Chapter 24 - Letting Go
"Julie...?" Her voice full of concern, Susan stuck her head around the door and
peered into Julies' room. The lights were turned off, and the fading glow of the
sun from behind the closed curtains provided little illumination for her to see
by.
"Julie, are you okay?" When there was no reply, she pushed the door open further
and stepped in.
"Hey, Susan," Julie greeted from the bed, sounding flat. "Sorry about the game."
"Everyone is worried about you," Susan said gently, closing the door and trying
to navigate across the room through the twilight.
"I know. I'll be fine."
"You don't sound fine," Susan said, unconvinced as she sat down on the edge of
the bed. "Your Dad says... he's sorry he upset you." Julie sniffed in disbelief.
"He sounded like he meant it," Susan assured her quickly.
"Then why couldn't he tell me that himself?" Julie asked, anger creeping into
her voice.
"Because... he went back to the Station," Susan explained uneasily. "Most of his
friends went too... and they had guns."
"Typical, he's off being heroic instead of looking after his own daughter,"
Julie said bitterly.
Susan knew Julie was upset and being irrational, but the emotion with which she
spoke still shocked her, and she wished she knew how to comfort her friend.
Hesitant, she reached out and put one hand gently on Julies' shoulder.
"I'm sure... if there was time... he would have come," she managed slowly.
"He's only my father when it suits him," Julie muttered. "I've seen him a maybe
dozen times this month, and then... he just suddenly moves in here, and thinks
he can get away with telling me the... the least he possibly can!" She sat up
then, shaking with anger.
"His story about drugs and this Resistance, and how this Guy person thinks I'm
some sort of... super cure... its all crap. If I have to be from another planet,
my Dad should have a better excuse for leaving me than fighting some fucking
stomach bug! Why can't it be... evil crime lords, or space pirates, or... or
aliens, or..."
Her sudden rant running out of steam, Julie trailed off and hung her head sadly.
"Why couldn't I be normal?" she asked the floor, and flopped back down onto the
bed to stare up at the darkened ceiling.
"I'm sorry," Susan said sadly.
"No, I'm sorry. I... I know I'm being silly, but... I thought I would be happy
once I found my family." Julie sighed heavily.
"Things will get better," Susan told her, trying her hardest to sound
reassuring.
"I hope so," Julie replied, sounding depressed. Susan lay down behind Julie and
put her arms around her, giving her a warm hug.
"Thanks, Susan," Julie whispered after a minute of silence. "It was nice to talk
about... all this."
Susan nodded, deciding silence was the best response.
"He's nice though, when he's around," Julie admitted softly. "He makes me laugh,
and he... always asks how I am."
"He's trying," Susan confirmed.
"Yeah... maybe..." Julie fell silent for a minute, her hands clasped tightly
with Susan's over her belly.
"He gave me a spaceship, though!" she exclaimed. Susan giggled.
"Maybe trying too hard," she said with mock suspicion.
"Normal people might get a car from their parents, if they're rich or
something... but a SHIP?!"
"You get all the cool stuff," Susan muttered, pretending to be jealous.
"Like all those kinky toys?" Julie teased.
"Or that weird necklace that makes me see things," Susan said with a giggle.
"Do you think I should say sorry?" Julie asked quietly. Susan didn't reply, not
knowing what to say.
"I was kinda mean to him," she admitted, sounding guilty.
"You said he wasn't your Dad," Susan reminded her quickly.
"I know that," Julie snapped back, and Susan giggled lightly. She could feel her
Mistress was happier now, and it reflected on her own emotions. It still took a
bit of getting used to, but she was starting to adjust to the complexities of
their shared feelings.
"Where is that necklace, anyway?" Susan asked suddenly, sitting up.
"Jabbing into my right breast," Julie muttered, and wriggled dramatically to try
and dislodge it.
"Can I... have a look at it?" Fumbling in the dark, Susan managed to turn on the
bedside lamp so they could see.
"Sure, but why?" Sitting up, Julie fished down her shirt for the necklace.
"Well... I've been wondering...about what happened last time."
"When you watched... us fighting?" Julie asked, thinking back to that horrible
night when she had nearly been killed by Shadow. She didn't remember much after
meeting him in the gardens with Trig, except that it had hurt an awful lot.
"Yeah, that." Susan flinched as Julie placed the necklace in her hand and let
the fine chain go.
"What, did you see something?"
"...No, nothing," Susan replied, sounding a little disappointed. "Perhaps it
only... AH!" With a shout Susan jumped and threw the necklace back at Julie as
if all of a sudden it had become hot.
"What happened?!" exclaimed Julie, wary of picking up the necklace from where it
had landed in her lap. Susan sat quivering for a moment, and then started to
laugh nervously as the slight ache in her head faded.
"Um... it still works!"
"What did you see?!" Feeling a little jealous that Susan could make it work when
it was nothing more than jewellery around her own neck, Julie leant forward
expectantly, dying to know what happened.
"Um... well you were kinda glowing," Susan told her, trying to relax after the
shock. "Like... the lights in the garden when it's foggy."
"Glowing?" Julie frowned at this. "What colour?"
"I dunno!" Susan giggled nervously. "A Julie colour? It was really quick!"
"Well... try it again!" Julie picked up the necklace and swung it at the younger
girl who squealed and batted it away.
"No! It's weird!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, I'm stuck with my head and its weird powers," Julie reminded her. "At
least you can take the necklace off!"
"So?!" she protested, but quickly wilted under Julies' steady frown.
"Fine, I'll try again," she said, pretending to sulk as she took the necklace
from Julie. Trying to distract herself from what was about to happen, she
studied the object sitting in her palm.
"Wow, this thing is really naughty," she exclaimed, blushing as she looked at
the two small golden figures clasping the top of the violet gem between their
legs. "Are they your par...?"
"DON'T ask me that!" Julie cut her off quickly, and then covered her eyes and
groaned. "I don't want to know!"
Susan giggled nervously, and clutching the necklace in her hand, looked up.
"Well, it's working again," she informed Julie, closing her eyes and turning her
head slowly from side to side as she looked around.
"Am I glowing again?"
"Yep, the same Julie colour as before," Susan replied.
"How about now, does it change?" asked Julie, summoning the warmth of her
healing. Susan shook her head.
"Okay... how about now?" Glaring at the desk lamp, Julie concentrated on willing
it to move.
"Maybe a little brighter," Susan told her, opening her eyes. "What are you
doing?"
"Trying to throw that stupid lamp across the room," Julie said with a slightly
disappointed smile. "It doesn't want to go, though, just like the soap and the
hairbrush and everything else I've tried to move!"
"How about you pick them up like everyone else!" Susan grinned.
"That's what Simeon said, so I grabbed the soap and threw it at him in the
bath!" Julie giggled as Susan started to blush again.
"You're so cute," Julie told her, and was about to lie back down lazily on the
bed when something tickled the back of her mind. Both she and Susan turned to
look at the same time, and a split second later the air snapped open directly in
front of her wardrobe.
Her eyes widening in shock, Julie immediately shuffled over to sit protectively
in front of Susan, her violet eyes locked on the silver-rimmed doorway. The
sound of peoples voices could be heard on the other side, and just as Julie was
about to move closer to investigate, a girl stepped through onto the carpet.
The shiny black outfit that seemed poured onto the slender body of their
unexpected visitor brought back chilling memories for Susan, and she felt her
heart skip a beat when she looked at the blank expression on the girls' face.
The moment of terror as she wondered whether they had come to reclaim her was
debilitating until she remembered where Seth had said he was going. Her heart
leapt for joy as another shiny-black-clothed girl walked through the portal,
lining up behind her companion with her back to the bedroom wall.
"He did it!" Susan cried, and almost leapt off the bed in her excitement as a
steady line of girls began to enter through the silver doorway into Julies'
bedroom.
Following closely behind her friend, Julie approached the portal and gaped in
horror at what seemed like a hundred girls standing in the wide corridor visible
on the other side, silently following the orders of the Resistance members
watching over them. She had never imagined that there were so many girls being
held captive there, and for a moment she was too stunned to think.
It soon registered that the men were carrying strange silver guns like Susan had
said, and Julie began to feel uneasy. She caught Susan by the shoulder and
pulled her close, trying to work out why things felt so wrong. Then she noticed
the expressions on the faces of each one of the Resistance, the solid
determination trying to cover the abject fear that was in their red and violet
eyes. They were all Dominants, and they were all extremely scared of something.
"Seth?" called Julie loudly, putting an arm around Susan.
"What's the matter?" Susan could feel Julies' nervousness and pressed back
against her, her touch reassuring.
"I don't know," Julie whispered in reply.
"You two, go through and make room," she heard her father's voice call out. Two
of the Resistance members left the group guarding the girls and stepped through
the portal, the fear they had been radiating easing as their feet touched the
soft carpet.
"Best if you get out of the way," one of them advised, giving Julie and Susan an
attempt at a smile.
"Thanks," Julie replied weakly, but she didn't move from her spot. Instead she
watched as they opened the bedroom door and began to usher the growing pack of
mind-controlled girls out into the hallway. Despite the gentleness in their
commands, Julie could hear the tension that still filled them.
"Julie!" She turned to her father who was standing just beyond the portal,
carrying the same strange gun as everyone else and looking just as stressed.
"Stay there, don't come through," he commanded, pointing firmly at her feet.
Julie frowned at him.
"What's going on?" she demanded, squeezing Susan tightly.
"Julie, not now, please," he sighed, looking pained, and before she had a chance
to respond he had stepped out of view.
Susan immediately felt the anger and hurt that poured into her Mistresses'
feelings, and turned to look up at her.
"Julie..." she said soothingly, her heart sinking as the older girl pulled away
and headed straight for the portal.
"Julie, stop!" Susan's voice became more urgent when she realised Julie was
intending going to go through, but it was already too late.
"Wait," Julie commanded as the next girl made to cross the portal. Completely
obedient, she stopped and waited patiently as the young Dominant came through.
"Julie... c...come back!" cried Susan. Ignoring the frantic calls of her friend,
Julie looked around the shadowy corridor for her father.
There were black-suited girls standing everywhere, disturbingly ignorant of the
chaos around them as Resistance members ran past in all directions, shiny silver
guns held ready as they followed the orders coming through the arm-radios that
each one of them wore. The lights set into the ceiling were dark and silent, and
a heavy looking lamp had been set up to one side of the corridor, casting
shadows that shifted and jumped about crazily as people stepped in the way. Now
that she was through the portal, Julie could see that there were several other
circular doorways in the air clustered around the one she had just stepped
through, showing various parts of the house that she recognised.
"Damn it, talk to me!" she yelled over at her father, who was hurriedly giving
orders out to a group of three members. He turned sharply, and his jaw dropped.
"Julie, I said DON'T come through!" he cried, looking horrified. "What are you
doing?!"
"What are YOU doing?!" she shouted back. Seth ran a hand through his hair,
wondering if things could get any worse.
"Forget everything else, get the girls out of here NOW!" he ordered, turning to
two of his men who were carrying a case of something towards the open portals.
There was a moment of hesitation before they put the case down and hurried to
obey, leaving it and its fragile contents forgotten on the floor.
"Julie, please go back through the portal," he pleaded, hurrying over to his
daughter. "It's not safe here for you."
"And why not?" she demanded, standing tall before him. She could tell he was
terrified for her safety, but she didn't care at that point. Her growing
uneasiness was forgotten under the tide of her emotions; she was determined to
get some answers.
"Please, just go!" he begged, visibly holding himself back from physically
picking her up and throwing her through. "It's not the time for this. Right now
we have to get the girls out of here. Please, go back."
"But why, Dad... why won't you explain everything?" The fear in his voice
softened her anger somewhat, and she felt her eyes growing heavy with tears.
"Because there are some things people don't need to know," he said evasively,
looking desperate.
The number of girls standing around had thinned already, and with less people
blocking the light, the damage that had been done to the walls was much more
obvious. Julie looked away from Seth for a moment, her eye caught by the gouges
hewn into the steel floor only metres away from her.
"What happened here?" she asked in a whisper, her blood going cold. If she
didn't know better, she would have sworn she was looking at claw marks.
"Please, go," Seth nearly cried. The device around his forearm came to life
then, and Julie could hear someone yelling frantically through it over a high
pitched whine in the background. Every one of the Resistance members who wasn't
ushering the docile girls through the portal immediately lifted their weapon to
readiness, and as a group they broke into a run down the corridor.
"Dad..." The unease which had been lurking in the back of her mind jumped
dramatically, and she began backing up towards the portals as the sound of
people shouting echoed down the corridor.
"I have to close the portals, GO!" Seth shouted at her as the communication from
his forearm device went suddenly silent.
"I..." She wanted to turn, she wanted to run and get away from whatever it was
that was approaching them, but she was too scared. At the furthest end of the
corridor, where it curved away to the right, she could see the men of the
Resistance firing, the whine as their guns discharged merging into one painful
sound. She had never seen an energy weapon before, and to her it looked like
they were firing toy guns into the distance, with no recoil or visible effect on
the gun itself. But they were far from toys, and the damage to the walls around
her stood testament to the devastating power held within each one.
"Julie, come on!" Around them, the Resistance fighters were falling back, one by
one exiting through the portals to the safety of the other side.
"Julie... ignore it, we need to go NOW." Abandoning his passive approach, Seth
grabbed her by the arm and started to pull as first one, and then another of the
portals closed.
"I can feel it," she whispered, stumbling backwards as Seth dragged her away.
There were about a dozen of the defenders left, and Julie could see it now. It
was surprisingly tall, and she imagined it would move very quickly when it
wasn't fending off the shots fired by the men around her. She wanted to scream
and run, but she felt numbed by its presence. She could feel it like a weight on
her mind, and what scared her the most was that it seemed to recognise her. It
knew what she was, and it hated her.
She was barely aware that she had stopped moving, and that her father was almost
crying as he pulled on her arm. Her head was swimming, and with a detached
feeling realised she was no longer in control of her actions. Her terror had
taken over, just like that time back in the cafe bathroom. Only now it wasn't
scars on Celina's back that she was scared of, it was the creature that was
rapidly approaching where she was standing. It was big, it was alive, and Julie
had to get away from it.
Releasing her arm reluctantly, Seth began to back away slowly from Julie as the
air seemed to grow thick around her. He had already tried to pull her with all
his strength, but he knew that whilst she was holding herself there with her
abilities, there was no way he would be able to move her. Even though he doubted
he would live another minute on this side of the portals, he couldn't bear to
abandon Julie there. It was time to trust that she was as good as Guy had hoped.
"Get back!" he shouted, waving at the remaining Resistance members who had
already stopped firing at the creature. It was already clear that they didn't
have the firepower to even slow it down, and yet instead of killing them it was
standing about ten metres away, watching... studying them in the silence left by
the guns.
Julie moved then, raising her hands slowly up to her head. Her violet eyes,
which had been staring unblinkingly at the creature, closed slowly, and as she
tilted her face forward she started to scream. Agony poured through her skull
with a strength she had only ever felt once before, and had hoped she would
never experience again. The hate from the creature she had been feeling pressing
in around her turned to rage as she fell to her knees and cradled her head in
her hands. She took a sharp breath between screams, and the floor around her did
something that steel was not supposed to do; it rippled.
In a burst of motion the creature started towards them as around it the walls
screamed with the sound of metal bending. Julie's world was pain, and she could
think of nothing but stopping the thing that in less than a second would be upon
her.
And then with a detonation that shook the beleaguered Station, the entire
corridor collapsed in on itself.
--
Thanks to slavelucy for making me finally post these chapters!
--
