1-2 (Writing Prompt)

"Skin" - Ted Decker

..:: Spoiler Alert! ::..

If you have yet to read the above book do not continue below if you don't want a spoiler!!

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Wendy awoke in the hotel, eyes puffy from all the tears she had shed the night before. Her body felt numb, as if it wasn't her own anymore. She got up from the not so pristine white bed and stepped into cold tiled bathroom. The hot water rushed from the pipes and spilled steam into the room, covering the mirror in a light fog. She looked at herself in the mirror and couldn't recognize the child that stood in her place. Yesterday she had been an adult, living her own life, running from a murderer in a library with Colt. Yesterday, she was a strong, fierce woman. Today was different, she was a grown woman trapped in the body of her sixteen year old self. Today, years of memories were lies, nothing but ones and zeros in a computer program that nearly cost her and Colt their lives. She let herself get lost in the heat of the shower. Let the tears fall down her face as she tried to hold herself together. The knock on her door was so gentle she nearly missed it. Quickly drying off and wrapping herself in a robe she moved to crack the door open before flinging it wide and wrapping her arms around the boy who yesterday was the man who had saved her life.

"Colt!" They stumbled to the floor together, Wendy's sobs mixing with the comforting sounds of Colt's voice shushing her like he used to do. She knew it was him from his eyes, those same eyes that held her captive and made her feel safe at the same time. She let his voice calm her, to listen to his heart beat and know that he was there for her.

"I know, Wendy. I know. It's gonna be okay." His voice was different, higher than it used to be. But it was still the same lilting tone she had come to know and love.

"I just can't believe they did that to us, Colt! They turned our own minds into a horror story, and now what? Do they really expect us to just go back to our lives? I can't go back, Colt... What happened to me there, I can't face it as I am now." Her sobs had slowly stilled and she could feel her panic beginning to fade as she let herself be comforted by the strong willed cowboy who held her in his arms, lifting her off the floor and carrying her like a princess to her recently vacated bed.

"We can start new then, where you want to go. I know were technically only sixteen again but why should that stop us when we've really lived a long life in a short time already, ya know? We can't let those damn scientist ruin our lives. We gotta stay strong now Wendy. Together. I'm not gonna let anything hurt you, remember 'Legs'?" He gave her that boyish smile that melted her heart and she couldn't help but smile at the name he used to call her when they were adults in that blasted sandstorm town. She knew it wasn't the company's fault that Red had turned their simulation into his own personal killing floor, and Red was dead now, He couldn't hurt them anymore, but how could she not keep seeing the shadows in the corners as places for him to hide. Colt held her for a while longer before letting her go and asking if she would join him for breakfast. An hour or so later they sat across from one another at one of the small tables in the main dining area munching on a plastic bowl full of cereal with a tall glass of milk.

"You know, I think I'm gonna have to get a fake ID, not sure how I'm gonna get through most days without a nice cold brew now and then, ya know? Kinda got used to it in there. What 'bout you, Legs?" She laughed, it didn't touch her eyes but Colt was glad he could hear that laugh again.

"I might need a nice glass of wine now and then myself." They both laughed as they received a strange look from an older woman who had passed by. This time it did touch her eyes and COlt was glad for it. She had enough trauma running through her brain to melt a solider, let alone a sixteen year girl who had just escaped her cultist parents. He clenched the glass in his hand a little tighter, not having grasped his anger-control issues just yet. He had to close his eyes, count to ten and breathe before he could loosen his grip. The hormones of a teenage male still causing trouble in that department.

"I'm worried about tomorrow Colt. We need to talk about everything that happened in the program. I'm not sure I can re-live all of those memories. To see myself on a screen the way I was, knowing what I know now. I mean, for us it took years, but it was less than twenty-four hours in that virtual world. Now, even though I feel like I'm still the Wendy from that world, I'm just a sixteen year old girl who ran away from home. Let's face it, I'm just a little bit damaged." She hung her head back with a sigh, switching her crossed legs under the table just like she always did. There was something about those long legs of her that Colt just couldn't help but smile at. She was beautiful, she was his before, was she still? He reached his hand out to hold hers, intertwining their fingers, caught her smile from the corner of his eye.

"Wendy, we've been through a lot, more than any kid our age, either age really." He chuckled softly. "It's gonna take time, and there probably won't be a normal, for us. Tomorrow we go to court, we tell our story of pain and suffering, and because you were very good at what you did in that other world, I'm sure we will win this settlement. We can do this, together. Us against the world. And then, we go wherever you wanna go."