Blurred Lines

Chapter Six: Jacob

"Eve," my mother whispered. "Eve, time to wake up," she repeated softly. Her voice was sweet and calming, but I didn't feel like waking up.

"Eve!" She shouted this time, shaking my shoulders. I cracked my eyes open and was momentarily blinded by the sun. It made my vision white and I held a hand up to cover it.

Shawn was standing in front of me, shaking me and waking me up. She straightened up and stopped shaking me, waiting for me to adjust. Spots danced before my eyes, blotting out her face.

"Wh-what?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands. My mind was sluggish and sleepy, unable to process anything.

Dillon was leaning against a nearby tree, his skin pale and pasty. There were dark circles under his eyes and three backpacks were sitting next to him.

Why are we outside, I thought I slept in a house?

"Eve, the bubble popped and the villagers are going to be up soon. We have to go," Shawn said urgently.

Yesterday hit me like a brick wall as I shot up, overwhelmed with the need to run.

The punk rock guy's death, running from the villagers, and Dillon being shot all made me panick. My eyes flitted from side to side as Shawn backed up a step in fear. My heart beat wildly and my hands shook as I ran them through my hair, trying to calm down.

I glanced at Dillon, slumped against the tree and watching us unmovingly.

"How are we gonna move him?" I asked in dispair. Dillon weighed too much for us to carry very far, and I doubted he could walk on that knee for long either.

"I... I'm not really sure," Shawn admitted, looking at him in confusion. "We can't leave him behind, because they'll just burn him next, but we won't be able to get very far with him."

She was right, of course. I didn't know much about the rituals and customs of Borderline, but I knew for sure that Dillon would be their next "cleansing" sacrifice. Even though Dillon had hated me and almost hurt me, he had still stuck by my side when I stood up to the priest, and at this point I didn't want to lose him. He and Shawn were like family to me now, and I'd barely known them for a day.

Family. That hurt. Had Mom and Dad died, or were they still on earth? Were they wandering around this messed up place, not even knowing who they are, or were they planning my funeral? But what if time didn't pass normally here, and one day was an hour, or worse, a day was weeks? They could have already had my funeral and moved on from mourning me.

The thought that they might've moved on from me crushed me. I loved my parents, they were all I had left, but now they were gone. No, I was gone. I'd left them.

I felt like crying. I felt like curling up in a ball and crying. Especially with the added weight of Dillon's life-threatening injuries, this journey was helpless. There was no way in the world I would be able to lead an army into a palace and dethrone an archangel. I had powers, sure, but I didn't even have any idea how to use them!

If we needed to defend ourselves, we were screwed. We had no manual weapons, other than our pocket knives, so our only chance was my powers. But I didn't even know how to use them, the bubble and the light against the priest had been an accident!

If I couldn't figure out how to use them, and quick, we wouldn't be able to make it very far at all; not to mention the fact that Dillon didn't look like he could make it more than five feet on his own.

I glanced over my shoulder, at the village behind us. We had barely even made it out of the town and we were already screwed.

"We could... We could get him a crutch," I suggested. Shawn nodded, desparately grasping onto my idea. Because even though it was pathetic, it was all we had.