The Fall

Part 3: Alecia

Chapter 6: Learning

I open my eyes and look over at the bed. There Eva sits, already dressed. She took the Sherlock Homes book from the desk and is now sitting on the bead reading it by the light of the lantern. She is already half way through the at least 1000 page book. Yawning and standing up I walk over to Eva. "How long have you been reading?" I ask. She looks up at me and as I brush her hair out of her face, she holds up one finger. "One hour?" I ask in shock. She nods. She read half of a book that would take me at least 2 days of straight reading in one hour. Eva is special. I want to know more about her.

Something flashes in her blue eyes and she reaches out her small hand, as if asking for me to take it in mine. I comply, and I see another flash in her eyes and then she closes them, as if concentrating extremely hard. And then I feel it. Its small at first but the flood of information passing between our linked hands. Almost as if I'm a computer and someone just plugged in a flash drive and dumped all its contents. I close my eyes to try to take it all in. Like a movie on fast forward all these events flash through my mind. Eva has always been smart. What the shockwave did to her. What happened to the outside world because of the meteor. The sickness. The immunity. Her parents being crushed. The sadness and loneliness. A tear falls down my cheek as she lets go of my hand and the flow cuts off. "That's how... that's why..." She touches my hand again and, with a pleading look in her eyes, says in my head. "Yes. Please don't leave me. The last person I showed this to never spoke to me again. Since then I have kept it a secret. Please. I don't want to be alone."

"I will stay with you" was all I said but I knew when read the thoughts in my head she would see that my thoughts were screaming I will protect you. I will stay. Just promise me that you won't leave me either. She took her hand away from mine and quietly said yes.

Then in a flash she had stood up on the bed and had her arms wrapped around my neck. This time I didn't hesitate. I wrapped my arms around her. And we just stood there like that for a few minutes. Knowing we had found new family in each other.

Chapter 7: Abilities

When we finally broke our embrace, Eva sat back down on the bed and continued reading. I walked back over to the chair and dragged it back. As I sat down, I had an idea. If Eva got an ability from the crash, then maybe I did too. When I shared this idea with Eva her eyes lit up with excitement. She reached out her hand again and I immediately knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to talk to me. I took it. "That would be amazing! I wonder if I read you a certain way, I could figure it out? Can I try it? Do you mind?" "Sure." I said excitedly. "Try it!"

As quick as ever she jumped off the bed and stood in front of me. She raised her hands and reached out to me. I hesitate and Eva nods, her eyes already sparkling. I reach out and take her hands in mine and she closes her eyes in even harder concentration then before. What do you see? I close my eyes and she sends pictures of different things. A small flame and a gust of wind. Fire and air? You see both of those inside of me? "Yes. Both."

She lets go of my hands. "How do we find out how to use my ability?" She takes my hands again and says "I don't know. Mine came to me first when I needed it". "So, I guess we will just have to wait and see then."

We stay in the room or the rest of the day, Eva reading and rereading the book and me sitting in my chair; concentrating; trying to make something, anything, happen. But, nothing does. I didn't really expect it to, did I? As night falls, I tuck Eva into the bed and assume my position by the door.

Chapter 8: Into the Hall

When I wake up, I find Eva using the sewing kit to sew together the two hospital gowns into a backpack satchel thing. I watch her as she finishes sewing, ties the ends of the thread together and proceeds to carefully all the supplies we have in this room into the bag. In goes the emergency packs of food, the two full bottles of water, the first aid kit, the tightly folded blanket from the bed, two of the four washcloths from under the sink, her book, and very lastly the lantern. She packed everything so expertly there is still room left in the bag. Then she looks up at me, finally noticing I'm awake. She jumps off the bed and hands me the bag. "Man, you think of everything." I say in surprise. She nods as I stand up and swing the makeshift bag onto my back.

After surveying the room once more we head out into the hall. Last night we made a plant that I would take the right side and Eva would take the left and we would check all the doors to see if we could find any more supplies. We both know that we probably only have two or three days wort of food left.

We start down the hall. By the time we reach the next fork we have found five open rooms and inside we scavenged two more lanterns, six days worth of food, another first aid kit and three more bottles of water. We also found one more gown on one of the rooms that Eva proceeded to quickly make a smaller version of the large bag she made for me, for herself. Eva now carries the food and first aid kits, and I carry everything else.

I'm sure, in Eva's opinion, our best find today wasn't the food or second gown. It was a grey stuffed rabbit I found in one of the rooms. The moment she saw it her eyes lit up and she ran over, grabbed it, and hugged it to her chest. She then informed me, by touching my hand\, that his name was Mr. Snuffles and he would be joining our traveling party. I didn't object. As sophisticated as her mind may be, she still is an eight year old at heart. Now she holds him by the paw as she walks from door to door with a bright smile on her face.

Chapter 9: Food Court

At the fork there is one more unlocked room. We decide to call it a day and take up our normal sleeping positions. Eva in the bed and me, in the chair, in front the door. After leaving the room we decide to go to the left fork. But before I leave, I drop a small square of cloth in the hallway of the way we came. This way I we come back we can tell which way we have been already. Once we turn the corner, we find that our path is blocked by another wall of rubble. So, we turn around and make our way back to the fork. Taking the path, we haven't been down we continue our system of checking every room to see if it is locked. Once we turn the corner, we see a large room in front of us. The sign by the door to this room reads "FOOD COURT". Eva and I look each other. We have found food in the room. Enough to not starve, but it is just small packets of nuts and dried fruit. We haven't had a real meal since before we met. Eva takes my hand "Lets go." And with that she pulls me into the room.