Reclaimed Existence
The explosion rocked the lab's foundation, sending shockwaves through the steel walls and shattering beakers. I was standing near the center of it all, an old blood-stained photograph clutched in my trembling hands. Across from me, tethered to a whirling energy nexus that swirled like a tempestuous storm, was Evelyn--my former best friend.
"Kennedy," she pleaded over the deafening roar, "You don't have to do this!"
Her vibrant hazel eyes reflected terror and despair. I clutched the photograph tighter—a grim reminder of the life she'd stolen from me.
That was the promise I’d made myself. I do the job, and Evelyn spends the rest of her life trapped in an alternate universe, while I step back into the life she stole from me.
"You did this to yourself," I shouted back, my raw voice sounding gentle against the thunderous noise. I looked down at the picture in my hand. It was a snapshot of just after graduation, when our dreams knew no bounds and life was an infinite sea of possibilities. But that was before she betrayed me, before she took everything from me.
I clenched my jaw and tightened my grip on the photograph. "You could have had it all, Evie," I said, using the nickname I had given her when we were five. "But you chose power over friendship."
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears as she struggled against her restraints. "I didn't know what else to do," she cried out. "I was desperate."
"You destroyed countless lives!" I yelled back, my anger boiling over.
"I’ll spend the rest of my life making it right," she pleaded, her voice shaking with fear.
The energy surrounding Evelyn crackled with heightened intensity. Her figure blurred with every pulse of power that surged around her. Crackling blue waves of light surged into Evelyn's body, causing her to convulse and scream in agony.
But I didn't flinch. This was the only way to bring her to justice and free myself from the burden of her betrayal. She said she was repentant, but she wasn’t. She was only sorry for the consequences she now had to face.
"I'm sorry," she wailed, tears streaming down her pale face.
She was sincere, and it broke my heart. But in recent years, I’d come to know my best friend in a way I couldn’t before. In a way that required a jaded soul and a calculating mind.
I wanted to release her. I wanted to forgive her. I wanted to show mercy. But she’d simply leverage my sympathy to her best advantage, mock me for being weak, and crush whomever and whatever stood in between herself and her ultimate goal.
I took a final look at our shared past, our happy past, in my hand. Then I sucked a deep breath sucked into my lungs, stepped forward, and slammed down the activation switch.
The energy vortex surrounding Evelyn exploded into a blinding light, engulfing her. I shielded my eyes with my arm, the photo still clutched tightly in my hand. After several seconds, the light dimmed and reality warped around Evelyn as space folded in on itself. Her screams pierced the chaos as the energy nexus condensed and imploded, and then...silence.
My heart pounded against my chest like a caged animal, and I imagined it echoing through the eerie quietness of the lab. The utter stillness of the room emphasized the weight of what I'd just done. A sob broke free from my chest and it’s jagged edges ricocheted off of the sterile surfaces around me, battering me with with my own bitterness and regret.
Evelyn was gone, dispatched to a realm where she couldn't hurt anyone else. I dropped our picture onto the cold floor of the lab, as if that would free me from her. Justice was served. But as I stepped out of the lab to reclaim my life, I couldn't shake the hollowness that gnawed at me. Evelyn would haunt me for the rest of my life. I shook my head and quickened my pace, as if I could physically shed my internal conflict.
Even in her absence, Evelyn had once again left me in the ruins.
