Fragments by Caroline Green Page B

every part of my body and lights blast into my eyes .
    People are shouting at me, men with bulging eyes; two women are watching, including the kind one. Her arms are folded .
    I’m sweating all over and everything hurts. I don’t understand what they want! More pain. I think they’re volting me. It hurts so badly. Please stop, please stop, please stop . .  .
    ‘Enough,’ says a quiet voice and a paper cup is held to my lips .
    The woman from before has soft brown eyes and pretty eyelashes behind her glasses. She smiles kindly and I drink .
    And I’m falling again . .  .
    But just as I’m sinking into the deepest, most comfortable place ever, the lights are on. I’m curled in a ball on the cold, hard ground, too shocked to scream. A pair of cold eyes in a stubbled face looks down at me. I hear a female voice say, ‘Go up to level two this time.’
    Pain, pain, pain. Everywhere. In my fingers and in my face. My stomach’s cramping. Hot pain. I’m being torn apart .
    Like when the bomb went off. Everyone dying .
    ‘They died, Kyla?’ says a calm voice. ‘All of them?’

    ‘Yes,’ I whisper, through lips that feel ragged and bloody. ‘All of them. All dead. Cal. Jax. Mum. All gone.’
    ‘Are you sure ?’
    Such a stupid question . .  .
    Another blast of pain. I don’t know where one wave ends and another begins. I’m on a wave of agony and reaching the top. When I get there it will be over and I can die, I can . .  .
    And the pain stops.
    I’m free of this horrible place, running in the fields near the farmhouse. I’ve got a gorgeous white dress on and my skin hums all over with the knowledge that something wonderful is about to happen. Sunlight sparkles all around and there are wildflowers growing everywhere. And now Cal is here. Alive . . .
    He grabs my hand, laughing. He pulls me close and we kiss. It’s a good kiss, longer than we had before, that one time. Better. I know that I’m safe at last. Home . But then everything gets hot, so hot, and there are flames devouring the flowers and turning everything to blackened stubble. Cal screams out in agony and the skin is blistering all over his face. I reach out to help him and I’m crying too. I think my tears will help him heal and so I touch my wet cheeks and then reach for his face.
    There’s a booming noise and everything goes white-hot inside my head so I’m blinded for a minute. There’s smoke everywhere and when it clears I see horrible things. People torn apart, some of them children. Limbs littering a busy street. Oh God, make it stop . . . Then I recognise someone smiling in the middle of all the wreckage. Who is he? Then I remember. He’s the guy from Torch who rescued Cal and Jax from the Facility when it blew up. Tom. That was his name. He’s holding a gun in one hand and lifting his finger to his lips to make a shushing gesture with the other. His eyes glint in a weird way. He looks . . . evil. But I turn away from him because someone calls my name. Jax? He’s walking in that bouncy way, his long arms with hands in his pockets, and he’s whistling. Relief floods through me. He’s not dead! I don’t have to be alone again. It’s all going to be all right.
    ‘Jax!’ I yell but Tom is walking towards him and I know he’s smiling, but I can’t see him. He lifts the gun and shoots Jax through the head. Jax jerks and collapses on the ground. I scream and I try to run to him but I can’t because my legs are so heavy.
    I’m crying and crying and my head hurts. I’m in darkness now and I try to open my eyes but something is pressing them down. A sliver of light glints and I hear a groaning sound from somewhere. I’m opening my eyes and the light is bright, but then I see faces watching me and feel that my head and shoulders are being held by something tight.
    ‘I think we’ve probably gone as far as we can for now,’ says a woman’s voice. I feel myself being sucked somewhere deep and dark.
    I’m floating,