Wide Awake - Academy of the Fallen Series (17 page)

THIRTY-FOUR

Hunter sat on the bed next to Kayla and closed his eyes.  He just sat there silently, just focusing, and it was Kayla who called his name.

“Hunter.”

“Kayla, I need to know that you can really hear me.”

Her voice sounded weak.  “I want to get out of here.  I want to go home.”

“I know you do, Kayla.  You need to listen to me.  I was there before and I’m going to help you find your way out, but you can’t give in.”

“But there are so many of them.  So many lost souls, and they keep saying that I can help; that I’m one of the children.  I don’t understand.”

“I don’t want you to think about that right now, Kayla.  I want you to find a place where you can focus, where you can be alone.”

KAYLA

I had never been so lost and scared in my life.  I knew where I was.  The place was exactly how Carolyn had described it, only when she talked about it she never mentioned other beings trying to get to her… following her.  Whenever I asked what they wanted, all they said was “Help me”, and then someone else would come along, and scare them away, only to do the same exact thing. 

I took advantage of those distractions to run away, only I felt more and more lost.  I just felt as if I wanted to sit somewhere and just stay there, sadness taking over me, but then, I felt something.  I heard him call my name and that was enough to basically jumpstart my brain.

I couldn’t see Hunter, and I was frightened, but just the fact that I could now hear him, gave me hope.

I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by staying out of the darkness.  All places were dark, but I did find a place, it was a dark place, but that seemed to be the only spot where the others left me alone.

That was the darkest place I had ever been to, and I was suddenly overcome by a feeling of emptiness and despair.  “I think… maybe I should stay here, Hunter.  I don’t belong there anymore.  Kelly and Andrew have someone else they need to take care of now.”

“Don’t talk like that
,
Kayla!  Don’t give in.  Here is where you belong.  I can help you.  You need to be back.”

“How are you so sure that is where I belong?”

Hunter hesitated, but then, I felt a pressure on my hand and I just knew that back in the real world, he must have holding my hand.  “Hunter?”

“Kayla, I know that you belong here because I – I think I’m in love with you.”

***

ACADEMY of the FALLEN:  NEPHILIM

COMING IN 2012

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Chapter 1

Today had marked the one-year anniversary of Matt’s accident, the accident that had taken him from me. And today, I felt just as empty as I had one year ago, with only one difference, the anger that I felt back then faded over the months. Now, I just felt numb.

I looked out of my window to see that the day looked awful; cold and dark, which complemented exactly how I felt, so I took advantage of that awful weather and decided to head to my favorite place.

I sat at the unusually deserted beach, staring at the sea and reflecting on what had happened over our time together and on the turn that my life took after that awful day.

Matt and I had dated since our freshman year in High School, three years ago. He had approached me on our very first day of school; I was running late to my English class, trying to rush, but when he saw me reaching for the door, he yelled out from the beginning of the hallway. “Hold up!” At first I looked around, thinking that he must have been talking to someone else. I surely did not believe that the gorgeous guy, tall, athletic, tanned and with deep green eyes, which even at a distance were impossible to stop looking at, was actually talking to me. But after looking around once again, I realized that there was no one around but us. He ran in my direction, sounding breathless when he finally reached me, and it turned out that he did all that just to open the door for me. We met each other’s gaze, both of us smiling, and that was it. I knew right away that had found my soul mate.

Being with Matt was always so easy and we grew so close, so fast; we were just meant to be. We spent most of our free time together, we liked the same things, and our friends, well, the people who I thought were my friends at the time, always made fun of Matt and I at the many moments when we finished each other’s sentences. Everyone saw us as the perfect couple, and at times we were more like best friends than anything else.

That weekend, the worse weekend of my life, Matt and the rest of the football team had gone out of town for a game championship tournament. The whole team rode the bus for hours to get from Pensacola, Florida to NYC. That had also been our anniversary weekend and the reason Matt was in that flight home instead of riding the bus back with the rest of the football team was so we could have spent our anniversary together. The plane never made it. It crashed within one hour of take off. There were no survivors, but also, Matt’s body was never found, which made it even harder to believe that he was gone. There was a nice memorial service held by his parents, but there was no one to say good-bye to.

At first, I could still feel that he was still with me; that he was not really gone. I spent most of my time sleeping, just to be closer to him. The dreams were always so vivid, and he was always there, by my side. Once the dreams started to fade, there was nothing left, expect for memories. I felt as if I had lost everything.

Being so lucky to have found my soul mate and then having my whole world, hopes and dreams, shattered into peaces when he was taken away, feeling every impact of his non-existence, it was all painful to say the least. But now, sitting at the beach, thinking about those events no longer impacted me, over the months, the tears dried out; I could no longer cry, and even the guilt that I had one day felt was now inexistent. It was as if I was a body without a soul, an empty shell, with no real emotions, good or bad; there was nothing left in me and even thought I was aware of what was happening and how unhealthy it was, I had no desire to do anything about it. Matt had been my soul mate, and my soul was taken with him when he was gone.

I was now about to start my senior year, the year that Matt and I had made so many plans for, only now there was only one plan left, to graduate and leave town. And in spite of me being an awful company to anyone around, my best friend Leah stuck around and she certainly helped me put on a façade for my parents who couldn’t see things were as bad as they were. Although they weren’t completely clueless, after all, my parents did insist that I kept busy, to get my mind off things, so Leah and I both got part time summer jobs at an amusement park. I guess that was cheaper than paying for a therapist.

Leah had been my best friend since middle school, she was in all of my classes, and we planned on going to the same College next year, somewhere not as humid as Pensacola, Florida. Leah and I were both planning on going to college at NYU, that had been the plan since middle school, and it was the only plan in my life that had not fallen apart, expect for the part where Matt would not be coming with us.

I wondered just how self destructive I was being, planning to move to the city where Matt had been last, the city where the accident occurred; still, somehow that was what I was looking forward to. In the mean time, I was expecting a very long summer and senior year, surrounded by people talking behind my back.
Walking through life as if I was a zombie
; at least that was how I heard someone at school describe it when the news spread that I had quit every single extra curricular activity that I had been involved in, from cheerleading to clubs that I was a member of, none of that mattered anymore.

And the whole Matt wouldn’t want to see you this way speech that I heard so many times, just drove me insane. Fact was that Matt was no longer around to say anything.

I knew what mostly everyone was saying, that I was exaggerating, that I should have come around after a couple of months, but I just didn’t care. Although sometimes I wondered how my life would be if the memories would have gone away along with the dreams and emotions that no longer existed, but I would have never traded those memories of Matt, even if that would make my existence less pitiful.

Unfortunately, I knew that those memories would not be enough, so I would just have to endure the rest of my life, which I was becoming an expert at.

All right, enough of this.
I though to myself as I got up, shook off the sand from my clothes and headed back to my car.
Time to put on a happy face and go back into the real world.