the others

Chapter 8 Return from dead

I didn't know what to do anymore, but sitting there in the middle of nowhere would not help either. I walked further into the woods until I saw a bright light, and I followed that light. I didn't know what I was expecting , but I followed it anyway, it got me out of the woods, but there was nothing there, nothing at all. There was no sign of life. Everyone said once I crossed the bridge, everything would be normal, but in a way, it was normal, the new normal.

I didn't know where I was going, but I walked. I walked for hours until I made it back to my old house. I didn't realize I was there until I reached the swing set that sat in the front yard. The house was in worst shape. Instead of those broken windows, I woke up to every morning, there was just a giant gaping hole in the wall. I slowly walked in, and nothing was the same. The pictures we left behind were gone. I ran into the part of the room I used to call mine, and nothing was the recognizable. It looked like someone ransacked the house, a house that was already destroyed. Seeing the place in this state took away the last bit of hope I tried to hold on to. I slid down the wall and screamed,

"why me? Why me?"

I know sitting there crying would not have helped, but I didn't know what else to do.

I got the little energy I had left, walked into my mom's room, and stood at the door. I slowly creaked the door open, and just like mine, there was nothing, not even one piece of dirt, just nothing, but when I walked all the way in, the floor creaked under me, and When I turned around, a part of the floor was sticking up. I kneeled down on the ground and picked up the piece of the floorboard, then I stuck my hand into the opening. I pulled out a box. The box was about the size of an adult shoe box. I slowly opened it, and inside it had many documents, papers, and a map. I slowly pulled out the map and laid it on the ground, then pulled out one of the papers. It was just an address on it; underneath it, it said,

"meet me here sincerely, S.R."

I wiped my finger over the latter and mouthed the word S.R. I tried to think who this could be, but no one came to mine. I sat there for hours reading all the documents and letters, and after I finished reading it, I was shocked because whoever wrote them knew more about my family and me than I did. The person even knew my mother had died. I threw the box across the room and screamed.

"Who would do this?"

The only person I could think about was Dan. He had to be playing with me. He wanted to get in my head even more, and it worked. I felt like I was going crazy. But then, on the other hand, what if it wasn't him? What if there's a person out there who wants to help me? Someone who's just waiting on me to come so they can help me get through this. This thought played through my head for hours. I was torn. Should I go? But what if I go and it's just another trap? But what if I don't go and I'm missing the only option of getting help?

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down, and when I finally did, my thoughts became clear. I whispered to myself,

"If I go to this address and it's just Dan, I know he won't hurt me. And if I go and there's someone who actually wants to help, I could get my people back."

So I decided to go. I grabbed the box, threw it into my book bag, and headed out the door, but soon as my foot touched the ground, the sky broke. It began to rain hard. It felt like the world was against me. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong, but I wasn't turning around. The address was not that far from where I was, so I ran. I ran and didn't stop until I reached an old grave in the middle of nowhere. It was covered in vines and leaves. So I pulled the leaves off the gravestone and read its name. scarlet rose.

That name sounded so familiar, but I couldn't remember where I heard it from. Then from behind me I heard shuffling like someone was running towards me. I stepped back, almost tripping over my feet, and fell. At least I think I fell, but they tell me otherwise because when I woke up, everything was weird. I was laid on a bed and couldn't move. My body was in pain, and the room was so dark with dim light from above. I started to scream. Did they find me? Am I captured? Then a woman walked in. She was wearing a white lab coat. She kneeled beside me and said,

"calm down, Hope everything is okay. Your medicine is just kicking in." I tried to sit up, but I couldn't. They had me tied down. I cried,

"Please leave me alone."

She grabbed my hand and said,

"it's me, Hope. You know me."

I was so confused, so I cried out again,

"please just let me and my family go, please."

She stood back up and said,

"hope you're safe here."

I cried,

"Please."

She stepped back and yelled,

"it's happening again."

In my head i screamed whats happening again.

then I heard the door creak open, and I heard someone whisper,

"Can you hear me, Hope?"

My body went cold. I shifted my eyes over to the person and screamed. Standing in the doorway was my mom. I shouted,

"Mom, how are you alive?"

She stepped over to me and said,

"Sweetie, everything's going to be okay."

So I yelled,

"Mom, what's going on, you're dead."

She sat at the end of my bed. and said,

"no one is dead. I'm right here."

I frantically looked around the room and said,

"where is Ahmen, scar, Zara, wh.. were my people."

my mom slid over and said,

"Hope those people aren't real, remember what the doctors say." Soon as she said that, it was like I got slapped across the face. I looked up at the ceiling and just screamed. It was like I couldn't control it. I just screamed then everything went black again.