Instinct [OLD VERSION WHICH ISNT CONTINUEING SORRY!!! :( ]

Chapter Eight (Eric)

Chapter Eight: (Eric)

            I sit back against the grimy wall of the cell, rubbing my stinging cheek from where the soldier struck in with his hand. The pain is dull and unimportant compared to my worry for Amy, faint screams I hope our only imaginary echo down the hallway.

            “Hello?” I voice suddenly whispers, making me jump to my feet. I look around for the person speaking, but no one else in in my cell. “Is anyone there?” it says, a little louder this time. I realize it’s coming from the cell next to me.

            “Who’s there?” I whisper back.

            “That’s not important… Now you need to listen to me very carefully. Your friend will be different if she comes back, very different, you need to remind her of what makes her human, otherwise she’ll become...become like them.” It sounds like a boy speaking, a very young, and very scared boy.

            “What do you mean if she comes back?”

            “Not everyone survives the process…they’re the lucky ones—“ He’s cut off by footsteps thudding down the hallway. I listen for Amy’s voice, her breathing, anything that might tell me that she’s alive. When the guards step up to the door I breathe a sigh of relief as I see Amy, her head bowed.  Wordlessly, the guards open the metal grate and push her in. I immediately reach for her, but she draws back, her pupils dilated in fear.

            “What’s wrong?” I say quietly. Every time I move towards her, she shrinks back farther and farther into the corner of the cell, her eyes unrecognizing. “Amy it’s okay…it’s me.” I reach forward to touch her shoulder, but as soon as I do she reaches forward and grabs my arm. My eyes widen as the stench of burning fabric fills the air. Then my arm suddenly feels like it’s on fire. I jerk it away, my arm red under the torn fabric where she grabbed it. Breathing hard from surprise, I slowly back away, my hands in the air. I sit down cautiously against the opposite wall of the cell so that I don’t scare her. Her eyes follow me, her entire body tense. Suddenly she relaxes, and her eyes focus. She collapses to the ground, holding her head and groaning. She curls up in a fetal position, breathing raggedly. I crawl towards her trembling form and cautiously reach forward to touch her. I expect the burning again, but am not met with it, instead she abruptly sits up and throws her arms around my shoulders, sobbing hysterically. Slightly shocked, I wrap my arms around her as she cries into my shoulder. After a few minutes she calms down and I ease her into a sitting position, my arm around her shoulders.

            “It hurt…It hurt so much…” She says after a few minutes of silence, her head resting against me. She catches a glimpse of my hurt arm and gently grabs it, examining the burn. “What did I do to you?” she asks, not looking at me.

            “Amy listen to me. This wasn’t you. This was them, whatever they did to you made you do this.”

            “No…it wasn’t” She says quietly, her head bowed.

            “What do you mean?”

            “It’s something not many people know about the Honeybee clan…We have a secret…ability…it’s a defense mechanism.”

            “Defense mechanism…” I say quietly “But how would a honeybee—“

            “Yes! Think about it! How would a honeybee defend itself?” With a sudden realization, I know what she’s talking about.

            “So you can…sting people…” I ask. “Why didn’t you use it on the guards?”

            “I tried! It didn’t work! It’s like they were immune to it or something!” My mind racing, I think about her “ability” my own secret just waiting to burst out of me. I swallow the lump in my throat.

“Do you ever wonder why so many people from my clan wear glasses?” Amy looks up, confused.           

            “I—I thought it was just a genetic thing… I thought that a lot of the lobsters just had bad eyesight.” I chuckle at the irony.

            “It’s actually the opposite. We wear glasses to make our vision worse, so we see what the rest of the world sees. But if we take them off…” I slip my glasses off and immediately the world becomes a kaleidoscope of colour. “We can see everything—All the light spectrums…we can see the world as it was truly meant to be seen.” I put my glasses back on and the cell fades back to normal. Amy looks at me with wonder.

            “That’s amazing…” she says.  “Why would you give that up?”

“…I guess…I guess I just want to be normal…” We sit in silence for a few moments. Her breathing slows and deepens as she falls asleep against my shoulder. I stay awake, staying alert just in case those guards come in the night. I won’t let her get taken again…no matter what it takes.