Where This World Ends, Another Begins

Chapter 13: Sophie

Suddenly, we were in the grass. We just went from the cages to the grass. Not even an explanation. We were just watching Ryan a second ago. Wait, where did he go? I looked around. We were in Ryan's backyard. Sarah, Charlie, Kian and I. Kian. I haven't seen Kian in so long. I stood up. Ryan's mom came running up to us.

"Where have you been? Where is Ryan? What happened?" she asked.

"Um, I don't know," I said.

"Your mother has been so worried about you two. And yours too, Charlie." She looked at Kian. "Hello, what is your name?" she asked. He looked at her.

"Kian," he mumbled. Then he stood up and walked away. I wanted to run after him, but my eyes went to Sarah. She was looking down. How did he get involved in any of this? Ryan's mom herded us inside her house. Then she called our parents. My mom walked in the door within minutes. She was really mad. Charlie's mom followed, but she was more sad than angry.

~

I held the spy cam in my hands. I looked into the lens. Did he see what happened? Is that why he got involved? It was midnight. My mom wouldn't appreciate it if I snuck out. But what she doesn't know can't hurt her. I rode to his house on my bike. I haven't done this in so long. I reached his front steps. I can't do this. No. I have to. I knocked on the door. I accidentally did it in the same rhythm I did so long ago. I didn't mean to. It just happened. He opened the door. We stared at each other for a long time.

"What do you want?" he asked. I took the spy cam out of my pocket.

"Did you see what happened? Is that why you got involved?" I asked. He nodded. He came out and we sat on the steps. We were silent. Finally, he said something.

"Your sister was wrong."

"Yeah, she didn't understand."

"She wanted you to be someone completely different than who you really are. Why did you agree?"

"She got my mom involved and they said they would call the police."

"For what?"

"I don't know."

"Oh."

"I didn't want them to hurt you, so I just gave in." Then there was a flash of light a block away. We got up to explore what it was. We walked down the street. It seemed like it came from the street. The only thing on it was a big log. It looked kind of weird. I walked over to it. Spoiler alert: it's not a log. "Ryan?" Is he dead? I looked down the road. There were lights coming into view. Oh no! I grabbed his arm and started dragging him off the street. The car was coming really fast. Kian grabbed his other arm and we dragged him off the street. As soon as the car passed, he screamed really loudly.

"DON'T TOUCH MY ARM!" he yelled. Kian backed up with his hands in the air. Ryan tried to stand up but he couldn't. I pulled him up and walked him back to Kian's house.

"Why were you on the street?" I asked.

"Dari...whatever his name is," he said.

"Why didn't you move off the street? Didn't you see the car?"

"I think he put a spell on me or something."

"Oh."

"A spell, really?" Kian said, sarcastically. We both glared at him. He looked down.

~

Ryan's mom was so happy to see him. As soon as she opened the door, she embraced Ryan. Then she pulled away and started yelling at him. I left him alone to deal with his mom. On my way home, I stopped by Liana's house. I knocked on her door. Her mom answered, still in PJs.