"Why are you so upset?" Kyra asked. I looked away, getting into my separate pod. I sighed, flipping my long tendrils out of my eyesight. Atleast the pod was all white, giving me a glimpse of what I would see in the future.
"Is it DD?" I closed my eyes, pretending I didn't just hear those words uttered. "Is it soon? Is it today?" My eyes widened. "Please, Kyra..." Kyra sighed. "I get it. It's probably something else, anyway. It doesn't have to be my business. Sorry." I finally gathered the guts to look back at Kyra. "You're right. My DD...it's tomorrow." Kyra's eyes widened. "Klora!" Kyra shouted. "By Anfil's name...you're serious. How?"
I wiped a tear. "I don't know. I'm not sick. I'm not doing anything dangerous tomorrow. It's gonna be a normal, average day. Yet..." I paused for a moment. It was hard for me to accept that this would be my last full day. That somehow, I would die a death which I didn't know. "We always know. But I thought that maybe, I'd get sick. Maybe, my parents would finally notice that something was off. Then, I could tell them and they could actually appreciate me and spend time with me. But that's not happening. And if I tell them now, that my DD is tomorrow? They won't care. They'll think it's a joke. 'Klora, if you're so upset then just do it already. Don't put the burden on us and complain like you do everyday.'" I looked away again. Kyra couldn't see my face. I didn't want her to.
"Well, if your DD is tomorrow, don't you suppose we do something about it?" Kyra asked. "Like what?" I snapped. "Maybe I'll go tell the school nurse, they can always stop any boo-boo from bleeding more and call Mommy and Daddy."
"We escape." Kyra's voice became bright. "What? Escape? And go where?"
"The seeing stone!" Kyra declared. "Or back to Hotchi. Anywhere, really. As long as it's beautiful." My face contorted. "You'll get caught. In trouble. I don't want that, even if you think this would be some sort of charity for the dying."
"So what if it's charity? Do you want to die in misery and tears instead?" I groaned. "I just want you to be safe and not in trouble." I felt Kyra's tendrils touch my own. "We can still go to the seeing stone. It could tell you how you die, and we can avoid it!" I stayed silent for a moment. "Deal."
We left that night. I still felt contorted. I might die because I choose to do this. I had wanted to say it all night, but I couldn't get myself to. I had been brilliant. My parents forced me in those halls, and it was the last place I wanted to die. Outside, the air was hot. It was dry, too, as it always was. I felt the gravity become lighter, and I could jump high up again. I didn't realize how badly I had missed that feeling.
We climbed up near endless fields and dove into deep pools of water, washing ourselves off from our city dweller selves to engage with the natural beauty. Upside down mountains were visable from the distance, and where we found those, we would find the seeing stone.
"When do you die?" I finally asked Kyra. We had enjoyed our midnight stroll. It had been hours since I stopped worrying about the school going after the two of us. Kyra looked me in the eye for a moment. "In a few years." She finally admitted. My eyes widened. "So you die young?" She looked away. "It's not a choice that I make. Who knows, I might be sick in the future. There'll probably be something."
I hope there's someone with her, like the way she's here for me. "What if it ended sooner than that?" Kyra wiped her eyes, which were getting watery. "It won't. I promise. The death days never lie to you." Kyra nodded. "Just bask in the certainty of it all. You were born to die. Someone could yell at you a million times, but you'll always know that it won't matter in the long run. We mean nothing. I know that now." Kyra's eyes widened. "Klora! Klora!"
"What?" I asked, frowning. But it was too late. I saw Kyra running, and I knew I had to go. I ran across the field, never looking back once. I didn't know where Kyra was going, but eventually she left my view. When I ran out of breathe, I collapsed by a riverbank.
I used my measly energy to look around, yet I found nothing behind me. I hadn't heard anything, either. I tried to think. What could it have been? I groaned, my head pulsing madly. I got up. The air was now colder, and a stream of wind flew around me. Suddenly, I felt the ground below me start to move. I screamed, but my feet were locked in place, sinking under the soil. Suddenly, I felt the ground lift off. I was flying. My eyes widened in excitement. I hadn't realized that it was ever possible. I tried to control it, making my legs sway around in the air.
The air coiled and the whole world felt amazing. The ground started to bop like whenever someone touched jello, and the air pulsed with euphoria. The animals played and frolicked, bits of water stayed still in the air as I tried to catch them. The trees walked on their branches and moved like slinkies around the ground. A plethora of colors grazed my eyes.
I saw thousands of tiny creatures stare at me, climbing onto my arms and giving me signs of affection. The clouds zigged and zagged in the sky, even stopping down for the tiny animals to get off my arms and jump in the clouds like a bouncy house. A lemur lazily rested on the surface tension of water, and the occasional pineapple and fruit would fall from the sky. I saw a palace ahead, before realizing that there were no humans in this paradise. I wondered where they could be.
Suddenly, an animal bit me. I screamed, the pain grappling every part of my body. I saw the other animals opening their mouths and preparing to do the same thing, before I managed to brush most of them off and shake my hands like a mad man. I felt myself panicking. My mortal desires of utopia had gotten the better of me. I need to find the seeing stone. I told myself again.
I tried going up to the upside-down mountain, but as I did the excitement and joy only felt farther and farther away. I felt the ground below me growing weaker as we rose upward. When I reached the top of the upside-down mountain, I saw the seeing stone in front of me. I stood in shock. It was a true legend.
I felt my legs rise up again. I got off the soil, and turned around to get one last look at it. It was really an animal with 12 legs and two beedy black eyes. I smiled, before it decomposed and turned into dust right infront of my eyes. The smile fell off and I almost screamed.
It took me a moment to collect myself before turning around to face the stone again. It could show me the truth. I still hesitated, thinking about Kyra and my own DD. I hadn't even gotten the chance to think about her. She might've been hurt, and I would be ignoring her.
But it was for the truth. I had a higher risk of dying if I looked for her again. Besides, I still probably only had one day. One day left to live and figure out the answers that the stone could provide.
I walked toward it, and to my surprise, I found a pool of water in the stone. I stared at the pool, and my eyes widened. It was a woman, but she was speaking to me. "Klora, Klora!" She was a young woman with pasty skin and bright eyes. "You were adopted. You're really my child. I've always wanted you. We can be a family now!" She ran to the reflection of the pool, banging on it like it was a piece of glass.
"You're my mom?" I said in shock. Of course. I was destined for something. I had to have been. My parents never loved me because I wasn't theirs. Now, I could finally find love. I finally had the truth.
The woman didn't listen to me, though. She continued to shout my name in desperation, seeing me but not hearing me. I started to put my hand closer to the pool, slowly. I felt voices surrounding me, telling me to put my hand in and touch my mother for the first time. As I did, I felt my body melt away.
"It was never real, child." I heard the woman say through my pain. I felt my hands and feet turn to dust. I screamed. "You searched for it your whole life, and it looked so easy. But there never was a truth."
The horrific bliss of nothing took me over, and pool of water again dissappeared, preparing for it's next victim.
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