Reunion

After the awkward reunion, we quickly load up on trucks waiting off to the side. I push away from my brother, not wanting to look at him as I help Thane up into the back of the truck. We need to get further away from the City and fast.

Everyone silently piles in before the trucks take off. I slide my hand over Thane's leg and when I feel the wound, I lightly press my hand against it. Thane watches me with simi-dark eyes, unsure of what I'm doing but trusting me.

When I slowly close my eyes, I release my power. At first, nothing happens but I try to remember the feeling I had when I healed myself. Suddenly, my leg burns in pain making me flinch. I grit my teeth, refusing to stop or show any signs of pain as I focus on it and start to heal it.

The gunshot was on Thane's leg but as I healed it, I felt it on my leg as if it were my own. I feel the skin stitching itself back together and with an extra push, it heals up with nothing but a red patch of skin remaining.

I release my power and give Thane a weak smile before leaning on him and closing my eyes. Thane's eyes hold a million questions but he keeps his mouth shut as the men around us glance at us from time to time. They have no idea what I just did and I want to keep it that way.

He pulls me up against him and holds me tight, finally allowing me to relax. I reach out and lightly touch my own leg but there's no blood. Nothing.... but the pain soon slowly fades from it like a bad memory or dream.

I guess if I heal others... I'll feel their pain also. Does that mean I'll die if I try to save someone from death and fail? I push the dark thoughts to the back of my mind and pay attention to the path we take. My brother keeps staring at me but I ignore his silent pleas to look at him.

When we finally come to a stop hours later, Thane's the first to jump down off the truck. He quickly turns and lifts his arms to me so I take them without a word. I look around the wooded area with disinterest but when I smell something, I turn and look to the left.

Valen and his men walk over to the left and pull back a large tree branch, revealing a military camp of some kind. That isn't what caught my attention though... I start walking over, passing the men around me as if they're not even there.

When I come to a stop next to Valen, I look out and feel my breath hitch. Valen's always been taller and more built than me but we had both changed so much over the last year and a half... we almost didn't look like twins anymore.

He tries to reach out and touch me but I'm already walking forward. My knees almost give out but it isn't from fatigue this time. I stumble and quickly catch myself before taking another step and then another. How?

When I reach the end of the table, I slow to a silent stop. My parents both had their backs to me, trying to cook something over an open fire and arguing. "I told you that it has to come to a boil first! What if you give us worms!" My mother says while lightly slapping my father's shoulder.

My father scoffs and says "I'm a man, I know what I'm doing! Trust me, you aren't going to get worms." My chin quivers as silent tears begin to fall down my cheeks. They're so close and yet... I can't bring myself to call out to them.

It's like the words are stuck in my throat, unable to even whisper out to them. My chest rises and falls as emotions I thought were long gone come rushing back. I lift my hand and place it over my heart as I try to take a step forward.

It hurts...

I lift my foot but instead of going forward, I take a step back. What if... what if they hate what I've become? My tears continue to fall, blurring my vision and making the whole thing seem like a cruel illusion.

It becomes harder to breathe as I take another step back, afraid to see what their reaction to me would be. Afraid that they would fear me... just afraid. My mom gives my dad an unconvinced look before turning around to grab something from the table.

My heart nearly stops when our eyes meet. She freezes in her place, unable to move as she stares at me with... fear? Shock? Disbelief? She tries to step forward but she stumbles. I take several steps toward her before freezing again.

She continues to stare at me as her breathing becomes just as erratic as mine. My father quickly catches her and helps her stand again asking "Are you okay? Is it your blood pressure again?" But when my mom continues to silently stare at me, my dad turns to look with a frown.

Frozen.

Every single one of us.

My mom suddenly screams, causing everyone in the camp to turn and look. I try to swallow past the tight lump in my throat but I can't. She pushes away from my father and stumbles again before she's running to me.

I take a step forward, the entire scene completely blurry from all my tears but I continue to take step after step. Tears run down my mom's face as she lifts her arms and crashes into me. She knocks the air out of me but I welcome the pain.

The pain tells me it's real. It tells me she's really here and really hugging me. The pain tells me that I'm still alive. Her cries sound like something I never want to hear again. It tears at my soul, and at my heart. It's full of all the unspoken grief she's held onto and finally releasing. It's full of blame and gratitude.

It's full of love.

I try to hug her back but her arms are wrapped tightly around me, unable to let me go. I grit my teeth, still trying to keep from breaking down but when I look over my mother's shoulder, I see my father in tears but he's smiling.

He locks eyes with me and stiffly nods his head as he says "Good. You did good. You did very good by coming back to us. My good little girl..." The last bit of strength I had left in me leaves with his words, instantly causing me to break down in tears.

My dad quickly walks up and wraps my mother and I both in a hug as we all cry for various reasons but one, in particular, stands out to me. My mom kept repeating "I knew she wasn't dead. I knew it. I knew she'd come back to us. She wouldn't leave us... she wouldn't."

Guilt crashes into me in powerful waves as my thoughts go back to the time I died and stayed dead... Where I begged for death to take me. To all the times I looked death in the face and didn't care... to all the times I almost died and never came back. To all the times... I really did leave them.

I've returned but I'm no longer the same daughter they once had. She really did die...