The Gift

Chapter 10

Whit

I'm off like a missile to find her. It's as if I don't even have a choice. As if this is my fate.

"Celia!" I run through barren streets, past empty shops, a police station with no police, a boarded-up middle school, a movie theater… I don't see her, or anyone else actually. Everything seems so unreal here. Is it real? Am I dreaming up all of this desolation?

"Celia!"

"Whit, wait!" I hear Wisty's voice coming from behind. The slapping of her sneakers against pavement. She's trying to keep up.

"Stop! Whit, please! You don't know it's her! It could be a trap!"

I do know it's her. You never, ever forget the voice of the one you love. Whether it's a whisper or a scream or a distant memory, I know when it's Celia. I guess Wisty doesn't understand that. She's never been in love.

And then I hear Celia again. But not from too far away. It feels as if she's all around me somehow.

"You don't want to know?… know?… know?… What happened to us?… us?… us?…"

I can't stand it-Celia feels so close now.

Her voice is so loud that it's as if she's broadcasting right into my head. It's unbearable… but also the most beautiful, incredible kind of pain. Torture I'd beg for. Does that make any sense?

"I do! I do want to know!" I halt in my tracks, then I sink to my knees in the middle of the town square. "Where are you, Celes? I need to see you again."

"Look up, Whit. She's right there."

It's Wisty's voice, to my left. And when I raise my head, I see what she sees.

There is my girlfriend-on-screen. Celia, on a New Order propaganda board. Her gorgeous face is more than twice my height, and every inch of it is as smooth and perfect and beautiful as I remember it. It's as if she's a movie star.