The tale of Zayra [in Review]

12. FEAR AND CLASHES: The Dramatic Struggle

||That her fears haven't gone away
On the contrary, they've increased
Amplified by loneliness||

Extraterrestre - Eugenio Finardi

||The end of the world for me is you,
You are the end of the world, in you, I sink||

Un altro mondo - M&K, Tananai, Marracash

×~×~×

I arrive in front of Mrs. Giannette's condominium. I rush up the stairs, anxiety mounting with every step, until I finally reach Fedrick's door. I knock forcefully, but there's no answer. Tension rises, and my instincts tell me something is wrong. I decide to go to Giannette's, hoping she might have some information.

I knock on Giannette's door, and this time, the door is already open. I enter cautiously, and what I see leaves me breathless. The house is in complete chaos, broken objects and toppled furniture everywhere, as if a hurricane had recently swept through. Even the walls seem to have been breached.

My heart starts pounding faster as I frantically search for the children and Mrs. Giannette. My cat, Bastet, who has followed my every move from the beginning, leaps off my arm and begins to explore the house. After a while, she nods in the direction where the kids are hiding.

"Declan! Raily!" I call anxiously. I find them in a closet, huddled and frightened, with tear-swollen eyes. I take them into my arms and ask with worry about what happened. Their stuttering accounts mix with Bastet's anxious words, revealing a horrifying picture: Fedrick broke into the house and started destroying everything, seemingly not himself. Mrs. Giannette tried to call the police, but the boy put her to sleep with his powers and hid her somewhere in the house. The search for her has become a race against time, as his intent seems to be to kill her. He wanted her dead.

Giannette is visibly confused and dazed, unable to fully grasp the situation. I take the children, my faithful cat, and Mrs. Giannette, and lead them to the back door, hiding them in a safe place. I send an urgent thought to Night, my brother, informing him that there's a family in danger in the tower and asking him to help them. I know Bastet will guide him to them.

I can't allow a dangerous psychopath to roam the streets freely, endangering the lives of the innocent. So, I start a frantic search for him, scanning my mind for clues. But I can't find him. My frustration grows.

Maybe my "new" powers can help me. As I focus my mind on finding Fedrick, I sense a strange feeling, a dark energy pulsating away from me. But it's not in my mind; it's somewhere else. I decide to follow that sensation, investigating its meaning. In a surge of anger and determination, I discover I can fly, and I do it with surprising ease. I soar through the air, swift as lightning, in search of my target.

Flying, how absurd for someone afraid of heights. Wait, but I've traveled through space; this should terrify me: traveling through the void. I've been to space already, yet this experience is entirely different. Traveling through the emptiness of space is one thing, but flying over the city, with life flowing beneath me, is an entirely new experience.

Finally, I find Fedrick. He's at the orphanage, a place that has held so many emotions for both of us in the past. But now there's something dark and negative about him, something even more frightening than me.

"Fedrick! Stop!" I shout as I land decisively in front of him. "I don't take orders from an extraterrestrial!" he responds defiantly. He looks at me with disdain and defiance. It's amazing that he knows who I am, considering that I arrived flying like Superman. And how dare he?!