The End

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

The world is frozen. Everyone and everything around me slows down until they immobilize completely and fade into one big blur. And then there is me. My breaths so raspy and shallow that my head spins. My entire body trembles and my stomach feels like it's going to drop to my feet. In a little corner of my consciousness, I detect my mother screaming at me to run to the plane and get to safety. But my feet stay glued to the ground. I can't.

My knees start to clash against one another and I feel my knees start to give away...

"Jaden!" Black spots cloud my vision, but clear up just enough so that I can see my mom's terrified face inches from mine, tears streaming down her face. "Jaden, we have to go now, or else they might get you! I'm sorry, but c'mon."

But I am lost. Suddenly, there are no aliens. There is no fires and destruction and death. My mom isn't screaming at me. All there is is my fallen dad and me. I slowly slide to the ground completely. And the scream finally wedges itself out of me. A blood-curdling, hair-raising, soul-gripping shriek. And I don't stop. I can't.

My dad is dead. My dad is dead, and there is nothing I can do about it. It finally happened. He's finally dead. And I'll never see him again. My thoughts keep telling me, reminding me, haunting me. Then, on the spur of the moment, I don't care if I die right here on the ground with ghastly aliens hunting me down. I don't care if I get my throat torn open, because at least that will be nothing compared to the feeling I have now. Yes, being killed now would be like a trip to paradise.

But I'm not so fortunate. My mom finally starts to yank my body into the air. "Jaden, get up! Run!" She shrieks to me. "Please!"

"No!" I get out. I just want to die. Just kill me now. The hole in my chest is growing bigger by the second until, any moment now, it will just consume me. If it hasn't already.

"Jaden!" My feet drag across the road. My blurred eyes can make up the plane. But we are slowing down by the second. My mom is failing. "Jaden, please."

It's just a couple of feet from us by now, and for once, I look up into my mother's terrified gaze. Terrified of losing...me?

A couple of minutes ago, I lost my father. And the reality of it is killing me one wound at a time. Do I really want to lose a mother too? Do I really want to take her life just because she is trying to unsuccessfully help me? I'm not a very compassionate person, but sometimes I can summon just enough willpower to do something for the greater good. In this case, it's saving my mother's life. Along with my own.

So I stand on my own feet and scramble to the plane. My mother follows me with weakened legs. I am pushed into the plane, then collapse into Ethan's arms. Apparently he has been waiting for me. He must be worried, but my mind isn't ready to start processing things like that yet. I might have been strong enough to will up some common sense, but I am still completely taken over by loss.

Ethan leads me to the first line of chairs we find empty and sets me into the one closest to the window. He tries to wisp the hair from my face, but I push him away and stare out the window, completely lost in thoughts. My torturing, terrifying, unbelievable thoughts that continue to consume me.

My dad is dead. My dead is dead. My dad is dead.

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The ride to wherever we are going is all a blur. While the grief still succeeds in destroying me from the inside out, the people I know try to comfort me. But as always, I distance myself from them. I don't cry on the outside. At least, I stopped crying once I got settled into my seat on the plane. But on the inside, I am sobbing.