Ascension

Elijah

What in the worlds? Lorelei sent the message.

"Do you know this chick?" August asks.

"She's my girlfriend."

"Hey, how long ago was that sent?"

"Two days ago."

I think for a moment. This is definitely an encoded message. Lorelei isn't dumb, she knew she couldn't say anything that would give away their location to the Brights.

"What up with her. Why does she want to picnic at a time like this? Not judging you but you have pretty interesting taste in people." August tells me.

"It's encoded." I explain.

"So like it's a secret message."

"Yes exactly like a secret message."

"So what is this secret message?"

"I wish I knew."

"We need to tell Commander." August tells me.

I am to busy wrapped in my own head to listen to him.

"If you aren't, I am." August leaves.

What does Lorelei want me to know? I wrack my brain trying in vain to figure out what her articulate mind wants me to see. Think abstractly.

I try my hardest but I honestly truly can't come up with anything. Why does Lorelei have to be a genius? I don't understand. I decide I can't handle it anymore. It's a familiar feeling that I know well.

I can just hear Lorelei in my ear. "Take your meds Elijah."

I walk down to the hospital area. It feels very empty. I still remember where they keep my meds. I go to the cabinet and get them out with my fingerprint.

"What are you doing Soldier?"

I turn around. It's the Commander.

"Getting the medication I need." I explain.

The commander looks me up and down. She sighs.

"Get your meds rookie."

I pull the bottle of pills and down three of them. One for insomnia and the other two for my mood.

"I need to go before these pills kick in." I tell her.

Before I can even take a step she has me by the shirt.

"What did you take Rookie?" She demands.

"Mood correctioning pills and one for insomnia." I say genuinely scared.

She sighs and lets go of my shirt. For that I am very grateful. I walk out kind of quickly.

"Wait Rookie." She calls for me.

"Do you need something?" I turn around.

"What do you think your girlfriend means by she wants a picnic?" The Commander sounds tired. I really wish I had an answer but I really don't.

"I don't know." I sigh.

She turns away from me. I walk out. I can feel the insomnia pill kicking in. My movements become rugged and slow. My breathing becomes even. I might just fall asleep on the stairs. However I do make it to a room. I enter and collapse onto a bed.

I immediately fall asleep. I'm not sure if it was from the insomnia pill or from just sheer exhaustion.

All around me is a beautiful sunset. Next to me is Lorelei. We are atop a giant hill. She is wearing a flowy dress that moves in the wind. The wind picks up her black wavy hair off her back and she faces the wind savoring it.

"Is this what it looks like? The sun?" She asks.

"Yes." I whisper into her ear.

"It's beautiful."

She has the same look in her eyes as I did when I first saw stars. The look is something I'll never forget.

"How do you survive this?" Lorelei asks me.

"What do you mean?"

"All you have known is going to be gone."

"I haven't really thought about." I say honestly.

"Are you open to change?"

"Not entirely but I will accept it."

Lorelei looks thoughtfully into my eyes.

"What is is Lorelei?" I ask.

"I'm just wondering what would have happened if we were born in a different time."

"What do you mean?"

"remember." She tells me.

I think I know where she wants me to be. At least subconsciously. If only I could bring it into my conscious mind. Oh Lorelei why must you make this difficult for my untrained mind. I try to get ready but I keep thinking about the dream I had. Lorelei looked different I realized. Older maybe. Strange.

I try and remember the dream now. The skies that were painted pink by rays of sunshine. Lorelei's glow in the waning light. Even her voice. It just hit me how much I miss her. She is my everything.

If only I could figure out what she wants me to know. I can't even focus on this for too long because my mind keeps going back to the hill we were sitting on.

I try and picture everything in the dream and savor it. I picture the semi-glowing flowers that lined the hill. I remember when I did that to the hill we had a picnic on. Oh my STARS! That's what Lorelei wants me to remember.

I jump up and race to the commander. Lorelei is on the hill we had our picnic on. I can almost feel myself chasing after her as I run up the stairs. I run faster than I have ever run before and I end up flying up the stairs. I break into the room where the Commander is trying to have a meeting.

I don't care I interrupted her precious little meeting. This is way more important than battle strategy.

"You better have a good reason for interrupting my meeting Rookie." She growls.

"I know where Lorelei is!"

I am extremely out of breath but to be honest I don't really care. We are getting Lorelei back.