220 reads?! Are you kidding me? When I first posted this I was not expecting such a great response!!!! Holy schnitzel, I am soooooo happy right now!!!!
READ ON!!!!
*****
RORY POV
White light is all I can see when my body is fully submerged in the compass.
My heart increases as I begin to panic, I could barely breathe in- wherever I was.
But then I hear Blythe’s voice, “Rory? It’s okay. You’ll get through it.”
I blink away the light, and a meadow comes into focus.
The trees are swaying in the breeze, and the sky is red in the sunset. The grass under my feet is an emerald green, and the cloudless sky above me is a lovely royal blue.
I’m almost disappointed when I realize that the image is exactly like something back on earth.
But when I say, ‘almost’, I mean that the disappointment is sucked right back up when I hear that the trees are swaying- but they’re giggling and gossiping at the same time. I gasp as a butterfly with beautiful green and black wings, lands on my shoulder and says, “Hey, I love your hair.”
It then waits, as if I’m going to answer, “I’m Cylinea. What’s your name?” It asks.
I get over the shock of finding a butterfly talking to me and answer it. “I’m Rory. I love your wings.” I don’t know why I said that; it just seems like the right thing to compliment.
The little butterfly seems to preen at the praise, “I’m known for the green. It’s rare.” She then settles into my hair.
“That was not a good idea. She won’t leave you alone now.” Blythe slinks from behind me, rubbing against my leg as Rayne appears next to me.
Rayne spies Cylinea tangled in my hair and giggles, “Oh it seems you made a friend.”
“This is Cylinea.” I reach up to untangle her as she laughs.
“Watch out, if the trees find out that you’re a sucker for small animals or bugs you’ll have a whole heap after you.”
My eyes shoot to the trees as they gossip innocently. I move over to Rayne as Indi and Max appear on the grass, I watch Indi sit down hard and put her head between her knees, watching Max nudge her with his muzzle.
“But Rayne, I am a sucker for small animals.”
She laughs but stops immediately when James appears behind Indi with a panicked expression. She rushes over to him to check if he’s all right.
I talk to Cylinea the Butterfly for a while before Hugo appears next to me.
He wraps his arms around my waist, and my heart rate shoots while I lean into him. He buries his face in my neck.
I sigh, but then Blythe speaks up.
“Alright guys, we have a job to do, stop smooching and let’s go!”
“Jeez Blythe calm down.” Indi pushes off the ground as I hear a gasp next to me as Cylinea flutters out of my hair squeaking, “Blythe! I need to get out of here!”
I watch helpless as she flies away. “Blythe?”
She fixes me with her icy stare, giving me the equivalent of a shrug. “What? I got around before I met Rayne.”
“What were you, a pirate?”
“Ask no questions and I shall tell you no lies.”
***
Hours.
Four hours.
That’s how long we have been sitting in the town hall, rifling through the town records.
My headache has been growing more and more stabbing with each half hour.
Hugo told me that he was demoting me to food source an hour ago. He was worried that all this reading was doing me damage. I was fine with the demotion, because I don’t think I could take any more of it.
I put my head on my arms blocking out the light. Even the solar powered crystals in the ceiling aren’t making me feel better. Even the table’s happy-go-lucky comments about how boring we are and how young kids like us should be out partying.
Even the damn records are talking.
I watch as the clock ticks on.
***
“I FOUND SOMETHING!!” Indi jumps up from the table, slamming the file on the table. I jolt out of the hazy sleep that I had drifted into.
“Ow!” The table shouts.
“Sorry. Guy’s I found a file on the Kings!” I try to swallow my pain and reach to get the file, but my arm flops useless on the table. Hugo moves my arm and holds it as I grump at the useless thing. I hate not being able to do anything.
“Just tell us.” Hugo says as I lean back into him.
“This first one is dated for one hundred years ago, on the third of June” she takes a deep breath, “Thomas and Mary King are the first to complete the cycle as all three of their children successfully accomplish the task of seeking out their symbols, making them the first generation to start this tradition.” Indi begins.
“But that’s a happy one. What does it have to do with it?” Rayne asks.
Indi holds up a finger, “Lest you forget that this file is full of old newspaper articles. Let me finish.” She turns back to the file; “The next one is dated in the same year for three months on. Darkness has struck the King household as Mary King has contracted a viral sickness, known on the street as 'The One Way Ticket.” Indi’s breath hitches and she takes a while before continuing. “In which her symptoms are; sluggish movements, striking headaches, while on the inside the muscles are slowly degenerating. We all hope that the Kings survive the awful time they are going through, our prayers go with them.”
My breathing slows, and my arms have frozen solid.
“Rory?” Hugo’s face is next to mine.
I feel my nostrils flare and my brain shuts off.
I am exhibiting the same symptoms that my ancestor did.
“No- Rory!” Blythe and Hugo shout at the same time as I throw my unwilling limbs into a run. Shoving the door aside, I run into the night. Feeling the cool wind on my face is like a sigh from heaven.
Adrenaline and anger run out sooner rather than later.
Without something to fuel my flames, my limbs throw a tantrum and just stop working.
I collapse on the sidewalk, tears streaming down my face.
***
YOU ARE READING
Not Quite Parallel
Science FictionI come from a world exactly like yours. The trees sway with the breeze, and the sky turns red if the next day is sunny. Where the ground beneath our feat can quiver and shake and people are made not by their strength of character, but by the gun the...
