Fourth Birth: The Oakmont Saga, Book 1

I woke up cold. It wasn’t just cold, but really cold and I shook violently from it. Or maybe it was the pain making me shake or the images in my vision, or maybe it was the drugs making me shake. I really didn’t know anymore. I couldn’t tell the difference.

The pain was about what I expected though, my head feeling like someone was driving a railroad stake into it, very slowly. I knew there was blood coming from my nose, and likely my eyes and ears as well, but I didn’t care. I just laid there, letting it run down my face.

Reaching into my pack, which I was amazed I still had, I pulled out the little LED lantern and opened it up. The light blinded me for a moment, but like with most things, I didn’t care.

Once my eyes adjusted, I saw that I was in a house. The house was a little rough and looked familiar.

I was on the floor in what had to be the living room. I wasn’t thinking very clearly right then, and couldn’t seem to figure out where I was, although I knew I’d been there before.

There was a wood burning stove against the middle of the living room wall. Crawling to it, I saw wood beside it, and I shoved some in. Once I had a reasonable amount for a fire, I started a log with my mind. Pain exploded in my head, with even that little amount of effort and I felt a tickle under my nose, which meant I was bleeding again. More blood that I didn’t care to clean off.

Instinctively, I got up and walked directly to the kitchen, where there was a roll of paper towels attached to the cabinet by the sink. I pulled one off and started cleaning my face, although I said I didn’t care. Maybe I did, just a little.

Why did that hurt? It shouldn’t. It hadn’t before. Maybe I was getting close to burning myself out. That’d be good, if it was true, but I suspected that I was going to keep my power but hurt really bad as the price to use it. Since I wasn’t able to resist the temptation to use it, I’d hurt all the time. Such was my life.

With the fire going nicely, I curled up on the floor, hurting both in my body, my head and inside my mind. I was having really bad visions, all the normal stuff. In addition, I was imagining the horrible things Aliyah thought about me, and she was right to think them. I was a horrible person and a worse best friend…and cousin. And added onto that, I was now thinking of ways I was going to hurt Daddy.

That thought made me start crying, tears streaming down my face, as I laid curled up in a tight ball on the floor. I was shaking like a leaf, and sweating really bad. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the need for those drugs, between bouts of waking nightmares from the visions I was having of James and the doctors, and now Aliyah and Daddy. At least I didn’t see Momma or Ben.

As I laid on the floor, something inside me began to turn off. I couldn’t explain it other than that. My mind went someplace else, into that blackness, but it was different. My body simply stopped doing anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary for me to live. I shut down, completely, going into some kind of hibernation.

“Where would she have gone?” Rebecca asked, as Randy updated them that she had teleported.

“Right now, I have no idea. She’s hurting inside and it’s driving her.”

“Mr. Brager, please don’t take this as an offensive comment, but she’s a lot like a cornered animal right now. She’s badly hurting and wants to feel secure. Where might she run to that she might feel safe?” Stone asked.

“I really don’t know. We’ve camped all over the place, but she would need more food than I imagine she has for that.” As he was thinking about it, the door opened, admitting his wife.

“Where’s Ben?” he asked, noticing his son wasn’t there.

“He’s with the neighbors. You look like something’s wrong. And who is this beautiful young lady?” she asked, noticing Aliyah.

“This is Aliyah. Aside from being Melanie’s best friend, she’s also Mikey’s middle daughter,” Randy replied. She looked at the girl for a long time, shock on her face. Before anyone could react, she had crossed the space and wrapped her arms around the poor girl.

Aliyah was completely unsure how to react and simply sat there, accepting the affection. “My God, you’re just as beautiful as your sister, maybe more so,” she said, as she pulled away from Aliyah, still holding her at arm’s length and examining her. The girl blushed and lowered her face.

“And you made friends with Melanie?” she asked, a little bit of surprise leaking into her voice.

“Yes, ma’am,” the girl replied.

“How did this happen, exactly?” Becky asked.

“She was my roommate. She was really nice and smart and helped me a lot with my math,” Aliyah replied.

“That’s incredible. And you’re cousins to boot. What’re the odds?” she asked, the southern accent coming out a little more than normal, from both of them.

“Indeed,” Rebecca remarked, noticing the accent in both of them, but oddly not in Randy.

“Becky, we were trying to figure out where Mel might have gone. She’s scared and running. You know how she is, when she feels like she doesn’t amount to much. She’s worse than I’ve ever seen her. She ran from me,” he told her, pain in his voice.

“Why didn’t you go after her?” she asked.

“She can teleport,” he informed her. Her face was a picture of complete shock.

“So, aside from all those other skills, she can teleport. For some reason, you failed to mention that previously,” she stated, looking at Rebecca and Stone, with a look of accusation.

“We only mentioned the skills we knew could be used as a weapon,” Rebecca said.

“Teleportation could be a very potent weapon,” Becky retorted. Stone looked quizzically at her for only a moment before the possibilities dawned on him of just how powerful a skill that could be. Randy was watching with the barest hint of a smile.

“He gets it, now that he’s thinking about it in those terms,” Randy said to his wife.

“Please enlighten me. I’m not used to thinking that way,” Rebecca said.

“She could use it to appear behind someone and simply stick a knife in them, before they realize she’s even there,” Stone said, shocked that he hadn’t thought of that.

“From what you’ve already told me of that school, I would guess that you train these kids to be spies, or some sort of covert agent. That means you likely train them in martial arts and other similar skills,” Becky said.

“Yes,” Rebecca confirmed.

“You have no idea what you’ve created in a child that’s mentally unstable,” Randy told them.

“You’re saying your daughter’s mentally unstable?” Rebecca asked, shocked at his candor.

“Yes,” Becky replied for him.

“As a parent, I hate the idea of that being true, but I must accept the facts as they are. My baby girl needs help, and you’ve trained her to be a weapon. I only pray that your education, being as short as it was, hasn’t taken hold,” Randy added, a look of deep sorrow on both of their faces.

“Enough of this. Let’s go someplace more comfortable, please,” Becky suggested.

“Where do you have in mind?” Rebecca asked.

“Our house. We can work a lot more comfortably from there, and I think Aliyah could use a bed in a private room,” she said. Less than ten minutes later, they were settled in the Brager’s living room.

“Aliyah, do you think you could find her?” Rebecca asked, once they were settled in the living room. Becky had been about to lead Aliyah to Melanie’s room, so she could sleep. Aliyah didn’t reply. She closed her eyes, sitting like a statue for a long time, several hours in fact. When her eyes opened, they all knew she wasn’t successful, and the level of her exhaustion was brutally apparent.

“I can’t feel her,” she told them, her words slurring together. “I’ll try to go further,” she then said, after a pause.

“No, you rest. You’re too tired,” Randy said, sitting beside her and holding her, even though he wanted her to be able to continue searching. It was his daughter they were talking about, after all. It hurt him to not push, but he could see what it was doing to Aliyah, and she needed to rest.

She leaned into him, almost unable to hold herself up and was asleep within a minute. He picked her up and carried her to Melanie’s room, laying her in the bed and pulling the covers over her. His niece, whom he’d never met before, was an incredible young lady, and he marveled at the odds against Melanie meeting her, and even more, befriending her.

“She’s incredible,” he heard his wife’s voice beside him.

“Isn’t she?” he agreed.

“You have more understanding of this ability than we do. What are her limits with it? How far can she go?” Randy asked, once he and Becky were back in the living room.

“We have no idea. She’s the first that’s ever had anything remotely like this, and she wouldn’t tell us anything,” Rebecca replied.

“Randy, if she’s running, even from us, where would she go?” Becky asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. Everyone could see the frustration and pain on his face. “Let Aliyah sleep. Once she’s rested, we’ll drive around, letting her try and find Melanie with her mind, like she did earlier. We’ll try that until we find her.”

“How long can Aliyah keep it up?” Becky asked.

“Again, we don’t know. She took the X6 serum as well, which altered her strength and abilities. There’re too many unknowns now, with both of them,” Rebecca told them.

“So we search until we think Aliyah has pushed herself far enough,” Becky suggested.

“Yes,” Randy replied.

“That’s a lot to put on her,” Becky said.

“I know, but we don’t have any choice,” he told her, eliciting a nod of agreement but nothing more.

The search was slow and exhausting, especially for Aliyah, who was clearly pushing herself as hard as she could. But there was no success. They had been keeping their search relatively close to the Eagle River/Chugiak area, in part because of the assumed limits of her ability, based on Stone’s observations of its use, along with Aliyah’s knowledge of it. None of them thought she was capable of more than a few miles.

After the third day, Aliyah already asleep on the couch, the adults were sitting around the kitchen table deathly quiet, as they sipped coffee. Becky had arranged for a longer stay at the neighbors for Ben, so he wasn’t a concern for them.

Aliyah’s eyes popped open and she bolted upright. “She’s that way,” she said, pointing toward the mountains. “She’s hurt, and it’s like her mind’s turned off,” she said, then collapsed, unconscious before her head landed on the pillow.

“What’s that way?” Stone asked, not that familiar with the area and its terrain.

“Mountains,” Randy replied.

“But if you go far enough, there’s the Knik River Valley,” Becky said, her mind obviously calculating.

“What are you thinking?” Rebecca asked.

“When she was a little girl, we used to go to a cabin we have up Knik River Rd. We haven’t been there in several years, but we allow others to use it. We keep it stocked, just in case. It might be a spot she would think fondly of and might consider safe,” Becky said, thinking of every possibility, but coming up with no others, at least not in the direction that Aliyah indicated.

“I hadn’t thought of the cabin. She has very good memories there, all before she started hearing the voices,” Randy admitted.

“Is it remote?” Stone asked.

“More or less. For someone to go to it, they’d have to have a reason. You aren’t going to stumble on it by chance,” Randy replied.

“How far away is it?” Stone asked.

“Around 30 or 35 miles, driving, give or take. As the crow flies, I have no idea, but I would guess about 25 miles,” Randy said.

“Not much difference between the two,” Stone observed.

“No, not really,” Randy agreed.

“Becky, you and Rebecca stay here. Stone and I will go find out if she’s there,” Randy said.

“There’s no way I’m staying here when my little girl is hurt,” Becky told him, giving a clear display of her motherly instincts.

He looked at her for a little while before lowering his gaze. “Alright,” he finally said, conceding the argument, although there were no words spoken after her first. “Everyone load up,” he commanded. Rebecca woke Aliyah up, and helped her get in the car.

About 40 minutes later, they were slowly driving uphill on a wooded, gravel lane. There were a number of potholes in the trail, causing them to go really slow so they could avoid damaging the vehicle or themselves.

They came into a clearing, seeing a very rough looking house. It was in need of a paint job, but appeared sturdy. There were a couple of outbuildings and a propane gas tank away from the house. One of the outbuildings looked a lot like a barn, if a small one, or maybe a rickety garage.

There was a steep path going up the side of the house, to the ground level deck on the second level. The lower level, although completely exposed on the front, was built into the hill on the back. The ground was flat at the top, and again, rather rough looking, but functional.

They saw the edge of a couple of black SUVs already parked closer to the house, on the far side. Randy stopped well short, pulling behind the barn, with a stand of trees partially obscuring them from sight, at least he hoped.

Then he saw the house. There was a small plume of smoke rising from the chimney. He knew, without needing to go in. He could feel her. She was there.

“Becky, are you armed?” Randy asked his wife.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Alright, Becky, Rebecca and Aliyah, y’all stay here. Brian with me,” he ordered. No one made any attempt to counter his command, although Rebecca found it interesting that he was in command, in spite of Stone’s expertise in this area. Then she remembered that folder.

The two men silently closed the doors and stealthily moved around the barn toward the house. Although the SUV’s were in plane site, there were no people to be seen. That was very odd to both of them.

Since coming to this place, I’d been unconscious most of the time, even though my mind was working, kind of. I wish it hadn’t been, though. This was a different kind of unconscious, though. It was something much deeper, but oddly, I was fully aware.

It was like the times when I was dying and my body was completely shut down, but my mind was still functioning. Not only was it like that, the pain was there as well. I had no idea how long I’d been like that, but I was pretty sure it was days now.

One thing that kind of worried me was that during that time, I’d had no food or water...that I could remember. Of course, it was possible that my mind was making sure I still functioned on the outside. I was probably nuts enough for that. If not, I knew the lack of food and water would eventually kill me, but that might not have been a bad thing, considering what my life was like. No, it might have been a really good thing, actually.

Those and many other thoughts went through my mind during that time, a lot of them visions of the attacks and the time with the doctors. But some were of my parents, Aliyah and even Ben. Those thoughts were good ones, for a change. I couldn’t help feel very worried about them though.

Even with me gone, there was a chance that the government people would go after Aliyah, and maybe even Ben. That became more and more a feeling I thought was very likely, especially since they knew I’d taken something else and probably would figure out that Aliyah had as well. Then there was the fact that Ben still needed it, and I had it with me.

My mind was beginning to work again, but the consequences of my earlier actions was making me feel worse than I had. Because I’d been so worried about myself, I didn’t think about Aliyah or Ben, or my parents, who were probably worried sick about me.

None of that changed what I knew about myself or how bad and dirty I was, but it did give me some sort of purpose that needed to be faced. I had to save my brother from what those people did to us, as much as I was able.

The problem was, I still didn’t really care about anything. I still wanted the drugs more than anything else and couldn’t get past that overwhelming need.

Then it occurred to me, I had told them about Aliyah taking the X6 serum. I had betrayed her, in my weakness.

Along with that, I felt some kind of opening of my mind. This wasn’t a knowledge, or wisdom kind of thing, like I’d read in books. This was more of an opening to the energy. There was also the feeling that I could do other things, but I had no idea what they were. That was part of the knowledge, which I didn’t have.

Oddly, as those last thoughts began to become solid ideas in my mind, I could feel myself starting to wake up...actually regaining something approaching consciousness. I think I’d been in this semi-comatose state for days now, or had that thought already gone through my mind? I wasn’t sure.

“Melanie Brager,” I heard someone say, as awareness was returning, but was still barely there. I couldn’t even make myself look up at the person that had finally captured me, and I knew that was what the voice meant. I didn’t care though, or did I?

Hands started to turn me over, but I curled back into a ball, seemingly without meaning to. The hands moved me again, but a bit rougher than the last time.

“You’re coming with us. Where’s your friend?” the voice asked. I started to open my mouth, but couldn’t seem to make anything happen.

“Sir, she looks bad,” another voice said.

“Load her up. The other should be close by,” the first voice said. I started to get lifted, and then I slammed back to the floor, something heavy and warm landing on top of me. Finally opening my eyes, I saw a man lying on me, unconscious. I didn’t know where the other man was.

Then, I heard gunshots and many voices yelling. I had no idea what was going on, but this was really strange.

“Sweetheart, we need to get out of here,” I heard. Oh God. He found me and was going to die now because he did. Why did life suck so much?

I didn’t have a choice. I had to get up and help him, or he would die.

Using all of my will, I slowly unfolded. It took everything I had, and it was very hard, but I managed to make my body respond. The pain was excruciating, and not just in my head.

Through it all, the images kept playing in front of my eyes. I couldn’t stop them and they seemed so real. Maybe they were. Maybe everything else was fake.

Someone grabbed me under my arm and lifted me up, putting me on my feet. “Can you walk?” I heard a familiar voice ask.

“I think so,” I managed to say.

“Let’s go,” Daddy said, and the hand that helped me stand started pushing me forward. I stumbled several times before I managed to get myself more balanced. I was still having trouble focusing on the world around me, though.

As we walked out of the house, there were a lot of men in military looking outfits standing with their guns pointed at us. Everything became seen by me, in the span of a second. It was like my senses were on super sensitive. Daddy was on my right and Mr. Stone was on my left. His was the familiar voice I heard a moment ago. Somehow, he was helping Daddy. Why wasn’t he with the other men?

Then I remembered, he quit and wanted to help me escape. I wasn’t sure why, after chasing me all the way to Alaska, but I knew it was true, and Mrs. Wilde was with him.

“Mel, are you okay?” I heard in my mind.

“No,” I answered, and shut her back out. I wasn’t sure how she managed to get in. I thought I was blocking myself better than that.

Something slammed against my mind, a feeling I’d felt before. James stepped out from behind several of the men, smiling.

That overrode everything else for me. I fell to my knees, tears running down my face. Like my senses, the images were much more vivid. I knew he was going to have me when they finish killing Daddy and Mr. Stone.

“Stone, get her to Becky and I’ll deal with them,” Daddy commanded.

Oh my God! It was worse than I thought. Momma was here too, which meant Ben probably was, and I already knew Aliyah was. They had us all!

Everything I tried to stop from happening was happening, and worse than I could have imagined. Regardless of the men with the guns, I had to stop James from hurting Momma or Daddy...or Aliyah. He’d do to her what he’d done to me, if he was allowed to. And I was certain he would be, once this was over.

His probe was forcing its way into my mind. Against better judgement, I sent an attack at him, trying to force horrible images into his mind. He laughed, allowing my images in, which unfortunately, let him into my mind. I hadn’t realized that would happen, which was probably why I thought it was a bad idea. Such was my stupidity.

His images were the same kinds of things he’d forced on me the last time, but a lot rougher, meaner. It was horrible. They were way worse than before, and I couldn’t make my mind focus. He also started pushing images of the things the doctors were going to do to me, which was much worse than what he planned.

I fell on my side, curling up into a ball, unable to do anything. My mind was shutting down again and I couldn’t stop it. That’s what it wanted to do, anyway, but I’d forced it to engage.

That was when I heard the words, “The government makes you stronger.” An explosion of pain blacked out everything else, even the images from James, although my own images kept playing, fueled by what James had been forcing on me.

This wasn’t as bad as my last attack though, or any of the ones since I left Oakmont. That was odd, and I thought with the way I was getting used to them, I might actually be able to function, if I could push through the mental block. I had to. I wasn’t sure anyone else could stop them from hurting Momma, Aliyah or Ben.

The question was, did I want to? Life sucked so bad, it might be okay to let them take me, even letting James do what he wanted. They’d give me the drugs again, which I really did want. I’d do almost anything to get them again.

The problem was, they’d get Aliyah and do to her what they’d done to me. Also, James would be able to get her, and I couldn’t let that happen. Then there was Momma, Daddy and Ben.

Slowly, oh so slowly, I stretched back out, then stood up. I felt strength pouring into my body as the energy poured back into my mind. I welcomed it, letting it flow in unrestricted. For the first time since discovering it, I didn’t try to restrict the flow in any way.

My mind slammed into James’ shield with a force so hard he fell down. I didn’t force images into his mind though. I assaulted him, seeing the image of a hammer slamming into his head. Several other telepaths that were behind him stepped back, feeling the force of the mental assault I hit him with. I didn’t hold anything back, putting all of my anger and hate into the attack, sending a flood of energy too great for him to block, although he tried. It was as if his shield was made of tissue paper. It seemed like forever, but it actually was over in a matter of seconds.

The other telepaths looked at him on the ground, drool running down his cheek and bubbles coming out of his mouth. There was a lot of blood running from his eyes and nose, and even I could see blood coming from his ears as well. They looked back at me and started running, heading anywhere but where I was looking.

The soldiers started shooting at me, little purple spots flashing all around me letting me know. With as much energy as I could hold, the attack took a lot and every little flash touched my reserves, and there were a lot of them.

I heard Daddy gasp, as a bullet hit him. Without thought, I extended my force field to protect him. That was when I really started feeling the drain. I couldn’t keep this up for long. Aliyah was way better at this than me, but she was too far away to help.

“Daddy, shoot the gas tank,” I told him, with an idea forming in my mind.

“I’m not sure a bullet will penetrate the metal,” he said.

“Do it!” I commanded, trying to be heard over the noise of so many guns shooting. I didn’t want them to know I could do this, which is the only reason I wanted him to shoot it. The actual bullet didn’t matter.

He only looked for a moment and then aimed and fired. As he fired, I poured all the energy that I could grab into a line aimed into the gas tank, hoping there was at least a little gas left in it. Just as the tank exploded, I realized the mistake I’d made. It was much bigger than I expected. There must have been a lot of gas in it.

As the explosion began, and I understood my mistake, I put every bit of energy I could draw into my force field. Not only did I need to protect me and Daddy, but also Momma, Mrs. Wilde and Aliyah, behind the barn. The problem was, this was something I couldn’t really do, but I had to. There was no choice. Aliyah wasn’t expecting what was coming, and I didn’t have time to warn her.

Mr. Stone was somewhere, but I didn’t know where. He was going to have to manage on his own.

I allowed the energy to pour into me and through me, straight into the force fields I had managed to put up. The energy burned as it passed through me so fast and in such large amounts. It was amazing how fast all of this was, but seemed like it was in slow motion. As the force of the explosion hit the force fields, I felt it physically.

Not only did I open myself completely to the energy, in a way I never had before, I tried to draw it, as if I was a pump. The pain was immediate and unlike any attack I’d ever suffered, but I couldn’t stop it. If I did, we’d all die. I didn’t really care if I died, but I did care about everyone else. They wanted to live and deserved to.

I struggled against the explosion, funneling the energy into the force field as fast and as hard as I could, the pain beating me down with every little bit of it. I could feel it coursing through each and every vein, every nerve, not just the endings, either. It was like a fire burning its way through me, from each fingertip to my head.

I wasn’t sure when it happened, but I felt myself fall to my knees, and a little later, bent over on my hands. Again, this all happened in a second or two, but it felt like forever, like it was a movie being run one frame at a time.

Sitting bent over on my hands and knees, I saw a pool of blood below my face, a string of red drool running from my lips to it. There were drops of blood falling fast, and seemed to be speeding up in their frequency.

The pain was getting worse with every moment, and the explosion was still going, battering my weakening force field. I could feel it collapsing. First I felt it drop around Momma, Mrs. Wilde and Aliyah.

The pain from that shields destruction added to the pain I was already feeling. My mind felt like it was being ripped out and apart at the same time.

Trying as hard as I could, I forced the shield to stay up around Daddy and me, but it was too much. I decided to let the field around me drop, focusing on protecting Daddy, but like so many things I’d done in my life, that effort was a failure.

Everything simply stopped. I was gone. There was nothing left and I felt something rip in my mind, at least that was how I imagined it. The tearing sensation was so hard and fast, there was nothing but immense pain.

The pain was the worst I’d ever felt, which I’d thought many times since going to Oakmont, but this really was. It was magnitudes worse than even the last attack, which was really bad. It wouldn’t stop, unlike the others. With the others, even if they felt like they lasted a long time, the pain usually went away shortly after the initial attack.

This time was different. It wasn’t stopping and it wasn’t even getting slightly less. It kept going and going, unending pain and complete blackness. I couldn’t feel anything but pain and all I saw was the complete blackness. Pain was all I knew or understood anymore. I was finally in hell.

“What happened?” Stone asked, as he came around the side of the ruined barn, glancing at the badly damaged car they had arrived in.

“I don’t know,” Becky and Rebecca said together.

The two women had lots of cuts and many bruises forming. There were little tendrils of smoke coming from the hair of all of them. Blood was running down all three of them, and Aliyah was holding her left arm in an odd way. The car was pretty much ruined, now that he was looking at it.

“Melanie blocked the worst of the explosion from hurting us, even though I could have done it,” Aliyah replied. She limped around the side of the barn, heading straight for the house, barely managing to stand between steps.

“Aliyah, we need to look at your injuries,” Mrs. Wilde said.

“Melanie’s gone,” she said, catching all of their attention, but not stopping or looking back.

“What do you mean she’s gone!?” Becky yelled.

“I can’t feel her mind anymore,” the girl replied, as she continued limping toward the ruined house with tears in her eyes.

Aliyah struggled all the way, until she got to the porch, where Mr. Brager was lying against a partial wall of the house. Most of the house had collapsed, including large chunks of the wall he was lying against. There were several pretty bad burns and a lot of bad cuts, but he seemed mostly alright.

Stone went straight to him, checking him for major injuries, while the two women and Aliyah went to Melanie’s still form. They were all shocked at the large pool of blood around her, but couldn’t find any gunshot wounds. Becky immediately felt for a pulse and then started CPR, without much pause.

Aliyah saw tears on her face now that weren’t there just a moment ago, telling her all she needed to know. Melanie had given everything she had to protect them, as she always did.

Becky kept doing the CPR, Aliyah watching as she worked. She was surprised when Becky stopped, looking intently at Melanie.

At first, she didn’t notice it, but then she heard a very faint gasp for air, followed by another and another. Melanie started breathing somewhat calmly a few moments later, but there was an occasional catch, as if her body was trying to stop doing its job.

“Aliyah, see if you can talk to Melanie and see how she’s doing,” Mrs. Wilde asked her. Aliyah reached out, but there was nothing to reach out to. It was as if Melanie was still gone, even if her body was functioning.

“Well?” Mrs. Wilde asked. Aliyah looked at the ground, unable to say anything, tears falling from her chin in even greater numbers.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“There’s nothing there,” Aliyah managed to say between sobs.

“What do you mean?” Becky asked the poor girl.

“Her mind isn’t there. She’s not blocking me, it’s just not there,” she said, dropping to her knees and grabbing Melanie, letting out all of her anguish on her best friend’s body, ignoring her obviously broken arm.