughout the base, one that sounded like a police siren or an ambulance. It sent shivers down my spine as Priscilla's eyes widen.

They knew I had discovered the old ship.

"Mara, we have to get out of here now." Priscilla begins rummaging through her drawer, and she pulls out one of the most gorgeous swords I had ever seen. "You need to contact Hudson. Tell him the Rebels are turning against us, and they want to kill you. That will be the only way for him to leave the Plague and to rescue us. Otherwise there will be no way out for us."

I didn't know how to mind connect with Hudson, he had only ever done it to me. I tried to find deep within me that one bond I could always feel between us, hoping that would maybe trigger something inside of our brains to connect.

My bigger worry was that Hudson wouldn't ditch the Plague. I had just rejected him—why would he ever want to rescue me?

My focus was broken when a loud bang came from outside of the door. Guards were lined up, waiting to break into the room with their guns loaded, shouting different threats to try and get us out of the room.

"Do it, Mara. I'll hold them off," she says urgently, as I try to regain my focus after a minute.

I positioned myself to sit criss-cross applesauce on top of Priscilla's bed. I dug at our bond once more, trying to channel Hudson's inner mind and mine at the same time. I could feel the bond between us grow, until suddenly the darkness in my eyes was filled with a different surrounding.

I was in Hudson's room, and there was no telling what would happen next.

_________

😏😏😏😏😏😏