Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Beyond the End ❯ Sirens ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Three

The siren's wail was the first thing Livi heard. He felt his face scrunch in annoyance as he began to regain consciousness. As his green eyes opened, he heard a soft gasp from directly beside him. He tried to turn his head, but found his movement impeded by a splint-like object around his neck and head.

A girl of around his age suddenly came into view, her dark curly hair in disarray and her olive eyes bloodshot. She looked exceedingly pale and her thin fingers were clutching her jade-green bathrobe closed.

“You're awake! How are you feeling?” She asked, concern etched all over her narrow face. Livi muttered something unintelligible, his mind a blank as he looked into her eyes.

They seem so familiar…

“Oh my god, are you having trouble forming words? But that shouldn't happen. You didn't even get injured on that part of your brain!”

“Eh?” Livi said weakly, eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Oh! You can speak…well, sort of. My name's Janis, what's yours?” Her voice was lilting, a slight musical quality to it.

“Livi Mymick. But…why are you here? For that matter, where am I?” His voice was weak, but he felt lucid.

“Well, I don't really know how to put this…” Janis was hesitant. Never before had she had to tell someone that one or more of his or her loved ones were dead.

“Just…give it to me straight, Janis,” Livi said, his voice cracking. Janis's heart beat faster when he said her name, but she wrote it off as being nerves.

“Well…you were the only one we found alive. We found two other bodies, those of a woman and a young girl.”

Livi couldn't move…couldn't…speak…

They're dead? They're…they're dead? They can't be dead! I was trying to protect them! How can they all be dead and not me?

He heard Janis's voice calling him and looked up, tears burning in his eyes.

“Livi…I'm so sorry. I know it's hard, believe me. Can you tell me, though, if there was anyone else besides the three of you?”

“My father. But I doubt he's alive anymore. The end he was in hit the ground first,” Livi said, closing his eyes to try and keep the tears from rolling down his face. It didn't work, though; he realized as he felt warm liquid falling from his eyes and tasted salt as it landed in the crevice of his lips.

“Huh,” he heard Janis mutter, “Your vitals say that you're getting plenty of oxygen. So…why is your skin so blue?”

“It's natural. Everyone in my family has…had…blue skin,” Livi told her, looking towards the machines he now noticed he was hooked up to, “So…tell me. Why are you here to tell me about my family? Why not some old doctor with hair growing out of his ears in great large tufts?”

Was it a trick of the light, those things next to his ears? When Janis looked again, they were gone. But she could have sworn they were tufts of white hair…

“Well, the EMTs—”

“What are EMTs?”

“They're the ones who help in an emergency. They can usually manage to keep people from dying, and even if they're already dead, they'll try and bring them back to life. Sometimes they're even successful, but it's rare. Anyway, they thought it would be better for you to find out from someone around your own age, who also knew a bit of what you were going through,” Janis said, smiling softly at him. Livi took a breath before speaking, still not looking at Janis.

“Who did you lose?”

Janis raised an eyebrow. Was Livi taking interest in her past? Why?

“My father. His heart gave out directly in front of me. It was four months ago,” she whispered. Livi moved his hand slowly from his side and laid it over Janis's, hoping to give her comfort. They were kind of in the same boat, after all.

“I'm sorry,” he said, turning as much as he physically could with the headboard in the way to look her in the eyes as he said it.

“Don't be, Livi. You've lost more than I ever have, and all in one night.”

“But I didn't see any of them actually die. You saw your father die right in front of you.”

Janis sighed. May as well accept his comfort. He seems intent on giving it.

“Can you tell me about them? Your family, I mean,” she asked, hoping to get off the subject of her father.

“If you like,” Livi replied, shrugging as best he could while lying down with a headboard attached to his neck.

“I would like. It's good to talk about your emotions.”

Livi smiled slightly, the first smile Janis had seen from him. Her heart began beating faster again, but she did her best to ignore it.

“Where should I start?”

“Maybe…well, I'd like to hear about the little girl. When I found you, she was still clutching your shirt, even though she had already passed on.”

“Her name is…was…Katiana, and she was my little sister. She was always a bit clumsy, but she was very sweet. Well, except for when she was being a brat. Where we came from, she was the fastest runner for miles around. Every time we both went for a competition, though, she always would let me win one race against her. Also, even though she was only eight years old, she was extremely observant, mature, and a hopeless romantic. I think…I think I'll miss her most of all. Her life was cut off too early,” Livi said, once more feeling the prickle of tears in the corner of his eyes, “Is it horrible of me to say that I'll miss one person who died over another?”

Janis shook her head as she cast Livi a sympathetic look.

“But I'll miss my parents, too, of course. My mum, Alaine, had a really hard life before she met my dad, Crisztopf. Not even she remembered everything that happened to her. It was that traumatic for her. All that she could remember was that she was the last surviving person in her entire city. There may have been a war or something. I think she was about six years old when she moved in with my father's family as a fosterling.”

Janis's eyes were wide as Livi opened up about his family to her.

“And what about your father?” she prompted. Livi sighed softly once again.

“He was very determined. I remember some of the stories mum used to tell me about him. Shortly after my grandparents took her in, he ended up working very hard at teaching her to read and write. She never quite grasped it, but dad never gave up on trying to teach her. In the end, though, his extreme determination was what killed him. He was the one who insisted that I drove here,” Livi said, eyes downcast, “I never did learn to read, you know. I've only been able to look at the pictures in books.”

Janis looked at him, shock written over her face.

“I could teach you to read, if you like,” she offered, grinning slightly at Livi.

“Really?”

“Sure. Shouldn't be too hard, I don't think.”

Livi smiled slightly at her before closing his eyes and returning to sleep.

The ambulance pulled up at the hospital, and Livi's stretcher was wheeled out, Janis following behind, glad that Livi would now likely be safe and well cared for by the staff at the hospital.