Sequel: Released into the Air
Status: Finished

Submerged in Water

Emptiness

They were gone. A strange need to cry came over me, but the ability to do that was gone too.

"I warned you." Jonathan told me.

He looked at the pained look on my face and knew what I was thinking about. He squeezed my hand tighter and turned to look out the car window.

Shay Zeal had volunteered to drive us home. Robyn and Rune were too tired to fly anymore and I didn't have the will to attempt an escape route. I took the drive home gladly. Shay was happy and talked to us the entire car ride home. I ignored her because Rune and Robyn seemed to keep her occupied enough.

"I told you that your decision would decide the future."

"I didn't-"

He cut me off. "You ran, Emele. You took a look at what you had to face and then you ran. I saw it with my own eyes."

"It was terrifying. There was so many of them, Jonathan, all fighting for control over me. So of course I ran. I may be supernatural but I'm still part human..."

He had already started to shake his head before I finished. "You could've fought."

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe if I had fought against them that I might have failed? Sometimes running can be the best option."

"You ran so far that you can't go back!" He shouted at me.

Rune, Robyn and Shay all stopped their conversation to look at us.

"You took a look at them and then ran to the only place that they couldn't corrupt. The only place where you still had power. Unfortunately, that place isn't much of a sanctuary as it is a prison."

I was angry. One of the only emotions I seemed to still have left. "Didn't I save the day? Shouldn't you be a little less hostile to the hero? This is a momentous occasion. I don't want to celebrate with a main course of disappointment and a side dish of anger."

He let go of my hand and went back to staring out the window. "Now you can't feel."

He was right. I couldn't feel anymore. Even with him disappointed in me, I realized I wasn't feeling it. All I could feel was anger towards the situation. There was no sadness or loss. It was all anger. Furious anger.

I saw the reflection of his hopeless eyes against the window. I knew they should have changed me. I knew that if I was still the same Emele that I would have dropped it and told him I was sorry. But I wasn't. I didn't feel sorry at all.

I rested my head against the back of the car seat, feeling exhausted. I closed my eyes and before I knew it I was being carried into the house. The sound of heels clicking on the pavement let me know that Shay was still with us. Anger came back again but I couldn't focus and there was nothing I could focus my rage on.

I fell back asleep, this time in a more controlled manner, just as they laid me on the bed in my room. Even while I was asleep I could still hear voices.

"Maybe it will come back." Rune spoke.

"No, she lost her chance. I can see it."

"The souls aren't in the way of the images anymore?"

Jonathan tsked. "Not as much as they used to be. I caught onto her patterns the more I stay around her. It's easier now that she's ran away from the souls. Before the tsunami, it was like the souls were trapped on the outside of her mind, blocking me from peeking inside. They only came out in times of dire need during fear and anger. Now it's like they've gained some ground in her head. They've taken over parts of her mind that are important to her humanity."

"Well she can push them back out, right?" Rune sounded hopeful.

"Not unless the souls go away." Jonathan's voice was grave. "The way that the souls have control over her, there may be moments where she will relapse and the souls will take over for brief periods of time."

I sunk into a deeper slumber and I couldn't hear their voices anymore. When I woke up, I wondered if I had just dreamed their discussion. It was dark now, usually around the time I would be leaving for the cove to meet up with my friends. I guess the days for that were over. The cat was out of the bag. My parents knew everything. I was no longer myself and I couldn't go back to who I was.

I felt like I should have been sad. I wanted to cry so bad. My chest and throat tightened like I was physically going through the motions but my heart wasn't there. The emotion wasn't there. Just the deep sense of emptiness.

The sheets felt softer than usual. I figured I had taken them for granted over the years. I turned my head and look at the mirror that was against my wall. The face paint and make up had been washed off me. The head band was gone but my hair was still up in a pony tail. I looked down and Robyn had taken her thigh high stockings and mini skirt back. I was only in my one-piece black bathing suit. Aubrey's vibram swim shoes were gone.

My body felt better, I had recovered well physically. My stomach felt empty, signaling that I was hungry.

I got out of bed and walked down the wooden steps to the kitchen. I heard voices coming from the living room. Everyone was still here. They heard me as I walked down and had all come into the kitchen to watch me as I prepared some seaweed for myself. Robyn, Rune, Jonathan, Scott, Aubrey, my parents and Dale didn't say a word until I had sat down at the table with my meal. They looked at me like I was about to have a psychotic break at anytime.

"What?" I asked them. I wasn't annoyed.

"Are you okay?" Rune asked me.

I nodded slowly, almost solemnly. I stared down at my seaweed. "I feel fine."

They looked like they didn't believe it.

I felt the need to clarify. "Physically."

I took a bite and swallowed. I couldn't really taste it. They watched me for a few bites and I wondered what they could find so interesting about a girl who was eating seaweed.

"Where is Shay?" I asked them.

"We had a long talk with her." Robyn was the first to speak. "She's agreed to keep our identities a secret if she can continue filming us. We're supposed to let her know if we were to ever go into costume again and do something as epic as we just did. She wanted to talk to you but we told her about the... situation you're in. She said she would keep in contact with us."

With all that had happened, I had forgot that the videos filmed would let Queen Inna know my whereabouts. A tsunami seemed to be just a small hump in the road to something that seemed a lot worse. "You realize that Queen Inna is going to find me now, right?"

"We know." Dale spoke. "We've been talking about it. We think it's best if you stay here. Things are going to change though. A lot of Oros are going to be moving here. Enders across the world will want to meet you. We will wait for her to come to us. Moving you around the world would leave us at a disadvantage. A simple life is a luxury you can't afford anymore."

"We will find someone who can help you." Jonathan spoke for the first time. He seemed to be the one that cared the most about my mental condition but I figured that was because he was the only one who could see how bad it was. Except for maybe Scott. "There are a couple of Enders that can heal, maybe they can..." He swallowed.

"There's still hope." Scott finished for him. "So there's no need to worry."

"I'm not worried." It was true but only because I couldn't feel that anymore.

Jonathan sighed. "I know you aren't."