THE STATE

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CHAPTER 30

THE STATE

Abruptly weak, eyes streaming with tears, Nevaeh fell to the floor in the white room.

'Oh no.' Adaeze swiped her hand across the brightness of the surrounding room, turning it into nothing but a closet. 'Run and get Mark,' she told Tom, opening the doorway with another gesture. 'Tell him to come without his guard! Without his guard, do you hear?'

As Tom ran through the coats, Nevaeh tried to move but, with white-hot pain coursing through her veins, her body stiffened. She opened her mouth to scream, but her throat constricted, squeezing her vocal cords shut.

'There, there.' Adaeze stroked Nevaeh's head. 'Relax if you can.'

She couldn't speak, move or hardly breathe; how on earth was she supposed to relax? The people she loved, her own flesh and blood, didn't know her anymore; no wonder her body wanted to curl up and die. Every memory they had of her, everything she'd ever gone through with them, they were now oblivious to. Her birth, her first steps, her first words and the many times she'd been pushed on the swings by her dad to the many hugs she'd received and reciprocated all taken from them before her eyes. Her parents now believed they had only ever had Frank. It was unthinkable. Unfathomable.

'No!' Mark ran towards her. 'It can't be!'

'Carry her upstairs,' Adaeze said. 'We can't void her now.'

'What's happening?' Tom's shade was the only light in the room.

'Tom...' Adaeze stood and guided him out of the room. 'You need to stay away from your mom at the moment. Your light could kill her.'

She tried to catch Tom's reaction as Mark lifted her into his arms, but she couldn't turn her neck. Couldn't do anything. What was happening? Why on Earth did she think she was strong enough to do this? Why did Adaeze let her do this? Why hadn't any of them foreseen this? Where was their insight when she needed it?

Like an instant punishment for her angst, a cold, violent, sizzling sensation attacked her insides. She winced and tried to curl into a ball, but she had no energy to lift her knees. No doubt her own power was poisoning her.

Mark carried her up both sets of stairs to her room and gently laid her on the bed, a tear falling from his eye as he did. 'You can come out of this, Nev, I know you can.'

She attempted to speak, but thousands of sharp knives began to stab at every inch of her body. Her head began to spin into a whirl of multicolours. No, she wouldn't go! She prised her eyes open. Her stomach lurched. Where's Mark? She caught his eye. What's happening to

She woke to dizziness. The light in the room had dimmed. It was the night. She must have been out for hours. She began to sit up, but something shoved her back. Not something...she just couldn't move. Too much pain. Where had it come from? What time was it? She tried to turn her head to some shuffling beside her....Arrrrh...more stabbing! Why was she being attacked from all angles? Where was everybody? She moved a finger. Her head split.

She didn't know how long she'd been out, it could've been the next morning, but, as her eyes opened again, bile rose in her throat. Adaeze was rolling her to one side. Was she causing the sickening feeling? What was she doing? More stabs. Arrrrh. Get off me! Leave me alone!

She flickered in and out of consciousness for a few days at least. Sometimes it was the day, sometimes it was the night. Sometimes Adaeze or Mark was there, sometimes she was alone. Each time her pain knocked her back out.

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