Home is not a place, it's where the people you love are

Home is not a place, it's where the people you love are <3

I'm quiet. Listening. I heard something. It could be nothing. On the other hand, it can be everything. I hear my heart beating hard in my chest. If I run, will it still chase me? Probably. No one could kill it. No one got away. Except me. I remember the screams. I remember it all. My little sister on my back, my mother telling me to run faster and my dad holding them away while we run. That's a long time ago.

Now the Summon Killer are out here. Running after me. I know it. Every inch of my body is telling me to run, but I force it to stay here a little longer. Is it close? The beast? The Summon Killer?

I summon the fire, let it play around my body. I'm the last summoner. The last one left to fight. I breath in, hold my breath. Sharping my senses. I take a step forward. Silence. What if it just was a scorpion, or a snake? The dark surrounds the dessert. I can't see anything, except the things that are one meter in front of me. I close my eyes and go for it. I run for my life, through the dessert, to the next destination.

"Really? You thought you could run away from me? That's just pathetic." My legs freeze to the ground. The voice was bright, like a little girl. I realise it's not a it, it's a she.

"Can't you just leave me alone? I'm tired of running, I never even got to see Paris."

"That's not my problem. Summoners traded their life for their powers. The government doesn't like imperfections. They want the last summoner dead." That voice. Where did I hear it before? It sounds so familiar, but at the same time so broken.

"I'm sorry, Summon Killer. I've got to go. I don't have time to get killed, especially not for the government." I turn around to see if I can see her, but it's too dark.

"I don't care if you have time or not. You're not in the position to make decisions."

"I'm not? Then we got nothing to talk about." I prepare myself to leave. I will not go down so easy. Suddenly a wind tries to blow me over. Then I hear someone laugh.

"I put out the fire in your lantern, Nicholas. Now you can't go anywhere!" My heart stop beating for a second. I shake my head in disbelief. I knew the voice was familiar.

"I thought you knew better. You of all people. My power doesn't come from the lantern. Actually, I don't need it. I guess I'm just sentimental." I hear a roar, before I teleport myself away. All the way to Paris. On the top of Notre Dame, I scream. Out into the dark. How can it be possible?! My mind is like a storm, and in the middle of the storm she stands there. With her white little dress, reaching her hand against me. I faint.

"Run, Nicholas! Take your sister and your mother with you, I will keep them away!" I look at my father, and then my sister. She is standing there, crying. Fifty-armed people walks against us. If I leave, he will die.

"I can't leave you! I need you here. With me, dad!" A tear falls from his eye.

"Nicholas. Being a summoner, means to make sacrifice. So, go! Save your family!" I run against my little sister and pick her up on my back. She screams for dad, but he doesn't turn around. I know that we have to run, to survive.

"Run faster! If they catch us, we're dead!" I try to run faster, but it's too heavy with her on my back. I look at my mom, with fear in my eyes. Begs her to say something, or even better, make this go away. But she can't. I hear a gunshot. Suddenly everything goes into slow motion. I turn around and see dad falling to the ground. I scream but have no control over my body. I let her down and run against the forty-armed men. A fire exploded from my body, hitting everyone nearby. I hear screams, as they burn to ash. It's time to get away but when I turn, I see mom. Her skin is burned.

"Mom! Mom!" I run against her, jump down to the ground and take her hand. She looks at me, smiles, and then close her eyes. Silence, before the storm. Heavy sounds of footsteps break the silence. I run to Lilli, while she screams for mom. Tears falls down while I run away. For the last time, I turn around. She still screams, hits me. I think of how I deserve the pain.

"Let me down! I want to go to mommy!" She kicks and hits, before she finally gets herself down from my back.

"Lilli! Come here! We have 10 seconds before I will teleport away, come here!" I run against her, but she's faster. 5, 4, 3, 2,1. One meter from her, it's too late. I'm in Paris.

She stands there, in front of me, looking at me. With the same white dress, covered in blood.

"You fell asleep. I would have woken you up, but it looked like you had a nightmare." My head goes to the right, 90 degrees, and then back in front. She laughs.

"Disabilities. That's what those powers costed you, and every other summoner. Except me."

"You're a shape shifter... But how? When we were little, you never showed any signs."

"It took pain to make it, Nicholas. I had to go through hell, to be a monster. At least I didn't get a disability. With you out of here. The world will be perfect. You're the only one left."

"Lilli. Please don't tell me that they have killed all people with a disability?!"

"Of course, they have. Of course, I have. Summoners wasn't the only one who had to die." I try to control it, but it happens again. My head goes to the right, 90 degrees, and then back in front. It's too much right now. I can't have control.

"Don't tell me that everyone is perfect. No one are. To make a perfect world, you would have to kill everyone!"

"Perhaps they will. I don't know. I'm just getting rid of you and your kind."

"My kind?! Our kind!"

"I'm nothing like you! You disgust me. Your kind can't control your powers, I have seen it. The powers are magnificent, but the disabilities make it impossible to truly master dem."

"Dad and mom died because of the government! They are the reason why they are dead!"

"No! Dad died of his own foolishness, and mom was killed! You killed her!" Tears falls from my eyes, while my head goes to the right, 90 degrees, and then back in front.

"I didn't kill them. Dad protected us. And mom was an accident, she was standing to close!" She bites her lip, turns around and say:

"You killed them." She cries out. Bothered, she continues.

"Everyone is trying to control it, just like you're trying to control that. But you can't! It's taking up too much of your powers, to control it. You lost control, because you stayed in control over something else." I feel the pain, the pain I have every time, so again I try to control it.

"You don't understand. I control it just fine."

"So where is mom?!" I hold my breath. Trying to not be hurt by her words.

"So, what will you do, Lilli? Save humanity, for just killing it tomorrow?", I scream. She falls down to her knees. I hesitate for a minute, but then I walk against her reaching my hand out. She takes it and I drag her into a hug. Smelling a hint of home.

"I don't know, big brother. Perhaps it could have been different." I feel a knife against my stomach and hold my breath.

"Lilli, please don't! I'm your brother!" She smiles with tears in her eyes and say:

"Perhaps it won't make a change. However, it's too late for us."

"We can still make it. Look at all this blood, Lilli. This is our mistakes. Together we can fix it!" She looks up at me, release the knife, before she hugs me tighter. Tears fall on her hair.

"Can we really fix all of this?"

"We all have our imperfections, but it's a part of who we are. Disabilities, powers, weaknesses. If you want, we can try." She nods slowly. Her heartbeat synchronised with mine. Slowly I breathe in and out. It feels like home, finally.

"Don't leave me again. I still need you", she whispers.

"Never again..."