Author's Note: I am sad to say that "Running" has come to an end. This is the last piece, and it's in Alice's view, just to clear up any confusion that could have come from that.
Now I'm running from reality like my mother. The reality was, she's dead and her career ended at her funeral. A few select people know that she's still alive, in a way, but she's being reported as a Monique Duval look alike if she's confronted in public. Everybody knew about her engagement to Adrian Brown, but he's also being reported as a look alike with his new ability to leave the woods that hold our home. My mother was killed with poison, which was framed to look like she was bitten by a venomous snake. The police deemed my father's death a suicide after the death of my mother was too much to bear.
"Stop! Dad!" I screamed in agony. He couldn't hear me, the energy surrounding him was too thick. I howled in pain, my entire body engulfed in shooting and throbbing pain. "Please, stop!" I shrieked again, begging for him to stop. I was seriously considering crawling a few feet over to a rock next to me and smashing it into my head until I fell unconscious. Suddenly, Mom clenched her hands into tight, tiny fists. She punched a hole in a tree, trying to get Dad's attention. Then, she sprung into the air and landed on his back, biting down on his neck hard enough to have killed a human easily. "Enough!" She hissed through her clenched teeth, and Dad went to pry her off.
"Monique! Release!" Dad hissed. She shook her head, but loosened her grip to make him more comfortable. He laughed and attempted to pry her off again, but she held on like they wouldn't have forever together.
I tried to raise myself from the ground, and Mom looked up at me and gasped. "Alice? Is this my Alice?" She asked Dad, shocked. "So all it took to get you off my back was Alice Adrienne standing up?" Dad asked her as he straightened out his jersey. She gave him no attention as she walked over to me, resting her hand softly on my cheek. "You're absolutely gorgeous!" She was stunned, really. I laughed and realized I had a melodic voice like hers. "Monique, she looks like you now," Dad said as he walked over to us. He looked me up and down with a nice grin of satisfaction. "I'm better than I thought," He said with a laugh. Mom shoved him to the side and took off after him, jumping on his back again and keeping a nice, firm hold on him. I could see the muscles in her arms flexing.
We sat in the clearing and Mom sat in the tree that Dad carved their names in. He took a nice look at me and then ran over to the tree. He scratched my name in it and Mom leapt out at him. She pressed her lips to his neck and smiled softly. He laughed and I knew I was better off not knowing what she was whispering or thinking to him.
I finally discovered my unique abilities and Mom and Dad were scared senseless. I was sitting in the clearing and Mom screamed my name. I called back and she was staring dead at me, but couldn't see me. "Alice, quit playing around!" Mom said with an edge of panic. I grabbed her arm and she screamed a loud, ear splitting scream. "Alice! What happened to you?" Dad asked me. I thought about it and they could see me. "Cloaking! Her abilities are coming!" Mom said, fear dripping from her words. Suddenly, she stared in fear at me. "Alice, what's wrong with you?" Dad asked for her. "What?" I asked, grabbing my face between my fingers. "Your eyes . . . They look kind of odd," Mom said to me. A wave of pain and heat shot through my body and Mom screamed. I heard Dad leap up in the air and land behind me. "Fire, Alice? You can shoot fire from your eyes?" He asked me, confused and afraid. "I would assume so," I whispered. As if I weren't abnormal enough!
Mom stared at me, a concentrated gaze. I collapsed and Dad caught me, I barely noticed it. "Monique, ease up on her. Don't go too hard, she's young and you'll put her into a coma," Dad lectured. She nodded and pressed her mouth back to his neck. Out like a light.
When I awoke, I was in a glass box. "Until you're fully aware of how to control your new offensive ability, you're going to be stuck in this indestructible box. I don't want you destroying your mother, I can avoid your blows, she can't," Dad lectured when he walked into the room. Mom was once again clinging to his back, mouth to his neck.
"Mom, why do you keep doing that?" I asked, puzzled. She smiled softly. Her face! She looked absolutely beautiful, more so than before! "She can't talk, Alice. She's transmitting her thoughts to me while she . . . Feeds off of my energy," Dad explained to me. She nodded softly. "How do you look that amazing?" I asked, baffled. She smiled and opened her mouth, laughing, but no sound came out. "I would assume she's taking in far too much energy and it's causing changes to her body." I sighed. Gently, she climbed down. "I need what I can get if I'm spending forever with you."
And I smiled at that. She's willing to spend forever with us, even if she has to be more clingy than she would like to survive.
One single tear slid down my cheek and she smiled, putting her hand up to the glass. "I'm done running. I'm walking through forever with you two," She whispered as Dad held her and our hands touched the glass in the same spot.
Forever sounds nice.
