Academt Of Five Peaks

Chapter 30- Starting over

Chapter Twenty Nine

I’m running through a field. Nothing but dead grass spans out far past the horizon.

I get to a tree; a tree that should not be alive in this hash environment. Its leaves are thick and glossy but there is no shadow, nothing to show where the sun hangs in the sky.

There are figures in the tree, their bodies hidden in that missingdarkness. They come forward and I realize that they are all the same person; me.

They stand perfectly still before me, their faces blank bar a ghostly smile that tugs at the corner of each of their lips.

I inspect each of the beings before me; they do not flinch or waver as I look over them. As I look I find out that they aren’t as similar as I first thought.

The first person has translucent and pale skin, so much that I can see the veins clearly beneath, pumping blood through the body with that thick brain thumping along with it. Its eyes are golden, bright like the sun and rich like newly turned caramel.

I move along, the next being quite different. Empty black eyes stare deathly into the distance, the eyelids blinking slow and lazily. Its ears are pointed and are bigger then an average person. A tongue flicks out between thin lips, exposing a set of sharp teeth.

The person beside it is thin, thinner then all the rest. I step closer, wondering what else sets this one apart. Something catches my eye for a second and at first I think I’d imagined it, there was nothing different. Until, I reach a hand forward and carefully push her shirt to the side, exposing one shoulder. I muffle a scream. It was like some horror story. Her shoulder, collarbone, and part of her neck are miss match of skin, animal skin. The skin has been sowed and burnt into her flesh, creating a patchwork of parts of animals.

I quickly move along, not wanting to look any longer at that thing. The next being has something completely different about it. The person is shimmering, a soft green glow emanating from within and matching its green eyes. The being looks sad, I don’t know how to explain it, I somehow knew it was sad. I glanced down to its feet, amazed to see that the place where it stood was blooming with life. The grass had grown thick and lush, a small vine beginning to crawl its way up the creature’s leg. I had to move, I couldn’t stand its sadness that radiated off it.

The last being looked strangely normal, as if it didn’t make sense to be standing with the others who were so strange. Then I peer in closer, looking into its eyes, and I can’t believe what I see. Machinery clunks and whirls softly inside the creature. Gears turn and levers shift back and forth inside its body, working faster and more efficiently then I ever believed possible. It was amazing.

Suddenly all the beings come to life, moving in unison towards me. I stumble, scramble back in an attempt to get away from them. They continue forward, forcing me further and further away from the tree. My body begins to tingle, to shiver in fact. I look down to my hands to see that they’re melting; the skin, the bone, and muscle all turning to liquid. My body begins to fall, corrupt and broken, to the ground. My vision fogs in and the last ting I see are those five figures standing above me. Blackness takes over and I feel numb, as if nothing matters any more and I was in a peaceful place of serenity.

‘Look! There’s something over there!’

‘It’s a person.’

‘Who is it?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Is she alive?’

‘I don’t know. Why don’t you poke her?’

‘NO. What if she’s dead?!’

‘Fine, move aside. Let me try and wake her.’

Elle was close to death. Tittering on the fence between the two realms by the tips of her toes. She’d accepted her fate to fall, knew that she would not be going back. But it was those voices, those voices that she loved so much and that had been lost to her. Those voices brought her back home, dragging her back into the realm of life where she was reconnected with her body.

Elle’s eyes could barely open from the harsh sunlight, but slowly she prized them apart, her lashes batting against each other.

‘She’s alive!’ Someone shouted, causing Elle to shudder slightly. There were figures above her; their features dots of black that slowly crystallized out.

‘Hello..?’ A girl spoke, leaning closer in. Elle’s brain registered it instantly.

‘Eve,’ Elle croaked, her head tilting towards the girl.

‘Um, yeah. That’s me,’ Eve glanced around the group. ‘Are you all right? You’re covered in dry blood.’

For some reason Elle began to giggle, to cough and splutter as she laughed almost hysterically. ‘Yeah I’m fine. It’s not my blood, Patrick will tell you the story.’ As Elle began to sit up she saw that Patrick was beside her and couldn’t help a grin appear on her face.

‘Patrick! You’re here,’ Elle’s emotions began to rise, tears begging to spill out of their barriers. They were all there. Eve, Patrick, Luca, Oliver and Josh. But no Key.

‘Um. What’s going on?’ Patrick shifted away from Elle as his smile faded.

Eve went forward again, resting a hand on Elle’s shoulder as she observed her nervously. ‘Are you sure you’re all right? What happened to you?’

‘No, no, no,’ Elle nearly giggled again as she pushed the girls hand away and stumbled to her feet, she was giddy with happiness. Her head felt cloudy, trying to piece together the new world with a brain that had just rebooted. ‘I’m fine. Really. I’m more then fine,’ Elle smiled giddily. ‘I’m just glad you’re all here again. I thought I was going to die.’

They were all silent.

‘What’s going on here,’ a new voice. A wonderful voice that brought Elle to another height of happiness.

‘Cassidy!’ Elle turned towards her twin, her arms ready to hug her sister. But she was halted.

Cassidy held out an arm, prohibiting Elle from going any closer. She stared at Elle in surprise and suspicion. Elle froze in place, for the first time contemplating her situation.

‘Who are you?’ Cassidy asked.

‘What?’

‘I asked, “who you were?” Are you a villager? Hunter?’ Cassidy replied, her expression nervous but stern.

‘What? I’m…I’m…’ Elle stepped back, looking around at the others. None of them recognized her. Their expressions and body language spoke the truth.

‘Leave her alone. She’s obviously confused and scared,’ Josh moved beside Elle. She stared at him, trying to uncover some sign in his face that he remembered something, that she wasn’t going mad and delusional.

Elle leapt forward, hugging Josh’s frozen body. Her tears had long since run dry but even still she felt them well up painfully.

Seconds past and finally Elle felt his arms go around her, keeping her close as he spoke softly into her ear. ‘What’s your name?’

The words were blocked in her throat, unable to express themselves as her mind battled to keep them away. She didn’t want to say them because it would mean giving up, to surrender to what she’d caused and lock herself into the new reality.

‘My names Elle.’

THE END