Status: Finished; working on the sequel
In The Dark
Chapter Eight
It’s dark by the time we get there, and many of the older kids are carrying the younger ones on their backs while they sleep.
As foretold to me by my father, there is a truck waiting for us when we get there. I tell everyone to wait for me behind the elephant statue while I make sure it’s safe.
Blowing out a nervous breath, I approach the truck slowly. Walking over to the driver’s side, I peer in. Nobody is there. It’s just empty. I walk to the back of the trailer.
Should I knock? Or yell? Maybe I should just kick the side and run. I sigh. “Oh well… here goes nothing,” I mumble. I rap on the door three times and take a quick step back.
It opens almost immediately and I take another step back. A guy steps out, wearing worn black jeans and a black button up shirt. He looks young, maybe twenty-five at the most. He looks me up and down slowly. “Name, age, birth date?”
I stare at him, not comprehendingly, until I realize that he meant this as a question. “Oh! Um… Kyra Lee, 13, November 16.”
There is a long silence, during which he just stares at me, then, quite suddenly, he grins and sweeps me up in a huge hug. He smells like chemicals and metal, mixed with old spice aftershave. I don’t hug him back obviously; I don’t even know who he is.
As if sensing how uncomfortable I am, he puts me down quickly and takes a step back, a somewhat shy and embarrassed look on his face.
“Oh, sorry.” He looks down and shrugs slightly, “It’s been awhile since I last saw you. Well, thirteen years to be exact. Uh… I’m Nicholas Parker. You can call me Nick.” He holds out a hand and I’m surprised to see the same crystal that I have on the back of his hand.
I don’t try to hide my curiosity, lifting his hand up in mine and studying his crystal. His is glowing a bright yellow, but as soon as I touch it, it flashes white. I look up at Nick to see him looking startled at the flash too.
I touch the crystal again and it flashes some more. Finally, I place my whole hand over his. This time, both of our crystals flash and we each shield our eyes as a blinding white beam of light shoots out, piercing the almost black night sky.
Our hands are bonded together, neither of us able to move them. Looking at him for help, I am sorry to notice that he has no idea of what is going on either. The beam looks like it goes all the way to heaven.
It gets brighter and brighter until I’m sure it is going to fry my eyes in their sockets. Then the beam shoots back down, and is gone before I can blink.
Nick and I retract our hands fast, in case it decides to shoot back out. Feeling a burning sensation on my palm, I look down to see a glowing design etched into it. So weird that I can’t even explain what it looks like to you. Sorry.
I stare at it in disbelief, wincing at the burning. Nick stares at it too.
“You okay? Does it hurt at all? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
I blow on my palm to ease the little pain there is. “I’ll live, don’t worry. It just burns a little.”
The design actually went past my glove into my hand. The glowing has stopped though, leaving the markings black and bold.
Still staring, and looking very uncomfortable, Nick shifts, looking behind me. “Yeah so… uh… aren’t you supposed to have the kids with you? Please tell me you have them, or else we’re both in a tremendous amount of trouble.”
Oh no! I totally forgot about the kids! I hold my hands out to him in the universal wait here sign, and run over to the statue I left them behind, and promptly burst out laughing.
They’re all in various sprawled positions in the moss. The kids are still attached to their older partners and everything, but everyone is sound asleep. Even Lana.
I call Nick over. “This,” I say, waving an arm to indicate the sleeping children, “is my crew.”
He laughs, and then spots Lana, and his grin disappears. “My twin,” I say, to his disbelieving face. He still doesn’t look away, and his smile doesn’t come back.
“What’s the problem? Never seen twins before or something?” I’m going for a joke, but he doesn’t respond. His head shakes suddenly, and he blinks a few times, as if he’s trying to clear his mind. Then he looks back at me, all business.
“Well, we were going to move tonight, but now…” He trails off, looking at all of the snoring forms.
I stare at them too. What if I could move them? Maybe. The voice did say that I could do hundreds of things right? So I should be able to do this too.
“That’s right Loli. You can do anything you set your mind to. There are endless possibilities.” The voice, of course.
I walk around to the stairs and start to climb. It’s a little over 30 feet, so it’s a long climb, but I’m not out of breath when I reach the top [thank goodness].
I look down at Nick and the kids, a small, yet buzzing energy running through me, and I think I know exactly what to do.
Hesitant, I hold out my hands, palms forward, and close my eyes, concentrating so hard that my head actually starts to throb. Seeming to have a mind of its own, my crystal glows bright, all the colors of the rainbow at once.
I feel the air around my hands lock around my wrists, and it feels like I’m holding it. I know that sounds weird, but it’s really the truth. It feels as if the air is solid and that I’m holding it.
Carefully, I lift my hands… and to my complete joy, all of the sleeping kids rise too. Right off of the ground! I cannot see Nick’s face, so I don’t know for sure, but I’m sure his jaw is on the ground.
Turning slowly, I carry my load to the back of the truck and Nick opens it up. I manage to lay them down without bumping anyone’s head, which is always good. No head bumping here.
Once I break concentration, all of my energy is gone, once again. Just great.
Nick is suddenly ecstatic, and right below me. “That was amazing,” he calls up. “Can you get down? You probably feel drained. Should I come up and get you?”
“No, I’m okay,” I lie.
I’m not three steps down, when I trip and fall right over the edge, [I can’t believe they don’t have a railing for this thing]. I manage to fall on my back, but the pain the follows is so severe that I have a tough time even breathing right.
Nick is over me instantly, looking so amused that I wish I had the energy enough to slap him. “Wow. They did say you were stubborn, but I never imagined you would be this stubborn. Are you okay?”
I bare my teeth at him like a dog, and he chuckles, bending down to pick my up. Nevertheless, I push his hands away and struggle to my knees, take a breath, then stand, all the while trying to ignore the way every part of my body feels ready to explode.
Nick raises his eyebrows, looking impressed. “Okay then. If I were you, I know I wouldn’t be attempting to walk after that, but whatever.” He gestures ahead of him grandly. “After you my heavily-injured lady.”
I take a breath and start to walk, and very quickly realize my mistake. I stumble forward and am inches from hitting the ground face first, when Nick grabs my waist, stopping my fall, and instantly inducing another wave of unbearable pain. I cry out, unable to stop myself, and he picks me up in a princess lift, with one arm behind my back, and the other beneath my knees.
Just for future reference, I hate being lifted. No matter how, I absolutely hate it. This is why I struggle, and, henceforth am forced to more pain. I stop struggling and grit my teeth in silence, while he carries me to the truck, and places me in the front passenger seat as gently as possible, which still brings yet more pain.
The seat is huge, and I’m able to curl up into a ball, and still have my seat belt on. Nick climbs in the driver’s seat and looks at me, puts a hand on my forehead, and sighs.
“You’re really hot.”
I smile at his concerned expression, and try to lighten his mood. “Thank you. It’s been a while since someone’s told me that.”
He looks confused for a second, but then realization dawns and he smiles back, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean it like that, you flirt. Now try to get some rest, you’ll feel better in the morning.”
I was going to do that anyway, but my phone picks this time to ring.
I snatch it from my pocket and flip it open, angry.
“WHAT?! What do you want? I just want to go to sleep!” I disconnect and throw the phone with enough force to break the thing, but Nick catches it just in time.
He has that look again as if I am actually entertaining him or something. I scowl at him. “What are you staring at?”
He shakes his head. “Just go to sleep before you decide to hurt me, or anything else.”
He starts up the truck and we roll out quickly and smoothly. I hear a radio buzz on and a woman’s voice saying something I cannot understand, then Nick answering shortly, then feel the faint vibrating of the truck, then…
As foretold to me by my father, there is a truck waiting for us when we get there. I tell everyone to wait for me behind the elephant statue while I make sure it’s safe.
Blowing out a nervous breath, I approach the truck slowly. Walking over to the driver’s side, I peer in. Nobody is there. It’s just empty. I walk to the back of the trailer.
Should I knock? Or yell? Maybe I should just kick the side and run. I sigh. “Oh well… here goes nothing,” I mumble. I rap on the door three times and take a quick step back.
It opens almost immediately and I take another step back. A guy steps out, wearing worn black jeans and a black button up shirt. He looks young, maybe twenty-five at the most. He looks me up and down slowly. “Name, age, birth date?”
I stare at him, not comprehendingly, until I realize that he meant this as a question. “Oh! Um… Kyra Lee, 13, November 16.”
There is a long silence, during which he just stares at me, then, quite suddenly, he grins and sweeps me up in a huge hug. He smells like chemicals and metal, mixed with old spice aftershave. I don’t hug him back obviously; I don’t even know who he is.
As if sensing how uncomfortable I am, he puts me down quickly and takes a step back, a somewhat shy and embarrassed look on his face.
“Oh, sorry.” He looks down and shrugs slightly, “It’s been awhile since I last saw you. Well, thirteen years to be exact. Uh… I’m Nicholas Parker. You can call me Nick.” He holds out a hand and I’m surprised to see the same crystal that I have on the back of his hand.
I don’t try to hide my curiosity, lifting his hand up in mine and studying his crystal. His is glowing a bright yellow, but as soon as I touch it, it flashes white. I look up at Nick to see him looking startled at the flash too.
I touch the crystal again and it flashes some more. Finally, I place my whole hand over his. This time, both of our crystals flash and we each shield our eyes as a blinding white beam of light shoots out, piercing the almost black night sky.
Our hands are bonded together, neither of us able to move them. Looking at him for help, I am sorry to notice that he has no idea of what is going on either. The beam looks like it goes all the way to heaven.
It gets brighter and brighter until I’m sure it is going to fry my eyes in their sockets. Then the beam shoots back down, and is gone before I can blink.
Nick and I retract our hands fast, in case it decides to shoot back out. Feeling a burning sensation on my palm, I look down to see a glowing design etched into it. So weird that I can’t even explain what it looks like to you. Sorry.
I stare at it in disbelief, wincing at the burning. Nick stares at it too.
“You okay? Does it hurt at all? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
I blow on my palm to ease the little pain there is. “I’ll live, don’t worry. It just burns a little.”
The design actually went past my glove into my hand. The glowing has stopped though, leaving the markings black and bold.
Still staring, and looking very uncomfortable, Nick shifts, looking behind me. “Yeah so… uh… aren’t you supposed to have the kids with you? Please tell me you have them, or else we’re both in a tremendous amount of trouble.”
Oh no! I totally forgot about the kids! I hold my hands out to him in the universal wait here sign, and run over to the statue I left them behind, and promptly burst out laughing.
They’re all in various sprawled positions in the moss. The kids are still attached to their older partners and everything, but everyone is sound asleep. Even Lana.
I call Nick over. “This,” I say, waving an arm to indicate the sleeping children, “is my crew.”
He laughs, and then spots Lana, and his grin disappears. “My twin,” I say, to his disbelieving face. He still doesn’t look away, and his smile doesn’t come back.
“What’s the problem? Never seen twins before or something?” I’m going for a joke, but he doesn’t respond. His head shakes suddenly, and he blinks a few times, as if he’s trying to clear his mind. Then he looks back at me, all business.
“Well, we were going to move tonight, but now…” He trails off, looking at all of the snoring forms.
I stare at them too. What if I could move them? Maybe. The voice did say that I could do hundreds of things right? So I should be able to do this too.
“That’s right Loli. You can do anything you set your mind to. There are endless possibilities.” The voice, of course.
I walk around to the stairs and start to climb. It’s a little over 30 feet, so it’s a long climb, but I’m not out of breath when I reach the top [thank goodness].
I look down at Nick and the kids, a small, yet buzzing energy running through me, and I think I know exactly what to do.
Hesitant, I hold out my hands, palms forward, and close my eyes, concentrating so hard that my head actually starts to throb. Seeming to have a mind of its own, my crystal glows bright, all the colors of the rainbow at once.
I feel the air around my hands lock around my wrists, and it feels like I’m holding it. I know that sounds weird, but it’s really the truth. It feels as if the air is solid and that I’m holding it.
Carefully, I lift my hands… and to my complete joy, all of the sleeping kids rise too. Right off of the ground! I cannot see Nick’s face, so I don’t know for sure, but I’m sure his jaw is on the ground.
Turning slowly, I carry my load to the back of the truck and Nick opens it up. I manage to lay them down without bumping anyone’s head, which is always good. No head bumping here.
Once I break concentration, all of my energy is gone, once again. Just great.
Nick is suddenly ecstatic, and right below me. “That was amazing,” he calls up. “Can you get down? You probably feel drained. Should I come up and get you?”
“No, I’m okay,” I lie.
I’m not three steps down, when I trip and fall right over the edge, [I can’t believe they don’t have a railing for this thing]. I manage to fall on my back, but the pain the follows is so severe that I have a tough time even breathing right.
Nick is over me instantly, looking so amused that I wish I had the energy enough to slap him. “Wow. They did say you were stubborn, but I never imagined you would be this stubborn. Are you okay?”
I bare my teeth at him like a dog, and he chuckles, bending down to pick my up. Nevertheless, I push his hands away and struggle to my knees, take a breath, then stand, all the while trying to ignore the way every part of my body feels ready to explode.
Nick raises his eyebrows, looking impressed. “Okay then. If I were you, I know I wouldn’t be attempting to walk after that, but whatever.” He gestures ahead of him grandly. “After you my heavily-injured lady.”
I take a breath and start to walk, and very quickly realize my mistake. I stumble forward and am inches from hitting the ground face first, when Nick grabs my waist, stopping my fall, and instantly inducing another wave of unbearable pain. I cry out, unable to stop myself, and he picks me up in a princess lift, with one arm behind my back, and the other beneath my knees.
Just for future reference, I hate being lifted. No matter how, I absolutely hate it. This is why I struggle, and, henceforth am forced to more pain. I stop struggling and grit my teeth in silence, while he carries me to the truck, and places me in the front passenger seat as gently as possible, which still brings yet more pain.
The seat is huge, and I’m able to curl up into a ball, and still have my seat belt on. Nick climbs in the driver’s seat and looks at me, puts a hand on my forehead, and sighs.
“You’re really hot.”
I smile at his concerned expression, and try to lighten his mood. “Thank you. It’s been a while since someone’s told me that.”
He looks confused for a second, but then realization dawns and he smiles back, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean it like that, you flirt. Now try to get some rest, you’ll feel better in the morning.”
I was going to do that anyway, but my phone picks this time to ring.
I snatch it from my pocket and flip it open, angry.
“WHAT?! What do you want? I just want to go to sleep!” I disconnect and throw the phone with enough force to break the thing, but Nick catches it just in time.
He has that look again as if I am actually entertaining him or something. I scowl at him. “What are you staring at?”
He shakes his head. “Just go to sleep before you decide to hurt me, or anything else.”
He starts up the truck and we roll out quickly and smoothly. I hear a radio buzz on and a woman’s voice saying something I cannot understand, then Nick answering shortly, then feel the faint vibrating of the truck, then…