As Chance works on the sensor, Carmen and Dustin ask Dakota—who, to my surprise, is Chance's cousin—and Xavier to the room.

"You know, you've always wanted to know who created Edit, right?" Dustin says, smiling at me.

At that, Dakota tenses up, and she and Xavier exchange glances, like they're having a silent conversation between them.

Xavier's hand finds Dakota's, and Dakota's knuckles turn white from holding on too tight. Xavier sends her a smirk, and whispers something in her hair. They've moved closer now. Dakota rolls her eyes at him, and attempts to let go of his hand, but he holds on.

Dakota takes a breath, before turning to me and says, "I'm Dakota, and also Chance's cousin." She winces, and looks helplessly at Xavier, "That wasn't a good start."

Xavier chuckles. "Because you're such an 'eloquent talker', you can go on without further assistance from your lowly servant," he says. He hits me as the cocky, confident type of boy who loves sarcasm as much as Carmen does.

Dakota rolls her eyes. "I take that back."

"Uh huh," Xavier sticks out his tongue. "I will always win in the end."

Dakota kicks him, but he doesn't budge, like he feels nothing. Instead, he stares at Dakota with a blank face. Dakota returns it with an intensity that makes me want to look away because it feels like I'm intruding on one of their private moments.

Dustin clears his throat and slowly, they tear their gaze away from each other.

Carmen snorts. "Can you guys stop being so mushy in front of audiences?"

Dakota blushes again, shyly ducking her head. Xavier boldly replies with a no that makes the girl next to him squeak out of embarrassment. "We don't have that type of relationship!" Dakota tries to say, but Xavier laughs, and says, "Are you sure about that?" It sends Dakota into another flustered mess.

A smile cracks my lips.

"Anyway, so you know I'm the amazingly eloquent Xavier, and this is my..." Xavier glances over at Dakota, and before anything can happen again he looks away, and says, "this is Dakota, Chance's cousin. And...Dakota, she's an orphan. Her parents died from the plague."

Dakota bites her lip and looks away. I've heard of the plague, but it only exists in the Outer Cities.

"So my...Dakota, I mean, was adopted into this family, and her adoptive parents...they were the people who created Edit. Chance is her adoptive parents' brother's son, so technically they're not related."

"How do you know so much?"

"Dakota's parents sent her to the Black Hole to become a draft. And then she met me, and...we became pretty good friends."

"And you're dating," Carmen drawls.

"We're not!" Nervous, Dakota begins to wring her hands, and another blush takes over her face.

"She likes to pretend we're not, but deep inside she knows we are," Xavier sends a wink in her direction, and the weirdest thing happens.

Dakota begins to cry.

Concerned, Xavier immediately wraps her in his arms, and he begins to talk, but in such a low voice I can't hear what he's saying.

After a while, Dakota—still shaking—pulls back, and Xavier reluctantly steps back as well, scratching the back of his neck.

"Um...what just—" Dustin shares my confusion, but Xavier cuts him off with a sharp shake of his head. Dustin closes his mouth, and Xavier looks over at Dakota worriedly.

"Do you want to go rest?" He asks, gently nudging her into a seat that he pulled out beside my bed.

Dakota shakes her head, her eyes red and puffy. "I'm okay," she says, giving him a reassuring smile.

"I'm serious, Princess."

They're definitely dating.

"I'm serious too, Xavey," she smirks, and Xavier returns it, and squeezes her shoulder gently.

"So Edit has played a really big part in Dakota's life...but she's willing to do anything to take it down."

"Why's that? Her adoptive parents created it."

"Exactly," Xavier looks at me, and I suddenly feel self-conscious. "They didn't show her enough love and attention, unlike most adoptive parents, and Dakota..." Xavier chooses his words carefully. "Hasn't been given the best treatment at home."

Dakota's head drops, and Xavier tentatively places a finger underneath her chin and lifts it and mumbles something in her ear that makes her blush.

She meets my eyes and smiles, extending a hand. "I don't think I've properly introduced myself. Hello, I'm Dakota Lin Adams."

"Hi," I smile at her, "I'm Amber Evans."

"I've seen my cousin out there working on the sensor that will gain us freedom, or rather, a place to take Edit down, and before he left he told me to tell you not to read the letter until something really big happened."

So it's some type of good-bye letter or a source of comfort when something happens to him or a will. I bite my lip and nod. "Okay," I say, although everything inside me is screaming, "no, it's not okay!"

Soon after that, Dakota and I strike up a conversation, drifting from topic to topic, and for once in my life, I know more about Chance's background and everything, though Dakota and Chance didn't interact much.

After everything, I slowly fade into the world of darkness and dreams.

_______

And there they stand, a thousand feet tall, their identical eyes piercing, as if they hate me to the core, as if I've committed some unspeakable blasphemy. The man who started Edit, the man who trapped and tortured Dakota all these years.

The same person who tried to kill me.

There are so many of him, all glaring down at me, all screaming, all shouting. I'm surrounded by them, and the tension is so thick I cannot inhale and exhale.

A few meters away from me, I see the silhouette of Chance, but he's fading at a rapid pace, and I run towards him, and attempt to wrap my arms around him, anything to make him stay. Anything at all.

You were the one who made him leave, a voice inside me head whispers, blaming me.

But Chance doesn't feel real at all, within seconds he's slipping through my fingers, and his smile, the same familiar smile that has stayed by my side, the same smile that makes my heart crack and shatter appears.

"I'm doing this because I want to," he says, his voice a memory.

No, it's because of me. He's doing this because of me. It's my fault if he dies. It's my fault if I never see him again. It's always my fault.

"Stay with me, Chance," I beg, tears cutting down my cheeks, my heart throbbing, my hiccups the only sound I can hear. Chance is disappearing; by now he's already translucent, but his brow is furrowed. Then he begins laughing, and his face morphs into Dustin's.

"Amber, I...I love you," he says.

My heart stops. Someone walks up behind him. Carmen. And she has a gun. It's pointed at his head.

"Miss Ridelink has been a very loyal citizen," Dakota's adoptive father booms from above me, sounding like thunder, making me want to crouch down with my hands on my head. But I don't. I can't. Not with Dustin's death about to happen in front of my eyes.

You, Amber, are the cause of his death. You will be the cause of everyone's death.

"Corinne...tell me you love me. If you do, this will end," Dustin desperately pleas, a tear falling out of his eye. Carmen's gun gives off a sharp click.

"Please," Dustin begs.

But I love the boy who has already faded and disappeared into thin air.

And so I watch, with eyes that are wide and horrified, as Carmen squeezes the trigger, and Dustin collapses at my feet, his blood seeping up my legs, up my thighs, to my waist. It's suffocating and I start to scream, but nothing comes out. Instead, I start laughing. Every time I scream, a laugh falls out of my mouth.

The blood is at my neck, squeezing it and cutting off my airway. Carmen is staring at her brother's body, shaking. Her eyes meet mine. "You made me do it," she whispers, "you made me do it."

Then she presses the metal machine to her head, and falls to the ground just seconds later. I yell, but the blood is now at my nose, and my head is spinning and I can't breathe and I need someone and I and I and I...

I know this is a dream. This is a dream.

Then everything goes dark. I'm still being suffocated, unable to breathe. My lungs are begging for air, for some form of rescue.

Then I'm thrown into light, and there's oxygen. I gasp and sputter and choke, my lungs sucking in all the oxygen I can hungrily.

I see Xavier, his light hair blinding, reflecting the unnaturally bright lights of the hospital room. A table lies in the center, and Xavier's standing there, his face emotionless.

"Why? Why did you have to take Dakota too?" Xavier screams in agony, in pain, and lunges towards me, his hands out as if he wants to scratch and choke me, but doctors and nurses block his way, trying their best to restrain him.

Dakota? Oh stars, not Dakota.

I lean against a wall, suddenly dizzy, and the wall collapses from my weight. It's another room. There's a mirror in it, and that's about it. Walking towards it, I try to recall where this place is.

Then I scream, when I stare into the glass. A monster stares back at me, terrifying and terrible and looking so real.

That person is me.

"Troy!" The person—who isn't me—calls.

Troy. Troy. No. No no no no no.

"Coming!" My little brother's innocent, sweet voice rings from downstairs. He's probably with Shaylee now.

Sharlynn and Caden. What happened to them? Samantha, too.

Stop. Breathe. This is a nightmare.

No. It's happening right before my eyes and I can't do anything to stop it. I'm hurting everyone around me and I can't do anything.

Useless. Pathetic. Ugly.

Hiccuping, I try to find something, anything to barricade the door, from stopping my brother from entering this room of nightmares.

It doesn't work. Troy opens the door, and the mirror explodes in a thousand tiny pieces, destroying everything that it touches. Just like me. I'm broken and bruised and completely shattered, and whoever knows me, whoever is near me, will get hurt in the end.

Screaming, I sit bolt upright. Carmen's face comes into view, and I can't help but whimper. Dustin looks over at me.
Xavier. Dakota. All people I hurt.

"That was one heck of a nightmare," Xavier frowns, "you alright?"

Everyone's face is grave, yet concerned. Something must've happened.

Chance.

As if reading my thoughts, Dakota squeezes my hand. "Chance...he's in the operation room now, but we can't leave you."

"W-what?" Manages to escape my shaking lips.

"Shh, it's okay," Dustin offers me a small smile. My stomach turns.

"You want to eat something?" Xavier makes a move to stand, but I shake my head, sending stars flying in my vision.

"Will he be okay?" I ask.

"Twenty percent chance survival," Carmen presses her lips together.

My heart shatters. Twenty percent? I stare at the piece of paper on my lap.

Hands shaking, I pick it up.

"Hey, wait. You need to eat something first." Carmen hands me a slice of toast, but I reject her offer. I have no appetite anymore, and I don't think I'll be able to swallow anything at all.

"Come on, Amber," Dakota urges, "Chance will be alright. You need to keep your strength up."

I shake my head again, a tear dropping out of my eye. I'm not in the mood at all.

I stare at the letter, and unfold it slowly, afraid to tear the paper. My eyes scan the words. A few sentences in, I begin to cry.

•
Hello! The song attached is Escape by Megan Nicole. Hoping everyone is smiling today, and remember that you are amazing, because beauty is only skin deep.

-NeverEverGiveUp-