WEAKENED
Lizzy heard racing feet around her head. And she felt her head thumping in pain. She felt a washcloth on her forehead and a hand to her cheek. “Clarissa? Have you come back?” Lizzy reached for the hand and held it as it tried to leave her side.
“No! Stay.” She held the hand and hugged it to her chest as she found herself smiling (not in a painful ironic humorous way either!) calmly for the first time since Clarissa had left.
But as Lizzy felt the hand…it was rough, not like Clarissa’s had ever been. Hers were always soft and kind like a mother’s or a caring big sister’s.
“You’re not Clarissa.” She felt her smile leaving as her headache did the exact opposite. Lizzy let go of her tight grip and her breathing became faster and panicked.
“Where are they? Mum, dad, little Krissy? Where are you?” Lizzy felt herself going back into one of those half-dreams. Images of walking into the room…her mum’s face horrified as she held onto her baby boy-Lizzy’s brother, a toddler at the age of two, Kristopher.
Lizzy’s eyes overflowed as she glazed over her little brother’s tears mixed with red, her mother-a pool of blood around her as she tried to protect her little son who had only experienced little of the world yet-who had only just began to form the brother-sister bond with Lizzy, and Lizzy ran from the room only to stumble upon her father as she ran down the stairs. His glazed eyes pained and horrified-but brave and ready to protect his family with his life.
“Dad…” Lizzy spoke in a soft whisper, as she fell to the ground.
Tears flowed down and wouldn’t stop even as she opened them to the world around her.
It would’ve been a normal night for Lizzy if there weren’t people surrounding her at that moment.
Her heart beat faster as she looked up at the unfamiliar faces.
“Michael, go back to bed. You have school tomorrow!” A handsome man told the nice and smart looking boy, around the same age as Lizzy. “You too, Rachael.” Lizzy watched the girl and boy left reluctantly from the room.
The person by Lizzy’s side was a boy with sandy blond hair.
“Who…” Lizzy spoke and started coughing harshly.
“She’s awake.” The boy spoke.
Lizzy felt herself getting up and the boy’s rough hands lay her back down. “You’ve been becoming sick for a long time now. You should have rested at home in your bed. Then you wouldn’t have collapsed back then. Honestly…”
“My Uncle just sits there drinking all day ever since my aunt died. Clarissa’s gone. There is no home. He doesn’t even realize his own daughter has been kidnapped. He doesn’t even know I’ve left. I’d rather sleep on the streets than go back to that ‘home’.” She spat at him, but her ‘spitting’ didn’t make much of an impact since she was so weak already. “Now you need to let me search for her. Let me go.” Lizzy looked defiantly into Maverick’s eyes. She had the strong urge to keep looking.
She got up quickly and held onto her head as it pounded harder with each step. “I’m sorry for my inconvenience.” She said to the mother who was downstairs making a midnight snack and getting fresh icepacks.
“What are you doing out of-“ The mother questioned in a worried tone as Lizzy held onto the post and sat down on the stairs.
The mother rushed up to her, shocked. “Listen, please go back to bed. There we can tell you about everything and we may be able to help you out.” She took hold of Lizzy’s arm and helped her up the stairs.
