Sunset Valley

Chapter 26.

Edelweiss's POV:

I should've been there. Protecting him. Together we might've actually defeated the mayor. But we didn't, because I was gone. And like that, he went, all because I wasn't there. All of it was a foggy memory. Torrance and I looking out for cops while Kaya and Freya snuck inside. We were just talking, and then we heard this scream. I knew exactly who it had belong to.

I never got a chance to tell him I loved him. That I still love him.

Now I stand in line for the Re-Maker, while Torrance sets it up, trying to get the images out of my head. After all of us had our turns saying goodbye, we covered his body in flowers. Kaya was crying too, and I hated her for it. But for Jem's sake, I forgave her. For everything. I tried to focus on the Re-Maker.

Freya had already went through it, and made me scared to do the same. Her hair remained black, but her eyes had become a light brown, exterminating all the green that had been there before. Her facial structure, posture, and tone of voice was evidently different. She was more gaunt, pale, skinny, and she sounded like a teenager at the age of nine. How are we going to explain this to her parents when we get home?

"Ready," Torrance called to me. I walked in, and saw what looked like a dentist's chair surrounded by various machines. I swallowed and walked over to it. "Nervous?" He asked as I spread myself onto the chair. I nodded, and he hooked strange looking bindings to my arms and legs. He smiled. "Don't worry. It's not as bad as its put out to be. Be brave." Then, he left the room. A moment after, a few machines began to glow, and something pierced my wrist.

"Ouch," I murmured, and tried to rub it, but I remembered my restraints and gave up. Immediately after I felt shockingly tired. I tried to fight whatever they put in my system, but it was like they overdosed me, and I was out like a light.

~~~

All I remember was intense pain and the sensation that I wasn't myself anymore. I woke up when Jem- no, Torrance- opened the door and smiled.

"Well, you look... Different," he told me while unhooking the machines. I tried to reply with, "I feel different", but my voice cracked mid sentence, along with a stab of pain to my throat.

"Oh, your body probably isn't used to it yet. Try not to talk for a while." I nodded, and hoped out of the chair. The second thing I notice about myself is how a hundred pounds had magically fallen off my head. My hand flew to my hair, and found it was short. Really short, almost as short as Torrance's.

I kept realizing new things about me as we walked back to our campsite. I was a bit heavier, a few inches taller, and that I hated the attention of Kaya and Freya staring at me. When we got back, Torrance shooed them off so he could talk to me in private. They scurried off, and he rummaged through an old stolen bag. "Now before I show you what you actually look like, I want you to tell me what you think you look like. And your voice should be ok by now." I paused a moment to think. The old me had blonde hair and blue eyes. Typical. For a moment I wondered if I actually looked extraordinary.

"I don't know. Short light hair. Brown eyes maybe." He laughed, and I could tell I was really far off. As if sensing my sadness, he smiled at me and said, "Don't worry. You still look beautiful." He handed me a mirror. I grabbed it, took one look, and threw it at Torrance squealing. That wasn't me. That was just an old photograph copying my every move. He didn't flinch when the mirror hit him, but I could tell my random attack surprised him.

I had short, spiky brown hair and wild green eyes. Freckles were dotted everywhere as if by pen. Even a small one was caught in the end of my eyebrow. It was hard to think that was me. No wonder Kaya and Freya were staring.

Realizing Torrance, I covered my mouth with a hand and gasped, "Are you ok?" He brushed some dirt off his shoulder. "Yeah. That didn't hurt, but you scared me. Anyways, how do you like it? I mean, you."

"It's.. New."

"You know, with a new look comes a new name. Plus it will help with the disguise."

I gave him a quizzical look. "I have to re-name myself?"

He shrugged. "It was just an idea."

"What'd Freya name herself?"

He snickered a little. "Lacey."

"It fits."

"I guess so. What are you going to name yourself again?"

"I don't know."

"Really? You've never had something else you wanted to be called?"

"No. Is that a tradition here?"

"No. Just a thought."

"Oh. Well how about you name me since I only know foreign names?"

"Sure, ok." He studied me. "You look like an Aster to me."

"Aster?"

"Yes, it's the name of one of my favorite flowers."

"Ok." I stood up. "I am officially Aster now." He fake appluaded as if it was an accomplishment, just as Kaya and Lacey came back, baskets full of food in their palms.