I was walking. At first I did not know where I was or where my feet were taking me. Buildings blurred around me and the roads seemed to slope steeply downwards and around and around like giant twisty straws, sucking car after car into their mysterious spirals. I wanted to call out for help. I felt lost and scared. The roads were unnamed and each turn I took led to yet another twister-like end. The problem was that my voice had fled along with my clear vision. I tried screaming but no sound came out, and not even the blurred distortions of leaves on the trees stirred. Houses appeared to fall into one another and as I picked up speed, I realised with a certainty and horror that they were melting. Everything around me was melting. The leaves melted into the branches of trees whose melting trunks merged with those of other trees, turning my whole world into a frightening and murky mess of liquidised forestry and edifices. That was when I saw the sign post. I ran then, straight for the one perfectly solid thing in view. It was as easy to read as a baby book, and then I knew where I was. I shuddered. Everything suddenly felt intensely hot and I feared that I might myself turn to liquid soon as well as my surroundings. I tried to run – forcing my feet forward through the murky mixture of melted landmarks. I wanted to escape, to find a safe haven where nobody could find me, but I could not. More and more plants and buildings melted and soon I was forced to swim my way out, but I did not even know where to go. Before I knew it, the massive river of everything had swept me away. I was half-drowning and needed something to pull me up. That’s when I saw the sign again, floating amidst the river of ruins. I grabbed it and clung to it, and then felt something grab my hand. – Not something, I realised all too soon, but someone. I was pulled onto dry land and rushed to thank my saviour, when I realised that I was not safe at all. She whipped her head around to look at me and smiled, those icy eyes turning my hot body into the freezing shell of a corpse. Her hair glowed blindingly and I tried to back away as she came towards me bearing a sharp, silver knife, but I found myself quite unable to move or even blink. She raised the knife and it glinted in the light of the melting mess behind us, and I finally managed to scream.
I awoke with a jolt, screaming like a banshee and sweating like a fevered pig. Sitting up quickly, I banged my head on the base of the top bunk and swore quietly to myself. My head hurt terribly and as I bent over and rested it in my arms I began to cry, terrified by my nightmare.
“Daphne,” Don said, jumping over the edge of his bunk bed and landing heavily on the ground next to my bunk. Oh, damn. I forgot about you! Must have woken you up... Aargh... I must look like such a... Well, never mind what I look like! What scares me most is that that dream could be real, it could be very real – it could still happen, I thought. I was aware that Don was sitting next to me then, trying to calm me. So afraid that Jacqueline would jump out of the shadows of the room and attack me, I buried my head in Don’s shoulder and clung to him while hot tears cascaded down my face. I found myself talking, my words slurred by hysteria and the onset of tears. I told my cousin all about the dream and how scared I was that it was real and I was not sure how much he could actually make out in the state that I was in, but he listened all the same.
“It’s all right, Daph. It’s okay. It was only a dream,” he whispered.
“Only a dream,” I repeated, trying to believe those words. I lay down again, flat on my back, and sighed.
“Sorry, Don.”
“That’s alright. I’m going back to sleep though, and I suggest you do the same. We’ve got jogging first thing in the morning.”
I watched him clamber back up to his bed, his spotty pyjama pants brushing against the dark wooden frames of the bunk. I did not want to close my eyes again; too nervous about what I might see in my subconscious mind, but I forced myself to do so nonetheless. Jogging first thing in the morning... Oh, how terrifically fun! Thoughts of absolute sarcasm bounded through my head, and made me feel a bit better somehow.
Morning... I half expected to see a big, swollen lump on my head in the mirror, but was delighted when no such lump appeared. I was very tired though. I had not woken up from the climax of another nightmare or naturally. It was the irritating series of high-pitched beeps and squeaks of Don’s alarm clock that had alerted me to the dark, chilly place that was his bedroom at seven o’clock in the morning. I thought I’d look horrible, with great bags under my eyes and uncontrollable hair, but the face I saw in the mirror didn’t look half as bad as I’d anticipated. Jogging early in the morning in the holidays was not my idea. Of course it was not my idea. I may see things that others do not, but I’m not that mad! Don called it “dedication”. I called it “insanity”. Naturally, Aunt Ilsa thought that it would do me some good to go jogging with Don and his friends every morning; that keeping fit was essential during such “long” holidays. If I had looked totally awful, and not just a little bit drowsy, I wouldn’t have bothered with my hair, but why not take advantage of a good hair day? I stood in front of Don’s mirror for almost fifteen minutes struggling to get a brush through my frizzy bush of tightly-coiled curls. Next, I brushed my teeth vigorously in his bathroom and scrubbed my face, trying to wash away the memories of my dream. Five minutes later, I was downstairs dressed in my usual grey shorts with a pair of violet tights underneath and my takkies. I wore a plain short-sleeved T-shirt with my usual tracksuit top over it, and had my hair scooped up into a pony-tail beneath my blue peak-cap. All ready for early morning jogging! Don took one look at me and sent me straight back to his room with the excuse, “You can’t go jogging in tights. Go change.”
Back upstairs, I grumbled as I wriggled out of my shorts and began to peel off the one leg of my tights. As I stood there on one leg, with one leg still in my tights and the other out, the door flew open about somebody barged in. A few weeks ago, I would have screamed, but now I was accustomed to having uninvited visitors arriving at the strangest of times. Of course, I was not terribly happy that he had entered while I had my pants on the ground, and was hopping on one leg, but I didn’t scream.
“Miss Fauls.”
“Could you not have waited until I was half-decent before bursting through the door like you own the place?!” I fumed, trying to find something to stand behind so I did not feel so self-conscious, but failing miserably.
“There is no time for nonsense such as human courtesies. You know well enough that I would not come unless this was urgent,” the dark-skinned boy with the shining black eyes said hoarsely.
“Please! Do not even try that excuse with me. You always appear at the worst times and you know fully well whether I am or am not dressed because you can always tell where I am and what I’m doing; or is that not how you manage to follow me?!”
“You’re an ungrateful little wretch sometimes, Miss Fauls. You chose this path and there is no going back. You understand that I am the only one who can help you and that I am helping you, and yet you resent me,” Vusi answered calmly.
“Well, I am going -”
“Jogging; yes, I know. I have checked the route that you are headed and found no signs of Jacqui, however if you see her, you must not hesitate to let me know,” the boy interrupted coolly.
“I know, I know. Now will you let me change?!”
Vusi nodded and made his way back to the door. I instantly went back to dressing, tugging at the leg of my tights and pulling it off. The Vusi turned back and eyed me seriously. Flushing angrily, I hurried to pull my shorts back on as he spoke.
“Should you wander off the usual tracks, you will put whoever goes with you in great peril, Miss Fauls. I suggest that if you wish to seek Jacqueline this morning, you do so alone. It will not do to entangle other human beings in your quest.” He opened the door and was about to leave when I shouted, “Why would I go looking for her without you? I don’t know what I’d do if she got hold of me! Why would she be anywhere near here anyways? I thought she liked to steer clear of you?”
“She has her reasons,” Vusi replied, almost inaudibly. Before I could press him further, the door had shut and I knew that was it. There was no way I could find Vusi now. He had away of appearing and disappearing without anyone but me noticing. Sighing, I slipped on some socks and fiddled around the great mess of clothes, linen and posters that covered the floor until I found my shoes. I fitted my feet back into my takkies and bent to tie my laces, with Vusi’s words echoing through my head. I heard voices coming from downstairs. Quickly, I ran down towards them and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl before I looked to see who was there.
“Aah! Fauls 1, here comes Fauls 2,” Newspaper joked. Don laughed.
“Hello,” I said warmly.
“Well, hi there, Fauls 2. All set?” Newspaper smiled.
“As set as I could ever be for this madness!” I laughed.
“That’s my supportive little cousin over there,” Don teased.
“Come on then, Faulses. Let’s get going!” Newspaper beamed enthusiastically. I groaned. Jogging, as you may have realised from my lack on keenness, was not my forte. The fact that I had to go jogging with a group of fit, soccer-playing boys did not help. At least I was getting used to it. This was my ninth day in a row that I’d been jogging with them, and it wasn’t really all that bad. I quite enjoyed the other joggers’ company. They were a pleasant group of people, and their conversations were always immensely entertaining. Then, of course, there was Roberto. If I was ever feeling left out because I didn’t know the people that the others were talking about, he noticed immediately and came to talk to me instead of them. He was a lot faster than me, but slowed down to my pace so that we could talk comfortably. I had to admit that my speed had definitely improved over the days though. Newspaper was the fastest, even though he was the smallest (a fair deal shorter than me) and he led the group of us in our morning jogs. Everyday we went a little bit further and he pushed us a little bit harder, setting a speedy pace at the front of the pack.
Soon, we were off. Newspaper promised Aunt Ilsa that he’d take good care of “these little rascals” and Don gave her a peck on the cheek. I called goodbye as I set off behind them. Don raced Newspaper to the end of the street and they took off so suddenly and were gone so quickly that it took me a while to realise what was going on. Newspaper won, of course, but only by a couple of seconds. I walked down to the end of the street, not wanting to be out of breath before the jogging actually began. I reached the street light and realised that the laces of my left shoe had come undone, so I bent down to retie them. I was so focused on my laces that I did not hear footfalls drawing nearer and nearer. The words I heard took me by such surprise, that if it weren’t for Vusi and the way that he’d made me expect the unexpected, I’d have screeched. Or perhaps the reason I did not screech was because the words cast a momentary spell of speechlessness upon me.
“Hello, you down there. Long-legs find the tarred road very interesting this morning?”
I finished tying my laces and jumped up, trying to find a witty retort, but all too flabbergasted to do anything but smile. Roberto laughed. I did not know if he was laughing at me or at his words, but I still couldn’t find any words to pronounce.
“Awesome socks,” he said, saving me from an embarrassing silence.
“Thanks,” I laughed, peering down at the stripy rainbow-coloured socks I’d thrown on.
“Sleep well?”
“Not really,” Don answered for me. I blushed, thinking of how crazy I must’ve seemed when I awoke screaming and terrified that some red-haired girl was after me.
“Oh, and you’re fit to answer for Daphne?” Roberto said.
“Yes, I should say so. She woke me up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Now if I didn’t sleep well, then you can only imagine how well Daph slept...”
“Would never have guessed. You don’t look tired at all,” Roberto addressed me. I shrugged. Newspaper included himself then, saying, “On the other hand, you look terrible, Fauls 1.” Don tried to frown at him, but no one could stay angry with the little joker for long. I laughed.
“Have you been watching horror movies lately?” Roberto asked.
“No. Don’s banned me from watching them ‘cause I don’t like to watch alone and he’s too scared to watch them with me. So now I just satisfy myself with the books...”
Newspaper laughed, “And of course, those are much less scary.” Sarcasm – such a popular trend amongst teenagers.
“I should ban those too,” Don murmured.
“Let Long-legs have some freedom, Donald!” Roberto beamed.
“I don’t dream about the books I read anyways. I dream about...” I remembered that I could not say what I dreamed about and quickly changed the subject.
“Where’s Jamie?”
“Sick,” Newspaper said.
“- Which means that everyone’s here now. Let’s get going, people.”
With that we were off. For the first five days of jogging there had been more of us – a bunch of other soccer players from Don’s soccer club, three people from his computer gaming club and two of Newspaper’s friends from karate – but lots had either gone away, gotten sick or had other plans. Jamie had come everyday so far. I preferred going in a small group. That way, I didn’t feel so out of place or aware of how slow I was in comparison to the others. I also knew these people better than the others; they had become very good friends with Don, so I saw them really often. That day, the jog was manageable and fun. I felt fit and strong, my lengthy legs moving swiftly and carrying me along without too much of a fuss. Newspaper rattled off a whole lot of new jokes he had invented and then Don and he began discussing their favourite games on the web. Roberto told them about his amazing accomplishment of the previous day – fixing up the electrics in his house. I listened, laughed and commented on everybody else’s tales and smiled. It was still very cold outside, but the jogging had warmed me up and I was feeling good and free of worries. However, this wondrous feeling did not last...
We had been jogging for a long time and had finally reached that day’s destination. Newspaper and Don went off in search of a coffee shop and Roberto waited for me while I tied my shoelaces under the shade of a large, old tree. The cool, autumn wind bit into back of my neck and my shoulders, making me shiver like a frail leaf.
“What happened in your dream?” Roberto asked. I was taken aback by the question. My nightmare had not come up in conversation since his arrival.
“I don’t think you’d like to know,” I answered grimly.
“Why won’t you tell me?” he inquired gently.
“Because... Because it’s not a fantasy devised by my subconscious mind.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s... No one will believe me and you’d think I was some lunatic if I told you the truth.”
I stood up and looked at him nervously. Roberto met my gaze and said, “You’re not the kind of person to lie. I know that. Why don’t you try me?”
I tried to look away so that I would not feel so guilty for not telling him, but I could not. His dark brown eyes had mine locked in position, no looking away now. I sighed. Maybe I could tell him. It would feel better to share the burden of such a secret with someone else – someone human, I thought.
Taking a deep breath, I edged closer to Roberto and said, “Okay. I’ll tell you.”
I looked around anxiously. What if Don hears me again? Maybe he’ll tell Roberto it’s all a story I invented. Maybe Newspaper will overhear and burst out laughing. Maybe, maybe...
“We could go for a walk, if you’d like?” Roberto suggested evenly. I nodded. We set off at a steady pace, the branches of trees billowing around us. The sky was darkening now, more and more sot-coloured clouds settling into place like children gathering round a book for their bedtime story. I began to describe my dream. I had thought it would be hard, but the words flowed out of me as effortlessly as tea out of a pot. Not one detail was forgotten and everything was described exactly as I remembered it. Not once did Roberto interrupt. He walked beside me, listening intently with an unreadable expression on his face. Once I had finished, I looked around for somewhere to sit down. My heart was beating wildly as though it was not a heart but a pair of hands belonging to a hyper-active child who had mistaken my ribcage for a drum. The retelling of my nightmare left me feeling weak and vulnerable and I needed to sit down to take in what I had just done. I settled for a sunny spot of ground that was carpeted with crispy foliage, and sat, resting my chin in between my knees. Roberto sat cross-legged beside me, quiet and pensive for a few moments. Then he spoke, tearing my blue-grey eyes away from the ground.
“That is quite an amazing dream, but that can’t be the end of your story. I know it can’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been afraid to share it,” he said tenderly.
“Oh, it is not the end. That girl, that girl from my dream... She is real. No one will believe me, but I’ve been followed by her – stalked, I guess you could say – since early last year. Her name is Jacqueline and she used to go to my school. I remember her as clearly as anything, but no one else does. It’s like she vanished off the face of the earth to everyone else – no records, no memories, nothing. Yet, I see her often, never too far away and I know that I...”
I stopped in mid-sentence, realising with horror that we had wandered off the allocated jogging track. All the warmth and colour drained from my face and I whispered urgently, leaning right next to the striking boy’s face.
“We have to go!”
“What is it?” Roberto asked, but I was already tugging at the sleeve of his T-shirt and scrambling to my feet, pulling him up with me.
“We’re not on the path we ought to be on any more. She could be anywhere here. You are in great danger! If we don’t get back to the others before she comes, leave me. You will be in grave peril if you do not. I should never have brought you...”
‘What? What do you mean? How do you know she could be here? And if she is, why must I leave you? How can I leave you alone with some dangerous girl who’s been stalking you for over a year?!” he asked as we ran as fast as our feet would carry us. I clung tightly to his wrist, as though he could be lost to the wind. I led him away, not quite sure where to, and as we ran everything began to tumble out of my mouth. I told him all about Jacqueline and Vusi and the sight and then I saw something which made me scream, and froze me to the spot...
It was the sign post – the very one I had seen in my dream. In my dream I had known what those words meant. Now, though I recognised them, all I knew was that certain doom lay before us. Silvia’s Pass, the sign read. Its lettering was large and red. In my dream, my mind had decoded those words and brought some kind of warning signal to my body. Now, all I could remember was Vusi’s warning and how Jacqueline looked with her flames of hair burning intensely behind her fair skin and startling, white eyes. Roberto sensed danger. He looked at me with a look I’d never seen him bear before – fear. I wanted to keep on running, but my feet were rooted to the spot. Knowing there was no escape for me, I tried to think of ways to help the boy whose wrist I clutched so tightly. I had almost formulated a plan, when she appeared. Jacqueline was leaning against a street light, casually licking a multi-coloured lollipop, her eyes fixated on Roberto. No. I am the one who’s tracking you down, not him. You will not hurt him! I thought desperately. Roberto needed to be protected from the inhuman wretch in her lacy leggings and loose chemise. How was I to defend him though?
“Daphne,” he whispered; his breath hot on my chilled ear. It was the first time Roberto had called me by my real name for a long time. I released his wrist and quickly took hold of his clammy hand instead. Something sparked. It felt like his hand had given mine a weak electric shock and Roberto gasped. Confused, I was about to let go of his hand, when he squeezed mine tightly and said, “Daphne, I can see her.”
“What?” I could not believe my ears.
“We have to get out of here. She really gives me the creeps...”
“You see me, do you?” Jacqueline’s voice pierced the icy air around us, causing my hand to constrict around Roberto’s until I was sure I had cut off his blood circulation.
“Run,” I whispered, though I really need not have. We were both sprinting in the opposite direction of the gorgeous, fierce girl as fast as we could manage. The sheer terror caused us to run at such a speed that I could not quite believe it was me running. The problem was that we were in such a state that by the time we had vaguely calmed down, the pair of us found ourselves utterly lost. Next, things began to look blurred. My surroundings looked like nothing more than a smudge of colour; even Roberto’s figure right next to me was difficult to make out. Then everything began to fall. Smudges of green and brown and grey tumbled over like dominos and began to merge with one another. The air grew so humid that I began to perspire and felt dreadfully nauseas. I threw up into what looked like a rosebush, and thought of my nightmare. The whole world was melting around us – just as it had in my subconscious mind. We galloped about madly but the river of ruins was upon us before long, sweeping us away on its destructive current. I was dragged under the surface of my liquidised world, screaming, but Roberto managed to grab something buoyant and pull my head out of the river. I draped my arms and torso over the blurred item gratefully, my head resting against the smudge that I took to be Roberto’s sopping hair. The smells around me intensified, until I felt like my nostrils had been set alight by all the different, pungent odours of a dissolving area. I gripped the buoyant item tightly, tears dribbling down my wet face. Suddenly, the item began to bounce - up and down and up and down - as though I were trapped in not just a river of peril, but a sea. I looked around nervously and felt my heart plummet when I realised why this had occurred. A great weight had been lifted off the floating object – Roberto. I looked around, trying to spot him in the great mass of liquid all around me, but he had vanished from sight. I called out his name again and again. I screamed loudly, but nothing but a hollow echo answered me. Lowering my wearied head onto the life-saving article, I felt my strength leave me. I breathed jerkily through sweat and tears, and eventually I closed my eyes. Their lids were too heavy to remain open and I was too weak to fight against them. With that, everything went black, and the last thing I heard before falling asleep was the whoosh of the rapids carrying me away.
I awoke on hard land feeling sick, cold and sore. I tried to prop myself up on my elbow but yelped with pain. I thought I had broken my arm. It was in agony. Lying down again, I tried to recall where I was. Everything flooded back and I sat up slowly, cautiously surveying my surroundings. I had not a clue as to where I was. The ground beneath me was concrete and there was not a tree in sight, only endless expanses of high, face-brick buildings. I got to my feet with difficulty, my left arm hanging uselessly at my side, scorching with pain. Starting to walk around, and scope out the unnervingly foreign landscape, I felt sick to the stomach. The earth seemed to spin around me and I felt dizzy with the buzzing of high-pitched sounds that engulfed my ears. I reached a wall and pressed my good hand up against it, leaning the side of my head on the underside of my elbow and shutting my eyes in an attempt to block out the giddiness. The buzzing sounds only intensified though, and my nausea grew terrible. Reopening my eyes, I lifted my head off my arm and stared blankly at another nearby wall before I was overcome by the most dreadful sensation of nausea and vomited on the concrete ground. After that I felt much better, and wiping reminders of that awful moment off my face with the back of my hand, I continued walking.
“Oh, dear. That simply won’t do. – Lost and without a clue, spewing all manner of fowl, yellowness over the ground. What kind of a friend are you?” Jacqueline said coolly, appearing from behind a door of the building I had leant against. The wind whistled past me and I clutched at my lame arm, shivering and realising that I was still sopping wet from my adventure in the river of ruins.
“What do you want with me, Jacqueline? What do you want with the world – with my planet? Why are you here?” I asked her through chattering teeth.
“I owe you thanks, Daphne,” the pretty girl said silkily, walking towards me and resting her pale hand on my shoulder. Her fingers sent a prickle of energy through my veins and I shuddered dramatically.
“How so?” I queried, sounding far braver than I felt.
“Let me tell you a little anecdote, shall I?” she smiled mysteriously. I shrugged and then nodded.
“Follow me, Daphne,” Jacqueline said softly, pushing me forward gently with the palm of her hand. She walked me through the door that I had seen her appear from and then opened it, beckoning me inside. I did not object; the building was well-heated, lit with many candles and smelled of incense. I was seated on a plush ottoman in front of a glowing fire and a hot, soft towel was draped around my shoulders. Jacqueline settled down beside me with a baffling air about her.
“When I first came to Earth, I expected to be treated foully. I had ventured forth onto many other planets before. I guess in human terms you would call me an astronaut. The thing is that on other planets people rejected my presence. Many times they wished to hunt me down. Then I came here... It must have been about a thousand years ago, I suppose. I was prepared for the worst, sure that I would stay no longer than a year at max and would then return home with a dismal report about the natives. The creatures here were unlike any I had ever encountered before - the human beings in particular. They were so ignorant of their situation back then. They did not believe in other planets out there. They did not even know about the existence of several places on their own planet. I watched them from afar for three months, just one small village of them. I learned their language and customs and then I tried to make myself look like one of them. Then, I tried to mingle with them. I did not look like I do now. I had blonde hair and green eyes and I was rather plain, but I managed to convince some locals that I was an orphan and I was lost and they took me in as one of their own. I had my own family, something I had never had on my own planet. There people were expected to fend for themselves, but not here. I was part of a community and I was loved and for six years I could not have been happier.
“But alas! A new man came to town in the year that I turned twenty in my years, but fourteen in human years. I fell in love with him instantly but he would not even look at me and it tore me apart. I wanted to know why he would look at the other girls and ask them to walk with him and buy them ale and not me. I studied him carefully and realised it was my appearance. I vowed to make myself look like no other being on Earth. I was to be magnificent – a face that no one could look away from or forget. Then he would want to be with me. So, I transformed myself into this. He looked at me with such desire then, but I no longer loved him because I realised that he only wanted me at his side because of my beauty, and that was not true love. I would teach him a lesson. Then he would understand what to love someone really meant. Thus, I turned him aside, scorned him and walked away into the night. He burned inside for years, yearning for my return. Time passed and I realised that the powers I had used for my makeover were not common to your planet. Every particle of Earth rejected such powers and so beautiful Earth, which I had come to call my home, wanted to reject me too. It elongated my scorned love’s suffering and in doing so, prolonged both his life and mine but kept us looking the same way we looked back then – never to age one year, but to live for who knows how long. To worsen the curse upon me, the powers of the Earth struck against me and the man, Akia, and even his younger brother who had been very close to him. Now few humans could see me or Akia or his little brother, Ambrose. As time passed, I realised that Ambrose was not growing any older either, though he had grown very angry. I thought that things had gone back to normal at one stage. People could see me again, but then time passed and they forgot my existence altogether and I was alone and invisible, wandering the Earth without purpose.
Over the hundreds of years that I roamed this planet, fewer and fewer people could remember or see me. All my friends and family had long since passed on and I thought of returning to the planet of my birth, but I was confused. My heart still could not let go of Akia, even if he had disappointed me. I could not return though. Ambrose would have killed me if I did. He knew I was still out there, hiding from him. I changed names several times, as did Akia and Ambrose. I had not seen anyone human who had the sight for nearly a century, when you came along. I tried to play the mean-girl so that I could get you alone and get to know you. I realise that you have had a rough time dealing with my appearance, but I assure you that if you listen to me carefully, you will be fine.”
Someone groaned and I looked around nervously. Jacqueline’s tale was a lot to take in and the groans sounded far too close for my liking. I wondered if I could trust her.
“Oh, get out here, Roberto!” Jacqueline hissed, pulling open a door to reveal a pale-faced boy dressed in a white dressing gown.
“Roberto!” I gasped, running to embrace him.
“Daphne,” he murmured, holding me tightly in his warm arms.
“Afraid your friend here picked up a nasty cold,” Jacqueline said. I spoke hurriedly to Roberto under my breath, expressing how I thought he had been dead and asking what happened. He did not say much, only that he’d been saved by Jacqueline and had been eavesdropping on her story, now wanting to here the end.
“Daphne, I have reason to believe that Ambrose has been tracking me down with the intention of ending my life. You are the only person I can turn to for help. He is dangerous and I know that if you get in his way, he will kill you. So, I beg you please tell him that you have murdered me yourself. Then his anger will perish and I may be free to find Akia and explain what happened.”
“Wait... If I am the only one with the sight, then why can Roberto see you?”
“You were holding his hand when I arrived on the scene. You felt a spark didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I said, remembering the electric shock.
“That was a gift from me to you. I had enough power left to transport myself back home, but when I met you last year, I met someone who seemed more fitting of this power than me. I gave you a drink of tea which I had filled with all my powers – thus bestowing the power upon you. By holding his hand, you had the power to do what your innermost wants pleaded to be done – to let him share the sight.”
“You gave me all of your powers from the other planet?” I gasped.
“Yes, but that’s enough talk, Daphne. You must convince Ambrose that I’ve been slain. Then his soul will be at peace and he will pass on to the next life, and I will find Akia,” she said desperately, her eyes shining brightly.
“You won’t be alone,” Roberto whispered in my ear.
“Alright, Jacqueline. I will do as you request, if I ever meet Ambrose,” I said steadily. The girl (or I guess she was much too old to be called a girl) smiled sadly.
“Remember, as I no longer go by my name of birth, neither does he.” I frowned as it dawned upon me, shaking my head and hoping that Jacqueline would tell me that my thoughts were wrong. She opened her mouth to tell me his name and I buried my head in Roberto’s shoulder and shut my eyes tightly, terrified. Then everything was melting again, and we were swept away in the river of ruins. When I awoke, I was lying on the grass beside Roberto, thinking of Jacqueline’s horrid revelation. If Ambrose finds out the truth, he will not think twice about killing me, I thought. I looked around, feeling as though my whole world was spinning. Now that all had been revealed, I was even more scared than when I had been in the dark about my predicament. I had an otherworldly mission to see to, and the weight of it was too much for me to bear. No one had to raise a knife, this time, to give me the strength to scream...
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