The People with Useless Power

Chapter Nineteen

Emily screeched as Emma dragged her out and tossed her across the room, glaring at her coldly. She blinked a few times before standing up and stretching, her legs aching from hiding.

"Emma," Jake said gently, sliding out of his tattered, half-burned ropes.

She didn't respond. But Emily couldn't respond. Just one glance at Emma's new eyes silenced her in terror. She didn't understand how Mara's death could've affected her so harshly- they hated each other.

Maybe it was one of those love-hate relationships? Maybe Emma loved Mara as a sister. Nothing else was possible. At least, it didn't seem like it.

Emily blinked a few times, returning to reality and realizing Emma had been... observing her.

Emma finally smiled and walked out of the room, slamming the doors behind her. The deadly sound echoed across the room and chills ran down Emily's spine.

Emily looked at Jake for comfort, but...

His eyes were glazed over, and his lips were slightly- and unnaturally- parted. He stood and walked over to Emily, who pressed her back against the wall, and grabbed her neck.

Emily heard a click and everything went black.

...

She woke up in a parking lot. Something tugged Emily's neck sharply when she finally had the courage to open her eyes, and she looked up.

"Jake, please," Emily whispered. His eyes weren't glazed over anymore, and he looked normal and calm. "Let me go, please."

Emily's throat was dry and scratchy, and it felt like she'd been screaming for hours.

"As long as you promise never to come back," he hissed, anger sinking into his dark irises.

"Wha- why?" It wasn't like she didn't want to leave, but she hadn't done anything to Jake.

He simply glared at Emily in disgust. Her eyes fell on the leather leash he was holding and they followed the rope down to her neck.

"Promise," Jake snapped, tugging at her neck again with more power.

"I promise," she gasped. He crouched down and took off the collar, backing up quickly and turning, beginning to run. Emily watched him go before standing up, stretching and glancing around. The morning sunlight blinded her, and she looked down at the grey, cracked pavement, blinking and trying to get used to the outside.

Emily finally managed to see and she looked around, pursing her lips. There was one building on the far side of the huge parking lot, that was one-storied and very abandoned, but the rest of the lot was surrounded by forest.

She stretched her fingers and realized she was free, finally...

And Emily turned and ran into the forest.

It felt like she had been running for hours twenty minutes in, even with her adrenaline- getting knocked out for so long really messed with her form. Emily stopped and put her hands on her knees, sucking in breaths of painfully fresh air, and a cool breeze wafted over her, calming her. She looked around, pressing her lips into a line as anxiety set in.

Emily didn't know where she was going.

Wherever she ran, everything looked the same: trees filled with brown, dying leaves and splotches of sunlight on the leafy surface of the ground. Emily bent down on a whim and dipped her fingers into the dirt, surprised to feel mud instead of solid ground, and looked up at the perfectly clear sky, except for a few chemtrails. She stood up again and realized the mud was a trail.