Estranged [Completed]

Promises

Kalei's captor and the boy from the desk escorted her to one of the rooms on the second floor. The boy explained that she was not a prisoner; she was free to come and go as she pleased.

The boy told her, "When you feel you are ready, we can teach you how to control the darkness. Or, you can go live in the district as you were, pursuing highs and living out your days as you please. In either case, the choice is yours."

Kalei stopped glaring at the uniformed man to turn her attention to the kid. At this point, her jaw was fully swollen, and it felt as though half her face was being pounded over and over again with a giant hammer. The growing migraine didn't help anything either. Kalei kept her mouth shut and snarled at the boy.

He replied, "Terin didn't lie to you. There is a way to kill Estranged, and we can teach you that as well. But that knowledge is restricted to those who become Wardens of SWORDE, for your own safety. If you accept our offer, you are welcome to become a Recruit in our program."

Kalei opened her jaw just wide enough to mumble, "Go to Hell."

They shut the door behind her.

The room was large. Where she stood could have been considered a living room, and a door off to her left suggested a bedroom. Kalei's eyes swept over a stately, wooden coffee table snapped in two and leaning at an odd angle against the near wall. A sofa was buried in a small mountain of its own guts; foam, springs, and feathers strewn about like a day-old pile of snow after Christmas. All around the room were smaller piles of glass and ceramic shrapnel where the mirrors and artisanal pieces of the room had met abruptly with the floor and other hard surfaces. On a table against the right wall, a single crystal glass stood among the ruins of the other whiskey glasses and decanters, which had once made up an elegant set. In its day, this room had been grand. Now, it was a cage for animals.

Kalei didn't know why they put her in this room. She didn't care. She just needed –a hand– No. She just needed time and quiet to sort out the chaos that raged through her.

Kalei charged through the room, heedless of the various kinds of shrapnel that dug into her bare feet. Then she dropped down into the far right corner, where she put her back against the two walls where they met. For a moment, she watched the pair of doors opposite her, the front door and the bedroom door, wary of the possibility that someone might come out to... 

I don't know, but I'm sure I wouldn't like it. 

Her head twitched violently, and in a burst of energy and emotion, her fist reached out and slammed into the wall. Infuriated, frustrated by these impulses, Kalei clenched her unruly fists and watched the knuckles strain against her skin. She waited for a count to three. Then, she counted to ten. After that, she pulled her knees to her chest, clasped her hands together in front of them, and bent her head forward to rest in the quiet space she had created. Once there, she bid her body to be still.

The moment Kalei closed her eyes, her mind was thrust into a battleground. The war ripped and rang through every nerve, every muscle in her body. It sent impulses to her limbs and drove energy vibrating through every cell. Kalei struggled to contain it, but behind her efforts, she felt a deep and biting despair. She felt a fierce conviction that there was nothing left. No power to her name, and no reason to reclaim it. She had lost everything. Fenn. Family. Everything. She was Estranged now. Her world was dead.

Then she remembered how she had almost killed Lecia. It all happened so fast, there wasn't time to pull back her hand. If Lecia hadn't... it could've been so easy. Taking a life was so easy, so effortless now. Kalei was appalled by the thought. Her stomach heaved at the thought. But it was true. That could have been Kas or Fenn's hand. Now that she knew Fenn and the girls were alive, she knew it was possible. She remembered Teia holding out her hand to Kalei with a small ladybug cupped in it... Kalei would not allow herself to lose control again.