I Week Before
"Do you know when they'll be back?" Adara and I were the only ones who woke up, safe in our beds. With no remembrance of what happened. All the other Earth children just disappeared. We've tried asking dad, but he won't budge.
"I don't know. Father still hasn't mentioned anything." Adara's been different as well, we both have. It's no fun without the rest of the gang. Adara hasn't been as eccentric. Nowadays she stays cooped in her room doing anything to pass time. She's still perfect at all studies- which have been moved to being done in the manor. "I wouldn't push him anymore- he seems....on edge."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. " I took a long pause, Addie and I don't always see eye-to-eye on things so I have to approach these subjects carefully. "Do you think something.... bad happened to them?" I looked over to Adara checking for her to get mad at me for suggesting something so ridiculous. But she just sat there, perched on the window sill, her brown hair swaying in the wind.
"I don't know." She said, so quietly I almost missed it. And yet again there was silence. Weeks went by with just me and her and absolutely nothing felt more awkward. I always had this awful feeling I'd get when my heartbeat just speeds up and my brain becomes a jumble. Breathing just becomes so hard to think about. I've always been different- I know I have. I try to tell people about these strange feelings but... no one cares. I never really get taken seriously. But I learned how to cope kind of on my own.
One of those coping mechanisms is just taking myself out of reality and living in my head. Like daydreaming, but it's more than that. I can get so caught up in my own head that I don't even realize what's going on. Like when dad yells at us and whatnot, it happens.
This time, when I felt my throat swell up and my heart starts to beat, just a little faster I counted. Not just counted, but counted my fingers. Over, and over, and over, and over again. Until my breathing evened out.
"Hey Adara, if something bad did happen, what does that mean for us?" Adara finally turned around. There was the longest silence, I almost felt as though she wouldn't respond. "Not just the trials. But what would our purpose become?"
"Hey!" Adara stood up. "I know what you're thinking and...well, just don't." She marched towards me, her nightgown and hair swaying behind her until she bent down in front of me. "Nothings going to happen to us. Father loves us, that's why we're here. And the others are fine."
"Gosh I hate it when we get all serious, it makes me anxious." And then, there it was. For the first time in four weeks, she smiled. It wasn't a full one or those fake ones she would use when flirting with the workers she found attractive. But it was something. There was a glimmer in her eye when she did it. One I haven't seen in forever. As much as Addie could get on my nerves, the pressure we all know she has of being little Ms.Perfect is tough on her. She's always everyone's favorite. And she overwhelms herself until there's nothing else.
"Hm," She laughed looking to the floor. "You should get to bed, I don't want us to get in trouble." Oh my gosh, she's right. She tilted her head so her eyes watched the twinkling stars. Her lips looked fuller than before and her eyes were wider with the sleep she had gotten. She looked almost angelic. Then it hit me- EW NO. I was NOT checking out Adara. N-E-V-E-R. Chills went down my back just thinking about it.
"Ya, you're right I'll go." Those big brown eyes turned back to study me once again. But as fast as she had looked, Addie got up and went back to her place at the window sill just staring off into the night.
"Night," I called at the doorway, but couldn't bring myself to actually leave her room.
"Good night." She said softly. I grabbed her door handle and as the door slid shut, my heart sprung to life. And the tight feeling in my gut felt as though my insides were getting crushed. In fact, my whole body felt crushed as I walked down the hall to the stairs. I've been dreading going to bed every night, that's why I spend so long with Addie. I can't bring myself to close my eyes and face what waits in my nightmares.
But I have to. There's nothing else for us, for me. Our fate was sealed and I just have to learn to accept it. So that night, despite wanting to run away forever and never stop running, to never shut my eyes again. I did. And all through the night, I might've screamed. I'm not sure. But it doesn't matter, no one can hear you when what you fear isn't even real. It's all just in your head.
┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈
Two more days passed and I had to call in sick. The lack of sleep is one thing, but now breathing has become a challenge just thinking about going to bed at night. It still takes me a while to get out of bed just because my legs still shake until after like ten minutes when I finally settle down. I also haven't been eating properly.
The whole situation has been so exhausting and just straight-up painful. Zara has been disconnected so we don't have her anymore. And the manor has been pretty empty without basically anyone around. Nearly tripping down the stairs three times, I finally made it to the ground floor. Adara was down in the dining room and-
"Cole! It's so good to see you. I'm sorry I haven't been able to be as present with you guys this past week. But I hear studies are going well."
"Dad?" Dad just smiled at me. Something about him sitting there in a button-up and tan dress pants, eating away at his breakfast. Adara was close by him in her light pastel clothes, with her hair styled and her lips slightly more pink and glossy than they were yesterday. It felt so normal. Like how I imagined a family to be. Not our family, but a real family. It was so strange.
"I'm sorry Denver, I truly am." He meant it. I know he did, I could see it in his eyes. The way he looked at me as if I was important.
"No dad, it's not you're fault."
"And it's none of yours, it is my fault-but!" He raised a hand silencing me or Adara from saying anything against that statement. " I failed, it was my duty to protect you and I didn't."
"Father, please just drop it, we forgive you. No matter what happens you are the one who raised us, kept us safe. We will forever be grateful for that." Adara said, grabbing hold of our father's hand. I came closer and nodded my agreement. I forgive him. Even if I did feel all these negative emotions towards him before. I now realize.
Father is not the enemy, it's anyone who betrays him. Even if that is a star child.
YOU ARE READING
The Zodiac Trials: House of Earth
Action"They called these games the Zodiac Trials." The world was gone. There was nothing left after WWIII. We started new. It was the year 64 when they started the trials. But how far would they go to ensure the perfection of a new humanity? *Not my cover...
