I feel myself running.
Running.
Running somewhere.
Who am I running from?
What am I running to?
Where am I running?
When will I stop running?
Will I stop running?
Why am I running?
I just run though.
Then I see my shadow in front of me, running too. I don't stop though, just watch it as I run, shocked I haven't fallen from looking at my feet and not ahead of me. My shadow gets darker as I realize a light behind me is getting closer.
Why am I running?
Will I stop running?
When will I stop running?
Where am I running?
What am I running to?
Who am I running from?
I start to slow down, not wanting to run in this black nothingness.
Black nothingness, why does that sound and look familiar? I speed back up as I wonder this new thought.
The light behind me dimming as I get farther away.
I remember seeing myself-no, not myself, Sophia Levant-standing in nothingness and leading me down a hallway. Her hair was red like mine is usually, is now since I haven't dyed it lately.
The light dimming more.
I keep running, gaining speed.
I get mad because my hair is red like my bitch of a mom's, like Jewel's. Jewel who didn't send any birthday or Christmas cards over the years she was gone, Jewel who broke my dad's heart, Jewel who gave birth to me, Jewel who gave me life and my Gift, Jewel who left me and Al. Wait Al, my little brother. Something is nagging at me about him. What's wrong with Albert?
The light dims to a fain glow behind me.
I remember his cold limp body on the ground, he was dying. Why? I need to find him! What happened!? Mister? Misty? Missy? Missy! That bitch is a Succubus-no, she's being forced to become one because of her mom. Her mom was attacking Jared-wait Jare? Me and him are changing, not just best friends anymore. What are we though? Did I call him mine?
The light vanishes, leaving me alone in the dark nothingness, running.
Jare is mine, and I think I'm his. We kissed, didn't we? What are we? He's a werewolf, I'm a human. No, I'm an oracle. Isn't that what people have been calling me? The monsters anyway. But to Jare I'm just Sophie like he's just Jared to me.
But what about Lucas?
Hell, he doesn't matter does he?
I mean me and Jared are...what are we?
Is there a we, or is it me and him?
But wait, where is he?
Where am I?
Why am I still running?
Where is everything?
Wasn't I in a factory?
Wait, didn't I get knocked out?
Am I dead?
"Damnit! Wake up! Open your eyes!" That wasn't me, who was that? "Sophie!? Sophie Nina Newlun open your damn eyes!"
«^-^»
I feel someone holding me, their face pressed into my neck. I think I'm laying down, all I know is I'm cold and feel sticky. My eyes remain close, feeling dizzy even without them open. I feel something wet drip onto my neck. Then I realize my head is killing me and my body feels weird, disconnected.
"Sophie." Someone sobs into my neck, and I realize the wet drops are tears. But who's? "Sophie please...damnit open your eyes! Open your ****ing eyes!" Someone pulls me closer to their body as they sob again. I wonder why they keep yelling at me to open my eyes when their face is in my neck, meaning they can't see my face. "Please..."
"J-J-Jared?" I whisper when I recognize the feel of the arms around me, and the whisper against my neck. I feel him stiffen then slowly pull back, but my eyes are still closed. I can't find a way to open them, it's worse then after my first vision.
"Soph? Did I imagine that?" He asks, and I try to find a way to move my tongue again.
"Ja-Jar-Jared?" I get it out.
"You're awake? Open your eyes."
"Jare, get her out of here!" Someone else yells. "I can't keep her at bay any longer!" I try to recognize the voice, but I can't focus on anything but the warmth from Jared's body and the feel of his arms around me. "Damnit!"
"Come on Soph." Jare picks me up, and I feel him running. Reminding me of being in that dark place. "Hold on, we'll be safe soon." He whispers as I slip back under.
«^-^»
I'm running again. Only this time, there's no light behind me. I stop, looking around me. I know where I am this time as the walls materialize around me. I turn in a quick circle, searching for Sophia. Knowing somehow that I need to find her.
"Sophia?" I call out, frowning. Then I notice some of the frames on the walls around me. I don't pay to much attention to them, just notice them moving and playing my memories. "Sophia, where are you? I need you."
"Yes child?" I turn around, looking at her bloody eyes. "What can I help you with?"
"Am I dead?" I ask her.
"No, you wouldn't be here."
"Why do I keep coming here to the nothingness?"
"Your mind is trying to stay alive, trying to remember everything."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't remember?" She asks, and I notice her outfit for the first time. An old Victorian dress, or is that a dress they wore back in the Colony days? Or are they the same thing?
'Focus!' I think to myself.
"No, I don't."
"The Succubus, the one you know as Ms Brokeheart, knocked you out. You would have bleed out if your werewolf, Jared, hadn't smelled your blood and that hunter, Lucas, hadn't come to the rescue."
"Lucas was there?" She nods. "I'm not dead?" She shakes her head. "Is Al?"
"That is something only the future shall reveal."
"The future? Can I call upon the future to see it and not just wait for a vision?" She looks at me, and I see her thinking as she decides something.
"Some are able to call upon the future to them to see it, others are not so lucky and are driven mad from the visions. Their minds vanishing since they aren't able to handle the future and the present." I swallow. "I was able to call upon the future, and even sometimes the past as you are able to."
"What? I can't call upon the past."
"You may not realize that you can, but do you not wonder about the dreams of the past you have?" I stare at her silently. "You can see the past, something not many can do when they're able to see the future. You may be gifted such as I was, or you may be gifted with only past-seeing dreams and random visions of the future. Or you may also be able to call upon the future."
"How can I do that?"
"Simply go to the doors I showed you before and open them. If they open, you may be able to call upon the future, if it doesn't then you may not see anything but the present." I chew my lip, thinking.
"Answer this before I try." She nods. "Why do I see you? I don't know you."
"All of my daughters see me, for I am the reason we have our Gift, our curse. So I am forever cursed to stay here, in the In Between."
"In Between?"
"The place between moving on and the living. Everyone has a piece of that in them, those like us, can visit though. My spirit is here forever though my body is long rotted and eaten by worms and bugs." I make a face, but listen. "It is my curse alone do not let it be yours as well."
"What do you mean?" She shakes her head.
"No time, let us visit the doors shall we?" I nod, wondering what happened to her, to our family, that has caused the Gift to go through every generation of girls in Jewel's family. "Let's go."
We walk down the hall to the large doors and we look at it. I touch the door, thinking of the future and of Al. A tear sliding down my face as the doors open and I walk inside. I look round the black nothingness that fills the room, waiting for the future to surround me.
Slowly the scene appears. I see myself sitting beside a hospital bed with a sleeping Al. I watch myself look over at Lucas and Jare walking in the room. I talk to them, taking Al's hand.
I close my eyes and imagine myself as the me in the vision.
I open my eyes, looking down at Al. I brush his hair out of his face, seeing how pale his skin is underneath the fluorescent light of the hospital room. I sigh, looking up at Jare and Lucas. I meet Lucas' brown eyes, seeing something in them other than worry for Al. But I look away and meet Jare's blue eyes. He comes over to me and hugs me.
I get tossed on my butt, landing in front of the doors again. I shake my head, looking up at Sophia.
"Why did I get tossed out? I wasn't done."
'The vision was. You shall get used to it, but for now it is time for you to return."
"But-"
«^-^»
"Sophie?" I blink, looking up at my dad's face. He blocks out the florescent light that hurts my eyes, he wipes away something with a warm wet washcloth and I see some blood. "Are you okay sweetie?" I blink then close my eyes. "Sophie?"
"Yeah, just a migraine."
"Well, you just had a vision while you were passed out." I open my eyes and look at him. "Don't worry, the nurses and doctor weren't in here."
"Nurses? Doctor?" I look around, realizing I'm in the hospital. "What happened-oh, right." I look around the room. "Al?"
"Don't worry, you're brother is in the I.C.U., they say he's going to live." Tears escape my dad's eyes. "You're mother is with him right now."
"Where's Lucas and Jare?"
"Jared went back to help Lucas." He goes silent for a second, then takes my hand. "Why didn't you tell me about...Jared?" I meet my dad's eyes, not going to lie now that he knows the truth.
"I was afraid you thought I'd lost it, and I didn't want you to be in the world that I was dragged into, one I don't understand yet. And I was afraid you wouldn't let me near Jare..." He stares at me, watching me. "I'm sorry daddy." He hugs me gently.
"It's alright, I understand. It took a long while before you're mother told me about her visions." He looks at me.
"Can I see Al?" He nods.
"Alright." He helps me stand, holding onto that stand that holds my I.V. bag thing. We walk towards the Intensive Care Unit where my brother is, dad telling me the story they told the E.R. "Al was kidnapped and you and Jare found him and called me and your mother. When we got there, Jare was trying to wake you up because you got pushed into a wall where you hit your head by the kidnapper."
"So basically the truth, only not." I whisper. He nods.
"Yeah." We reach Al's room and it's worse than in my forced vision. His skin is pale, almost like a skeleton. He has a breathing mask on, and his heartbeat is slow. I notice Jewel sitting beside him, reading aloud his favorite book when he was little. "How's he doing Jewel?"
"The same." She looks up at me. "How are you?"
"Don't matter, I'll survive." I go over and sit in the other seat, opposite of her. I lean over him and study his face. "Al?" But of course there's no reply. I sigh and take his hand in mine, feeling the cold and shivering. "Sissy's here, don't give up. Come back to me and daddy." I feel Jewel and dad watching me, then hear a voice I hate.
"Is he alright?" I jerk my head up and glare at Missy Brokeheart.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask her, but I sound tired and not angry.
"I wanted to make sure he was alright. I never wanted to-"
"I don't care." I look back down at Al, watching for something. A flicker of his eyes or a twitch or something, but nothing happens. "Just go away, Missy." I hear her walk towards me instead and I look up at her, seeing tears in those clear blue eyes.
"No, you need to listen to me Oracle. My mother-Ms Brokeheart isn't done with you. Because of you, she's being hunted by Monster Hunters and she lost me and grammy. She doesn't just hate, she despises you and wants you dead. Grammy will be able to make me human permanently, so to Ms Brokeheart, I'm a worthless human that's under her radar since I'm female. I'm no longer any use to her. The hunters think she left town, but I know her. She won't leave until you're dead or she is." I meet those human looking blue eyes, knowing the exact shade of gold they can be, and I want to slap her. I don't realize I do until I watch her head jerk to the side. I hear my dad start to yell, but Missy puts her hand up to tell him to stop. She meets my eyes again, and I see her's are gold now.
"I don't care what Mrs. Brokeheart can and will do, you will forever be a monster to me. And you will never come near Al or anyone of my family, again." I hiss at her. "You might have been under that bitche's control, but you still did what you did. Now, my little brother is in here pretty much dead." She just stares at me, her eyes slowly fading back to blue. "Now get out of this room before I get Lucas who I know for sure is somewhere around here with Jared. Both of which will kick your ass." She drops her eyes, and I know she's trying to walk a new path. "Leave now, and never show your face around here again." She nods, staring at the ground, turning and leaving.
I feel eyes on me, two sets in fact. I ignore both and look down at my little brother. I don't think of anything at first, but slowly I start thinking of her words. And the more I replay them in my head, the more I know they're true. I pick Al's hand up and pull it up, kissing it as tears fall.
"We're gonna grab some food." I nod as dad kisses the top of my head and walk out, leaving me with my thoughts.
~Picture of the hospital bed Sophie and Albert layed in~