I woke up sobbing, barely able to breathe. My nose was bleeding and the van looked like it had been hit by a storm. I've had nightmares constantly since I escaped from the lab, but I'd never had one that triggered my powers. Argyle and Will stared at me from the front seat, confused and scared.
"El? Are you... Ok?" Will asked, his voice quivering. Argyle pointed an Will and then himself, signalling that he wanted to ask the same question.
"Yes, I am ok," I was lying, but they weren't really my friends, were they? Will was my brother, not my friend, and I didn't really know Argyle that well. "Just a nightmare, nothing serious."
"El, you're a horrible liar. Be honest with us, what happened?" Shit. Will was suspicious. I held my ground.
"I am being honest! Why is it so unbelievable that I can handle a nightmare?" I was speaking too harshly, but I didn't care. I obviously didn't want to tell them what happened. Why couldn't Will just accept that?
Will was silent for a few seconds, then started trying to tell me that he understood what I was going through since he had "gone through the same kind of stuff." As if he thought that would make me feel better.
"Stop it," I mumbled angrily.
"What?" Will looked confused.
"Stop saying that you understand what I'm going through when you obviously don't! I get it, you've had bad things happen to you, but guess what? You still got to have a normal childhood. You never had to kill innocent people just so you could survive for a few more days! I didn't have that privilege. And the only person who made my life a little bit more bearable is almost dead because of me! So don't say that you understand because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you did!"
I regretted what I said the moment I finished talking. Will seemed angry and hurt by my words, and he looked at me with tears in his eyes. I didn't know what to do, so I went with my first instinct. I opened the back of the door and ran. I didn't know where I was going or what I would do when I got there, but I knew that I couldn't stay in the van.
I think I was running for ten minutes before finally stopping. I collapsed into the street, feeling like I was going to pass out. With the little strength I had left, I tried to find out where I was. It looked like an old neighborhood with disheveled houses and trailers lining the dirt road. I could hear a dog barking from behind the chain link fence I was laying next to, followed by someone who looked vaguely familiar running up to me and calling my name. Then everything went black.
"Jane? Jane, wake up! Oh my god, please be ok!" I opened my eyes to find myself in Susan Mayfield's living room. She was sitting on the floor next to me, fear in her eyes. She was holding a cup of water in one hand and a wet towel in the other. She saw me staring at her and immediately started asking me questions.
"Jane, thank God you're ok! You are ok, aren't you? What were you doing in the street at five in the morning? Did someone scare you? Is-"
"I'm fine," I said quickly. "I don't want to talk about it." Susan gave me an understanding look and changed the subject. I had school today, so she said she'd lend me some of Max's old clothes and give me some food for lunch.
"Ok, how's that?" Susan had found some clothes that Max and I had bought from the mall. It still fit perfectly and made me feel like myself for the first time in a while.
"It's... pretty. Thank you," We talked for a few more minutes before I left for school, trying to not think about having to see Will again.
