When The Air Runs Out (part 3)

Carly could not believe her own eyes. Her parents were dead, she saw the car, there was no way the survived the crash with the way the car was crushed. She had seen their bodies go into the fire to be cremated, something they had left in their wills. She stood up, staring at this woman that could not be her mom, but she looked and sounded so much like her, and her eyes, Carly would always remember the look in her mother's eyes and this woman had that look. "I...excuse me..." Carly sputtered and ran into her bathroom, locking the door behind her. She hadn't actually looked in the bathroom until now. Though it was small, it was pretty nice and had everything she needed, toilet, sink and shower. She finally had her own shower instead of the communal one in the middle of the floor her dorm room was on.

Splashing her face with water, trying to process what just happened in the other room and knowing she had to go back out there to face it. Steadying herself on the sink and looking in the mirror, "Ok..." she thought "...let's go out and get more answers, even though I have no idea where to start now. She walked out of the bathroom, stopping in her tracks at the door and staring at the woman she thought had died 12 years prior, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "I am ready for more answers, if you are still willing to give them" she said to Professor Jackson. He nodded in agreement as she made her way to take her place back on the bed, not taking her eyes off her mom. "First question is for my mom...if that is really who you are...and if it is, how are you alive? I watched you and dad get cremated when I was 6!" She heard and felt the raise in her voice and the shutter in her words as she was trying to choke back the tears, waiting for the reply that she wasn't sure she was really prepared to get.

"Well, honey, it isn't the easiest thing to explain why you had to leave your child behind to live the kind of life that you have lived this far, but I will try..." she started, searching for the right words and studying Carly's face. "...You see, this whole thing started before you were even born, though we never had any intention of things turning out the way they have to this point. Both your father and I were born into this as well, a secret society that is meant to stop the apocalypse from happening." She stopped to take a breath and give Carly a change to respond, but Carly could just stare in silence, not sure what to say or do. Her mom continued, "We have been searching for years for the fated one that could give us a glimpse into what was coming. Even at a young age, we knew that was you, as you would often tell us stories about things you had dreamed and a few weeks later, they would happen just as you had described. Unfortunately, there was a turn of events that made us a target for those trying to make the apocalypse happen, and in turn, that would have made you one too, something we couldn't risk; not only because you are the key to stopping this thing, but because you were, and are, our only child and we could not let that be your fate."

Her mom finished speaking, tears streaming down her face, hoping that her daughter would understand and forgive her for all things that she should have protected her from. "Mom, I...but why couldn't you just have pretended I died with you in the car crash?" Carly asked, hoping there would be an explanation. "That is where things became even more complicated, your father and I knew we had to fake our own deaths and we were going to do the same with you, until the society brought up the point that it would tip off the Apocalypse army, at least that's what we call them, and they would still try to come after us, something we couldn't allow. So, we set in motion the car crash with no mention of you dying. That kept them away from you as your abilities went dormant without someone there to encourage them." Carly could barely keep her tears back any longer while they streamed down her cheeks and a lump formed in her throat.

"Wh...what about dad?" Carly could barely get the words out, but she wanted to know what had happened. That is when Professor Jackson spoke up, "maybe I can explain that one" he said as he started to peel off pieces of prosthetics that made his face a very different shape. Speaking in his natural voice now instead of the accent he had been using before, "I have been the one watching over you all along, making sure you got here where I had been hired on as a professor. I had to change my last name to make sure I wasn't tracked, but I couldn't make it too different or I would forget that it was my new name." He finished speaking and peeling off the pieces of his fake face to reveal that he really was her father. This whole time he had been right there and that explained why she started getting the visions again when she came to university. She couldn't contain herself any longer and stood up, wrapping them both in her arms. She let herself cry now as she had both of her parents with her again.

Pulling away with a smile on her face, she just wanted to continue to look at her parents, study what they looked like now that they were a bit older and so was she. "I see you still have this..." her mother gently touched the heart-shaped locket around her daughter's neck. "I hope it has brought you peace and protected you as we had intended it to do." Carly put her hand on her mother's remembering the day that she got her locket. It was for her 6th birthday, a few months before the accident came about. She then wondered how long they had been planning on leaving her if they gave her a locket to protect her months prior. She couldn't think about that now though, she had both of her parents with her again and she had bigger things to think about. After all, she was just told that she is the key to stopping the apocalypse, but how was she supposed to do that?

"Why is it that I only get the visions when I am close to the 2 of you? All of these years while I was in foster care, I didn't have any of these visions, but when I came to the university, I started having them again and it turns out I was close to dad the whole time." Carly just couldn't understand why it happened this way. "We don't actually understand that part either, dear. It has always just been that way. When you were little, we would bring you here, to the lab to run tests with these visions, but anytime we left, you wouldn't have any. We had to stay close for you to have them." Her mother tried to explain to her, but she wishes there was a good answer for it.

Carly wasn't really worried about what these visions were anymore because she had pretty much gotten her answer with all of the others. "Now, tell us, what is it that you have been seeing recently?" Her dad asked with a look of concern mixed with his curiosity. "I keep seeing myself getting chased by these...wolves? I don't actually know what they are because they are so deformed. They are skinny with matted fur and some of them have extra legs or two tails. The woods that I am being chased through looks full of dead trees and I never see another human being, just these creatures." Carly did her best to explain what these things looked like, hoping they would understand what she was trying to get across. Her parents looked at each other, panic crossing their faces. This must be a sign of the apocalypse happening because they wouldn't have that look if it wasn't.