Something made me jiggle and I cracked open my eyes. Chance was driving with a determined expression on his face. He glanced over at me and I quickly pretended to be asleep.
"You were always bad at pretending to sleep." He said.
I opened my eyes and glared at him.
"Why can I never confuse you?!"
"You have confused me before, just not in the way you want." He said nonchalantly.
I feel my face flush as he winks at me. I look in the back seat and see all of the kids are asleep. Adeline is laying across their laps. I feel someone staring at me and look over to see Eclipse smirking at me. I turn back towards the front when I see something jump into the middle of the road.
"Watch out!" I scream.
After that everything went black.
⬖⬘⬗
All I could smell was smoke and burning hair. I felt someone lift me before I blacked out again. I heard people murmuring in low voices. I felt someone's hand in mine. I opened my eyes, but I saw nothing. I heard rustling beside me and I turned towards it. I heard a strong voice say,
"She's awake!"
I realized then that it was Eclipse's voice. I felt someone barrel into me. Judging from how little they were I guessed it was Adeline. I felt a cold hand press against my forehead. I heard Chance's voice as he told the other kids to leave. I heard him take a deep, shaky breath before speaking.
"Melyssia… I'm so sorry. I should've been paying attention to the road but I couldn't stop looking at you and now you're hurt…"
I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him to me. I wrapped my arms protectively behind him and he snuggled against my shoulder.
"Chance?"
"What?" He responded shakily.
"Can you take off my bandages?"
He sounded like he wanted to say no but he knew there was no fighting me on this. He reached behind my head and slowly began peeling the bandages off. I opened my eyes again and saw Chance sitting in front of me with a surprised expression on his face. Tears welled up in his eyes as he pulled me into his arms. I felt his tears wet my shoulder as he cried out of relief. I kissed his forehead and nearly pulled him on top of me. I started giggling like a madman when he pulled away looking like a tomato.
I couldn't help it. I've teased him since the first time we met. It's just how our relationship works. I guess I go from kid sister to girlfriend in .01 seconds. He smirked and grabbed my face and planted a firm kiss on my lips as Melody opened the door and screamed,
"STOP LEWDING HER YOU PERVERT!"
She ran up and shoved him away from me. Melody has always been protective of me. I guess in a way I remind them of their sister. Their sister's throat was slit when a burglar broke into their house in the middle of the night. Melody was the one who found her in the morning. She was on the bathroom floor laying in a pool of blood. Melody screamed for her family but it was too late. Her sister was dead. Melody puts up a tough front, but on the inside she is just a scared little girl. She's afraid of separation, she's scared of losing people she cares about again. She was bullied at school for being too much like a boy. Until she beat the crap out of the boys who bullied her.
To put it simply, all of us have been broken in some way. All the kids crowded onto the bed and gave me the biggest group hug of all time. Even Eclipse who wasn't a big fan of physical contact. Everyone was happy and it made me realize that they're the most important things in my life. I pulled back and realized something very important that I hadn't thought about before.
"Guys, where are we?"
"On a boat off the coast of Maine." Adeline said with a smile.
"How did we get here?"
"A friend owed me a favor." Chance stated simply.
A middle-aged man then walked into the room followed by a younger one.
"Good. You're awake. My name is Chris and this is my son, Levi."
I smiled at Chris and gave a tiny wave. I then noticed Levi looking at me. There was something oddly familiar about him… Then it hit me like a sack of potatoes to the gut.
"You're the boy from my dream!" I practically shouted.
Levi rubbed his arm nervously but did not say anything. Chris looked quizzically at his son before turning back to me.
"Are you sure it was Levi? You hit your head pretty hard."
I glared at Chris.
"I had that dream before the crash. I remember something about people wanting to kill him!"
"Melyssia." Chance chided softly
"I know it's you. In the Dream Realm you introduced yourself as Leviathan."
"How does she know your full name?!" Chris bellowed.
"Because I went to the Dream Realm." Levi mumbled.
"You better speak up boy!"
"Because I went to the Dream Realm!" Levi shouted.
Everyone fell quiet as we watched Chris fume more than he was a few minutes ago.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO TO THE DREAM REALM BECAUSE IT IS TOO DANGEROUS!" Chris bellowed.
"WELL IT WASN'T LIKE YOU WERE GOING TO TELL ME THE TRUTH!" Levi shouted back.
"WHAT TRUTH?!"
"THE ONE ABOUT MY PARENTS!"
"WHAT ABOUT YOUR PARENTS?!"
"YOU NEVER TOLD ME I WAS ADOPTED AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME I HAD A SISTER?!"
" What are you even talking about?" Chance interrupted.
"Before I met Melyssia in the Dream Realm, I saw her life through her eyes. The next day I was given a lesson about what it means to look at another's life."
"And?"
"You can only view someone's life if you've been in contact with them."
"So what does that mean?" I cut in.
"It means that I would've had to touch you in order to see your life."
"Even my childhood?"
"Yeah."
"But how?! I can't even remember the faces of my parents! How would you be able to see that?!" I yelled.
"The Dream Realm sees everything I could teach you all the things I've learned. If you don't mind?"
"Wait. You said you would've had to touch me in order to access my memories, correct?"
"Yeah."
"So you would've had to hold me as a baby! How old are you?"
"Almost sixteen, like you."
"So how….? WE'RE TWINS!!!"
Chance reached over to take my hand but I was too excited. I jumped out of the bed and raced to Levi. I held his hands while I jumped up and down like a little girl.
"I've always wanted a twin?!"
I wrapped my arms around Levi who hesitantly hugged me back. Levi gasped in pain as Chris pulled him away from me. He turned Levi around and slapped him.
"I RESCUED YOU FROM THAT CAR BOY! SHE'S NOT YOU SISTER! YOU HAVE NO FAMILY BESIDES ME!" Chris screamed.
Levi just stood there and took it. He didn't even try to fight back. When Chris raised his hand again, I instantly stepped between them. I felt a sharp sting on my cheek as I fell backwards. My eyes watered from how much it hurt. Levi caught me and held me close.
"YOU SAD OLD BASTARD! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DOWN?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY YEARS OF TORTURE I WENT THROUGH BECAUSE OF YOU! I AM NEVER GOING TO LET YOU ANYWHERE NEAR ME OR MY SISTER AGAIN!" Levi spat.
It was hard to imagine Levi being so angry. When I first met him he seemed like such a nice person and he still seemed like that. It's just that it's like he wasn't meant to be angry. Chris had to have hurt in inexplicable ways to make him that angry. Apparently I was the last straw. Chris looked like he was about to say something else but Levi cut him off.
"No! I am done with all of the things you've done! I don't want you around anymore! I don't ever want to see you again! You hear me! I said I'm done with you and I don't need you anymore! I hate you!"
Chris backed away, shocked at Levi's sharp words. Before we could stop him, Chris walked out the door and jumped on the propeller. All I saw was the red that flooded the water afterwards.
Chance wrapped his arms around me as Levi stood watching as we went farther and farther away from the carnage. In that moment I knew that my twin needed me almost as much as I have always needed him.