The Disaster Born's

Chapter Thirty-Three - Alysia

I look around and the silence envelops me, the room I am in is sterile, a clinical room. The unsettling shade of white lingering in every aspect, white walls, cabinets and doors camouflaging together. The surfaces are spotless, not cluttered apart from a few pieces of paper that lie on top of the desks. I feel oddly safe although the sterility is unsettling.

The door creaks open slightly, and she steps inside, her presence breaking the stillness. "Elodie?" I ask, confusion evident across my face as I struggle to comprehend what I was seeing.

"Hello Alysia," she replies, her voice warm just how I remembered it. Her brunette hair bounding around her face as she makes her way towards me, her movements carried as ethereal grace. She extends her hand, placing it on my cheek, her touch was warm, and it felt familiar. "You have really grown into such a beautiful woman Aly," she says, pride radiating off of her as her bright blue eyes shine at me. I shake my head in disbelief, I pinch my skin to test if I was dreaming but the sensation does not wake me up. This was either real or I was dead.

"How are you here?" I ask, my gaze locked onto hers, searching for answers in the depths of her facial expressions and body language. A playful wrinkle forms on her nose as she laughs subtly, a sound that I had longed to hear even in this sterile air. "Is that your first question?" she teases, her elation contrasting sharply with my complete confusion.

"So, I must be dead then," I blurt out, my heart slowly picking up the pace as the dread lingers in my thoughts. She shakes her head once again laughing amused by my comment. Her expression turns serious changing the tone of the conversation. "No," she insists, pulling up a metal stool beside me with a sense of urgency. She places her hand on my thigh, her presence grounding me. "I don't have long. Find the link, uncover the truth," she urges her voice laced with a strong intensity leaving me no room to disagree.

"The link?"

"The truth?" I echo, the words are heavy on my tongue, Elodie was trying to tell me something, perhaps the key to something monumental. Her grin widens offering me a beacon of hope amidst all the mystery and riddles. "The answers you seek are within you, Alysia. You just have to dig deep and find them," she encourages, her eyes sparkling with conviction.

Suddenly, the calmness shatters as a familiar alarm begins to blare, a red light in the corner of the room flashing. The sound pierces through the air with a furious urgency and it's all too familiar. "Now go Alysia!" Elodie shouts, her voice rising above the chaos erupting. Pamic surges within me, I shake my head frantically, grasping her arm. "I can't do this without you, Elodie!"

She purses her lips together forcing a tilted smile, she places her hand on my cheek once more, the gesture filling me with a warmth of reassurance. "You already are," she replies, the gaze she gave me was unwavering. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out; the weight of the moment steals my voice. "Find the link, uncover the truth," she urges once more, her wors echoing in my mind as she slams the door behind her.

I gasp for air, my eyes snapping open to an overwhelming bright light that floods my pupils. I feel the constricting embrace of an oxygen mask around my mouth. Elodie is gone, and I find myself alone, adrift in this unfamiliar space.

"SHE'S AWAKE!" a man shouts, his voice cutting through the light headiness I was feeling. I roll my head, disorientated and confused, I catch a sight of a drip weaving itself into my arm, a lifeline tethering me to this strange reality. I don't recognise the room I am in; it feels foreign, clinical. The bed beneath me is hospital like, and a device is attached to my finger monitoring my heart rate and oxygen levels, its screen flashing above me. The lingering scent of antiseptic in the air mingling with my hot sweats caused my confusion and stress.