by T R Tells
“It seems we keep bumping into another. Coincidence, or fate maybe?”
Agent Jonathan Newman stood in front of me with a grin on his face. He stretched out his hand. I took it, and he helped me rise to my feet. The back of my neck continued to tingle. I had no doubt in my mind that he was an Awakener like me.
How did an FBI agent develop abilities? Did the agency know? Had he told anyone? He probably knew the same about me by now, why wasn’t I being dragged to Area 51 or something?
“So, where are you running off to in such a hurry? Shouldn’t you be attending the memorial service?” he asked, though it didn’t seem like he was going to push the issue. His demeanor and tone were too relaxed.
“Jeez, can’t a girl go to the bathroom without being questioned?”
Agent Newman smirked, “You certainly have a way with words. You don’t get easily fazed; it’s a good trait in this line of work.”
I furrowed my brow and frowned, was he observing me because it was his job or because he was subtly talking about Awakeners?
“But I wouldn’t dare keep someone from going to the bathroom,” he said and stepped out of the way. I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering what game he was playing. “And if you have something to tell me, I’m all ears.”
“It’s nothing,” I said a little too quickly. I pressed my lips together as Agent Newman assessed me with his gray eyes that, up close, I could tell were contacts. “Can I go now?”
He nodded and turned away from me, with his hand out in a waving gesture.
“I hope to see you soon.”
I hope not. I continued to follow the Current.
The purple and blue smoke started to turn red when I made my way up the stairs toward the roof. I prepared my wits since I knew that this meant I would probably come face to face with an Umbra Shade—not just a random stranger’s, but my best friend’s.
I reached the last set of steps at the top and pushed open the metal door.
Standing near the edge of the roof was Mahogany. The thick red aura that led me here started to circle around Mahogany’s legs. Beside her was an Umbra Shade and its sprouting tentacles slithered around her shoulders like a boa constrictor.
“Mahogany!” I called without thinking, alerting not only her, but her Umbra Shade as well.
As soon as she turned around, my heart dropped. A gasp caught in my throat as my hand flew to my mouth. I’d seen it so many times now, but on her, it was living a nightmare.
Her neck was covered in black veins, and running down her cheeks were black ooze-like tears.
“You’ve made it… ” As usual, her Umbra Shade spoke for her. “...Did you get tired of your new friend already?”
I shook my head; despite the Umbra’s voice, these were probably Mahogany’s thoughts and feelings. It was the Umbra Shade that was amplifying them negatively.
“Moa, you know that isn’t true! I always put you first because I love you. You’re my best friend!”
“You saw the signs, and you dismissed them because you didn’t want to get in trouble. How pathetic. Yet, you’ll risk breaking into a house, but not a little scolding from my parents who your mother and brother knew were already abusive!”
The Umbra Shade shrieked angrily, and the veins on Mahogany’s neck started to slowly trickle upward.
“T-That isn’t fair. I-I couldn’t do anything!” I shouted back at her, tightening my fists. “You pushed me, twice, and acted completely indifferent. You could have said you needed me, I would’ve come!”
The Umbra Shade leaned into Mahogany’s ear, whispering to her.
I furrowed my brows and pointed my finger at the creature.
“Back the hell away from her, demon!” My gaze went back to Mahogany, whose eyes were pale and distant. “I’m sorry, Mahogany. You don’t have to go down this path, I’m here for you.”
I stared at her, hoping that she would snap out of it. I watched as the gray in her eyes faded. She turned away from me and looked down at the ceremony. I could hear the sound of the marching band and people clapping.
“...Sadly, cruel people can be worshipped, but people like that kid get shunned for trying to be themselves...” There was a pause for a moment as I watched her looking down at the building. The Umbra Shade leaned closer and started to whisper in her ear again.
“...No one would miss me.”
“Moa, please,” I begged her, hoping that she could hear me over the Umbra Shade’s dark words.
She turned away from the ledge, and I could see that the pale look in her eyes had returned.
“The world’s priorities are so screwed that even in the media they praise and tell stories about the murderer, giving them attention, but not once do they ever talk about the victim. The real person who made them famous.”
Mahogany took a step backward on the ledge. My eyes widened, and I sprinted toward her despite the distance. However, the Umbra Shade was fast. It shrieked, disappearing into thin air and then reappeared in front of me, pushing me backward onto the ground.
Black masses started to surround me as the Umbra Shade summoned the Shrouds.
I gritted my teeth and jumped to my feet, summoning my whip in my hand. My eyes darted around to see the six Shrouds gathered in a circle, with the Umbra Shade at the helm.
“Mahogany, please, there’s a better way!” I called out to her. “Just because the world is flawed doesn’t mean that everyone or everything in it is.”
But it was like she didn’t even hear me as she continued with her commentary,
“Perhaps the Great One should annihilate them all, and erase the world of all negativity, so we may start again.”
There goes that name again.
In the corner of my right eye, a Shroud sprung in my direction. I brought out my whip, and its chain curved as it glided through the air, metal slicing through the shadowy mass cleanly. The creature shrieked and exploded into black sludge.
Another Shroud from my left approached me, but I kicked it to the other side of the roof, where it landed hard before exploding.
“... Screw it if the world is a negative place. There will always be some kind of negativity that surrounds us, but we have to do our best to fight through it.”
The remaining three Shrouds decided to gang up on me in a tactical pursuit. I released hold of the whip in one hand and summoned a dagger, stabbing at a Shroud that tried to grab at my dress, and then at the other that clutched my leg. I managed to destroy both before the third Shroud brought its slimy tentacles around my neck. Its slithering ooze made my skin crawl.
I struggled to shake the Shroud off until I finally managed to grab it and throw it to the ground. I brought my knees down and plunged my dagger into its chest.
My breathing was ragged, and I looked up at Mahogany.
“...That’s why we have loved ones and family, people that make the shittier things in life tolerable, or even better.”
Mahogany scoffed, but it was one that sounded like a growl. “My family is trash, even my real parents didn’t want me.”
“Then screw your parents! Both of them! YOU are my real family. Don’t you remember the many Christmases and holidays we spent together? My mom loves you, my dad loved you and so does Trey. Alessander thinks of you as his sister. There is always going to be darkness, but that doesn’t mean you have to go about it alone.”
It was slight, but I could slowly see the veins on her neck going down. The Umbra Shade was swaying from side to side and started to fade. Relief was beginning to shed its light, but I knew it wasn’t over. I had to continue talking to bring my friend out of the darkness.
“I’m sorry for not being there for you like I should’ve been. I’m a crappy friend, but this crappy friend needs you.”
“But why?” Mahogany’s voice was tiny, a whisper that I almost didn’t hear. “I’m a burden.”
I shook my head. “No, you aren't a burden, and you should never think that,” I said and took a tentative step forward. I was caref
ul not to provoke the Shade or Mahogany. Neither reacted, so I continued until I was a foot away from her.
I stretched out my hand, and Mahogany looked down at it hesitantly.
“You’re interfering in things you don’t understand, human… ” The Umbra Shade started speaking into my thoughts. “You humans are always busy, always running about, and you forget those closest to you. It’s the families who seem to always want to betray and fight over petty, meaningless things.”
“Forget what the Umbra Shade says,” I told Mahogany, and she looked up at me with wide, doe-like eyes. “Forget about what even I or your dumbass parents say. What is it that you want?”
Mahogany parts her lips to speak, “I want… I want to graduate and take care of animals.” She nodded as if to confirm who she was before the Shade took over. “There’s so many who have been hurt, and I can understand that pain.”
I beckoned for her to take my hand so she could get off the ledge. I thought that I might have gotten through to her, but before she could take my hands, there were the sounds of people shouting from below.
The sudden distraction was all the Shade needed, and its tentacles wrapped around her body, forcing it inside of her mind. The black veins returned once again.
“Mahogany!” I shouted, but the Umbra Shade stretched out its lanky arm at me and swatted me like a bug, tossing me away from them.
“It’s too late. Can you hear them? The jeering and taunting of the masses are glorious. They will ridicule her and call her crazy, send her away to a mental institution where she will really be alone.”
Summoned from the ground, shadows started to seep from the earth, and the black blobs of the Shrouds began to form.
“Mahogany, please, you have to fight it!” I yelled, tears collecting in my eyes. My heart thudded in my chest, realizing that the Shade was winning, and it was going to take someone I loved away from me.
A shadow-like cloak draped over Mahogany’s shoulder. I could see Mahogany’s slight smile as the black veins had now crept on her cheeks.
“...I’m sorry, Hira, that I wasn’t strong enough for the both of us. Tell Trey that I love him, and I’m sorry for putting him through this. I hope he can move on.”
The door behind me burst open, and I spun around to see Helene. She wasn’t alone: Trey was behind her.
“Hira, cover your ears!” Helene shouted. I pressed my hands over my ears as I watched her stretch out her hands and aim the frequency emitting from her palms at the Shrouds around me.
I flinched from the pain as I dropped my hands to my side. I looked over at Trey, who narrowed her eyes before widening them in shock. I wasn’t sure what it was that he saw or if he had seen the Shade, but I wouldn’t let him get killed.
“H-Hira, what the hell is going on here!”
“Why the hell is he here!” I shouted back at Helene, who apologized, saying he had followed her when she ran to help.
“Mahogany!” Trey shouted as he stared at his girlfriend at the ledge, whether he saw the Umbra Shade or not, his face looked deathly pale. “Baby, what are you doing, please come down!”
Trey tried to run to her, but the Umbra Shade appeared before him and swatted him away, and he slammed into the metal grating on the side of the roof.
My eyes widened, seeing Trey lay there unconscious. I turned to Helene, “Get him the hell out of here! I’ll deal with the Umbra Shade.”
Helene nodded and went to grab Trey as I turned around to face the monster.
“You control my friend… lie to her and manipulate her and hurt my other friend,” I said through gritted teeth. My blood was boiling, and my body was starting to get hot from anger. I approached the creature and summoned forth a weapon with all the combined emotion and will I could muster.
The weight had stopped me short, and I looked to see that it was an iron-wrought Claymore sword.
I gritted my teeth and lifted the sword just as the Umbra Shade sprang for me. I managed to parry the demon’s clawed attack, but it leaned forward, stretching his sewn lips apart for me to see its jagged teeth.
“Give up, human.”
I narrowed my eyes at the creature as I stood my ground, bending my knees to steady my position.
“Never.”
The Umbra Shade’s red eyes widened as it screeched, catching me off guard. I hadn’t noticed its other arm swipe at me and knock me off to the side where I dropped my sword. It disappeared.
My head was pounding, and something warm trickled down my face. I struggled to push myself off the ground and touched my forehead, where I saw blood coating my fingers.
“She is ours. You can’t save them all.”
My vision was blurry, and black spots danced in my line of sight. I pushed myself off the ground, standing upright, despite swaying from side to side. Everything was spinning fast, and my head felt like someone was pounding on it with a million hammers.
“M—Moa—” My voice pleaded for my friend. I stretched out my arm, unsure how far apart we were.
I watched as she smiled at me, the shadowed cloak still surrounding her.
The tears that had been in my eyes fell down to my cheeks.
No, not you too, Mahogany. I can’t lose you. First my dad, and almost Alessander, and now my best friend. Why was this happening?
“...I love you,” were the last words Mahogany said as she took a step backward off the ledge.
My eyes widened as I watched in slow motion as she fell. My lips parted, but there was no cry, and there was no scream. My throat burned, and my body ached.
I hadn’t even realized that I had fallen to my knees, where I watched my friend fall to her death.
Nothing seemed real.
Mahogany…
Somewhere in the midst of it all, my body had given out. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t see—all I could do was replay my friend falling, over and over again.
Chapter Twenty
I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in a blue room with a checkered floor. It was the same place I had been in after the incident with Alessander. How was this possible, and why was I here? So, that must mean—
“You seem to have an intimate relationship with death. What predicament have you gotten yourself into now, Hira?”
I slowly sat up and saw the pale skinned young child at the side of my bed, eyeing me with wide black eyes.
“It’s you.”
They smiled and chuckled. “I told you we would meet again.” The child tilted their head to the side and shrugged. “Of course, I didn’t expect it to be so soon, but I suppose things happen for a reason, do they not?”
I lifted my arms, but I was held by something on my wrist, and when I looked down, I noticed restraints.
I frowned. What the hell is going on here?
“You’re in your subconscious, but somewhere out there, you’re bound after the incident with Mahogany.”
The incident… Mahogany… Memories flashed through my mind of the UmbraShade whispering in her ear, the black veins crawling up her neck, and when it looked like I’d finally reached her—
I pulled away from my thoughts before I could recall further.
“Do you know why I’m here again?” I asked, clenching my fists. The restraints on my wrists weighed me down, and I couldn’t lift them any longer.
The child placed their crossed arms on the bed and rested their chin down, looking up at me with a carefree smile. “There was too much negativity, too much trauma. If you can’t control it, you can end up becoming the very victim that you’re trying to save, and we don’t want that, do we?”
I couldn’t tell if the kid was mocking me or not. Their words, while not cryptic, didn’t help me in any way. I didn’t even know why they were here.
“... You have that face, you know,” the child said. “I understand you have a lot of questions, probably about who I am and what I am to you—maybe even why I chose you.”
“Then, maybe you don’t mind giving me the answers?”
The kid shrugged and stepped backward. I tried to reach out for them, but the restraints held me back.
“You have to wake up now. Things are about to get serious, and you are closer to seeing your true path… ”
The child was starting to fade away, and the room melted around me like watercolors being washed away by the rain.
“Wait! At least, tell me your name!” I shouted back as the room started to grow darker, and dark spots clouded my vision.
Before I blacked out, the sound of melodic laughter filled the dark room.
“...Elsaf Geima.”
***
I gasped and jumped upright. Just like in my mind, I was restrained. I was dressed in a white and blue-speckled hospital gown. However, unlike other hospitals, this didn’t have the usual white décor and hanging television in the corner of the room. There weren’t any windows, and the walls were dark blue. There were machines that I didn’t recognize—except for the EKG monitor attached to me—and my stomach churned being in this lab-like room.
“Hira, you’re up,” someone said. I turned my head and saw Alina Mulgrave walking into the room. My heart hammered in my chest as I watched her take a seat in the brown leather chair across from the bed.
She had her hair pinned back tight, wearing a gray pants suit under a white lab coat, with a clipboard in her hand.
“Why the hell am I here?” I snapped at her. I knew this couldn’t have been sanctioned, and my mother would never approve of her overseeing my care. “Where is my mother? Where am I?”
Alina pushed her glasses further up on her nose and wrote something on the clipboard before looking back up at me with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “How are you feeling?”
I frowned.
“How the hell do you think I’m feeling! You’ve locked me up! If you don’t release me now you’ll get arrested. I’m a damn minor!”
Alina chuckled as she removed her glasses from her face. I frowned at her blatant enjoyment of my distress. “You aren’t under arrest, Hira Night. You were respectively sent here to the hospital. You are in the Omega Institute’s main facilities in Downtown Chicago’s Loop.”
