Ascension

Elijah

I have been waiting for Lorelei to wake up for a long time. There isn't a clock in here and I haven't left the room once. I am determined to be here when she wakes up.

"Elijah you need to rest." A well meaning medical personnel tells me.

I don't want to sleep. I don't want to eat. I just want Lorelei to wake up and hug me like she used to.

"Elijah please get up and walk around. This is getting unhealthy." A doctor tells me.

"Don't tell me what's unhealthy." I growl.

The doctor gives a look to the nurse. The nurse advances slowly at first but then strikes. I am too tired to dodge and the syringe hits me in the arm. I am not asleep yet but I am most decidedly not awake. The doctor pulls me out of the room and basically forces me to sleep. They tied me to the bed.

I wasn't to happy about it when I woke up let me tell you that. August was in my room when I woke up.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

My head is pounding. I place my two fingers up against my temple. August reaches behind him and pulls out a cup of water and offers it to me. I grab it wincing as my head throbs. I gulp it down and August refills it.

"You didn't answer my question." I tell him.

August hands me the glass again and I drain it like I did the first one. August waits until I have finished drinking my water and speaks.

"They wanted me to make sure you didn't escape. Or to watch over you to make sure you don't have a bad reaction to the tranquilizer." August explains.

August is just trying to do his job. I understand that but it pulls at me the wrong way when he says "Incase you have a bad reaction". It felt like he was referencing my heritage.

I have seen the way people have treated me after I came out to them about being a hybrid. They pushed their small children behind them and the older one's faces turned to stone as the glared as I passed.

I try so hard to ignore them but I can't. It's not even the fact that I am half Bright. I could be half dog and they would treat me the same way. The colonists treat the Refugee Brights better than they do me.

Sometimes I think that I only have a job in the military because I am some freak of nature that wasn't supposed to be possible. Some weapon they can use against the Brights. It is kind of sad to think about but it's probably true.

I know I will always be the black sheep but I just wish that someone would look beyond that. Actually Lorelei does. It's part of the reason I love her so much. She will literally except me for whatever I am. I wonder if she is awake yet.

"Hello?" August asks.

"Oh sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to try and walk. You should be all right but the tranq might not have worn off quite yet." August explains.

August offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls me up.

Walking with August's support is easier than walking on my own. However I manage walking to the end of the hall. Lorelei enters my mind once again. This time her skin is glowing with sun. Oh she would have loved the sunshine.

"Do you want to see Lorelei?" August asks me.

"I thought you would never ask." I smile.

We sort of stumble toward Lorelei's room. August is awkwardly trying in vain to help me stand. I look at him and he looks away. It makes me wonder if the pink in his cheeks was from exertion or from something else. We eventually make it to Lorelei's room. August waits outside. Lorelei is just staring up at the ceiling.

"Lorelei!" I exclaim.

I run and jump onto her bed. She barely looks at me. I barely notice. She is here. She is right near me. Her vibrant, electric eyes fall onto mine. Within them I see a sense of pain that I have never seen before.

Lorelei should be put in a records book for how many different types of pain she has been through.

"What's wrong." I say genuinely concerned.

She doesn't speak for a minute. She continues looking up at the ceiling.

"This war demands much from us. A price many cannot pay, so it takes all and more. Every friendship and relationship you once had is gone and what is left is a broken world." She murmurs.

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

"It means Elijah, that I would rather let go of you now when I still have the chance to not have my world destroyed then lose you later." She sits up.

I don't believe what I'm hearing.

"We all have our breaking points and you are mine. I can't have you gaining to much power over me."

"Lorelei I love you. I don't understand-" I stammer for the correct words.

"One day you will understand. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow but one day when you wake up you will understand that I have to do this." Lorelei pleads with me to understand.

"You don't have to do anything Lorelei."

"Then I want to do this."

"Did you even love me?" I murmur.

"What?" She gasps.

"Did you even love me?" I ask louder.

"Of course I do-did-do. I don't know Elijah." She gets up.

She starts to walk out of the room when I grab her arm lightly and pull her closer to me. She looks like she is panicking inside. Her breathing is trembling. She pulls my face to hers and kisses me.

My world explodes. She pulls out of my arms and looks in my eyes for forgiveness. I let her go as I try and grasp what just happened. She slips out of the room and leaves with a piece of me.