Half of What I Could Be

Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

There are moments where the world pasases around you as a blur. I call it the confusion paradox. The more confusion sets in, the more disoriented you are from reality. My confusion paradox was at an all time high, yet the world didn't disappear, it was heightened. The fear enhanced the speed of neural communication. Everything was more vibrant. Colors emerged that I never noticed before. The hue of the bristles on the pine tree changed colors depending on the strength of the wind. Jacins cheeks, no longer sporting the slight scheme of pink, was a dark red. I could almost hear the arteries under his skin pumping the blood up to the surface. The pigment of the Hydras severed heads mixing with the foliage of dead leaves...

I always loved the character development stories where the protagonist started off as a feeble weakling and transformed into a badass who risked their own life for those around them. This, of course, was followed by a crazy fight sequence that could make any layman a little envious. Everytime I watched those movies, I knew that was all that I would be. A spectator, never the badass. At most, I could be one of those extras in the background.

Looking into Jacin's eyes, I felt different. I felt like I actually could be that character. I felt like I wanted to protect him... Protect my hot Beta turned friend... Lover"? And like all Wattpad books, this hot boy needed help from the weak, fragile girl. I hate being a Wattpad statistic.

But that didn't stop the fire from spreading within me.

"Why would you do that, you stupid boy!" I screamed as I threw slight punches at his chest.

"Hey, don't push too hard! I don't want to lose a leg!" he said in a low sarcastic voice as his hands wrapped lightly around my wrist. I just glared at him. It wasn't funny. It just made me more angry.

"I know you're trying to be heroic, but..." I trailed off as I heard a rustling of leaves. I craned my neck around Jacin's lean body and noticed the Hydra somewhat seizing.

"Mae, run!" Jacin lightly screamed as the Hydra slowly rose. The Hydra's head never reconnected like my Greek Mythology class said. Instead it disintegrated into the leaves. It was as if acid was poured onto its head. The movies were not right. It wasn't the cheek bones that disintegrated first, it was both the eyes, nose, and chin. It wasn't blood that leaked through the burnt skin, but smoke, brown ash, and screams. Jacin and I both knew it wasn't due to death. It was due to rebirth.

The Hydra lifted itself off the array of leaves. It moved in a staggering motion. Its body whipped from side to side, screaming in agony. I knew what was happening. It was growing. The bloody stub of one of the Hydra's necks started to sizzle. It was like someone poured a whole bag of pop rocks into their mouth. The sizzle quickly turned into a screech as pigments started to protrude from the severed mass. Ligaments quickly turned to muscles, muscles turned to bone, and bone turned to skin. Yet instead of one head regrowing back in its place, two did.

As it rose, its leg shaked under its new amount of weight. It was like watching a baby take its first steps. The two new heads let out a scream of what seemed to be a mix of anger and pain... but mostly anger.

I looked back at Jacin with wide eyes. He was our only defense, and even his strength of a Beta would not be enough to beat the Hydra. I knew what he did was heroic. He was trying to save me.

We probably only had seconds, if we were lucky, a minute, before the Hydra regained complete control of its body.

"What are we going to do?" I asked in a voice of pure annoyance, "I can't just leave you here, and I can't fight!" I yelled at him. A normal girl probably would have said "thank you" for Jacin's act, but I was no ordinary girl.