Seven years

I sat in the middle of an empty room, statues surrounded me. Anguish, fear, longing, love, acceptance, that is what I saw on their faces. Some were familiar, and some were strangers. I hugged my knees close to my body. How much longer do I have to live like this? I cried, the night air carrying my sobs.

“Lyla?” A woman’s voice echoed in the empty halls of the house.

“Mom?” I cried out.

Quick steps responded to my voice. In the next moment, she was standing at the doorway. She stared in horror at the statues around me.

“I don’t know what happened, Mom,” I said, trying and failing to keep my voice from shaking.

“I closed my eyes like you said, but they kept yelling at me and hitting me and shouting and screaming, and I asked them to stop, but they wouldn’t. I put my hands over my eyes, and they forced them down, but I kept them shut like you told me to, but I…I…” I was gasping for air as the words spilled out of my mouth.

“I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to.” Breathing felt like the hardest thing to do in that moment.

I kept my eyes closed as I heard Mother walk toward me. She knelt and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

“It’s okay,” she said, “Everything will be ok.” I flinched in pain as I felt a prick on my neck.

I rubbed the spot and felt blood.

“Mom?” I asked as my breathing slowed.

“Everything will be ok,” She repeated.

I slumped against her as I fought against the drowsiness. I heard other footsteps enter the room. They were heavier than Mom's. They stopped just a step behind her. I was too tired to even lift my head, and my eyes refused to open anymore.

“Are you sure about this?” a man’s voice said from behind her.

“Just take her,” she replied.

“Mom?” I had a terrible feeling.

“I love you, Lyla. I am so sorry.”

It was cold. I was cold. I think I will feel cold for a long time.

“What do you feel when you turn someone into stone?” a man wearing a white coat and a mask over his face asked me.

A statue of a man wearing a prison jumper was being carted out of the room. His arms were raised as if trying to swim, but didn't know how. Like the water was some malevolent creature that would swallow him up if he didn’t struggle with all his strength. I didn’t feel bad. I stopped feeling bad years ago.

“Lyla?” the man called out.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat the question?” I felt the restraints around my wrists with my fingers.

I was strapped to a vertical platform. From wrists to ankles, I was strapped. Two bright lights were focused on either eye, preventing me from seeing anything. They only turn on when they want to test my ability. They’ve been using that method for five years now, and I’m still not blind from it.

“What do you feel when you turn someone into stone?”

“Physically or emotionally?”

“Let's start with physically.”

“I don’t feel much when it’s a person. I felt more strain when you had me turn that tank of water into stone. Like I’m trying hard to read small letters.”

He typed furiously on his tablet.

“And emotionally?”

“For this last one? I didn’t feel bad at all.”

That drew a surprised look from the man.

“You said you felt great remorse turning the dog into stone the other day.”

“Yes, that's because the dog didn’t do anything wrong. But you said this person was a murderer.”

“Even so, objectively speaking, a human life is valued more than a dog's.”

“Depends on the human, don't you think? If they’ve done wrong, it's only right that they are punished. That they face the consequences of their actions.” I sighed, “Are we done?”

“Yes, thank you, Lyla, as always, this has been most informative.”

“I’m happy that my captivity is good for someone.”

“...I am sorry that this is happening to you.”

“No, you're not.”

The main doors opened, and a group of others wearing the same outfit walked in. One man who was walking at the front was wearing a black suit. Finally.

“Lyla,” he said.

“Mark, old pal, it’s been a while.” The man whom my mom handed me over to.

“You’ve matured quite a bit. When you first came, you would cry nonstop and kill quite a few of our researchers and security personnel.”

“Well, I was twelve and you were all assholes.”

He smirked, “But now we’ve got you all figured out, you can’t hurt anyone like this.” he nodded towards the lights that were blinding me.

“Is that what you think?” I smiled.

His eyes narrowed.

“Five years is a long time to get used to something. If I were normal, I would’ve gotten permanently blind a long time ago. But I’m not normal. Not only did I not go blind, but my eyes actually adjusted to the light! Incredible, right?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, his smile now gone.

“If you don’t believe me, ask the people behind you.”

He turned to find that his group had all turned to stone. Some realized fast enough to have shocked looks on their faces, but others never realized what had happened. My ability can change someone to stone faster than I’ve been letting on. I also no longer needed to make eye contact.

“I’ve been able to see you people for months now,” I said as I turned my restraints into stone and broke free.

Mark, finally realizing the danger he was in, started running away. I turned his legs into stone. He fell forward, hard. His breathing became rapid as he desperately tried to crawl away.

I laughed, “You look like a baby.”

I brushed the bits of stone that clung to my black shirt and pants. I walked up to Mark, stopping right next to him. He looked up at me, eyes wide and lips quivering, god that felt good. I smiled down at him.

“I’ll make a deal with you, Mark. You tell me where my mom is, and I won’t break the other one.”

“What?”

I stomped on one of his stone legs, shattering it. I controlled the process so that only most of the inside was stone. I left just enough for there to be blood and pain. Mark screamed in agony.

“C’mon, Mark, you better hurry or I’ll have to do the other one.”

“She’s…”

“Well, if you insist.”

“Wait!”

I slammed my foot on his other leg. Shattering it into pieces with blood splattering on the ground. Again, he cried out in pain, sobbing as he clutched the stubs of what used to be his legs. He let out a cry as one of his arms began to turn to stone.

“Running out of time, Mark.”

“She lives on the outskirts of the city!”

“Which city?”

“This one! She never left!” he said through gritted teeth.

Well, that was a surprise.

“Ok, next question, did she ever visit me?”

“...Only once.”

“Why?”

“To make sure all records of you were destroyed.”

I clenched my fists. I was holding on to a string of hope. I was saving a final reprieve for the woman who gave birth to me. Maybe she was trying to free me? Maybe she didn’t know what was going on? What they made me do? If she was truly sorry, I was at least prepared to try and forgive her, but..

“She knew what this place was? What you people were doing to me all these years?”

“Yes, she gave you to me, remember! What choice did she have? You had already killed five people, and it was only a matter of time before you were going to kill more.”

“I was a child!”

“And what difference does that make! The lives you took weren’t any less dead because you were a child!”

“I didn’t ask to be this way, I begged her to take me away from people, but she wouldn’t listen to me!”

“What does it matter. You pose a danger to people wherever you go. Look around at what you’ve done. You killed all of these innocent people!”

Something snapped, the last shred of innocence that I was holding onto. The last shred of hope that I was praying would bring me out of the darkness this place has pumped into me. It was gone, torn to shreds.

“Innocent!” I screamed.

I grabbed his stone arm and tore it off his body. His screams were cut off by my hands wrapping around his throat.

“You all imprisoned a twelve-year-old girl. You experimented on me! You tortured me! You isolated me and constantly reminded me of what a little monster I was! Do you have any idea what that felt like? There was a year when I thought about nothing but ways to end my own life! But why should I! I’m the innocent, I’m the victim. You, these people, my mom. You're the ones who need punishment. You're the ones that need to suffer and die, and I will be the one who makes sure you do!

He wasn’t moving, his eyes had rolled back, and his mouth hung open. My breath came out in heaves. I stood up and pushed my hair back with my hands. I forced my breath out then in, slowly. The white lights shut off, and red pulsing lights lit up to replace them.

It wasn’t hard escaping the facility. I walked down the halls with a bounce in my step. I raided the employee lockers and found a normal grey shirt and blue jeans that were my size. I also gave myself a trim using some scissors and a mirror I found there.

“Freeze!” a security guard yelled.

At least he tried to, but halfway through he had become stone. I skipped past him, tipping him over as I did. As I heard his body shatter behind me, I rounded a corner and walked up two flights of stairs. At the stop, I was met with a reinforced steel door. I turned it into stone and kicked it down. A stunned security guard was staring at me from the other side with wide eyes and an open mouth. He reached for his gun holstered to his hip, but I turned it to stone before he could unholster it. I stepped quickly towards him and grabbed him by the neck. He was at least a foot taller than me, but I lifted him off the ground with little difficulty.

“M-Monster,” he managed to choke out.

Again, I looked into the eyes of someone who feared me, who feared what I was and what I could do to him. It brought a smile to my face. A moment of tightening my grip to its limit caused a crunching sound as the flailing man hung limply. I dropped the body and was about to walk away, but paused.

I had to roll the pants up and tuck the shirt in even more, but since everyone else was in a rush to evacuate, nobody noticed those things. I guess they didn’t release photos of me to the general workers either, since no one recognized me. I clutched my arm as if I were injured and followed the general workers out of the building. The security that was moving everyone along would look at me for a moment, then see that I was “injured” and ignore me. Some even gave me curt nods as if giving me props for getting my hands dirty.

I was out in the fresh air. I never understood what people meant by fresh air when I was a child. Air was air, it didn’t go stale. But there was something truly refreshing about the outside air. The sun, sunlight, was so different. It felt real and quite literally warm. It was a great feeling. The joy didn’t last. Like a snake strangling and suffocating its prey, my anger and the darkness born from it consumed my joy. My smile changed. The fresh air? The warm sun? The joy of being free? No, I need to hurt her, I need to make her cry, scream, beg, I need her to feel like her world has turned to cold stone like mine had. Your daughter is coming, Mom. If the guilt doesn’t kill you, I will.

I was silent for a long time. I was called by the facility and informed that Lyla had escaped this morning. This girl, my girl. No, she had become a monster. I dedicated my life to protecting the innocent. I even went so far as to sacrifice my own daughter for the cause. But seeing the videos of her mercilessly slaughtering the people from the facility. It made me feel ashamed for being so weak. I should’ve done more. I shouldn’t have pushed her out of my life, I shouldn’t have pretended she didn’t matter. I sat back in my chair and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

“Mom?” I jerked my head up and saw a six-year-old little girl.

My Ana, my sweet and wonderful daughter.

“Yes, dear?”

“Dad said dinner’s ready?”

“Then we should go eat.” I smiled and walked up to her. Kissed her head and took her hand.

I would figure out what to do with Lyla. It might not be too late to help my daughter. There might be a chance to still save her. I owe her that much. As we walked down the hall, Ana told me about her day.

“Today me, Max, and Gabi found this huge tree,” she emphasized by stretching her arms out as far as she could.

“Gabi was scared, but me and max promised to not let her fall, then she climbed with us. And guess what! I was the only one that made it to the very top! Max almost got there but his foot slipped and he almost fell so he got scared. It was so cool Mom I felt like I could see the whole world! And you’ll never guess what happened next.”

“Oh, really? What happened?”

“There was-” my daughter stopped walking as we turned the corner into the dining room and stared.

“Ana?”

“Oh, don’t stop because of me, Ana. Tell us what happened next?”

My heart started to pound. The beats practically vibrated my body. My palms became sweaty as I suddenly found it hard to breathe. I didn’t want to look, but I had to. I turned my head towards the dining room, and there she was. Lyla was sitting in one of the chairs. Where was Mark? Where was my husb-

A small cry escaped my mouth. That made a smile immediately form on Lyla’s face.

“Poor man,” Lyla said while looking at him.

“Seemed nice, terrible taste in women though. Wouldn’t you agree Mom?”

She’s gone. I didn’t fully realize it when I watched the videos. But Lyla, my Lyla was gone. This was someone else. Someone extremely dangerous. I need to run, I need to take Ana and run! I picked Ana up and turned to run towards the back door, but felt my legs stick to the floor. My body lunged forward and hit the ground. Ana fell in front of me with a cry. I looked down at my legs and saw that they had turned to stone.

“Leaving already! What happened to our tearful reunion!” Lyla had jumped over the dining table and walked up to us. Ana clung to me and began to cry.

“Oh, I guess there are tears. Just not happy ones.”

I held my daughter close, “Please, Lyla, please just don’t hurt my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

I regretted the choice of words as soon as they left my mouth.

“And what am I?” Her eyes drifted to Ana.

“Hello, Ana, give your big sister a hug.” She grabbed Ana’s arm. I tried to hold onto her, but Lyla grabbed one of my other arms and squeezed it with such strength that I thought it was going to break.

I cried and let go. She picked Ana up and held her.

“Mom! Mom!” my daughter cried.

“Please, Lyla! Please don’t hurt he,r I’m sorry! I’m sorr,y so please just let her go! Hurt me, do whatever you want to me. Just let her go!”

“You know,” Lyla spoke to Ana, completely ignoring me.

“I used to cry for mom just like you're doing now. Day and night, I cried for her. Years wen’t by and I cried for her. But she never came. Isn’t that sad?”

Ana kept crying as she struggled to free herself.

“Lyla, please.”

“Don’t worry, Mom. I won’t hurt my sister. But I do need to hurt you. How long was it? I think my total time away was seven years? Yeah, let's go with that.”

She turned and started walking away, still holding Ana.

“Lyla? Lyla!” I cried out and started crawling towards her.

“Mommy! Mommy!” Ana was sobbing now and trying her hardest to escape. But she would never be able to escape from Lyla.

“Seven years, Mom. I’ll bring her back in seven years, or maybe I won't, who knows?” She tipped Mark over as she passed him, shattering him to pieces. She paused at the door and looked back.

“And just like that, you failed to save another daughter. Maybe you should stop having children,” she opened the door and walked out into the night.

Ana’s cries grew faint as I yelled out to her. Tears flowed uncontrollably down my face. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t know how all this happened. This is all my fault. My child, I’ve lost my child again.