The Visionaries

9

The ancestral plane materializes itself in front of me. I'm standing in the middle of a flowery field in full regalia. There's the mountains in the background. I notice someone fishing near the lake in the distance. As I walked closer to him, he started to look more familiar. His hair was fully gray, his color was brown, and his eyes were wide open.

"Alma?" he asked.

"Taati." I ran to him, running straight into his arms. I started to cry and he cried as well.

"I was hoping one day we'd be reunited, whether it was in life or death." he said.

"Are you alive?" I ask.

"No, mijita. I have passed." he said. "Tonight, I prayed to the Creator that I would see your mother and you again. And he has granted me my wish."

"Taati, I'm sorry. I wish I had seen you one more time." I say. "I wanted to hug you. I wanted to go feed the animals with you one more time."

"I know, Alma. I know." he strokes my hair.

"Taati, I'm tired. I don't want this. I never wanted this." I said. "I just want to go home."

"I know, Alma. One day, you will be able to rest." he said. "Your people need you. They need you and your friends more than ever. The gods knew you were capable of doing so. "

"I don't want to. I just want to live." I say.

"You're stronger than you think, Alma. Remember how there was that goat you were scared of in the ranch?"

"Yes."

"And how did you eventually lose your fear of it?"

"Of course. Grabbing it by the horns and kicking it out of nanita's garden."

"So like that goat, you have to grab your fear by the horns and face it. I love you, Alma. And so does your nanita."

"I love you too, taati."

And with that, my trip ended.

I didn't want to wake up. I wanted to stay. I woke up in my bed at home. I quickly pull on some pants and head to the kitchen. Norrin is vacuuming, Dany and Aaron are chilling out on the balcony and Bree was watching TV. I think it was CNN or something.

"The terrorists that attacked the Crystal Manor have not been found after two weeks. They are still at large." Bree said. "They are believed to be Native Americans and/or possibly Hispanic. The government recently released their identities as Bree Layne, Aaron Santoja, Daenaera Garcia, Norrin Runner, and Alma Hernandez."

Norrin stopped vacuuming, Bree dropped the breakfast sandwich she was eating, and I stared at the screen in horror.

"How the hell did they get our identities?" I ask.

"What happened to Mirelle?" Norrin asked. I really hope that she wasn't tortured and forced to give us up because I'll never forgive myself for putting someone else in danger.

"Aaron! Dany!" Bree said. They walk inside.

"What's wrong?" Aaron asked.

"They know it's us. Fuck." I say.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Aaron started to pull on his braids. Dany screams and falls to her knees, hyperventilating.

"Guys!" Norrin said. "We need to get out of here. It's not gonna take them that long to-"

"I think it's a bit too late for that, isn't it?" a voice said.

I turned my head around so fast, I could feel the whiplash form on my head. It was him. The guy that nearly killed me. He was standing at the doorway.

"How did you find us?" Bree exclaimed.

"You guys really tried to hide in the desert?" the man walks a few steps towards us. " Well, it wasn't that hard to find you. They were able to get the footage from the destroyed cameras on the trucks. And all they had to do was use facial recognition software...And there you are. Should have been smarter."

Shit. We back up as he walks closer.

"We can do this in a variety of ways. You can turn yourselves in or you can make this hard on yourselves." he said.

A glass of water hit him in the head. It was Norrin who had thrown it.

"Oh, well." he quickly moved towards Norrin. He was thrown to the side by Bree. He slammed into the couch, rolling into the floor.

"Run, we'll hold him off!" Bree says as Norrin is gathering up water from the sink.

We all ran down into the first floor of the house. I notice that there is a group of soldiers waiting outside. I look at Aaron and Dany. They nod at me. Dany blasts the door with her energy blast, shaking the landscape and knocking the men out. We turn behind us and there is Bree and Norrin, running.

"Hurry!" Bree said. "He's strong!"

We nod. We jump into the convoy and Norrin gets in the driver's seat. We squish into the cabin and Bree sits on the co-pilot side. He turns the convoy on and backs up, crushing a few guards in the process. A few start to get up. We see him running towards us in the distance. We turn around and see guards trying to shoot at the convoy truck. Aaron quickly stops the bullets and turns them back at them. Norrin quickly hits the gas and my seat belt tightens around my chest.

"Shit, he's in the other one." Bree turns to face me. "What do we do?"

I look around and he's speeding towards us. Norrin hits the gas even harder. The soldier is still following us. Shit. He does a sharp turn and brakes in front of us. Dany had put a protective shield around us. The sound of screeching metal and the smell of burnt rubber hit my nose. We were practically stuck inside the convoys. All the glass was shattered around us.

"Shit. What now?" Norrin asked.

"You guys are forgetting this." Aaron started to bend the metal, trying to tear at it. Finally he was able to make a giant gash on it. Thank Creator for our powers.