Finishing up Chapter 5

I decided because I’m doing an Easter special (Part one and two thingy), that I’ll finish up chapter 5. Then it’s not two weeks break between sharing chapter pieces. (to be honest, I’m not sure why I didn’t just post the entire chapter) *shakes my head*

So, Tuesday it is!

The ending of Chapter 5 goes a little like:

I was alone, walking in a desert. There was nothing. The sky was dark. The ground was dark. The fire in me was dark. I could feel a pull. Like last night, only it was more intense, stronger by a thousand times. My heart became a destroyed muscle in my chest—a broken vessel pumping pain into my limbs. I could have talked to Gramps. He deserved to know what was happening.

But I came upon a well before my thoughts could continue. It was the only thing to see for miles of desert. It was an average well made of rock with an arm that curved up and a hinge that sent a rope and bucket to the depths below.

I ran to it. I had been walking for hours without water, my tongue dry, my mouth gone sour.

I fell at the well's feet, about to send the bucket down, when I turned around and saw another well. I could barely recognize this one as a well anymore. It was broken, its stones lying in a pile around a hole in the ground. Along its stones was a dark ink spelling out a sentence. Something I could have sworn almost sounded familiar.

“Crossed fingers, masks of doom. Secrets whole that hid the moon.”

I immediately stepped back, my heart shaking. I took a ragged breath. Fumes immediately wafted up my nose. My stomach churned, my throat coated with a sickening odour. I stared down at the well, where black liquid rippled against the stone—poison and broken.

Where had I seen this before?

As my gaze rose, a man stood before me in his black and white suit—the same man from my dream last night.

"Chose a path." The man said. His shoulders were held high, with his chin following suit. His eyes followed me. They locked darkness between mine and his.

I took a step back. Fear crawled up my chest, sitting as a rock at the back of my throat.

His broad shoulders immediately slumped, his eyes forcing sinkholes through my chest. They were the only part of showing flesh on his body. They were the only parts where the white or black fabric didn’t touch. A slit that crossed over the bridge of his nose. I continued backwards, but he only moved closer toward me.

"Chose a path!" he cried.

A cliff-lined the distance. The black void grew larger as I ran. It rose to the right, to the left. There was nothing but desert. I skidded to a stop at the edge of the rock, where sand trickled away into darkness. A giant pit in the earth that led only to emptiness below. My stomach never stopped sprinting, leaving a sinking uncertainty in my chest.

Go away. I thought, hoping to push him away with my words. But I was powerless against him.

The man snarled. "Chose a path." He still walked toward me. Darkness surrounded him. Every time his black boots lifted from the ground, bone-dry, black dust was all that was left.

My chest buffered, my lungs failed to bring in air as all I saw were the man’s eyes. They were black holes, pulling all the light into them and making it vanish from existence.

I have to get to Aletha. She will be able to take this all away. She will let me forget. If I can get to her, I’ll be okay. I stood, my chest rattled in fear. I was not letting this person prison me in another one of these dreams. I just have to leave. I glanced with a worried gaze to the ridge feet away but forced myself to turn back. Just get out of here. It can’t be that hard.

Go away. My thoughts were more powerful than ever, booming everywhere in the darkness. They shook the ground and sent more sand into the pit behind me.

The man smiled as the Earth around him crumbled. He watched in silence as a crack formed between us. Widening as the pieces of rock and sand fell away, dropping into darkness.

Taking me with it.

I screamed, but no sound came from my lungs. I was alone. Again.

I woke up on the side of the road, leaning against a coffee shop with the sunlight looming just barely over Times Square. My heart raced, my suit wet with sweat. Shivering, I pulled myself up and fished my mask out of my pocket. It sat limply in my hand as my breath shook my lungs.

Suddenly, worry hit me like a bomb. Aletha hadn’t seen me yesterday. I hadn't gone back home after leaving. Maybe I shouldn’t have left at all. And getting lost only made things worse. I didn’t remember Aletha living anywhere near Times Square.

“Jessica?” a voice called. The sound waves lingered with unknown astonishment.

I spun as Timothy came around the corner, a small smirk on his face.

“What are you doing here?” I tried to find the opening in my mask, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Timothy. His eyes clasped around mine, keeping me from turning away.

“I could ask you the same question,” Timothy said, placing his hands on his hips. People stood and stared around me, but all I could feel was the panic filling my chest.

“What are you wearing anyway? There some fashion show you were on your way to?”

I swallowed, and my heart started to pick up again. “I have to go.” I tipped my head down, ripping my mask over my head. I couldn’t help but feel the anger pile onto my chest. People saw me. Timothy saw me. I shouldn’t have come at all.

“Of course you do…just like you had things to do yesterday.”

I stooped and turned back to Timothy. I filled my lungs. “What did you say?” my voice shook.

“Mrs. Jewels said you had a reason not to be at school. Y’know, the science teacher. She’s weird…”

“Wait…, what excuse did she make?”

“She said you had some family stuff,” Timothy said, a quizzical look filled his features. “Or was it take thing else?”

“I didn’t tell her anything,” my voice quivered. “Timothy, you have to listen to me. Did she tell you anything else?” did Mrs. Jewels know I had powers? Does she know something? Something even I don’t know. Is she going to hurt my grandparents?

“Say what now?” His face melted with curiosity. The mock in his eyes was gone, replaced with an odd gaze that burned right through me. His hands flashed into his pockets as he stared at me, waiting for me to respond.

Before I could say anything else, someone came up behind Timothy. Tapping him on his shoulder. “We gotta go.” the kid looked like an older version of Timothy, except stalkier with broad shoulders and a square chin. His hair ruffled over his eyes.

“One sec’, Daniel, can’t you see I’m talking?” Timothy answered. He shoved Daniel’s hand off his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “Go away, I can catch up.”

“Right,” Daniel said, nudging Timothy’s boot with his. “I’m telling Mom,”

Timothy sighed, his jaw clenching as his lips pressed together. “I’m sorry,” Timohy said to me, taking a step in Daniel’s direction. “I have to go.” He started after Daniel, his head low. Daniel’s grin flashed shiny teeth back at me, a stupidly proud grin.

I swallowed, blinking slowly as I jumped into the air. I strung a long web to a building high in the air, flying with only one backward glance at Timothy. He was standing in the same spot he had been before I left, watching the spot I had been moments before.

My stomach thickened, but I ignored it. If he knows about me, at least he's not strong enough to hurt Gran or Gramps. That’s all I really care about.

Have a blessed rest of your week.

-Claudia