The Prophet was there, I knew it, I couldn’t see him or hear him, but I could feel him. His presence was a blanket wrapped around me, a comfort and a solace.

I saw nothing but darkness, but I realized that it was because my eyes were closed. I opened them, and shut them again immediately, blinded by white like that made my eyes burn and tear up.

“She’s waking up.” A voice spoke from somewhere distant. I wanted to call out to The Prophet and ask him if he knew what was going on, but I couldn’t find the muscles to move my mouth.
Relax his deep voice echoed in my head. I’m here, I won’t let them hurt you.

Hurt me? Who was going to hurt me? I tried to open my eyes again, but the light was too bright. “Ashley, can you hear me?”

I groaned, and looked for the muscles that would move my mouth and tongue and make me speak.

“Ashley, open your eyes if you can hear us.” I opened my eyes quickly.

“Good, she’s responsive, alright, Ashley, do me a favor. Move your fingers, alright, can you do that for me?”

I thought it was a silly question, but I did it anyway, except I couldn’t. I tried to find the muscles that moved my finger, my toes, anything, but I couldn’t. Nothing would work. I started to panic silently, and I heard his voice again.

Calm down, just breathe. He said like it was an easy thing to do. I wanted to listen, I knew that I should listen, but I couldn’t control my own body, I couldn’t even talk. I was finding it hard not to panic at the thought. I felt so vulnerable.

Breathe! He commanded me, and I took a breath, and let it out shakily, my eyes still closed to the blinding light. I tried to speak, to The Prophet, to anyone, but I couldn’t move.

“Ashley, you’re alright, we expected you not to be able to move, but it’s okay, full motion should be returned to your body, we just wanted to make sure your mental capacity was worth the trouble.” A man spoke above me.

I tried to open my eyes again, and I succeeded. The bright light was gone, and I glanced around me.

“Everything’s alright, Ashley.” I heard my father speak. I glanced as far to my left as possible in my laying position, and saw him sitting on a bench on the far side of the room, my mother close beside him.

“Ashley.” The person I assumed was the doctor spoke. “Blink once if you can hear me.”
I blinked, keeping my eyes closed for longer than the average blink to make sure he knew it was a purposeful blink. He had a smile of relief on his face. I could see his hands moving somewhere out of my line of sight, and then I heard him speak.

“If you can feel this blink twice.” He told me, and I waited for whatever it was I was supposed to be feeling. I started to panic when he moved back towards me and I hadn’t felt anything.

Relax. He spoke again. Remember, panic is your enemy. I blinked once, hoping that wherever he was he knew I understood.

“Ashley, we think someone might have poisoned you. Do you have any idea who it might have been?”

Poison? Me? Why? I couldn’t think of anyone who would-

Yes I could.

Them.

They would go so far as to poison me.

I didn’t know why they hated me. I was just doing what they were too dumb to realize they should’ve been doing the whole time. Playing along. The less they suspect the more you’ll get away with. That’s the nature of the beast, and it wasn’t my fault they were too stupid to be crafty with their rebellion.

“Blink once for yes and twice for no.”

I blinked twice without hesitation, forcing myself to look afraid, and cry, crying would be good.

That’s a good Deceiver. He encouraged me.


The Doctor sighed. “Well, we’re going to sedate you and see if maybe we can wait out the poison, but if not, seeing that your father is the Secretary, and you yourself are so dedicated to F.E.A.R., we wouldn’t have too much of a problem attempting to restore your mobility. It may take a few months, but you should be back to normal before school starts again, Ashley.” He smiled reassuringly, and I blinked.

“Do you need something?”

I blinked again.

“She probably wants Jacob, they’re good friends.” My father told him.

The Doctor looked wary.

“Ashley, when you wake up again we’ll have him here for you, okay?”

I blinked twice, no it wasn’t okay! I wanted to see him now! I had to know if he had a hand in this!

He sighed, looking forlorn.

“Ashley, Jacob is in questioning right now. We think he may have had a hand in this.” He said,
looking like he’d rather say a billion other things.

“We know how you feel about him, Ashley, but I think you need to come to terms with the fact that he may not be everything that he seems.” My father spoke, and my mother nodded in agreement.

No, not Jacob, not my Jacob.

Tears flowed down my face.

“Here,” He said, holding up a plastic mask looking thing and putting it against my face. “Take a few deep breaths and you’ll fall asleep, nice and easy.” He told me, and I did what he said, looking at my parents with complete and utter devastation, and it wasn’t an act. I was completely and utterly devastated. Betrayed.

---

I awoke with a start and tears running down my face. I didn’t dream of that time often, but when I did it hit me harder than a ton of bricks. I learned one thing from my paralysis four years ago, no matter what anyone says or does, I can’t trust anyone. No one is my friend. No one is on my side. I’ve been alone for three years, having watched the only man I trusted since the paralysis die with my own eyes I knew that there was no one I could look to. In time I forgave Jacob, and things almost went back to the way they were before, but I never trusted him again. It hurt me when he ran off, but I was almost expecting another betrayal, so it didn’t hurt as much, it still hurt, but it could’ve hurt a lot worse.

I tried not dwell on that though because the fact of the matter was that it did hurt, and it hurt a lot, but things like that couldn’t matter to me. The only thing I had time to care about was escape. I have one more day to live out, one more day in captivity, then I’ll either be free or dead, and neither of those things were a bad idea, and both were better than being a slave to F.E.A.R. any longer.

It was five A.M. still too early to be awake, but if I laid in bed I’d go crazy thinking of all the things that could go wrong, so after popping my head out the door to make sure everyone else was still sleeping I engaged the locking mechanism on my door and pulled out the things I’d be taking with me from under the bed.

The small tub that contained my essentials had made little scratches on the wooden surface of the floor from being pulled out so many times, so I had moved the rug from in front of the door to beside the bed to cover them. I pushed the simple white mat aside and pulled the plastic container that I had used for a science project out from under the bed. It was solid black, and inside it were all the things I’d need to survive.

I had a set of black clothes I bought on the black market with some money I stole from my father’s wallet, a small black bag that was easily concealed, and a larger bag that I could use as a decoy in case I was stopped in the slums by someone who wanted to rob me. I was well prepared for what was to come, but I still felt uneasy.

As though on autopilot I took everything out of the box and set them to the side, and then reorganized the box.

First I put in the pair of boots that I had sewn knife holsters into in the bottom left corner placing a knife into the holster on the outside of the left boot, a protein bar into the one on the right, and pushed a sock into each shoe.

Second I took the leather jacket and opened up the lining, resetting the tarp-like cloth that was the same color as the desert sand in it, along with two pouches of water and two meal bars. I folded the jacket meticulously and placed it in the spot above the boots.

Third I put I folded the tank top and placed it on top of the jacket, then I checked the pouches of water in the cargo pant pockets, and placed them on top of the shirt.

Fourth I took the larger bag filled with jewelry and cash and food and put in in the middle. I placed the smaller bag just above it after I checked the arrangement of the water pouch and food bar inside it.

In the bottom right corner I replaced a bottle of hydrogen peroxide along with a pair of scissors, and a bowl and a brush, all of which I’d acquired “accidently” over the period of six months. I’d learned when I was young that peroxide bleached things when I’d accidently spilled some on myself and had to throw away a tan dress and cut my hair. It was the only time my hair wasn’t waist length.

Finally, in its own special space, I put the amulet that I had been given by The Prophet. The star rounded with circles was my most precious possession, and it was the only thing I’d fight hard to keep. I sometimes thought I was crazy, since I’d never seen the Prophet in person, but there was something inside of me that told me that he was real, along with his companions: The Mystic, The Destroyer, The Mourner and The Deviant. I couldn’t tell what it was, call it a sixth sense, but I just knew in my heart of hearts that they existed, well they did exist, before The Prophet died. The Prophet was my only connection to The Legion, so I had no way of knowing what happened to them after he passed.

I felt my throat constrict, and tears well, but I forced them back. The reason that the Prophet was so important was another thing I couldn’t explain, I just felt in in the deepest fibers of my being. I just knew that he was vital, and he was taken much too soon.

I shook my head out and put the lid on the box, pushing it back beneath the bed and replacing the rug over the scratches. I stood and glanced at the clock. I’d only wasted a few minutes, what else was I supposed to do? I sighed and climbed back into bed, curling up on my side and lying awake anxiously. The next night couldn’t possibly come fast enough. I closed my eyes quieted my mind, forcing myself not to think about the things that could go wrong, and soon I fell into a restless sleep.

Notes

I'd like to establish that I'm the sort of person who freaks out about everything, and I am super happy about my one and only subscriber. It's not actually a big deal, but to me it is ^-^ , so thank you whoever you are you've made me content. (I'm easily pleased in case you hadn't noticed.) My lone subscriber, you are awesome ^-^
And to anyone else reading, have an awesome day, because I appreciate you.
Ciao ^-^
-Ashtin