Escape From Forced Completion

Chapter 1

Something flickered in the dark, its consistency was weak and it flickered at the slightest breath. Cynthia knew if she inched closer to it she would put the poor flame out of existence, but she dared to take a step closer. No experience could hinder the courage and assurance that the wandering flame wouldn't go out. She finally reached the source of the flickering flame. She laid her hand down on the source of the flame. "A candle!" Cynthia exclaimed, like one from her past, one she wished she never had. Suddenly the flame grew, it consumed the former darkness of the room and turned it into an inferno of flames. Cynthia screamed, dropping the candle on the ground causing the flame to grow more. In the sheer darkness she knew not where to go but that if she did not she would die. She sprinted towards where she assumed the door would be, an area of a calm light that lacked the blazing nature.of fire. "Please lord, let me live.." She begged. She kept running and running towards the calmness of the outer light, pleading for something to come of it. She reached what she had hoped would save her was a wall, a hard, cold realization that this was the end. She turned to face the death that would lay before her.

The ocean was as clear as it could have ever been that morning, Cynthia had been off at her grandmother's home, though Steven missed her it was in the best. Her grandmother had money, for Cynthia's medications which she had never told Steven why she even needed them. Cynthia had always been a sort of mystery to him, her medications, the disappearance of her brother and father, and her obliviousness to the world around her. She only knew the likes of Florida, a few street names, and her mothers adress, which wouldnt matter now because she was fifteen and couldn't drive. none of it ever mattered to Steven, he loved her undoubtedly. Steven suddenly saw a dark figure swimming closer and to the shore. Her dark hair was wet and her purple sundress was doused with ocean water. "Cynthia!" he shouted. He dived into the water to swim after her. Her face was soaked, her eyes were bloodshot but strangest of all, her clothes were burnt and.torn. "Okay, Cynthia, I'm going to need you to relax, we're leaving." Steven picked her up and her on his shoulders. He dug his feet into the shallow water and marched through the seemingly infinite amount of shells and rocks.

"Is she awake?" Steven's mother Samantha asked. Cynthia's eyes peered open and just as Steven was preparing to begin the annual questioning of Cynthia to find out what happened. She lifted her finger to go directly over Steven's mouth. She had much more power than he had thought. "We cannot speak here Steve, there is only one appropriate place for this." She began to pick herself up but Steven and his mother pushed her down. "Stop." Cynthia demanded, her voice seemed so strong compared to her normal voice which was weak and quiet. "We must leave." She said. Steven and his mother eased off of Cynthia. She stood up, grabbed her favorite coat and put on her sneakers. She turned to look at Steven. "You may want to get a coat, cause where we're going may prove to be very cold." He nodded listening to her sheer demands. They walked and walked for miles, as Cynthia explained everything. "At my Grandma's house the power went out, I think.. But anyway, there was a candle and when I touched the base of the wax, it well.. Kinda burst into flames.." Steven gave her a look of disbelief. Shd put her head down, seemingly ashamed that he didn't believe her. "Come on Steve! You have to believe me!" She yelled.Steven kept questioning himself if she was really telling the truth, but he began to give in to the other side that urged him to believe her. "Okay Cynthia, I believe you." He said giving in to his instincts. "Stop. Get down behind that bush." She commanded forcefully. Steven assumed he'd have to get used to her demanding tones. He jumped over the bush behind the library. A white van slowly lurked along the sidewalk coming in from the parking lot. Steven peeked over the bush to see the passengers in the white van. He was only able to determine one Caucasian male with a scalp lacking any sign of hair. He opened the door slowly for Cynthia to step in. By then Steven had to use every ounce of power in his body to stop himself from pouncing out of the bush and beating every breath out of that creep, but he managed she stepped into the back of the van and the man looked in his direction. " Someone is with you. A boy. Bring him in." The bald man demanded. Cynthia nodded compliantly and called out Stevens name. " Come on Steve hop in." He stood up from behind the bush and stepped into the van. " Hello Steve, my name is Dr. James-Colin pleasure to meet you." He said calmly shaking his hand. " Nice to meet you Doctor. Now how do you know Cynthia?" Steven asked. "Hop in the back, I'll explain on the way to the lab." James said gesturing towards where Cynthia was sitting. Steve climbed back and sat in the seat next to Cynthia. James looked into the rear view mirror to look back at Steven and Cynthia. "Cute." He muttered under his breath. "Now Steven, I assume that's your name. Cynthia and I never really met. It was more like I knew her brother, John, and her father Samuel. When they vanished a few years back they told me to watch over her from afar, and when she finally found the Completion to retrieve her here." He explained. Cynthia sat quietly as the van bumped up and down. "I understand. So you were a form of godparent?" Steven asked. "Yes, you could say that." He said nodding his bald dome with a sarcastic smile. "Well, I guess you could say that." The roads seemed to be never ending from then on, but neither of them knew where they were going or where they would end up. " You kids go to sleep. It will be a long trip from here to Washington."

Cynthia woke up at around midnight and eased up off of Stevens shoulder. She stopped to look at him. His brown hair was a mess, his dark brown eyes were sealed shut unlike his mouth, which gaped open revealing his pearly whites. Cynthia could never understand why he slept like he did. He always told her it had something to do with him sticking his fist in his mouth when he was a kid. She sat upright and looked out the van window to see where they were as James looked back at her. " You really like this kid don't you?" He said. "Yes." She responded bleakly. " You understand what he is going to be used for correct?" Cynthia nodded to James understanding the goal of the Completion. "Well kids!" James shouted startling Steven causing him to jump up out of his seat. " We're finally here! Washington D.C!"

Cynthia looked around her, observing the people who looked fine as they could be in the cold weather. But she was shivering from her toes to her jaws. Florida had always been warm, she never had to think about cold weather like this but she had always told herself that when they came here on the planned February it would be cold, freezing maybe. James and Steven marched farther ahead as Cynthia slowed to ponder her childhood, which she could never remember. She could remember all her birthdays from four to six but after that point all of it went to a blank. Until her eleventh birthday there was nearly no memories, she had inquired her parents what had happened on the faithful day that she woke from a private hospital in Seattle, but they never told. And then they were gone, her brother and father were lost somewhere in an endless unknown and her mother spiraled out of control changing into a more angry person, always blaming Cynthia. By then she had lost interest in her own mother and moved to her Aunt Susan's home in Vermont. But long story short, Uncle Sammy vanished also, but she kept it a secret from Steven. From then one she lived with her grandma Delilah, who hadn't found a reason to abandon her as of yet. She looked back up from the ground she had been staring at for a good minute now to see where they had ended up. She jogged to catch up with James and Steven who had sped ahead at least fifty feet. " So where are we going?" Cynthia panted trying to catch her breath from her short jog of desperation. " Calm down Cynthia, we're almost there. Just stick with the pack, okay?" James commanded. They marched farther and farther and finally reached a shady building with coated with vulgarities in graffiti, James and Steven stopped there and stared it down. " Is this the place?" Steven asked. James calmly nodded his head. Cynthia, who remained out of the loop, stared both of them down. " Why the hell are we here?" Steven turned back and laughed. " Wow Cynthia, that is the first time I have ever heard you swear." He chuckled under his breath at the hilarity of the idea of that little nice girl he knew cursing. " Hush up Steve, we might get mugged! Or worse! There might be gangsters they might..." Steve put his finger over her paranoid lips. " Stay calm Cynthia. James knows." They all walked to the subtle steel door entrance to the mysterious building and James slowly lurched open the door as an innocent curiousity seeped into Cynthia's brain.