One flew east, one flew west (CC m/l Mature) Complete 1/9/07

[rie482]

Heya, sorry this is late... been away this weekend. This has all been posted on write on and has been written for months... so if you are reading exposure and wondering why I'm not posting that but managing this, that's why. Anyway... on with the show

Thank you to the following for your feedback:
alizaleven
flyawayraven
RhondaAnn


Part eleven.

I back away as I stare at him stood before me.

There he is, with his goofy Alex grin that he used to flash me when we met in the school court yard for lunch. He’s stood by a grave just up from Max’s, his hands resting around the straps of his rucksack in the exact same way he used to. He is wearing a red shirt buttoned up to the top in the style that is Alex and his hair is neatly cropped as he likes it. He looks at me with such a friendly gaze that I just want to run over and hold him.

But I can’t.

He’s supposed to be dead.

So I back away, my feet stumbling slightly as I walk backwards without knowing where the hell I am or where the hell my feet are going.

“Liz?” He asks, his goofy grin disappearing slightly as he notices that I’m backing away from him, a complete look of terror on my face.

I start to cry harder then before as I hear the rich tones of his voice. It sounds so real – so like Alex that it could almost be him.

But he can’t be. It can’t be because I watched his body being lowered into the ground, our tears spilling out onto the coffin as we laid our roses and threw our dirt. I can still hear the soft sounds of Maria’s desperate and broken voice flowing out amongst the congregation. I can still see the tormented devastated expressions of his parents as they watched his coffin disappearing under a 6 ft layer of soil.

“What’s wrong?” He asks as he moves towards me, his loving concern etched across the face I had loved like a brother.

I shake my head furiously at him as I turn and start to run away as fast as I possibly can. How come he’s stood there? This can’t be real can it?

Right?

But he was stood there. He was there in front of me, looking at me with that same grin that he used to give me every time he stepped into the Crashdown.

This isn’t possible. This has to be some fucking trick… he just CANNOT be real. He died. Tess murdered him! I researched his death! I went into his wrecked car!!!

I saw the blood that had latched onto the seat.

HE’S DEAD – BURIED NOT TOO LONG AGO.

I stumble on a stone in the middle of the path way and end up sprawled over the floor on my front, my arms stretched out above me. I hear running behind me and I quickly roll over to find Alex skidding to a complete stop in front of me. He leans down to help me up – offering me his hand, but I just swat it away.

“You’re dead!” I whisper in shock and in panic as I start to scramble backwards – away from the thing in front of me. “YOU DIED!” I scream at him, desperate for this hell to end. Alex Whitman is DEAD, he cannot and isn’t stood in front of me.

Yet he is.

HOW?

He straightens up slightly before kneeling down, his hand resting lightly on the stone path to steady himself. “Liz, I’m not dead. How can I be if I’m right here in front of you?”

I still scramble backwards, trying to get as much distance between me and him. He can’t be alive! I watched him be buried! “You’re dead! I WAS AT YOUR FUNERAL!” I screech at him, my eyes wide manically searching for a way out of here. “None of this can be real.” I whimper as I find that I’m stuck here. “It can’t be. This has to be some trick of the light or something, you know, like virtual reality!”

I smile happily at this thought. “Yes!” I say excitedly as I sit up straight. “That’s it! The FBI used it on Max when he was in the white room so why not use it on me?!”
I laugh at my stupidity. “Alex can’t be alive so this makes so much sense now!”

Alex shakes his head at me and he all of a sudden looks sad. “When are you ever going to be better?” He asks softly as he sits down on the stones, no longer bothered with the kneeling. “When am I going to have my best friend back?”

“When you really come back from the grave.” I whisper to him. “I can’t let this break me – I can’t believe this is real. It has to be virtual reality.”

He looks at me as if I’m talking crap. “If this was really virtual reality then how come everything is so life like? How come I look like I’m real and how come even the words look carved into the grave stones – not just word processed?”

I laugh at this. “Oh come off it Alex! You know that the FBI and the Government have technology far more advanced then anything that they have given to the public! They did with Max – he actually saw a real image of me being dragged along the pavement dead!”

Alex just looks at me in response. I can actually see the mountain of reasonable questions piling up in his mind. “Okay then.” He says, a new idea springing up in his mind. “If this was virtual reality how come you can feel the stones beneath you?”

This floors me for a second because I can actually feel the stones digging into my hands and in to my backside. I can actually feel the hardness of the stones and the pain it is causing me. But then again… this is all a set up. They could manage this.

“It’s because it’s really underneath me. I’m being lead from room to room in areas that are ready for something like this.” I bite my lip thinking of how I was brought to this place. “I’ve been lead everywhere by Serena. I haven’t not once walked in a direction I have wanted to walk in!”

He nods in response to this. “That is a reasonable idea Liz, but you’re forgetting one factor. For Serena to have led you here… she’s had to have had some form of contact with you.”

I look at him for a moment confused. “What do you mean?”

“If she had led you here, she’d of had to have touched you. If this is virtual reality then she’d have to have been in the room knowing exactly how to move you and in which direction you have to go. She’d have to know exactly where the paths were, where the doors were. It’s not possible to know everything exactly.”

“She’s walking through a map made up on the floor. She’s using that!”

Alex shakes his head. “No. Liz you know better than that and if that was the case this area that you ran to wouldn’t exist. It would only have to be a set environment for it to work… they’d be no where for you to run the moment you saw me.” He looks at me and continues before I can even get a chance to speak. “And think about it… how can they touch you without alerting you to the fact it’s coming from outside? They’d have to know exactly when to touch you so to not alert you that you are in a virtual reality… even Serena’s timing can’t be that perfect!”

“It could be.” I say weakly. His reasoning is starting to get to me as I sit there listening to him.

Could he be right?

“And what about your mum?” Serena asks from behind Alex. “Your mum pulled your hair back – I know you felt that.”

“It can’t be real.” I whisper as tears start to leak out the corner of my eyes, some strange feeling of horror washing over me. “YOU” I emphasise this as I point directly at his chest like a scared child. “can’t be real.”

Alex stands up now and moves towards me. I don’t bother to move as I stare up at him tearily. “If I wasn’t real, how come I can do this?”

He kneels down and slowly he wraps his arms around me. The moment I feel his arms around me I completely break down, the tears washing my face. He’s whole, he’s real. If this was all virtual reality I probably wouldn’t be able to feel this. I wouldn’t feel the warmth of his arms and I wouldn’t be able to feel and hear his heart beating beneath my ear.

I wouldn’t be able to seek comfort in the sense that this IS Alex. This feels like Alex. The same feel that I used to love when I was feeling ill. The one that made me calm down when I ever had a problem, the one I ran to when I needed a friend. This is the one I leant into at girlie film nights, with Maria on the opposite side of him.

This IS Alex.

But this leaves me to question – what the fuck is going on?

Am I crazy?

I can’t be – can I? I know what I saw. I know what I felt. So it makes me question – if this is indeed Alex, alive and well, is this some sick experiment? Is this some guy pretending to be Alex?

I snuggle into his arms as he walks across the cemetery and I realise this isn’t just some guy. This IS Alex. So it leads to one thing and that’s the one thing I COULDN’T dream of thinking of – that I’m crazy.

After all, the scientist in me is telling me that I am. All the evidence is there – the documents, the institution, the lack of Isabel and the others saving me and the fact my mother looks like hell. My diary apparently doesn’t exist and there is the gravestone that states Max is indeed buried beneath it…

Then there is Alex – alive and well.

But then again, I know what I know and I felt what I felt. It was all there in techno colour with every heart ripping emotion available. I have felt love, euphoria, betrayal, loss and loyalty all in the space of two years. These are emotions that you cannot make up in the middle of psychosis.

Right?

I couldn’t just make up Max Evans and the feel of him healing my bullet wound. I couldn’t just make up the Granolith, Future Max, Larek, Antar or the Dupes…

I just couldn’t make up the aliens…

Could I?

[rie482]

Thank you guys for the comments... I hope you are confused Twas my aim.

Warning... ECT in this part

Part twelve

I’m being lifted on to the table, yet I stare straight up at the ceiling. I can feel my arms being strapped down with brown leather, yet I don’t say a thing. I don’t fight it, I don’t cry. I just stare upwards, still breathing even if I’m not really living at the moment.

They place the electrodes on my skin and I just lie there – willing to just let them do what they want. Maybe if I just act like the good girl they want me to be then it will relieve me of some of the confusion I am swimming in as I look at Alex who is now on the other side of the room watching me.

I look at him with weary and tired eyes, thinking about the last time I had seen him before he ‘died’ – if he did really die at all. The last memory of him of when I was watching him talking to Isabel, a bright lovely yet pained smile on his lips. He was so desperate to go to her, to be with her, yet we wouldn’t let him go because he had to be strong and aloof. He had to be all icey and unattached.

It’s a memory that will forever stay with me as being the last time I saw my best friend before he died.

But there he is. Stood in the corner watching, his face pale, as I am strapped to a table – my brain to be struck with raw voltage. He’s there as real as I am.

So am I crazy? Or is this some sick trick? Some joke?

I don’t know and it just confuses me.

I momentarily tense up as I see the Doctor’s hand drift over to the on switch, ready for the pain that I know will suddenly start to burn through into my brain. It’s a pain that is meant to bring welcomed relief – yet I fear it above everything else. The sight of this room just makes my stomach churn and I’ve only been here a couple of times.

I want to puke the contents of my stomach all over myself, yet I don’t. The wooden bar is in the way. So I close my eyes tightly and think of nothing other than Max and those soulful eyes.

The volt jolts into my body quickly, the electricity jumping into my nervous system and attacking everything in sight. It doesn’t burn yet it doesn’t sooth. It’s charging everything with voltage to the point it feels like it bursts and my muscles spasm out of control.

My back arches upwards on it’s own as the rest of my limps are strapped down.

I could scream if I could actually get it past the wood between my lips. For one moment there is this searing pain that overrides my senses and makes me welcome death.

Then there it is. That lull, that feeling of relief as you’re body starts to lose consciousness as the pain is just too much and too overloading for the body to handle – so it does the only thing it can do; shut down.

As my eyes start to flutter closed, my body starting to calm, I look over to see that Alex is no longer there.

* * * * * * * * *

He’s staring at me. They are big huge eyes just staring at me from across the classroom. They’re friendly, warm and inviting. The perfect thing I need right now as I look around this empty class room. He looks the same age the day I met him, but then again next to the younger version is his older self.

The one I lost – then found.

I look back at him and give him a weird look. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“I am.” He replies. “We both know something isn’t right.”

I stare down at my finger nails as I bite my lip. Part of me knows that the Alex in front of me isn’t just part of the dream. He feels real. But then again it’s a fucking dream – it’s supposed to feel real. It’s your mind playing around with you.

“I don’t know what to believe.” I whisper. “Here you are – telling me you’re dead and part of me knows this. I WATCHED your coffin be lowered into the ground … but then there is this other YOU. One that I can touch and really talk to. I don’t know what to believe.”

“I think –“

“Liz?” A female voice pierces my dream and I snap my attention up to the woman stood at the door. It’s Isabel.

But is this a dream or is this real? Is she really there in my dream – or is she a part of my imagination? It’s enough to make me want to ram my head against a brick wall.

She looks at the Alex sat opposite me and tears come to her eyes. “He visits you as well.” She mumbles through tears she is pretending aren’t falling. But they are and it’s clear to see.

For a split second I think she’s real to the point I stand up, just to sit down again at the thought she isn’t. I want to run to her, to plead her to get me out of here, but then I can’t because what’s the point? She isn’t real.

Or is she?

Isn’t she?

My mind is so confused that as I look at her I feel relief and anxiety all at the same time. I feel stupidity on my behalf yet feel hope bursting through my chest. It’s moments like this where I truly question my sanity, the whole lines between reality and illusion really start to blur.

It’s moments like this I wish Max hadn’t healed me… that’s if he did truly exist as an alien. That’s if I was ever shot.

If I’m not crazy.

But I am – aren’t I?

Or am I not?

Would I know what reality really is or is reality really a subjective concept, with the illusion to one person being reality to themselves.

Oh god, I just want this all to end – for me to suddenly become sane or be saved this torture; this never ending confusion. I look towards Isabel to find she’s moving towards Alex and laying her hand down on his shoulder. He turns his head up to look at her and he smiles before blinking out into just empty space.

“Liz?” She says nervously as she sees me blankly staring at the spot Alex once resided.

“Isabel?” I ask quietly, my voice weakening at the emergence of tears. It suddenly dawns on me that this is the first time I realise how tired I really am. Emotionally and physically I’m a bloody wreck – even in a stupid ass dream that may not be real in any shape or form.

“Liz?” She says again, but this time it’s more out of concern then question. She sits down opposite me and quickly leans in, grabbing my hands firmly.

I sob out loud. I can feel the warmth of her skin as real as day.

Her mouth gapes open as her eyes flutter closed and instantly the words “What the hell has happened to you?” flows out of her mouth. “Why?” She asks again.

“I’m crazy.” I reply, my eyes shining with tears. “You aren’t really here. This is all in my fucking head.” I yank my hands away and stand up, backing away from her as she rushes round the table towards me.

“Liz. You aren’t crazy!”

“How come I went home this afternoon then saw the gravestone of Max Evans? Where the hell has my diary gone? Why is my mother a living breathing wreck? Why is Alex out there?” I yell pointing at a door, which has just materialised out of no where. “How come if he’s dead that I’ve been talking to him for the best part of an afternoon?!” I shriek this at her, watching with eyes wide at her response. Her devastated response.

“Liz, you know that Alex died, THAT isn’t real. I am.”

I start backing up and away from Isabel, towards the door that has just opened up wide. “If you are real why the hell haven’t you been here and SAVED me?!”

“We can’t find you, we are close, but we can’t find you!”

“BOLLOCKS!” I turn towards the door but pause for a second to look at Isabel. “I’m crazy Isabel, you aren’t real.” I say calmly and clearly, as if all doubts have been washed away completely. “None of it ever was.”

Then I walk through the door.

[rie482]

Thank you RhondaAnn for your feedback


Part thirteen

I open my eyes to find a tray of food in the corner of the room. It’s taunting me. Knowing full well I can’t move to get it.

To get it.
To feel it.
To eat it.

So it’s getting cold – or maybe it is already, I must have been out cold for hours by the state of the drool covered padding beside me.

It’s hard and crusted.

Nice.

This is what my life has come to; drooling until it solidifies. That’s all I do with my day… But that’s not going to happen anymore because today is a new day. It is a new start. A new day when I start to step out from the fog and make it back into sanity.

I need to do that because at the end of the day I can’t continue to live this way. Max is dead. Max isn’t real anymore.

I WASN’T shot – Yes, there was a shooting, but I wasn’t the one who suffered. It was Max. Max who died… My feelings, thoughts and memories are the product of my psychosis. It has made me paranoid and delusional.

I’m a paranoid schizophrenic.

I admit it.

Then why doesn’t it feel better? Why is this feeling of uncertainty pooling in the pit of my stomach as I push myself up with my feeble arms? I suppose it’s because everything that I thought I knew has turned out not to be true, all a dream – a mistake. A trick of the mind to protect itself. So therefore it’s going to feel a bit horrible, awful in fact, to declare that everything I have felt over the last two years is/was a complete lie.

So, if this is the case, why is it that it feels like I’m giving in? Giving in completely.

I can’t think of this any more, because if I were to do that I think I’d be sick all over again. It’ll make me fall back into that stupid pattern; I’ll start to believe that aliens really do exist. I’ll begin to reason that my feeling is my gut instinct telling me something just isn’t right. That I’m here against my will, held by the FBI to be used to gain information on aliens that just do not exist.

Max wasn’t an alien. He was a human teenager who died in a fatal accident.

I just wish this admitting would make me feel some sort of hope.

Maybe it will – with time.

* * * * * * * * * *

“So, I hear you’ve changed your tune Mrs Parker.” He says with that annoying British accent. It sounds so posh; so fake that I just wanna reach in and yank his voice box out. I mentally kick myself for that thought because that’s paranoid and angry. I’m not going to be that violent person anymore. “What’s changed?”

I tuck a lock of my hair behind my ear and look at him with a small smile. “Yesterday, when I saw Alex I completely freaked out. You know, I had believed him to be dead… I still remember his funeral; I remember being there but he was there in front of me. He was solid and he was real. Something just clicked and everything seemed to make sense. How could I have been at Alex’s funeral if he hadn’t died? Therefore there was no funeral and he didn’t die. I made it all up.”

He leans forward slightly and looks down at the folder in front of him. Once again his long spindly fingers come together in a thoughtful pose, his chin resting slightly on the tips of his fingers as he holds his hands together. He looks up at me over his nose. “How can we be sure that you will not hurt anyone else, Elizabeth?” He asks in a tone that makes me hear his apparent inner conflict. “How can I be sure that if I were to let you interact with other patients that you will not hurt anyone else?”

I sit there for a moment with my mouth slight agape. He’s really questioning whether or not I am safe to the other people of this ward.

But… I can understand it. I smile inwardly at this. I’m not feeling any paranoia. The old me would have thought his concern was because the FBI needed to set the scene before letting me in the ward. They didn’t have anyone really in the ward and had to draft actors in.

“Give me one chance.” I ask him quietly, pleading in a small way. “If I don’t prove that I can behave then lock me back up.”

He smiles a small smile at me with his thin lips. “Very well, Elizabeth. I have to say that I’m very pleased with the fact you are willing to co-operate with us.” Standing up he signals me to move towards the door with him, which I do softly and cautiously – keeping a slight distance between us so I don’t make him nervous after my previous actions.

We walk through the door of his office and start towards the lounge area. We maintain silence as we walk it. I just stare ahead; I don’t want to look at him just in case he thinks I’m being paranoid over whether or not he is FBI. If I look at him maybe he’ll think I think he’s going to kill me then send me back to my room, followed by a nice healthy session of electric shock therapy.

I shudder at that thought my arms subconsciously wrap themselves around me.

My eyes settle on the information desk where a tall man is stood. I stop for a millisecond in mid-step at the sight of him, there is a person here. It’s new and it’s different. To think about it I haven’t seen a single person actually physically come in here, fresh from the outside world. It looks odd that flash of colour, a black jumper on jeans amongst a back drop of pure surgical white. It quite literally draws my focus onto the man, as if I cannot even dare to look away from him.

I’m walking again, this time determined to check out his face.

I notice the doctor saying goodbye to me as he walks into room 60 where a new patient is waiting. I can hear her crying softly from here, but it doesn’t register in my mind. All I can see or hear is the man in front of me at the desk. He’s not even speaking to the woman at the desk, she’s typing away at the computer whilst he’s just stood there.

I’m nearer now and I can make out the fact he seems to be looking around him. All I can make is a clear set jaw line and a flash of hazel and instantly my heart skips a beat.

But it can’t be him, cause he’s dead. He doesn’t exist anymore, so therefore this is either in my imagination or another person.

He turns around now and I stop completely, my mouth wide. It’s him.

But it’s not because he isn’t real.

His eyes rest on me and for a second all I see is joy and recognition; a look I have seen a hundred thousand times before. It makes my heart race, but makes it sink a second later. He steps forward.

“Liz.” He says with a whisper.

Then in a second he’s gone and I’m left stood here looking like a complete idiot staring at the information desk. The woman looks at me questioningly, but I look away quickly trying my hardest to stop the tears from falling. For that one moment I felt like I used to, but I know it isn’t real. I made it up.

Something catches my eye and I look at the end of the corridor where a flash of tight blonde curls has just swept around.

Those bright blonde curls give me a hint of recognition, a memory long forgotten.

“Tess?”

I shake my head.

Nah. It can’t be.

[rie482]

something I've just done... just for you guys

Sorry it's so short.

Part fourteen.

Swinging. Swinging round and round and round. Just swinging. That's all I see as I swing the mixture of blue and pink around and around, the colour ribbons flowing together into one as I swing the poi above my head. It's slow and rhythmic, my eyes completely confused on the purple that begins to emerge between the ribbons. It's calming, apparently, to swing these things around. Lets you mind let go and reorganise your thoughts at the same time.

All I see is purple. I'm neither calm nor agitated. I'm just watching these things swinging around as I turn my wrists this way and that way, moving them at different times to make a different pattern.

To be honest, it's a bit boring, but it's either this or watching the TV again and I can't be bothered with the big puzzle of the sky. Edna can do it in 5 minutes flat, when she isn't stagnant. No one believes me when I tell them it's Enda, they just assume I'm seeing things or I'm just plain lying cos she's catatonic. But I swear to you that she can do something like that in 5 minutes.

Or I'm just crazy.

I'm supposedly being 'reviewed' today, but they've been saying that all week. They always say I'm gonna be 'reviewed', perhaps allowed back into public life, but something always comes up. I've been here a week and my progress has been miraculous apparently. Sometimes when the doctor speaks to me I sense amazement, but there is part of me that senses excitement in his tone, a malicious one.

I just put that down to my paranoia. I just can't let these things drop now can I?

My eyes focus outside of the purple and they are resting on Serena, who is stood by an open door looking in. My motion starts to slow down to an almost stop, but my wrists keep the poi in motion, a rhythm that wouldn't be noticed. She's speaking to some one, she eyes almost screaming that she's angry.

“Can't we just let her go?” I can barely make it out from all the way across from this side of the room but I see her lips move, so I know what she is saying.

There's a pause as she listens and I find myself almost stopping my motions.

She shakes her head and whispers angrily “Haven't we done enough?” Then walks away leaving me to wonder who she is on about. My eyes rest back on the closing door and I look twice as I swear I see a flash of blonde which slowly disappears behind the closing door.

* * * * * *

My eyes open and all I can see is darkness. Complete and utter darkness in the bedroom. That means it's still night time, but I have no alarm on the bedside table so I can't tell what time it is. For all I know it could be midnight or 5 o'clock in the morning. I lie here for a moment looking straight out ahead of me. I was moved into the ward last week, deemed it as me being ready to step out into some of the world. If I can interact with the crazy lot okay, hopefully I won't bother the real people when I finally manage to get myself out of here one day.

All I can make out right now is the silhouette of Janna's sleeping body who has her back to me. It's a source of comfort to know she is there but sometimes I feel like she's not really there. I remember one night everyone woke up because they heard this banging, but Janna didn't. She didn't move, didn't flinch. She didn't make a moaning sound at being woken up. She didn't mention it the next morning. Then again, my father has always been able to sleep through anything so it could be just that I suppose.

I close my eyes, willing myself back to sleep but within seconds I know its a futile attempt so I just decide to sit up. I lean back against the cold railing that is my head board and take in the coolness it provides me. This place is always so warm so it's a blessing to me to have this cold railing to lean against. I stare out in front of me and in the corner of my eye I see a speck of light in the corridor. It's a slither, a slither of light you'd get peering from under a door, but it's still a foreign light. Usually it's pitch black here so where the hell is that light coming from?

I can't go. They'd find me out of my bed and will report me. The night nurse is always on patrol once an hour to check on us, and I can't remember when she was last in. With out a clock I have no idea when her routine is, so by rights I shouldn't risk it. But the scientist that I am, or rather I was, I'm out of my bed quickly. I stand up and tip toe towards the corridor where the light is emanating. Swiftly I'm on the other side of a door, where the light is coming from. I stand frozen for a second as I stare at this door. I could go straight back to bed, ignore the light and pretend it never existed but then there is the part of me that begs and pleads for me to open it.

I can't help it but I'm curious. Bloody, painfully, annoyingly curious and it's getting the best of me.

Tucking away a lock of my hair behind my ear, I look down both ends of the corridor making sure the coast is clear before I bring my hand to door handle and with a swift motion I open the door.

Just to find myself flung halfway across the room.

[rie482]

Heya guys, today, I've decided I need to finish this fic and like now... I'm just one or two parts away from finishing the ending... so i have decided, I'll give a new part every two days until the end of this. I will be delighted in some feedback, especially from those that have been following this such as RhondaAnn and raemac (who i'd like to thank for the comments to the last chapter)

Part fifteen.

I groan as I hit the wall with a whack and as my head meets the hard concrete violently. I feel my skin tear instantly as I land on the floor hard. My eyes are tight with the pain that ripples through my body, as if it's going to make the pain go away. But it's like waving your hand in front of your mouth when you've eaten something too hot, it doesn't do a damn thing to cool... you just wish it did.

I clutch my body tightly as I finally peel open my eyes and shoot a look over in the direction of the doorway.

Shit.

“Surprised Liz?” She leers at me from by the door.

“Tess?” I ask in complete bewilderment. “What the hell?” I must be imaging things because there in front of me is Tess Harding, another person who apparently never existed.

“Oh come off it Liz.” She says as she steps towards me in her white uniform; a white shirt and white trousers. If I hadn't of known better I would have said she was staff. Perhaps she is. Perhaps I just chucked myself across the room, after all I'll do anything to make the things I see and feel real so it would make sense that I'd chuck myself against the wall to gain the real injuries. “You're smarter than that.” She laughs slightly. “But that's the thing isn't it, you really aren't. After all I've had you believing this thing for a good month!”

I stare up at her, my mouth agape.

“Or am I not really here Liz?” She says with a chuckle. “Perhaps I'm not actually here?” She flickers slightly, her body fazing in and out for a second before blinking out completely.

I'm alone. There is no one else in the room and upon hearing the sound of foot steps out side in the corridor I try to stand up. The pain is too much as I push myself up onto my knees, I think I've sprained my wrist, but I need to get to my bed before I do myself any more harm. I'll just pretend to fall out of my bed tomorrow morning and say that I bruise really easily.

I slowly sneak towards the door, I go to step through the fresh hold I'm flung back again flat against the wall and the door slams shut.

I'm pinned to the wall this time and there is no pain as I hit it. It's almost as if it's padded, but I know for sure this is made of concrete. I've been in this room before, it's pure concrete. My eyes scan the room for someone, but there is no one. I must be holding myself here. I'm doing this to myself.

I try to pry my arm from the wall, testing whether or not if I think hard enough maybe, just maybe, I can break out of this hold I have myself in. But I don't move.

Frowning I look into the room again and there before my eyes stands Tess. She's leaning in the corner, a satisfied grin on her face. “You don't know whether I'm real or not do you?”

I don't dignify that question with an answer, I'd be just talking to myself so what's the point? It's a waste of breath talking to myself.

She fades out into nothing again and I sigh with relief.

But wait, I didn't wish her away.

Or did I?

Before I can think she's in the other corner now, looking at me with a small smile. “See this is what is so genius about this plan... you have no idea whether or not this is in your imagination.” She flickers out again and within seconds she's stood in front of me, her lips just inches from my ear. “So I can break you with your own thoughts. Or are these your thoughts?”

She disappears again the second I turn to met her ice blue eyes. “Could be both? Maybe I do exist and don't exist at the same time.” She's on the other side of me now, this time she allows me to meet her eyes.

“You're real.” I state simply and a broad smile erupts over my face. “I've always known Tess.” I'm lying completely through my teeth, in the vain hope that if she is in fact real she'll prove it or if I say she is she'll disappear the hallucination no longing serving a purpose. If I'm not scared of it, it'll go away, right?

Her face drops. “Liar.”

I smile even wider. “Nah, why would I do that Tess? I have enough patience for me to tolerate the torture you've put me under all this time.”

Her eyes show her anger for a brief second before they are as cold as ever before. “You are lying. Other wise you'd have seen through this all.”

“But I did Tess.”

Her hand comes in contact with my face. “Lying bitch. That's all you ever were!”

My head snaps back round to look at her, my smile never fading. “We know you were never pregnant... Kyle told us as much from the flashes of memory he regained. So I pieced it all together and come on, don't you think I would have noticed that none of the people had any real personalities? At first inspection they look like catatonic no bodies but if you look closely they don't move AT ALL, even catatonics move at times. And the ones you did make animated you couldn't make everyone animated all the time. You completely forgot to wake up Janna the other night when you dropped what ever the hell you dropped was. Didn't you think I'd notice the fact Alex disappeared just seconds before you shot electricity through my brain.” I inch my face closer to hers. “You know, that really was sloppy work.” I say mockingly. She slaps me again, harder but I snap my head back around again.

“You lying cow. You can't fool me.”

“I lied to Max didn't I?” I reply coldly. “My soulmate. How can you be sure you'd be able to tell I was lying?”

This has her reaching for my chest and within seconds electricity drums itself into my chest making my throw back my head with screams.

She was real.

I'm not crazy

[rie482]

Heya, thanks to the following for their comments:
RhondaAnn
alizaleven
raemac
BETHANN
guelbebek


Part sixteen

The pain is searing itself through my chest, striping away at the muscles in my chest bit by bit as slowly as possible. She wants this to be slow; she wants this to be complete and utter torture, it is what she has being craving for years. I know it is, and right now she is taking every single bit of satisfaction out of this.

But I can’t have that. I can’t let her get the best of me and if I’m gonna die I’m not going to let that bitch think she’s gonna break me before I die. I’m not going to be remembered for being broken. Broken by Tess.

I want to ruin the satisfaction that is flowing through her veins, so I slowly turn my head to look her straight in the eye my smile even and broad. My breathing betrays me about the fact I’m in pain, but the smile on my face would say it was only a flesh wound.

“You know what, Tess? I’m gonna die knowing that he loved me more than you.”

I watch her eyes for a second waiting for any sign of anything, but even though there isn’t a single flicker of emotion on her face the pain increasing within my chest is a sure sign I’ve gotten to her. A pain that makes me feel like my lungs are going to give in, a pain that ripples through my body and punches me in the chest as if I’ve been hit square with a sledge hammer.

All her power is focused on my chest so a second later I’m slumping to the floor, and my hands curling themselves round her wrists, clawing at the skin of her wrists with my nails. Blood starts to spill on to her pure white uniform but she doesn’t care. I can see it in her face. My eyes stay with hers as slowly my lips start to turn blue and my breathing starts to stop. I’m no longer screaming, all there is the sound of her anger raging through my ears.

She leans forward to me as she watches me struggle to gasp for breath, trying my hardest to hold on, and whispers her hot breath into my ear.

“Die.”

Then she’s gone from my hands, a resounding thump sounding round the room almost shaking the floor I land onto. Instantly my lungs are grabbing at the air that I’m barely allowed back. It floods into my chest thankfully but as I wheeze it in, blood starts to pool under my lips. Enough to be worried about, but I’m still alive at least. That’s something. I lie on my side, allowing it to trickle onto the floor as I finally manage to get my barings, but the sound of movement in the room makes me look up in shock.

There stood at the door, her arm outstretched is Serena, her eyes glowing a powerfully deep red, a stream of electricity the same colour running across her skin. It’s so vivid that it makes her pure white starched uniform looking the palest pink. I don’t move; I just stare at her with a blank expression, that’s all I can do.

“You,” Tess growls as she pushes herself up onto to her arse. She glares at Serena as she steps forward into the room, her arm still pointed at her chest.

“This stops now Tess.” She says her warm sweet voice now all teary, obviously upset for some reason. “I’m not letting you do this.”

“Do what?” Tess snaps at her. “This is for the good of Antar!”

Serena shakes her head, her body trembling with clear rage. “This was NEVER for the good of Antar! This was for pure unadulterated revenge!”

“If this wasn’t for the good of Antar then how on the Earth do you suggest I managed to get the technology to pull this off?! I was given the seal, the royal seal of approval. If that isn’t enough proof then I don’t know what is!” She declares a smug look on her evilly pretty face.

“You lied to Manya! You told her Liz had bewitched Zan… you told her she had hidden him somewhere in the depths of Earth, a place no one knew about! You lied to the Queen!” Serena rages. “You were deceitful! You did it all for revenge when all the Manya wanted was the information to be extracted for the good of Antar!”

“SO?!” Tess screams, as she launches herself to her feet sending Serena lying against the wall. She prowls over to Serena and crotches down on to the floor, her eyes boring into Serena’s as she places her hand to her throat, a light threat. “Manya doesn’t know what is good for Antar! I am the Queen, I know what is best for Antar and that is Khivar.”

“Then why this?!” Serena exclaims quietly from the floor. “Why do all of this?!”

She flashes a look in my direction and that is all it takes, Serena grabs Tess by the shoulder and throws her across the room. I watch in awe of this woman as Tess’ body hits the wall harder then ever before. I could have sworn there was a crack being made in the wall at the way in which her body hit it.

But Tess just lands and is instantly onto her feet again. God, what is this woman made out of? “Because without Liz alive, without Liz there, Max is weak, and when Max is weak I can get to him. Trick him then eventually kill him. Just like I did into believing I was pregnant.”

“WHAT!” Serena screams in horror, electricity sparking between her fingers loudly. I watch in fascination as I notice a small build up of power forming itself into a ball in her hand. “You were to kill ZAN! He’s the saviour of our planet!”

Tess snorts. “Him?! Are you serious?! He doesn’t know anything of the system or what power he holds.”

“And you do?” Serena states mockingly as she throws her energy ball at Tess, square at her chest.

But Tess was waiting for that. It’s written on her face as she deflects the ball quickly with a simple flick of the wrist. “I have my memories Serena.” She says with a smile. “I remember who you are, what your tactics are. I remember you. Zan doesn’t have a fucking clue! He shouldn’t be in power… he was weak in the first place! How on the Earth do you think he managed to get us in this position anyway?!”

“YOU MIND WARPED VILANDRA! You made her betray the throne.” Serena screams, the anger rising within her veins bringing the electricity rising into her skin with a power so fierce that it seems to be burning her skin.

“Oh so you lot figured it out then?” Tess asks her like talking to a child.

“A long time ago. The moment you start to mind warp Liz.”

Tess moves a step towards Serena, her arms crossed around her chest. “You see, that’s really clever of you… but you want to know something else? You’re not the only one who found that out… Rath did a long long long time ago before Vilandra “betrayed” the throne… and do you know what happened to him?”

Serena frowns, “He was found in his room… knifed.” Her eyes grow wide with horror. “That wasn’t Khivar was it? It was you!”

Tess’ smile widens. “So you really are smart… but you know where smart gets you, don’t you?”

“Out of here.” She exclaims as she quickly throws a ball of energy into Tess’ chest, sending the girl flying again. In a shot she’s over by me, and lifting me from the floor. I try to scramble to a standing position but my legs give way from under me a couple of times before I get some balance, even then I’m leaning against Serena for strength. Tess is unmoving for a while and I look over at her before I’m being dragged out the door. “It won’t keep her for long. You’ve got to run Liz.”

I start to find my balance and start to run as quickly as possible, my gown flowing behind me but as we near the junction in the corridor we suddenly lurch forward and the next thing I know, I’m on the floor.

[rie482]

Heya guys! Hope you had a good christmas... I know I did Here is the new part just as I promised. Thank you to the following for their comments.

BETHANN
raemac
alizaleven

Part seventeen.

I hear a scream as Serena hits the floor head first. It’s a horrible crack that makes your skin crawl when you hear it. It’s obvious that at this point, no one is going to be standing up from that… ever again. But I still scramble over to her out of mere desperation and shake her slightly.

There’s blood everywhere.

“Serena?” I ask her with a sob. “Serena?” There’s no answer from her lifeless eyes or the slightly parted lips. There’s no life there as I lift her arm slightly off the ground. I let it go and it lands there with a thump. Tears pool in my eyes and I desperately take a pulse, hoping that if I were to get some form of help there’d be a chance, a small slim chance.

But there is none.

She’s dead.

Rage rushes through my veins as I hear her laughing in the corridor behind me.

“There’s no one to help you Liz.” She says quietly, yet cheerfully. “I always get what I want, first Max, and then home, you… now Serena. I’m going to have my way Liz.”

I don’t turn to look round at her; I just scan the area with my eyes. I’m in a sort of box type corridor. There are four sides to it, yet on every side there is a corridor leading down another. I’ve only been here a few times, and I never remember the way back. One of these corridors leads to the main doors, but which is it?

Although there is silence between us I can still feel her approaching me as I kneel here on the floor contemplating my next move. Hopefully by playing the still prey she won’t kill me straight away. So it’s such a relief to know she’s approaching me… I can plan what to do cos I know what she’s gonna do next, I can feel it charging in the air around me. Her hand is now merely inches away from my body, the energy built up in her hand.

It’ll kill me with just one touch.

Turning round I meet her cool ice eyes and grabbing her hand I shove it into her own chest and before she has any time to react, I’m off the floor and running down the nearest corridor. I don’t look behind me because I know she’s still alive, that charge wouldn’t have killed her like it would have done me. I’m weak enough now… she’s still strong.

So I run down the corridor, knowing instantly that I’m in the wrong one as I come to the stimulation room. It’s full of bright colours and ‘calming’ devices of poi, large bouncy balls and a swing. It looks like a child’s play ground, designed to calm anyone…

It was probably just here to help break me.

I hear her footsteps in the corridor and instantly I’m scanning the room, my breath bated to the point where if I breath again I know she’ll be able to hear it. Tucking a lock of hair behind my ear I scan the room. There are four doors in this room, two locked. It has always been that way.

Quickly I hide away and just wait.

It’s not long before she comes into the room, limping slightly, the attack crippling her in some small way. But still she looks healthy; the only tell tale sign of the attack being the scorch mark in her uniform.

She scans the room for a while, her eyes landing instantly on the doors. My heart begins racing as she nears me… I have to time this carefully or I’m fucked.

So the moment she opens the door, I run out from behind the chair and head back towards the door. I hear her yell in surprise and anger. She thought she had had me figured out, but I’m not that stupid. How was I gonna get out if I hid in one of the doors?! I wanna turn back and rub it in her face but I can’t, the blast that narrowly misses my head reminding me who the hell I am dealing with here.

I turn into the corridor and I head back to the box junction. I stand there and look down each and every single one of those corridors trying my hardest to remember which one leads me to the main doors of the complex. If I can get out of here it’ll all be okay. If I can get out of here I’ll have the upper hand.

The moment I hear footsteps I take the nearest right, praying and hoping with tears down streaming down my face that this would be the right one.

It’s not long before I come to a skidding stop as for the first time in months I cry out with joy at seeing Isabel Evans walking towards me.


Part eighteen

“Isabel?!” I ask in quiet disbelief as I start running towards her, the biggest grin on my face. If Isabel is here then this means Max is here, to save me; to remind me what is real and what is not. I can go home, snuggle in the arms of my friends and my family. I’ll be able to eat real food and dress in real clothes. I’ll be warm and loved, not sectioned and destroyed.

I won’t be crazy.

She smiles at me when we meet in the corridor. “Liz.” She says cheerfully, the smile brightening her face up. She’s glad to see me? Isabel is glad to see me? It makes sense I suppose. “Everyone’s outside.”

“Then let’s go, we’ve got to hurry,” I say as I grab her arm and start to run down the corridor with her. I instantly realize this is where the group therapy room is, we’re in the wrong corridor. I stop completely and look at Isabel, “How did you get in again?”

“Through a window in the therapy room.” She says through her teeth as if I’m wasting her time.

This isn’t Isabel.

“We’ve got to hurry unless you want Tess to catch you?”

Then she brings her hand up to slap me one, but her hand just passes straight through my face before she starts falling to the floor, disappearing in mid fall. I stand there, my mouth agape for a second as I look at the spot where Isabel Evans just disappeared.

Then I’m off running down the corridor again, back down to the box junction, my thoughts whizzing round my head.

Tess is mind warping me again, great. But at least she seems to be failing. This must mean she’s injured, especially after all the really big mind warps that just felt so damn real. This means I have the slightest chance.

Once again, I’m lurched back, but this time by the force of a hand. It brings me tumbling to the floor, pushing Tess over at the same time. I land on her and in an instant I grab her by the hair and lift her head enough that I can get a deceit punch in. I look her in the eyes as I lift my hand then bring it down on to her cheek with all my might; a might I thought she had strangled out of me.

Her cheek cracks loudly before I drop her head to the floor and I’m sprinting back down to the box junction. I now have a 50/50 chance of picking the right damn corridor and I have a feeling this could be my last chance cos she’s standing again and is walking down towards me.

It’s slow and even. Calculating.

She’s summoning all her strength for something big, otherwise she’d be running at me right now. She’s conserving energy, energy to take me down with.

But I can’t let her do that, so I pick the one on the left of me and I run for it.

“What’s the point in running Liz?” I hear her shout out to me. “I’m taking ya down with me whether or not it takes me down with you.”

But I don’t care, because in front of me is the door that will lead me to my freedom. It’s glass looking out onto the dark night sky that I have missed for so long. I can see the desert outside and it makes me sprint my damn hardest, despite the blood that starts to pool in my mouth again.

I almost laugh out loud as I see a shadow outside the door, running just as hard as I am towards the glass. As the light shines on the body, I sob, there on the other side of the glass is Max running wildly. He runs to the door and tries to open it, his eyes widening with fear at something behind me.

“Liz!” He shouts at me, his hands now resting on the glass as he tries to crack the glass, with his powers. “LIZ!” He shouts again, but it’s coming from behind me.

I skid to a stop and turn around slowly.

There he is, his hand reaching out to me. “Liz?” He says quietly. His eyes are the softest brown puppy dog eyes I have ever, ever, ever seen. He’s looking at me in the exact same way he looked at me from the cave when I ran away from him the day he heard his destiny message. He’s exactly the man that has been missing from my life for so long now and my whole body aches to step towards him and faint into his loving arms. But is that him? He takes a few steps towards me as I look behind me at the Max who is stood on the other side of the door. His hands are glowing but he’s crying; he can’t get through the glass. There is desperation and a fear that’s shining in his eyes as he looks at me, with an underlying tone of determination. The look of a king and a lover. This is the man I know in a crisis. Right now, the Max behind me should be looking at me in that way instead of beckoning me.

But is that really him? Surely he’d be able to get through it the glass if it were him? It could be a mind warp; it makes sense because Tess’ powers are failing.

But then again, the guy behind me looks different. His hair is slightly shorter, a bit messier. Almost as if he’s slept rough in the back of an over turned and deserted bus. This could be the mind warp.

They could both be a mind warp, but thinking about it logically Tess hasn’t got the power left to make two Max’s. One yes, and she could make him real, but two? No. No way, so one of them is real, oh so very real and I keep looking at each trying my hardest to decipher which one it is.

Because I want to go home. I want this to end right now, I can’t make much more of this and I’m getting weaker, I can feel my legs starting to give way to the strain of the night.

“Max.” I whimper as my legs start to buckle right from under me.

“LIZ!” I hear the one behind the glass shout, at the same time the one before me grabs me by the arm and starts dragging me down the corridor, my only option left being the ability to stare longingly at the man that stands behind the glass, surrounded by the rest of my family, their own eyes locked onto mine as they placed their joined hands to the pane of glass.

“Hurry.” I mouth to Max before I’m dragged round the corner.

[rie482]

Heya, here's your new part. Enjoy it... I know I did

Thank you to the following for your comments:
raemac
guelbebek
RhondaAnn
alizaleven

Part nineteen.

He throws me into room 60 and turns round quickly to lock the door behind us. I scramble into the corner like a caged animal as the mind warp starts to fade, Tess appearing from behind the masculine façade that she had displayed as being in her place. That was why he felt so real, because technically he was.

She turns round and leans against the door, her hands flat against the wood and her head dangling forward. She’s in pain, possibly dying.

She looks up at me and I can see it in her eyes, she’s draining herself bit by bit by trying to get rid of me. Her eyes are almost white, her blue pupils almost disappearing into nothing.

“Looks like this is it Liz.” She says as she pushes herself off the door and grabs me by the arm. “Both of us are going down.” She uses all her remaining strength to lift me off the floor and tries to drag me to the table, the electrodes waiting for her next to the table. I quickly fling myself onto the floor and push myself back into my corner, the only place where I can get proper leverage.

“It doesn’t have to be this way Tess.” I say to her as she comes for me again. “If you just let me go Max will let you live, he’ll probably let you go home, you know, back to Khivar.” She stops in mid step and looks at me with disbelief

“Yeah, likes that gonna happen Liz!” She snorts as she makes her back towards me again. “He was going to kill me in the pod chamber… the only reason I’m alive is because of a baby that never existed. I have no leverage bar you and there is no way in hell you can have him.”

She grabs me by the arm again, but this time as she drags me I bite into her hand til she’s bleeding with the desired effect; she pushes me away and I land against the table. Her eyes rage at me, “You bitch!” She screams as she back hands me against the face, snapping my head to the side.

“I’m not the bitch Tess.” I state to her quietly as I turn my head back round to face her. “You lied to your king, your husband! You manipulated your friends and your family, killing my best friend.” I point to her angrily, tears in my eyes as I realize with a hit that Alex isn’t alive any more. That was the part of the mind warp that felt so real, Alex holding me in his arms. “You, you are the bitch in all this!”

“If you had only stayed away from him!” She shouts at me, tears forming in her own tears. “If only you had backed away! Then we wouldn’t be stuck here, we wouldn’t have to die like this! We’d be happy, I’d be married and he’d be ruling Antar like a king.” He voice starts to falter now, real emotion starting to show through, something that shocks me. “I could have had my king back! I could… could have had my husband.”

She looks at me for a moment and that’s when I realize it all. “You really did love him didn’t you? You loved Zan, I mean.”

She nods as she pushes away the tears before she snaps her head back to look at me properly and instantly her anger is back. “But you! You had to get in the fucking way. If there hadn’t have been you I’d have him back.”

“BUT MAX ISN’T ZAN!” I shout her, stepping forward towards her as I do. “He may have his essence within him but that doesn’t mean that Max was ever going to be Zan. The point you keep forgetting is the fact that Max CHOSE me. He was in love with me from the moment he saw me… and let’s face it… I was what… Seven? Eight years old? Is that MY fault?!”

She stops for a second and looks at me properly, I can see she knows what I am saying is making sense but she’s too corrupted in her belief that it’s all my fault that I know I’m not going to change her mind.

“I don’t care anymore.” She says solemnly. “I just want you dead.” She growls as she launches herself towards me, pushing me and the bed over, both of us tumbling to the ground behind it. All the equipment comes with us, causing a huge crash to sound out through out the whole of the institution. I hear the sound of the equipment powering up as she grabs at my throat.

Her hold is tight and hard, trying her utmost to strangle the life out of me. “This is ending today Liz!” She shouts as she crushes my wide pipe with her hands. I grip at her wrists, digging my nails into her skin once again but this time she really is unmoving. I look out the corner of my eye and see that the electrodes that were going to my head are now next to the over turned table.

I let my hands go from her wrists and desperately try to grab for them, but they are just out of my reach. I inch my hands further as my breathing becomes more and more labored, tears welling at the thought of the fact I may never see Max again if I can’t reach them. I inch nearer, my finger tips almost touching the wire and that’s when she knows what I’m doing. She looks at them and just flicks them out of the way, and turns back to me, her grip tightening.

Suddenly my last bit of adrenaline kicks and some how I manage, with a loud cry, to roll onto my side disorientating her completely to the point she lets go just enough that I can roll away from her. I have time for one gasp of breath before I’m onto my feet and at the door handle, but not only has she locked it; she’s welded it shut. I’m stuck. Stuck in here with the murdering bitch from hell.

What a nice way to spend my last night in the institution?

I say it as if I’m going to make it out of here because I am, it’s just whether or not I’m alive or dead that makes this situation difficult. Once again she goes for me, running as soon as she stands up and instantly her hands are around my throat again. This time she is pushing me into the door, crushing my chest in with her full body weight pushing her elbows into my chest.

Instinctively I kick her in the shin but with my feet bare it does nothing, so I do the last thing I have left.

I wrap my hands round her shirt sleeves and push her back far enough that it pulls her elbows out of position, then yank her forward my head moving forward at the same time. I head butt her with such force that she steps backwards for a second, her hands falling completely away from my throat. She tries to grab for it again but I’m too quick and push her chest hard with both my hands, pushing her on the metal frame of the roller bed.

The metal frame of the roller bed that is some how attached to the electrodes that Tess had pushed out from my reach. The moment she comes in contact with it, she starts to writhe in agony, her body pulsating at the pure current that is now running through her body. I look over at the equipment that is now lying on the floor, it’s set to full power.

I stagger side ways a bit as my body starts to feel the real affects of what Tess has done to my body. I stop myself from completely falling face first with my hand that slides onto the wall, barely keeping me from the falling complete. I fall limply onto it and I slowly slide down on to the floor, my gaze never leaving her body.

“Die.” I whisper to her as her body ceases to move and my eyes start to grow heavy.

Everything goes black.

[rie482]

Heya, now you are all caught up with the site write on... new parts soonish.

Thank you guys for your comments

Part twenty.

The door’s welded. Completely and utterly welded shut. Shit, no, this means it’s definitely Tess. Nicholas was right, it was fucking Tess all along… shit. What if she’s hurt Liz?!

I place my hand over the lock and instantly it pops free. If I had any sense, I wouldn’t open the door; I’d just stay here and just make believe that Liz is still alive. That she’s stood by my side again, her hand in my own.

But she’s not. The feeling I make up isn’t, it isn’t real. And I need the reality of Liz in my life; I’ve lost the world if I lose her.

So I open the door, to be greeted by the body of Tess lying across an over turned table. I ignore it as I run into the room, Liz’s name on my lips. I scan the room quickly, quietly, my heart thumping hard against my chest at the thought of what I may find.

It lurches as I turn back to the door to see a pair of pale, bare legs sticking out from behind them. “Liz?” I ask with a sob. I jump over the overturned table and I’m instantly by her side noting in horror the way she looks.

Her body is contorted into a half sat, half folded mess, her arms wrapped around her stomach and chest. She has scratch marks marked in her throat, a horrible hand shaped bruise forming around them. There is angry red blood and a scotched hand print on her once pure white gown that is barely covering her naked body. Quickly I grab at her body and straighten out of her contorted state, her arms by her side rather than clutching round her stomach. “Liz?” I ask again as I hear her cough, a cough that is wet and gurgley. I watch in complete horror as I see blood spilling out from her lips.

Instantly my hands are hovering over her body.

“Liz?” I hear his voice calling out to me in the darkness of this warm place. “Liz, you need to look at me, just like the last time.” I want to bring my hands to his body, to push him away. I don’t want to go back, not from this place. It’s warm and comforting; I’ve been here before. The first time I saw this place I had been shot, I was brought here afraid and scared, wanting to go back to the living. I was granted my wish then, but today, today is another matter. I want to rest here, I want to close my eyes for the final time because the world outside is just too much, it’s full of pain and confusion; death and destruction.

It’s a place where madness and sanity mingle together, where the world just doesn’t make simple sense any more.

There’s death, pain, grief, madness, distrust, horror, violence and hatred. I don’t want to go back to that place anymore, who would when you are offered complete peace in death?

“Please Liz.” I hear him cry out into the dark. “Please, open your eyes.”

His voice sounds broken, tearful. “Max?” I ask out into the warmth. “Is that you?” It can’t be? Can it? For a moment out in the hall he was stood there, but he wasn’t in time. Was he just a mind warp?

“Please Liz.”

I flicker my eyes open, the warm and broken voice tempting me to see, to bring the world back to my eyes. And there he is. “Max.”

Then it starts. It takes a second for our connection to roar to life, his life running through my veins. Power fills my body, awakening it slowly from the deep slumber it has been trying to claim. Cell by cell my chest starts to regenerate itself, the marks of horror disappearing from it almost completely. The metallic taste of blood drying in my mouth as the deep wounds in my lungs are slowly healed.

But that’s not what makes this moment beautiful or awe inspiring, it’s the love, hope and joy that comes flooding back to me; the darkness of death and madness being washed away by a feeling I thought I had once lost. Before my eyes I see Max Evans stood on top of the rocks the day of his destiny message. He still battle worn, his eyes telling of a night he wants to forget ever happened. I’m stood on the desert floor looking up at him, my arms clutching myself and my jacket. He is standing before me, his hand out stretched to me, his eyes pleading with me not to leave him, not again. “Don’t Liz.” He whispers, but I hear him as clearly as if he was whispering into my ear. Maybe he is. “Don’t leave me.”

A white light starts to surround us as I stand there, unsure. Do I take his hand? Do I leave this solitude and warmth?

I close my eyes, searching inside myself for a clue; an answer. Is the real world worth it?

Yes. Yes it is. Despite everything, the man before me, stood on the rocks waiting for me, has made my life worth living. Even when we are not together, I still love him. I can’t just give that up, not now as I feel the love for me bursting through my chest. It’s healing me.

So I do what I wanted to do that day in the desert, the day I turned away from him. I drop my jacket onto the floor of the desert and make my way up the rock face. My hand reaches out to him as I near him, and as he steps forward our fingers touch bringing me back to reality with a bump.

My eyes open wide and I gasp in a huge breath that leaves my heart racing. I take in several short sharp breaths before my body starts to feel settled down, my heart slowing down to a slower beat. I look over at the shirt I have gripped on to upon the moment of waking up, and all I see is Max looking down at me.

“Max?” I ask him like a frightened little girl. “Is that really you?”

He nods as tears start to fall down his cheeks. I bring my hand up to cup his cheek and I sob out loud. It is him.

“Max.”

I launch myself pathetically into his arms, my body still damaged by the turmoil of these last few hours. I close my eyes as his shivering arms surround me and hold me tightly to his chest.

“I’m here Liz.” He says softly and emotionally in my ear. “I’m here and I’m never going to let you go.”

[rie482]

Just a comment to go... WOAH. Thank you to anyone who nominated me for the award for best twist... I have never made it into the voting before so to see myself on the list of the 2nd round of voting I was shocked to say the least.

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