Dissonance - Book One

two

I drop to my knees in front of Aveline.

"No!" I shake my head in denial of the scene that lies before me. Blood is gushing from Aveline at a furious pace. She must have been hit when she pushed me to the floor. My sister lies before me dying because of a bullet that was intended for me.

Kelly rips off his jacket and hands it to me as I press it against the wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding, but it's too late. She's already lost too much blood.

"It's no use," she says to me, gently placing her hand on my shoulder. She can see the anguish in my eyes. "You'll never get to the shuttle in time with me."

I shake my head, refusing to follow her instructions.

"I'm not leaving you. I just found you. I'm not going to lose you again."

Turning to Kelly, Aveline says firmly, "You need to get her to the shuttle. Stick to the plan," to which he nods and gets on his feet, gathering what we'll need. He doesn't even hesitate to leave her behind and his lack of compassion fills me with anger. I'm just a job to him. He's a soldier and saving me is the mission. It's clear he doesn't care who has to die in order to achieve the goal.

"Go," she instructs, and tries her best to push me away, but she's weak and her strength is no greater than that of a small child. I know she thinks it will be easier this way, to not show emotion, but I'm not saying goodbye like this and I'm not leaving her behind.

"No," I respond with force this time. "I'm not leaving you and I'm not leaving all these innocent people here to die."

She smiles.

"This is why."

"Why what?"

"Why I knew you'd be perfect. Why I knew you were the one we needed all along."

"For what? For the code?"

"For humanity. To save humanity, from itself. It was never the code that we really needed. It was you. I'm smart, there's no question about that, but you, you are more than smart. You're compassionate and kind. Environettix's biggest mistake was that they were blinded by their own intelligence. The smartest minds in the whole world and they couldn't figure out that what they really needed, was heart. It's the one thing that separates us from every other species on the planet: our ability to empathize and to feel. It's the only thing that stops us from being complete animals. You can see the light through all this darkness. For every Hitler, there must be a Gandhi. The world needs balance. That's you. You'll bring them that."

"Bring who, what?"

Launch commencing in T-minus 20 minutes.

"There's no time to explain. Just remember," she whispers. "Things aren't always as they seem. Your friends might be your foes and your foes might be your only hope for survival. This is only the beginning."

"What are you talking about?"

"We have to go, NOW," Kelly says sternly, trying to pull me up from the ground, but I push his arm away.

"It's okay," she says tenderly. "It's time to let me go."

Her words unhinge me and tears stream down my face.There are so many questions I want to ask her that I will never know the answers to. There are so many things I want to say. She nods as if in understanding of the thoughts running through my head. She's my only family. I love her and now I have to let her go. This time for good.

"Here," she says, trying to remove her key card from around her neck. Kelly bends down to help. He takes the lanyard and places it around his own neck and then hands her one of the guns he took from the Environettix soldiers.

Aveline shakes her head in refusal.

"You'll need it more than me."

He nods in understanding and puts it behind his back, lifting his shirt and tucking it into his pants.

"You remember where to go, right? And you've got the access codes?"

He nods.

"He'll be waiting for you at entry C. You won't have long. If you're not there at least 10 minutes before launch, then they'll be forced to lock the doors." She coughs and spits out blood onto the concrete floor.

"She'll make it. I promise," he says. Then he reaches out and gently rubs his thumb against her cheek. "You did good," he continues. Aveline's lips turn up into a small smile in his palm. The interaction between them is tender. I almost want to turn away and give them some privacy. I don't know what their relationship is or was, but it's clear that they have grown close in their search for me.

"Tell him I'm sorry. Tell him I love him," she says through wheezy breaths. I don't know who she's talking about, but in that moment, it occurs to me that Aveline has had a life and relationships here. While I was off trying to be a normal teenager, she was here, in this mess, trying to find me and save the world. This wasn't just a job; it was her life. There must be someone here that she's developed a friendship with, or possibly more. Someone she loves who loves her back. Someone that she'll never see again, won't even get to say goodbye. That's when I realize that the reason I've never been able to move past the pain of my past, is because I never got to say farewell. Aveline was torn from my life and I never got to hug her one last time or to tell her I love her one last time or just to know that the last time was the last time. But not now. Now I will have my goodbye, and within it, I will find the closure I so desperately sought, for all those years.

Kelly stands and I take his place in front of Aveline. I'm fearful to hug her because the force might cause the bleeding to accelerate or to exacerbate her breathing, so instead, I wrap my hands around her cheeks and gently press my forehead to hers.

"Thank you for finding me. Thank you for saving me. I wish I could have done the same for you." Tears fall down my face, but I don't wipe them away. I don't want to tear my hands away from Aveline. Instead, I let the salty wet tears stain my face so that she can see how much I love her and how much it is killing me inside to leave her here to die alone.

I move in close to her ear and whisper, "I love you," to which she tries to respond, "I love you too," but the words are difficult for her to say. Her breathing is shallow and raspy. It rattles in and out as her chest rises and falls. She's fading quickly. It won't be long now.

Kelly lifts me from the ground and my body follows him reluctantly, all the while looking over my shoulder at Aveline, praying that somehow, she'll stand up on her feet and run towards me.

We make our way to the back of the room, past the enormous cylinders housing hundreds of humans that don't yet know the pain of this world. Bodies, floating in a weightless state, suspended in time, sheltered from the terror that currently envelopes the earth.

Hidden along the back wall is a metal door. Kelly enters a code, swipes my sister's pass and we exit through the rear entrance. My eyes never leave Aveline's as the door falls down between us, but before she goes completely out of view, I see her head drop and fall limply on her body.