Chapter forty— Mindful Awareness
“Abby!” I cried out, as she crouched over in pain. I saw a knife in her stomach, and she suddenly collapsed in pain.
“H-heal me.” Abby gasped, taking my hand.
“I will,” I replied weakly. “I just need to know we’re safe. Whatever attacked you is still here.”
At that very moment, I felt a cold breeze run down my back. Standing up slowly, I gave my full attention to figure out where we were. We seemed to be on top of a tower, and the sky was swirling red and black. Pavement was made of red and blue stone, and etchings of dragons seemed to be on every object. In the distance, I saw a waterfall and an ocean full of what should be water- but was hot magna instead. “By the Fates.” Abby gasped.
“Turn around, honey…” I heard a sweet voice, so innocent, so memorizing. Slowly, as if hypnotized, I turned around.
There was a slim woman, rather short, wearing a red sparkly shawl over her face and shoulders. I could only make out the bottom half of her face, which appeared to be unreal flawless skin, and lips as pink as a rose. She wore a white gown that stopped at her toes, made out of satin and tightly fitted her upper body. She held a purple tulip in her nimble hands. “Who are you..?”
“Nothing changed… Has it? You just started school… Hadn’t you? Everything is so happy… It’s nice to have family around…” The woman spoke so innocently, so sweet and full of happiness. Deep inside, however, I wanted to correct her. I wanted to tell her that everything had changed, and I’m no schoolgirl anymore. I wanted to tell her the truth, but I wanted her to be happy… She is so happy…
I felt a raindrop, and the sky began to sprinkle with rain. Barely fazed, somehow, I felt as if I was supposed to listen for something… To remember…
The woman smiled, and lifted up a hand. I saw rain hitting her skin, but no water formed on her hand. “It’s raining again… Everything is so calm and happy…”
No its not, I wanted to cry out. I was burning inside, trying to convince this woman that it’s not a happy world; that I could help her. However, hypnotized by this woman’s sweet presence, I stood and watched.
The woman then looked at Abby, who looked unconscious. I felt in my gut that I was supposed to do something, but my legs were frozen. The woman cocked her head to the side, a sad look on her face. “Has no one told you she’s not breathing..?” She looked at me, then, and I saw a hint of a smile. “Hello… You will talk to me…” Her last words seemed to hiss and echo in the night, and the rain began to pelt down on us. However, the woman stayed completely dry.
If only she knew the truth; if only she was strong enough to be happy and know the world as it is…
The woman spoke again, and she lifted her half covered face to the sky. “If I smile and don’t believe…” She sighed a wonderful sigh, so happy and at peace. “Then soon I know I’ll wake from this dream…”
“No, no, no, no,” I moaned. “I can help you… Please, you must know the truth… I don’t want you to be broken…”
“Shh…” She smiled an encouraging smile. “Don’t try to fix me, I am not broken…”
But you are, I thought, but my lips were sealed. I felt tears run down my face, feeling so helpless… So depressed…
She walked over, and I saw the tips of her pale feet. She was barefoot. Dropping the purple tulip, my mother’s favorite flower, she touched my face gently. Her fingers were cold as ice, and burned when she stroked away a tear. “Don’t cry…”
I shook my head wildly, trying to have sense, but I was too strung up. I felt like a puppet, playing at her command. “W-who are you..?”
All of a sudden, there were tears pouring down the woman’s cheeks, suddenly so sad… So terribly sorrowful, and I felt it like a hit in the stomach. I felt as if my worst fear was for this woman to become so sad; so scared… I was afraid.
“Suddenly I realize I’m not dreaming…” She began to cry, and I tried to help her, but I was rooted to the spot. I looked down, and saw white roots entwined around my ankles, now unable to move at all. The woman’s head snapped up, and I saw her grin a hideous smile. “Hello honey, I’m the lie you see in your nightmares.”
She lifted up her shawl away from her face. Gasping, I screamed. “No!”
Her brow, her cheekbones, her delicate lips, and her eyes burned into my soul. I knew as soon as my mother’s eyes bore into me, that I was trapped.
“It’s all your fault I’m dead!” She screamed at me, and I saw tears going down her face. I felt my knees touch the stone ground, and I tried to cover my face from the horrors, but the white roots entwined my wrists. Now, tied to the ground, I sobbed in pain for my dear mother.
“I’m so sorry.” I cried, but my mother paid no attention.
“It’s your entire fault!”
Your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault.
“Please… I wish you were alive…”
“You deserve to be cut! Killed! Murdered! Burned!” She screamed, and I saw her eyes go completely white; no pupils, no moonstone eyes. Still hypnotized, I felt as though I was being forced not to move. A red glow began to be illuminating from her body, and white smoke was pouring out of her hands. Slowly, she held my face, and I coughed. Unable to breathe, the smoke choked me. Dozing off into a horrid faint, I suddenly felt my mother lurch.
I opened my eyes, and through the burning of the white smoke, I saw an arrow tip sticking out of my mother’s chest. Blood spilled over, staining her pure white gown. My mother’s face turned into something so ghastly, that I screamed, and suddenly was able to move. The rain was pouring, and my dress was soaked. My hair was out of its delicate design of a bun, and it fell to my back.
The world was spinning again, and I felt the metal floors of Marleybone roof once again. The rain was still there, spinning in the wind and out of control. The parts of my gown that wasn’t stuck to my legs were flapping crazily in the wind, and I kept scooping my wet hair out of my face.
The thing that was my mother was now totally something different. The woman was now a lanky brown-haired woman, with skin black as ink. She hissed at a girl standing over her, a bow and arrow in hand, pointing at the demon woman. Her eyes were still completely white.
The girl who saved me was wearing all black, her cape whipping in the wind, and she wore a hood that covered most of her face, hiding her identity. I noticed her high heels, and the posture she stood in such a proud way. With a blast of light, the girl shot the arrow once again, piercing the demon woman’s heart, and killing her instantly. The woman burned up, and slowly turned to ash.
“Who are you?” I shouted through the wind, and the girl looked up curiously. With shock I recognized my own eyes peering at me, and I screamed. “You’re another one of those clones! That was my mother! Get away from me!” I shot a random spell at her, and she seemed to dodge it easily.
“Careful, now.” Her voice was smooth as silk, and I recognized it from my dream. She put her hood down, the wind taking out a large amount of thick black hair, gleaming in the rain and moonlight. “You wouldn’t want to kill your own sister, would you?”
