Lisa:
As we walked back to our residence I couldn't help but wonder what dreams I would have. At least both of us had stopped sobbing uncontrollably but I knew that we would be sobbing uncontrollably again in the near future.
I also thought about the little run-in with Sam. He had come out and heard quite a bit of the conversation. Rather than him having only a part of the story I told him what happened. When I was finished he seemed horrified at what Mrs. Martines had done. I hoped that it wouldn't give him nightmares but the whole compound would know about it soon enough.
Our residence was empty when we arrived. Luke had drawn guard duty tonight so he wouldn't be home until late. The residence that we had was different than the one we had just a week ago. We now had one with two bedrooms since Anna was staying with us. The bathroom had a tub in it instead of just a shower like our old one did. The kitchenette was still small seeing as how most of us ate at the communal dining hall.
"Will the President tell the world what happened here?" Anna asked.
"I don't know" I said. "I would think that he'll avoid mentioning just how your mother died. I doubt that he wants to give anyone any ideas anymore than we do."
"Can I sleep with you tonight?" Anna asked.
"Of course you can" I said. I would have suggested the same thing if she hadn't asked. She just saw her mother kill herself and she needed to be held. I could use someone to hold tonight too since Luke wasn't here.
"Thank you" Anna said as she hugged me.
"You're welcome" I said. "I think that we both need each other tonight."
"I miss... my... mom" Anna said choking up again.
I just held Anna close to me. It was going to take a long time before Anna could truly move on.
After about fifteen minutes Anna pushed herself away and asked "Will you stay with me while I get ready for bed?"
This caught me by surprise since Anna had insisted that she could get dressed by herself. She didn't even want me in the bathroom when she was taking a bath or using the toilet. All I could say was "Sure."
We went into Anna's room. She had a nightstand next to her Disney Princess bed. She set down her crystal on the nightstand. She hesitated and then put down her mother's crystal. I had to wonder what the new black swirls meant. As I pondered this Anna started to undress. She didn't seem to mind me being in here. Maybe she was afraid to be alone. I know that I would have been. Right now I didn't want to be alone either. Once she had stripped down to her panties she went to her closet and picked out a black nightshirt that
she hadn't worn yet. I had wondered why she had wanted it since she didn't like black all that much. It didn't have anything on it either which made me wonder even more. When I had asked her why she wanted it she had said she just did. Could she have had some sense of what was to come? I decided that it could wait for a bit.
"Crystal in hand" Anna said suddenly. Both her crystal and her mother's teleported themselves to her hand. "At least we know my mom's crystal still works. I want to keep it with me."
"You go ahead and keep it with you then" I said. Maybe it would help to comfort her.
Anna still had to use the toilet and brush her teeth. She insisted that I accompany her. I thought that it wouldn't hurt so I did. We were both girls after all.
After Anna had finished it was my turn to get ready. I used the toilet and brushed my teeth. We went into my room where I undressed and put on my pink and white nightshirt. We finally laid down after I put my crystal in it's special place in my nightstand.
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Lisa:
I was in the communal dining room. I couldn't remember how I had gotten there and I was still in my nightshirt. I saw Luke head toward me.
When Luke sat down next to me he said "You should have stopped her."
"How could I?" I asked. "I had no idea what she was planning."
"You should have found a way" Luke said. "You're responsible for her death."
"There was nothing I could do" I said.
"So you won't take responsibility then" Luke said.
"I couldn't have done anything to prevent her from aging herself like that!" I nearly shouted. "I tried to bring her back! It didn't work!"
"If you don't take responsibility then I have no choice but to leave you" Luke said.
This stunned me. How could he leave me over this? I couldn't have done anything to stop her. "Please don't leave Luke" I pleaded.
"You won't take responsibility for your inaction" Luke said. "I can't stay with someone who won't take responsibility. Good-bye forever."
With those words Luke got up and left. I tried to get up to follow but for some reason I couldn't. I looked down at my plate and saw that instead of the bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes I thought I had seen earlier there were many crystals. All of them had that same black swirl as Mrs. Martines' did.
"My mother is dead because you didn't stop her!" Anna said. I hadn't even seen her come up to me.
"I tried to bring her back" I said.
"You were just jealous!" Anna said. "Jealous that I'd go back to her! You didn't do anything because you wanted to keep me!"
"That's not true Anna" I said.
"Oh it's true" Anna said. "You can't hide it from me. You let my mom die and you didn't bring her back!"
"I tried though" I said putting my face in my hands. "I had thought that with the crystal being bonded to the person that it would work."
"YOU COULD HAVE USED YOUR CRYSTAL BEFORE MY MOM AGED THAT MUCH!" Anna shouted. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I HATE YOU! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE! NOW YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE!"
Suddenly Anna was no longer the sweet little girl she had become. In her place was the soldier she used to be. She was pointing a P-90 at me.
"Anna I'm sorry" I said.
"MY NAME IS NOT ANNA!" Anna shouted. "IT'S PRIVATE FIRST CLASS ANTHONY MARTINES! PEOPLE WERE RIGHT! YOU ARE FREAKS AND SHOULD NOT MINGLE WITH NORMAL PEOPLE!"
Anna pulled the trigger and shot me.
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Lisa:
I woke up in a cold sweat and bolted to a sitting position, my heart pounding. It was only a dream. Beside me Anna looked like she was having her own nightmare.
Suddenly Anna woke up and bolted to the same sitting position I was in. The only difference was that she was screaming.
I hugged Anna and said "It's alright. It was just a bad dream."
"It seemed so real" Anna said once she calmed down a bit.
"You know, it might help to tell me what your dream was" I said.
"It's scary" Anna said.
"Tell you what" I said. "You tell me your dream and I'll tell you mine."
"Ok" Anna said.
We told each other about our dreams. After we both laid back down. Anna fell back asleep pretty quick but sleep would not come easy for me. I kept thinking about my dream. It seemed that I was afraid that people would blame me for Mrs. Martines' death. I knew that I was being silly and that no one would blame me. Though I couldn't help but think that I might have been able to prevent it. Could I have reversed what she had done if I had acted? Can the crystals even
transform someone who was already in the process of being transformed? If they could what would the outcome be? Would the first transformation finish before the second one began? Would the second transformation interrupt the first? Would it harm the person being transformed? Would it kill them?
Finally my mind quieted down enough for me to fall asleep.