Chapter Twelve

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H o l l o w s I n
T I M E
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He was Zack Espan.
He was dead.
He was Zack Espan.

The survivors got driven in similar cars to ours once more field Guardians had arrived on the scene. Zack left in an ambulance—but the doctors couldn't fix any of the damage—not unless they could bring a man back to life.

I sat next to someone I didn't know, in a car full of people I didn't know. I felt trapped. Still trapped. I was advised multiple times to go to sleep, but I wanted to expect everything. I leant my forehead against the glass of the window, my eyes envisioning a better life, somewhere in the depths of security, surrounded by trees of benevolence. Now I've really gone crazy.

In my world, days had passed, but we got out of the car four hours later, according to someone I didn't mind talking to. I met Angeline at the 'base', and she clutched onto my hand, steering clear from her 'boyfriend', although I could see the glimmer in her vacant eyes every time she stared at him.

My memories told me where we were before I noticed. And I froze. I stopped. Everything stopped. I'd longed so long—I knew I had—I felt like I needed to be here. Now I felt like I needed to be in many other places, far, far away from here.

Angeline turned to stare at me, her heard cocking to the side. "What's wrong? Are you stuck?" Yes. Stuck in the middle of hell. The Guardians instantly recognised a change, but the damned devil had them marching on forward with a small gesture. He trudged over to me. I glared at him, my eyes ablaze.

"Sky, what's–"

"I'm not going in there." If I could've have cemented my feet into the ground in that moment, I would have. Angeline stood beside me, her eyes flitting between us cluelessly until a Guardian came and dragged her away. Flashes of a time like that ghosted along my skin, the misty memories murdering my mind. But how? My mind has already been lost and gone, it came back for a second once, but I can't remember when. Neither could Jameson by the looks of it.

"Stop talking." I threw at him and he frowned.

"I was–"

"But you did, and I know what you want to say, I know what you will say. So stop talking; I'm staying here." I crossed my freezing arms over my freezing chest, over my frozen heart.

The one with one half of my life took a tentative step forward but I didn't budge. I won't fall by his hands again. I might have been fooled when we met before, but home was always a person—to me, J–he was a home, he brought up memories, I liked the memories; but not him.

"We have to go inside," His voice was strained. I wonder if his emotions were straining too—too many false pretences; you can't fake morality. "You're cold." He tried again, gesturing to my shrivelled up frame.

"No," I spat, "You're cold." I hurled back at him. My eyes were mirrors, and in that moment, I hoped that when he looked into them, he'd see who he was. Then he'd look away from my eyes, but he wouldn't be able to avoid my lifeless from, and he'd see what he had done.

"Sky, come on, let's go." He hid his hurt, obviously, it was a Guardian talent. "Sky, please." For a moment, I saw it all flash before my eyes. Everything. His emotions had condensed, circling in the cold air as he exhaled. And just like a warm breath in cold air, I saw his warm emotions in cold circumstances. And my lost mind, my lost mind tried to be found.

"Sky Forest, may I speak with you?"

"My name is Jameson Fahr,"

"We will arrive at Zasolnište in approximately three hours."

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