I woke up early one morning in October and I watched the colorful autumn leaves fall down outside of my small window. I was shivering, cold wind came through the small gaps of the window and my cover was thin and cold. I put on my old clothes that I nearly wear everyday, except on christmas and other important holidays. It was my white T-shirt, my black pants and my torn coat, it belonged to my dad. I went down the creaking staircase, through the hallway and into the old bathroom. I looked myself in the mirror, my greyblue eyes on my pale face are staring right back at me as I braid my long red hair.
-Alice! Unless you come right away you won’t get any breakfast, uncle Steve yelled at me from the kitchen.
His thought jumped into my mind as I came into the kitchen. It scared me how often he thinks about how useless I am, and how much he wants to get rid of me. I wish I wasn’t a mind reader, I wish I was normal, I wish I didn’t know how much everybody hates me.
I sat down on the sidewalk waiting for the bus and watched my fingers slowly turning white. After a couple of minutes that felt like hours, the yellow school bus came and i followed it with my eyes until it stopped at the small bus station. Before I even took my first step into the bus their thoughts came into my mind. I walked through the bus and people but their bags on the vacant seats. I took a seat behind Fred but everyone in school called him farting Fred. I felt bad for him because I know how it feels to be hated. I tried to talk to him a couple of times but he never answeres.
I hear their thoughts, feeling all their hatred towards me, gave me a headache. It doesn’t take long before I’m fast asleep.
-Alice, Alice! , said a soft and friendly voice, as someone carefully shakes me awake.
I look up to see Bob the bus driver smiling down at me. I look around and the bus is empty,
-Hey Bob, I say as I slowly get up and walk towards the door.
When I step out, I stop and take a deep breath. I am not sure what lies ahead and how my day is going to be but there is only one way to know.,,,,
I slowly walk towards the school entrance feeling my heart banging in my chest .The cold wind whips through my hair, it gets into my coat. It's freezing cold ! I wish I was somewhere else . I have a stomachache, I want to go to the infirmary..I used to take refuge in the toilet to cry. It had even become my favorite place. At least ,I did not have to endure their glaring at me or to hear their horrible thoughts ... I find my locker open with all my stuff on the floor, again … It is the 7th padlock that I have bought since the start of the year .. Suddenly, I feel something stinging my fingertip, bugs .. « Well, new clothes?? » Carla and Melanie shout at me as they open their lockers. Their lockers look like miniature dressing rooms customized with purple and silver wallpaper and little magnetic boxes ... I decide to ignore them but as I finish putting my things back 3 boys knock me over and laugh at me . I find myself on the ground with all my books. Down the hall I see Jenny ,my only friend, well I don’t know if she is really my friend but at least we get along .. Jenny is special, like me, her mind can go back in time. I am the only one who knows… I arrive in the science room 15 minutes late .The whole class glares at me . I sit down and quickly I take a sheet of paper. I don’t understand and soon I start dreaming ... I draw the little I remember about my family .... I remember when everything began .. the shuttle ,my father , then the explosion, the fire ... the tears .. All the suffering and the void ... « Alice !!!!! Stop sleeping ! » my teacher yells at me . « your turn now !! » Oh my god, my science project ,I’ve forgotten it .They burst out laughing... « Go get changed ! » a boy shouts at me . They don’t know that my coat is all I have left from my father. He died when I was 7 . My mother….. I've never known her ... but I would never tell them . I don’t need their pity ... .. I have a very bad headachache ...As I go to the blackboard, a pit in my stomach,the door opens and Mr Thomas the principal, enters with a new student. He looks weird but his face looks so familiar. I try to avoid his eyes but he is staring at me and I can read in his thoughts ' here she is...'I feel so confused that I drop my science book ....'I think it is yours' he says as he picks it up with a smile on his face.. He has red spiky hair with beautiful green eyes ,a pale face like mine..I know .......... Yes, I ‘ve got it ... He was at my last school ... ..but suddenly I remember ….…..
But suddenly I remembered that my father’s suitcase had that same symbol which was on Damon’s schoolbag, which made me wonder if he could possibly know anything about my dad.
“Alice! Would you like to present the school to our new student?”, the principle asked me, snatching me back to reality. The moment I realized what he just asked me made my eyes widened a little. Not knowing how to react, I accepted his offer by nodding lightly.
After all of my classes, I went to the place where Damon and I decided to meet - in front of the Principle’s office. As we were walking on the hallways of the school, I finally decided to ask him about the symbol. He simply gave me a startled look before replying: “My father gave me this bag. It is from where he works”. Then, a hundred of other questions popped in my head while I kept asking him about it, but I could clearly see his cheeks getting a slight tint of red as he was trying to switch the subject to something that was not related to his dad. It seemed pretty odd to me.
As soon as the school tour ended, we remembered that we had a project to work on, so I invited him to my place, trying my best to sneak in without being seen by my uncle. The moment we reached my bedroom, we started to talk about the materials that we needed for the project. I then realized that few of those materials were in the attic.
Asking him to excuse me, I sprinted upstairs, entering the old and dusty attic. It looked like a graveyard of memories. Cobwebs were all over the place, and it was dark as well, making it quite difficult to see. As I was looking for what I needed, my left foot hit a small box which contained some files. They had that symbol on them, driving me to read every line of them and carefully analyse each image - they were all about my dad’s failed mission in outer space.
After reading them all, I went back downstairs and found my uncle angry, but there was no sign of Damon. I could only assume that my uncle kicked him out, for he grounded me for being too sexual for my age by locking me in my room.
As I was lying on my bed and staring at the empty ceiling I picked up the phone and messaged Damon. Luckily, I had asked him his number earlier. Damon invited me to go for a walk in the park and, obviously, I said yes. Climbing out of the window, I ran to the park with a worried expression on my face.
I explained the situation to him. That my uncle was angered, and he invited me over at his place until my uncle calmed down. I smiled at him and let out a silent “Thank you”.
As I arrived at his place, I asked him for directions to the bathroom and, as I was heading there, I spotted a picture on the wall. In it there were my dad and his, wearing astronaut suits.
I stared at the picture for a while,stunned, examining all the features as if it was a great artwork or somewhat similar.
The gray background with the same symbol on Damon's bag and the box at the attic, the awkward smile on their face,
Damon's father's red hair, and my father's warm hazel eyes. It was quite weird that it looked like a recent photo, even
though it was supposed to be an old one. Actually I haven't seen a picture of my father for years and my memories of
him were all blurry and faded. Despite that, I definitely knew that the man with hazel eyes in the picture was my father
- his familiar, but awkward smile painted my faded memories back in color and it made my heart ache.
"Hey, Alice- are you all right there?" Damon's anxious voice broke the silence and I could hear his light footsteps
from the staircase. Oops, I forgot that he was waiting. "Damon, I'm perfect- You don't have to come..." My voice broke
out from my throat. But I was late, and he was staring at me and the photo, slightly rolling his eyes. "Oh, that picture.
" He said, with his voice full of sarcasm and embarrassment. Then he walked to me in high speed, which made me
think he was running into me, and in a second- he was in front of me. He squinted his eyes a little and stretched
out his hand. It scared me until I realized that he was only trying to take off the picture. As he took it away, he was
murmuring things like 'shouldn't have' or 'my mistake'. It happened so fast that I was just staring at him like a fool.
A thousand questions popped out of my head and I couldn't even read his minds because of it. When he was done
taking off the picture and I was done organizing my questions, they filled out of my mouth: What's wrong with
that picture? What is between my father and yours? What are you hiding and why? Is there something wrong
with me or my family?
When I was done, I inhaled air and he was exhaling. He finally moved his lips, breaking the silence.
"Your dad is alive, Alice. Not dead. "
“What? My father …alive?”I whispered under my breath.”Wait, I never told you my father was dead even when we were classmates back then…but…”
I tried to hear his thoughts. His mind was empty. I t was as if something was blocking me somehow. “Get out of my house!!!!” he screamed. “Get out now!!” he repeated hysterically.
He grabbed me by the hand and pushed me out closing the door with a loud thud. My heart was about to escape from my chest. As I was walking away I heard voices coming from Damon’s. I thought we were alone. “Why so many lies?” I wondered.
Since that day we never spoke to each other again. Whenever I approached him he stayed clear of me. I realized I had to find the answers I was looking for somewhere else. I was determined to change my horrible life even if it meant sinking into greater depths of misery. I had the right to know “Why had I been abandoned to the hands of a person that really hates me?” “Why live a life without a family?” I organized my thoughts and…here it was! “Jenny!”I cried out cheerfully. She was my only hope to find out what had really happened.
The very next day I confided in her and desperately asked for her help.”I don’t know if you can be my friend” I told her looking deeply into her eyes “but you are the only person you can help me!” I felt she was overwhelmed with an endless bliss as I was talking to her and I read her thoughts that seconds later was expressed in words of ineffable joy. “Yes ,I want to have a friend ,too! We are both so special!”
My plan was that she went back in time and see if my father had indeed survived the explosion, that grievous blow which had radically changed my whole life. We arranged to meet at her place on Saturday. I wanted her mother to be present. I was not certain about the danger our venture could involve.
“Hurry! Let’s get inside to start!”Jane shouted impatiently. I stepped in and she guided me to her gloomy bedroom, where her mother was waiting for us. She was a tall woman with piercing black eyes wearing a long dark coloured dress. Sparkling rings adorned her fingers and gold bracelets girdled her wrists. She made a motion to me to pass her the coat I was holding. Her fingers touched softly the raised surface and almost instantly handed it to her daughter.“Concentrate on it!” she addressed Jenny firmly. The only two candles that burned all this time on the round wooden table where we were sitting flickered. Jenny took a deep breath and closed her eyes clasping tightly to her bosom my father’s garment .I could hardly see any reaction on my friend’s face. I was eager to hear something from her lips which some minutes later came out in a fearful cry “Alice…Alice…Damon…he was there ,too!”
“Damon was there too… but wait he’s not alone!”
I asked in surprise: “Damon?! Where? What are you talking about?”
Jennie was confused as I was. She exclaimed: “That’s unbelievable! There are two other girls with him.., one of them resembles me a lot! that’s me! the other girl with the red hair must be you.”
Now I am shocked; I had many questions in my mind: “ Do you mean we have known each other since childhood?! Are you kidding me? But how couldn’t I remember that”
Jennie continued: “I’m shocked as well.. Hold on, there is another vision coming to my mind…We were playing together in the yard… later, two men came to us… They might be your father and Damon’s … We are in the car now, with the two men … soon we reached a big building… I can see a symbol on it. Where did I see that before..- Oh yes I remember, it’s the same symbol on Damon’s bag’’
I started asking myself questions: ‘’ Wait! Do you mean the same symbol on my father’s suitcase … that’s weird!”
Jennie bewilderedly wondered: “What’s that!! I see a shuttle from afar.. on the verge to be launched.. we are entering to a strange vestibule.. I think it’s a lab, I can see machines and a lot of solutions on the shelves… in the middle, there is a huge colorful rock… your dad and Damon’s are examining it”
I was anxious: “Are you sure about what you said, I know you’re addicted to fiction stories and you may just be imagining stuff”
Jennie yelled while holding the garment tightly: “What’s that! I’m scared, it’s starting to be gloomy and the ground is trembling… fire is everywhere, it’s coming from that rock… Someone is crying… It’s you Alice.. you’re yelling your father’s name… it is getting blurry, but I can see a woman.. she was holding us out you, me and Damon.. your dad I can’t see him, it’s dark now… I can’t see anything”
I was dazed and overwhelmed by questions again: “ We were in the explosion? but what kind of a rock was that? and who was that woman, please continue Jennie, you’re my only hope”
Jennie’s mother interrupted: “ That’s enough.. this may be dangerous, we have to stop now.”
I begged: “ But I want to know more, I need answers… How is my dad still alive! How could I forget such details about the incident? Who was that woman?”
Jennie’s mother said in a calm tone: “ Well, I was sure this would come someday, now that you are old enough; you have the right to know the truth. Alice, the woman who saved you that day is your mother”
I shouted: « What, my mother… How is that be possible? I thought she is dead!”
Jennie’s mother continued: “Listen dear, I advise you to stop your quest here, it’ll be so dangerous. The only thing I’m sure of is that she has a strong reason to be far from you. You need to know she made sacrifices to protect you...’’
Suddenly Jennie fainted. Her mother said that travelling back in time consumed all of her energy. Fortunately, she regained consciousness a few minutes later.
I couldn’t sleep that night. My mind was bombarded with lots of questions to which I have no answers.
I sneaked out early that morning to talk to Damon, but he didn’t want to listen to me as usual. I got angry and then shouted: “I know about the lab and the colorful rock”, He froze with a pale look on his face “How? Have you regained your memory?”
“No, I haven’t regained my memory but now that I know a few things, I feel even more confused than before. I have so many questions, Damon.” Taking advantage of his confusion, I fired away, “Why were the three of us in that laboratory? Why can’t I remember that we knew each other? Where are my parents? Why did they abandon me? What on earth is that rock? Why …?”
“It’s OK, Alice,” he tried to calm me down but the words just spilled out of my mouth,”You have answers. You knew my dad was alive. You …”
Damon grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, “Calm down, please. You win. I’ll tell you what I know. Come on, let’s sit down.” I froze when I realized that I was about to hear my life story. Damon led me to a small wall hidden behind some beautiful rose bushes and began his story.
“We used to play together in the park when we were kids and that day a strange colourful rock fell from the sky and crashed close to us. Our parents realized that the rock had altered us, it had affected us in different ways. Jenny could talk about things she had not experienced: she could see the past. You were able to answer a question before it had been asked: you could hear the thoughts of those who were with you.
“How did the rock affect you? What is your power, Damon?” I interrupted him.
“I have the same power as you, but my ability to read other people’s minds is much weaker than yours” he replied briefly and then he carried on with the story. “Both the Government and the Agency our parents worked for took charge of that rock and opened a formal investigation that included us. We had weekly individual sessions in the Agency’s laboratory, but that day we went together, the three of us, and for some reason the rock reacted to our presence. There was an explosion, a massive fire … Your mother managed to take us out of there. When the rescue team and the police arrived, they only found your dad and mine, they were badly injured. We had already disappeared.”
I was feeling anxious and I spat the words, “But you live with your father, you know what happened, you can remember. Jenny is with her mum. But me, well I can’t remember anything, I know nothing about my parents … Damon, this is not good enough!”
“That’s all I know, Alice”, Damon replied calmly. “I couldn’t remember either, but after a while my father came looking for me and he helped me get better. Apparently I was living with Jenny for a year, Jenny’s mum took care of me.”
“Where are my parents, Damon? Why do I live with someone who hates me?” I whispered, I couldn’t stay angry any longer.
“I don’t know, Alice” Damon replied with a voice full of sorrow.
I said good bye and headed for Jenny’s house. I greeted her mum, who was cooking dinner. The smell of roast chicken and mashed potatoes made me remember that I had not had anything to eat for hours and suddenly I felt terribly tired. Jenny and I sat in the living room and I told her what Damon had just told me. Just then, I noticed that her mum made a getaway to talk on the phone, she didn’t want us to listen. I decided to follow her.
“… no, she only knows a few things … but we must act fast or she will find out the truth … she may be in danger.”
„Are you sure he didn’t tell her where it is?“
I didn’t hear the answer on the other side of the call but Jenny’s mother continued.
“If she finds out where the fragment is, she’ll want to get to it. And we both know what it could mean for her.”
I had to hold back to not burst into the room and start asking. I tried to be patient in case she’ll say something more. And she did.
“Of course, I miss them. But we can’t put her in such danger after all they did to keep her safe.” She sounded frustrated now. Miss who? Could she be talking about my parents?
“Damn it, I know they can’t!” She was talking a bit louder, obviously holding back from yelling. “You said we’ll find a way, remember? And we will.” She sighed, trying to sound encouraging now. “I know we haven’t been in the lab for a few years now, but that doesn’t mean we gave up, okay? We didn’t. We’ll figure it out.” She calmed down and smiled. But I still didn’t understand. I needed to think, I couldn’t put it all together in that moment.
As Jenny’s mother said good bye, I hurried back to living room. And then it all clicked. ‘They’ must be my parents and there must be something in the lab that will help me find them. “I got to go!” I told Jenny in hurry as I rushed out. Obviously, the lab wasn’t there anymore but there could be some clue in the ruins. I needed to be there like yesterday. Maybe I’ll finally find my parents! No more living with uncle that hates me.
There really wasn’t much left from the lab. How am I supposed to find anything in this? I thought as I looked around. The foundations were still visible and some bricks were laying around and it wasn’t like I was expecting some note saying ‘Your parent are there and there’ but this still felt disappointing.
I sighed and started randomly picking bricks, not really knowing what more should I do. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to look for but I was determined to change my life so I kept going.
Suddenly I saw something shining few meters away. I immediately dropped the stone I was holding and headed for it. As I got closer, I thought I heard someone calling my name but when I looked around, I didn’t see anyone. Maybe it was just my imagination but I felt the ground shaking and my head was starting to hurt.
I had to move a few bricks to see the shining thing. It was really colourful and it looked like a chipped piece of rock. Could it be...? My thoughts stopped when I saw a familiar face in it. Without hesitation I reached for it but before I could touch it there were sparks between us, like static electricity, and the ground was really shaking. But there was the face of my mum smiling at me from the rock so it couldn’t stop me. In the moment I touched it I heard Damon’s voice calling my name. I turned my head in its direction but suddenly I felt so weak I fell to the ground.
Still tightly holding the rock I clearly saw my mother’s face in front of me as everything was getting blurry. “Mum...” I whispered. I wanted to close my eyes so badly. I felt so tired…
final paragaph by Moroccan team
I could not move my body and my vision was blurry. I heard footsteps and Damon asking “Jenny what are you doing here?”
Jenny looked pale and exhausted. She netted her eyebrows in confusion: “I guess It’s me who should ask this question! Me and mom have been looking for Alice. We followed her but all of a sudden she was gone and we felt so worried about her”
Damon sighed and then mumbled: “We are all worried and exhausted. Since my being here in this cursed city, my attempts to find an evidence about the incidence always end up in failure”
He looked at Jenny and pointed out to where I was.
I saw them running toward me and heard Jenny’s mom begging them to stop.
I heard Jenny stuttering: “Alice, Alice what happened to you?” I couldn’t answer.
Damon gasped” Oh my God, we should call for help, but what is that sparing roc fragment on her chest?”
He tried to stand up but felt dizzy and fell down. Jenny tried to help but felt she could not move her body. A moment later, they both fainted.
The rock fragment was shining and its brilliance was getting stronger. My vision is getting blurry and that was when I lost consciousness.
I opened my eyes and found myself in a dark quiet place. Jenny and Damon were there too. I woke them up. The place was cold and scary. All we could hear was our own footsteps, we walked towards the graves in front of us. They were many, like a sea of the dead.
I gasped “Do you see what I’m seeing guys?”
Jenney stammered with tears in her eyes: “I can’t believe my eyes! aren’t these our names and our parents’ names on the graves?”
Damon stared in disbelief and whispered: “Alice look at our fathers’ date of death on the graves! it is today`s date?”
All the graves were covered except one. It was mom’s grave! We walked towards it shivering from fear.
Jenny said gazing at the grave bewilderedly: “Can you see the words on the grave curb?
I approached and tried to read them: “yes, it says every action has consequences. stop looking for me”
I wondered: “What does that mean?”
“It could be an encrypted message. Maybe your mom is trying to tell us something Alice” whispered Damon
We tried to examine the curb but suddenly we fell down the grave. We didn’t feel anything as if everything happened in the blink of an eye. When we opened our eyes, we found ourselves in a small stifling room that resembles a lab.
On the corner, we saw a woman with a pale face and a weak body lying on a bed with lots of cables attached to her.
She looked at me and murmured: “Alice my dear, I missed you so much. Look at you. You are becoming a young beautiful lady”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was speechless and paralyzed. I felt tears rolling down face. Then I sobbed: “Mom is that you? Am I dreaming? What happened to you? Where have you been all this time? Why did you abandon me?
I wanted to hug her. I walked toward her but then I saw my mom raising her hand with difficulty and whispered:
“No, Alice. Please stop. Stay where you are otherwise you will ruin everything. I have never abandoned you. I don’t have much time. So, listen very carefully”
I tried to talk “mom…” but she interrupted: “Do you still remember the explosion of that day?
“Yes, we do” we replied
She continued saying: “I know about the rock that caused the explosion”.
Jenny, Damon and me were confused and felt our mind was bombarded with lots of questions but we chose to listen and not interrupt her.
“Alice, I was working with your father in the lab of space research, and I was asked by the government to be in charge of doing research on an odd rock that was found in a deserted land. This unfortunately coincided with your birth. I couldn’t spend much time with you and that’s why you can’t remember me”
Jenny was perplexed and had to ask “Oh my God! But how come that we were able to reach that rock”?
Mom replied in a calm and sad tone: “One day, while taking the rock to the lab for research, there was a problem with the plane and consequently crashed. We found out later that we have magical powers because of the rock radiations. But unfortunately, these powers will harm you in case you are exposed to those radiations again”
I had a lot of confusing questions. After a few second of silence, I wondered: “what are all these cables around you? Why are you here? Why didn’t you tell me this before?
Mom looked at me with sad eyes and then she said in a calm tone: “That was for your own good Alice. After the explosion, the radiations were active in your bodies because of that rock. When I carried you in an attempt to save you, the radiations penetrated my body but they didn’t give me any powers like you. Instead I got a dangerous contagious disease that put me in a coma for all these years”.
Damon shouted in disbelief: “so you have the rock radiations in your body now…”
Mom confirmed: “Yes, I do. When you gathered around that shining rock fragment, I woke up from the coma and I was able to connect with you by this vision and now you have to go away before that vision becomes a reality”.
I cried: “what? Is that merely a visi..?``
I couldn’t finish my sentence because of a weird feeling of exhaustion. Suddenly, I lost consciousness.
An hour later, we found themselves in Jenny’s house. We all looked pale, exhausted.
We could not utter a word as we were shocked.
We heard the voice of Jenny’s mom saying: “Oh, finally you opened your eyes, I was so worried about you, Are you all okay? I asked you to stop that dangerous search”
Jenny stuttered: “how did we get here? That was unbelievable! Did you see what I saw guys?”
Damon replied: “My head aches because of all those weird stories”
“What happened? What did you see?” Jenny's mother wondered.
After some minutes of deadly silence, I shouted: “we know all what you have been hiding about my mom. And now you have to tell us where my father is”
Jenney’s mom saw determination and insistence in my eyes. She hesitated for a while and then said: “Well, you are all too young to know the whole truth but I have to say that your dad and Damon’s went to the planet where the damned rock fell hoping to find a cure for your mom. They are all okay and they are about to find a cure. They have just sent us their picture there. So, don’t worry”.
She stopped talking for a while and then continued: “After that explosion, they gathered all the fragments of the rock except one. And obviously, you were the only one who was able to see it. So, you have to give us that fragment before something bad such as the radiation incident happens again. You saw what happened to you all a while ago”.
I could not believe. I protested: “But this is the only way to see my mother again. I can’t lose this chance after all these years waiting eagerly to see her. Where is the rock fragment?”
Jenny tried to calm me down: “It is dangerous Alice. The rock fragment is in a safe place. Wait until your father comes with a cure and then you will you meet your mother again”.
I said with tears in my eyes “I am tired of waiting. Now, I know why my uncle hates me. I was responsible for his sister’s sickness…”
Damon grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes: “Don’t be selfish Alice. Do you want to put us all at risk?”
I was lost. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to see my mom again. I wanted to know the whole truth. I thought for a moment and then I had an idea.
I asked Jenny’s mom in a calm tone: “Okay, now I understand. I am feeling so exhausted and so thirsty. could you please give me a glass of water?
When I saw Jenny’s mom disappearing, I looked at Jenney and Damon and said: “I think I need to have some rest”.
I went to Jenny’s mom bedroom looking for the roc fragment. I opened the closed and I found it. I hit it in my bag. While trying to get out of the window, I heard the phone ringing. I checked the number. It was the space agency’ number. I took the phone and uttered: “hello”
And then I heard a sad voice saying: “We have just got very bad news. The two agents we sent to space are dead. We think someone has found the lost rock fragement”
THE END OF THE STORY written by the Spanish Team
I woke up with the rock fragment still in my hand. I looked around and saw my friends’ worried faces looking at me. “What happened? Where am I?”, I asked.
“Thank God you are alright!”, Damon exclaimed. “You are fine, we are at Jenny’s. When you left the house I …”
“Shh”, I said putting my finger on my lips. “Listen”.
Jenny’s mum was on the phone again, “Honestly, I don’t know how we all could miss that stupid piece of rock all these years. She went to the ruins and just found it … Yes, she has got the last fragment … No, believe it or not she is fine, it seems the piece of rock didn’t harm her… What? You want me to take the three of them to the lab now? … Well, I suppose you are right … Yes, I’ll try to explain it to her … See you soon.”
I couldn’t believe my ears: they thought that piece of rock could harm me, there was another laboratory somewhere and we were about to go there! Maybe this was the day when I got some answers.
Jenny’s mum came into the room and asked nervously how I felt, before I could answer she said we had to go to Damon’s house. Jenny tried to ask what was going on but her mother interrupted her and said that she could explain everything while we got there.
We sat in the car silently, waiting for her explanation. She drove for some minutes without saying anything. Suddenly, the words poured out of her mouth. “Alice, your mum managed to get you three out of the lab the day of the explosion, but the impact of the rock on her was too much, she was badly injured and didn’t make it: she died two days later. I am so sorry, dear. However, your father is alive and looking forward to being with you again. Everything he is doing is only to protect you, the three of you. He is still working on the secret mission for the Government and the Agency. His mission is to mend the rock. Because it transferred you some powers the day of the explosion, you three are essential to reconstruct it. But your father couldn’t let you get close to the rock because we didn’t know what could happen, we didn’t know if the rock would harm you or how it would react to your presence. We thought it was dangerous.”
Jenny looked astonished, Damon not so much. I remembered the day when I saw the photograph of his father and mine in his house, the day when he told me my father was alive and how angry he got with me. I understood now, he knew some secrets that he could not share with me.
Jenny’s mother was talking nonstop, “… so it seems that we were wrong because you have found the last fragment and you are fine, nothing has happened …”
I wanted to shout that it was not true, that something happened because I could see my mum in that piece of rock and it didn’t make any sense. But the words didn’t want to come out of my mouth.
Jenny’s mum was still talking while she was parking the car in front of Damon’s house, “ … and they have decided that it is safe to put the last fragment in the rock to finish its reconstruction, but you must be present.”
We followed Damon, who went straight to a cupboard, opened the door and moved out several baskets. To our surprise, there was another door at the back of the cupboard. When Damon opened it, there it was: the laboratory with the incomplete colurful rock, and next to it the two men in the photograph. I ran to the man with the warm hazel eyes, my father! We hugged for a long time, the rock fragment still in my hand. Then, he pulled me away softly and asked for the piece of rock. The moment he put it in the gap, I heard my mother’s voice, “Alice, sweet baby, I love you. Remember, whatever happens, I will always be with you.” This was what my mum thought the moment she saved my life and somehow it was recorded in the rock fragment that I found.
The Government hid the magic colourful rock somewhere unknown, it disappeared from our lives together with the powers it gave us. I finally could have a plain, ordinary existence.