Hidden Away

Thirty-Four: Confrontation

The darkness that surrounds me is nothing like anything I've felt before. Despair, anger, fury. The darkness within me feeds from those. They fuel it, even in sleep. But when I open my eyes even still, the evident lack of light is still present. Darkness surrounds me. It lives within me all the same.

I'm already standing when my eyes open and I'm faced with a complete absence of light. I quickly notice I'm in the same endless, dark place I found myself in when I was warned of my upcoming betrayal. The blinding light in the distance, which, as I walk closer to it, seems to be getting farther and farther away. Even now, I still have no clue who my betrayer will be, but I'm determined to be ready for when it happens. I can't let myself be caught off guard again.

I understand immediately that after what happened last time I found myself here, I need to follow the light until it shows me something. So that's exactly what I do. I begin to tread towards the light, hoping that whatever it wants to show me isn't anything like last time.

After a while of walking after the light, nothing has happened yet, and it starts to irritate me. "What do you want to show me?" I ask the darkness. Coming to a standstill after a few more steps, annoyed at the lack of an answer, I say, "I'm not moving anymore until you show me what you need to show me instead of leading me towards the light without any answers."

A shocked squeal escapes past my lips when the light disappears, leaving total darkness in its wake. There's nothing to be seen through the abyss, and no matter how hard I try to get a glimpse of even a little speck of light, there's no use. I'm stuck here with the refusal of this place to show me what it brought me here for. "Are you just going to leave me in the dark until I wake up?" I ask, but once again, nothing answers my question.

"And I thought I would never see you again." Something—someone says from behind me. But when I turn around as fast as I can in hopes that I can catch whoever had said that, nothing is there. Just the same absolute darkness from before.

"Who are you?" I ask. Take a step forward. "Come out and face me."

"Has it really been that long?" the voice asks. It's a male voice, and I know I've heard it before. As I search my mind for an image of the person who that voice belongs to, it all becomes clear.

"Alec," I say, my face contorting into one of anger.

"Hello, daughter." The light comes back, only this time it stands over me. The version of Alec that I knew before I found out about my real family steps into the beam above me that looks like a spotlight. His pale skin and bright blond hair glow as he steps toward me. "You're not calling me Dad anymore?" he asks, his lips tugging upward.

"You're not my father," I state. "And I'm not your daughter. Not anymore. Not ever." Alec smiles, outstretching his arms as if coming in for a hug. But before I can protest, he wraps them around me, pulling me close.

"What changed, darling?" Everything. When he pulls away, he takes a step back. "Really, you should be grateful. I raised you."

"You took me from my family and raised me so you could take my powers," I snap. He doesn't see my hands coming until they collide with his chest, shoving him back. The anger I have been suppressing for him for months comes out all at once. He stumbles, but doesn't quite fall. "Why would you do that to me?" I shout. The light that floats over my head follows me as I take a few steps forward and push Alec again. "You took me from them and kept me as your own for seventeen years, and now that finally I have the chance to be with them, they're dead!" Alec doesn't protest my assault. In fact, he lets me push him. Tears flow out of my eyes as I do so. "Why?" I ask, pleading. "Why would you do that?" With one final push, he lands on the ground. Angry.