Chapter 14

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I'm back in the place I hate the most. I walk down a familiar hallway and out of nowhere a scientist comes around the corner.

I freeze in the middle of the hallway. The scientist comes closer and walks through me.

I know he had to have seen me as I'm right in front of him. My eyes follow him with a look of confusion. If I'm not the focus of this dream... who is?

I continue walking and make it to one of the experiment labs. I watch through the glass as two scientists strap down a small figure, most likely a kid, but I can't see their face as it is blurred. Another scientist walks into the room and I immediately recognize his face from his crooked nose to his crooked smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen now that we have a viable candidate we can commence the pyrokinetic test," I hear Smith say too happily for someone experimenting on a child.

One of the nurses brings over a syringe filled with a a glowing white substance. As the nurse walks closer the child on the table, they start thrashing around. At one point the kids head turns to me, can they see me? The nurse carrying the syringe passes in front of my line of site and when they clear it my eyes widen.

Leo. They are experimenting on Leo.

I start banging on the glass with everything I've got but it won't budge. As I do this I only now notice Smith staring at me with that demented smile he always had, but no one else has noticed me here or maybe they can't see me.

Leo only looks at me with a look of fear and helplessness in his eyes as he looks at me as I try to break the glass. I watch the nurses as they put the syringe into his arm and I see Leo's hopes of being saved disappear entirely.

I've failed.

I stop hitting the glass and watch to see any reaction from the serum. Nothing happens for a solid minute and I almost let out a sigh of relief. That is until Leo starts screaming. His screams pierce my ears and I want to make it stop, to go inside the room and make him feel better but I can't. Just beneath the surface of his skin, it starts to glow and his screams grow louder. From the way he was yelling you would think his skin was on fire.

But that's just it. It was and he was burning from the inside out and I only realize it when I see the steam coming off of his bare skin. I start sobbing and I look at Smith and he begins to laugh manically.

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I pop up into a sitting position and throw a plasma ball out at bad guys that aren't there. I'm sobbing, like I was in my dream. My magic is going crazy and blue wisps are floating around the room. I back up into my headboard and tuck my knees to my chest as I try to control my breathing.

Looking over to the clock on the nightstand I see that it's a little past 3 o'clock in the morning.

I can't have one good night of sleep, can I?

Getting up from bed after giving up on trying to go back to sleep,  I look out of the window at the dense trees of the forest. I put on my shoes and walk over to the door of my room and open it slowly.

I peek my head into the hallway and when I'm sure the coast is clear I slip out of my room and into the hallway. Walking down the stairs, I make my way to the front door of the house and step outside. The cold night air nips at my face but I can't feel anything anymore.

I pick a direction and start walking aimlessly down a well worn trail. The air smells of pine and earth and I'm slightly calmed by it but remain alert as I'm not sure of what goes bump in the night in these woods. After walking for 10 minutes I come across a cliff that overlooks a meadow.

The meadow, despite it being the dead of winter, is blooming with flowers of a deep purple. I look at them in awe. How could something so beautiful, bloom in a place like this?

I sit down a little bit away from the cliffs edge in a crisscross position and turn my head to the stars. When I was young I used to do this and I felt closer to the Goddesses in a way. But after being in the facility, I stopped praying to them, blaming them for what happened to me and for not coming to my aid when I needed them most.

With my voice just above a whisper, I close my eyes for the first time in years and pray.

As I finish the prayer, a tear streams down my cheek.

I don't wipe it.

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