What Lies Between ✔

From Small Beginnings...

41.

Thorne

I ran as fast as my legs would allow me, flying across the graveyard.

The Telem was strong. Stronger than I expected him to be. Stronger than me.

The anger that evoked in me pushed me forward even harder.

Soon, I was to the fence. A vehicle was on the other side, and the enemy was there holding the back door open, allowing some guy room to move around, as he was clearly focusing his attention on something.

"How much longer?" The Telem spoke anxiously, running a hand through his hair.

The guy pulled himself out of the car, turning to speak to it, and it was then that I took in his black uniform. Lean, silvery blonde hair, narrow features...

A shot of ice-cold betrayal pierced through me.

Galen.

He was healing the girl no doubt, the one Stone had injured.

"I've closed the laceration," Galen spoke to the Telem, "but to heal it completely, I need more time. It's not a technique that instantly works, it's convincing the cells of the body to repair faster."

"She needs to be healed fully," Nameless came out from around the other side of the car, "there is still risk of infection. It- it went through her eye."

Not wasting anymore time, I hurtled over the fence. When my feet hit the pavement, everyone jumped and turned to me.

"Thorne," Galen said, but not panicked or pleading as he should have. He had a resigned look on his face.

"You're helping it?" I demanded, "You're turning against us too?"

"The girl is to be protected by us. I am helping her."

"Can't you see what it's done to these people? It's influencing their thoughts, keeping their minds prisoner to is commands."

"By 'it'," the Telem spoke up, "I assume you are refering to me?"

I turned my eyes to him, never loathing something so much in my life. "Let these people go."

"Thorne! Stop this." Kairos stepped in front of the monster, scowling at me. "We're here by choice. We're his friends."

"Friends!" I stepped closer to them, "We're friends, or don't you remember?"

She looked as though I had slapped her. "Of course I do!"

"Then trust me, okay?" I took another step, "You are being controlled here, I want to help you. Please, Nameless, let's just go home."

"I'm not controlling anyone!" Ben shouted before she could respond to me, pushing me over the edge.

"I'm going to kill you, you disgusting piece of shit! I'm fated to do so, and then you won't be able to control anyone, you'll be nothing!" My eyes caught Galen moving back towards the car, "No! Don't move another inch!"

"I have to heal her, Thorne," Galen spoke calmly, as if trying to talk me down, like I was the one who was dangerous.

"Nameless," I said, ignoring the others, "Just come over here, just come home, please."

Her features softened, giving me hope that I had finally broke through whatever hold the Demon had on her, but her next words proved different, "Thorne...I'm sorry. This place, this realm, is my home. I belong here."

"No! No you don't belong here, you belong back in Purgatory with –" I stopped myself, turning my face away in anguish. It was only now that she was lost to me that I realized what she meant. Was that how I was expecting things to go? I'd take over Purgatory, I would rule over the Seekers, I would maintain the Between, I would be with Nameless. I found Nameless the way Father had found my mother in Purgatory; she was the only one who understood what growing up there was like, how lonely it was. I was a child surrounded by vacant stares, a father too busy to keep me company, a world without feeling until she became known to me that day I had dared to wander off on my own. But now she was changing into something I didn't recognize, standing beside my enemy. She was not waiting for me by the lake anymore.

A gravity only I could feel began to pull all I had expected down and away, and I was crushed with the hopeless realization that I could not control anything around me. "Nameless," I started again, "Please."

Her lip trembled, but that was the only sign that my plea had affected her in any way. "My name," she said softly, "Is Kairos."

The air before me rippled, and out of nowhere, a boy appeared, shoving me back into the iron gate. He held me there, but I kneed him in the groin and pushed him back onto the pavement. No sooner had I freed myself did Galen fly at me and pin me to the gate."Go!" he yelled to them.

They scrambled into the car. I punched Galen in the face and easily pushed him off of me. I kicked him in the head, and he was out cold.

Something that felt like barbed wire plowed into me, wrapping around my legs, my arms, and my torso. I thrashed, trying to break free from them, but they slithered around the iron of the fence, tethering me to it with force. They slit my skin like razors, and I growled through gnashing teeth.

Through the side mirror of the car, I seen red eyes glaring at me. "Go," The Demon said, and the car sped off, screeching around the corner.

"Nameless!" I cried after it, but it was already gone.

":CV