opposite ends
Saturday 6 December 2014
chapter 5 opposite ends.
Hello everyone, my book is being published next year (yay!) but it means i can't post anymore of the book onto my blog. but i'm giving you one last chapter to check out so you have one last small taste until next year.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Chapter 5: The truth
behind her choice.
I could feel the sun light coming through the tent, waking me up
slowly with its warmth. But the warmth that was next to me wasn’t coming from
the sun, what is that? Shit. I opened my eyes to see legs, wrapped around mine
like a vine in winter light. And an arm placed softly across my chest. Whose
arm? What the hell had happened? My mind was spinning, not awake enough to pull
my head around it. Jamie was snoring softly in my ear, it kind of felt
comfortable to be next to him but my mind was screaming at my heart, ‘Ryan is
your man! Not Jamie!’
I slowly pulled away from him trying to sneak out, but it wasn’t
happening. As I went to stand up he slowly opened his eyes in that adorable
sleepy boy way. Come on Em. stop thinking of him that way, one night! That’s
all it is!
My thoughts were deceiving me, all I could think was how good he
looked laying there looking at me and his lips softly moving, his voice low and
sleepy. Oh yeah speaking, speaking to me. “Em, is something wrong beautiful?” I
couldn’t think. I had to, I had to run.
I ran as fast as I could, the world a blur around me. My
thoughts were all I could see and hear. No idea where I was going, where I was
or where I would end up. All I knew was I had to run.
Soldiers flew past my vision, explosions flared in the corner of
my eye and barbed wire was crunching into the heels of my boots. ‘What the hell
should I do?’ was all I could think, stuck in a war I didn’t want part of and
stuck in a life I didn’t want. I could feel the tears running down my face as
my breath caught in my throat, my head was spinning and spinning and my vision
began to blur.
“Em! Where are you going?
Em!“ I had been followed by Jamie, my vision was almost black by the time he
had caught up with me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like my stomach was in
my chest and my heart was in my throat. “Em, what’s wrong? What is going on?
Get up Em, please get up.” So many emotions passed through my head, but one
stood out the most. Anger, angry at myself for being such a fool and anger is a
powerful emotion.
“Enough!” I shouted but my voice was cracked with power leaving
it distorted and echoing through the air. And there it was, the power everyone
kept telling me I possessed let loose by my emotions, my eyes burned as if the
world had suddenly become brighter somehow.
I stood slowly, trying to keep my balance. Jamie looked at me
wide eyed, “Em? Are you back?” he asked hesitantly. He thought I was the other
me.
“No, it’s still me.” I could feel the words leaving my lips but
it sounded nothing like my voice. I focused on my breathing, like some sort of
meditation trying to calm the surge of power within me. It was like an
adrenalin rush of sorts, calming your heart after fight or flight mode was the
only thing I could compare it to.
I don’t know how long it was, it felt like hours but it must
have been only a few minutes standing there with my eyes shut, listening to the
distant shouting and explosions. “Jamie, what’s going on out there? Why does it
sound like World War III is just round the corner?” He looked at me with a
cocked half-smile, his eyes glinted just for a second.
“The scoping has begun!” he grinned, grabbing my hand and just
whispered one word in my ear, one word so full of adrenalin, so full of life,
it made my heart skip a beat; “Run!” and I ran straight into the fields of
battle alongside Jamie and Ryan and every other poor soldier willing to fight.
There it was again, that surge of power, it was my turn to fight.
The battle felt like it was lasting a life time, Jamie was
defence in front of me and Ryan a few feet ahead fighting with all his might.
That surge of energy was pulsing, I could feel it tingling in my finger tips
and flowing through my legs. Before I knew, it I was walking into a group of
the enemy. “My turn,” I grinned stamping my foot on the floor. As my foot hit
the floor the ground cracked under me, collapsing under the enemy, leaving
mother nature to swallow them whole and to feast on their flesh. I picked up a
rusted metal bar and, as it touched, my skin it crackled with the same energy
produced from my skin, turning it into some sort of cattle prod.
Wielding my new weapon, I swung at any enemy attempting to come
near me. As soon as it touched even an inch of their armour, or even their guns,
it sent a pulse of electricity through them stopping their hearts before they
touched the ground. A bullet sank into shoulder, the energy spat it back out
into the shooter’s skull. Another bullet buried itself into my ribs on my right
side piercing my lung, my breath caught in my throat, I couldn’t even scream in
the agony I felt. The energy swirled around my vision in shades of gold and
grey, the pain was leaving me but so was my vision and my hearing. Everything
began to sound so distant.
“Em!” someone shouted. My vision was blurry but I could see Ryan
kneeling beside me as I fell to the ground. “ It’s going to be ok Em, we’ve got
to get you out of he-“ his voice was cut off by the sound of a gunshot so close
by it could have been right next to us, and it was.
A bullet plunged straight through his skull and out the other
side leaving a trail of his brain flowing out of the tiny little entry hole on
the side of his head. His eyes were open so wide but blood seeped out the
corners. He was dead.
I wanted to scream, to do something, but I was frozen by fear,
pain and heartbreak. His body collapsed into my lap covering me in the blood
and brain that continued to flow from his head, a piece of his skull was
cracked and cutting into my leg. And there he was, the soldier who shot Ryan
was standing above me pointing his gun straight at me. I looked up into his
face, into his cold soulless eyes, to see it was a man I knew and despised from
what felt like a different life ago back in that base when it all began. Agent
Cable.
“Kill me! ”I shouted at him, as tears poured down my cheeks
mixing with Ryan’s blood. “Just kill me!”
He smiled putting his hand on my head and pushing me down,
shoving my face into the dirt.
“Mark! Let her go!” Jamie was by my side now glaring at Agent Cable.
“Jamie, I’ve missed you,” he said sarcastically, pointing his
gun in Jamie’s face.
“Please Mark, just walk away.” Jamie was keeping his cool, and Mark
just grinned as if someone had just offered him a million pounds. He pointed
his gun at me again.
“Scum.” He pulled the trigger leaving a deafening boom as the
bullet ripped through my flesh burying itself in my shoulder blade. I screamed
in pain, Jamie stood to attack but Agent Cable was faster, knocking him down
and placing his boot on his cheek slowly breaking his jaw whilst pointing his
gun at me again. My vision was stained with tears and blood, but there it was
again that pulse of energy flowing through me but this time it was different,
it was as if it was filling my brain and flooding my broken heart.
I lost consciousness.
Wednesday 27 August 2014
chapter 4 of opposite ends
chapter 4
music slayed the savage beast.
He came at me fast knocking me straight off my feet in less than
a second.
“Come on Ember, I didn’t
think you’d be this bad!” he laughed as I pulled myself to my feet groaning for
–god knows how many! - the hundredth time in a row leaving my healing ribs
screaming at me.
“Ryan your turn again,” he grinned. We’d been at it for about
five hours by this point and Ryan’s attacks were the most brutal, probably
because he could literally make you hit yourself without touching you or fry
you like an egg with his hands. I flinched at the thought!
“Ok Em, close your eyes
and concentrate,” he scolded in his teacher voice.
I focused and focused, I tried clearing my mind and I tried
focusing on an invisible energy around me, I tried focusing on my senses . . .
heck I even tried picturing a calm, serene place full of mystical energy! But
nothing was working and
I was getting my arse kicked to the ground every time. After another hour, we were
finally finished for the day.
“We’re going to have to keep practicing every day until we can
get you back to your time,” Jamie spluttered through a mouthful of what I think
was fox . . . oh, the English wildlife menu hardly inspired the taste buds! “I
don’t understand; using your energy has always come so easy to you in battle. You’re
the strongest of us all - hence you being our ‘rebel leader.’” The last two
words were said mockingly. I scoffed at him whilst laying down an old stained
mattress on the floor of a tent which was apparently my quarters. My eyes were
so heavy I thought they had glued them together; my hair was a half-curled,
half-dreadlocked mess of dirt and my face needed nose pore strips and face
masks. I wasn’t used to this life style, I just wanted to wake up. “I’m
obviously not going to get it, I’m fed up of this dream. I just want to wake up
and go to work,” I muttered under my breath making Jamie choke on his...fox?
“You still think this is a dream?” He was shocked and sounded
angry at the same time. “Well wake up! This is real, real people are dying and
real people see you as a leader so get used to it because this is your life in
one year’s time!” He was practically shouting, spitting bits of the unknown
meat out of his teeth. This was not what I expected him to be like under his
government agent persona.
“OK, OK. I just want to
keep my options open just in case, I need to think logically and this, to me,
doesn’t even seem plausible!” I grabbed at my mess of hair and pulled my hands
down my face to my lips and started biting my nails. Eight fingers, two thumbs.They
were back!
. .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. .
Two days later, two days of exhausting training, disgusting food
and dreadful sleep, and we were still going.
“I think I saw a spark!” Jamie exclaimed like an excited school
boy, “near her thumb, you see it Ryan? I think she might manage it today!” I
rolled my eyes as he lunged forward with a punch aimed at my throat and I
stepped out the way catching his leg with a kick to the side of the knee and
flooring him.
“You said that the last three tries Jamie; physical combat I’ve
got the hang of but this energy stuff just isn’t working.” I sipped at some
disgusting muddy water and rested my feet. “Give me five minutes” I exclaimed
out of breath.
I decided to check on how the new recruits were doing so I poked
my head around the door, but quickly pulled back as a ball of black smoke came towards
the opening at 70 mph. “Sorry!” I heard through the closed and slightly rotted
door. The smoke decayed anything it touched; I thought that was an interesting
ability but I’d seen better ones in my short time there.
“Ok I think that’s enough for today, it’s our turn to scope out
the enemy tomorrow anyway so we are going to need our strength,” Ryan said. I
was not expecting this.
“Wait! what? I’m not trained properly yet for something like
this, I shouldn’t go with you!” I was freaking out like a kid before an exam;
this was too much, too soon.
“Em, the last time we went on our route was the day you arrived
in our time. We should have gone yesterday but we were too busy caring for you.
Now stop acting like a child and get back to camp!” He stormed out of the room,
dodging an electric bolt in the other room and jogging up the stairs. Damn gym
teachers.
Jamie made sure we got back safely without Ryan. We ran into a
small group of enemy soldiers trying to find our base. Jamie dealt with them
swiftly but was furious at Ryan for leaving like that so his attacks were a
little brutal.
When we returned to the base, Ryan stormed off into his tent and
I could feel my fuse getting shorter by the second. When I heard him bark an
order to a soldier to start fixing a new route for tomorrow, I’d had enough, no
matter who he thought he was he had no right to snap like that at some poor
innocent soldier who hadn’t done anything wrong. I stormed into the tent and
pulled the sheet used as a door down. I could hear a murmur outside of Jamie
getting people to go to their tents and away from Ryan’s.
“What the hell is your problem!? You’ve been off with me since I
got here, you won’t even look at me. What have I done to upset you?” It spewed
out of my mouth like poison, every word making him flinch as if I was spitting
fire.
“You haven’t done anything that’s the problem,” he muttered,
“not yet, not you.” I finally understood: the future me is the one he was upset
with not me.
“We aren’t together anymore Ember, this you is just painful. You
act more like you used to because this you is still in love with me. I never
stopped loving you Em, but I can’t act on it with you because you’re not the
Ember that’s supposed to be here.”
He loved me, but I didn’t love him? My heart sank. I sat down
when my head started to spin. Ryan, obedient, sweet, loyal Ryan came straight
to my side smiling sadly and looking at me with his big puppy dog eyes. I
couldn’t resist, I kissed him and he kissed me back. A sweet passion-filled
kiss full of love and longing, pressing deeper and deeper making our breath
jagged. But it was so sad at the same time, full of heartache and goodbyes. I
pulled away as tears started to form in my eyes.
“I promise you Ryan, I promise I won’t let that happen again. I
know now so when I go back I can change it and we will be togeth...” he shook
his head looking down at the floor making me speechless, did he not want to be
together?
“Get some rest Em, you’re going to need it for tomorrow.” It was
my cue to leave, obviously. I walked out of the tent and over to my own little
slice of mould and mildew. Collapsing on the stained mattress, I could feel the
tears running down my cheeks and my breath catching in my throat. I didn’t
understand what he wanted, and men say women don’t know what they want? I was
so confused.
I could feel my eyes growing heavier as I felt a hand on my back
firmly held in one place yet offering so much comfort, I turn around to see
Jamie smiling at me sadly.
“So he
told you huh?” He pulled me into his arms and I sobbed like a child. My body
felt weak as it convulsed from the tears running down my cheeks like a
waterfall. “It’s not all bad here.”
His hands
ran softly through my hair and with a gentle pull he pulled my head back and
softly pressed his lips against mine for just a second, like he was testing the
water. He pulled back and looked at me for approval, to see if I would deny him
but I didn’t. I accepted his kiss, so comforting in that lonely, pain-filled
place, so soft and gentle against my skin. His heavy breathing as the kiss
deepened made me pick up the pace, longing for more than just his kiss, lusting
for his touch. His breathing was like music to my ears. All my stress, my anger
and frustration melted away, slain by his lustrous touch.
Chapter five now available http://oppositeend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/chapter-5-opposite-ends.html
Chapter five now available http://oppositeend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/chapter-5-opposite-ends.html
Friday 8 August 2014
chapter three of opposite ends
Chapter 3: A dream
comes true
The black smoke, the fire. Another dream. But this didn’t feel
like a dream, it was like I was really there in the smoke, I could feel it
against my skin. I could feel the rips in my beaten skin, I looked down at
myself and sure enough my skin was torn to shreds and covered in blood.
I was wearing army greens, what was left of them anyway. I was
missing two fingers on my left hand and could see the bone in my right arm; my
legs looked like they had a minimum of three bullet holes in each leg. It was
agony, but I had a sense of need . . . a need to keep fighting. Men were
shooting from inside the smoke, I shut my eyes hoping it would go away, hoping
it would all go away and I would wake up and rush to work with Ryan and bore
the kids to death with history once more.
“Em! We need to move, they’re closing in from the north and
west. They double our numbers; if we don’t move now we might not be able to
fight!”
Ryan’s voice, my sweet Ryan. I look around and there he was,
covered in blood, beaten and bruised. His shoulder was sticking out at an odd
angle and a few ribs were visible through his skin.
“Em! Come on!” How I had longed
to hear his voice again, but not like this, not in a battle field. I hugged him
so hard we both groaned in pain, but I couldn’t help it. Tears started to flood
down my cheeks mixing in with the blood. “Why are you crying Em? We need to
move.” His voice was more gentle and caring this time, it really was him.
“I thought I would never
see you again! I was so scared.” I cried into his shoulder, ignoring the guns pointed
our way and the fire heating our skin slowly and unbearably.
“Em, where have you come
from? Where were you before you got here?” I didn’t understand the question,
nothing that was going on made any sense! I collapsed onto my knees and Ryan stooped
down and scooped me up, running with me in his arms, taking me to safety, taking
me away from this nightmare.
. .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. .
We sat in a small rain beaten tent; dark green and brown
coloured tables and beds were huddled together so close you could barely walk
between them. Covering the beds were wounded soldiers; the soldiers that
weren’t as badly wounded were healing the ones who were and then fixing themselves
up.
“So where have you come
from?” he asked me again.
“I don’t understand what
you mean Ryan. The last thing I remember is being in that god awful army base
in the southern area where they were doing tests or something on both of us,
then I open my eyes and I’m here! I thought I wouldn’t see you again and then
I’m in a battle field! Explain to me what the hell is going on!” I burst into
tears again, gaining some odd looks from soldiers around us.
“Sergeant Ember, are you all right?” a soldier on the bed next
to me asked, looking at me concerned and slightly confused.
“Do I look alright?” I sobbed, “I just want to go home.” Ryan
pulled me into his arms and started wiping the blood off my face with dirty
water out of a bucket and an old cloth.
“Private Jamie, Ember isn’t our Ember right now. Remember the
time issue?” he whispered, the last bit looking around, worried.
“Time issue? What time issue?” I blurted, wanting to know what
in the hell was going on. “I think I have been very damn patient, I am in a lot
of pain. I was just in a medical lab having needles shoved into my bones and no
one will tell me what in the hell is going on!” I shouted, forgetting how badly
damaged my body was. Broken ribs snatched the air out of my lungs as I finished
my shouting and I groaned in pain.
“Calm down Em, it’s hard to explain. Let me clean you up then we
can talk about it.” He kissed me on the forehead and continued cleaning the
blood off my skin. We sat there in silence until he finished patching me up,
then he started patching himself up, making quick work of it. “Ok Em, please
bear with me, it is very hard to try and explain.” I nodded trying to hide my
impatience. “So, it goes like this: the war in the south is here right now.
That’s where we are. Our parents snuck us out as babies and I think they died
in the process as I haven’t been able to find any record of them since. The
southern people are different from the ones that we know back up north, their
minds are using more of the abilities we are capable of, and they are more
evolved. It scared the people up north so they banished them down here and
tried to eradicate them, that’s how the war started and, as you know, it’s been
going on for about a hundred years. We are like them and have, I suppose you
could call them powers or abilities. It comes from our D.N.A. You with me so
far?”
I nodded slowly, unable to process all of this new information.
I’m a freak? The doctor was right I’m not normal. But I let him continue.
“If someone from the south was to have a child with someone from
the north, it would be the strongest type of D.N.A in the world, the strongest
most capable soldier. So the armies for the northern side are capturing and
experimenting with blood and bone marrow trying to create the perfect soldier,
once they succeed they will wipe out all of the south. One of your abilities is
to travel into a future or past version of yourself in your dreams. When the
doctors started the tests on you, your brain must have sent you here as a sort
of S.O.S.”
I looked at him stunned, my mouth wide open; I pictured it
looking like the cartoons when the jaw hits the floor.
“So I’m a freak?”I asked almost in a whisper.
“We don’t use that word
around here Em; every soldier in this room is different too. Except Jamie, you
might recognize him.” I took a closer look at him and slowly I could picture
him less scruffy, in a suit with gelled hair.
“Agent Cross!” I pushed myself back into the wall hitting my
head in shock.
“That’s me, Jamie Cross. I’m sorry I was too much of a coward to
help you where you come from, I’m so sorry,” he pleaded, almost as if he was
praying for forgiveness to a higher power.
“So I’m a soldier?” I asked. My head felt like it was going to
explode from too much information.
“Not just a soldier, the leader of the rebel army trying to stop
the war and stop them from turning people like us into weapons,” Jamie said
sounding like a proud father of a son who has just won a big football match or
something. My head was buzzing, I wanted out.
“How do I get back?” I
just realised that, if this was real, I had no idea how to get back. Fear
spread through my body, what if I couldn’t get home? I thought.
But then . . . did I want to go home? Back to being experimented
on and watching us both slowly and painfully die . . . or get blown up and
shot; my choices were hardly good! No I needed to get back, to make this all
possible.
“How do I get back?” My confidence showed in my voice, full of
determination. I thought if everyone was here now then I couldn’t possibly go
wrong, the future is already set and we were free and fighting in this future.
“Were going to have to train you like you did us, well now I
know how you learnt to train us in the first place,” Ryan pondered laughing
slightly. I missed his laugh, it sounded so innocent and carefree, it didn’t
suit this new soldier version of him but in his eyes I could see it was still
my Ryan.
My thoughts were tearing me up, all of this was too much and
then Ryan acting we weren’t together now . . . that was enough my make my world
come crumbling down. I stared into space, lost in thought as we walked into the
ruins of the theatre, down some broken crumbling stairs and into a tunnel and
then some more stairs. I thought it would go on forever until we finally
reached a group of men, scrawny compared to the soldiers but still not the
average desk jockey size, all of them chatting away nervously like a bunch of
hens.
As soon as we were spotted it went quiet and they scrambled to
stand, all in a line looking straight ahead reminding me of the little action
figures we used to play with as kids.
“Sergeant Kaelin Ma'am!” they all said at once, Ryan was all of
a sudden by my side and made me jump when he leant over to whisper in my ear.
“We can’t let people know that you’re not you in case of
infiltration, play along.” He grinned at me, causing some butterflies in my
stomach to stir. “Welcome new recruits!” he bellowed. “You will refrain from
talking to the sergeant unless asked to speak! You will not look at her unless
requested! You won’t even sneeze without permission today! Is that clear?!” He
paced between them like a drill sergeant in a cheesy army movie.
“Sir! Yes sir!” they bellowed back.
Jamie put his hand on my back gently and walked me into a
separate room.
“This is where we will be training you. It won’t be easy
especially as beaten up as you are. If it wasn’t for our healing herbs, you
wouldn’t be walking right now.” Healing herbs? I didn’t understand until I
looked at my missing fingers . . . and they were growing back!
“OK, so how do we do this?” I asked, shaking from head to toe.
Jamie grinned at me and walked into a chalk circle on the floor about 12ft in
diameter.
“This is the duelling ring; if you feel like you can’t go on all
you have to do is leave the circle. Shall we begin?” I took my place in the
circle and nodded. Jamie bowed to me and returned the nod before starting to
pace around the circle like a wild animal hunting its prey.
http://oppositeend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/chapter-4-of-opposite-ends.html
Wednesday 30 July 2014
chapter two of opposite ends
chapter two
w kind of evil.
Ten minutes passed in silence then
the good doctor showed up; a tall pale man, blonde hair, blue eyes. He was
incredibly attractive with his tousled hair and tight dark green army t-shirt
and camo trousers. A kind smile made his eyes sparkle; he looked like a
stereotypical angel but I had a feeling he would be more like a devil behind
the mask.
“Hello Ember, I am Doctor Slinn. I’m here to take you to another unit now. We have some great plans for you over there.” He unchained my legs and I tried to make a run for it but Agent Cross grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back faster than I would have thought possible. “Now now Ember, we need your full cooperation. Ryan is being a good boy, so I expect you to be a good girl ok? And if you are, you will be rewarded when all of this is over.” His smile was kindly. I knew I didn’t like his innocent appearance, the bastard! Using Ryan against me, I wanted blood. His blood.
I spat at him but missed terribly.
The act didn’t even make him flinch. Not even a tiny change in his smug
disgusting expression. “I want to see Ryan, then maybe I will be a good little
girl and obey your commands or whatever it is we are doing here.” if I was
going to find Ryan I needed at least to pretend that I would do as he said.
“There’s a good girl.” He smiled
like he had just won a big trophy fish in a tournament, almost gloatingly. “I
will let you see him then, but only for a second.” Finally I would get to see
him. My worry faded; if I was allowed to see him then he was ok, he wasn’t
hurt. “Cross, take her to the transport unit, strap her in and fetch a nurse to
issue stage 3.”
Agent Cross nodded but kept his
head down, dragging me with him, not letting go of my shoulder as he walked
down hallways . . . dark, mouldy, disgusting hallways that stank of death and
sweat.
“I’m sorry Ember, I wish I could
help” he muttered as he strapped me into what looked like a prisoner export
van.
”Wait, help with what?” I asked as
he shut the door. “Help with what!?” OK, now my worry returned. What the hell was
going on here? I couldn’t stop myself from thinking the worst of every single
possible situation.
I thought back to the slavery in the British
Isles; it dated from before Roman occupation, maybe it was still going? No that
was silly, the European Convention on Human Rights act abolished slavery. Human
testing? Human organ trafficking? Everything I could pull out of my history
knowledge ran through my head as I tried to figure out the situation. If Ryan
was in a testing unit, that narrowed down the list. My heart was sinking more
and more by the second.
A woman dressed in white sat across
from me in the van, preparing some sort of injection. She looked tired and worn
out; her mousy brown hair was tied in a bun but was falling out in tendrils
across her face. She had a large, purple bruise across her jaw line as if she
had been punched and a faint black eye on her left eye. Her dark, deep brown
eyes made her features look thinner and her cheek bones stand out more. She
looked like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.
“Hello Ember I am Nurse Carrel, I
am here to give you a small sedative so the journey won’t be too unpleasant. It
will last about five hours, the same time it will take to get to the base.” She
smiled at me, a sad and tired smile.
“I d-don’t want it,” I replied
stuttering, my fear and adrenalin taking over.
“Don’t worry you won’t feel a thing,”
she said reassuringly, but I didn’t feel assured. She tied an elastic band type
thing around my arms. I try to squirm and get away from it but the chains of
the van were keeping me pinned. I kept trying to fight her off as she put the
needle through my pale skin and pressed down on the syringe, making a horrible,
faded-white, gooey liquid ooze through the needle and into my blood. Slowly everything
began to spin and swirl around me and my hearing faded slowly like the end of a
song slowly pulling to a stop.
.
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
I woke up in another white medical
room; identical to the last one, apart from the fact that Agent Cross wasn’t
standing waiting this time. This time it was Doctor Slinn.
“Hello again Ember, are you ready
to see Ryan now?” I sat up as fast as I could, I needed to see him. But it was
too fast and the room span out of control. I could feel the bile in my stomach
rising and rising until it was too late, it came spewing out my mouth like the
wrong end of a sewage pipe. “That’s a side effect of the infection the nurse
gave you, don’t worry you will be fine. Here let me help you to your feet.” I
noticed there were no chains on my feet this time. And my waist belt had been
removed.
“Where’s my belt?” I slurred,
trying to regain my speech and failing.
“We threw it away; it doesn’t match
our dress code. I hope you understand.” Bastard! That was my favourite belt.
“Take me to Ryan!” I tried to stand
but my legs turned to jelly. Doctor Slinn caught me and helped me balance, making
me use him as a crutch whilst walking me into another dark and dismal hallway.
“I hope you don’t mind but we will
be accompanied by these lovely soldiers. Simply a security thing; we don’t want
you trying to run you see.” He smiled as if it was the most normal thing in the
world, reminding me of sly business men trying to make a sale.
“Why did you bring us here?” I
asked once I finally stopped feeling my stomach churn.
“Well my dear, it’s because of the
war that you two ended up in that care home of yours. We believe your parents
must have found a way to take you out of the south, and that’s a big security
issue considering we believe your parents were fighting for the other side.” The
other side... he said it like it was a curse, like a bad smell, something
terribly bad.
“But we weren’t involved in the
war, why should it matter?” I knew I would probably regret asking.
“Because you and your entire kind
are simply disgusting excuses for human beings my dear, and we don’t want you
infecting our people with your...ways.” A threat? A disgusting excuse for a
human? I just didn’t understand.
“How is the south . . . “ My
questioning was interrupted by the sight before me. A rusted metal door with a
glass panel window on the top half revealed my worst nightmares.
Ryan wan chained to a cadaver table, needles
protruding out of his arms at every angle. I could hear his breathless moans as
a nurse prodded him with what looked like a type of taser. Another of the
nurses was taking his blood, and lots of it.
“Ryan!” I shouted, making a run for
the door to the room, frantically trying to pry it open. But it was locked from
the inside. I pulled and pulled at the handle, pounding on the glass and
shouting his name. “Let him go! Let him go!” I yelled, crying and pounding at
the door.
No one stirred inside the room, it must
have been sound-proof but I didn’t care I needed to save him, save us.
“Soldiers, if you please.” Dr Slinn
waved a hand at me and the soldiers grabbed me under the arms and dragged me away
to the room just next door. A glass wall between the rooms meant I could see
everything they were doing to Ryan. If he opened his eyes he would see me too.
But I didn’t think he would open them ever again.
I was so scared, I thought I was
going to die but I had to be strong, at least to try and find out all I could
in case there was a way out of there. They began filling me with needles, each
prick a stab of pain deep inside...inside my bones? The needles were in my
bones! Losing my strength to fight, my head flopped to the side on the table,
my vision blurring. I tried to keep my eyes open and look at my Ryan, my sweet
Ryan. I needed to save him.
My eyes felt so heavy, they were
closing slowly, the edges of my vision turning black, Ryan’s image was
blurring, and I couldn’t make out his features anymore. All I could see was a
mixture of pink and a speck of orange...orange? What was the orange? It looked
like it should be where his eyes were but I didn't think it possible. But it
was too late to guess. My vision had turned black, my eyes had shut.
http://oppositeend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/chapter-three-of-opposite-ends.html
http://oppositeend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/chapter-three-of-opposite-ends.html
Saturday 26 July 2014
Opposite Ends chapter one
Chapter One
The beginning, the middle and the beginning again
The acrid smell of smoke drifted towards me, leaving my senses dazed and my eyes watering. The cloud engulfed us, leaving the only light coming from the fiery pit in front of us; it was almost like hell had come to welcome us in before our last breaths.
Car alarms blazing, fire melting away the metal frames of sky scrapers making the bending metal roar like a fiery beast, tar on the roads melting into a sickening gooey mess of black, and the sky was a fiery red with clouds of black smoke echoing through it like a grim reaper awaiting its prey.
The screams of the dead echoed in my ears as more and more lay dying around me, but the fight needed to go on I couldn't let him win.
“Wake up!”
I lay there dazed by the morning sun, a bright angelic light bursting through the open window which I would normally welcome but today felt like burning acid against my skin.
“You were having a bad dream again beautiful. It’s almost time for work you better get up.”
Groaning and stretching, I pulled myself out of bed with my eyes still shut and lent forward almost collapsing into his open arms, burying my head deep into the line of his neck. “I’m so tired,” I moaned like a child getting up for school.
“Come on Em, you’ve got to get up.” He threw me down on the bed and threw something soft on my head making me groan some more. “Come on you’re going to be late and I’m driving you which means I will be late too.” His voice was stern and mockingly like a parent.
“Yes sir,” I muttered pulling myself into a sitting position and saluting jokingly. “You’re such a teacher,” I teased.
“Maybe because I am one,” he replied, rolling his eyes and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
I dragged my feet towards the wardrobe pulling out a beautiful, ankle-length, white dress with a gold and brown waist belt; it looked like a hippy version of the old goddess togas in ancient Rome. Once I had thrown the dress on and tightened the belt, I dragged my feet towards the beauty desk, slumping into a chair and accidentally knocking some make up onto the floor. I sighed loudly and grabbed the hair brush using it to untangle my mess of curly blonde bed hair that appeared to almost be like the snakes of Medusa as it curled around my face framing my sleepy moss-green eyes and rosy cheeks. Once I had untangled my locks of snakes, I drew my attention to the reflection behind me: my incredibly mesmerizing boyfriend was dressing a short space behind me leaving me an impressive view in the mirror. I scanned him up and down, admiring every part of his toned body which was complemented by black and white converses, dark faded jeans, a tight white shirt and a black tie.
Wow he looked good. I couldn’t help but grin at his messy raven-coloured bed hair sticking up at all angles.
“You look too good I want to strip you; and if I want to, so will those pesky teenage girls you teach!” I joked, standing up and slowly walking towards him. The urge to play with his unkempt hair was too strong - it had to be done.
“I’m sorry I’m so attractive, I can’t help it if the gods felt the need to bless me with such good looks,” he mocked, throwing his arms around like a cat walk model.
“A vain pagan teacher, could it get any worse?” I rolled my eyes laughing until I caught sight of the time. “Shit! We are really late.” I groaned, burying my head on his shoulder again.
“No time for that, we have to go!” he said pulling me off his shoulder and giving me a quick peck on the lips. I grabbed my bag, shoved on a pair of brownish gold sandals and ran to the car.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“OK, today we are learning about the Salem witch trials, a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...” I could feel myself droning on and on; I felt sorry for the kids, I knew how boring it must be to them. I tried to choose the most interesting subjects I could so they wouldn’t hate the class so much but kids just aren’t really into history. “... The most infamous trials were conducted by the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 in Salem Town. One contemporary writer summed the results of the trials thus...” I wondered if my amazing gym teacher boyfriend was doing any better and had to stifle a giggle at the thought of him teaching kids to climb a rope or play badminton.
“Could Miss Kaelin and Mister Huntsman please come to the principal’s office immediately? Thank you”
I don’t think I had ever been so glad to hear the secretary’s voice over the school speakers before. “Ok guys I’m leaving Mister Thomson in charge whilst I’m gone! A teacher might come in and check on you at some point so don’t be too loud and don’t get caught doing anything you shouldn’t.” I grabbed my bag and headed to the door. As the chattering grew louder behind me, I added on a side note; “Oh and in the top drawer of my desk you will find sweets and cola. Mister Thomson, please distribute it evenly to the class. And don’t try the other drawers - they are all locked!”
I reached the office and saw a sweaty, out-of-breath image of my boyfriend stood in the door way waiting for me.
“What’s going on?” I asked him. He just shrugged his shoulders and kissed me.
“Are you Miss Ember Kaelin and Mister Ryan Huntsman?” Two men in suits with one day stubble and incredibly neatly gelled hair stood in front of us flashing fancy Government badges at our faces too fast for us even to read.
“I am Agent Cable and this is my partner, Agent Cross. We need to speak to you. In private.” He added the last bit eyeing up the secretary who turned a violent shade of red and looked away.
“Of course” . . “Yeah sure” we muttered and scurried forwards into the empty principal’s office, shutting the door on the fluorescent pink faced secretary. I think her name was Jenny or something similar.
“We understand you two came from the same care home; correct?” asked Agent Cable, straight to business as both of them stared us down like we were some sort of experiment gone wrong.
“Yes, Kindred’s Foster and Care Institute,” I replied taking Ryan’s hand and feeling his body heat surge through me, eating my worry away like white blood cells attacking a common cold, making me turn a little rosy cheeked.
“Why are we here detectives? What does our care home have to do with anything?” Ryan asked in return, giving them a bone chilling stare with his beautiful, grey-blue eyes.
“We are from a government issued institute run by Queen and country; we are here to help with the war in the southern area,” Agent Cross replied, leaving us with no answers, typical government.
“So what has that got to do with us?” I asked, growing impatient with the men, wanting to get back to the familiar area of the classroom. I had changed my mind; I had decided that I preferred the idea of boring the kids to death as soon as I saw the men.
“We need you to come with us.” They stood up and walked to the door holding it open for us.
“I am not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on!” I had lost my temper, I wanted answers.
“We will answer all your questions when we are in a safe area Miss Kaelin. Let me assure you that you are in no kind of trouble.“ Not the reply I wanted!
“No I want them now!” Ryan looked at me shocked; he had never seen me lose my temper in the ten years we had been dating, but I was majorly pissed off that these strangers thought they had the right to tell me what to do. I wasn’t sure how to react so the anger and frustration boomed out of me all at once. It even shocked me. I couldn’t believe the words were coming out of my mouth, I never thought anger would be this ... this liberating.
“I want answers now! I am not going with you without an explanation. If you don’t like it you can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine!” They looked at me expressionless: no shock, no anger, no anything.
“Please Miss Kaelin, we do need you to come with us,” Agent Cable said in a calm and toneless voice.
“W-why is it so important?” Ryan stuttering in shock, at me! A day I never thought I would see.
“Because Mister Huntsman, we believe you will be a great help on the southern border.” Ryan looked dumbstruck.
“We’re teachers, we can’t help in a war, are you mad!?”
War, the word echoed in my brain, war. My dreams came flooding into my vision all at once. Sound was lost to white noise, vision replaced with memories of my vivid nightmares, the smoke, the fire, the death. All flooding in at once. I didn’t realise I’d collapsed on the floor holding my ears screaming. The sound was awful, so awful I couldn’t stand it. My nose started to bleed. And then my ears. Ryan rushed to my side but I didn’t notice. I could feel I was being carried and I could feel my lips moving, maybe even forming words, but I was too out of it to notice anything else.I woke up on a hard mattress with white linen sheets, in a room with four white walls and a white floor. My eyes couldn’t adjust to the amount of white; at first it made my head spin. I noticed in the spin of white, a coloured blob and tried to focus my eyes on it. Sure enough, it slowly turned into a person, that person was Agent Cross.
“Miss Kaelin.” He nodded with his annoying blank expression and ran his hand through his extremely gelled, dark hair.
“Where’s Ryan? Where am I? Some kind of hospital?” I asked; each question seemed to make him flinch slightly.
“We are in the southern coast, army base medical unit 257. You collapsed and we believed the only way to help you was to take you to our expert doctors here.” It looked like he was trying to smile, a small twitch on the side of his mouth then back to straight-faced. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to play him at poker!
“Where’s Ryan?” I asked again. A small twist inside my stomach was growing and growing with every second. He didn’t answer me. It felt like minutes had passed when he finally looked at me and answered, “testing unit 77.” He looked at me so sadly, it made me want to cry.
“Why? Where is that? I want to see him” I sounded so manic, so stressed, I could barely distinguish it was my voice.
“I’m sorry Miss Kaelin...” he frowned a little “...Ember, but you can’t see him. Now you’re awake, you have to go with the doctor.”
I threw myself back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying not to cry and decided I was going to see him whether they like it or not. I pulled the sheet back and went to jump off the bed when I realised . . . my feet were shackled to the bottom of the bed.
“Let me out of these!” My anger was coursing through me like electricity through metal.
“The doctor will be here any minute.” He looked scared, I think more of the doctor than of me having a little temper tantrum but then, at the time, I didn’t know Doctor Slinn.
http://oppositeend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/chapter-two-of-opposite-ends.html
The beginning, the middle and the beginning again
The acrid smell of smoke drifted towards me, leaving my senses dazed and my eyes watering. The cloud engulfed us, leaving the only light coming from the fiery pit in front of us; it was almost like hell had come to welcome us in before our last breaths.
Car alarms blazing, fire melting away the metal frames of sky scrapers making the bending metal roar like a fiery beast, tar on the roads melting into a sickening gooey mess of black, and the sky was a fiery red with clouds of black smoke echoing through it like a grim reaper awaiting its prey.
The screams of the dead echoed in my ears as more and more lay dying around me, but the fight needed to go on I couldn't let him win.
“Wake up!”
I lay there dazed by the morning sun, a bright angelic light bursting through the open window which I would normally welcome but today felt like burning acid against my skin.
“You were having a bad dream again beautiful. It’s almost time for work you better get up.”
Groaning and stretching, I pulled myself out of bed with my eyes still shut and lent forward almost collapsing into his open arms, burying my head deep into the line of his neck. “I’m so tired,” I moaned like a child getting up for school.
“Come on Em, you’ve got to get up.” He threw me down on the bed and threw something soft on my head making me groan some more. “Come on you’re going to be late and I’m driving you which means I will be late too.” His voice was stern and mockingly like a parent.
“Yes sir,” I muttered pulling myself into a sitting position and saluting jokingly. “You’re such a teacher,” I teased.
“Maybe because I am one,” he replied, rolling his eyes and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
I dragged my feet towards the wardrobe pulling out a beautiful, ankle-length, white dress with a gold and brown waist belt; it looked like a hippy version of the old goddess togas in ancient Rome. Once I had thrown the dress on and tightened the belt, I dragged my feet towards the beauty desk, slumping into a chair and accidentally knocking some make up onto the floor. I sighed loudly and grabbed the hair brush using it to untangle my mess of curly blonde bed hair that appeared to almost be like the snakes of Medusa as it curled around my face framing my sleepy moss-green eyes and rosy cheeks. Once I had untangled my locks of snakes, I drew my attention to the reflection behind me: my incredibly mesmerizing boyfriend was dressing a short space behind me leaving me an impressive view in the mirror. I scanned him up and down, admiring every part of his toned body which was complemented by black and white converses, dark faded jeans, a tight white shirt and a black tie.
Wow he looked good. I couldn’t help but grin at his messy raven-coloured bed hair sticking up at all angles.
“You look too good I want to strip you; and if I want to, so will those pesky teenage girls you teach!” I joked, standing up and slowly walking towards him. The urge to play with his unkempt hair was too strong - it had to be done.
“I’m sorry I’m so attractive, I can’t help it if the gods felt the need to bless me with such good looks,” he mocked, throwing his arms around like a cat walk model.
“A vain pagan teacher, could it get any worse?” I rolled my eyes laughing until I caught sight of the time. “Shit! We are really late.” I groaned, burying my head on his shoulder again.
“No time for that, we have to go!” he said pulling me off his shoulder and giving me a quick peck on the lips. I grabbed my bag, shoved on a pair of brownish gold sandals and ran to the car.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“OK, today we are learning about the Salem witch trials, a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...” I could feel myself droning on and on; I felt sorry for the kids, I knew how boring it must be to them. I tried to choose the most interesting subjects I could so they wouldn’t hate the class so much but kids just aren’t really into history. “... The most infamous trials were conducted by the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 in Salem Town. One contemporary writer summed the results of the trials thus...” I wondered if my amazing gym teacher boyfriend was doing any better and had to stifle a giggle at the thought of him teaching kids to climb a rope or play badminton.
“Could Miss Kaelin and Mister Huntsman please come to the principal’s office immediately? Thank you”
I don’t think I had ever been so glad to hear the secretary’s voice over the school speakers before. “Ok guys I’m leaving Mister Thomson in charge whilst I’m gone! A teacher might come in and check on you at some point so don’t be too loud and don’t get caught doing anything you shouldn’t.” I grabbed my bag and headed to the door. As the chattering grew louder behind me, I added on a side note; “Oh and in the top drawer of my desk you will find sweets and cola. Mister Thomson, please distribute it evenly to the class. And don’t try the other drawers - they are all locked!”
I reached the office and saw a sweaty, out-of-breath image of my boyfriend stood in the door way waiting for me.
“What’s going on?” I asked him. He just shrugged his shoulders and kissed me.
“Are you Miss Ember Kaelin and Mister Ryan Huntsman?” Two men in suits with one day stubble and incredibly neatly gelled hair stood in front of us flashing fancy Government badges at our faces too fast for us even to read.
“I am Agent Cable and this is my partner, Agent Cross. We need to speak to you. In private.” He added the last bit eyeing up the secretary who turned a violent shade of red and looked away.
“Of course” . . “Yeah sure” we muttered and scurried forwards into the empty principal’s office, shutting the door on the fluorescent pink faced secretary. I think her name was Jenny or something similar.
“We understand you two came from the same care home; correct?” asked Agent Cable, straight to business as both of them stared us down like we were some sort of experiment gone wrong.
“Yes, Kindred’s Foster and Care Institute,” I replied taking Ryan’s hand and feeling his body heat surge through me, eating my worry away like white blood cells attacking a common cold, making me turn a little rosy cheeked.
“Why are we here detectives? What does our care home have to do with anything?” Ryan asked in return, giving them a bone chilling stare with his beautiful, grey-blue eyes.
“We are from a government issued institute run by Queen and country; we are here to help with the war in the southern area,” Agent Cross replied, leaving us with no answers, typical government.
“So what has that got to do with us?” I asked, growing impatient with the men, wanting to get back to the familiar area of the classroom. I had changed my mind; I had decided that I preferred the idea of boring the kids to death as soon as I saw the men.
“We need you to come with us.” They stood up and walked to the door holding it open for us.
“I am not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on!” I had lost my temper, I wanted answers.
“We will answer all your questions when we are in a safe area Miss Kaelin. Let me assure you that you are in no kind of trouble.“ Not the reply I wanted!
“No I want them now!” Ryan looked at me shocked; he had never seen me lose my temper in the ten years we had been dating, but I was majorly pissed off that these strangers thought they had the right to tell me what to do. I wasn’t sure how to react so the anger and frustration boomed out of me all at once. It even shocked me. I couldn’t believe the words were coming out of my mouth, I never thought anger would be this ... this liberating.
“I want answers now! I am not going with you without an explanation. If you don’t like it you can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine!” They looked at me expressionless: no shock, no anger, no anything.
“Please Miss Kaelin, we do need you to come with us,” Agent Cable said in a calm and toneless voice.
“W-why is it so important?” Ryan stuttering in shock, at me! A day I never thought I would see.
“Because Mister Huntsman, we believe you will be a great help on the southern border.” Ryan looked dumbstruck.
“We’re teachers, we can’t help in a war, are you mad!?”
War, the word echoed in my brain, war. My dreams came flooding into my vision all at once. Sound was lost to white noise, vision replaced with memories of my vivid nightmares, the smoke, the fire, the death. All flooding in at once. I didn’t realise I’d collapsed on the floor holding my ears screaming. The sound was awful, so awful I couldn’t stand it. My nose started to bleed. And then my ears. Ryan rushed to my side but I didn’t notice. I could feel I was being carried and I could feel my lips moving, maybe even forming words, but I was too out of it to notice anything else.I woke up on a hard mattress with white linen sheets, in a room with four white walls and a white floor. My eyes couldn’t adjust to the amount of white; at first it made my head spin. I noticed in the spin of white, a coloured blob and tried to focus my eyes on it. Sure enough, it slowly turned into a person, that person was Agent Cross.
“Miss Kaelin.” He nodded with his annoying blank expression and ran his hand through his extremely gelled, dark hair.
“Where’s Ryan? Where am I? Some kind of hospital?” I asked; each question seemed to make him flinch slightly.
“We are in the southern coast, army base medical unit 257. You collapsed and we believed the only way to help you was to take you to our expert doctors here.” It looked like he was trying to smile, a small twitch on the side of his mouth then back to straight-faced. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to play him at poker!
“Where’s Ryan?” I asked again. A small twist inside my stomach was growing and growing with every second. He didn’t answer me. It felt like minutes had passed when he finally looked at me and answered, “testing unit 77.” He looked at me so sadly, it made me want to cry.
“Why? Where is that? I want to see him” I sounded so manic, so stressed, I could barely distinguish it was my voice.
“I’m sorry Miss Kaelin...” he frowned a little “...Ember, but you can’t see him. Now you’re awake, you have to go with the doctor.”
I threw myself back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying not to cry and decided I was going to see him whether they like it or not. I pulled the sheet back and went to jump off the bed when I realised . . . my feet were shackled to the bottom of the bed.
“Let me out of these!” My anger was coursing through me like electricity through metal.
“The doctor will be here any minute.” He looked scared, I think more of the doctor than of me having a little temper tantrum but then, at the time, I didn’t know Doctor Slinn.
http://oppositeend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/chapter-two-of-opposite-ends.html
a new adventure in the pages of a book
Hey
It's not surprising if nobody knows who I am, But I am a writer by hobby and by passion and isn't that where true profession lies? to enjoy something enough to be completely immersed into it.
A good book is like jumping on a plane to another world and starting an adventure, without even having to leave your chair you can share the excitement of a blooming romance, fight against endless beasts with a fiery sword, feel the heart break of a true tragedy and even become a child again at the words of an another.
So with this idea in mind I present to you my true passion and emotions written into stories and fables to shock and awe or even bring a tear to your eye or laugh uncontrollably.
I hope you enjoy reading my work as much as i loved writing it.
Until Next Time
xxx
It's not surprising if nobody knows who I am, But I am a writer by hobby and by passion and isn't that where true profession lies? to enjoy something enough to be completely immersed into it.
A good book is like jumping on a plane to another world and starting an adventure, without even having to leave your chair you can share the excitement of a blooming romance, fight against endless beasts with a fiery sword, feel the heart break of a true tragedy and even become a child again at the words of an another.
So with this idea in mind I present to you my true passion and emotions written into stories and fables to shock and awe or even bring a tear to your eye or laugh uncontrollably.
I hope you enjoy reading my work as much as i loved writing it.
Until Next Time
xxx
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