Eyes To See (Not Continuing)

On The Run

~Balance~

"The Love girl is unconscious." That annoying Wisdom devotee points out.

"Can you carry her?" I ask.

"Do I look like-"

"I will." Barney volunteers quickly, before any fights can erupt.

"We need to move. Be quiet, and follow me." I run through the kitchen to the back door. It is mainly used to dump garbage, but on special occasions we use it during fire drills. Today, it will safely get us out of the building. The screen door opens without effort. I march out onto the street and jog to the transport stop.

"The streets will be swarming soon, we need a different mode of transportation." I state.

"What, like the transport?" The Wisdom devotee jokes coldly.

"No, we will only get caught." I look up in frustration. Then it hits me. "We use the tall buildings, and their glass pathways connecting them."

"Secure the city! All citizens are to be returned to the closest in closed space!" Shouts arise and footsteps near.

Without word, I begin to run straight towards the nearest building. It this part of the city, all buildings rise to the sky. If I could make it back the way I came, I could exit one near my apartment. We have a chance at survival there.

"This building is abandoned, bite-sized." Barn voices his concern.

"We have to." I reply.

...And so the crew of six began to climb a broken stairwell to reach the next building unseen. Barn carried Austin, the couple held hands, the Wisdom girl stated blankly, and I trailed ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Floor 36." Read a sign on the door to exit the stairwell. Finally, we made it. "Entrance to next building ahead." Spray paint nearly made this part unreadable.

The old lady's shaky hand reaches for the door handle. Poor her. The stairs step beneath her crumbled and she almost fell a few flights down. She was lucky that I was next to her to catch her, but it was still traumatizing.

Let us not forget that we are here now, and no pain, no gain.

The lady's had slips off the handle, and she cringes.

"Meredith, you don't have to." Her lover comforts her. Her pupils grow and shrink, showing deep thought. I wonder what graces her mind. More like what plagues it.

"Can I have some assistance, sweetheart?" Meredith turns to...me.

I lift her elbow to the door, and she gets the door handle to turn. We all file into the room in a hurry once more. There is the glass door. I reach for the handle before Meredith can try, but the handle won't work. It shake it, yank it, and push so hard I think I broke me.

"It's locked, Hun." The wise girl tells me. I refuse to believe it. "Stop!"

"We are making it through this door!" I reply. "Even of I have to go head first." I march over the the stairwell door. It was time to start kicking down the door's bolts.

My "friends" just watched me, no help at all. I sweat buckets as I kick time and time again.

Finally the door busts and I have something to break through the glass with. "Anybody going to help?" I ask before I run at the door. Anger escapes my lips, but I let it out willingly.

"Ju, you are overheating." Barn speaks. Overheating?

Overheating. Yes, when a person experiences all four virtues at the same time. This causes our bodies to overheat, and in some cases; break. I might as well be dangling over a cliff right now, because my life could leave, out of my fingers before I can say "whoops". I need to calm down.

Love for these people I am helping.

Hate for the invaders.

Kindness for putting aside the odds and bringing these people to safety.

Wisdom for busting down the door.

No more, calm down.

When a person overheats, their faces turn red, and their eyes a crystal blue. This process has only happened to me once before, but I have only seen what it looks like through other people. How could something seemingly so good, be so bad?

"Sit down! You are going to get yourself killed! Take a break and return to your normal state of mind!" The elderly man shouts, obviously nervous for my life.

Something inside me screams to keep going. I've heard of this. Once a person tastes all four virtues for more than two minutes, they crave to stay that way.

If I'm dying now, I'm dying complete.

"Don't try to stop me, please." I beg, before I take my leap of faith. I lift the door in my hands.

"If you do this, Juliana..." Barn knows how I feel, he must. Will he let me be happy?

"She will fight you." The Wisdom girl stares blankly once again. "She will fight you with all she has, and at this point, she has the world." Do I look like a monster? "Trust me, you have to let her try. She doesn't want to let go, so she must prevail or die. It happened this way with my mom." Your mom was complete, and so am I. Let me have this victory.

I grunt as I run at the door, smashing through it with the other door in my arms. My grip loosens as I run through the long hallway. Time seems to slow to a stop. Stars invade my vision. Hold on to the door, Ju. If it falls, you fall with it.

"She threw herself, her life, into our hands."

"The result I depicted."

"She must feel so alive!"

"Does this tell us if she is the one?"

"She has survived so long."

"Too long to be anything less than what we expected."

"So willing and brave!"

"She is the one. She is defiantly the one we have been waiting for."

The door falls, and all I see is me passing through the glass floor. The very floor I just broke.

Darkness.