Awoken

Everly:CH21: We Have a Problem

"Get up Everly!" her voice demands. I don't need to look up to know it's Polly softly kicking at my feet. I'm still on the ground where Mara left me. If I could talk I'd tell her to fuck off and just let me die. I've grown used to the stench, to the dark clouds.

Polly sighs clearly annoyed, "This is your mind Evie, you can take away the pain, the injury."

Remembering Polly and Mara together is enough to ignite a spark inside my chest, enough to make me want to speak, and just like that, as she said, the pain is gone.

"How could you?" I stand to my feet as a spark grows inside of me.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to break down your walls, that's all I swear. I only gave you a quarter of the recommended dose."

"And her?"

Polly's head hangs in shame, "I was so desperate. I wanted to believe. I'm so sorry Evie."

"Bastian is dying because of you!"

Polly can't look me in the eye, "I couldn't control myself Eve. I was so careful but obviously not enough."

"How are you even here?" I ask.

Without warning a blade suddenly appears in her hand. I don't have time to react before she stabs herself in the chest. Rushing to her side I drop to the ground ignoring the small sharp rocks imbedded in my knees.

"No, no, no. I won't let you die."

"It's already happened Evie. You have to stop her before she destroys the town," Polly points behind us. Turning my head I see what looks to be a round window that is looking in on me, it, her. Mara is holding Polly in her arms while the roof is collapsing around her, miraculously avoiding Mara.

"Me? There's more skilled legacies than me that can handle the situation, besides I want to be here with you. We can live a lifetime in here right? Go anywhere we want to go?"

It's getting harder to hold back the tears. Despite everything Polly has been a part of me, my life for so long. I believe her. That she didn't mean to harm me, to control me.

"They can't get close enough, they can't get through the barrier. There's a lot of dark secrets in this place, that she is using to fuel her power. You can get through, you can save them."

"I can't lose you Polly."

The pain in my chest is twisting my heart as some tears manage to break through despite my best efforts. Polly just smiles and wipes them away with the back of her hand.

"I'm already gone. Save them," her voice becomes a whisper as she fades away.

All the anguish I was holding back bursts forth as my tears begin to rain down my face, my sobs causing my body to heave violently as I slam my fists against the ground over and over again.I only allow myself a few moments before I focus all that anguish on the window, on the portal. Hours, minutes, it all feels the same before I manage to penetrate the surface. Falling from the roof, I land on the rubble covered floor. Trembling the ground feels as if it's about to collapse next.

"That's enough Mara."

"He killed her, Wesley killed her," she screams and the floor splits down the middle.

"And he will rot in purgatory. The rest did nothing wrong. There are children here. You're going to-"

Screaming, Mara's hand reaches out in my direction, with the wave of her hand I feel a force of energy push against me, sending me flying into the air, crashing into the collapsing wall.