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Okay, so....just like I set aside Spark to focus on this, with us coming into November, I'll be setting Wanderer aside to focus on Spark. I'm hoping to finish book 1 of that, or at least get close. So, I hope to see you there :)
The downside of that is I don't think I'm going to get any more Wanderer done before NaNo. So, uh.....I'm sorry xD Ofc the next 3 chapters are available as advance chapters if you get desperate
I blinked, squinting my eyes and struggling to peer through the dark.
The sun sank lower on the horizon. Not that I could see that much, but, well, I could only guess from the blues and purples taking over the sky. With every passing minute, the light left to me grew fainter and fainter.
Writing the letters had been...odd. I hadn’t wanted to, of course, but something in me screamed that it was worth doing. That I wasn’t an idiot, and I could see how this was going to go. That I should leave something behind so that they’d know what happened here.
Unsteadily, feeling my legs quiver underneath me, I stood, stumbling across the tiny prison. The shelves hiding tucked against the wall were just a dark shape, nearly invisible in the growing night. I slid the notebook onto the shelf, feeling like I was handing off my last will and testament. I probably was.
Each breath came hard, accompanied by a burn that went straight past my throat and lungs and sank deep into my chest. The sweating hadn’t stopped, either. My jacket had been abandoned hours ago, thrown into the corner in a fit of pent-up rage. It hadn’t been as satisfying as I’d hoped.
I couldn’t see well enough to write, and with the way my head was spinning I was pretty sure I’d fall if I tried to clamber my way back up to the grate. The back-end of a rope knot peeked into sight around the bars. I could only imagine that’s how Aedan was getting in and out, but without it dangling down it wasn’t going to help me get any closer.
Even still, I couldn’t just sit there, feeling my insides melt together. I turned my sights to the walls instead.
Paint. He’d painted symbols all over the cell, shaping a language I couldn’t begin to understand. Even if I didn’t know what they said, though, their purpose was clear. He’d had the same marks all over his knife, after all. These damn runes had something to do with the spell Aedan was trying to work.
Maybe I could ruin it. Or delay him, at least. Swallowing the bile that rose in the back of my throat, I stumbled toward the wall, collapsing to the ground. Standing was an unnecessary effort, one that seemed harder by the second.
And then I raised my hands to the concrete, tearing my fingernails across the smooth, careful black paint.
The steady sound of scratching filled the prison. My fingernails flexed, twisting and catching against the uneven surface. I bit my tongue, steeling myself against the fresh pain. The cuts across my palms seared to life. Even though Aedan had changed the dressings, the bandages were spotted with red and brown. They were probably getting infected by now, I knew.
None of it mattered if I turned to dust tomorrow. I ignored the pain, scrabbling at the concrete. One nail cracked, giving up at last. Red stained the wall. I dug away at it still, wishing there was something, anything for me to use. The plastic pen Aedan had let me was the only thing available, and my fingernails were probably a step better than that.
The sound of ragged breathing overcame the scrape of fingernails on stone at last. I collected myself, my eyes narrowing. A little more. Maybe with a little more, I could-
“Stop that,” Aedan said. His voice rang through the grating over head.
I kept clawing at the runes, leaving bloody fingerprints behind. “Make me,” I rasped.
“Jon. You’re just- you’re only hurting yourself. Stop.”
“No.” There was something deliciously sweet about pushing back against his commands. I bit my lip hard, tears filling my eyes as my fingers screamed.
“If you don’t leave those alone, I’ll chain you to the bed,” Aedan said. Somehow, his voice had grown more quiet still, more disheartened. “Just sit down, Jon.”
I stopped at that, half-turning to glare up toward the bars. The shelter was in near-total darkness by then, and all I could see of Aedan was his outline against the rapidly-appearing stars. “Fine,” I said, my hands shaking. “Come down and make me, then. See how well that goes for you.”
“It’s paint,” Aedan whispered. “You’re not going to do anything. The runes are already doing their work. Don’t hurt yourself needlessly.”
As I watched, he settled down onto his log, still looking down at me. His face vanished into shadow.
When I glanced back to the rune, I...I had to admit that he was right. Fingernails just weren’t a match for the stuff, and I hadn’t made any progress besides smearing blood all over it. And now, with him watching me, he could step in before I did any meaningful damage.
As big as I might bluster, there truthfully wasn’t much I could do if he decided to step in. Fucker probably had a taser, or more drugs. Even without any of that...I couldn’t take Aedan in a fistfight when I wasn’t running a fever and on the verge of puking my guts up.
“Fine,” I muttered, throwing myself down next to the mess I’d made. “Have it your fucking way. Like always.”
Aedan sighed at that, leaning forward. His feet shifted, scraping against the ground. He was about to leave again. Maybe I could keep going. Maybe-
“Aedan?” I heard myself say. It hadn’t been a conscious decision. But...the cell was almost entirely black, by then, and the sky overhead didn’t give more than the faintest bit of light. I’d never been afraid of the dark, but then, I’d never been cut up and left to die.
As much as I tried to convince myself it was just pain and exhaustion leaving my limbs shaking, I knew that wasn’t the full truth.
Aedan hesitated - and then drooped. “What is it?”
“You haven’t drank any of that shit,” I said, my eyes fixed on where his face should be. “Give it over.”
“What? Jon, you’re dehydrated. Your body’s already hurt. You shouldn’t-”
“Fucking give it to me,” I growled. “It isn’t going to matter anyway, is it?”
Aedan stood frozen, a black mass in the darkness, and then chuckled. The soft clink of glass against stone drifted across the scene.
Somehow, I managed to muster the strength to rise, stretching my arms toward the bars as he lowered the bottle through. Even then, I almost dropped it once the solid weight settled into my aching hands.
The ground rose up to cradle me as I sat down hard, tearing at the plastic sealing my prize shut. “Just take it slow,” I heard Aedan say.
Fuck Aedan and fuck his suggestions. The burn of liquor sliding down my throat brought a soothing numbness in its wake, although my stomach didn’t appreciate the newest addition. I coughed, wiping at my mouth, and dropped the bottle to my lap. “Aedan?”
“I’m still here, Jon,” he said.
“Fuck you.”
Softly, I could hear what sounded like a chuckle, half-bitten off - as though it hadn’t quite been intentional. “I know,” he said.
“I fed you,” I said, tightening my hands around the bottle. “How fucking dare you?”
“I-”
“I took you off the street. Brought you into my goddamn house.” Another gulp of the amber liquid washed down my throat. It went down easier, this time. I licked my lips, welcoming the taste of something besides blood.
“Jon, I-”
“I put clothes on your back.”
“I always appreciated that,” Aedan said, his voice low. “You can’t understand how much. There are- There are so many people who just wanted...to use me. The knife. Who wanted-”
“You fucked my sister.”
The silence was longer, at that. I grinned humorlessly, relishing the slow, steady spin of the world around my head. It wasn’t as painless as Aedan’s good-night drugs, but it was a marked improvement over ‘nothing’. “Don’t like that, eh? You selfish fuck. From the start, you’ve done nothing but use me and her.”
“I wasn’t using her,” Aedan said. His voice nearly vanished amidst the roar of blood in my ears. My skin prickled, like a thousand bees were stinging me. “I never used her. It- It wasn’t a game.”
“But you’re going to just murder her brother and vanish,” I said, spitting each word. “You’re going to do something like that to your own girlfriend.”
“She’s going to-”
“Did you even say goodbye?” I interrupted. “Did you say anything to her?”
Aedan was unmoving, still sitting on his damn log. “Jon...I…”
“No, you didn’t,” I said, already knowing exactly what he’d say. He’d just make excuses, say why it wasn’t his fault and he couldn’t. “That might tip her off, after all. You’re just going to tear her heart out and leave her bleeding, you absolute fucking-”
“I’m sorry, okay?” Aedan said. “I...I’m sorry. And...I’ll…” His words died away, then came back, more quietly. “There’s no way for me to apologize to her for this. I...there’s nothing to say, Jon.”
“Because you’re a fucking coward.”
“Maybe.” His head dropped forward.
I took the opportunity to take another mouthful of the whiskey, my eyes fixed on his outline. My throat was already numb, at least. The liquor had done its work well. “What does it feel like to die?” I said quietly.
He flinched. His whole silhouette jerked, spasming against the dark. “Don’t- You don’t have to talk like that,” he said. “Besides, I don’t-”
“Are you scared?” The questions I’d always wanted to ask but never got around to bubbled out one after another. There was no reason to hold back anymore, at least. I didn’t have to worry about being polite. It wasn’t like he’d earned any sort of courtesy from me, at this point. “You know. Every time you get your brains blown out, or your throat cut, or run over by a car. Are you scared?”
Considering the reaction I’d gotten out of him mere seconds before, he seemed oddly still. “Of course I am,” he whispered at last. “I’m still human, Jon.”
“Humans don’t kill their friends,” I snapped, letting the words fly from my lips like bullets. “Whatever the fuck you are, don’t think you can call yourself human.”
Still, Aedan sat frozen. My hands shook, like they were on the verge of leaping out to grab the words back. “I know,” he said. “I know, Jon. Something like this...this is a debt I can’t ever repay. It’s wrong, and I know it, but-”
“Are you scared right now?” I said, cutting in again.
“Of course I am.” The words were the same as his last, but filled with an entirely different array of emotions. Shame. Grief. Fear. They all warred for control in each syllable, echoing through the tension in his voice.
“But you’re going to do it anyway,” I said, leaning my head back. “Shit, what happens if you don’t even follow through? If you’re scared, don’t you think maybe it’s for a reason? Don’t do this, Aedan.”
“I have to.” He sat straighter, blocking out more of the stars that shone from above. “I won’t waste this. I won’t.”
The needles were back, pricking into my limbs. Only, now the needles were starting to feel more like knives. My heartbeat accelerated as adrenaline trickled back into my system. Not again. No more. Please, no more.
The deprivation didn’t seem to give even a single shit about what I wanted, though. I took another sip from the bottle, wrapping one arm around my midsection. “You’ve done everything,” I said quietly. No matter how hard I tried, my voice still wobbled from the strain building inside me. “But I’ve done nothing. And you’re going to steal all of that away. From me. From Keira.” A tiny, wry smile twisted my lips, on the edge of becoming a grimace. “From Amber, too.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Apologies don’t mean anything if you’re still trying to murder me.” My fingers dragged across the bottle, leaving wet streaks behind. I let my eyes slide lower, heavily lidded. “I haven’t gotten to do anything.”
His shadow moved, accompanied by the sound of his shoes rubbing at the ground. My eyes snapped open. “Oh, no you fucking don’t. I’m not done. Sit back down.”
He sat back down.
“Oh, you’ll listen to that,” I muttered. “Asswipe. You know, you…”
It helped, a little. I let all the words I’d been holding back flow, tearing into him as the last of the stars came out overhead. It helped fight back the dizzying agony, helped keep me centered as my skin flushed and sweat dripped from my face.
Through it all, he nodded, letting me go. Accepting it.
It wouldn’t last, I knew. It never did.
But it helped.
The world was fog, grey and oppressive and pushing in on me until I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
Fog that was on fire. Everything burned. The air burned.
Distantly, I could hear a noise, like a siren without end. It tore at my ears, the perfect accompaniment to the firestorm around me.
Jon
Something pressed up underneath me, an iceberg against my skin. Something rough. It rose and fell in waves, roiling like the sea in a storm.
The sound was...familiar. It shouldn’t have been, but it was. It sounded like me, but not.
Jon, it’s okay
Oh.
That was me screaming, wasn’t it?
It wasn’t a sea underneath me, it was concrete. And it wasn’t moving, I was. Every muscle in my body stiffened in pulses, arching my back and driving my limbs out straight. The knives in my skin had become drills, boring into my midsection and opening the way for acid that engulfed every fiber of me in pulsating, seething bursts of...of...of something that didn’t quite have a name, but felt like death.
Something cold grabbed me - my face. It dropped away just as quickly, and I heard someone cry out.
And then they latched back on, lifting my chin and tilting my head back.
Open your mouth
Just- Just open your mouth, Jon
If I forced my eyes open, pushing against the seemingly-insurmountable weight laden onto my body, I could see him - just a dark shape amidst the hazy blur of my vision. He loomed over me.
A wave of light passed through the cell, and his face appeared before mine. I’d never seen terror in his eyes before. Not like this, anyway.
And then the light faded, and something pressed against my lips.
Drink
It’s okay, Jon
It’s okay
I was helpless to fight as cool liquid poured down my throat. It didn’t all make it down. I could feel some of it splashing down my cheek, thrown off course by the tremors wracking my body.
But enough did. A distance passed between my mind and body, like something had scooped me up and pushed me away. It didn’t wipe the pain out, but it muted it, somehow. Faintly, I could remember yelling at Aedan. Telling him not to drug me again.
I couldn’t summon the energy to be angry at him anymore.
And as I faded again, still quivering with the seizures that lingered under my skin, one thought remained. A realization, an observation, a single fact that lodged itself in my mind with sickening potency.
As the fog took me, I was left with the knowledge that the light had come from my own brilliantly-glowing skin.
Birds.
They sang somewhere nearby, chirping to each other in hideously pleasant squeaks and trills. I inhaled slowly, savoring the taste of the air. My chest burned with even that feeble motion.
I tried to move, to sit up, but my joints refused. It was like sand had been rubbed into them, turning the slightest movement into an ordeal. I grimaced, squeezing my eyes shut tightly against the feeling of it.
And then I opened my eyes.
The blue sky smiled down at me from between the bars. I gazed into the azure depths, motionless. The timeline had already run through my head, confirming the inevitable.
Day three.
“Jon.”
The voice was familiar enough, but oddly...close. I bit down hard, clenching my teeth, and let my head roll to the side.
Aedan sat in the far corner of the cell, next to the wadded-up mass of my jacket. The shadows wrapped over him like a cloak, but he looked pale. His foot tapped incessantly, but the sound vanished into the concrete.
He clutched something in his hands. Something small enough to fit in his palm - but he passed it from one hand to another, running his fingers over its surface. A vial, filled with clear liquid. I eyed it, torn between nervousness and apathy. It was getting harder and harder to care.
But whatever it was, it seemed to have earned a different treatment entirely from the tainted water bottles he’d been chucking my way. The vial was small, but ornate, and even as he fidgeted the vial was always securely in his grasp.
I looked up at last, meeting his gaze. His eyes were dark, but still, he managed a smile.
“We should talk,” he said.
Submitted October 29, 2019 at 01:00PM by Inorai https://ift.tt/2Jxde4R
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