Wasp

Chapter 19: Ryan

Dying. It felt strange. A sense of freedom and yet a sense of pain and dissappintment to know that you didn't do that one last chore, or eat that biscuit you were saving for a special occasion. It was like leaving a book unfinished, a game unplayed, or only telling half of a joke and leaving out the punchline, it was strange to say the least.

I knew I would die the moment the Lazer hit me, right in the chest, a fatal wound. James was there of course, holding me in his arms, cradling me until I felt my soul fading away. I never wanted him to cry, I knew he couldn't take this, not after everything. So I gave him the box and told him to give it to my sister Kayla. Like a final mission for him to complete and to force him to keep going. As I looked up at him I wished things were different, I wished we'd carried on together, had a house, a family maybe but at the same time I wouldn't trade this adventure for anything in the world.

I wanted kiss him and tell him everything would be ok but I was too weak, he'd done everything he could and now I was leaving this torn and war infected planet.

Everything went white and my whole body felt weightless. I looked down to see grass beneath my feet and I was wearing...strange clothes. No shoes, weird shorts and what looked like one of James T-Shirts. I looked around to see what looked like a mirror. A picture of what looked like my sister appeared in it and it rippled when I touched it like still water in a lake. I gently pushed my hand through the water, it rippled and eventually allowed me to pass through to the other side.

"MUMUMUMUM" a boy who looked to be about 7 was tugging at his mum's blouse. "Was that....me?" I said to myself almost out loud. The mother looked down at the dark haired boy with soft brown eyes, "Go and get your sister," she said softly, "she should be upstairs."

The boy ran upstairs and I followed along behind him. The room he went into had two small children's beds on it, his sister...my sister was sitting on the one closest to the window and was looking over at the wasteland. "Mum said you've gotta come down" the boy said in a high pitched and irritating voice, I couldn't believe that used to be me. Kayla looked over to him and rolled her eyes, "can't I just finish this." She said. The boy jumped onto her bed and looked over to the small notepad that was resting on her lap, on it was a detailed drawing of what looked like a young kitten playing with a pink ball of string. Kayla sketched away and coloured the drawing carefully then finally put the notepad down beside her and looked over at the boy who was staring out the window.

Kayla walked over to the door, "come on" she said in a slightly frustrated voice. The boy didn't move, he only started out the window, "who are those people with dad?" He said. Kayla quickly ran over to the window in fear, "Get away from there," she hissed, "hide under the bed and don't come out till I say so." Kayla quickly ran downstairs and the boy obediently hid under the bed.

I tried to go downstairs but I couldn't, it was like there was an invisible wall stopping me from going any further, and then the gunshots came. Screaming and fighting, the boy covered his ears until the commotion downstairs finally stopped and all became silent. No sign of Kayla.

The boy ran downstairs to see his mother lying on the floor, his father standing over her as he put a bullet in her brain.

I was thrown out of the mirror and dumped onto the floor. "Shit..." I said quietly under my breath. This was a hall of memories, this was my fate now. I walked past the hall seeing different stages in my life, all the way up to my death. Instead of looking through any other mirrors I went to the center of the room and lay down on the grass. "This was it, I was dead". A soft glow emerged from all around me as if I was on fire as I closed my eyes, letting the warmth fill my body.