I looked back at the creatures that practically destroyed half of the street. I thought they were simply a troop of monkeys going wild but monkeys don't have huge muscles like that of a gorilla or extremely long hair and monkeys definitely have eyes.
...but these didn't.
A loud thud sounded above the car and I screamed. Something peered down my window and a hairy hand reached out for my face as I screamed even louder. Something blasted it away and I watched it disappear.
"What the heck??!!!" I screamed as I looked back at the lady. She had blasted it away but I didn't know how she did that.
"Hang on." She said and stepped on the petal. I held the seatbelt as I wondered if I was actually getting away from death or rather sitting inside it.
She kept making sharp turns and I wondered how those things could catch up with a car going over 130 km. We finally pulled up in front of a house and she got down and I immediately followed suit. She went to the front of the car and wondered if she was crazy. We should be running and not striking a superhero pose in front of a car. I went over to her as I didn't feel safe not knowing the whereabouts of those things. I touched her shoulder and they came into view. They were all running towards us at full speed.
"Ah! They're coming!"
"I can see that sweetheart." She said with a relaxed voice and then she stretched out her hand and almost immediately, they all floated into the air.
My jaw dropped as I couldn't believe what I was seeing. While I was being dumbstruck, something flashed in my head. A familiar scene...but with a different person. I could make out three people in an unfamiliar living room, two in front and someone standing next to me. Strangely, I couldn't make out their faces. The picture was blurry. I felt my temple as I felt a sharp pain.
Looking back at the lady, she closed her hand into a fist and the creatures disappeared.
"Woah!" I exclaimed and she hurriedly pulled me along as we made our way toward the house we'd parked in front of.
"That took almost all the strength I managed to save up. We have to hurry. If another flock of those come again, I wouldn't be able to handle them." She said as she turned the door knob but it was locked. She released my hand and kicked the door wide open.
"Come on." She walked in and I followed behind her.
"Why didn't you just get your key?" I asked
"I never said I live here." She replied and I paused.
"What?!"
I looked back at the door
"You mean we're breaking into someone's house?!" I yelled.
"No, but you might as well just attract people over and let them think we really are breaking in." She said and I was about to yell again when I noticed the ceiling of the house. It looked the same as the one I'd just recollected.
Have I been in here before?
I thought as I moved inward. I didn't know why I felt like I was forgetting so many things.
"Here."
I turned at the sound of her voice as a bag came flying at me.
"Woah!" I caught it just in time and she pointed at the open fridge behind her.
"Pack it up." She said and my eyes fell open.
"What?!...okay this is crazy. First we break in, now we're stealing. What exactly are you up to?"
She stared at me like I'd just asked a silly question before she let out a sigh.
"Look, we're not breaking in," she started and I raised a brow at her "okay, maybe we did break in but I know the people who live here. They've been stranded in a place and are low on resources. We need to get this to them if you wish to see them alive. Alex included."
"I don't even know this people– and wait, aren't you Alex? I'm pretty sure the one on the line was you."
"I did speak to you but I am not Alex. Now get your hands moving, I'll explain more on the way." She said and I watched her move to the kitchen and swing open the cabinets. I didn't know why I was answering her requests. She could be a crazy person driving me into her delusional state of life, but I couldn't say that after what I'd seen myself. I moved to the fridge as I scanned for what to pick.
"This better be worth my while." I sighed.
**********
Tyson.
The leaves covering the soft ray of the sun looked pretty bright and beautiful in the silence. My eyes slowly came open as it adjusted to the light. I blinked again as I wondered where I was. Then the memories flooded back in and my eyes widened. I didn't feel pains anywhere, but I felt weak. I winced as I struggled to stand up.
"Tyson."
I paused and looked to my side to see Tyler. His swollen eyes caught my attention.
"...h-hey–"
"Jesus." He sighed as he placed his hand over his eyes. My eyes wouldn't stop blinking as I was confused. I tried to move closer to him but then I froze as I heard him sniff. He tried to muffle his whimper but he couldn't hide how red he'd gotten or the tears that poured down his face.
"Hey." My voice coming out softly as I moved closer to him and gently put my hand on his shoulder.
He was shaking.
"Oh my God Tyler." I muttered as I pulled him in and gave him a pat on his back. I was scared. It's been so long since I'd seen him cry and his eyes told me he's been at it for a while. My heart suddenly jumped as I remembered the last thing I saw was Alex.
No way.
My head dashed at both sides...she wasn't there. I let go of Tyler to look behind me and a huge sign of relief swept over me. She was asleep. It felt like my breathing had been seized as I let out a heavy sigh. Alex is okay, so am I. I looked back at Tyler and wondered what had made him so sad.
"Hey Tyler. Look at me," I whispered as lowered my head to meet his eyes. He still had them covered. "Tyler. It's fine, everything's fine–okay? Tell me what happened."
"It's not fine!" He finally lowered his hand and spoke in a shaky tone. "How could you... how could you sleep for so long?!... do you have any idea how frightened I was? I was scared my blood...my blood hadn't work, a-and you– you..." His tears increased "Your breathing wasn't stable. You would suddenly stop breathing and this cat kept telling me you were fine but how am I supposed to believe that when it's been going on for almost a week!"
"Wait hold on," I shut my eyes as I tried to make sense of his words. "What do you mean I stopped breathing?– no not that... what cat are you talking about? And more importantly... A week?!"
"Yes a week! I thought I was loosing my mind here so don't yell at me!" He cried out and I flinched. I wanted to tell him he was the one literally yelling here but it didn't seem like the right time to. He looked really stressed.
"It's been so long since I've seen the crybaby side of you." I teased with a little smile.
"Shut it." He mumbled as he wiped his tears off.
"You sure you want Alex to see you looking like that?" I whispered as I tried to get his mind off things. He was beginning to calm down but the frown on his face told me It wasn't working. He ran his fingers through his hair and I knew he was worried. He kept staring at Alex who was asleep.
"I'm glad you're okay... but just like you, Alex hasn't woken up once. What's weird is that strange marks keep appearing on her body
"Marks?" I said and I got up to walk over to her but I fell back as fast as I stood.
"Hey! Careful, you okay?" Tyler jumped as he got worried over again. My head felt light for a moment, I gave it a little shake and got a hold of myself.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said as I thought crawling was the best I could manage at the moment. I got closer to her and I realized what he meant.
Bruises.
"What happened?" I asked as I examined her body.
"I couldn't heal her up. My body kept rejecting me, so the cat gave me something that could heal her, not completely, but it was better than nothing. Most of the wounds have closed up, but then new ones started to show up even when all she did was lay there." Tyler explained and I finally picked up the odd word from his sentence.
"You mentioned a cat earlier and now. What do you mean by that?" I asked as I looked at him?
"While I was trying to help Alex, the cat showed up out of nowhere. It was able to snap Alex out of her rampage. It said it was Kathryn, I didn't believe it at first but she really helped us out. She also got us out of the maze 'cause she said it was dangerous to remain ther..."
"Hold on. You're saying... a cat showed up to you, told you she's Kathryn and gave you a potion to use on Alex... and you took it?" I asked and Tyler gently bit his lips.
"I had no other choice. Alex was really struggling and I didn't know what to do. She was able to dissipate the flowers on her so I thought I could trust her–"
"–nononono, Tyler! You can't just take things from anyone or anything in this forest, did you forget I told you we are not allowed to take anything from this forest? And you even went ahead to feed it to her, we don't know if that could be the cause of..."
I stopped as I noticed he had his lower lip in his mouth as his eyes teared up over again.
"Wait– I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to...ugh!" I groaned as I pressed the bridge of my nose. I wasn't trying to make him feel terrible. He really did great hanging on and I stupidly scolded him after he watched over us. I didn't have the right to yell at him after I slept off for almost a week. I sighed as I rubbed my face and pressed my lips on my hand. I knew I had to be calm about this.
"It's okay. We can get out of this. Where's the cat?" I asked
"I-I don't know. It said it had to get something done and it left saying it would be back." Tyler answered with his voice unsteady.
I stared at Alex, there was a bruise around her neck, as if someone had strangled her. There was another bruise beside her lips. When I was busy wondering how many more she had on her, one appeared right in front of me. My eyes widened as a cut appeared on the left side of her brows. I couldn't believe it.
"Another cut just appeared." I said and Tyler moved over to get a closer look. I muttered "This is insane."
There must definitely be more of this, I thought and I reached for her top as I silently asked for her permission. I pulled it up just below her chest and Tyler was about to object but we both froze.
My hand slowly reached for the back of my head as I was trying really hard to not freak out.
"Did you know about this?" I asked Tyler but the shocked look on his face told me all I needed to know.
"Could this all have been from the last fight?" Tyler asked and I didn't know if it was okay to tell him it wasn't. I could tell the ones that were of recent but most of it were certainly from a long time ago. Why didn't she tell us about this? Was she moving with all these all along? I pulled her cloth down and tried to check her hand but I stopped when I remembered the scars. I thought I probably shouldn't give Tyler any more shocking revelation so I pulled back.
"Show me the potion the cat gave to you."
He didn't move for a while until I called him again. He looked at me like he was in a daze before he reached for his back pocket and took out a bottle smaller than a finger. I took it as I examined the empty bottle still with traces of a purple liquid. I turned the lid and sniffed it. I pulled my hand back as the smell felt familiar. I put it back to my nose and gave it another sniff then I pulled it away.
"I remember. Grandpa also had this! He would add this to his tea every morning. I guess it was for healing." I said as a lot of his actions started to make sense to me.
"So...its safe?" Tyler asked anxiously.
"If it is what I think it is." I said and gave a nod. He looked back at Alex and folded up. He must've been so frustrated cause he wasn't able to do anything. "She's gonna be okay Tyler. You did well watching over us."
I said with a soft smile and he buried his head. I looked back at Alex and I finally noticed the change in her hair. The braid had come loose and her hair sprawled out behind her. My brows shot up as she looked so much more familiar with her hair loose. I tilted my head a little to the side as I felt something coming to me.
"Where have I seen her?" I mumbled as my brain kept processing something. I raised my head up to the sky and as the sun escaped through the spaces on the trees, my mind snapoed.
I looked back down at Alex as I couldn't stop blinking. I saw Tyler raise his head from the corner of my eyes.
"What's wrong?" He asked but I couldn't answer.
I couldn't tell him.
I couldn't let him know that the girl in front of me was the same girl Grandpa and I had seen trying to jump off a roof ten years ago.