I am Number Ten

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2

        The world has to stop spinning. I try to get up but the dizziness keeps me down. It takes a minute for me to register where I am again. Right, that stupid, rat-infested motel, two miles from the Atlantic coast. I roll over trying to shake the nauseating feelings but I end up on the floor. My vision remains blurred and my head throbs like someone is trying to drill a railroad spike through my skull. The world can't stop spinning and I hear a voice in my head. It is dark and grizzly, almost devil-like. I can't understand what he's saying but he laughs maniacally. I scream out and the noises cease.

        All at once, the world stops spinning and the laughter vanishes. I pull myself off the floor and sit on my bed. How long has it been since Argentina? Three...Four weeks? Time seems lost on me these days but I am grateful that I got away when I did. I'm sure the place is crawling with Mogs by now. My methods of disguise have saved me. The search still continues for Sofia Garcia in Argentina. The mayor of the town has offered rewards for her safe return but she cannot be found. Fortunately, her face has faded from the news as the recovery efforts begin. For all they know, Sofia is dead.

 She is...

        She no longer exists to anyone. Sofia is the one who lost her teacher, friend and mother to her own foolishness and carelessness. Sofia is the one who abandoned her cause and mentors for the effort to be normal. But no more... Chantelle Richardson is not like that girl anymore. She spends her time searching and most of the time weeping and moping around. Her depression is very strong this time and she cannot escape into sleep any longer because of the figure that stalks her nightmares. All she has left with is a pendant, a chest, a make-up kit, a backpack of the essentials and her number. Five...Five... the number after four and the one before six. The order she must be killed in as the opposing alien race attempts to exterminate her kind. She is in the middle. There is only one more before her. She cannot let another die, she must find the others.

        I open the curtains with my telekinesis and see another dreary day outside. There are soft snowflakes falling outside and landing gently on the crumbling parking lot. I used to love snow storms, watching the tiny crystals land on the window pane and melt slowly into droplets. They would then make their own path down the glass and eventually vanish forever. But the world seems lost now; there is no colour or life anymore in things when you don't have someone to share it with.

        I dig my hands under the bed for my chest and plunk it down on the bed. I feel I need to do something today besides watch T.V. and surf the Internet. I place my hand on the lock and squeeze it tightly. It becomes warm in my hands but I begin to cry. I drop the lock and curl up on the floor. It's no use...I am the lost cause. The other Garde will have to fight without me. I am a worthless wimp that can't even open her own chest without bawling like an infant.

        I place my hand around my neck and hold onto my pendant. It only glows slightly. I've tried a thousand times to make it light up like it did in the park to no avail. I can't access the words I said to activate it and communicate with my Elder. At least, I think it's my elder. Maybe I am just going crazy and I've imagined everything significant that could lead me to the truth behind the elder's plan for us.

        I hold my hands over my eyes and ask for some sign that can restore me to sanity and confidence. I speak softly to myself and all at once, I am speaking that same dialect again. My pendant glows brighter than ever before and it mimics my voice. I try to ask for the voice that spoke to me before. I wait patiently and I feel my entire body begin to tingle. I slowly stand up and look at myself in the cracked mirror across the room. My eyes are glowing slightly too.

        I hold my hand out to the mirror and concentrate. The energy inside me builds and the tingling gets stronger. I open my eyes and the entire room is alive. The bed is shaking like something out of a poltergeist movie and the lights flicker like crazy. The bedside table and lamp rattles like being shaken by an earthquake and a tiny mouse darts into a nearby hole. I can't understand what I'm doing but I like it. This is the sign I need. I slowly raise the bed until the headboard touches the ceiling. It requires minimal concentration and I only need one hand. I stifle a laugh and raise the bedside table too with the other hand. I wait to hear the hushed voice again but nothing happens. I become impatient and I lose it. The bed drops, the table lamp goes flying and the glow from my eyes ceases. I immediately try to regain the patience I had but the light on my pendant dims and flickers. In my last attempt, I push a force out of my mind towards the mirror. But it is much more powerful. The mirror shatters and there is a huge dent in the wall around the mirror.

        My pendant drops down and resumes its normal glow against my pacing heart. I am standing alone in the room in my t-shirt and shorts. But something inside me has been restored. I immediately throw everything into my bag and gather my Chest and laptop. I toss everything in my bag and head for the window. I make sure I left everything as it should be and climb through to the ground. I use my telekinesis to float myself and my things to the ground and head for the backwoods. I never look back, praying that no one saw me. I snuck into that room in the middle of the night, so no one knows I stayed there. If they haven't heard the bed crash or the strange thuds, then there is something seriously wrong with them. I shut the open window and lock it with my mind. Hopefully, they won't report it and I can get away scot-free. Maybe they'll assume that the place is haunted. Whatever, it probably won't last much longer as a business anyways. I should really phone the health inspector about it.

        I reach the cover of the woods and continue my two-mile trek to where the car is. I haven't used it in a week or so but I take no chances when it comes to being seen. I had discovered a dirt road that let into the thicket. I covered the vehicle with moss and weeds and haven't checked it since. Hopefully, people aren't nosey and mind their own business about tire tracks in the mud.

        I reach the car after about a half an hour walk. I shove my stuff into the passenger seat and hop into the driver's side. I rev up the car and make my way towards the opening at the end of the dirt road. I keep my lights off and check for cars before pulling out onto the highway.