Losing Eight Lives

18 | All I Have Left

My legs moved fast as I made my way to my house. To my home. To my parents, and friends.

As I approached my house the front door opened to reveal my mother. I smiled and ran towards her to embrace her in a hug.

"Mom!" I squealed, tears rushing down my face. "Oh my gosh, Mom I missed you!"

She smiled and opened her arms for me to run into.

I finally made it to her and wrapped my arms around what I thought was going to be my mother. But instead of hugging something solid, I ran right through her.

I stopped myself, the smile wiping right off my face, and turned around.

She was gone.

"Mom?" I asked weakly.

I heard footsteps behind me, and turned around to find Amanda. My heart leaped and I ran to give her a hug too. "Amanda," I said with relief, just as I ran through her too. As if she wasn't there.

My heart ached, as I heard more footsteps behind me.

My father stood a few feet away. I swallowed, and knew what the outcome was going to be. I took a few steps closer to him, and looked right into his eyes as he transformed into mist, and evaporated.

More footsteps.

I turned around to now find Jace. I was hesitant at first. But . . . Jace is real, I remembered, and a little hope filled me. I know he's real. I walked up to him, and tried to place a hand on his shoulder.

Just to find he was made out of air too.

My eyes swelled up and started shedding tears as I watched Jace disintegrate into thin air. "Jace," I cried and fell to my knees. "Jace!" I screamed at nothing.

Jace was gone. He disappeared, and he'll never come back.

But he was real, I pleaded to no one. He was the only one I had left.

I was alone.

-=-=-=-

I inhaled a sharp breath as I abruptly opened my eyes. My hands slammed the soft surface under me, holding on tightly. I frantically looked around, not knowing where I was, until I remembered the night before.

I slowly breathed deep breaths as I tried to calm myself down. Real tears streaked my face and my heart still pounded. It was only a dream, Jace is here somewhere.

I heard footsteps from the hall, and someone knocked on my door.

A squeal came from the door, and opened to reveal Jace standing in the doorway.

"Morning," he greeted and walked in the room, closing the door behind him.

"Jace," I sighed, and stood up from the couch. I ran over to him and embraced him in a real hug.

He didn't disappear.

"Hey," he said and wrapped his arms around me. "What happened? Are you okay?"

I didn't answer at first. Instead I enjoyed the solidness of him, and the fact that he was still here. "Yeah I'm fine." That's a lie. "I had a dream . . . and . . ." I pulled back and looked at his deep green eyes. "I lost you."

He looked back into my eyes as I'd he understood. "Oh," he said softly. "Well I'm still here. You won't have to do this alone. I promise."

My eyes fell to the floor and I felt my face get a little red. "Good." I responded, even though Amanda's promise rang through my head.

I let Jace go and sat back down on the couch, glancing at the window wall behind me. The sun was halfway into the sky, with traces of yellow color still behind it.

Jace walked over to my couch and sat down on the other end of it. "You uh . . ." he swallowed, "You missed some information last night that I think you should know."

"I know," I said, glad that he changed the subject. "What did I miss?"

"That short guy in black, Blake, he's that guy who knocked me out before you woke me up in the fire."

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I figured that out already."

Jace nodded, and continued. "So, about the Holograms . . . they listed the people in the town who were real." he inhaled a deep breath and looked up, trying to remember. "You, me, Carter, Amanda, Becka . . ." he paused, "uh . . . Addison, Sean, Cam . . . and that's it."

"What were Addison, Sean and Cam being tested on?" I asked, surprised to hear the familiar names of my classmates.

"Addison was in there to be tested on physical pressure. Sean was testing a new disease that they found around the same time they started the experiment. And Cam is another Nine Life."

Sean was testing a new disease. That explained the scars. I felt my heart sink, and nodded for him to keep going.

"Every once and a while they sent someone into the city to see how we were doing, and our entire life has been monitored. For example, whenever you had a substitute teacher, they would be a scientists observing how you learned." Jace's eyes looked tired.

I heaved a sigh and looked down at the cushion. "What's happening?" I didn't look at him. I just stared at pale gray color of the couch.

Jace scooted closer and wrapped his arms around me. "I wish I had an answer," he laced my fingers in his.

I leaned against him and let my head rest on his shoulder. His heart beat was loud and slow as he inhaled each breath. I closed my eyes and let a few tears roll down my face. He's all I have left.

"Did I miss anything else?" I asked softly.

He didn't answer right away. But I didn't ask again. I simply waited.

"No, I think you know everything now. Or at least, you know as much as I do. If you have any questions they said you could ask them and they'd answer."

"Where's Becka?"

"Well don't ask me the questions," he gave me a goofy smile. "I told you everything I know."

I grinned, "Oops."

The door suddenly opened and Marty stood in the doorway. He still wore his sunglasses and black suit. "Uh . . ." he started as if he forgot what to say. He cleared his throat, "Phoebe, Jace, your presents have been requested in Lab 6."