I opened my eyes. The room around me was dark and warm. I sat up and yawned. What time was it? I felt well rested, despite being up so late. But it was still dark outside.

  “Tiffany?” I asked softly. There was no answer. I reached out to find the other side of the bed cold. Where had she gone?

  I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I felt almost normal now. Normal was something that I hadn't felt in a very long time. I got to my feet and stretched. It was only then that I spotted the small stack of clothes. They were my old clothes. They were my old clothes from home. They had been washed but were still covered with stains.

  They were tucked away into a corner, neatly folded up. I picked them up, looked over them carefully, and hugged them to my chest. They smelled like dirt, blood, vomit, and home.

  “I love you Mama, I love you Papa, and I really miss you. I can’t go back, not yet, but I’ll be thinking of you all the time.” Soon the clean clothes were dotted with snot and tear stains. The more I looked at them, the more memories came to mind. I remember climbing trees with Tiffany and ripping the jeans. Every grass stain made me think of a summer in the past.

  I enjoyed the moment of comfort and memories of home the clothes brought me. But only for a minute. I had a lot to do today. I needed answers. Ross had told me that if I had questions he would answer them for me. I was going to hold him to that promise. But before I did anything else, I needed to eat. Roy and Beverly were sitting on a mat, next to the main shed. I could smell bacon and eggs in the air.

  "Have you seen Tiffany?" I asked them. Beverly shook her head.

  "I think she probably went for a walk. She does that a lot. She normally wakes up before anyone else. I think she already ate," Roy said.

  "Okay." I nodded.

  "Would you like something to eat? We've got plenty," Beverly offered.

  "Sounds great," I said.

  The food was full of warmth and flavor. It was so wonderful to eat food that you could actually enjoy. I had almost forgotten that food could be tasty, thanks to the awful stuff Alexander fed me.

  I ate every last bite with a smile on my face. I still felt tired. I still missed home. But things could be worse. At least I had good food and sunlight here. I cleared my plate and headed off to look for Tiffany. I found her on the edge of the village. She was staring off into the distance. Her eyes were closed and there was a look of pure peace on her face.

  “Boo!” I grabbed Tiffany by the shoulders and shook her. She flinched, then relaxed once she saw me.

  “Hey, you came close to scaring me that time.”

  “You were scared. I saw it,” I said, flopping down next to her in the sand.

  “Are you feeling any better?”

  “I’m feeling calmer.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad.” She turned back to the skyline. “I know this is all hard for you. You’re right to feel angry.” I needed to be nicer to her new friends.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re getting better, Tyla, you really are.”

  “I don’t know. I try, but I think part of this is I’m just angry with myself.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, I… just feel so useless. I think what you did was amazing, Tiffany, but I worked and planned for a long time. It still didn’t get us anywhere. I missed so much too.”

  “I don’t think I ever would have made it out if it wasn't for your map, Tyla,” Tiffany said softly. I doubted that. “It’s true.”

  “If you say so,” I sighed.

  "I do have some good news. I've finally been able to get some answers," Tiffany said.

  "That is good news!"

  "Yeah, Ross has been teaching me so much about my ability. You have no idea how good it feels to know there really are other people like me!" Tiffany said. I smiled at her.

  "I'm super happy for you, I really am. But I also want you to be careful," I said slowly. "Are you sure that we can trust these people so fully?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I-I don't know... it's just you haven't known them for that long. You can't possibly know everything about them. I just want you to be careful," I said.

  "I may not have known them for very long, but that doesn't change the fact that they've really helped me, Tyla," Tiffany said. That was fair. They had helped save me. I couldn't forget that. I really owed them a lot. I was just sick of being betrayed and tricked.

  "I guess I have to trust you," I groaned.

  "Oh, he also has a dog. Just thought you might like to meet it at some point," Tiffany added.

  “Really! What kind? How big is it? What color is it? Is it a boy or a girl? Why haven’t I seen it yet?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t know, and I don’t know. I haven’t met the dog yet, I just know there is one.” She shivered. I couldn’t help but grin. Tiffany was unbreakable, unstoppable and capable of so much. Yet she was still scared of lovable, fluffy creatures. I opened my mouth to pick on her, but she beat me to it.

  “You know your hair is a complete mess,” she said.

  “I know. I haven’t touched it in I don’t know how long.” It was a wonder that the braid was still holding up. I began untying the messy, greasy, dusty braid.

  “They have running water here if you want to take a shower. Trust me, you won’t know how much you miss hot water till you shower,” Tiffany added.

  “Sounds great. But, honestly, by the time we get back to the village I’ll probably be too tired to think about anything but bed.”

  “That’s fair. Here, let me help you with that.” She scooted over closer to me and took the greasy strands from me.

  “Dutch or French?”

  “I don’t care. You always make it look nice.”

  “French then.”

  “You know I do know how to braid my own hair.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “Hey!” I nudged her in the ribs. She laughed. I smiled. She hadn’t braided my hair since we were children. But she had always been better at it. I watched as her fingers worked quickly and nimbly, working every single strand in perfectly. When I closed my eyes and listened to the silence, it was so easy to imagine we were back home, safe and sound. It was so easy to pretend that we were still kids, and that nothing had changed.

  “You know, you have lovely hair. If you just took slightly better care of it, it would look amazing, I’m sure.”

  “This may come as a huge shock to you, but I haven’t really had the time to think about that sort of thing for a while,” I said. Tiffany chuckled.

  “Yes, that is a huge shock to me. I can’t imagine what could possibly be getting in the way of something so important.”

  “Do, you really don’t have a weakness?” I asked.

  “Not that we know of.”

  “But the other people here so have weaknesses?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know what they are?”

  “Yes, but I’m not going to tell you what they are. I’m not sure I’m meant to know them,” she sighed. What did she mean by that? “I think the others have a lot of fear around their weaknesses; that only makes sense. If I had a weakness, I’d probably be extremely paranoid about that one thing, that one little thing that could end me.”

  "I guess that makes sense," I agreed.

  "It's funny... everything has been flipped upside down. I'm sure that Alexander is still looking for me. But I don't feel afraid or stressed. In fact, I feel more free than I ever have been," Tiffany said. She got to her feet and I followed her.

  Her eyes seemed to glitter and glow as she spoke. I smiled. I missed home. I was tired. I still wanted this to be a dream. But at least Tiffany was happy. She was getting the answers that she wanted. This was very different from going to college we had learned from it. That was a good thing.

  I reached out and took Tiffany's hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze. Stuff had been hard. But we were together. I knew that as long as I had my sister by my side, I could make it.