EMERSON SPARKE'S RULES ON HOW TO BE NORMAL:
1. Avoid having a secret alter ego to cover up the fact that everyone you used to know thinks you're dead
2. Don't accidentally blow up half your high school - being deemed a threat to society is all fun...
❝ at the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can❞ ｆｒｉｄａｋａｈｌｏ
___
ＬＩＧＨＴＳ shine from above.
They are like spotlights, white daggers cutting through the thick smog; soft rays weaving through the darkness. They flood the earth around us, illuminating the pitiful sight we are. We welcome it. The light replaces that which the dying sun has failed to provide.
With the light comes sound. The sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air; the low buzz of planes and an armada of small jets flying in the sky, preparing to land.
Help has arrived.
Finally.
Before coming here, Cass, Liu and Xing must have successfully managed to contact the other schools.
Our rescuers introduce themselves to us. One says they're the director of Alpha Island, a few are dressed like the agents that accompany us to the school. I respond hollowly as they ask us to confirm our identities. My head is filled with the sound of dull thrumming. I feel a headache on its way.
Richard Masters is taken away in special handcuffs, with orders to first take him for treatment. A team of paramedics hurry Morgana and Logan onto one of the helicopters on gurneys. They tell us not to worry, but the pitiful way they look at Logan carries more weight than their words.
Cass and I are escorted to the bayside where the rest of the school are gathered. They've set up an infirmary somewhere. They urge us to visit it. We walk past the main site. Past the rubble strewn across the once manicured fields. Robot parts and odd pieces of machinery litter the grounds. People dressed in hazmat suits march past us, putting out fires and collecting dangerous items left around.
The lack of talk about the island blowing up puts me at ease slightly. Cole and Willow must have done it too.
We've succeeded.
Hooray.
I feel numb. My ears are ringing. My body feels sore and my eyes feel itchy from crying so much. Cass is hyperventilating beside me. I take her hand in mine, offering to be her support as we continue our trek. I try not to feel so empty as we near our destination — a hodgepodge of students, staff and the miscellany of helpers whose job titles I can't quite define are there.
The air is still thick, but it's clearing. It's easier to breathe now.
I should be happy.
We've won. It's over.
Richard Masters is defeated. The robots aren't taking over the island. We've found some of the missing students. The school isn't about to blow up. We're alive...
Most of us are alive.
This is winning.
My head is throbbing. It aches.
Why doesn't this feel like winning?
:: 💫 ::
Hmm. So. Hi.
One chapter left to go.
And just in case you think I'm doing Logan dirty, or you just want to reminisce.... I made this 👐:
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Hope you all have a happy new year! Here's to 2020 actually being a good year.
