The Black Box Disease

New life... New people...

I woke up, I could feel the hard, cold ground beneath me. I rolled on my side and right into Ethan. "Whoops, sorry." I giggle, looking at Ethan. I prop myself up on my elbow, so I could see his handsome face. I kissed his jaw, crushing myself closer to his chest. His arms wrapped tighter around me. He nuzzled his chin on the top of my head. He held me like this for a while, before he picked me up bridal style and carried me into the house. I giggled the whole way in. He pushed the door to our room open, and laid me on our bed. I crawled under the covers, trying to get warm. I sat up and looked over at Adri and James. Adri was laying in his arms. I smiled and scooted closer to Ethan.

I woke up again, hours later. This time I was laying on something warm, and soft. I felt Ethan's arms around me and I could feel the sun shining in my eyes. I sat up, trying not to wake him up. I rubbed my eyes, looking around the room. Today was the day we move on, on to a place where we can end this. Cure it. I walked into the bathroom, and changed into some nice clothes. I pulled my rats nest of hair on top of my head, and into a ponytail. I went downstairs and everyone was sitting at the table eating breakfast. The last breakfast we would be having here. We were leaving after breakfast, I looked at all our bags sitting next to the front door. I heard loud footsteps coming down the stairs, I looked up and saw Adri and James walk down. Ethan right behind him. He looked so cute with his ruffled hair, and his pajamas. He grabbed a chair next to me, and grabbed a plate.

We were saying our goodbyes to Jonah and thanking him for all that he's done. We asked if he wanted to join us, but he wants to stay here. Where he lived a normal life.We grabbed our stuff, and waved one last time and walked into the woods. It was early in the morning, the sun just rising above the trees. It was warm day, but with a nice breeze. I was holding Ethan's hand, squeezing it. It felt good to be outside in the fresh air. I took in the forest around me. It was relaxing to be walking in the forest, the sun warming my skin.

We has been walking for what seemed like hours. We were all cold and tired. The sun had set a while back, and cool air came with the moon. I shivered, the cold bringing back memories. Painful memories. We decided to take a break, I laid down on the cold ground. I was wearing Ethan's jacket, the smell made me feel warm. The moon shone brightly on the forest floor. I watched the wind sway the leaves back and forth. I rolled over and saw something. It looked like a person, and he looked scared. It didn't look like a boxer.

I got up, and walked over to the person, hand on my gun. "Hello?" I say, I can here my voice shaking. "Freeze. Don't move." Four other men say. They all have guns, pointed at me. I set my gun on the floor, and stand there frozen. "You're coming with us." On man says as he walks towards me. "Ethan!" I scream. "Eth..." I start to say as one of them covers my mouth. I see Ethan stand up and look around. He sees me. "Crystal!" He says running towards me. They point a gun at him. "No! No, stop please." I say and they all look at me. "Oh, somebody's in love." One of the guys says. "Ethan. It's okay." I say, trying to calm him down. I look behind him and see everyone has there weapons in their hands. "Leave them alone, don't hurt them." I tell the guys and they laugh. " We aren't going to hurt them, you are." They say. What! "No, no." I say trying to get out of his hold. He just held me tighter. "Either you kill one of them, or we kill all of them and you get to watch." One guy says as he points a gun at Ethan. "Starting with him." He says, his finger over the trigger. "Stop. Stop, I'll do it." I say. "Good. Alright, do we have any volunteers?" One guy says. Then in the dark I see someone raise their hand.

He hands me a gun. "No. Lydia, stop. Put your hand down." I say, looking at her. "It's the right thing to do, then I can be with my parents and Sam." She says as a tear slips down her cheek. "I can't do it." I say the gun shaking in my hands. "Crystal it's ok..." Ethan starts to say. "Stay back pretty boy, or she gets it." He says pointing his gun at me. "Stop." Ethan says. I look at Ethan than Lydia. "Crystal. It's okay. It will be all better, I promise." She says. I point the gun at her, my hand shaking like crazy. I aimed for the heart, that would kill her instantly. No suffering. My finger stuck, not moving. I close my eyes and pull the trigger. "BANG!" And a loud scream. Then silence. I dropped the gun and fell to the ground.

Ethan ran over to me, and pulled me into his arms. I held him and I screamed and cried and I couldn't stop. My head was spinning like crazy. I couldn't stop, no matter what Ethan said. I stood there, in Ethan's arms, thinking, feeling everything. Lydia kept replaying in my head. Her screams ringing in my ears, the sound of the gun going off and the silence of the forest. At one point in my fit of screams, I fell asleep.

I woke up, in a dark room. My head hurt. I reached my hand up to rub my temple, but something was holding me back. Chains. "Ethan!" I screamed, but it came out shaky and weak. My throat hurt. I was staring into the darkness when all the memories of earlier flooded my brain. I screamed again and started to cry. This couldn't be real. Lydia was okay. I know she is okay. I looked around the dark room, when I heard a door open. Light shone in through the room. I looked up and saw it was one of the four guys from last night. Then I saw Ethan. "Ethan!" I said, my throat aching and my voice sounding raspy. "Crystal, oh my god. Your okay." He says, trying to get to me. "Let me go." He says, trying to get out of their grip. The man lets go.

After we were all unshackled, we were put in a room that had chairs and a table. Only one door and no windows. I was sitting on Ethan's lap, he was holding me around the waist. I was holding one of his hands, and the other was covering the cut under my eye. We had been sitting here for a while. Everyone was here except Amber and Tyler. Thoughts of Lydia kept filling my head. I couldn't stop thinking about what I did. The door bursted open interrupted my thoughts. I look up and see the four guys, and I feel Ethan pull me closer to him.

"Hello. I am Red. I am the leader of this camp." He says I look at Ethan. Where are we? "This camp is a life or death camp. You kill or be killed. "No we are leaving. Thanks for the offer, but..." I started to say, standing up. Red grabbed me and pushed me down. "Don't touch her." Ethan says, standing up. "I'm fine, I'm fine." I tell Ethan, as I go and sit on his lap. "You will live in quadrant C. Girls with girls and guys with guys. But you," he said pointing at me. "You will stay in quadrant B. That's were we keep the fighters." What! "No, we all stay together." Ethan says, standing up and holding me behind him. "You will be able to visit each other once a day." Red says as the other men grab us and pull us apart. The last thing I see Ethan screaming my name, then black.