Into the darkness

by Wendy Maddocks

  A strange, yet familiar, feeling rumbled in the pit of his stomach, and creeped up to fill his heart and soul. It made him feel all warm inside and he wanted to smile. It was pride - Richard Tully was proud of his daughter and she might never know. She was standing up to this monster with no outward sign of fear. Her life was on the line, but she was willing to risk that to save other people. “You’re a strong girl, Amber-Louise.” If it was him, Richard reckoned he’d be running by now. But Amber wasn’t – she stood her ground. That’s Amber all over. She’ll do anything to help others. But this? Was venturing into this strange world the only way to do that? Probably. Amber-Louise wasn’t even showing nerves, and she certainly didn’t seem prepared to die. And that was good. Because Richard wasn’t prepared to let her go.

  Amber closed her eyes as Liatruz’s hands closed around her throat and felt them begin to burn into her neck. It was hard to breathe – not because he was strangling her, but because a necklace of doubt was tightening around her windpipe. Liatruz was winning – he was killing her. Would it be such a bad thing if I died? I wouldn’t have to fight all the time. I don’t want to leave them but maybe the world would be better off without me trying to keep this impossible balance between right and wrong. She filled her lungs with as much air as she could get and flipped to her feet, throwing the warlock off her. “No. Not like this. Those who live by the book, die by the book. Right?”

  What was happening probably seemed more normal to Alex than it did to the other two spectators. Amber-Lou would be okay – she was too strong for something like this to break her. Things had threatened her life before, but never had she needed to fight for it when there was such a strong possibility that she would lose. And, she was doing it well – I don’t know if she’s winning though.

  As he watched the magick fly between the two, Alex could almost feel the air crackle with energy. He didn’t know if it was good energy, bad energy, or a mixture of the two – but, whatever it was, it made his skin tingle. Absently, he touched his arm where it had been broken less than 12 hours before. It hurt quite a bit and was about as sore to the touch as a healing cut, but he was so worried about Amber that he didn’t even notice the pain. If he hadn’t drunk that disgusting potion, his arm would’ve been in a cast for weeks on end. If she could make him feel this good in just a fraction of the normal time – well, he just hoped that it was an indicator of the power she held.

  He watched his best friend pick herself off the ground, visibly exhausted but, looking ready to go another 10 rounds. He loved that girl so much and wished he could protect her all the time. She had been his best friend since they were babies and had grown up together. Alex knew her inside out, and admired her strength of character and talents. It seemed run-of-the-mill for him to watch the witch and warlock launch mystical attacks on each other, so often had he witnessed such events. It seemed so unreal that he had to wonder if it had all been one vivid dream that he might wake up from, but he relished the knowledge that this was actually happening. He liked having access to this world that was always hidden from view, knowing that there were awesomely powerful forces at work. And Amber-Lou was one of those forces. That was cool.

  Alex knew that she was putting herself in great danger – she’s always in danger. He felt really bad that he couldn’t go out there and help her, but was a little comforted by the thought that she wouldn’t want him to risk his own safety any more than he already had. Besides, Amber stood a better chance of defeating him alone.

  Amber-Lou could, and would, kill Liatruz. Right?

 

  Stunned into silence by the cave scene, India stared as she attempted to make some sort of sense out of it all. This was all impossible. It had to be a dream. So, why was she awake? This couldn’t be real, could it? She pinched herself to see if she was asleep –if this is a dream, Freud could’ve written a whole research paper on me. She only succeeded in digging two arced fingernail marks in her wrist.

  But, this was real. It took her less than a second to decide that she didn’t want to think about things she couldn’t explain. It took her a couple of seconds more to realise the purpose of the huge battle she was watching. India knew she was also watching the lead-up to her knew friends’ death. She had finally found a friend that she truly cared about, and she was going to lose all that in the same night. It wasn’t fair!

  She wanted to stand up – her legs had gone numb – but she found herself frozen to the spot. Anyway, she felt strangely compelled to sit this out until its’ impending conclusion. It was much easier not to think about all of the strange things bouncing around the cave and let it all was over her than it was to let it prey on her mind. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that there was something very freaky going on here.

  In the cave was the monstrous man in dark clothing and the slim, petite Amber-Louise. A medium-sized group of people in black converged on the outskirts and gathered behind her. Amber said a few words and waved her hands behind her. The men and women turned and walked away, into the harsh night. India was confused, but she believed.

  Amber-Louise would be okay. She had to be

  Chapter 12

  “Strikes two and three. I think you’re just about out.”

  .“Impressive,” he allowed, as her watched Amber get rid of his back-up. “Not good enough though.”

  “No? You best put me out of my misery then.”

  “With pleasure.” He held up the flat of his palm and began to level it with her forehead. “You must know by now that all the white magick in the world is no competition for the strength of black magick.”

  Amber glanced over at her dad, Alex and India. They were all okay and were watching her with great interest. She smiled to herself as she saw them mouthing words of encouragement and belief, and she looked up to the warlock, mischievously. “What about Amber magick?”

  Blood had started to squeeze out of a scratch on her left cheek. Her hair was ruffled and scruffy. Her clothes were slightly dirty and pulled to one side. She unstrapped the now less-than-useless sword and threw it to one side – she didn’t have any need for weapons – and fixed her hands on her knees as yet another coughing spasm came over her. She always ended up coughing at the exact wrong times. “I’ll be okay.”

  “My dear, I really don’t care.”

  “What’s gonna happen to me? I mean, I know what’s gonna happen to my body, but what about my soul? Like, will I ever think again?” Amber0Louise didn’t listen to his answer – she didn’t want to know, and nor did she care. She was just trying to buy herself time. “You’ll never defeat me.”

  “No? I have all I need and more to kill you right now.” Within the same instant, he unleashed a huge ball of what looked like black fire and it screamed through the air towards her. Amber looked up at the sound of rushing air, totally unprepared for this attack.

  It didn’t matter. I’m a good witch and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let evil rule my town. So focused was she on her current task that she held up her hand as it hurtled towards her. “That potential thing? I think I’m getting it.”

  If they strained their ears, the on-lookers could just about pick up the odd word here and there. None of them particularly wanted to hear what was going on though – seeing it was horrific bad enough. The magick was really flying in there; Liatruz didn’t seem much affected by it. Amber, on the other hand, appeared totally worn out but determined to see this thing through.

  They saw the large black ball fly towards her and India scrunched her eyes closed, certain that this was the end. The ball hit some kind of forcefield that was being projected from her hand, bounced off to the side and sank into the wall.

  “Come on, Amber-Lou. You can do this – I know you can,” Alex muttered. He knew that she could do this, but she wouldn’t if she didn’t absolutely believe in herself.

  “So do I. You have to be the best you can
be.” Richard believed – like most fathers – that his daughter was unique and that nothing bad would happen to her. “I believe in you.”

  India remained frozen in place, but she wasn’t too weirded out to speak. “Please Amber-Louise, I can’t lose another friend… not when I’ve just found you.”

  A red beam – it looked like a thick laser beam – extended from the warlocks hand and stretched towards Amber. About six inches from her head, it stopped and wavered for a moment before beginning to shrink back. Looking as if she had been hypnotised by it, she followed it back towards her captor. As she walked, her mouth opened and closed in what looked like silent prayer.

  Neither of the three wanted to let her go – to let her become something they didn’t recognise - but there was nothing they could do but sit and watch. As Amber-Louise went to meet her unearthly fate. As Amber-Louise was taken from them. She would no longer light up the world with her presence. No longer would she make everything shine that little bit brighter. Or make sense out of nonsensical situations.

  It took all of his willpower to do so, but Richard sat tight and didn’t move. He didn’t rush to her side to try and help in these final moments the way he wanted to, or yell out like he felt the urge to. This was the biggest thing in her life and she shouldn’t have to go through that alone. If it wasn’t for Alex, she’d be going through her whole life alone. Secrets. That had always been their trouble – barriers stopping them from being open with each other. It was weird to think that this may be their last moment together and things seemed just as awkward and stilted as ever.

  “You’re winning!” Liatruz growled loudly. “How can this be?”

  Alex looked up, hope just flickering back to life.

  Amber took a breather from her energy-sucking chant to reply. “What can I say? I’m creative.” Her shoulders slumped and her weak knees could barely hold her up as she wearily began talking to herself again.

  “Why’s she talking to herself?” asked India.

  Alex shushed her, knowing that Amber needed quiet when she was working. “I don’t know,” he told her. “But she does.”

  One minute later, it was all over.

  A thin black cloud drifted up from the warlock and Liatruz watched it as his own body evaporated into black smoke.

  “Hit the deck, guys!” Amber yelled with the last of her energy. The wisp of black smoke circled around the room, going faster and faster until it turned into a streak of flame. That spiralled into an intense ball of fire which hovered in mid-air before exploding as forcefully as a small bomb. The entire room erupted in orange light and heat.

  Amber found it incredibly hard to believe that she had seen the last of Liatruz, but repercussions were the last thing on her mind right now. She screamed as the force of the blast pushed her down to the ground and a jagged stone edge cut deep into her back. Something tugged at her ankle and she heard a noise. The stone must’ve tore my trousers – I wonder if Dad can sew. Her head bounced off the floor as the fire roared above her and all around her, and stars danced in front of her eyes for a minute.. Amber-Louise’s adrenaline levels were too high for her too feel any pain or even notice the smell of fire. “See, this is why I told you to get down.”

  Then everything went black…

  Chapter 13

  Amber-Louise’s ghost hovered a metre or so above the bloody, lifeless body lying on the operating table. The body was surrounded by half a dozen hospital staff who looked very busy and were yelling at each other. She couldn’t recall how long she had been watching this procedure but she thought it might have been an hour or more. A constant, high-pitched noise came from a machine, though a series of electric shocks had set it off beeping again. Under any other circumstances it would have been annoying, but now it was comforting, being the only sign that the victim was still alive.

  It was impossible to see what was wrong with the patient, but judging by the tight, frantic cluster of hospital scrubs, she guessed it must be pretty serious. “This kids gonna die unless we get some bloods into her,” yelled the surgeon, adamant that his patient would live. One of the nurses ran over to the internal phone – presumably to get some more O negative down here. Anyone could see that the girl was losing a lot of blood, and Amber could almost feel the life leaving the girl.

  The girl on the table flatlined again and after, what seemed like, an age of CPR and two electric shocks, she didn’t set the heart monitor. They medical staff didn’t carry on with the shocks as they had done before, fearing that too much voltage had already passed through her. “We’re losing her!”

  “Her heart’s giving up. It can’t do any more.”

  “No, no-one’s giving up. Not now.” So, there was still hope. Or, the doctors and nurses thought there was, at least. If they weren’t able to bring the girl back – she’d be just another statistic, another figure in the hospital records. But the sound from the uninterrupted monitor went on, accusingly. Still believing that they could do more, the doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to resuscitate the girl; trying to mend what Amber-Louise already thought was an empty shell. Even in death, she was as useless as she had been in the moments before. However much she wanted to, however hard she tried, she still couldn’t save a life. I can’t stay long, the ghost thought. But, there is something I can do. I can make them feel better. I mean, tried their best to help someone – like I did – and o can make them feel like they actually achieved something. She couldn’t let them blame themselves for this.

  Her vision was getting blurry and she knew it was time for her to leave this peaceful in-between world. She fixed her eyes on the body as she began to fade away and be pulled into another reality. She was meant for another world, but she wasn’t ready to leave this one yet. She didn’t want to wake up from this dream.

  The seconds stretched into minutes, and those seemed to go on forever. The line on the screen didn’t make even the tiniest rise or dip, despite the never-ending efforts of the team. A straight line that never ended. So, that’s all there is to show for this kids life? It’s her death. Predictable, hopeless and never-ending. The read-out from the machine didn’t change, and the body lay there on the operating table – unmoving, lifeless.

  Dying…

  Dying…

  “… didn’t want to leave… had to… best for you both… so guilty.”

  “…not your fault… my duty… did the right thing.”

  There were some people in the room, and she could here them talking. They sounded far away, near a door maybe, and they sounded as if they were going away. She wanted to tell them to stop and come back, but she couldn’t. Her voice wouldn’t work, her eyes wouldn’t open and she couldn’t move her arms and legs. Hey, maybe my ears are the only things that work. Not actually as funny as I thought. She could feel her father gripping her hand and wished she could just squeeze it back. “Please, you have to wake up. You’ve got no idea how important you are to this world. We all need you so much.”

  “I’m sorry sir, but her vital signs are getting weaker by the minute. You have to prepare yourself for the possibility that she might not wake up,” said a voice she didn’t recognise.

  Might not wake up? Screw that.

  Her brain sparked into action again a few days later, and she could feel sunlight streaming through the window to shine through her eyelids and warm her skin. She tried to move but couldn’t. Slowly she flexed her fingers and toes which might as well have belonged to someone else. Ouch! She thought, gingerly testing her sore muscles. No. It’s good that it aches. Fingers and toes have to be attached to something, which means I’m more or less intact. Even if she couldn’t feel what they were attached to.

  Something was holding her still and she was suddenly glad that she couldn’t move. Every inch of her body (that she could) hurt and stung with a burning intensity. Pain is good. Pain means I’m alive. And alive means I’ve won. Go Team Me. She
snapped her eyes open and stared upwards. “Can I watch the cartoons?”

  “Amber-Louise,” cooed the nurse and walked over to her bedside. “You’re awake.”

  “I am that. Hey, you guys don’t normally wear scrubs.”

  “No. One of the babies was sick on my uniform this morning.” She checked the IV needle stuck into the back of Amber’s hand and felt for her pulse. “So. I’m stuck in these for now. That’s weird.”

  “What is?”

  “Your vitals. I mean, your pulse was barely registering yesterday, and your blood pressure was on the floor. Now, all your life signs are back to normal.”

  “Wish the rest of me was.” It didn’t surprise Amber as much as the nurse. “Can I see my dad and my friends now?”

  “The doctor should check you over first, but I don’t see why you can’t say a quick hello before he comes. How’s the pain?”

  “Painful,” she replied, truthfully.

  “I’ll see if I can get you something for that.”

  “No. I like that it hurts. It reminds me that I’m, y’know, not dead.” She grabbed the remote control and flicked around until she found the cartoons. Her brain was too frazzled to think about much, but luckily Foghorn Leghorn didn’t require too much brain power. She threw the covers off, eased the needle out – never liked them things – limped over to the window and peered through the blinds. Everything seemed to have returned to normal and people were going about their regular business. “He won,” she murmured to herself. “He lilled me.”

  Tom was just being fed into the waste disposal when her family and friends walked in. That bugged her. How does that teeny weeny mouse always win against that big cat? “How are you feeling, Amber?”