Lania - Path to Light (Part 5)

Evan was startled by her sudden faint, and had no choice but to pick her up and tuck her into bed and try to sleep himself, but he kept getting shaken awake by Lania’s whimpering. Evan cast a glance at the girl; color had returned to her skin, and her breathing had steadied, but her expression had changed to one of pain and fear. She must be having a nightmare.

      At last, by noon the next day, Lania awoke with a scream, shooting out of bed faster than a rocket leaves earth’s atmosphere. Evan was startled extremely and whirled around, spilling the milk he had ordered onto the wooden-planked floor. Lania’s breathing was ragged and a thin layer of sweat coated her skin. She was relieved to see Evan leaning over her bed, concern in his eyes.

      “Evan,” Lania breathed, falling back onto the bed with her hands in front of her eyes, as if to block out the light of the flower lamp that hung from its stem on the ceiling. “Gosh, I have never been so relieved to see you in all my life.” Evan bit his lower lip and stared at the girl in concern. Other than the fear still clear in her eyes, she looked fine, but he had to know what had happened to her.

      “Lania, what happened?” Evan asked, and Lania frowned and looked away. She was really not in the mood to answer questions, especially this one, but he deserved to know. She tightened her grip on the blanket and tried her best not to look Evan in the eye as she began: “Well, after my foster father…um, released those dark tentacle-thingies, and after I woke up, I had this….um, ‘six sense’. I can sense dark energy, and when I do, and it’s really strong, I collapse.

      “And I did sense dark energy, a whole honking bunch of it, as soon as I entered Ellinia. And….I had a dream – no, a nightmare – that I saw my father again, only he told me he hated me, and he wished I was dead,” by that time, Lania had buried her face in her hands and had begun to sob. Evan felt utterly useless, just standing there, but this had always been his weakness; comforting someone when they cried. So he just stood there and watched her sob, still thinking of ways to handle this.

        Lania felt just as useless as Evan. Ever since her father had gone, she had bottled up her feelings; kept them in little boxes in her mind, refusing to let them show because it felt like her showing weakness. And here she was, sobbing her life away. But for some reason, it felt oddly comforting. Finally, she could pour out ALL the woes and sorrows in her life in this moment, unpacking all the tears she stuffed in boxes in her mind for so long. She let out a wail and buried her face in the blankets. Evan was saying something, but she was sobbing too hard to hear.

      Finally, Lania had cried herself out and now lay, stiff and unmoving, on her bed. She felt sick from the constant crying and her face still tasted salty from her tears. Evan had coaxed some fruit into her, but that was all she really wanted to eat. She now felt uncomfortable around Evan; other than her father and Penny, he had been the first one to EVER see her cry, and that made her insides squirm. She knew that Evan was laughing his heart out in his mind for seeing her cry, especially since she had tried acting so tough before.

      “So,” Evan said for the first time in awhile. Lania’s eyes slid over to meet his, and she immediately looked away because she felt so ashamed for showing so much emotion. She just let him continue: “So, when do you want to continue our journey? I mean, we haven’t really solved much, just coming to Ellinia.” Lania shot up from the bed and suddenly remembered how long she had been unconscious, how long she had cried. She felt like kicking herself! The burglar was surely a HUGE distance away by now. Catching him already felt like a futile idea.

      “I...I don’t know,” Lania muttered, climbing out of the bed. She cast a glance out the small window carved into the bark; it was late afternoon, and soon, night would be upon them. She sighed. So many obstacles seemed to stand in her way. Why couldn’t the world be nicer to her and let her get her picture? Not to mention, there was still a dull ache at the back of her mind; the darkness she sensed earlier had not gone away, only not as strong. She had a bad feeling about Ellinia and hoped they didn’t stay long; what was up with all this dark energy she was feeling?

       “We can go now, if you want,” Evan said, trying to smooth out the wrinkles and creases that Lania had left on the bed. He snuck a glance out the window and added: “Only that would not be wise.” Lania sighed. What he said was true, and that meant ANOTHER grueling night spent on letting the thief get even FURTHER away. She wondered whether she should just forget about him and go home, but then a flash of a sudden memory shook her out of her nonsensical thinking; Luminous fishing alongside her, catching more fish than he EVER intended too. Lania toughened up again. NO, she would NOT let this burglar have his way. Whatever obstacle threatened to get in front of her, she would face up to it. She will NEVER let her precious photograph slip from her fingers.

       “Tomorrow,” Lania said confidently. “Not a moment later.” Evan nodded and smiled up at her. Having eaten only fruit for a long time, Lania’s stomach rumbled and her cheeks fired up. Evan laughed and told her to stay here while he got breakfast, then zipped out the hotel room door. Lania collapsed on to the bed, covering her face in her hands. The ache in her mind had grown even worse, and now it hammered like a bad headache. She wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Lania?”

     Lania’s eyes snapped open and she darted out of bed, her eyes wide in surprise. That was Luminous’s voice, she was SURE of it. But the hotel room seemed empty, just the wind whistling through a small gap in the window. Lania’s eyes flitted across the room; nothing seemed out of the ordinary, nothing at ALL. She called Luminous’s name a few times, but she felt like she was talking to a WALL. Then, she heard a creaking noise and she screamed.

“Lania? Whoa, calm down,” Evan said, poking his head through the door.

      Lania’s panic fell enormously when she saw Evan’s face poking through the door, a bag of meat and beverages in his hand. He was gazing at Lania in concern, but she just shook her head when he asked what was wrong. Lania DEFINITELY didn’t want Evan to know about it, especially since she felt she MUST have imagined Luminous’s voice. But what was wrong with her now? Was she going insane?

      That night Lania turned in early. It had been the most tiring day of her life and she just wanted to end it with a nap. Evan stayed up watching TV and the television blared loud enough to make you scream, but Lania was so tired she just fell onto the bed, pulled on the covers and was out. When she woke up again, it was still dark out. The lights were off but she could still see a slight light illuminating the room by the edge of her vision.

       She wriggled a bit in bed and cast a glance at the small light, which was actually a night light with Evan standing in front of it. He seemed to be arguing (or trying to) with someone on the phone. Lania pondered over who he was calling when she shook of the blankets and could hear Evan say: “Look, she wants to find her foster father, okay? What’s so wrong about – what? Wait, no. Hold on a sec, how are you so sure it’s him?”

      Lania froze. That was her she was talking about. Who was on the other end of the phone? And who was ‘him’? Lania felt the dull ache by the side of her brain again; tough she wasn’t sure whether it was due to the dark energy or all this stress she was feeling now. In the end, she snuggled back in bed and fell asleep. She was shaken awake by Evan a few moments later. She turned to him and growled: “What?”

      Evan was a nervous wreck. He was shivering uncontrollably and sucking in his lower lip. His skin was paler than normal, and his eyes were wider than saucers. The look in his eyes made Lania ask again, only in a gentler tone. Evan swallowed hard and said: “It – it’s the heroes,” Evan got out, pulling nervously at his collar. “They say they want to meet you.”