The Gifted Ones

Chapter 3

        I pushed her on the swing gently, smiling as she laughed and kicked her legs to keep herself swinging. "Higher, sissy higher!" yelled little Amelia, her tiny legs kicking back and forth. Her light blonde hair was messy and flying in the air as she swung back and forth, the golden strands catching the sunlight. When she deemed herself high enough, she jumped off the swing and landed on her bare feet, giggling as she fell over onto the grass. I laughed at her silliness and made my way over to her and I laid down beside her in the grass, smiling up at the bright blue sky.

        Now we are much older, dancing around the living room to our music that we loved so much. I spun my sister around and sang along to the song with her, but her voice was much lovelier than mine. We collapsed onto the couch, breathing heavily as the song had ended.

        Gunshots. Loud gunshots and screaming. Fighting and war. Where is Amelia? "Amelia!" I cried out desperately, trying to find my sister in the massacre. "Sissy!" cried my younger sister, only fourteen at the time. She sounded terrified, and she had a right to be. Our family was just killed in this bloody battle, and I was all she had left.

 I caught a glimpse of her blonde hair, and started running towards her. A man was running at me, about to slash me with his sword, but just as he did, Amelia jumped in front of the blade, taking the blow instead . I screamed as my sister's blood splattered on her clothes, and Amelia fell to the ground, unmoving, attacked by the leader of the Cursed Army. I fell to the ground with my sister, clutching at her as I cried. The leader moved elsewhere, fighting against others in the battle. My sister was choking on her own blood, nearly dead already. There was nothing I could do to save her. She was already too far gone. Tears had streamed down my face in rivers, staining my cheeks. "Amelia, you have to stay with me. I need you, you can't die."

 "I'll be with mom and dad Nova. Just be safe...I love you sissy."

 "I love you too, Amy." Her eyes had closed then, and I thought she was dead. A sob had escaped my lips but then white hot anger coursed through my body, my vision blurred in red and I leapt up, grabbing two daggers that had been dropped by someone in the battle. 

 I had ran to Stryker, screaming at him to face me, knowing that I would either kill him, or be killed. At that point I just wanted us both dead. I had to get revenge. He and his army had taken my family from me, killed each and every one of them. He deserved worse than death. 

 He had turned to me and laughed at me, seeing a small girl holding a dagger, only sixteen years of age. Too young to be a threat. I remembered my parents training, and even though I wasn't the best fiighter, I managed to lunge foward and slash at his face with the dagger I held in my right hand. He screamed out in anger and pain as my blade cut down from just above his eye, down most of cheek, distracting him slightly so he didn't see the other blow coming. I took the other dagger, at the same time as I sliced down Stryker's face, and I dug the the blade into his stomach, giving it a twist after it was burried inside him to the hilt. Stryker was screaming in agony, and he lashed out at his young attacker, the blade of his sword slicing into me right above my navel. I had fallen backwards onto the ground as I felt my own blood, hot and thick, rolling down my body. Eventually I had blacked out from blood loss, thinking that I would die soon and be reunited with my family...

        All these memories flash into Nova's mind in the time span of a second, and tears threaten to spill out of her eyes as she reaches out to Amelia and wraps her arms around her, hugging her sister tight. "I thought you were dead.... How can you be alive?"
 "Someone saved me... I don't know how, but they took me from the battlefield and saved me. It took months to nurse me back to health, but somehow Kai and Lana did it. They live out in the dead zone and take care of the people that they find along the way."
 Amelia pushes her sister back to look her in the eyes. "I'm lucky they found me. Otherwise I most definitely would not be standing here today."
 "Amelia... I'm so sorry I left you there. I was so angry at Stryker for taking my family away from me...." Nova bites her lip and looks down at her feet.
 "I would have gone after him if our roles had been reversed, so don't apologize."
 Amelia sits on the edge of Nova's bed.
 Nova takes in her sister, standing back. Amelia has grown about a foot taller than she was when Nova last saw her, and her beautiful golden locks are gone, replaced by a short pixie cut. She's always been a skinny girl but she looks unnaturally thin, her hips sharply sticking out against her skin. Other than that, she looks like the Amelia that Nova used to know.
 "Why did you chop off all your hair?" Nova asks, sitting next to her sister in the bed.
 "It was getting in the way. It kept catching on tree branches and berry bushes." Amelia smiles and looks across at the mirror in the room. "I didn't realize how terrible I looked with this cut until now."
 Nova lets out a small laugh. "It's not that terrible. You just look a lot less angelic now."
 Amelia smiles slightly. "You still look angelic though. I don't know how you manage though, with such long hair."
 Nova smiles. She really missed her little sister.