Deception (On hold) 🖋

Chapter Two: Amira

Chapter Two: Amira

She is trapped.

She cannot move, cannot scream. Sound is gone, sight is gone, and she is alone.

She doesn't understand what is happening, and the one source of life- the bird, her bird- is gone.

She is alone.

"Please!" She screams. "Please, I don't understand!" The shriek flies from her lips, raw and terrified, but the fog that has encased her mind swallows it whole.

She is not safe.

Let me out let me out let me out-

"Please." She whimpers into the nothingness. "I am not supposed to be here."

Is that a bit of light she can detect, shining through the darkness? It's green, a bright, spring green, but she doesn't question this. Why shouldn't the light be green?

It will save her. Someone is coming to save her.

The green light is getting closer, bigger. She tries to run forwards but she can't..

No matter. The light is coming to rescue her.

Glowing softly, it advances, and she is sure that behind it is her father or her mother or her brother, holding it, lighting the way for her.

But the closer it gets, the more confused she is.

The fog is turning purple, a light lilac, which doesn't make sense because the light is green so it should turn green.

But it isn't green, and now the light is hovering right in front of her. It's at least as big as a basketball, and she is puzzled because her family doesn't own a light like that.

It's actually two colours, upon closer inspection- green and black. The black part emits nothing, an inky circle ringed by green.

She tries to back up but she can't.

The eye blinks.

Amira's own eyes flew open as she thrashed around beneath her covers, the nightmare holding her tight in its grasp.

But it wasn't a nightmare.

It was a memory, the same memory triggered by Grace two months before.

And for two months, every night she would wake up in terror, sure that the eye was coming to get her.
So far, no Stormbringer had commented on it.

Mostly because so far, she hadn't been allowed out of her room except for memory-triggering sessions with Grace- the Stormbringers informal leader, and currently the youngest they'd ever had. Every day or so, Kayleigh or Kai would come to her room, bouncing in excitement, informing her that this would be the day she'd prove to everyone she belonged.

And every day, she came back with a disappointed twin and repeat the same routine over again.

The Stormbringers still wanted to know more about the eye, but Amira didn't have anything to give them. Not that they'd helped her at all with that- they just put her in the room with Grace and hoped something would happen.

Apparently, they still didn't trust her.

Jerking out of her thoughts, Amira pushed herself into a sitting position.

Amira's room could have been beautiful, she supposed as she glanced around for the millionth time, once. A bookshelf pushed against one wall was stuffed so full with tattered titles that some books had to be piled on top, where they teetered precariously. A small closet boasted clothing just her size in a variety of colors. The twin bed was fairly comfortable, and Kayleigh had even brought in a poster of some smiling cupcakes to further brighten the room.

But there was no window, and the door was rarely unlocked.

Amira stared up at the bland ceiling. She'd almost memorized every crack and crevice and line in the paint- staring at it so much couldn't be healthy. It wasn't as if there was anything else to do besides read, and Amira found that the abundance of fantasy books were no longer appealing- instead, they made her sick.

The heroes always won in each new story, rushing in to save the day, fighting against the monsters and other creatures.

But how could Amira fight when she didn't know who was good or evil?

How could she fight if she didn't know which side she was on?