Linked

According to the oracle, my baby's precious life will be taken today. My crying ribs are still begging for a rest after the last fight I had. My own body is trying to give up on saving my Layla. But what kind of mother would I be if I handed my own daughter to those who want her dead?

"What did you think a human marrying a Linked would lead to?" asks Sophia, the teenage oracle capable of seeing the future. Without her, the Linked would have won a long time ago. The Linked, a people that descend from humans who some odd thousand years ago became emotionally connected to each other through magical means, have been after my baby daughter for months now. "Your husband never informed you about the consequences of her existence as a half-Linked and half-human?"

"He didn't know it would be like this," I confess. The Linked's connection to each other grants them the ability to use each other's minds to have an emotional advantage over regular humans. It makes them smarter, faster, logic driven, but also crueler. When my daughter was born, the human part of her mind tipped the scales and caused those connected to her to become hyperemotional. Many haven't been strong enough to handle the connection, leading some to go mad and, eventually, die. "He believed her birth would do some damage, but not this much."

"You still took the risk," says Sophia, sitting under the only lamp we could find in the dark and abandoned theatre building we hide in. "It'll only get worse as she gets older. So, it's not without reason..."

"There is a right and a wrong. Killing my daughter sure does seem like a wrong to me."

"Allowing them to suffer is just as wrong," Sophia argues.

"Then why'd you help me?" I ask.

"I played the long game. To see if we could save her, but it's too late for that."

"When was the last time you checked the future?"

"This morning."

"I just fought off a few of them an hour ago, check again," I demand.

"Jana, how many times do I have to watch her die?" she asks.

"Please," I say, lowering my gaze.

Sophia sits up and shuts her eyes for a moment. She then lets out a deep breath and opens her now plain white eyes that have lost their irises and pupils. I know what she'll see, but I'm still hopeful that something will change. I walk to my daughter's makeshift crib, that sits center stage. I smile at her as she sleeps, pretending that she's just a normal baby. But the Linked's mark, a growing green light that sits under her eye and beneath her skin, reminds me of what she is and what she's destined for.

"Jana," Sophia says. "It's still the same. Actually... it's worse."

"Worse?" It seems the future is not done hurting me.

"Her death will happen sooner than I thought."

"How much sooner?"

"The man meant to kill her is about to be at the front," she informs me.

"Stay put," I say as I mindlessly walk towards the auditorium's exit.

"Jana!" Sophia shouts. "You should say goodbye, before it's too late."

I consider it for a moment but am immediately disgusted by the thought of my surrender. I rush out, ready for the next fight.

I arrive at the washed out and web ridden ticketing area, just by the four front doors. One door is propped wide open by a brick doorstop, revealing a gloomy and rainy night. Has someone come in already? I inch towards the darkness, anticipating a trap to meet me there. Just as I reach, a door on the other side of the same wall opens. A tall muscular man, dressed in all black, walks in with a hunt in his eyes and a glowing green light just under them.

"You're the mother, I assume," he says, steadily creeping closer to me.

"You're here for my daughter, I assume." We now sandwich a few feet of space, both waiting for the other to take the first punch.

"Listen," he utters. "I have a child too."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing this for them. I'm doing this so that they can grow up and not have to scream themselves to death. You're not the only parent here."

"I need more time."

"More time for what?" he asks. "You should have thought twice before having a child with one of us."

"There might be another way."

"How? You gonna cure her of being a Linked?" he says mockingly.

"Maybe someone out there knows better."

"I'm sorry, but there just isn't any time for that," he says.

"I can't let you kill my daughter."

"I know," he responds. "What kind of mother would you be if you did?"

He strikes with a punch that targets my head, but I block with my arm and use my hands to reach for the back of his considerably larger neck. I try to pull him down, but his strength prevails and he drags me in towards him, putting me in a chokehold. I step on his foot, and as if it was a button, he releases me with a frantic push that causes my head to slam into the wall. I fall to the ground with a loud ring in my ears that accompany a now blurrier vision. "I'm sorry," he says, turning away from me. My eyes adjust and I force my shaky legs to carry me up. I step in to punch the back of his head, but he ducks right before contact and kicks me down to the ground, just beside the open door. He immediately buries his knee into my ribs and pins me down. As he raises his fists, ready to plunge them into my face, my eyes notice the brick door stop just by my head. Right before his punch can land, I grab the brick and SMASH! The door stop breaks into pieces on his head, knocking him out onto my body.

I enter the auditorium with my hands comforting my ribs. On stage, I see Sophia sitting still with a thousand-mile stare in her eyes. "We gotta get outta here!" I shout. I'm met with silence. "Sophia?" No response. I climb up to the stage and walk to her. "What's wrong?" I ask. I see tears in her eyes that refuse to come out. I turn and slowly walk over to my daughter's crib with my eyes closed, afraid of what I might not find. When I open my eyes, I do find her there, but the light under her eyes no longer glows. I place my fingers on her neck, but a pulse doesn't meet them. I stand there speechless, waiting for a curtain to reveal that this is all an act.

"There was more than one of them," says Sophia. "They held me back and injected her with something and... I wasn't able to do anything. Jana... I'm so sorry." She starts to cry but my mind refuses to believe what it's been training to accept for so long. My body is paralyzed by the crib and my heart has not changed its rhythm. Is this the end? A door squeals. An old man wearing a clean button up walks in.

"Excuse me, are you Jana?" he asks. "Jana Saeed?"

I turn to look at him approaching.

"My name is Doctor Anthony Romero. I'm a scientist. I've been studying the Linked and the effects your daughter has had on them." He waits for me to say something, but I've forgotten how to open my mouth. "I know they've been after her, but I've been doing some tests and I believe I might have found a way to remove your daughter's connection to the Linked. If you let me, I might be able to save her life and theirs as well." I immediately turn to look at Sophia.

"I... didn't see this coming," she begins to explain.

"Did you know?" I whisper.

"I didn't. I swear. Every time I saw her die, that's where I stopped seeing the future. I was an unable to keep going. I..."

"She's dead?" asks the doctor.

"Leave me alone," I say.

"Jana," replies Sophia.

"NOW!" I scream. Sophia gets up and climbs down the stage. She walks to the doctor, grabs his arm, and leads him out. I take a seat and stare at the lifeless crib. I wait to mourn, but no tears come out. What kind of mother am I?