Sarah Scott Journalist

Unknown

The fear of the unknown is quite common amongst most people. When something familiar and known is found you feel reassurance and comfort. Some people face this fear, some let it control them and some use it to make them stronger.

Alex’s voice is so soothing to hear after what has just happened. It’s so soothing, that for a split second I don’t care about my back or my wrists. As I run towards him I see his eyes brighten and his arms open. He embraces me with a hug. I squeeze him so tightly he groans. I release him thinking that he may be hurt but I still keep my hand on his arm to make sure this is really happening and that he is really there. Panicked, I search his bare skin for any signs of bruises or blood. He appears unharmed.

“I’m not hurt don’t worry,” he croaks out. His arms press against my back, and I clench my jaw, taking the pain. Even though I’m in agony, his closeness is something I’m not letting go of despite my back. He kisses me on the forehead, just like he used too. I feel tears streaming down my face. I cry into his shoulder. This will be my first and last moment of weakness. He is silent. Maybe he’s crying too.

“What did they do to you?” I manage to ask before my voice trails off.

“Nothing. I’ll explain everything once we get that arm seen too.” He calls someone over and they clean and put a bandage round my arm. That’s when I notice a mark on my wrist. I touch it to see if it rubs off but it doesn’t. Someone has tattooed four circles on my wrist, two on top and two underneath. They all link together in some way and colour runs through them. I remember these colours: The top left one is red, the one next to it is blue, the one below the red one is grey and the one below the blue one is green. It’s strange. I haven’t seen these colours for years and now they are a part of my skin.

Alex tells me I can go to a room on my own to get some sleep. When I turn round to walk to the door he puts his hand on my back which is immediately released when I cry out in pain.  I hear him gasp. This is the first time he has seen my injuries. His face is dripping with tears.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I say in an attempt to comfort him. The truth is, I haven’t seen it so I don’t know how bad it looks. I know that my school dress has blood down its right arm sleeve and I know that my back will be completely red. The medicine I took is kicking in but it has only numbed the pain.

Alex guides me to a small room near the front of the pod but I’m sceptical of the authority he has. The room contains just a bed. He sits me down and starts to talk. I see him talking but I barely listen. I am too focused on the tattoo on my lower arm. It’s just above the chain marks on my wrists. Alex gently places his hand over the tattoo and tells me to focus on what he is saying.

He then begins to explain what has happened. He tells me who I am, why they took me, what the ink means and the fact that he knew this day was going to happen.

My name is Alleyah Bevan. I was raised without the knowledge of who I really am. Throughout my childhood I was told I had an illness wrong with my brain but that was to hide what I am. My brother Alex has been preparing for the day when I was taken away to be tortured. He was the one who organised this rescue. The kidnapping and torturing was all run by The Core. They believe that if we were tortured and put under pressure then we would show who we really are. Each person taken was marked with a coloured circle, each representing an element of the earth.

Alex was fourteen when he realised what he was. He kept it hidden from everyone except my parents. For my safety I was never told the truth about The Core.

 The Core controls the weather with their machine that no one has ever seen. There is only one flaw in their system – the Children of the Earth. They aim to remove and experiment on the Children of the Earth, that’s why we were taken.

These are people who between them possess the power to control the Earth’s elements. Everyone on the pod, including my brother, possesses an element. My brother’s element is water. I have four circles because my element is undecided he tells me. When everyone has been seen to for medical care, we will be split into our elements so that we can train to control our powers.

 We can’t go home, it’s not safe and The Core would just hunt us down again. Our Dad knows about us and has kept us safe for as long as he could. The pod is taking us to the forest where we will live for a while so we can learn to survive.

 It was a lot of information to take in. I find myself speechless, un-able to project any words. My entire life is not what I thought it was. Just lie after lie.

Alex tells me I will need to get some rest. He re-attaches the drip into my arm. He then opens a bag I didn’t realise he had. He reaches inside of it and pulls out my cardigan from home.

“I managed to grab a few things before I left,” he says. He fumbles around in the bag and pulls out my purple ribbon. I gasp. I didn’t know he knew about that.

“I…I didn’t…” I croak out taking the ribbon from his hands.

“I knew you had this,” he says. “I found it hidden under your pillow a while back.” I smile. I don’t even care that he knew about it. The fact he kept it a secret is all that matters.

He lifts up my cardigan gesturing for me to put it on. Slowly I turn round, slip my left, non-bandaged arm into the left sleeve and then I move my right arm back. My right arm stings from where the dart got stuck but it is bearable. With my arms in the cardigan, Alex places the rest of the cardigan on my bruised and battered back.

Without realising he holds his breath as the cloth makes contact with my bloody school dress, like he’s expecting me to collapse in pain. I haven’t seen what my back looks like so I don’t know what pain he thinks I’m in. I hear him sniff and breathe unevenly but I don’t turn around to look at him. It would hurt too much.

 “It’s not as bad as it looks,” I say to him again. After a minute or so the sniffing stops and he has gains strength.

“They won’t get away with what they’ve done to you and all these people,” he spits out like he has just eaten something bitter. I close my eyes appreciating Alex’s presence.

“What are you going to tell the rest of the people on here? They deserve an explanation as much as I did.” I ask making him forget the bitterness in his voice. I hear him sigh. He must have known he would have to do this.

“There is a large storage room at the very back of the pod. Once things have settled down, I will organise a meeting to explain who they are and what’s going to happen to everyone.” He now speaks with assertiveness in his voice. Of course he had planned this out, this is Alex I’m thinking about.

“What is going to happen to us?”

“Everything will be explained tomorrow. You need to rest and gain some strength.” I turn around and he kisses me on the forehead before walking out the wooden door. I see him close his eyes, in anticipation and dread.

 I feel warm in my cardigan and for the first time, in what seems like forever, I let sleep fall.

---

I sleep deeply and for a long time too. When I wake I find myself walking out of my little room that’s so small, I’m guessing it was a wardrobe at some point.

I look for Alex but I am unsuccessful in finding him. There seems to be no one in this part of the pod so I walk towards the door leading to the next section. Alex mentioned a meeting in the back of the pod so I start towards the very back section. I would walk faster but since sleep has brought out my injuries, putting one leg in front of the other is a challenge.

A drip of blood is making its way down my arm. I must have pulled the drip attached to my arm out too quickly. That’s the last thing on my mind. What is on my mind are all the un-answered questions in the air. I have no certainty in my life anymore. No certainty for the future. I haven’t even seen Luke since we got on the pod and he was taken away to get help.

As I pass many more empty rooms, my red, sticky school dress gets caught on the corner of an open door, making me fall to the ground beneath my feet. A rush of dizziness flies over me but it passes within a minute or so. During that time I find my breathing to be quick and un-easy. I sit on the floor and wait for the nauseous feeling to pass. I can’t blame the dizziness or anything else on my messed up head anymore. They used my head to try and hide the fact that my “powers” were coming through. I feel so alone, I just need someone to tell me everything will be alright and that nothing else is going to happen to me, but sadly no one can tell me that, not even Alex can lie to me like that, although he has kept my entire life a lie so far.

I slowly stand up, conscious of the fact my whip wounds are being stretched. I take a deep breath and carry on walking. In the distance I see the last section of the pod. I can see through a glass door that many people are gathered in a large room. As I walk closer to the large room I see a sign next to the glass door. It says, ‘Main Storage Room.’ I open the door which makes a squeaking noise as the rusty hinges are forced to move.

The room is deadly silent and now everyone is staring at me. “Sorry,” I whisper under my breath. The people that stare at me look blank, emotionless and bleak.

I notice Luke sitting on a chair with his leg propped up on a different chair. He doesn’t see me, his eyes stays focussed on what’s in front of him. He looks like he hasn’t slept a wink. It makes me feel guilty that I was able to go somewhere quiet, I didn’t even consider finding him. I hear Alex raise his voice to get everyone’s attention. He stands on a box so that everyone can see him. It looks fairly precarious but it holds his weight.

He then begins to talk. “Hello everyone,” he starts. “I know you all have a lot of unanswered questions and hopefully I will be able to answer them. Erm…” he stutters a bit, probably with nerves. He never likes being the centre of attention. “Everyone here will have heard of The Core, the people who control the weather with their machine in the centre of the city. Most people in the city believe that if something were to interfere with their system, another wide-spread killing would take place. To prevent panic in our city, they have strict rules about curfews so they can control the skies.”

I look round to the faces of the people in the room. They seem to be following but they don’t know where he’s going with this.

He continues. “Over our generation, The Core have experienced faults in their system. These faults are people, named ‘the Children of the Earth.’ These are people who have been exposed to the harmful rays The Core send up to the skies. These rays have had harmful effects on the people who were exposed. Over time, The Core’s suspicions have grown, leading them to do drastic things, like torture people to get them to reveal their true powers. That is why you were taken.” With that the crowd starts mumbling making Alex shout over them. “Please settle down, please I’m not finished.”

People shout things at Alex but it’s just noise to me. I close my eyes reliving the memory of my time spent in the once white cell belonging to The Core. Our protectors and torturers.

Alex continues to speak over the mumbling crowd. “The Children of the Earth are people who possess the ability to control the elements of the Earth. Most don’t even realise they’re doing it. I know it may seem daunting for you to hear this, but the people who have a tattoo on their arms have been discovered as a Child of the Earth. Everyone else is safe to return to their lives like nothing ever happened.”

I look around as panic spreads across the room. People are trying to barge out the door and Alex has been knocked off his box he was standing on. It’s like a riot is starting right in front of me. Most people are severely injured so this strength must be coming from deep within.

I think of Luke who was sitting on a chair across the other side of the room. I put my elbows out and try to get through the pushing people. I can see one of Luke’s chairs being pushed around as it hits the backs of people’s legs.

I desperately search around trying to find Luke or Alex. That’s when I see Luke. His arms are covering his head as terrified peoples’ feet find his body. I push my way through to him and put my hand on his thigh to let him know I’m here. His desperate eyes search mine. It takes my hands and all my strength to pull him up on his feet. He balances on his good leg and I help him hobble over to the front of the room where Alex was standing. As we get closer to the front, I hear Alex’s voice trying to shout for order but no one is listening. He sees me and the broken boy being supported by my arms, and he starts to push to get to us.

I notice something about Alex. He is wearing a belt with a dart gun tucked in the back. I have never seen a dart gun up close before. The only people that are supposed to have dart guns are people who work in The Core so why does Alex have one?

Without anymore thinking I reach over to the back of Alex’s belt and pull out the gun. Before Alex even realises what I’m doing I fire three shots in the air screaming when I realise that it isn’t a dart gun. It’s a hunting gun that only farmers on the outskirts on the city are authorised to have. The noise is loud and I immediately regret scaring everyone in the room but it did work to stop the panic. There is silence across the room. Sobs and heavy breathing are the only things to be heard.

My arm is still raised in the air with the gun still pointing towards the ceiling. The roof above me has three holes. After the initial scream of terror from the gun shots, people have settled down and are waiting for Alex to lead them onwards. I place the gun back down next to Alex’s feet afraid it could go off again at any second although I know that’s not how guns work. He gets back on his box and explains that based on what tattoos we have, we are to go to our elements group.

There are five sections to the pod with one section for each element and one used as a storage unit for supplies like medicine which is mainly used up by now. The blankets have been handed out to most people by the looks of it, and water bottles have been emptied after we went so long without water. Food is the issue that no one has mentioned yet but I’m sure Alex will have something planned.

After Alex has sorted through all the people, we are told to go to our sections of the pod. We are currently in the back section of the pod which is used as the storage section. Everyone without a tattoo is to remain here for further instructions. The front section of the pod, the one I was just sleeping in, belongs to people with the water element. The second section belongs to fire. The third section belongs to earth and the fourth section belongs to the air element.

As I look around, I am the only one who has four circles. Everyone else appears to have one circle with one specific colour. When I ask Alex about it he tells me that my element is undecided so I will need to visit each section at some point. He also explains to me and everyone else that when our journey on the pod is over, we will be walking deep into the forest where we will live until we have learnt to control our powers and stop interfering with The Core’s system.

Luke gets up to walk to the second section because he has a red circle tattooed on his arm. His element is fire. When I briefly look into his eyes, I see a broken, damaged, and hurt boy. I see a different person to the boy I spoke to at school. He even seems different to the adrenaline filled boy who led me to safety even with a dart sticking in his knee cap. What I see in his eyes now is everything that happened in our cell: the unknown injections he had, the constant fear of what was going to happen next and the burning hot stick he took instead of me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was the look of regret, maybe for saving me.

In such a short space of time we have been through so much together and even after all that, the only thing I can think of to say to him is a simple, “hey.”

“Hi,” he replies.

“How’s your knee?” I ask trying to break this awkward tension there now is between us. I know his knee is not alright, I saw what happened and the amount of blood it cost him.

“It’s been better,” he says like he’s either mocking me or making a joke. There’s the boy I know and the one I really don’t know. These last twenty-four hours have been such a blur. I feel like I’ve known him my entire life even though I only found out his name about four hours ago.

Through our entire awkward conversation, the emotion on his face doesn’t change. I’ve never been good at reading people and I have no idea what he’s thinking. I know he will be scared and feeling alone right now but I don’t know how to help him. I ask him about his element but he doesn’t return the same interest.

My attention is taken away from Luke when Alex calls me over to talk to him. This clearly ends out brief conversation. Alex walks over to me and gives me a hug. It’s tighter than usual but I don’t mind it in the slightest despite my back. It’s good to have reassurance which is something I know everyone on here is looking to find. I don’t bring up the real gun he had on him. I’ll find another time.

Since I have no specific element, Alex tells me to go to each section of the pod to learn some training on each of them. I will sleep at the front of the pod in the same room as I was in before. The front of the pod belongs to the water section so Alex will be nearby as his element is water.

Due to a lack of supplies there are only a few beds in each section so most people will be sleeping with blankets on the floor. I feel guilty that I will be taking up a bed but Alex tells me not to worry because they give the beds to the most injured in each section. If I have one then that means that Luke might have one. I hope he will be okay on his own. Alex also tells me that the pod will be stopping tomorrow to get supplies so we can continue our journey. We will also be dropping off the people who are not Children of the Earth. They will lead their lives completely normal from now on. That is if they get over the fact they were tortured for no reason.

The pod will be stopping at a trading centre on the outskirts of our city. Until the earth element is able to grow certain foods, we will be relying on these supplies. We will have enough foam mattresses, blankets and water to live comfortably for the next week till we reach our destination.

Our time on the pod is short but the main part of our journey will be done by foot as we walk deep into the forest.

The trading centre isn’t far from where we used to live. I could see it in the distance from the orchard. The pod would be stopping for one hour. I would easily have enough time to jog home and say goodbye to my dad and Tallulah.  If I don’t do it now, then I may never see them again. My family’s relationship has always been distant, but I really will miss them. I know Alex will. The sacrifice he has made for me and everyone on one here is bigger than I can imagine. I wonder what he told Octavia. Did he break up with her? Does she even know he left? Does she know about the Children of the Earth and Alex’s plan to run off into the forest for who knows how long?

More questions I am asking myself that I know I may not get the answers to. What will our father tell Tallulah? Surely if Alex and I are like this then she must be too. Was this inherited? Was Mum just like us? Is this what killed her? All these un-answered questions are driving me mad. It’s like having an itch in your brain that you can’t scratch. Irritating and painful.

The pod will stop in forty-eight hours so I may as well start training and try to get my back healed so I will be able to jog. Training. Why did I just use that word? I don’t even know what we’re training for. A war? If so, against who? The Core, our supposed protectors?

I really need to stop all these questions. Not knowing is something I hate. I may even fear the unknown.

I follow the water group into a large section of the pod. Seeing as Alex is in charge of this element, it seems like a good place to start. Since this is a pod that transfers goods and stock, it has large rooms that would usually be filled with boxes. Instead this room is empty with only Alex, me and twenty other people to fill the space.

Alex gathers them in a huge crowd towards the back of the room. He hands out blankets from a box he dragged in. I presume all the other elements will get these supplies as well. He also hands out empty water bottles and says there will be a chance to get them filled later on. He then goes onto explain, in more detail, why it’s not safe for us to travel back and how we’ll survive just fine living in the forest by using our elements.

I see many fearful looks fly around the room. All they know is they have just been tortured and are now being taken away deep into the forest with a bunch of strangers.

Someone is sobbing quietly at the back of the crowd and someone at the front takes it upon themselves to protest. I’m sure it’s out of fear instead of anything else. Alex remains calm even with the beads of sweat running down his flushed cheeks. He simply tells the boy that if he doesn’t want to be here then he can jump off the pod and see how far he gets before he is taken again.

Alex never raises his voice in frustration. He has always been so gentle and protective but strong as well. In short terms, he is a great brother. I wish I had realised this earlier.

Nobody else argues with him. They now have a look of understanding in their eyes. If it wasn’t for Alex and his team then we may still be in those cells or even worse, we could be dead. A cold shiver runs down my spine at the thought of it.

I look across the room at the different types of people that have this power. The age range is from twelve to about twenty. How could someone torture a twelve year old?

Alex walks out the room and returns a minute later with a glass of water half filled to the top. He then tells us that he is going to demonstrate what power we all possess. He puts his right hand over the glass of water and focuses entirely on it. It’s like he has forgotten we’re in the room with him. After a few seconds the water starts bubbling and a droplet of water rises from the glass. When Alex lifts his hand off the glass the water moves with him, working in harmony with the rest of his body like it’s part of him.  

Alex spreads his fingers out making the droplet grow into a large floating puddle. It’s so controlled and Alex looks like he’s doing it with ease. Next Alex pulls his arm back. As he pulls further back the puddle gets bigger and bigger. He leans his entire body back prepared to launch this puddle at the stunned crowd watching him. His left arm moves back making it symmetrical to his right. Together both arms move the water towards us, but before it can touch so much as a hair on the girl on the front rows head, the water curves up.

The wave of water crashes against the ceiling and after the initial mist, the water has disappeared back to a droplet again. Alex looks stunned at what he has just done. I think he surprised even himself.

I find myself gasping for air. I didn’t realise I had been holding my breath in anticipation. I like this side of my brother. When he is so focused on what he is doing it makes him look so peaceful. It’s quite beautiful what he can do. Surely, he couldn’t turn this into a weapon. This should be a thing of beauty.

The crowd are speechless. After a few awkward seconds of silence, someone starts off the clapping. One person claps, then another joins, then a few more, then eventually everyone is. I see a small smile escape the side of Alex’s mouth.

“You all have the power to do that and more,” he says. It sounds rehearsed but the crowd like it. I look at my hands and think, can I? If my element is undecided, I may not be able to do that. I may never get an element. Stuck with undecided forever.

For the rest of the day I watch the water element at work. Some people get it straight away and some are still panicked about previous events that they are a little distracted and too unfocused to do anything. Alex understands that. He doesn’t expect us to get it straight away. He knows that it will take time to mend the scars of what happened.

I am concentrating on the glass of water like Alex did earlier today. The water is bubbling so I must be on the right track, but it’s not enough to manipulate it and turn it into something beautiful like Alex did. I don’t understand how Alex learned how to do this. Maybe this is what he was doing instead of painting.

The glass of water is still bubbling away. Something in the corner of my eye diverts my attention. I look round to see a pale faced, skinny female looking at me. She is smiling at me so I do the polite thing and smile back. I look back towards the glass and sigh. I had lost focus so the water has stopped bubbling.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you,” she says. Her voice is so soft I struggle to hear it. I’m guessing her shout is like my normal speaking tone.

“It’s okay,” I say. “I wasn’t doing very well anyway.” She does an embarrassed smile and her cheeks fill with colour. She brushes her mousy brown hair behind her ear awkwardly. There is silence for a minute so I decide to introduce myself. “I’m Alleyah,” I say.

“Oh, I’m Ellie.” She does a nervous laugh again. Her arms are covered in tiny dots. They look like tiny bruises around her veins. She notices me staring at them.

“Sorry, I just… I”

“It’s fine,” she says, her smile now gone. “Everyone has scars.” I see her now staring at my body. I now feel naked and exposed, more than I did running from The Core. I haven’t even looked at myself in the mirror to see what state I’m in. My back’s the worst but I know my lip is cut and slightly swollen, the side of my face is bruised and my right eye is throbbing. I was given my cardigan which at least covers my back and arm, although some blood has seeped through my arm sleeve.

We take a break as food is given out to the people who want it. Some can’t physically eat and some don’t want to. I take a mug of hot soup to keep me going. Tomorrow once the pod has stopped for supplies, we will be able to have clean clothes and wash ourselves.

I sit next to Ellie and we talk about various things. I am speaking but not really listening to what I’m saying. We speak about: Alex, her family, school, her boyfriend who she’ll miss, our sisters and other things that seem pointless but we talk just to pass the time.

The conversation that sticks with me most is about the torturing and our time spent under lock and key and chains. She told me that everyone received different methods of torture. Some received physical torture like me, and some received mental torture. Mental torture is where they inject you with poisons that make you endure hallucinations. This is what Ellie received. That’s why her arms are covered in tiny bruises. They’re marks from injections.

Ellie tells me that the main drug they used for her was a substance called ashencyte. She describes it as a silvery, grey, metal liquid that was thick and painful when it entered her body. She shudders when she speaks about it.

Ashencyte targets the part of the brain that feels emotions. It makes you forget all the positive emotions and leaves you with all the crappy ones like anger, depression, and pain. If your body ever remembers these emotions then you go into shock as your brain emits immense pain throughout your body until you forget that emotion. Basically if you feel any other emotion other than suffering than you brain tells the rest of your body to shut down. There are different forms of ashencyte but Ellie had one of the worst ones by the sounds of it.

She tells me about her cell-mate who received physical torture. She was one of the lifeless bodies I saw being dragged out. The Core had beaten her so badly that her heart couldn’t cope. That could have been me. . . that was me. The only reason that I’m not like her cell mate is because of Luke. The boy who breathed new air into my lungs after mine had given up.

Ashencyte. The word echo’s around my head as I use a damp cloth to wash myself. The word is new to me yet I feel like I’ve heard it before.

I change into some grey shorts Alex had bought me from home and one of Alex’s big t-shirts. It’s quite early to go to bed but I want to make sure that I’m ready for tomorrow.

There is a knock at the door. Instead of shouting, “come in,” I go to open the door. I like the silent buzz in my room and I don’t want to disturb it. Silence I find can be deafening. I open the door to an exhausted looking Alex. He hugs me, again a little tighter than usual but I like it. The silent buzz is still there but I end up breaking it with a lingering question.

“What did you tell our family?” I ask. His expression looks shocked like he wasn’t expecting me to ask that question.

“Dad knows,” he says. “Like I said earlier. He helped me organise this. He knows we won’t be able to see him again. Tallulah will have been told we have to go away, she will find out the truth when she’s older.”

I nod. “So is she not one of us?” I say in a mocking tone but I genuinely want to know.  

He laughs but it’s not genuine. “As far as I can tell, no she isn’t. She hasn’t shown any signs that she could be, unlike you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean when your powers were coming through we could tell. The night you walked out on your own and I followed you, did you not notice how strong the wind was around you?” he smiles and raises an eyebrow. Now he mentions it, the wind was strong that night and it suddenly dropped when I fell to the ground.

“How could I? You said my element was undecided. Could that not have been The Core?”

“No it wasn’t The Core. Alleyah, I’ve never seen that kind of power before. It only took me that long to get to you because I couldn’t walk against the force of the wind. It was so strong, like nothing I’ve ever seen.” He sounds like a child fascinated with curiosity and wonder.

“I don’t even remember doing it,” I say shaking my head. The silent buzz fills the room again except for Alex’s heavy breathing. “What did you tell Octavia?” I say quietly.

Alex sighs but eventually says, “I told her everything about the elements, about The Core and what was happening to you. I told her I would have to leave to the forest where it is safe. She wanted to come but I couldn’t ask her to make that sacrifice so I told her to stay. Her family needs her. She loves them.” He breaks off on the last sentence like he’s chocking on the past. Like the memories are too painful to relive.

“Don’t you need her?” I say “Don’t you love her?” I try to sound as comforting as possible but I’m mad he could have stayed and had a normal life or let her come with us so he wouldn’t be alone.

He looks up holding back tears. “Yes, I need her more than ever, but I love her too much to let her give up her life for me.” I understand this. He really does love her so he has to let her go.

“So why do we have to leave? Why can’t we just go back to normal? You’ve lived hidden for all this time or we could expose The Core for what they really are?”

“No,” he snaps. “It’s too dangerous. They’ll hunt us down and take you back or worse they’ll just kill you.”

“So going to the forest, where we will be left open and exposed is a better idea?” I say.

“It will buy us more time. We need to get everyone’s power to the right standard.” I hate it when he raises his voice.

“Right standard? For what? Have you heard yourself Alex?” I say now raising my voice. “A war? A rebellion? Are you telling me you’re going to send these people to war?”

“I never said war Alleyah. But you need to accept that there will come a time when someone out there doesn’t like who you are and what you can do. You need to be able to fight back instead let them torture you. I won’t let that happen! Not again!” The sound of our aggravated breathing is the only thing to be heard.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” I say backing down. I realise all of this must be hard on him as well, after all he has just rescued his sister who was kidnapped and tortured. Even though I feel sorry for him, I see a glint in his eye for just a second. It’s a glint of anger, something manic and deranged. The look of someone who wants revenge.

I shake my head, shaking the idea away with it. Alex is a gentle, family-loving painter that would never do all of this if he didn’t think it was the right thing to do. The fact that I have to remind myself of this does make me worry.

He kisses me on the cheek and tells me to get some rest. He reassures me that some different clothes will be coming tomorrow so I don’t have to wear his oversized t-shirt anymore. I like his t-shirt. It smells of him which I have come to know as the smell of reassurance and protection. As I start to drift off to sleep I pull his t-shirt over my nose and mouth.

I dream about today and what Alex did with this water. It has such beauty to it. I try to keep this thought for as long as possible before my nightmare will take over and the past couple of day’s events get replayed for me to see.

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Chapter 5 – Reflection is already out.