Chapter Song: Time is Running Out by Muse
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I wake up on Monday morning, clutching my stomach as my head spun in circles. I glance up at the clock on my bed side table, my eyes widening as I realized I had one minute until my alarm would go off.
After turning off the alarm I let out a groan as I throw the blankets off of me and climb out of my bed, my hands gripping my stomach as I slowly make my way across the hall to the bathroom. I start the bath water before peeling my clothes off. I reach into the medicine cabinet for some pain killers, which I swallow down with water from the sink.
I climb into the bathtub and close my eyes, begging my head ache and the pain in my stomach to go away. Miranda doesn’t like when I miss school and most likely wouldn’t feel any sympathy for me now.
After spending fifteen minutes laying in the hot water without the pain going away I get out of the tub, wrapping a towel around myself and heading towards my closet to find some clothes to wear. I settle for my usual sweatshirt and black sweats that fit loosely on my legs. I don’t bother with any makeup.
Glancing outside of my bedroom I make my way downstairs; glad that nobody is in the kitchen. I reach for the phone and quickly dial the schools number, turning my back to the hallway and keeping my head low. I really hoped Miranda couldn’t hear me.
“Hello, Lakeview School District.” The voice on the other line came.
“Hi, this is Miranda Richards. I’d like to call in for my daughter, Veronica Swenson. She isn’t feeling well today and won’t be making any of her classes.” I say as I try to make my voice to sound older; more mature.
“Alright, that won’t be any problem, thank you for calling in. We will let her teachers know.” The woman says.
“Thank you.” I say, before placing the phone back on the receiver. I turn around and grab a bowl and a box of Coco Puffs from the cupboards, and the milk from the fridge. I pour my cereal and sit at the table, smiling as Riley and Miranda enter the kitchen a couple minutes later.
Miranda nods at me as she pulls out a bowl similar to mine and sets it on the table in front of Riley, who has sat down beside me at the table.
“What type of cereal would you like?” Miranda asks.
Riley taps her chin, biting on her lip as she decides. “Cinnamon Toast Crunch!” She smiles over at me, her dimple popping out on her cheek.
I smile back at her as I take another mouth full of my cereal. “Sleep well?” I asked her after swallowing.
She nods, “I had a dream. You and Zayn were in it! We were in some field picking daisies and I got tired of walking so Zayn put me on his shoulders and I held the flowers while he picked them. Then we rode white and black horses to a barn where we put them away and fed them carrots.” She grins.
I laugh; a part of me happy that her dream included Zayn in it. “Do you like Zayn then?” I asked her.
She nods, “Yeah he’s nice to me. And he’s your friend.” Riley smiles at Miranda as she sets the bowl on the table. I notice that her jaw was clenched and remembered her last confrontation with Zayn and how she didn’t like him at all. But really she didn’t even give him a chance.
I finish my cereal and put it away in the dishwasher before running up the steps to grab my backpack. I head back down stairs and stick my head into the kitchen, “I’ll be back after school.” I say to Miranda before heading out the front door. As soon as I’m outside I throw my backpack into the bushes to hide it.
I run around back to hide from any prying eyes. I sit on the ground and close my eyes, trying to focus. I picture the beach as the sun shines down on it, a gentle breeze blowing the sand and the stray leaves around. I picture the waves crashing up on the shore, leaving small rocks and seaweed on the wet sand. I see the rocks in the corner; the very rocks where I found the chest that at the time I hadn’t known was meant for me. I remember the smell of the sea and the feel of the light breeze as it floated around me.
Zayn would be livid if he knew what I was trying to do right now. He’s told me already how it was dangerous to teleport other places when I didn’t know what I was doing just yet; something about getting trapped in the middle or something like that.
But I wanted to do this on my own. I was growing way too attached to Zayn, I knew that. I wanted to do this one thing on my own without Zayn who has become too much of my protector; to where he basically does everything for me.
I knew if I called Zayn up and told him I didn’t feel well he’d be here in an instant. Literally an instant. And if I told him my plan to go back to where my family used to spend time on the beach, he’d refuse to let me do it by myself.
So I would call him later when I got back home. How mad could he be if I’d made it there and back safely? He’d mainly be mad because of the danger; and if I proved I could do it safely…
I push the thoughts out of my mind and focus on imagining the beach and pushing the power in at my core to expand and come out.
I count to ten in my head before opening my eyes, a grin spreading on my lips as I see the ocean spread out in front of me. I jump to my feet, immediately pushing into a sprint as I run down the beach towards the ocean.
I laugh as the water hits at my ankles, splashing up at my shins. I spread my arms out and twirl around, my head falling back to let the sun shine down on my skin.
It had been so long since I’ve been here. Last time I was here I was about to leave the town to go stay with Riley and I’s first set of foster parents. That was almost eight years ago. This was the last place I saw my parents; in fact the day I found the chest here was the day my parents died. They’d left me with a friend of theirs while they went to pick up some things for a picnic and they’d gotten into a car accident.
Most people would never want to go back to the place where they heard that both their parents died; back to the place where they last saw them. But to me this place was where I could feel closest to them. They would bring me here all the time, especially in the summer. We had picnics and flew kites and made sand castles along the beach. Some family friends would bring their kids out to play with me and Dad would swim out in the water with us, pretending to be a shark and chasing us around.
Some of the happiest moments of my life were spent at this beach and nothing could change that.
“You look like you’re having fun.” A deep voice comes from behind me.
I scream; my whole body freezing. The momentum I’d built up from spinning around so fast was cut short, causing me to fall over into the water. I look up at the voice, my eyes widening as I see Derick standing there, a smirk on his face as he looked down at me.
I groan, pulling myself out of the water, leaving my sweats completely soaked. “Ugh, look what you did.”
“I think you did that yourself actually.” He says smoothly, his voice sending a shiver down my back.
My mind flashes back to my dream I had the other night of him chasing me down the long hallway, and how he’d caused Riley pain. I grit my teeth as I eye him curiously. How had he gotten here?
“What are you doing here?” I asked him, looking around the area. This town was across the state from where I lived now. It wasn’t exactly a place he’d just coincidentally show up at.
He smiles, walking over closer to me. “I needed to talk to you.”
I bite my lip, walking out of the water and onto the sand, purposefully walking past him to create some distance between us both. “How did you get here?”
His lips tighten into a thin line as he looks past me towards the large rocks. “I teleported.” He finally states, shrugging.
I can feel my heart rate picking up as I stare at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying. “You… you what?”
I watch as he suddenly disappeared from his place, only to appear again right in front of me, causing me to jump back in shock. He laughs, his head tilting to the side. “What, you thought you were the only one who could do that?” he smiles, reaching out and running a finger down my cheek before dropping it to his side. “Oh wait, then there’s Zayn too…”
I continue to stare at him, my jaw opening slightly. I didn’t know what to say, or even what to think. Derick was a jumper too? How long had he known Zayn and I were as well?
He laughs at my expression, but he doesn’t say anything as he waits for me to speak.
“So…” I whisper, biting on my lip as I tried to process what he’d told me. “So you’re a jumper too?” he nods. “That means Zayn’s wrong then… Your soul is good or whatever, Zayn told me about how jumpers have good souls. I don’t really know about it really well but I’m pretty sure that means you’re a good person. I’ll have to tell Zayn that, he doesn’t like me hanging out with you.” I look back at Derick and realize I’ve begun rambling; probably saying more than I needed too.
Derick rolls his eyes, “Of course Zayn doesn’t like me. He never has.”
“You two know each other?” I ask him.
Derick shrugs, “Yeah we do. Zayn just doesn’t know that he knows me.”
“I don’t get it.” I mutter, looking down. I’m not sure that I wanted to.
“I’ve known Zayn for centuries. I’ve known Zayn in his past lives, before he was even Zayn; just like I’ve known you.” He says calmly. His eyes are on my face, watching as my mouth drops open in shock.
What the hell? “How does Zayn not know you?” I force the question out.
He smiles and I watch as his body suddenly morphs into a new person and I scream. “My power is to mess with people’s minds. I can make you believe you’re seeing something when really, it isn’t there.” I watch as his face turns back to the Derick I recognize. “You think you see the boy with blonde hair and blue eyes that wears glasses, but really you’re just seeing what I want you to see.”
“Then how do you know us? And why do you always change forms to Zayn?” I ask him.
He shakes his head, “Doesn’t matter. All that matters right now is I need you to come with me.”
I shake my head, “I can’t right now. I need to get back home and find Zayn. I’m sure he’s heading to school and when he gets there and I’m not there he’ll come looking for me.” I try to explain.
Derick smiles, “That wasn’t a suggestion. You don’t really get a choice in this, Ronnie. You’re coming with me.” His voice has turned cold now.
My mind flashes back to my dream again and I think about what Derick said about Zayn. Zayn always hated him. Zayn told me Derick gave him a bad feeling. “If you can mess with people’s minds… Then can you mess with their dreams?”
Derick’s grin spreads on his face as he wags a finger at me. “You’re catching on. Yeah, the dreams were my doing.” He shrugs.
Without thinking my hand flashes up and slaps him across his face. His head falls to the side before snapping back to glare at me, his eyes actually turning black. I feel my body tense as I back up from him, trying to create more space between us.
“You’re stupider than I thought. You shouldn’t have done that.” He hisses. I look down at his hands to see them balled into fists.
“That was for what you did to Riley. I don’t care if it was a dream or not.” I say, wishing my voice was more forceful. “And aren’t you supposed to be good? I know I don’t really understand the whole good and evil soul thing, but…”
Derick rolls his eyes, “It’s simple, Ronnie. If I’m not the good, then I must be…” He raises his eyebrows, waiting for me to put it together.
My lips begin trembling as I back up again, only for him to step forward with me.
“Alright. I need you to come with me now.” He holds his hand out, which I step away from.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
I scream as I feel a sharp pain spread throughout my body only to disappear a second later.
“They do say pain is all in the brain…” Derick says thoughtfully. He looks back at me, glaring. “I won’t hurt you if you just come with me.”
I turn and begin running, knowing how pathetic I looked. I knew I couldn’t teleport anywhere. It took me at least a full minute to teleport right now at my skill level, and all he had to do was grab me and he’d go anywhere I went. Besides, there was no way I could focus on any location right now.
I feel a flash of pain in my head and I stop running as I clutch my head. I look up to see Derick standing in front of me, shaking his head. “Oh Ronnie… I hate bringing you pain.”
“What do you want with me?” I scream, turning away from him.
Derick groans, running a hand through his hair as he pulls at the end. “Don’t you see? You aren’t supposed to be with him!” He yells back, “I’m trying to save you!”
“Save me? From who?” I scream. “From Zayn? He would never hurt me, and it’s none of your business anyways.” I say, trying to get myself to calm down. If I ever wanted to leave this place, I needed to calm down.
I watch as Derick’s breathing picks up, his chest moving up and down. I could practically see the anger rolling off of him. “You’re supposed to be with me! Can’t you see that?”
My mouth drops open for what felt like the tenth time already. Was he serious? I begin to laugh; which kind of scared me. “Be with you? Only problem is I can’t stand you. We would never be together.”
He ignores my words and steps closer to me. “You know that feeling of calmness you feel when you’re with me? You get that familiar feeling when you’re around me; the same feeling you get when you’re at home.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I cross my arms over my chest like a child. I did know what he was talking about though. I got the exact feeling he explained. It was nothing like the feeling I got when I was around Zayn, but I did feel calm and happy when I was around him before. It was why I liked him so easily. I don’t exactly let people in very easy, yet I became friends with Derick instantly. I gave Zayn a harder time than I’d given Derick.
I wasn’t going to admit any of that though.
“You’re lying to me.” He says, his eyes narrowing at me. “You do feel it.”
I roll my eyes, “It doesn’t matter, Derick. I don’t love you, and I’m never going to.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “Not like that. We aren’t supposed to be IN love. Just together.”
His words confuse me. “What do you mean?”
He bites his lip before a smile spreads. “You asked earlier how I know you; well I guess you could say I’ve known you since you were born. Or since your soul was born.”
My eyes widen as I stare at him. He made no sense at all. I should just stop asking him questions because his answers only confused me more.
“Technically I’m your brother.” He sates, shrugging.
I begin laughing as I shake my head. “Okay, you’re just messing with me now. Seriously Derick, let’s go home.”
He rolls his eyes, “I’m not messing with you. I know this sounds really weird, but you’re my soul sister. Your very first form was born by the same people as mine, except I’m immortal like Zayn so I never died, and well… you did. I know this all sounds crazy, but frankly it doesn’t matter to me if you believe me or not. I’m being nice by explaining this all to you. It doesn’t change the fact that you have to come with me.”
“Nice of you?” I laugh, shaking my head.
“I don’t want you to hate me. I said before, if you do as I say I won’t hurt you. You are my sister.” He steps towards me, holding his hand out for me to take.
I jump away from him, “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He sighs as he pulls something out of his back pocket. I look down at the cloth he holds, my eyes widening as he appears right in front of me, the cloth suddenly slamming down over my mouth and nose.
I scream as I suck in the air through the rag, my mind immediately going hazy. The last thing I see is Derick leaning over me as he catches my body from falling to the ground.
“It’s time you come back to your real family.” Is the last thing I hear him say before everything goes black.