The Immortal Children

So Different

Time no longer had a meaning. The only thing that meant anything was this horrible, throbbing pain. The burning had slowly dissappeared, turning in to a painful ache. 

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Death was painless. When you died, you were as light as a gust of wind. That's what the people at church had always said. You were supposed to be nothing but a soul being lifted to the Heavens. Moaning in agony, I curled in to myself. I felt something next to me, pulling on my shirt, but couldn't yet comprehend what. Slowly, I faded back in to the darkness.

Seconds... or minutes... or maybe even hours later, I became aware of things around me. The light was still on above the dining room table. The sun was lightly streaming in from the window across the room. A small hand was pulling on my shirt. I looked down to see Chris curled next to me, his hand fisted tightly around my shirt. He wasn't breathing. Somehow, I just knew that he wasn't dead.

Everything is so clear... so different. I'm laying in dried blood. My throat burns. There are scratches on the table. What's the rest of the house like? What was wrong with Chris and I? And Ash. Where had my sister gone? All of these thoughts raced through my head in less than a second, startling me.

Quicker than what should have been even close to possible, I was on my feet, cradling Chris in my arms. "Didn't he used to be heavier?" I wondered as I walked to the front door, in search of Ashlynne. I held Chris to me tightly. The house was deadly quiet. At any moment, the murderer would jump out from around a corner, ready to finish what he started. The murderer would kill us, just like... just like he killed mom.

I couldn't bring myself to look towards her office, knowing she was already gone.

Reaching the entrance, I saw Ashlynne looking towards the front door, her hand outstretched. A small stream of light landed on her hand from the peep hole in the door.I watched in awe as the light bounced back off her hand, glowing and sparkling.

With little to no thought, I took a step forward to get closer. Her head snapped towards me and I was shocked when she fell into a crouch position with her teeth bared. My shock only grew as I did the same, growling fiercely. The rumbling growls escaping my chest scared me back into reality. What was I doing? Ashlynne was my sister, not my enemy.

I jerked up and stared at her. Realization lit up in her eyes and she straightened out. Ashlynne had always been the brave one. She would pet a dog she didn't know. She wasn't nervous holding a conversation with a stranger. She would run in to the basement without turning on the light.

But now, as I looked at my sister, her true age of 8 and a half broke through. She stared at me in utter terror and confusion. In a trembling voice she asked me. "Lex... wh- what did he do to us?"