Chapter 11: Irena's Story

Aelita's POV

I heard knocking on my door through my horrendous sobs.

"WHAT!" I yelled.

"Aelita... Let me in. It's Alisa." Alisa said, apologetically.

"HECK NO! GO AWAY! GO HAUNT SOMEONE ELSE!" I yelled nastily.

"Aelita…. Please?" Alisa begged from the door.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND ENGLISH? GO. AWAY!" I enunciated.

Alisa sighed. "You left me no choice."

I was startled by that statement. "No choice for what?"

I turned around, and seen Alisa sitting on my bed next to me. "How'd you get in?" I yelled in her face, shocked.

"Um... It's pretty obvious." She said, looking at her body.

"Oh yeah." I said. "What do you want?"

"All I want is to talk… That's all. Listen, I'm really sorry for the way I acted back there. I was mad, mad that you wouldn't comprehend what I was." She said, looking at the ground.

"I honestly never would have guessed." I said, apologetically.

"What do you mean?" Alisa said, as she looked up at me.

"You seemed like a normal, real girl. Not a…"

She covered my mouth. "Don't say that word. I hate that word." She said, sounding like she was about to cry.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Suddenly, Alisa hugged me tight. "I've missed you, Aelita."

I was puzzled. After what she did to my room, writing all those threatening messages to me, she's missed me? I don't understand.

"Then why did you threaten me?" I asked, waiting for an answer.

"I wanted you to figure out who I was."

"You could have just said something."

Alisa looked at me as if I were crazy. "Oh, just so you can laugh in my face and be like 'YEAH RIGHT'? Sure."

She had a point; I know that's what I would've thought.

There was a question I wanted to ask her, but I didn't want to upset her.

"Alisa…." I started.

"Yeah?" She said.

"What happened the day you….. Died?" I hesitantly asked.

Alisa sighed. "I knew you were going to ask that sooner or later." She sat across and faced me.

"Alright…" She started.

Alisa went into a deep trance.

Alisa's POV

"I'll never forget that dreadful day. I remember playing in my room; I was playing with the Barbie mommy had gotten me before she left. I remember hearing Aelita scream, and then I hear daddy coming upstairs saying something about Mister Puck and taking her out of the house… He didn't even say anything to me. I ran out of my room to see what was up, and I went downstairs and I see the Men In Black. They came at me, with brass knuckles. "WHERE IS HE?" They shouted at me, and hit me with the brass knuckles. Shocked by the blow, I screamed "I DON'T KNOW!" They hit me again, trying to force an answer out of me. I screamed for daddy, but he didn't come. He abandoned me, I thought. Finally, they hit me in the head again. It got dark. It got cold. All was silent. I could see my lifeless body lying there, beaten and bloody."

Aelita's POV

I didn't know what to say. I could see her tearing up, and I heard her sobbing.

"What's it like to die?" I asked, not knowing what else to ask.

Alisa thought hard. "Like…. Being born. Except backwards." She said, tears in her eyes.

"Please don't cry…" I said, stroking her hair.

"What disgusts me the most is that father endangered your life with that Lyoko thing." She said.

"How do you know?" I said, suddenly. I didn't know she knew about Lyoko.

"Whenever that squid took your memory, whatever it's called, I was right there with you. I helped restore part of your memory." She said.

I was shocked. "But, how?"

"Hello? I'm an apparition. I can go anywhere." She said.

"True." I said.

Alisa looked at her long tangled hair. "Will you comb my hair for me?" She asked, looking at me.

"Sure." I got up, and got my comb. I sat behind her and worked the comb through her tangles. No one had done anything about her hair for a long time. Even though I was sure I was hurting her, she sat still and didn't complain. I partened it in the middle of her scalp. It was strange- she felt solid, but somehow insubstantial, boneless, as if she could melt away any second.

When her hair was smooth, she ran her fingers through it, and allowed herself a small smile.

"Do you hate me?" Alisa asked, suddenly.

"No." I said, I was being honest, now that I knew more about her and who she was.

Alisa gave me the eye, and looked at my bed. "Prove that you don't hate me. Let me sleep in your bed tonight, I'm so tired of the dark and being lonely."

I got into bed, and reluctantly let Alisa curl up next to me. It was like lying next to a snow girl on the coldest night of winter.

"Are you scared," She whispered. "To share your bed with me?"

"You're just a girl, like me." I said.

"Not an ordinary one."

"No, not ordinary, not ordinary at all."

I thought about what had happened in the past. I don't remember much, but I knew I was probably crabby towards her.

"Alisa…. I want to say I'm sorry." I said.

"For what?" She said, intrigued.

"For being a crab to you. I don't remember much, but I know you must have had it rough." I said.

She smiled. "It's okay."

With that, she curled up beside me again, a small hump underneath the covers, not quite as cold as she'd been before.

Too tense to sleep, I lay beside her, staring into darkness, as the storm let up. I never knew my father to be such an ass. Maybe getting trapped on Lyoko was Karma's way of punishing him for what he did to poor Alisa.

I looked over at her, and she was fast asleep.

I knew she was probably beat from being awake for ten whole years, waiting for either me or my father to return. The more I thought, the more I got intrigued. Maybe Alisa was only trying to get my attention, not harm me in any way, at least I don't think she meant it.

I settled down in my bed, and closed my eyes.