Unchained

Chapter Fifteen

"David!" I screamed, taking a step back. "What... What..." I blinked frantically, my mind trying to process what was going on. How... What... Why was he here? What was he doing here? How did he get here? What exactly was going on?

He reached out, a concerned look on his face. "Avaley, listen to me. I need to help you."

"Help me?" I cried loudly, jerking my wrist from where his hand was holding it. "What would you know about helping me?"

He pointed to the key in my hands. "First, give me the key."

"Key?" I stared at it, wondering why he needed it. "Sure!" and then I tossed it behind me, the sound of it tumbling down the stairs echoing out through the vast space of just nothing.

David sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Avaley, I know you're scared. And I know that you saw what I did. But you have to listen to me - or else you could get yourself hurt."

"Hurt?" I said, repeating everything he was saying, my mind slow. "I won't hurt myself!"

"I know you will. Like when you knocked down that pole. What if it hit you?" he asked calmly.

"That pole? Well, luckily I..." I soon realized. "Hey! How the heck did you know about the pole, uh, incident!"

"Avaley, I will answer that question if you listen to me," David said in a solemn voice. "I really need you to listen to me. Please. I'll beg if I have to."

Strangely, I had never seen him this calm. And he seemed so... Emotional. Worried. Concerned. Calm. And strangely cute and handsome, the way he was begging me with those eyes for me to listen to him...

But what did he know about what was going on? Maybe I should... "Well, I did see what you did with those paper towels," I admitted. "So what gives?"

"Let's just say that you and I are close alike," he shrugged. "Now will you please step into the room?" I realized I was still standing outside the door, and he was beckoning for me to come inside the room with him.

But what was he doing here anyway? I thought I left him at school... Had he run here, like me? Just as quick? Without a sweat? Or had he gotten a ride, which would have to be pulled off pretty well, seeing that school was still in session...

"Avaley, please," he begged softly, looking down like a sad little puppy. "I can't see you get hurt."

I barely knew David, yet know he was begging me like a knight in shining armor (which, coming from David Pearson, was a once in a lifetime opportunity). Obviously I still held my suspicions high, but something about the way he said my name or felt protective of me made me want to let him... help me. Yet what kind of help was this? Did he know what was going on with me? The strange things happening to me? 

But I really didn't know what was happening to me. I had no answers and David was right - I could hurt someone. Not just my friends or people around me, but myself as well. Maybe David did know about me. I mean, after all, I did see him grab a paper towel without using his hands, like he had the Force or something. But what gave? Was he really just like me? Or close alike, as he just told me?

"Okay," I breathed out. "I accept your..." his what? "...help."

He looked up at me, and smiled, and held out his hand. "All righty." I looked down at it, wondering why he was holding it out to me. "You're supposed to take it," he said. 

"I know," I replied. But...

I gave my doubts away and reached out and took his hand, and then a loud BOOM flashed through my ears and light streamed into my eyes and a huge gust of wind punched me in the stomach and then I was sent flying backwards and tumbling down the stairs, down and down and down...

I was spinning and tumbling down the stairs in sheer terror, wondering what just happened, and David was screaming my name, but I couldn't pay any attention. I tried to grab onto something but my hand just slipped and I continued to fall down the stairs. Suddenly, I reached the bottom - only to crash straight through the other door and landed against something hard.

While I saw stars and my vision returned to normal, I stared blankly at the ceiling. What just happened? I asked myself.

"Avaley," a voice murmured to my left. I tilted my head, letting the dizziness and aches take over me.. But the voice... It sounded so strangely familiar. "Avaley." the voice repeated. I turned and looked at the person.

It was a girl, who wore all white and had beautiful flowing golden locks. She had a smooth face, high cheekbones and a warm smile. Her eyes were beady and blue yet exploding with feeling. She looked too beautiful to be human. I thought celebrities were beautiful, but she was too beautiful to explain. Yet looking at her, thousands of emotions washed into me and I couldn't help but sit up straighter. 

"Avaley, you're better than this," she said to me in a soft voice, almost like singing a lullaby. And then I remembered. She was that voice in the hospital. The one I couldn't recognize, the one who said it was glad that I was alive. "You were brought back for a reason, and you only have one more chance," she continued, smiling down at me.

I blinked dumbly. 

She kneeled down and reached out with her hand. I thought she was going to help me, so I reached out with my hand to. But instead, she leaned forward and touched my forehead with her index and middle finger and I felt my eyes close. Immediately, strange as it seems, my entire body became numb and all I focused on was the warmth and serene feelings rushing into me. It was the most comfy I'd ever been in my life, and the most content and at peace I had ever felt.

"This is merely the beginning, Avaley," I heard her voice sing to me. "Your beginning. It is up to you to decide which path you will take now.

Good luck, Avaley."

And then, all the feeling rushed back into my body, the numbness gone, and my eyes whizzed open and the beautiful, perfect girl was gone and I was by myself, at the bottom of the stairwell of my mom's hospital.

I blinked, and then heard the footsteps.

"Avaley, are you all right?" David cried, jumping the last ten and landing at my side, wrapping me in his arms. "I'm sorry, I didn't think that the connection would be so harsh."

"Connection?" I mumbled, my eyelids growing heavy. 

"It's okay," he murmured, rocking me in his arms. "It's okay. We'll try again later. It's all right."

"Try again later?" I mumbled again, trying to stay conscious. 

And then my eyelids closed for good, leaving me in a world of black, as I heard David say, "You'll know soon enough."