The Awakening

Chapter Fourteen

"What?" I stutter, unsure of how to feel.
    "That's why I have been so worried because it is my fault," Frost continues.
    "What do you mean she's dying?" Andrew steps next to me, his hand touching my back, steadying my swaying corps.
    "Yesterday, when I touched her stone, we had a memory come back," Frost says. I feel my knees give out as I begin to faint, but Andrew catches me and brings me to the couch.
    "What exactly did you remember?" Emma questions while handing me a glass of water. I am laying on Andrew's chest, his arm around me protectively, and my feet curled up next to me. A blanket gets thrown over me by Jane, and I nod, trying to give some form of tanks seen as I can't talk. I move my hand to Andrews' face, waving it back, and forth as I try to fix what Frost has broken.
"It was dark. Ella and I had been fighting, and I was winning. She was tired, and I had her beat. It wasn't meant to get this rough, we had just started arguing about something, and it got so violent..."

Frost's Memory

    "Stop it! You know I didn't mean it like that," Ella cries to me, but I am too angry to hear the plea in her voice as I sent a dark beam towards her while she deflects it back with a bright light that burns my eyes.
    "Shut up! Shut up!" I hiss back at her, still throwing chards of black elements.
    "Please," she cries, the tears in her eyes beginning to fall. I want to stop, but I can't. I can't help myself. AS much as I try to fight it I can't. SHe is so sweet, and innocent, why am I doing this to her?
    "Ella, I can't" I scream back at her, knowing she is almost finished. I keep trying to pull away, but there is such a strong force inside of me, I can't control. Her tear filled eyes nod as her last protection flickers out, and one of my chards pierces her heart. I hear her whisper my name that allows me to break free from this force that has told me to do this to her. It started out as a simple argument, and now look at what I have done. The darkness has taken over again, and I run over to her. I scoop her head onto my lap. "Ella please," I plead. "Stay, please stay," I beg her over, and over again.
    "I'm sorry," she whispers back to me ask she starts to slip further away.
    "No lease, this was not you. Stay with me, please don't go." I try again, but she is not going to answer me. I can feel her heart start to go out, so I do the only thing I can do. I reach down into her chest and pull out the brightly coloured stone that rests there. She screams and tries to move, but she can't. I place my hand over her chest, trying to heal her as fast as I am, but when I move my hand I notice something horrifying. A new stone has taken the last one's place. It is dark red and full of evil power. Her once brown eyes burst to a bright blue as her lifeless body becomes less lifeless. The stone I have just taken from her falls from my hand, and the colours break apart, falling into the abyss below me. Then my heart stops, and I can feel my own stone start to break apart, but I don't care. What have I done to her? The goodness of her heart will not win against the darkness I have put inside of her. No matter what she is as good as dead. Her heart will either kill the stone, or the stone will either turn her heart over to the darkness, and she might as well be dead to the world. I can feel my soul start to go cold as my stone to breaks apart.
"Why didn't you just let me die?" She asks, and I turn to see her standing behind me.
"The world needs your light," I cry to her as she blinks, and the blue in her eyes dims, leaving her with only a patch of brown leftover, only a patch of goodness left over.
"But did they need my darkness?" She asks as she too falls into the black hole blow me, and I see her fall away, the heaviness of what I have done still hanging in the air.

Back to Ella

As I listen to Frost tell his story I am reminded of my own memory, but how could these have possibly been connected?     When they ask me about my memory I try to recite it as well as I can, but I feel like I am missing something. This memory has really done nothing but made me even more confused than I already was.
"Okay, but how does any of this have to do with Ella's health," Kate asks, as seemingly confused.
"Well, that's just the thing," Frost starts. "I'm not really sure, but when her stone broke it was like a piece of her broke too," he finishes.
"Just because something breaks doesn't mean she is going to die," Emma tries to laugh, but it doesn't come out right.
"It does if what's broken fills with darkness," he says. "I think that Ella was a light power before all this and that when her stone broke it left he heart vulnerable,"
"What does my heart have anything to do with my stone breaking?" I question him, feeling myself become more and more confused. 
"Well if you were light, and you were infected by darkness, your heart, and stone would be fighting each other," Frost answers.
"So that would mean that when Ella is happy, her heart would be winning. That's why her stone hurts her," Jane understood.
"Some making Ella feel happy, is what hurt her?" Andrew asks, taking his arm off of me.
"But this never happened before," I warned, trying to make sure we don't get too ahead of ourselves.
"You also didn't have your stone before you came here," Kate advises me.
"Okay, but this still doesn't make any sense, there are too many unanswered questions," Emma protests.
"Yeah exactly, like how are we connected like that, and why don't we remember anything. For all we know this could just be my stone playing tricks on my mind to make succumb to the darkness faster," I am almost yelling again, so I bite my tongue, and try to be quiet.
"How are we supposed to believe you anyways. You were the one who took us from our homes, after all," Jane announced, pulling at the sleeves of her PJ's.
"You don't have to believe me, but I hope you do Ella because this is your life," Frost cautions me. This al all way too much for me to handle right now. Everything is going so fast, and I am starting to lose sight of who I really am. If all this stuff did happen, how come I had a different memory than Frost? Should I not be focusing on getting out of here first, before I think about all this crazy stuff. "Ella, do yo-" I cut him off.
"I don't want to talk about this right now, in fact, I think I am going to go take a shower and get ready," I announce, walking to my room to find a towel and some new clothes.
"It's only four am," Kate tells me, but I ignore her, not really caring. The other girls go back to bed, and so does Frost, but Andrew stays put on the couch.
"You not going to bed?" I ask him, before walking into the bathroom. 
"I don't think I could sleep if I wanted to," he answers.
"Well if you are not going to sleep, you want to make me a snack? I'm starving," I say before shutting the door behind me. I take a deep breath and turn on the hot water. All of my thoughts seem to diminish as the warm water splashes over my body. I spend more time than I normally do in there because it takes my mind off things. There is nothing I have to worry about, just the water, and the sound of it hitting the bottom of the tiled floor. When I get our Andrew is still there, and just like I asked him, he has put out a snack. My heart flutters when he has also put out a cup of coffee. I wait for something to hurt, but nothing does. This leads me to believe that Frost's accusations were false.
"Thanks," I say, picking up the steaming mug.
"Two milk, two sugar right?" He confirms, winking at me. I smile, taking a sip. It's perfect, just the way I like it. I guess there is really no wrong way to make it, but it still is lovely, like there is something more to it.
"I added a splash of vanilla into the milk," he tells me, seeing my face.
"It's delicious," I tell him, taking another sip of the hot liquid. He takes the muffins he has warmed up out of the microwave, along with the strawberries he has cut up and brings them over to the table. I sit down and start picking at the fruit bowl.
"Do you think all this stuff about your memories were true?" Andrew asks me, seeming concerned. I have to think about this question for a second before giving him a truthful answer.
"No, at least I don't think so. I am happy right now, and I'm not hurting," I smile.
"Why are you smiling like that?" He asks me, giving a small laugh.
"Nothing, it's just..." I think for the right words. "It has been so long since I have said that out loud." This is true, a couple times I have thought it, but I have never admitted it before. It's the small things like this that make me happy now because I have learned to live without the big things that I will probably never have again.
"And do I make you happy?" He asks, moving to a chair next to me. I look away because the truth is, I don't know. Maybe I do like him, but even if I do, I can't be with him, can I? Can I really add another thing for these people to hang over my head?
"We can't," I finally admit.
"We can't what?"
"We can't like each other. It will just add another thing that they can hold over our heads," my tears are starting to come back, but I push them down, knowing that I can't cry over this. I have to make them think I don't care. Taking a minute to look at me, Andrew shrugs.
"Alright," he frowns and crosses his arms. Is that it? Is that it? Does he really care that little? I would think that he would be a little more resistant. "Oh, did you see that they changed the bathroom wall colour?" He asks, uncrossing his arms, and standing up.
"No," I reply.
"Well come on, I'll show you," he grins. I don't understand why he needs to show me, but when we walk into the bathroom he closes the door behind us.
"What are you doing?" I question, backing up until I hit the sink.
"I want you to tell me the truth," he says, sitting against the door. "This is the only place with no cameras. I guess they forgot our suits let us see through walls," he chuckles.
"I can't like you, not here. Not while we are stuck here," I remind him.
"But do you want to?" He pushes, not taking his eyes off me. I look at the floor and start fiddling with my fingers.
"That- That is a complicated question," I stutter, my breath pulling up short. The room suddenly feels hot, and I am trying not to sweat.
"Ella, your shaking," Andrew smirks at me.
"No I'm not," I said defensively, but my hand is starting to shake.
"Yes, you are," Andrew reassured, standing up, and moving closer to me. Now I can feel my heart begin to quicken. Soon he has reached me, while I am still staring at the floor, I can feel the heat of his warm air breezing against my forehead.
"We can't," I warn him again, letting my fingers find his chin, ready to push him away.
"Nobody has to know," he pushes my fingers away and lifts my shins so I am face to face with him. This seems to be happening a lot lately. Is it true that nobody will find out? Emma will be told for sure but is that really what I want. She obviously knows that I like him seen as I don't let any boys touch me, and Andrew is constantly around me. I'm not a flirt either, so everything I do is so awkward, is he sure I am what he wants? Then again, I guess there is only one way to find out. "Please Ella, please give me a chance," he almost begs. This is new for me, I have never had someone want me like this. Want me so badly, that they will not accept a no. I know exactly what Emma would say at the moment; hey, worse comes to worst, and we kill 'em. Hide the body, and run. I can almost feel her words echoing through my mind when I make my decision, and this time it is me who stands on my tippy toes, and kisses him softly on the lips.