Soul Stitched (book one)

Chapter 52: Aqua

        Gone. Crystal was just...gone.
        "Crystal!" Cashmere screamed. We looked around, but there wasn't even a footprint left in the sand.
"Are you kidding me?" Cryptic asked as we looked around. He squeezed Wilt's hand. Wilt shook her head.
        "Well...Crystal might be on her-"
        "Oh please, spare me!" Cryptic covered his ears. I snickered.
"How are we going to find her? We don't even know where she could possibly be going!" Wilt cried. Cryptic frowned and looked over at Wilt sadly. Only then did I realize how different Wilt looked. Her makeup had been washed off and her hair grew out to a deadly looking bob. It was sort of cool the way it layered. She didn't look as threatening, and she actually looked 13.
        "I think we should just continue on to the city. Crystal will know where we went...if she even cares." Wilt grumbled.
        "We're not going to look for her? Are you nuts? What if she was kidnapped!" I snapped.
        "Yea, as if that's even a possibility." Cryptic muttered.
"We have to at least look. She's our friend. She could've gone back to the small town." Cashmere said, sticking up for me. I smiled at her and she winked back.
        "Crystal left because she wanted to, she wasn't kidnapped because she has powers..." Wilt pointed out. Oh yea, I keep forgetting. But that means...it's been a week since I saw my dad murdered. I had to close my eyes so I wouldn't strangle the person next to me. Which happened to be Cryptic. He took a small step away from me. I missed my dad so much. It felt like it was just yesterday that I saw him shot through the head. Now I'm little orphan Aqua. ugh, I hate my life sometimes. I took a deep breath and forced a smile.
        "Say she did leave. So we just go on without her?" I asked,
        "If she wants to come back, she knows where we're going. To the city." Cryptic snapped.
        "I guess she couldn't handle our weirdness anymore." Wilt grumbled as she huffed her hair out of her eyes. Something didn't seem right. She wouldn't just leave us...

        Suddenly. A splitting headache over came me. I cried out and clutched my head.
        "Aqua?" Cashmere asked as she walked over to me. I clenched my teeth to resist screaming.
"What's wrong? Aqua..." Cryptic glanced at Wilt nervously. I found it hard to breathe. Everything was spinning. I grabbed onto Cashmere for support.
        "Aqua, breathe. You have to breathe." Wilt said as I think she laid me down. The pain was so unbearable. I curled into a tight ball and twitched. No air was reaching my lungs and everything started to fade. The sand, the sun, my friends...it all seemed like it didn't matter. I think they were calling me name, but a loud ringing filled my ears. It felt like I was being stabbed in the head over and over and over again. Black spots flickered across my eyelids. Oh God, What was wrong with me? Everything went dark.

        I was falling. I was falling from the sky. Air blew around me as I flew through the air. My body hit the ground and I shattered into a million broken pieces of glass. All the air was sucked from my lungs as the pieces melted into the ground. Dirt covered me until I couldn't see anything. I couldn't breathe. I wanted to claw my way up from the dirt, but I couldn't move. Just as I died in my dream, my eyes flew open.

        "Aqua?"  A bright light filled my vision and I blinked the rays of light away.
        "She's awake!" I groaned and I slowly uncurled from the fatal position I was in. Cashmere pushed my hair from my face and grinned down at me. The ringing in my ears faded until I could finally sit up.
        "How long was I out?" I muttered, swallowing the large lump in my throat.
        "About a day." Crystal said. Wait...Crystal? She's back! I opened my mouth to say something, but Wilt cut me off.
        "You're never going to believe this." she said. I frowned.
        "What?" I asked. Someone helped me up and I stretched.
        "Crystal found something when she went back to the city." Cashmere said. What...a way to the city? A doctor? Food? A storage place? That the virus ended?
        "Dr. Shep is moving the generator!" Okay...wasn't expecting that.