There's Someone in My Head But it's Not Me

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

I fell back against the tree trunk. He's gone. The only person I care for is gone.

Don't make a sound. Echo, it's Colton. I'm okay. My m-Siara must have forgotten about what she did to me. I easily survived the fall. Don't come looking for me, I'll find you.

This time, I nearly fell out of the tree. Colton is alive? That's humanly impossible... But I then realized that was the point.

His parents experiments. Colton said my experiments were to try and make superhuman soldiers.

I think they succeeded.

Just what they did is still a mystery. A mystery that I'd have to solve later. Siara and her men will most likely come and look for me once they find out Colton didn't actually die.

I planted my foot on a branch that felt sturdy and after I did, I regretted it. The branch snapped off and I began falling. And I must say I was pretty high up.

Then I felt something catch me while I was still in the air. And instead of falling to the ground, the thing that had saved me and I were flying sideways.

Before I could get a good look at my savior, it set me on the ground and disappeared. I immediately stood up and searched the partially lit forest. I saw nothing.

Just as I thought that, I heard a twig snap behind me. I spun around to face the last person I expected to.

"Colton." He gave me a weak smile. "Echo."

"I hate you."

Colton gave me an amused look. "That's not what I expected you to say."

"How do you expect me to address someone who just fell off a cliff and survive?"

"Good job or you're alive?"

"I can't say I'm not relived but I am upset with the fact that you never told me how you survived."

"Oh." Colton looked at the ground. "I didn't want to tell you this way, but-"

"You got that right." Colton sighed and began again.

"I didn't want to tell you this way but it'll have to do." Halfway through the sentence, Colton slid his jacket off to reveal huge, (maybe seven foot) hawk-like wings.

I backed up from him and leaned on a tree. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you didn't have wings earlier."

"I've had them since you were Evelyn. As you somehow remembered, my parents experimented on me when I was younger. I was their first attempt to create superhuman slaves."

"Are there-"

"Fortunately, there are no others like me. Once they realized I was successful, the project had long since been scrapped and all documents from it were gone."

"And I was their attempt to recreate you."

Colton nodded. "Yes. I honestly have no idea if there were any others like you."

"I hope not." He nodded in agreement. I was glad we had that settled, but there was still one question I had, clawing to get out.

"Why were you wearing a bracelet from your parents?"

Colton sighed and his wings drooped. "I wanted to see if they had changed. People kept telling me that deep down, everyone is good and I should give my parents a second chance. Keep in mind these people didn't know what exactly it was my parents had done to me." Colton pulled a branch off a near by tree and began stripping it of leaves. "I should've known better than to trust them."

There was an awkward silence between the two of us. The sun had raised even higher and now the entire forest was list, save for a few shadowy areas. The birds were chirping louder than ever before. I sighed and slid down the tree so I was sitting with my back against it. "I didn't ask for this."

Colton sat down beside me. "None of us did."

"The way you say that makes me think there are other superhuman experiments."

"Of course there are. What made you think we were the only ones?"

I shrugged. How could I be so stupid? Of course there were more experiments! I had been out here for a year. Nialliv had most definitely done more experiments.

"We need to help them," I blurted.

"What?"

"They were just like me, thrown into this because Nialliv had something against them. I want them to be free of doing Nialliv's bidding like I was."

"Look Echo-" I cut Colton off.

"I don't care if you think it's not safe. I'm not safe anywhere. I don't want anyone to have to be a slave to Nialliv like I was."

"Okay. Okay. Let's go."

Colton stood up, spread his wings, and picked me up.

"No..." I moaned. "Not again..."

"Come on Echo. We'll get there faster."

Before I could make another complaint, Colton jumped into the air. He flew up above the trees, which began flying by. I have to admit it was pretty cool, but when you're afraid of heights not so much.

Instead of facing the open air, I curled up against Colton. My day had been pretty odd, with finding out that Colton is really part bird and that we were both part of secret experiments. Within minutes of beginning the flight, I dozed off and didn't wake up until hours later when Colton landed.

The first thing he did was lie down on the recently mowed grass in a field right outside a hotel. I plopped down next to him.

"Well that was fun."

"Says the girl who slept through the whole thing." I giggled.

"I've got to sleep sometime."

"You could've waited a few hours until we got here."

"You mean we're gonna stay in a hotel tonight?"

"Yeah." Colton grinned and sat up. "We both need some rest before we deal with them."

I chuckled. "Let's go."

Colton untied his sweatshirt from his waist and put it on over his wings. Somehow they didn't rip it.

Together we began walking towards the multi-story, beige hotel. It didn't appear to be very fancy, but it wasn't some rundown piece of trash. When we entered, I felt a rush of warm air on my face and the smell of roses entered my nose. There was a divider in the center of the room with a crackling fireplace. Chairs in shades of browns and greens were set up in a semi-circle around the fire.

Colton walked over to the reception desk and began chatting with the woman sitting behind it. "One room with, um, two beds." Colton glanced over at me as he said the last part. I giggled.

The woman nodded and began typing on her computer. Colton paid with a shiny, black credit card and moments later she handed him a key. "Room 317. It's on the third floor."

Colton nodded and thanked her. A few minutes later, we were standing inside a large room with light brown walls and two beds covered in white sheets. I flopped down onto the bed and sunk down into it. Colton fell onto the other bed. I rolled onto my back and placed my head on the fluffy pillow.

"So, where did the money for this room come from?" I asked curiously.

"I took it from Nialliv. While you were, you know, I took it from Siara. She has no idea." Colton grinned at me. I began laughing.

"Way to go, Freyd."