Liberation

Chapter 4

JULIA'S POINT OF VIEW:

"Read it and weep," I say to Adam as I smack the pile of papers as well as the letter on his desk. Everyone else must have gone back home by now, so it's just me and him now.

"What's so special about these? They're old execution reports," he says as he thumbs through them. "Keep looking," I say with a smirk on my face.

He finally gets to the letter after skimming past the other papers and begins to read it. And once he's done, he looks up at me like nothing changed. "So what?" He asks.

Baffled, I look back at him with shock. "So what?! That's all you can say? Like this doesn't change the situation at all?" I demand from him. "Look Julia, this letter is convincing, I'll give you that. But even if it's true, it doesn't change my opinion on the situation. I'll not have another war on my hands," Adam informs me.

My blood begins to boil, and I can feel my face turn red. "Another war on YOUR hands?" I demand. He rolls his eyes and says, "Julia, please, don't start this. I wasn't saying anything offensive of some of your decisions in the last war." "But that's what you're implying! You just don't want us to fight because you don't want people to suffer the loss that you did!" I shout at him.

And then, he stands up and starts yelling back at me. "You know what? You're right! I don't want people to lose the people they loved most in their life to another battle! And yes, I am implying that you made some bad choices!" He snaps. "Please, inform me of what I did!" I yell back at him.

"Maybe if you had never gone into those woods in the first place and hadn't met Peter, the war wouldn't have even happened! He wouldn't have gotten captured and we wouldn't have had to rescue him! Even more, Natalie wouldn't have had to die defending the two of you! If it wasn't for you, she'd still be alive!" He screams.

Suddenly, his face softens up as he covers his mouth, realizing what he just said to me. I can feel tears working their way into my eyes and spilling over, splashing in little puddles on the floor. "Julia, I-" he begins, but he's cut off as a gust of wind begins to swirl around us.

Even though I have all of the powers mastered, the power of elements is the hardest for me to control when my emotions get out of hand. Especially the element of air, which seems to be linked closest to my feelings.

The wind speeds up, scattering every piece of paper from it's spot and throwing it around the room. Filing cabinets begin to rattle back and forth, and pieces of art fall from the wall. As I begin to get more and more upset, the wind gets even more intense, making it hard to see and causing my ears to pop.

"Julia please! Stop this! I didn't mean what I said!" Adam tries to say over the wind. But even through the air, I can feel his heartbeat and breathing increase, signaling that he's lying.

It only makes me more upset, and when the wind gets too much to bear, Adam gets knocked off his feet and sent flying back into the wall with a thud.

The noise brings me out of my trance, and I begin to calm down. The air follows my feelings, becoming less windy until there's none left. I walk over to Adam, calming down a little as the last of my tears drip down my face.

"Don't say you didn't mean what you said when you and I both know that you meant full well exactly what you said," I say to him in a weak voice as I look down at him.

He gets up and brushes off the wind debris off of his shirt and looks at me. "I could have you arrested for this," he taunts, but I don't take it as a joke. Becoming angry again, I lock eyes with him. "You put me in those prisons, and I will count you a stranger for the rest of my life," I snap.

"I was only kidding," he defends himself. I give a fake laugh at that and say, "It's funny how you think you can joke with me after what you said." Adam's face turns serious as he drops his head in shame. "I'm sorry. I guess I had pent up anger, and I needed to let it out," he says. "Do you forgive me?" He adds.

Instead of answering, I just walk over to a corner where I see Henley's letter and put it back in my pocket. "I'm going after her, and you can't stop me," I say to him.

"Julia, stop!" He says to me, and I turn around and look at him. Even at age 22, he looks no different than he did three years ago. Still tall, still intelligent, still that small twinge of sadness in his eyes. I can see him silently pleading for my forgiveness by the way he's looking at me, only I have none to give at the moment.

"If you disobey me, I'll...I'll...I'll banish you from the society. You won't be able to come back," Adam says, although I can tell he's making an empty threat.

"Clean up your office, Adam," I say to him as I head for the doors so I can go home.