The Keeper Exams

Chapter Eight - Shards of Crimson Glass

Ripley Korina Alician

The first thing I can register is the blood. Something warm and sticky, dripping down my face, and some more of the liquid enclosed in my hand. I swipe away at it, trying to remember what I did to cause something like this. Thinking back, I can't remember anything at all. It's as though my memory was swiped. The only thing that remains is a name- Ripley? That's a stupid name. - and the knowledge of my ability. Actually, Gift seems like a better word for it. I can get into people's minds, that is. And do all sorts of weird things. But that's not important now, right now I need to figure out what's going on.

Shakily, I pull myself to my feet, still keeping one hand to the deep gash on my head, from god-knows-what, and the only one in a tight fist. I unclench the fist of a second, realizing it had been clenched up since I awoke here, and something spills out among the blood, clinking onto the asphalt. It's a necklace, with some green glass on a silver chain. It was scratched use a little; it must have cut my hand while it was clenched in the fist. Carefully, I pull the necklace around my neck, fastening the clip in back, and take in my surroundings. It seems oddly familiar, like I've been here before. It's a city, ruined from what I can guess was war and complete destruction. The ground beneath me is cracked, as though something might slither out from the depths of the earth, and the buildings surrounding me, once seemingly umbrella me skyscrapers, have been turning into stumps of rubble. I begin to trek through the destroyed city carefully, making sure not to trip on the uneven ground. My body is incredibly light, and quick agile as well, so I must be some sort of athlete. Running all the sports I can think of through my head, dance is the only one that seems familiar, so I decide I'm a dancer, and continue my exploration.

Hopping over a slab on concrete and glass, sticking out from the ground, I hear a new sound. Footsteps. And a voice. Talk to itself. Instinctively, I sink to the ground in a small crevice behind the concrete slab, listening as he voice grew closer. It was a girl's voice, she couldn't be older than sixteen, and she was growing ever so near to my hiding spot. But I wasn't afraid of her finding me, in fact, I almost wanted her to find me, for I had an unshakable urge to get my hands on her, feel her blood running-

Wait, what? No one should ever feel like that, right? That they wanted to kill someone so badly. But I did. All I wanted to do was let her blood run free. And I couldn't seem to shake the feeling. Her voice was growing closer, and a peek out from my spot allowed me to get a look at her. She was pretty, with fair skin and wavy caramel hair in perfect ringlets around her face, stormy blue eyes scanning her surroundings with the same bloodthirsty look I felt. She looked about seventeen, and she moved carefully, not wanting to fall into anything. Before I could second guess myself, I reached out to her, an all too familiar feeling, and clicked into her mind. It was an open, empty space, which felt so nice at the time, but the corners were clouded, memories hidden back there. I didn't look closer into those hidden memories, only making my own up. I thought up the most painful thing i could, and pushed it into her mind, watching quietly from behind my makeshift hideout. I watched her eyes turn from scared into pained, and a sudden scream escaping her limps as she shrunk to the ground, curling into a ball. I clicked around in her mind more, shutting off her vision easily, since all her guards were down, and another scream pierced the air.

"Hello? Omigod, what's happening-" she was crying now, crawling around the ground. "Is someone there? Can someone help me?"

"Who are you?" I asked, climbing on top of the concrete slab, positioning myself expertly for an attack at any time.

"I-I'm Hazel De Nile. Who are you?"

"Ripley," I answered, leaning in closer. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know. Listen, Ripley, I can't see. I don't know what happened, but-" she paused here, a look of concentration on her face. There was a tingling sensation in my body, like the feeling of pins and needles, but my body was falling asleep. No, that's not the right word, my body was becoming numb. I couldn't feel the concrete below me, or the sun hitting my shoulders. Startled, I let out a cry and fell back, but I didn't feel anything. I was on the asphalt a foot from the other girl, and there was blood in the ground, but I couldn't feel the pain of the fall. Which worried me.

"What are you?" Asked Hazel, who seemed to have regained her sight, as she was looking me in the eye. I didn't answer, pulling myself to my feet, but that wasn't what Hazel wanted. A ringing sense started in my ears, causing a splitting headache, which made me press my hands over my ears. When I pulled one hand away, I saw that it was now red, stained with blood from my ears.

"What are you doing?" I screamed, backing away. I pushed back into her mind, and she screamed in response, fire lighting up her eyes. She attacked me physically this time, throwing herself into me, and through a window of a destroyed building, with the roof caved in. Glass showered over us as we sailed into the concrete scattered on the floor of the building, but I still couldn't feel it. She had a tight grip on my mind.

I writhed free, and punched her jaw, a feeling of satisfaction from the sight of my fist being splattered with her blood. She coughed up blood, spitting it into my face, and I rammed my lower arm into her neck as a reply, forcing her to the ground. I grabbed a shard of glass from next to me, holding it up to her throat menacingly, the top just touching her jaw line.

"Wait-" she coughed, her bloodthirsty look replaced wih one of pleading. "Please, don't kill me- please-" The innocent look was gone in a second, as pain erupted through my cheek, her own shard of glass having cut through it, and sending me reeling back. She forced me against a wall, nailing her glass into my collar bone without hesitation, but it wasn't thick enough to penetrate into my heart or any other vital organs. I grabbed a large piece of glass from next to my leg, and swung it at her wildly, blood spilling across the ground. It slashed through her neck, and she fell to the ground, limp, drowning in a pool of her own blood, as the final light of life faded from her eyes. My hands were stained, and blood dropped from my own body, but I stood shakily, a smile gradually making its way onto my face as I looked at what I had done. The bloodthirsty killed want had been satisfied.

I stumbled out of the broken window, still holding my glass tightly, my mind pulled away from my surroundings, playing back what had just accounted. I killed a girl. I slashed open her neck, and let her blood spill onto me. And it felt better than anything I had ever done. Wrapped up in my thoughts, I didn't notice the second girl.

She had blond hair, looking about e same age as the one I had killed, and was bruise and beaten as though she had been fighting a wild animal. I wanted to kill her too, add more blood to he mix, but a little voice in the back of my head was stopping me. Not for long, though.

I did the easy stuff first, simply making her blind and numb all over, which resulted in her whole body collapsing to the ground immediately in a series of shrieks and quiet whimpers.

"Who are you?" I asked forcefully, stepping closer to her cautiously.

"D-Dakota. Who's there?" Dakota asked, squirming around helplessly. "What are you doing to me?" Her eyes were blank, staring at me without knowledge of what she was seeing. She had a bit of a mischievous look in her eyes, which I should have noticed earlier. But I didn't.

A sudden pain erupted in my head, like a million fires burnings my skin as something squeeze my head tightly. The air around me seemed thick, and I was feeling lightheaded. But with a look at Dakota, I realized it wasn't her doing, for she looked the same way. I tried to pull away, but the word was blurry and spinning around me, and dark spots were flying across my vision. I collapsed onto the concrete the world seeming so fake, unreal now, as it disappeared, sending me into the darkness I woke up from, only one other girl leaving with me.