Headphones | An Original Story

1.1 - Not Alone

{Ronan}

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The last thing I heard as I watched her get dragged off by the inexplicable creature was her scream. "Ronan!" she had yelled, but I stood there. I couldn't do I thing to stop it. And now I had the vision of her face, twisted with fear, covered in grime, her nails digging into the ground, uselessly trying to find an anchor, her greasy, messy hair, etched into my eyelids.

I should've saved her. I could have saved her, if I wasn't so damn tired. I should be stronger than this.

Calix's reasoning popped into my thoughts, even though she wasn't there: "You're being too hard on yourself. You've gone days without any food or water, and been walking for miles in the sun. You should be tired. There was nothing you could do to save me, anyways."

And suddenly, I was running. I wondered what was pumping the adrenaline through me, because my body surely didn't have enough energy in it to do so. But I soon realized that the energy pulsing through me wasn't adrenaline--it was determination. I couldn't let her down.

It wasn't an option; I needed to save her.

I ran, following the creature's path. I sprinted through the forest, ignoring the burning sensation in my chest, igniting my ribs in pure exhaustion. My heart was beating out of its chest.

My feet were moving almost on their own, and I felt like if I wanted to stop, I'd probably fling myself forwards. My forehead was pounding, probably because of the lack of food and water and the sudden exhaustion.

The air got colder as the sky darkened a bit more, turning Kallistrate's usual shade of black. Even with the slight temperature change, sweat ran down my back, completely soaking my Nirvana shirt.

Unfortunately for me, Calix was wearing all black. I wouldn't be able to see her as well as I would have liked to, especially taking into account the sweat dripping into my eyes. I wiped my face as best and as often as I could, but I knew there was hardly any hope. But heart dropped into my stomach at the thought, but I tried to keep my thoughts positive.

Calix still had her backpack with her. Maybe that was what the creature was looking for. Maybe they would leave Calix alone if she just gave them the notebook.

What was up with that freaky notebook?

I remembered Kalistrate's vague explanation of the poem from the castle, but that didn't help: "Are you really here, or are you just part of a program, stuck in my fantasy?" she had said.

And Calix had replied, "She's messing with us. Yes, Ronan. We're humans." I trusted Calix, but I wasn't sure if she was correct on that.

My thoughts wandered back to the night of Stella's party, when I swore I was dead, when the fire had started in Stella's backyard, when Stella had whispered in my ear the last line of the poem, when she slit my throat and I had been consumed by the fire. I thought that was it.

Frankly, that probably would've been less painful than this big adventure in the Netherworlds.

But I had to keep going. I had to find Calix, and I had to bring her back to Earth. Both her family and mine were probably worried beyond comprehension.

Yes, I barely believed that either of us were still alive, but I also didn't believe that Calix was dead.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of some sort of guitar strum. I was so fazed by it that my legs stopped moving, and, as I predicted, I was flung forward and completely faceplanted into one of Kallistrate's weird trees.