by Jay T
Unbroken
The Loss Mission: Book 3
Jay Dee T
Copyright © 2019 Jay Dee T
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Published in the United States of America
First Publication, 2019
ISBN-13: 9781794445352
www.jaydeet.com
1 Eva
“Amy!” I’m standing on top of the water frantically trying to pull Amy free from the darkness but I’m just a ghost. My hands slip through hers. My body is back at my family’s site, or it was; I feel as if my body is moving.
“Amy, hold on, hold on!” I call. We’re at Chad’s family’s cabin in Sterling, and Amy had gone out for a swim.
Nikolas’ words keep ringing in my ears: “And what if I don’t want to go with you?” I’d asked.
“Then I’ll take Amy. She’s out for a swim right now, all alone in the middle of the lake. I think she’s getting a cramp right about,” he snapped his fingers, “now. You know, you really shouldn’t go swimming right after eating. At least that’s what the medical examiner will say when they find her body.”
I can’t let her die. I’m sobbing, feeling completely useless. I’m here, I’m with her, but I’m also not. I can only watch, no matter how hard I’m trying to do more.
“Come on, Amy, you can do it. Just keep your head above water,” I plead with her.
Amy looks at me as she’s pulled under again, her eyes flash with fear and panic as she frantically splashes and gasps for air. She’s already swallowed a lot of water.
Can you see me?
“Just hang on. Just hang on.” I don’t know if anyone is coming. The only person that even knows Amy’s here is Naomi, and she’s all the way up in the Pass. I’m completely useless.
What feels like an eternity passes with me trying to pull Amy out of the water, but of course, I can do nothing. Amy fights for her life, kicking and splashing, desperately trying to keep herself from the darkness until help finally arrives.
Brent’s truck screams up the driveway, onto the grass, and comes to a screeching stop down by the water. Evan jumps out. Evan. His shirt is off in a heartbeat without missing a stride, he kicks off his as he races into the water and swims out to us. Amy’s stopped fighting and has started to sink.
“Save her!” I scream.
He dives below the water and doesn’t make it back up for a while
“Evan, they’re on her ankles, they’re pulling her down.” I yell hoping he can hear me below the surface.
There’s a blast of light from Evan and he pushes back the darkness enough to free her. When he makes it back to the surface, she doesn’t gasp for air; she doesn’t move. Evan pulls her body to shore where he begins CPR.
Please stay alive. Please be ok.
Breathe
Breathe
Evan continues his CPR and I become more and more frantic. Something deep within me is building up, something I don’t understand. My body starts to vibrate and just when I’ve nearly lost all hope that Amy’s going to wake up, I explode for the second time tonight. The ground under me shakes and Amy begins to vomit up water and starts to cough.
Oh thank god.
I look up as Naomi limps towards us from the driveway. Her lip is bloody and her voice quivers. “Evan, they took her body.” She stumbles and Evan jumps up to catch her. She whispers in his ear but I hear her, “Get them. Get everyone. The war is coming. Now.”
I think I’m going to be sick.
Evan looks up at me with a panicked look in his face. How is he here!? He’s looking at me, can he see me?
Evan looks back to Naomi, “Are you ok?”
I lean over, Amy who is still coughing up water, and try to pat her on the back, but it’s useless.
Naomi doesn’t answer. She just sobs and Evan pulls her in close and rubs her back.
My eyes narrow at the affection he’s showing her, but I focus on Amy.
Moments pass. Evan looks over at us as Amy’s coughing slows. “Amy? Are you alright?” he asks.
What she’s just been through begins to settle on her as tears run down her face. She nods, then shakes her head.
“Let’s get you guys inside.”
Evan reaches to help Amy. She takes his hand, but she’s still too weak from the struggle. Her legs give out underneath her. He leans down and picks her up to carry her. He doesn’t strain at all. He holds his elbow out for Naomi who takes it and Evan leads them inside.
I flop down on the bank, completely invisible to everyone; I have no idea what to do. I can feel a panic rising in my stomach but it only lasts a moment because Evan comes out the back door and heads straight for me.
“We need to get you back. Can you follow me?” He’s looking in my direction, but not directly at me. Can he see me?
I follow him to Brent’s truck and get in without opening the door. Evan opens the door, climbs in, and shuts it behind him. He looks over at me and his eyes light up, “Can you tell me where you are?”
“No. I feel like I’ve stopped moving,” I say.
“Do you think you’re close?”
“Yes, I’m closer than before.”
“If I had to guess, you’re probably at home. Hang on.” I watch as Evan’s soul leaves his body like a ghost and in the blink of an eye, he’s gone. It takes him a few minutes, but eventually I see him return. Back in his body, he looks at me and says, “You’re there. We have to hurry. Kami’s almost home.”
“What!?”
“I gotta move us, just hang on.” Evan puts the truck in reverse and takes off down the road. He’s driving fast. The only noise is coming from the rocks bouncing off the bottom of the truck. We reach his destination quickly and he throws the truck into park. I watch him detach again from his body and hold his hand out to me; I take it. I feel a rush of air against my cheeks and before I know it, I’m standing over my body laid across the doorstep of my home. Every other time I’ve been out of my body with Naomi, I’ve always snapped back in when she released me. This time, I don’t feel the rubber band. I’m still outside myself. I walk up and touch my body. It’s chilly. I put both of my hands on my body but nothing happens.
“Why can’t I get back?” I ask. “Evan, what’s going on?” I can feel the pit of dread forming in my stomach.
Evan looks sad. “I thought if you were here it would work. I’m sorry.” He touches my arm.
“Aunt Kami is going to be home any minute!” I plead. “She’ll see me. I can’t do this to her.”
“The only way to get back in is to stop the darkness,” Evan says. “They have your body now. There’s nothing else we can do here.”
I look closer at myself and realize it’s a shade darker. I think of Nikolas saying that Jacob was his meatsuit. My ears start ringing so loudly, I can’t hear anything but my own shallow breathing.
Headlights turn down the driveway to our house in Kenai. The darkness has taken my body and laid it out for Aunt Kami to find. She jumps out of her car the second it’s in park and runs over to my unresponsive body. Her hand trembles as she reaches out and touches my neck. There’s a pulse. She shakes me. “Eva! What’s going on? Wake up!”
I can only stare, completely frozen. Is this how I die?
Moments pass. “Wake up!” she screams.
What are they going to make my body do? Will they put someone else in there?
I watch as she dials 9-1-1 and sits and cries above me. An ambulance arrives shortly after to take me away.
<
br /> “I’m going to let the others know. I’ll be back for you in a bit.” I vaguely hear Evan say. My ears are still ringing so loudly I can hardly hear him.
Something’s not right.
I nod to Evan, blink, and he’s gone.
Aunt Kami joins my body in the back of the ambulance, possibly for my last ride. The paramedics load me in and hook me up to machines to try to find out what’s wrong. My heart is pumping normally, my eyes are responsive to light. There’s no indication why I’m in the state I’m in. I look totally normal to them, just asleep. I touch my body again. Nothing. I sit on top of myself. Nothing. I lay down, nothing.
They bring me to the local hospital where they start the process all over, trying to find out what’s wrong with me. They do test after test. Aunt Kami sits in the waiting room, not crying, not pacing, just sitting, staring at nothing. She’s been here too many times. She’s becoming numb. A young doctor with a clean-shaven face and dark, curly hair finally comes to find her in the waiting room. “I’m sorry Ma’am. I wish I had answers for you. We’re simply stumped. She might wake up any minute, or she might not. Every test we’ve run says she’s perfectly healthy, maybe a little underweight but none-the-less, healthy. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Ok, thank you doctor.” Aunt Kami says, her voice eerily hollow.
“Is there anyone I can call for you?” he asks.
“No,” she says quietly and calmly, “there’s nobody left.”
“Ok,” he pauses, seemingly unsure how to respond. “Go on home. There’s nothing more we can do tonight. Get some sleep and we’ll call you the second anything changes.”
I watch her struggle with leaving me in the hospital. She walks into my room, holds my hand, kisses my cheek, and says, “Good-bye, Eva.”
I watch as she drives slowly home; no music, no tears, no heat, just the sound of the road.
She pushes the garage door opener, pulls her car inside, and closes the garage behind her. She just sits there, starring at nothing, devoid of all emotion.
“Turn the car off, Aunt Kami,” I whisper.
She doesn’t. Instead, she pulls some photos out from behind the sun visor and looks at them. The first one is from the last Thanksgiving when we were all still together. We were smiling from ear to ear, piled on the couch watching the Cowboys and Chiefs fight it out in football. Aunt Kami and Uncle Mitch look at each other and it’s clear they’re infatuated. Bryant pushes Micha away because he was sitting too close to him. My mom kisses my cheek as I smile for the camera while my dad goggles at my mom. Aunt Kami wipes her thumb over Uncle Mitch’s face and moves the picture to the bottom of the small stack.
The second picture is of Uncle Mitch and Aunt Kami after they moved in together. They’re smiling so big she can’t help but smile at her old self. In the picture, you can tell they’d both lost some weight, but they were smiling anyway because they’d finally found each other.
Her hands tremble as she puts the picture behind the next. A sonogram. I have just enough time to see the name at the bottom, Patient: Kami Davis, before she snaps. She screams and crumples the photos in her fist and she bangs her hand on the steering wheel.
I gently touch her cheek and ask her again, “Aunt Kami, please turn the car off.”
Her sobs get louder and the louder she cries, the more panicked I become.
“Turn the car off, Kami!”
“Kami! Turn it off! Now!”
“Please turn it off!”
The car had been cold, but it becomes warmer.
Uncle Mitch joins Kami in the front passenger seat and he gently touches her hand, clutching their lost lives. My mom appears in the seat behind Aunt Kami and puts both of her hands on her shoulders. My dad sits beside my mom in the middle back seat and puts his hands-on Aunt Kami’s neck.
Kami settles down a little bit, and then a little more.
Suddenly, a little girl with short blonde pig tails that stick straight up, appears on Aunt Kami’s lap and she pretends to drive the car. She can’t be more than eighteen months old.
Uncle Mitch whispers, “I love you. We’re still here with you. It’s going to be ok.”
The baby turns and touches Aunt Kami’s cheek. Finally, Kami finally reaches up and turns the car off.
2 Evan
“Eva, we need to go,” I whisper. Eva’s watching from outside the driver side of the car. She turns to glare at me before turning back to her Aunt Kami.
“Mom,” Eva whispers. This is the first time she’s seen her family since they passed away. She must be in shock.
“Eva, listen to Evan, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” Eva’s mom says to her without looking away from Kami. “She’s going to be alright.” She adds.
Eva turns and narrows her eyes at me for the millionth time tonight. I don’t think I can put my finger on what has her the most upset with me; I’m beginning to feel like she just hates my guts. I sigh. My body is still in the truck in Sterling. I decide to give Eva a few more moments with her broken and lost family while I check back in with Naomi and Amy.
I open my eyes to my body and drive back to the cabin. Amy and Naomi are sitting on the couch with a fire going in the fireplace. There’s a red Kardinal’s blanket around Amy’s shoulders and her hair has dried. Mascara streaks run down her face. Naomi’s arm is around her and they sit in silence until I walk in and disturb them.
Amy wipes at her eyes and Naomi pulls her arm away and sits up.
“Well?” Naomi asks.
“Kami needed help first, she’ll be here soon.”
“What do you mean? Who will be here soon?” Amy asks.
I stare at Amy, unsure of what I can say. Naomi remains quiet.
Amy looks to Naomi. “This is the craziest night of my life. Please tell me what’s going on.”
“Naomi, we should go.” I say instead. We can’t exactly leave our bodies here while we go fight the darkness. Amy would flip out. She doesn’t ‘know’ about us.
“Yeah, alright,” she says but she sounds like she’s not quite ready. I understand. This is her last chance to win the battle with her soulmate. She has to kill him tonight or they’ll both be lost and their scuffle earlier isn’t making her feel like a winner. As much as I love Eva, I don’t think I could ever kill her soul, regardless of how dark she could become. I don’t envy Naomi tonight. Instead, I feel terrible for her. I can see the horror of what has to be done in the pain in her eyes. The weight of it seems to push her shoulders and neck down; but I can’t focus on her. My own soulmate’s body is in the clutches of darkness and if she doesn’t stop it now…. If she chooses wrong, if she listens to the lies of the darkness and decides to join them, Naomi’s fate will become my own and that weight of the world will be on my shoulders.
“I don’t want to be alone,” Amy cries from the couch as Naomi stands to leave. “What was that in the lake? We don’t have snakes in Alaska. It burned! Tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re drunk. Sleep it off.” I lie coldly but inside I feel like a coward. I know what happened, I just can’t tell her.
The shocked on her face makes me feel even more like an ass but I plaster on a mask so she can’t see how I truly feel.
She lifts the leg of her sweatpants and screams, “Does this look like I’m imagining things?” She turns her leg from side to side to show us red blisters in a spiral shape. “Eva shows up out of nowhere STANDING ON TOP OF THE WATER above me and I can’t touch her! Snakes grab ahold of my leg, burning the crap out of it, and pull me under the water. Then I wake up to the two of you standing over me on the shore with this little reminder that something happened that wasn’t supposed to!” she yells.
Naomi’s head dips a little more, a little more weight added to her shoulders. One more lie in the web we’ve been spinning since we landed on Earth.
“Brent and Tristan should be here soon, Amy, just hang in there,” Naomi says quietly and walks to the front d
oor.
“How would you know they’re almost here?” she yells after us, but I’m already closing the door behind us.
I feel bad for her. All the questions she must have, and how frustrating it must be because she knows we have the answers. We just can’t give them. I start to move away from the door and towards the truck. I can hear Amy cursing at us.
“She’s going to be messed up now. You know she’ll never let this go,” Naomi says.
“Another day,” I grumble. “We need to focus.”
Naomi sighs. “Yeah.”
We walk past Brent’s truck that I stole and get in Naomi’s car. She starts to drive.
“How is Brent going to get here?” I ask, indicating his truck.
“He’s riding home with Tristan,” Naomi says. “Neither of them wanted to hang for the after party. They were almost to Sterling a few minutes before you got there.” She picks at her nails. “When you said that Kami needed help first…and you were gone for hours…did they put her body…”
“Yeah, they did.” I say sadly.
“That’s cold.”
“Kami will make it through. Man, you’d think she was on a loss mission too.”
“She’s too close to someone else on one. I feel really bad for her. She’s lost just as much, if not more. How was Eva?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. The darkness has her all confused, and we didn’t help her by lying to her. She looks at me like I disgust her, like I’m a most terrible monster.” I realize for the first time as I say it out loud, “She hates me and honestly? I can’t blame her. Look at her life and everything that’s happened to her because of me.” My shoulders sag, “No wonder she’s confused.”
I take my eyes off the road for a moment and look over at Naomi. She’s still picking her nails and doesn’t respond. A few miles pass before she speaks again.
“When this is all over, make sure she finds love. Make sure she’s happy.”
I don’t say anything. I hope we have an after. I hope she chooses right and can find a way to forgive me. I can’t think about what my life here on earth would be like without her. What if she doesn’t pick the light?
