Rising by J Bennett

Author:J Bennett [Bennett, J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J Bennett
Published: 2014-04-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Smoke. Curling inside my lungs. Hot poison. The flames roar, really roar, like they’re angry with me. The Monet reprint catches, and I watch fire run across the smooth, cool water, gobbling up all those pink and purple lilies.

And I pray, a small tiny prayer. Tarren, please don’t come. Please be far, far away from here.

Because if he does come, they’ll surround him and hurt him, and it will be my fault.

But it was probably a lie. Had to be a lie. I said Styx, and Tarren always follows the rules.

The smoke will kill me long before the flames. My head swims, my chest choking with coughs that only suck more ash into my lungs. The room is dim and loud and hot. I lose my precarious footing once, twice, and the third time I don’t try to find it again. I let the cuffs bear my weight.

Tarren will soldier on. He’ll probably welcome the relief of my absence. But Gabe, he will take it hard. Who will force him to drink his protein shakes every four hours and try to stop him from smoking and drinking too much? Who will laugh at his jokes and watch the same stupid Chuck Norris movies with him over and over again?

Drifting. The sound of fire flattens out, like distant elevator music. I’m in Avalon, the naïve sanctuary that Ryan and I created back before everything important happened in my life. Before he got cold and became my own personal ghost.

I’m in a lush, sunny park, surrounded by circular roads where the citizens bike and skate to their destinations or drive in their silent, electric cars. Gabe is here, leaning against a tree in the shade with Sir Hopsalot in his lap. Tarren sits cross-legged on a blanket to my left reading his battered copy of The Odyssey.

Rain is farther away, walking down one of the paths, hands in his pockets, penguin mask pushed up off his face. Ryan is behind me, always the silent watcher, the moral compass that I’ve ignored far too often. Karen and Henry sit on a bench further down talking to Dr. Lee and Francesca. Gretchen, my college roommate, whizzes by on a shiny purple bike. I gaze around the park and see more familiar faces: The mail lady, elementary school classmates, my old Raggedy Ann doll that I kept on the dresser in my bedroom and even brought to college.

“This is my going away party,” I say to them, and they all look at me and nod.

“Maya,” a voice says in the crowd. Softly. Far away.

“I just want to feel the sun,” I say.

“Maya,” the voice says again. Insistent.

Energy. So near. Pulling me back.

“Open your eyes. Maya!”

The fire is louder. So much louder. My lids crack open, just slits, and there’s only smoke and the wavering form that I know is Tarren standing in front of me.

“Go away,” I croak at him. The colors shift in his aura, the blue brightening for a moment as he whispers something under his breath.

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