Beyond The Sea Blue Light

Life Is A Song With No One To Dance To

My footsteps pound against the sidewalk as I run, the wind rushing through my hair. The sun shines down around me—it's a warm day, but not humid.

"Wait up!" I yell at the boy in front of me as he sprints down the sidewalk.

"Not my fault you're slow!" he taunts, picking up the pace even more, forcing me to chase after him. I can't help but smile though. It's the perfect day out, and I get to spend time with him.

By the time I reach my house, he's already sitting on the porch.

"Took you long enough," he teases, springing to his feet.

"Shut up," I gasp, doubling over. The two of us grin at each other before we walk into the house, up the stairs, to my room.

"I can't believe we got more homework," Josh laughs as he throws his bag down on my floor.

"I know right," I lean back in my chair, grinning as I watch him. "Thought the end of the school year would mean no homework.

"So, we can either be good children and be productive," Josh says. "Or, we can sneak out."

"Sneak out," I say immediately. "Duh."

"Knew you'd want to do that," Josh teases as I unlock my window, pulling on my coat. "We just got back from school and now you want to sneak out? We're gonna get caught, you know."

"By who?" I ask, already half out the window. "By my parents?"

Josh rolls his eyes, but he follows me out onto the roof. We slide down the familiar slope, jumping to the ground.

"C'mon." I grab his hand as we sprint around the side of the house, laughing and out of breath as we near the center of town.

As I turn the corner, I crash straight into Josh. "What's—" my voice trails off as I see what's in front of us. There are two black vans, parked in the center of the street, windows tinted.

"Do you think they're after us?" I whisper. The memory of the day I lost control flashes though my mind. If they know—no they can't. Otherwise, we are as good as dead.

Josh looks at me, the blood drained from his face. "We have to get out of here," he mutters. Before I can protest, he grabs my arm, sprinting down the sidewalk.

As soon as we get to the house, we lock the door, shutting the windows.

"Oli?" My father comes around the corner. "Josh? What's going on?"

"They're here," Josh says as an explanation. "We need to hide."

My mother nods. "Go upstairs," she says. "They don't know it is you, right?"

I nod, unable to talk as Josh tugs me up the stairs, locking the door to my bedroom. I try to comfort myself, telling myself that they don't really know that it's us. They have no way of proving it was me that exploded the water pipes in school last week. They don't know it was Josh that whispered to them, making the onlookers forget that it was me. We're safe, right? But I wonder how much my neighbors know. They've seen the water reacting strangely around me and seen the ice forming on the driveway even in the heat of summer.

And we ran. When we saw the vans, we ran, and that might be enough for them to get suspicious. Josh grabs my arm, bringing his face close to mine.

"Breathe," he tells me. I look down, realizing that there's ice forming on the floor around me. "It's okay, it's going to be—"

The sound of tires crunching on the gravel makes both of us freeze. "Shit," Josh mutters. We peer out the window seeing armed men walking toward the front door.

"Should we sneak out?" I ask. Josh nods wordlessly as I crack open the window, just as the sound of yells echo from downstairs, followed by gunshots.

Fear crashes through me and I'm moving toward the door before I know it. Josh grabs me, holding me back, even as I struggle.

"I have to get to them!" I cry as the footsteps pound up the stairs. "I need to—I—"

Josh shakes his head. "You need to run," he says. "Get out the window and run."

"No," I protest, "You're not—"

"Go," he whispers, a strange tone coming into his voice. I curse silently, fighting against it, but I find myself powerless as his abilities wash over my mind. The word worms it's way into my mind, forcing me forward. As if in a dream, I move toward the window, opening it and climbing out just as someone pounds on the door.

The scene changes around me and I'm no longer sliding down the roof, running away from the men. Instead, I'm standing in a room, scarlet blood lapping against the walls, dark and glistening. I let out a choked scream, but no sound escapes my lips as I'm dragged down below the surface, the scarlet washing over my eyelids until there's nothing but darkness.

Light floods around me instantly as I blink, trying to throw up an arm to shield my eyes, but I can't. My hands are tied behind my back. Even from my place in the back of the car, I can see the smoking hood of the car—no, half a hood. It's as if someone took a giant knife and sliced through the front of the car as if it were hot butter. I tug against my restraints, but I can't break free. I can hear desperate yells and gunshots and I freeze, the memories flooding through my mind again. Josh—what did he do? He's gone, I know that, the emptiness weighing in my stomach.

The back door is popped open, making me tense in surprise as gunshots fly through the room. None of them hit me though, but the two guards in the car slump to the ground, pink blood and hair spraying across the room. Before I can scream, a man with flaming red hair jumps in, his eyes scanning the room.

His eyes find me and he drops his gun, kneeling down in front of me. He quickly gets to work, undoing my restraints. I rub my wrists gratefully, looking up at him, apprehensively. Is he—the man smiles at me.

You can trust me, he says in my mind. I'm one of you.

I nod, still unsure what to do.

"I'm Gerard," he says out loud, holding out his hand. "You're safe now, Oli. You're with us." I look behind him to see another man standing there, his hair dark black. He's leaning against the door, grinning, a small forcefield extending behind him. I take Gerard's hand and the three of us run toward the woods.

---

I'm jolted awake, out of Oli's memories in an instant. Both Jack and Oli are looking down at me, from where I'm lying on the floor, worried expressions on their faces.

"You okay?" Jack asks.

"Fine." My voice is hoarse. I still can't wipe the memory of Josh and Oli from my mind. Oli told me about it, but experiencing it first-hand hits more. It must hurt to see me find Vic alive but know that Josh is gone.

The two of them help me to my feet, guiding me toward my room, where Jack leaves to go check in on Alex.

"How are you?" I ask Oli.

"Better, thanks to you," he says as he sits down gingerly on the bed, wincing slightly.

"That's good," I say.

"We never talked about the other day," Oli says.

I nod, looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry, by the way," Oli says suddenly. I glance up at Oli in surprise. "I shouldn't have kissed you. I know it's been hard for you and all. Sorry for adding to the confusion."

"It's fine," I say. "Are you okay about...." my voice trails off.

Thankfully, Oli seems to get what I'm talking about. He nods slowly. "I'm just happy to see that you're okay."

---

Random question, but what's your favorite song/artist/band?