Thea II

Chapter 2

2

So confused. Delirious. My thoughts are just a mess of incoherent flashes, like a half-doze, on the verge of drifting off to sleep.

I don’t even remember getting into this car, or how long we’ve been driving. All I see is a long, dark road with hardly a car in sight.

The sky is a gloomy shade of orange. The sun is coming up.

I look down at myself. I’m wearing pink pyjamas. Where the hell are my normal clothes?

What are my normal clothes?

My eyes are straining; I’m battling to keep them open. I glance at the woman next to me—Kate. Her eyes are watering heavily and bloodshot. She rubs them with the sleeve of her blue t-shirt and she accelerates the car even more.

I can barely focus on anything. The road is the only thing that truly makes sense. Kate is a stranger, yet I feel more connected to her than to anything. She talks to me, tells me to stay calm, but her lips never move. It’s coming from my head. It could be my own thoughts, but somehow I know it’s her, speaking to me.

Who is she? What is she?

Is she like me?

What am I?

Kate looks early-twenties and has long brown hair. She has a huge tattoo running down her right arm and neck. She seems anxious; the knuckles around the steering wheel have turned white.

Kate glances at her watch. “s**t!” she says. My head flies back as the car accelerates even more.

My eyes are on fire, stinging like they’ve been engulfed in shampoo. After a few miles, the flat road becomes a massive hill, obscuring the sunlight. The relief is wonderful. But when the car gets to the top and the road descends, everything changes. The sunlight fills the car, burning my skin. I scream in agony. Kate winces, but doesn’t make a sound. She pulls the steering wheel hard to the right, tyres screeching, and the car tears off the road onto the grass. My sizzling body catapults towards Kate, then it flies back over to my side, and I hit my head against the window. It doesn’t hurt, though; the only pain I feel is the blistering along my arms and face. Holding onto the door handle, I watch as Kate drives the car through a wooded area, dodging trees and mounds of grass. The sun starts to disappear, with just a few beams of light creeping through the overhanging trees.

After a few minutes the car comes to a sudden halt. Kate removes the key from the ignition and then races out.

‘You need to move, Thea!’ Kate telepathically orders me .

The passenger door opens and she grabs hold of my arm and wrenches me out of the car. I fall to the ground, but then I’m dragged to the rear of the car. The boot is wide open.

‘Get inside. Now!’

As I start to climb, Kate shoves me and I roll in, hitting my head on a metal carjack. It should hurt like hell, but I’m too dazed to react. She follows me inside and then pulls the door shut.

It’s pitch black—but I can see every detail in blue. How?

I must be dreaming.

Lying on my side, I feel Kate’s arm draped over my body. She takes me by the hand, and I close my eyes. The burning pain around my body has vanished, so I close my eyes tightly. Just as I start to doze off, the woman from the fairground pops into my head. She seems familiar, but I can’t lock onto the memory. There’s a thick, stone wall blocking it.

‘Sleep, Thea,’ Kate tells my head.

I listen to her and the woman’s face starts to fade.

I see her face again.

‘She’s no one, Thea. Forget about her. She’s just a stranger. Now get some sleep.’

I’m moments away from passing out. It feels good, like I’ve been up for days.

‘Sleep, Thea…’