See You Yesterday

Chapter 32: Derythian

'That's how people live in the real world: Forcing stuff on each other.'- Haruki Murakami.
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"I'm starting to get sick of always coming to this place," mutters Quinn after we land in Xenia again.

"Sorry," I mumble back.

"Where do you reckon Charlie and Gale are? It feels weird travelling without them," she admits.

"I don't know but I had an idea this afternoon," I tell her.

"And what was that?"

"Could we possibly send a message to Elvin? Asking if they're there in the present, safe?

She cocks her head to the side. "Is it even possible?"

"I don't know," I reply. "I just feel like everything is going wrong. We haven't even found the right year of Charlie's birth yet. So I just hope we find them, or at least find a way to see if they're okay."

"Well... We're here now, so we may as well make the most of what we have. And I have absolutely no idea what the year is," Quinn says in sudden realisation, laughing.

We look at the grey building and something inside me clicks. "I know what this building is, Quinn " I whisper. "This is where my parents worked."

"Oh..." She replies hesitantly. "I see."

"Quinn, the building is still in one piece! That means they're still alive!" I whoop. "Come on, let's wait, we can warn them!"

"Derythian..." She starts, "It's too late. I'm sorry, but... I think today is the day they died."

"Well let's charge in there and... And... Do something!" I yell.

"Derythian," she says, sobbing. "I wish we could, I really do, but it's too dangerous. We can't be seen."

"Why are you crying?"

"There... There's something I need to tell you, Derythian," she replies.

She looks at me with a panicked and  worried expression on her face, her eyes glistening with tears.

"What is it?" I ask.

"No matter what, you need to.... I...I... It was an accident!" She yells, weeping even harder.

"What's the matter?" I press, my tone slipping into an urgent one.

She is about to open her mouth to answer when we hear the sound of a small girl laughing nearby.

"Daddy, daddy, you can't catch me!" The girl giggles.

"Try me, sweetheart," a deep voice teases her.

A mini Quinn runs to the scene from around a corner, tossing her head over her shoulder to see if her father has caught up.

A man with black hair that matches his daughter's appears seconds later, looking slightly out of breath. He grabs her by the arm gently, a sign that the game is over.

Small Quinn holds her father's hand tight, and they stare at the building.

Beside me, Quinn has sunk to the ground, her chin on her kneecaps and her eyes wide.

"Are you ready?" Quinn's father asks her.

Her eyes fill with fear and her jaw tenses. "Are you sure, daddy?"

"Yes," he reassures her. "Advanced telekinesis includes elemental manipulation. If you want to grasp it, we must start now."

"What do I start with first?" The youngling asks eagerly.

"Fire is the easiest. An official from this building will be coming to watch you and help soon, but we may as well get a head start," he tells her. "Now, put both thumbs on your heart."

She does as she is told with a smile.

Older Quinn is sobbing uncontrollably on the ground now, rocking back and forth.

"Straighten your arms. Yes, that's right, as straight as you can get them, but put them out with a bit of force," he orders.

She whips her arms out with a great force, straightening them as much as she can, and suddenly a ring of flames is forming around her hands.

"Now, think of something you really really want and hopefully the flames will expand," he tells his daughter.

She closes her eyes, and sure enough, in seconds, they do.

"Keep focus, darling," he warns her. "If you lose balance or focus, you'll lose the fire."

The young girl nods and closes her eyes tighter.

He laughs with joy as his daughter defies all odds and telekinetically manipulates the elements.

But then she screams and her arms begin to shake.

"Quinn!" He calls out.

Her arms shake more and more, and there is a contorted look of horror and fear on her face.

Then the fire is being hurled at the building. I count exactly to three before the whole thing explodes.

I look down at the girl I thought would never lie to me or never hurt me and I see her in a different light.

She killed Gale's parents; she killed mine.
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She is as quick as me, so trying to walk away probably wasn't the best plan.

She grabs my arm and spins me around to face her. "Hey!" She yells.

"What?" I ask.

"Derythian, I'm really sorry, I was going to tell you, it's just-"

"What? What? You were too busy hugging me and telling me how great I am?" I ask her sarcastically. "Well, Quinn, here's a shocker: I'm not feeling great now!"

"I don't know what happened that day!" She yells, fresh tears streaming down her face again. "That building shouldn't have even exploded but-"

"-Then why?" I interrupt.

"-There were many flammable solvents in there. I got it checked out," she continues.

"You did, did you? Was that before or after you killed them?"

She looks at me, clearly astounded. "I lost control, Derythian. My father was trying to teach me something I wasn't ready for."

"You want to know what I wasn't ready for?"

She doesn't answer.

I extract her hand from my arm. "I wasn't ready for this trip. Everyone is just... Everything has gone wrong. I've lost my parents and I've practically lost my brother, and Charlie and Gale are missing in action. But the one thing that I'd say I wasn't ready for the most was finding out that my best friend was the one who destroyed my entire life, when she was the one I thought I could count on completely."

Quinn is crying silently now, looking at her feet.

"Take my arm," I order.

"W-why?" She sniffs.

"Just do it," I say shortly.

"Wh-where are we going?" She stutters.

"Back. I'm done."