VIII.
Escape
Iana ran like hell.
She was scared, freaking out, and crying.
The vision she had seen only minutes before had rattled her bones from the inside out.
It was of her birth, but it showed above it. She could hear everything, her mother’s screams, and her father’s consolations to her mother, and her crying. But especially, she had heard the warning her mother gave.
Don’t let him get her. Keep her away from the cold.
She had seen her mother die, how her last word was her own name.
Then came the light, and the arm touching her. It sent shocks all through Iana’s body, shocks that scared her. Not because they hurt, but because they gave warmth through her veins and calmed her blood.
The farther and farther she ran, the less her sobs escaped, until she was whimpering and panting from the exertion.
Iana stopped running, and fell to her knees, gasping for air and wiping away the half dried tears off her cheeks. She was surprised to see that when she looked up, her house was in front of her.
Home, she thought, I’m home.
When her breathing slowed, she stood up, and walked into the house. She showered, dressed into a tank top and pajama sweats, and fell back on her bed.
Iana wanted to pretend that today at school never happened, that she skipped school and stayed home like the coward she was. But she didn’t, instead she walked there in the happiness that she held from finally having her father back.
Holding her mother’s bracelet up, Iana looked at the shiny silver and rubbed the band, loving the feel of the softness, and then the marred spots where the engravings were.
Still looking, she started to sing her lullaby again. She sang, and sang, and sang, until her voice sounded as tired as her being, and she drifted off into the never lands of her dreams.