Separian - Book 1

Chapter 42

It didn't take several minutes. It took exactly one minute and thirty-two seconds. Whatever break I'd caught in my previous fight had done more than shave a few milliseconds off of my hundred meter sprint. I was faster than ever. Even before the script had been extended at the estate.

As I remembered the moments during the sensation, I wondered how Mike and Marissa had fared. Had their scripts been shortened as well? Was it directly as a result of me? I couldn't see a way that we all made it out of that before the other Separian showed up. Not if the others hadn't also received some sort of power-boost.

Not important. I would think about it later.

[Insert setting overview and familiarity]

Every streetlight as well as every light in every house on this street was still on. Every light but the ones in John's house. The house was pitch black. It was never pitch black. Even when no one was home or everyone was asleep, the T.V. in the living room usually flashed its light through the front window and the kitchen light above the oven remained on as a light for anyone who came down in the middle of the night.

I checked the time on my phone. 09:40pm. We'd been in that fight for more than an hour and waited almost four hours for it to start. Not to mention how long it took us to come up with the plan itself. A whole day of fighting.

Myra's car was parked in the driveway and John's patrol car on the street like they always were at this time, which meant everyone was home. So why were the lights off?

I quickly cleared the driveway and darted through the front door without a sound. Footprints were scattered across the floor of the front lobby, dark footprints, plainly visible against the glossy wood floor leading into the kitchen.

There was a shadow taking over a large portion of the floorboards. From where I stood, I could easily focus my eyes through the darkness and determine what it was but something told me not to. I knew it wasn't Sam playing another trick on me. He went out like a light the moment his mind rejoined with mine. But it wasn't any of the other Separian, either. I remained where I was. Unsure of whether I should allow the shadows to come into focus or ignore them.

It's so nice to see you again.

The skin on my forearm burned as the words rang familiar. I had branded the sound of their pattern so definitively within my mind that I could never forget it.

She'd found me.

So long as your eyes can see, your mind remains open to me. There is nowhere I cannot find you.

Blake, I called out, hoping he wasn't so tied up that my words slipped by him. There was no response. Marissa, I need help. I didn't know what her situation was either, but I knew Mike and Quinn were both out of commission. It was pointless, no response. I wasn't too far away. Why couldn't they hear me? Were the Deseparian isolating my mind again?

All of this, all that has happened here, is your fault. Open your eyes. Look at the chaos your life has caused.

The shadows adjusted into focus faster now. Maybe it was shock. Maybe denial. But I could not decide what the shadows were... that is, until I saw a hand... then an arm... and then Myra's entire left half was visible, followed immediately by her right.

Noah, stop, a voice called out to me.

But I didn't.

She wasn't moving. I struggled to hear the beating of her heart, something, anything to let me know my eyes were lying to me. Nothing.

Noah, look away. Now.

John's body lay next to hers. His hands were as pale as his wife's. I tried with him once as well, to prove my eyes wrong... but I heard nothing.