Yesterday's Gone (Season 5): Episodes 25-30 Read Online Free

like he’d known Ashleigh for years. 
    “It’s OK. You did good for your first try. You were able to connect and control. With practice, you’ll have it down.”
    “Can we go home now?”
    “No. We’ll find a few more people. But first, I want you back on that diving board.”
    “What? Why? I already went off it.”
    “Yes, but you’re still scared. I want you to smother that fear. You are no longer limited by your human constraints. We can help you be better.”
    “A better diver?”
    “Don’t be a smartass. It’s not about diving, and you know that. It’s about overcoming your weaknesses, killing them if you can.”
    “It would’ve been easier if I just let It take over.”
    Rose smiled. “We can still arrange for that.”
    He saw her smile for what it was — a threat designed to remind Luca of his place. He was important to the scheme, but only a piece of the puzzle, a bit player in The Darkness’s plan for humanity. It had no time to waste on Luca’s whims and worries. If he was too scared to conquer a diving board, they’d likely make him a host like Rose.
    Whatever remained of Luca would be gone forever.
    He couldn’t allow that to happen.
    “OK, I’ll do it.” Anger fueled Luca’s trip to the board. 
    He stood in line behind a dark-haired girl with pigtails. She looked around eight years old. There was a tall black kid with red shorts climbing the ladder in front of her.
    Pigtails looked up at Luca and smiled sympathetically. “That looked like it hurt.”
    She must’ve seen his horrible excuse for a dive.
    “Yeah,” he said. “It did.”
    “Your first time diving?”
    “Yes. That obvious?”
    She smiled, “It’s OK, I used to be bad, too. But I got good. You will, too.”
    “Thanks,” Luca said as her turn in line came up and she ascended the ladder. As he waited for the girl to dive, Luca heard the last thing in the world he wanted to hear — Shovel Face laughing as he approached with his friends. 
    “Hey, faggot,” Shovel Face called out.
    Luca ignored him, holding his eyes to the ladder.
    “Hey, I’m talking to you.” Shovel Face lightly shoved him.
    Startled, Luca spun around, fists instinctively balling.
    Shovel Face looked down and noticed, laughing. “Whatcha gonna do? Hit me?”
    The two other kids with him, a fat kid with red skin and a monobrow and a skinny Hispanic with spotty facial hair, laughed along with Shovel Face.
    “Just leave me alone,” Luca said, wishing he sounded less whiny.
    Monobrow said, “Or what?”
    Luca ignored them and started to climb the ladder.
    “Yeah, I thought so,” Monobrow said. “Pussy ass faggot.”
    Luca wanted to turn around and cut the smug smiles from all their faces. He hated bullies who picked on kids for no reason. He hadn’t done anything. They’d spotted him, recognized him as weaker or different from them, and decided to mess with him. It was like those wildlife documentaries he sometimes watched with his dad — or are those the other Luca’s memories? — where hunters spotted the weakest prey and culled them from the herd.
    Of course with nature, the hunters were eating the weak. The circle of life had a purpose. But with bullies, there was no purpose except to make the bullies feel temporarily better about their pathetic lives.
    The Darkness chimed in. Forget them. They’ll be irrelevant soon. They are no longer the top of the food chain. You are. We are.
    Luca allowed himself a smile as he climbed to the platform. On top, about to step onto the board, he heard the jerks behind him clucking like chickens.
    Block them out this time. Just jump.
    Luca heard a sound he wished he hadn’t — one of the kids quickly ascending the ladder. 
    Luca looked back to see Shovel Face reaching the top.
    “You’re not supposed to be up here,” Luca said, looking down for the lifeguard on duty — busy chatting with a cluster of girls.
    Shovel Face smiled as he stepped onto the platform. “You’ve got five seconds to