The Imitators & the Journey Alone

Me, Matt, my brother and a few other people were fighters against a malicious group of imitators. The imitators could change their shape, very good at blending in, and they were the bad guys. There were only six of us that knew about the bad guys and their plans.

My plan: we had to leave town, because if we stayed, the imitators would target my family. It was the last night. It slowly turned into evening. The six of us stayed in my room, pretending to just hang out. My parents were upstairs. We looked at old scrapbooks, laughing and enjoying the comfort of our own home. I was getting sadder and sadder, knowing the time was drawing short and when I say goodnight to my friends and family tonight, it would be the last time, because I'm never coming back here again. If I do, the imitators would find out where my family lived.

Evening fell. I'd left my room and was packing with some of the others. My brother stayed in my room because he was reading a book. I saw four men suddenly come into the house; they seemed familiar with my parents so I ignored them.

My mom later came downstairs into the basement to check on us, and then looked at one of the men and suddenly seemed confused. "Eh? One of your friends?" she said, turning around to go back upstairs.

I instantly locked eyes with the stranger. He knew that I knew he was an imitator now. His hands dove into his pockets. We both moved at the same time, but he was faster. He cut my mom's throat and then stabbed her several times in the back before I got to him. I screamed. Sometimes the emotions you feel in your dreams... I was so angry and simultaneously heartbroken, I felt like I was just a tissue paper vessel for a firestorm. The stranger laughed and tried to dodge me but I ripped the knife out of his hand and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest, he tried to punch me so I fired lances of hot energy through his head and chest and fried his brain. While he died on the ground I put a hand on my mom and healed her wounds before it was too late. She fell into a healing sleep and I moved her onto the couch and erased her memories. I wouldn't be able to say goodbye to her before I left; deep sadness.

I went into my room to tell Chris we had to leave as soon as possible. But... the lights were off... he was sleeping.

"Chris, we have to go! We have to go now!" I whispered. Why was he sleeping? Was no one taking this seriously? The others were just milling around outside as if someone didn't just try to kill my mother!

Chris mumbled something and slowly got out of bed in a groggy manner, as if I'd woken him up for school. Not as if we were about to leave our entire lives behind.

I went back outside. "Is everyone ready to go?"

Another man came downstairs-- I knew instantly he was an imitator. This one was bulkier. I instantly lanced him down before he could move. A skinnier guy came after him-- I grabbed a heavy container of cleaner fluid and smashed him in the head with it. He stabbed me in the chest and I gasped with pain, and smashed the container down again so hard with the container that the bottom broke and his head became lodged inside the container. He struggled so I pushed him down, and I felt awful-- he was going to die by drowning in cleaner fluid, what a poisonous, painful death, I hated to do this, but if he survived, he could escape and get back to the other imitators, or he would strike again when our defenses were down.

Then the cleaner fluid container splintered and revealed the skinny imitator's pathetically horrified face. He gasped and grasped at the ground-- he didn't even fight back. Matt wrapped saran wrap around his face to suffocate him and the man struggled weakly on the ground, looking terrified. He didn't look like he expected to die-- he looked like a coward. Matt stopped.

The man didn't even try to run, he just lay there gasping on the ground, staring with wide terrified eyes.

"We're going to have to take him with us, because if we don't, he might try to do something else," I said.

The skinny imitator kept gasping and panting on the ground, too tired and beaten to move, eyes nearly bulging out of his head with fear.

"Well..." said Matt, but nothing more.

"We need to tie his arms and legs," I said.

"Hmmm," said Matt.

After rounding up the others, I told them, "We are going to California... this is it guys, OK? We have to leave quietly, I don't want to wake up my family."

I led them to the back of the house, however Matt stopped us. "Why don't some of us go out the front door? It'll make it better if we split up, so six people aren't leaving the house at the same time."

Everyone else headed towards the front door.

"Wait, that doesn't make sense, because the front door is squeaky. It's night time, if we can all sneak out quietly through the back door, nobody will know anyway! Guys!" I whispered, but nobody listened to me. The others, Chris and friends, went towards the front door. But they just went back upstairs instead of leaving the house...

They had bailed. I was going to be the only one going. And I had to go, because I had already planned out what I was going to do there and had set up meet times with fighters at the destination.

"Matt, that didn't make sense," I whispered to him. He didn't say anything and went to the back of the house with me. At least I had Matt, so I could start a new life with at least one person I knew. He was a good partner and I could trust him, and he'd been my best friend all this time... we could make it, even if we started from nothing. As long as he was with me, I knew we could do it.

When we got to the back of the house, our other friend was there looking in the fridge to find some food.

"Oh, hey guys," he said. He didn't even look at me, he had no idea what was going on.

"Hey, I'm heading out. I'll see you... around, I guess, if I ever see you,"  I said, feeling sad.

"Oh, what? Where are you going? Well nevermind, see ya I guess," he said, looking up surprised.

Matt opened the back door for me and made a motion like "ladies first".

I was about to step out the door, the Matt snapped the door shut back on me. I instantly reflexively took a step back, shocked.

He smirked. "Psyche," he said.

I kept staring at him, dumbfounded. "Psyche?" I repeated, not believing what I was hearing.

"Psyche. Yes, did you seriously think I was coming? You're a fanatic," he said, holding the door shut with his hand.

Momentary confusion. Then, the waves of betrayal poured in. Strong strong feelings of betrayal, hurt, embarrassment... it wasn't like Matt just played me along and treated this entire plan like a joke, he had to do it in front of someone else who had no idea what was going on. Our friend just looked on awkwardly.

I stepped away from the door. "I'm not a fanatic, Matt... someone just tried to kill my mom!" I exclaimed. My voice broke a little bit. I turned around to the garage door and took a few steps towards it.

"Are you seriously going though?" laughed Matt behind me.

I stopped. "I have to," I said, trying not to cry. "I have to go. I already planned it. I have to follow through. I have people there." If I didn't leave, they would find out where I lived, and I had to start making connections with other fighters before it got too late to organize.

"Alright then... your choice," he sighed. He sounded disappointed. "You're taking this way too seriously."

More waves of sadness flooded through me. I was going to miss him a lot. And I suppose this was the end of our relationship too. I turned around and opened my arms to hug him, and to my surprise he returned the hug. I held him in my arms and squeezed him very hard. "I'm gonna miss you a lot, you were my very best friend," I said. I couldn't help it, a few tears swelled out of my eyes. Our friend by the refrigerator looked awkwardly shocked, staring, and then down at the ground when he saw me cry.

"Well, bye then," said Matt coldly, and that was all he said.

I held onto him for another few seconds and he tolerated it. Then I let go and I couldn't look at him anymore. He didn't take me seriously. None of the people I'd worked with took me seriously. There were real imitators and someone just tried to come in and kill my parents, and nobody took it seriously.

I turned around to go.

"Wait, Bella," said Matt.

"I'll see you around," I said. I didn't turn around, because if I did, I wouldn't be able to leave. I'd just break down into tears. I waved over my shoulder and the door closed between me and Matt, and I knew that was the last time I would have seen him as my best friend-- and our relationship was over. I stood staring at the garage door. He hadn't even bothered to remote open it for me-- I heard his footsteps going back upstairs. That was it for us. For me, it was a crushing, painful experience, realizing this was the end for us. For him, it was just... that was it, time to go back upstairs.

I manually opened the garage door myself and stepped out into the evening. There was a cool fresh breeze and the sky was still a deep midnight blue. The tears started rolling down my face now. I turned around and looked up at my house and thought of all the people inside. I thought of Matt, who had already moved on the moment the door closed. Everything that happened between us was now in the past. I turned away from the house and looked at the sky. I had to start moving on too.

I went to the backyard and took flight. I flew up high, because I knew I had to go far, and it was much faster flying up high with the jet streams in the sky. As I rose higher and higher, and my house and everyone I knew and cared about shrank away into the distance, I suddenly spotted a pair of figures in the house next to mine.

It was as if suddenly I gained superhearing.

"She's gone now, let's move in," said the imitators. One of them blurred, and became me.

They moved towards my house.

No! No! No nononnonono 

I could barely think as panic rushed through my mind-- I dove back towards my house. I had to get there before they did, but it was too late. We'd get there at the same time, and there'd be the confusion-- I'd have to fight my imitator and if I lost...

And then I woke up.

WHAT A DREAM