The Life of Jezebel Firetongue

21

My eyes opened.

The Man stood over me. I felt the impulse to punch him, while a voice in my head insisted he was a friend.

He freed me, and I chose the former.

I was stronger than I remembered. Seeing the Man slump to the floor, I went on my way, not caring if he died or not. My objective was the window, and after that, my parent's house. I paused only to dispose of the broken glass from the vial the Man had been holding, labeled SFS 320.

The window broke with the first punch. I crawled through and felt the wind pick up, the sea hanging on each breath.

Jezebel Wright was on the loose in the small town of Point Aria, California.

Even though it had been months since I had started my running, I still remembered the bus route to my house. At the intersection of the two Bluff Cliff Roads, the bus stopped, and I walked down the road that dead-ended by the sea. At the very end, I found my house, surrounded by a few trees and mostly rocks that turned to sand where they met the ocean, which laid less than five hundred feet away. Taking a deep breath, I hurried to my front door and knocked quickly before I could convince myself to do otherwise.

"Jezzy!"

I was instantly smothered in my mother's trademark bear-hug. Leaning back, I smiled sadly and choked out a, "Hi Mom."

"Your father and I were so worried about you-he's taking a call now, that's why he's not at the door-so how have you been? Oh, you're so strong now! And skinny-"

"Mom!" I yelled, shutting off the babble that could've gone on forever, had I let it. I looked her over, noticing the things I hadn't noticed before. The tiny visible differences that made her my mother by blood, not by genetics. I now saw that her eyes were actually a bright green rather than amber, like mine. Her auburn hair wasn't my exact bright red, and the millions of freckles that were sprayed over her pale skin, the opposite of my tan-and-freckles skin. I sighed. "Dr. Davis was right. He created me, didn't he?"

"Well, of course sweetie! You didn't actually think-"

"Mom, he's using you. Why are you so happy? You're just another piece in his game. You know what he wants to do when he's 'saved the world.' He wants to kill everyone, mom." I heard my father end his phone call and I realized the trap. I turned to my mom. "Please mom! Remember the truth! Help me get out of here!"

My mother's confusion broke through whatever the Doctor put in her system. "Jezzy? Is that you?"

"There's the traitor!" Then darkness enveloped me as I was betrayed by my own father.