Out of the shadows

I struggled as much as I could to free myself from the guard's grasp. It eventually took two guards to restrain me, and a third guard that pointed a gun at my head.

They dragged me down multiple hallways. I had no idea where they were taking me, but I've never been more scared in my life.

I was going to die, and I would never see my sister or my mother again. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. I screamed and shouted so loud that my voice almost lost its sound.

They quickly brought me to a large door and shoved me inside the room.

I hit the floor hard, and it took me a second to get up.

When I reached the door again it was locked. I banged on the door as hard as I could but it wouldn't open.

After a moment, I sank to the floor with my head leaning against the door. I had lost all hope in everyone, and I felt so stupid for trusting them. Even my stepfather, who my mom loved so much, betrayed us.

I was all alone now, with no one to help me. There was no one there to tell me that things would be alright.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for whatever would happen next.

"Malaika?" I suddenly heard someone's voice say.

When I opened my eyes and looked up, I saw Lia standing above me.

I paused in disbelief.

"Lia?" The sound of her name hardly came out of my mouth.

She smiled as tears began to run down her face. I immediately got up and hugged her tight, and we both sobbed our eyes out. I couldn't believe that she was actually in my arms.

"I missed you so much!" She cried.

"I missed you too! I thought I would never see you again!"

I began to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I'm glad that we found each other. Who brought you here, Lia?"

"The guards did. I thought that I would be taken back to that scary Lady, but they brought me to this room instead."

I looked around the room and noticed that it was another empty lab room.

"We have to get out of here, it's not safe here."

"But how are we going to get back home?" She asked in a worried tone.

"We just need to find one of those rocks. They can make portals to bring us back home."

The only problem was that Kai said that they were having trouble opening a portal back to earth, but now, I had trouble believing anything that he told me.

"The door is locked. We need to find another way out of here."

Before I began to move, I saw a shadow. There was a silhouette of a man standing in the corner of the room. I instantly pushed Lia behind me.

"That won't be necessary." I heard a familiar voice say.

The man stepped out from the dark corner and I instantly recognized him.

"L….Levi?"

He smiled at me. "Hi girls."

I instantly began to feel anger and rage again. I screamed and ran towards him. He instantly caught my arms and stopped me from hitting him.

"Malaika stop!"

I ignored him. "You monster! How could you do this to us?"

"Shhh! Be quiet or they'll hear you. Just calm down and let me explain everything."

I pushed him away from me and moved back to Lia.

"What is there to explain? And why should I believe anything that you say to me? You betrayed us and you betrayed my mom. What did you do to her?"

"She's fine. She's still at the house. She has the police searching everywhere for you two. I told her that I would search too."

It took everything that I had to stop myself from hitting him again.

"Why did you lie to her? You're the one who did this?"

"I didn't lie. I was searching everywhere to find both of you. You are right. It is my fault that you are here, but I didn't bring you here on purpose. You see, I'm not actually from your world. I'm from this world, and this world is a lot more dangerous than yours."

"Yeah. I know," I interrupted.

He sighed and continued. "Anyway, it took everything to escape from this world. It's not just the demons you have to deal with, it's the people too. The man you just saw back there, his name is Derrick and he's my father. He's been the leader over everyone and everything here for a long time. He uses the rocks to control the demons. The demons scare the citizens into doing whatever he wants them to do and if they don't listen, they will be turned into demons. It was terrifying to live in a world like this, so when I got access to the rocks, I left to go to another world. That's when I found earth. Earth is also broken but it's better than where I used to live. I was later adopted by my other father on earth and we started to grow our family. That's when I met Kai. My first stepbrother. My father married his mother."

So Kai was telling the truth about that part. They actually are step brothers.

He continued.

I struggled as much as I could to free myself from the guard's grasp. It eventually took two guards to restrain me, and a third guard that pointed a gun at my head.

They dragged me down multiple hallways. I had no idea where they were taking me, but I've never been more scared in my life.

I was going to die, and I would never see my sister or my mother again. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. I screamed and shouted so loud that my voice almost lost its sound.

They quickly brought me to a large door and shoved me inside the room.

I hit the floor hard, and it took me a second to get up.

When I reached the door again it was locked. I banged on the door as hard as I could but it wouldn't open.

After a moment, I sank to the floor with my head leaning against the door. I had lost all hope in everyone, and I felt so stupid for trusting them. Even my stepfather, who my mom loved so much, betrayed us.

I was all alone now, with no one to help me. There was no one there to tell me that things would be alright.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for whatever would happen next.

"Malaika?" I suddenly heard someone's voice say.

When I opened my eyes and looked up, I saw Lia standing above me.

I paused in disbelief.

"Lia?" The sound of her name hardly came out of my mouth.

She smiled as tears began to run down her face. I immediately got up and hugged her tight, and we both sobbed our eyes out. I couldn't believe that she was actually in my arms.

"I missed you so much!" She cried.

"I missed you too! I thought I would never see you again!"

I began to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I'm glad that we found eachother. Who told you I was here, Lia?"

"The guards did. I thought that I would be taken back to that scary Lady, but they brought me to this room instead."

I looked around the room and noticed that it was another empty lab room.

"We have to get out of here, it's not safe here."

"But how are we going to get back home?" She asked in a worried tone.

"We just need to find one of those rocks. They can make portals to bring us back home."

The only problem was that Kai said that they were having trouble opening a portal back to earth, but now, I had trouble believing anything that he told me.

"The door is locked. We need to find another way out of here."

Before I began to move, I saw a shadow. There was a silhouette of a man standing in the corner of the room. I instantly pushed Lia behind me.

"That won't be necessary." I heard a familiar voice say.

The man stepped out from the dark corner and I instantly recognized him.

"L….Levi?"

He smiled at me. "Hi girls."

I instantly began to feel anger and rage again. I screamed and ran towards him. He instantly caught my arms and stopped me from hitting him.

"Malaika stop!"

I ignored him. "You monster! How could you do this to us?"

"Shhh! Be quiet or they'll hear you. Just calm down and let me explain everything."

I pushed him away from me and moved back to Lia.

"What is there to explain? And why should I believe anything that you say to me? You betrayed us and you betrayed my mom. What did you do to her?"

"She's fine. She's still at the house. She has the police searching everywhere for you two. I told her that I would search too."

It took everything that I had to stop myself from hitting him again.

"Why did you lie to her? You're the one who did this?"

"I didn't lie. I was searching everywhere to find both of you. You are right. It is my fault that you are here, but I didn't bring you here on purpose. You see, I'm not actually from your world. I'm from this world, and this world is a lot more dangerous than yours."

"Yeah. I know," I interrupted.

He sighed and continued. "Anyway, it took everything to escape from this world. It's not just the demons you have to deal with, it's the people too. The man you just saw back there, his name is Derrick and he's my father. He's been the leader over everyone and everything here for a long time. He uses the rocks to control the demons. The demons scare the citizens into doing whatever he wants them to do and if they don't listen, they will be turned into demons. It was terrifying to live in a world like this, so when I got access to the rocks, I left to go to another world. That's when I found earth. Earth is also broken but it's better than where I used to live. I was later adopted by my other father on earth and we started to grow our family. That's when I met Kai. My first stepbrother. My father married his mother."

So Kai was telling the truth about that part. They actually are step brothers.

He continued.

"I thought I was free from my old life and that I was ready to start a new one, but then strange things started to happen. I started getting visions about the people that I loved on earth suddenly being trapped on my planet. I would create paintings of people unintentionally while using the pieces of the rocks I had that brought me here. I would crush the rocks and mix them in with my paint. Once I was done with the painting I would give it to them. The next day I would hear the news that they had gone missing. That's when I realized that Derrick was punishing me. He was controlling me by making me send more people back to his world so that he could turn them into demons. I did everything I could to stop myself from doing that. I even tried distancing myself from everyone, but I couldn't stop the urge. The reason why he took Lia was to punish me more and because my mother wanted to replace me after I left her. Derrick also needed you too. I knew you were here and I came back here to save all of you. I knew that your mother would be the next victim, and I couldn't let that happen. I didn't tell her about all of this because I didn't want to scare her even more. I had to reason with Derrick to come back here, and I eventually found Kai first."

"Wait, if you found him, then why didn't Kai want to go back home?" I asked.

"Because Derrick has his mother locked up, along with my father from earth. He didn't know about it at first until I told him. Now he wants to stay to save his mother."

"When did you guys talk?"

"I spoke with him earlier. I secretly followed Jaden back to the castle. It took a while for Kai to trust me, but I told him everything that was going on at the cave, and about Derrick, and he believed me. I also told him that I was searching for you."

I frowned. "If you knew I was there why didn't you come to me then?"

"Because of the plan I made with Kai. You see, Derrick wants you. He needs you actually. He's been searching everywhere for someone with unique abilities."

"Unique abilities?"

"Yes, he noticed your presence when you came in through the wrong portal. Ever since then he's been testing you. Did you notice how some of the demons act weird around you when you come in contact with them? You killed that giant demon all on your own. No one else could kill it but you. He has some plan that involves you. You're the perfect piece to that plan."

"Why is that? Why am I so different?"

"I don't know. But I don't think he will let you out of his sight now. The plan that Kai and I made was for him to turn you in so that he could be rewarded by getting to see his mother. Derrick thinks that you're locked up right now, but I arranged for the guards to let me see you. I have the rocks here so that we can open a portal back to earth and go home. Once we get back home, I'll try to stay out of your lives as much as I can, but you need to be on the lookout for Derrick, understand?"

I wasn't believing anything that he was saying.

"It's hard to believe that Kai trusted you. Earlier he told me he wanted to kill you. He's been planning it for years. There's no way he would let me go with you, unless he really doesn't care about me."

Levi shook his head. "He does care, but he also cares about his mother. He hasn't seen her in years. You would have done the same wouldn't you? Besides, he said he would kill me if I didn't bring you home safely."

I paused, not knowing what to say. He was right. I have done the same thing. I used both Kai and his team to help find my sister, knowing that they were at risk of dying. Even though Kai volunteered, I still went along with it.

I suddenly started to feel very conflicted and I didn't know what to do.

"H… How can I trust you? How can I believe anything that you're saying?"

He looked at me and I could tell that he was full of sympathy.

"I understand that it's hard for you to trust me, but I wouldn't be here trying to help you right now if I didn't care. You're scared and you're running out of people to trust, but Kai didn't betray you. He wanted me to take you back home. Please, you have to come with me."

I looked at the rocks and then looked back at him.

"If I go back home, Derrick is just going to keep targeting us. All of us. We will never be safe."

"We'll work it out. We'll try to find a way to lock the portals for good."

I shook my head. " That takes time, and we don't have time. I have to kill him. If he still lives he's just going to keep using you, and he's going to keep turning people into demons. I have to stay."

Lia looked at me with a sad face. "No Malaika!"

"Levi, you have to take Lia and get her back home. Tell my mom the truth, and tell her I'll be alright."

"No! No! No!" Lia yelled.

Levi paused before speaking. "You know it's not safe, Malaika. I can't let you do that."

"I know it's not safe, but I can take care of myself. Besides, I care more about my family than I do myself."

"No! I won't let you!"

After a moment I agreed with him. "Okay. Let's go home."

I watched as Levi opened a portal and I saw the living room of our home through a green tunnel. My mom was standing at the end, and her eyes were wide open as she looked at us from the other side.

My eyes began to tear up as I saw her, and I knew that Levi was telling the truth.

Levi took Lia's hand and Lia took mine. We all started going through, I pulled my hand from Lia and pushed them forward.

" Malaika." Lia yelled.

I stood still. "I'm sorry, but I have to stay."

"No!" They both yelled.

Levi tried to run back to get me but the portal began to close.

Then they all vanished and I was left alone.