Morph [EDITING] || Wattys 2017 Winner

~FIVE~

~amelie~

I can't see and I can't move. There's an inky blackness covering my eyes, blocking out the trace of all light, and it's weighing down my limbs too. I don't know where I am, or who brought me here - the silent, blind atmosphere is miles away from my usual routine.

I try and move, try to make my limbs work, but I'm stuck in a prison of my own body and I can't even scream. I'm suffocating in the darkness and I must be dead because I've never felt this before and then light rushes in and an unfamiliar girl is standing over me. I cry out and scuttle backwards, away from her, hitting the head of the bed I'm on. She raises her eyebrows and steps back, presumably to ease my fear. It does nothing, and my stomach keeps churning with panic.

"Who are you?" I stammer. "Where am I? What happened? Who brought me here? Why-"
The girl interrupts me with a low voice. "As much as I'd like to answer all your burning questions, first I need to know if the healing worked. Can you move your arms?"

The healing?

I lift my left arm, relief washing over me as I realise the lead weight has vanished and I'm free to move. I exhale slowly and shakily, not wanting it to come back when I realise something's wrong with my hand. I pull it close and stare at it, panic again replacing my calm. The girl stands up, worry etched into her face.

"Amelie, what's wrong?" she says, quietly, carefully.
I don't take my eyes off my unblemished palm. "My scar. It's... it's gone."
The girl breathes out, probably happy it wasn't worse. But, to me, this is serious. "Oh, yeah. The healing took all your marks away."
I look at her suspiciously. Dark, thick braids, threaded through with gold and copper hang from her head, and her eyes are a vivid amber. "What do you mean?"
"The healing?" she asks, surprised I don't understand. "It's my power. Ryan flies, Hunter breaks in, Lila messes with minds, I heal, and you... well, nobody knows."
"You have a power?"
"Sure. Most of us do. You know when Ryan told you about the rebels, how they had so many people in their ranks?" She leans in close and whispers. "You finally reached them."

My head spins with fatigue as I reach the conclusion - I blacked out, then woke up apparently in the rebel base. Presumably Ryan flew me here after he delivered his ultimatum. But why?

"What do you need me for?" I ask, looking her straight in the eye.
The girls sighs. "Amelie, you're unique. You have powers, and you're also the daughter of Nathan Carmichael, but you also haven't been caught. You're invaluable to us - none of us are registered as citizens, and if we are we're flagged with abilities. Either way, we'll be arrested on sight. But you, you're a trusted member of society. You can sneak around without anybody suspecting a thing, and best of all? If you're caught someplace you shouldn't be, you can just be looking for your dad. Easy peasy."

Her words make sense, but there's something I still don't understand. I relax my body, still hunched and defensive, into a more casual sitting position.

"You said I haven't been caught. How did that happen? I thought the tests were a hundred percent accurate."
The girl hums quietly as she considers her answer. After a few seconds, she replies. "They are. But the person who did yours... let's just say he's sympathetic to our cause. He faked your results. Bet you're glad you had to skip normal testing, aren't you?"
"Yeah. That's the reason I got my scar. Speaking of which..."
The girl looks embarrassed. "I can't control specific parts of my healing yet. Either it's a full heal or no heal - I'm still learning. So I took away every mark on you. Injuries, bruises, scratches... scars."

I narrow my eyes, angry that the part of me that has always been there, the only part of my life that isn't outwardly perfect, has been removed.

"Can't you bring it back? I don't care how, but that scar is a part of me. I want it back."
She sighs, looking every bit as apologetic as she sounds. "I'm sorry, Amelie. Everyone's power has a limit."