The Last Ones Left

Chapter One

Caleb is the one to explain the story. "In the year 1739, you were born with a terrible sickness. Our mother, the queen of a kingdom, died during your birth. Our father was enraged. He loathed you for killing his wife, yet he loved you. You were his smallest child.

"While Sarah and I prepared ourselves to rule to kingdom, you were slowly dying. Father had the best doctors work on you, but your situation was hopeless. You were going to die.

"When you still had some strength- you were about eighteen at the time- you took a long walk through the forest. On your walk, your heart stopped beating, and, for a couple of seconds, you were dead. We don't know what happened next, but that night when you came home, your eyes were a stunning purple- the same color as the jewel you had in your pocket. The doctors examined you, and they couldn't find a trace of the illness. They also couldn't hear your heartbeat.

"The doctors were baffled. They knew your heart had to be beating, but it wasn't. They didn't know what to think.

"You took us aside a few days later and you told us that you had been granted immortality. We laughed at the thought. It was bogus.

"You got mad at us for laughing at you, and... Decided to prove it to us. We went out to the lake, and you jumped in the water.

"You were down there for ten minutes. Neither of us could swim, so we just let you drown, terrified. Sarah was running to get help, and then you just came up out of the water as if nothing had happened.

"We were young and stupid, and we got jealous. The runt of the family was going to live forever, and us big, important people who were going to rule kingdoms would be dead within fourty years. So, what did we do?" Caleb sighs, closes his eyes, and leans back in his chair. I resist the urge to nudge him. I need to know how the story ends.

"We forced you to tell us what happened. We were so mad at you for having something we didn't. You refused to tell us exactly what had happened. You just told us to go home, and in the morning we'd have what we wanted."

Sarah frowns a little bit, and butts in. "It was my idea to follow you that night. You just went to bed, like normal, but in the middle of the night, you started screaming and told us to get out of your room."

"We were terrified," Caleb says. "We sprinted back to the room and fell asleep immediatly. When we woke up, we were still normal."

"We were angry," Sarah butts in abruptly, almost like she was trying to stop Caleb from saying something. "You told us since we were jealous, we wouldn't get our wish."

"A year later, Father died in an accident, and Caleb was chosen to rule the kingdom," Sarah says, fiddling with the ring on her finger. "I was betrothed to a prince. We followed tradition, just like we were supposed to. But, you were... Different. You took your gift and you lived. You were supposed to be betrothed to a prince, but you ran away before the wedding. Two years later, I was on a courier mission in our kingdom and stopped to see Caleb. You were in the middle of town, walking around as if you belonged.

"Eight years later we met Gaia Screen, another immortal, with snow white eyes. She told us who she was, and we told her our story. She visited Caleb often. We all led our natural-born lives, and, when the time was right..."

"Faked our deaths," Caleb ends abruptly, standing up. "We learned that immortality was stupid, and as we aged we realized that wasn't what we wanted. We woke up one morning, and we were like you." He laughs bitterly .I didn't want this."

"Caleb--" Sarah says, but he's out of the room before she can finish. She sighs, and looks back at me.

"I-- I still don't understand. What happened to us? When did I go into a coma, and... why?"

Sarah says nothing for a few minutes, and we both sit there awkwardly, not quite knowing what to do.

"Christina."

"What?"

"Call me Christina."

"Why?" She asks, once again fiddling with her ring.

"Don't you think someone should have a say in who they are?"

"That's true." She gives me a thin smile. "You know, Sarah isn't my first name.

"It isn't? Then what is?"

"Zelda. I always hated it. Sounded like an elf name. When we... faked our deaths, I changed it. Just like you did just now."

"I didn't know that."

"You don't know a lot of things." She smiles.

~~~~

That night I couldn't sleep. Memories teased me, just out of reach. Just as soon as I began to remember something, it was gone. I saw Sarah, standing in front of a playground, about five years old. Then, in a different distand memory, there's Caleb, about 11 years old, saying something... Important. I couldn't focus on anything. I just tried to piece together the few puzzle pieces I had.

The memories- if you can call them that- weren't the only thing keeping me awake. I couldn't get their story out of my mind.

Finally, the visions fade away, and my exhaustion takes over.

___________________________________________________________________________

That night, I have a lucid dream. I am in control of my actions, but I have no idea I'm sleeping. In the dream, I see Caleb, standing in front of me, a bullet in his rib. I scream, and Caleb tells me to be quiet.

"I have a surprise for you," he whispers.

He leads me to a mountain, and begins to climb it.

"Caleb, you can't make it all the way up the mountain," I say. He has a bullet in his side, for God's sake! He's going to die!

Tears stream down my face, and Caleb stands strong, and grabs my head with both arms. For a dying man, he has a surprisingly strong grip.

His eyes shone brightly, and we begin to float, five feet, ten feet, twenty feet off the ground. He drops me, and then continues climbing.

Still crying, I try to follow him, but, like any person laying on a bed for thousands of years, I am weak. I can't make it up the mountain. This makes me cry even harder. I failed him.

Caleb looks at me in disgust. 'Weakling," he spits at me. Suddenly, he looks thousands of years older. He looks his true age.

I fall to my knees, and the snow on the ground stings my legs. "Get up!" Caleb roars, and now I don't even have the strength to fear him. Silent tears trickle down my face, and I know I'm dying. My body is thin as a stick, and you could easily count all my bones. I feel eighteen again, withering away from an unknown illness.

Caleb slaps me in the face, and blood trickles down my cheek. I don't have the energy to sob. Even if I did, there would be no tears left. This was death.

"Get up!" Caleb screams again. I fall on my stomach, barely able to hold up my head. My eyes droop, and I begin to fall into a deep peaceful sleep-

His hand slams back into my face. "You can't help anyone like this! Get up, and help me!"

"I can't, Caleb," I whisper. "I can't help you."

"I will never forgive you for this," he whispers, and I nod.

"I know."

My eyes close, and everything flies apart, and the dreams end but my sleep does not.