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My head whips around as I try to look for the owner of the small voice. I see a small figure huddled up in and alcove in the wall trying to make themselves as small as possible.
“Help her,” Kevin orders as he looks at the masses trying to protect themselves. I look at him as his words dawn on me.
“Her?” I ask in confusion. My brows scrunching together in a frown, the masses shift and I see the little girl who was watching me in the food court, tear tracks lining her little plump cheeks.
“If you want to make amends for him,” he says looking over at the deceased body. “Help her.”
Without a thought I rush over to her, pulling her into my side as I kneel down beside her. She grips onto me with more strength than I thought she would have for such a slight little girl.
“Hey, I’m Poppy,” I say with a friendly smile, well, as friendly as I can look with dirt and whatever else smeared all over my face. “What’s your name?”
“Elody,” she stutters back as she grips harder to my clothes.
“Come on,” I say as I lift us both up and she wraps her arm around my neck, tucking her face into me. “Where is your dad, sweetie?”
“I…” she starts but then stops as the sound of windows smashing has me dropping into a crouch to try and protect us both. “I don’t know?”
Hearing how scared she is fuels me more than any rage could. She’s a tiny person who shouldn’t be in the cross hairs of something that has nothing to do with her, but humans once again are paying the price for something. I stop short at the memories of the way Ajax looked at me after the run, when I woke up in the infirmary, and the way Mr Skullmyer was looking at me.
“They’re paying the price for something I did,” I mumble, the words sound ridiculous but I know in my heart of hearts that it is down to me. Everything that’s happening now is my fault somehow.
“Kevin!?” I shout as I try to find a path through all the flying objects.
“How do I stop this?” I gulp as the realisation closes in on me. “How do I stop everything that’s happening?”
The tornado grows in size as my panic begins to swirl throughout my entire body. I try to look for a path out of here where I know I can keep Elody as safe as I can. Hopefully her dad hasn’t become a victim among the masses.
“Calm down,” he says again. “I’m safe, so I need you to get your emotions under control and then everything will stop.”
Anger rears its head as the wordscalm downrattle around my brain. I am trying to calm down but what does he expect my emotions to be like when there is a massive tornado heading straight for us? My heart rate sounds like a herd of stampeding horses as I look around and try to find the easiest way out of this. I don’t want any more people to get hurt.
“I’m scared,” her little voice pulls me out of my inner monologue.
I can feel her dainty little finger nails digging into the flesh at the back of my neck.
The sound of the tornado is so loud now I can barely think. The force of the wind is causing a suction-like effect, pulling everything it can into its core. Another window smashes, making Elody scream in fear. I take off towards the main doors, trying to put all my weight into my feet so neither of us are pulled back.
We make it closer and I can hear sirens and shouting coming from outside. I look to Kevin with wide eyes, and he shakes his head at me. I know from the look that there’s only one way to get out of this, I’m going to have to lie through my teeth. A sign flies towards us and I duck, tucking Elody in safer. I hiss as it scrapes my cheek, feeling the blood running out of the wound, carving a path down my cheek, as the poor girl in my arms sobs.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself; I have to do it again and again. I hear a change in the sound of the tornado, the wind becoming less as I calm my mind. My heart rate going back to normal, then everything goes silent. I lift my head, my eyes widening to find the space where the tornado was is now empty. All the objects and debris it sucked into its clutches drops to the floor with a crash.
“Come on, sweetie,” I say to the terrified bundle still clinging to me like a monkey.
I stand up, my legs feeling a little shaky after being crouched. My cheek is stinging like mad and I know the blood is still flowing freely. With a deep breath we walk to the entrance of the shopping centre, News people and police are everywhere. Every department from the emergency services is lined up, and I spot Elody’s dad searching frantically through the crowd. I put her on the floor and take hold of her hand, she looks up at me like I’m some sort of saviour.
We push through the doors, to where the outside world is in chaos. He spots her and comes running over, I let go of her hand and watch as she runs over to him. He scoops her up, the look of relief on his face bringing a tear to my eye.
“Thank you,” he stammers emotionally. “Thank you so much, I don’t know how I can ever repay you for finding her.”
“I’m…”
I have no words to explain to him everything that’s going through my mind, he’s so thankful that’s she’s safe, but I’m the one to blame for everything that happened in there.
“I’m just glad she’s safe,”Kevin says to me in my head. I look up at him and see him glancing around the area. It’s weird when he does that, keeping an eye on things but not always looking at me when he’s talking to me.
I repeat the words to the man standing in front of me, and he smiles crookedly. He turns on his heels and I see Elody giving me a tiny little wave behind his back. I smile softly at her and wave back.
“Excuse me, Miss,” a police officer says to me, with another one at his side. The female officer looks me over in contempt. “We need to speak to you about what happened.”
