Flamed

Look Me In the Eyes

"Can you sense anything?" I asked Brian, he kneeled down on the ground and placed a hand on the cement floor of the abandoned building. We had walked about half an hour to get here, it was late and night had fallen, so we decided to find somewhere to crash.

"Not really... Just some minor vibrations on the ground. Could be rats?" he looked up and met my eyes "Nothing to really worry about unless you're scared of them" he watched all three of us carefully "Are you?..."

"No!" We all said in unison, looking like it was more of a yes.

"Okay then, lets find a nice spot" he began walking to one of the nearest entrances. All around me I could see this had once been a call center, cubicles stretched over the span of the floor, papers littering all over. A weathered poster hung on one of the walls, it read "Be the person your client wants you to be" As if  I thought.

We continued walking through the dark area, lit only by a single flame in my hand, until we reached what seemed to be the boss's office. It was a rather big space with windows covering the entire north and west walls from floor to ceiling.

"I think this is it" I said. Andrea placed a swollen hand on one of the windows.

"The city looks so peaceful at night, almost like there isn't anything to worry about" she responded.

Lizbeth stepped towards her "But there is, they just killed an innocent guy back there. Since I was little my parents told me how wonderful and magical our land was, when in reality it was made 'perfect' by the government. They threw away the hybrids as if they were trash, just because they threatened their power over us. I'm not saying those people back there had a right to do what they did, but they do have their reasons" I could see that her eyes were still puffy from crying, first Ayah and then Anthony, she had been through a lot and yet her ideals were still the same. The thing was, she was right. We had let the government control us all these years and we didn't even realize the power they had over us.

Andrea sighed "I wish I could say something different, but I've never lived in your land. I didn't even know you guys existed, I just discovered my powers recently. But I certainly am sure that my government has kept secrets from us, I just wish I'd known about my powers sooner. My childhood would've been way less confusing" she chuckled slightly at an invisible memory to us.

"I'm gonna go check out if one of those bathrooms still works, be right back" I turned walked to the doorway. I really wished there was water, it had been a good few days since I had taken a shower, not to mention my hair must look like there's a ferret living in it.

The nearest bathroom was marked with the figure of a lady painted over a glass plaque. I pushed the door open to reveal a simple bathroom with a wooden counter and tile walls. As I flicked the light switch on I thought probably not working, been out for a few years and I was right, they didn't even flutter. Lucky for me I had a candle in my backpack for situations like this, I lit it up with my fingertip and placed it on the counter. The mirror in front of me was clouded with dust, I gently wiped it away with my sleeve leaving a circle big enough to see my reflection.

It then dawned on me how long it had been since I'd looked in a mirror. My brown hair had grown at least an inch since leaving, it was all greasy and sweaty. Taking a brush out of my bag I untangled most of it and tied it up in a tail. My grey eyes didn't seem the same, neither did my lashes. I neared my face to the mirror and looked closely at one of my eyes, some gold streaks had appeared, popping out from the grey background. Is it normal that my eyes changed color so drastically? I asked myself.

Taking out my phone I revised the time, 10:00pm. "Shit" I whispered to myself. Quickly I opened the tap and as expected, no water. I annoyingly grabbed my things and hurried out of the bathroom. Returning to the group I turned to Andrea.

"Do my eyes look different?" I asked harshly.

"What do you mean? Haven't they always been grey?" she looked at me with concern.

"Look closely, can you see the streaks of gold? I'm 99.9% sure that I didn't have them, I think I would've noticed if my eyes had streaks or not"

She examined my eyes closely and then nodded "Yeah, I can see them. Maybe its the change of climate?"

"Yeah, maybe..." I don't know why I was so concerned with my eye color, but I seemed to be changing without even noticing. It's amazing how barely just three months ago I left my home to come here. I didn't want to change, I wanted to stay the same old Paige, the one with the cute boyfriend and crazy friends, the coffee addict and book over. The Paige who knew herself and didn't have to ask others to do so. All of this seemed to be changing for me, I just didn't know why.