Chapter Seventeen
Gathering my gumption I stood to walk back to my room. Now that it was dark, the only light that showed my way came from over the short wall. I reached for the light to turn it on, but I hesitated. I was tired of being afraid of the dark.
I heard the door close downstairs then I heard my phone vibrating. I glanced at the stairs behind me, knowing my phone was still in my bag. The one that was ringing was Britain’s. A sick feeling absorbed me. I walked to my bed and felt around on the floor, trying to find it. I could see the light from the screen under my bed.
I stood with it in my hands. My body was trembling so much that I had to struggle to slide the bar to answer. The sound of the guitar grew louder. The tune was powerful, almost as if it were scolding me.
“I’m gonna tell him,” I said quietly to the guitar. I just wanted to try once more.
I heard Britain’s voice. “Tell me what?”
I looked down at the phone then slowly raised it to my ear.
“I don’t need you to feel safe,” I said bleakly.
“At this moment, you do,” he affirmed.
“It’s over,” I said with a jagged breath, squeezing my eyes closed. “No more.”
“Charlie, wait, you don’t—” I didn’t let him let him finish. I hit ‘End’ on the call. I didn’t want any warnings from him, any words that would confuse me further.
“This is what you’ve been hiding,” I heard Draven say shortly.
I turned to see him standing at the top of the stairs with an angry scowl on his face. As I stepped closer, he held his hand out, stopping me.
I hesitated then said, “It’s over. I was gonna tell you, right now,” in a trembling voice.
“Tell me what?” he said through a locked jaw. “That you’ve been playing me for a fool?”
“No,” I said in an angry tone, not understanding why he was being so cold. “I was protecting you from them.”
“I heard you: ‘This ends tonight,’” he repeated emotionlessly.
I stepped forward, wanting to see him more clearly—to explain. He held his hand out to tell me to stop. “You’ve been cheating on me, on us, no wonder you didn’t want me to see you. This—this is over!” he said, turning to walk down the stairs.
“Draven! Stop! Listen to me!” I said, chasing after him, but before I could take another step a force blocked me from going forward and the guitar screamed in rage.
“Let me go!” I screamed, pushing forward against the nothing that was holding me back. I flung Britain’s phone over the wall in pure anger. “Draven! Come back! I need you!”
The sound of the guitar bellowed, and the invisible force wouldn’t let me move. “Let me go!” I yelled, struggling and finally falling to the ground.
Out of the corner of my eye on the staircase that led to the studio, I saw my father. He was staring at me with absolute fear and heartache, like he wanted to tell me something but couldn’t. He started to walk up the stairs as the pressure that was holding me back released me. I hesitated, not knowing if I should chase Draven or follow him. I scrambled to my feet and raced up the stairs after my dad. The song changed. It was one of rage and heartache. When I got to the studio, his image was in front of the window and the lights were blinking on and off rapidly.
“Say it,” I said through my teeth as my heart raced. “Just say what you want to. I don’t understand. Tell me how to beat this!”
I walked boldly to my father, holding his concerned stare as tears began to pool in my eyes. Once I reached him, he vanished. I balled my hands into fists, furious with him, with Draven. My eyes looked past where he was standing, through the window, to Draven’s house.
I saw him. I saw Draven. At first, I thought maybe it was Aden, but he was there, too. Draven’s back was to the window, and Aden was playing the drums. I pressed my forehead against the window and blinked my eyes to make sure I hadn’t gone insane. There was no way he had made it home. I doubted he’d even made it out of the driveway.
My eyes grew wider, and my heart pounded in my chest as my breath left me. The window fogged over instantly, then the word “RUN” appeared.
I turned and grabbed my bag, throwing it across myself, then ran down the steps, trying to find my keys. I pushed through the back door. It was dark now. I could hear the hiss of the shadows as I rushed to my car and struggled to find the right key.
I threw the car in reverse and sped around the side of the house. I couldn’t see anything. My headlights weren’t powerful enough to shine through the shadows that were blocking my path. As my car drove over the bridge, I felt the vibration of the wood as it began to fall. I tried to speed forward, but the floor gave way and the back of my car crashed through to the creek below. My front wheels were balancing on the edge of the bank, but as the water began to push against the back of the car, the wheels lost their balance and the car began to slide back.
The water started to rush in all around me. I tried to open the door, but the weight of the water was too much. I was petrified. I turned in my seat and started to kick the window. I used all the force I could as my feet slammed against the glass over and over again. The water was climbing over my body—it was cold and dark. I took in a deep breath and put my head under the water and kicked once more, that time, the window gave way. I turned in the water and climbed through the broken window, feeling the glass slice my side.
I surfaced by my car, only to find myself trapped again. The bridge had collapsed all around me, and though I was above the water, I knew the only way out would be to swim beneath the bridge. Dark shadows began to take shape and whisper to me, “Come, Charlie…come, Charlie.”
I glared in their direction, then took in a deep breath and dove under the water. The bed of the creek was littered with jagged rocks, and I had to struggle in the darkness to find my way around the wood that had fallen from the bridge. I felt something holding my leg back. In my panicked state, I was sure it was the darkness. I turned my body to fight it, and when I did I saw that it was a jagged rock that had hooked my jeans. I was losing my breath, so I pulled forward, feeling the leg of my jeans tear away from me.
I found the surface and my breath in the next second. I crawled out on the bank, gasping for air. Coughing the nasty creek water out of my lungs, I tried to focus my eyes so I could find my bearings. I had no idea which way to run. I crawled forward and saw feet before me. My eyes slowly rose up to see Britain reaching his hand down to help me up.
“What happened? Are you OK?” he said in a troubled tone.
I didn’t take his hand. I scrambled to my feet and glared at him. “You need to read the rule book again. I told you to go away. How dare you try to kill me!” I screamed in anger.
“Me?” he asked in an astonished tone as his steel blue eyes looked innocently over me. I knew that look, and it didn’t belong to Britain. It belonged to Bianca. I tried to focus my eyes, fearing I was in shock and that they were playing tricks on me. “Charlie… you’re safe with me,” the image of Britain said calmly as it stepped closer me. “Listen…it’s silent.”
I looked all around me and heard the silence of the darkness. In my mind, I called forth the sound of my song. I remembered it as loud as I could, flooding the silence with its purity.
“I hate the silence,” I said through gritted teeth as I felt the song in my mind empower me.
“You know what your problem is?” the image asked in an amused tone. I knew then for sure that Bianca was behind this image. I could hear her tone laced in the image’s words.
“Apparently, I don’t,” I said, glaring at this image.
“I’ll tell you,” the image said smugly. At that moment, I saw her come to life within it—I saw Bianca. I guess she figured out she wasn’t fooling me. “You’re too stupid and blind to see your own power. Too stupid to see that not only will I end you, I will end them all. You knocked on the wrong door, princess.”
“If you touch them—if you even look in their direction,
I will stop at nothing to destroy you—my willpower alone will end the tragedy you bring.”
“’Tragedy,’” she repeated as she smiled confidently, like that was what she adored: tragedy.
“Aren’t you the devil—a demon?” My eyes looked over her in disgust. “No, you’re not the devil. You’re just a servant. Too weak to have your own life, too weak for me to even conceive as real. I should pity you, but I can’t. There are too many others that deserve my help.”
She laughed out loud and stepped forward. “You are nothing. Do you hear me? Nothing. Not anymore.”
I pushed her, and she stumbled backwards, then her image changed back to Britain’s strong image. As his arms encircled me, pulling me against the cold energy, I could feel it in whatever this was I was fighting. At that moment, I saw headlights beam across us. It was Madison. She slammed her car in park and pushed her door open.
The image nodded his head in her direction, and all at once dark shadows consumed her. I screamed in horror as I watched her vanish. I couldn’t tell if she was still here or not. I thought I could hear her saying random words, but there was no way for me to be sure. I was still hiding behind my song in my mind, and my heart was beating violently in my ears.
“Let her go!” I screamed, pushing against this cold, dark energy that seemed to hold more power than any human could perceive.
“Why, Charlie? What good would that do me?” the image asked in an amused tone as he let me go.
“Send the shadows to me!” I demanded.
The image shook his head no. “I’m not a fool. Never have been.”
“Obviously, you’re blind. I wouldn’t submit to you for silence. It’s not my misery I’d wish to end.”
The image slowly began to circle me. I ignored it. As I stared at Madison, I could see her through the darkness; she was helping—breaking through them. I knew it wouldn’t be long before she’d be at my side. In the distance, I could see headlights speeding toward us—I knew as high as they were that it had to be Draven—that he’d seen my father’s warning in the window of his studio, that he was coming for me.
The image circled in front of me and reached its cold arms around my shoulders. “Go back to sleep…” the image said as the pupils within its eyes began to expand and contrast just as Draven’s Hummer reached my driveway. The image breathed in, and I felt the warmth of my soul fading, a numbing cold filled every part of me.
I felt a weight come over me, so heavy, so mindlessly numb that I closed my eyes and began to fall. I heard Draven scream my name. I heard Aden scream at the image that reflected Britain then I heard the whispers hiss. As I collided with the ground, I tried to focus. I saw the shadows overtake Aden. They tried to overtake Draven, but he was saying random words so fast, the darkness was breaking apart before it could reach him.
Draven charged at Britain. I tried to scream, to tell him to stop, that it was an image of a demon—not some shadow that could be talked down—but I couldn’t find the words. I was slipping away. I was losing myself again. My eyes closed, and the only sound I could hear was my guitar.
The darkness started to fade, and I heard my name: “Charlie.” It was so faint that I couldn’t tell who had said it. “Charlie,” the voice said again. I opened my eyes, and all around me there was a white glow. It was warm and inviting, and I felt at peace.
Kneeling beside me, looking adoringly at me was my father.
“Are you real?” I asked in a tearful voice. “Did I just die?”
He gently reached for my hand and pulled me up. “You are not only alive…your soul is on fire.”
“Help me stop this. Help them fight the shadows,” I pleaded, looking into my father’s dark eyes. I watched as he carefully looked over every part of my face.
“The shadows are not the enemy.”
“I can’t save them fast enough. There are too many memories, too much heartache.”
My father tilted his head and smiled warmly. “All you have to do is invoke an emotion—one emotion…and the most powerful emotion may be one they have never felt.”
“Then how can I help them remember something they never felt?” I asked in a pleading voice.
“Show them what it feels like to have it. Let them see it in your life.”
“I can’t let my shield down. It’s not safe.”
“My beautiful girl,” he said, reaching to cradle my face. “It would only take an instant then you can hide behind the wall I gave you.”
He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes and felt the bliss of his presence fade and the coldness of the ground come to life around me. I struggled to open my eyes. Through a blur, I could see Draven and Bianca, face to face. I could see Aden and Madison still struggling with darkness. I was terrified she was hypnotizing him— stealing him from me.
I pulled myself up on one arm, and in the loudest voice I could manage I said, “Come.”
In that instant, I was surrounded by dark images and evil taunts. I couldn’t see past them. I had no way of knowing if they were the same ones that the others were fighting or simply more.
Too weak to hold myself up, I laid back on the ground and stared up at them as they hovered around me. “Do you want to feel this?” I mumbled as I let my shield fall and the memories I had of Draven loving me—the way his kiss felt—the way I felt when I heard him say “I love you” came to life around me.
The whispers stopped, and the images that were all around me grew hungry for that emotion. I let the sound of my guitar play in mind and felt my shield come to life again.
“If so,” I mumbled, trying to hold my eyes open, “fight for the one I love—redeem yourself with this one good deed.”
My eyes closed against my will. When I forced them open, I saw that the images were walking away from me. I rolled to my side and saw that Aden and Draven were side by side and that Madison was running to me.
Bianca looked past Draven to the images of the shadows that were coming to Draven’s side. Madison reached me and pulled my head into her lap.
“He has to show them,” I said, trying to focus.
“Show them what?” she said breathlessly as she tried to get me to focus.
“Tell Draven to show them us—our memories—that will help them all at once,” I said, pushing her to go to him.
“Draven!” she screamed.
He looked our way. Madison didn’t say a word. She just let him see her memories—she let him see what I’d just said. Draven furrowed his brow as he looked at me, then behind himself. In that instant, I saw every shadow turn into a light. Separate, they were dim, but together, they were near blinding. In that instant, Bianca was gone and Britain was standing in front of Draven. I thought I was going insane—how was that image doing that? Who was Draven fighting? Did he even see Bianca? Was that Bianca who mocked the image of Draven before? My head spun as I tried to grasp reality.
Draven turned and glared at Britain. “This is over.”
I stared at the image of Britain, waiting for him to say or do something. Then all at once, the image turned into Bianca again. I blinked, thinking my eyes were definitely playing tricks on me. When I focused again, I saw Britain. I started to crawl forward, not trusting anything I could see as I moved. Britain turned into Bianca and smiled daringly down at me. But before I could scream her name, she turned back into Britain.
The image looked at Draven, and a confident grin came across its face. “No, she’s already asleep, you’re too late.”
Draven charged forward, but the light behind him and Aden was faster than he was—it swarmed around the image of Britain, then a vibration of pure energy erupted, and it was dark again. They were gone. I couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer. I let my eyes fall and felt myself drifting deeply into sleep.