Poison

Run!

Red hair flew out behind her, raining down her back as she spun around the corner. She could hear their pattering footsteps slapping against the ground, the shouting echoed through those spinning hallways. She swallowed dryly, clutching the cloth to her chest. A perfect sphere rolled in her hand, wrapped in that piece of cloth. The direction rang through her mind:

Whatever you do, Sol, don't touch the sphere.

Her green eyes flashed back and forth as she turned on her heel down another hallway. She had five minutes to get out of there, before they would find her. Five minutes before all hell would completely break loose. A black shirt shifted as she bolted down another hallway, her dark jeans clinging to her legs. The breath wheezed in and out of her, as she felt her legs strain. She had been running for twenty minutes already, hiding and sprinting, hiding and sprinting. Plastering her back to a wall, she let her eyes shift in the area.

Not a sound slipped through the corridor other than her harsh breathing. The cold, damp stones beneath the palm of her hand chilled her to the bone. Her hair was tied back, a black bandana holding the stray strands out of her face. Tucking a stray strand behind her ear, she gathered her thoughts. Glancing down at the circular stone in her hand, wrapped in a gray, beaten up cloth. Gently unwrapping it, she stared at the red stone that seemed to dance with color. On the inside it swirled playfully, with pinks, reds, oranges—with a few sparks of blue dancing throughout it.

“Where'd she go?”

Clutching the orb to her chest, she shot off again, her feet pounding against the flooring. She had to get out of there, she had to get out of there. Twisting her body around a corner, her foot caught the corner. Flinging forward, she caught herself. The orb tittered in her fingertips, rolling forward, suddenly jerking from her grasp. Gasping as the sphere freed itself from the cloth around her fingers, out of instinct, she reached towards her, fingers outstretched.

Sol, don't touch the sphere.

Her fingers wrapped around the smooth, glassy orb. Grasping it in her hand, she felt sharp relief from escaping that near catastrophe. Just as soon as that relief slid into her, something seemed to smash over her body. A heavy weight that crushed her towards the ground. Crying out violently, she felt her body coil tightly. The pain arched through her back, before darting through her mind and her legs. Falling to the ground, she rolled on her side, screaming out in pain. The orb flashed purple and gray, blinding her with its violet light.

This immense pain consumed her, yet she knew that the orb couldn't fall into the wrong hands. Not this time, not again. She just rescued it. She couldn't just let all that work and effort she'd put into this go.

Rolling to her side, she grasped the sphere again, grinding her teeth against the pain that rocketed through her body. Save the orb, save the orb, save the orb. She had to save the orb. Sol dug her dirty fingers into the stones, hearing the pattering footsteps closing in behind her. A dark, dank drain dipped downwards just to her right, against the rock wall. Quickly, she placed the orb in there, letting the one foot water slid over on top of it. Hiding the orb was successful for now, until they really searched for it. Or perhaps she would live, and they would torture it out of her. Who knows, and she couldn't figure it out or contemplate it past the blinding pain that ripped its claws down her spine.

The chills set in, as the footsteps came forward.

“Fraser,” she whispered, rolling onto her back, her vision going black and dim before her vision faded into an everlasting black.