Twice the Fun - Part 29

Aurora King

Time was running out, and I felt as if I was punched in the stomach. No, no, NO! Nothing has happened to Air. Nothing! I urged the words to be true, but I knew that I had no power over words to turn to actions.

“What’s wrong, Aurora?” Natalie asked in her delicate voice. I felt all the hope go out of me like a balloon being popped. It was there, but then someone took a needle and pressed it against me, and…

“Air,” I swallowed and closed my eyes to prevent the tears. “She’s not here. We have to find her.”

“It’s okay, Aurora.” Natalie seemed to know that I was on the verge of breaking down. “We’ll find her and get out of here.” she assured me.

One sob was all it took. One sob that escaped from my throat, and then was followed by many. As I wept, Natalie was suddenly in the room and was hugging me tightly, while whispering the words that you always whispered when you were comforting someone. She said a lot of “It’s going to be alright”s and “Shh…we’re going to be fine”s.

“Aurora, we have to go find Ariana. Come on,” Natalie finally said.

I wiped my eyes and nodded, embarrassed. “Yeah,”

She smiled at me. It was the pity-smile. Do you see why I always kept my emotions to myself? I hated the pity-smile. It made me feel so stupid. I don’t want your pity! I thought about saying, but I figured that I would loose my only friend I had at the moment.

The only person I trusted.

We moved out of the confined space and into the hallway. We turned left, since I had went right the first time and I knew that Air didn’t go that way. As we swam down the hall cautiously, I thought about home, and how I missed my mom, my dad, my brothers and sisters--even Janie, the one that put up a barrier around herself that no one could get inside. In truth, I admired her. She was always my idol growing up as a child, even though she despised me. She always kept her emotions in check and never let them leak. When everyone was panicked, she was just calm and stood there...almost as if she was in shock.

Over the years, I had developed her abilities to block people out and stay isolated from everyone else--even my twin sister didn’t really know the real me. I always kept my thoughts to myself, afraid people wouldn’t accept me for who I was. Who I am. Who I will be.

“Ariana?” Natalie called out, breaking my thoughts and bringing me back into the present. “Are you there?” We swam around a bend in the hallway, and I saw Air--but she wasn’t looking at us.

I was horrified at what I saw. She was just staring at the blank, white wall. Not blinking, not moving, not doing anything! Ariana may as well as been a stone statue. Her eyes held unshed tears and complete terror. Whatever Air went through, she was traumatized. Her face was still and hard, unyielding to let anyone know what she witnessed. Her arms were limp at her side, and her lips were tightly locked. It must have been painful, because some blood was mixing in the water around her from her teeth digging in to the outer edge. Tears threatened to escape from my own eyes. I had never seen her like this. It was if the life was sucked out of her, never to return.

“Air?” I whispered. “What happened? Why are you like this?” A dark thought crept into my mind, and rage filled my veins then. “Who did this to you?” I gritted my teeth to keep from growling. If the mermaid who posed to be Mrs. Aquatic did this to Air, I would rip her apart.

I paused. Who am I anymore? What has possessed me, that I would think about murder?! I shuddered. No longer was I an innocent 12 year old.

Ariana didn’t even shift her eyes. She had made no movement what-so-ever. I was about to cry, when I remembered my wall. My wall that I had worked so hard to build up around myself. I had spent all my life building the wall, and I have already damaged it by crying in front of Natalie.

“Ariana, we need to get out of here. You don’t have to tell us what happened, but I suggest that we move fast to avoid it happening again.” Natalie said.

Ariana broke out of her shellshock and stared at us, examining us as if we were fine specimens under a magnifying glass. She looked perplexed. Never had I seen her like this.

Once again, for the millionth time that day, I wondered if we would ever be the same again after this week.

I dared myself to wonder if we would even exist after this week.