The Vessel

by Felicia Tatum

  “You did.” He slammed his fist into the wall, cracking a small dent in it.

  Aiden stirred beside me. Horrified about his fate, I held my hand up, wiggling my fingers in his direction. I prayed he understood the message I was trying to send. I darted my eyes enough to see him from the corner. He kept his eyes closed, but his body was rigid. I saw his foot twitch under the blanket.

  “I’m separating you two. Get up,” he demanded.

  “Wha…wha…what?” I stuttered at him. Panicking, I looked from him to Aiden and back. Aiden was a goner if we were separated. I knew that without a doubt.

  “You heard me. Now get up. Don’t make me any angrier.”

  I did as he commanded. My hands braced against the bed, pushing my body off of it. “Ok,” I stammered, “what do you want me to do?”

  He violently gripped my arm, twisting the skin. I yelped in pain because it burned. He dragged me behind him, not waiting for me to take steps. My feet stumbled after him, getting caught up in the other, causing me to fall. He kept ahold of me and pulled me up. I felt the bone in my arm jerk, and I screamed. “Oh, dammit that hurts. Let me walk.”

  He turned, his eyes slit to where they looked almost closed. His nostrils flared. “What,” he said with venom in his voice.

  “You’re hurting me. I can walk if you will just let me.”

  “You can’t get away, so don’t try,” he told me. His grip loosened enough for me to regain my balance. My feet planted flat on the floor. I shook my arm, but doing so caused his grip to tighten again. I stopped moving. Turning, I caught Aiden’s eyes with mine. I saw the desperation and sadness in them. The blue was duller than usual, and I thought I saw a glistening of tears.

  “What are you going to do to him?”

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s none of your concern.”

  “Please, don’t hurt him. I already did.” I looked deeply into his dark brown eyes. My head cocked as I inspected him closer. His features seemed so familiar, but I couldn’t place him. “I know you.”

  His eyes widened, and he turned away quickly. I was right. I did know him.

  Aiden

  My heart crashed when he took her from me. The captor was even more evil than I thought. He was separating us so he could kill me. I wouldn’t last long without Olivia. But I didn’t really care I just didn’t want him to hurt her. I was beginning to really care for her. She was so kind to me when she was tending to my wounds and trying to heal me. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to her and I couldn’t help.

  He dragged her along, her long legs stumbling the whole way. She turned and her bright green eyes peered at me with despair in them. She was terrified. Her lips trembled and opened, then closed. She looked at the captor, then back to me and I understood. She couldn’t say what she wanted because he was so close. Clenching my fists in the sheets, I nodded. He pulled her out of my sight.

  They mumbled incoherently outside the door, then there was silence. My heart pounded in my ears. Death was coming for me. I knew it. The sinking in my gut was replaced with fear when our captor came back through the door. Alone. “Where is she?” I questioned.

  He ignored me and moved to the other side of the room. He closed the small set of blinds on the tiny window. He locked the bathroom door and shut it. He took one look at me and smirked with a chuckle. “Happy dying.” He slammed the door, turning the key in the lock immediately after.

  My heart thumped, my ears rang, and my palms sweated. This was it. This was the end.

  Scott

  According to Grandma’s calculations, she was in a building on Oak Avenue. She held the note, closing her eyes and channeling the spirit still attached. Her face relaxed, and her hand automatically went to Oak Avenue on the map before us. It was on the Northern end, and we both gasped when we realized where she was. The building was in the middle of renovations, and it was the perfect place to keep someone captive. I’d been by multiple times on my way to various places. It was run down and didn’t even have doors on the front. I decided to take a crowbar in case she was difficult to get to. The building was still considered hazardous, so I prayed she was safe.

  Juniper, Mark, Sadie, Grandma, and I all gathered in Grandma’s front yard. My heart beat so fast it was difficult for me to breathe. Juniper’s red-rimmed eyes looked wild as she paced the length of the sidewalk. Mark stood, arms crossed, looking almost as worried as I felt. My patience was wearing thin. Sadie and Grandma were taking far too long with whatever they were getting together. A leaf crunched beneath my boot. I stopped my jittering and thought for a minute. I looked from Juniper and Mark over to Sadie and Grandma, then back. I motioned for them to follow and ran to my truck. Juniper, with her superhuman speed, was already seated in the middle and Mark climbed beside her. Sadie turned and her mouth opened to scream wait about the same time I backed out of the drive. I sped down the street, dodging parked cars on both sides.

  “We have to save Liv,” Juniper said.

  I didn’t reply, only drove. I rolled through a stop light, turning left onto Oak Avenue. She was so close to me this whole time, and I was clueless. I could see the top of the building peeking just over the grocery store it was beside. My foot pushed further on the pedal, knowing I could see Livvie soon. I felt Juniper tense beside me, but she wasn’t my concern. Only Livvie’s safety.

  The brick building came into view. I didn’t brake at all. The steering wheel turned sharply, all of the bodies inside flinging to the left. My foot pushed the brake pedal all the way to the floor, and we all braced our hands against the dash to avoid flying through the windshield.

  “Dammit, man! Watch it. She can’t die, but we can,” Mark exclaimed with a fierce look.

  “Sorry. I just…we gotta save her. I don’t know what shape she’s in.”

  Juniper let out a loud breath, tilted her head, and said, “Both of you chill. We are here to save my best friend. My sister. Yes, Scott almost killed us, but Mark you would be as panicky if it were me in there. So let’s shut up and get going.”

  I pushed the door open, liking Juniper even more for her bluntness and rushed out, ushering her out after me. I grasped the crowbar in my hand. The coldness of it was soft against my skin. My knuckles turned white. Then I realized I was standing beside my truck staring at my hand instead of going inside. I eased up the steps, careful to not make too much noise. Juniper and Mark followed stealthily. I looked back, catching Juniper’s eyes. I tilted my head towards the empty door frames and raised my eyebrows. She slipped ahead, whizzing past me with her incredible speed. She was back in front of me in seconds, her finger on her lips. She indicated for us to follow, and my grip tightened in sync with the knot in my stomach.

  The inside looked worse than the outside. A thick layer of dust covered the walls. Broken furniture lay in pieces, and there were tools in the far corner. My hand covered my nose. A sneeze was building, and I knew it would give us away. My eyes clenched while I forced the sneeze away. Mark looked at me quizzically. I pushed forward, moving around them to take the lead. There were three ways we could go: up the stairs, to the left, or to the right.

  I shut my eyes, letting my senses take over. It smelled old and musky, but there was something more. I breathed deeply, relaxing my fast beating heart. I could smell food. There was someone definitely here. It was coming from above, so up the stairs I ran. I no longer tried to be quiet. I didn’t care if anyone heard. I only had to find my love. The stairs creaked behind me, so I knew my friends were following. I reached the top, stopping again to figure out which way to go. Before I could relax, I heard something to my left. I rushed in that direction, crowbar lifted and ready to fight.

  Olivia

  Mr. Psycho seemed frightened about something, though I didn’t know what. He pushed me into a new room, rushing out quickly. This room wasn’t kept like the other. There was dust everywhere with the remains of bugs and a mouse in the corner. I cringed at the sight, covering my mouth to stop the scream threa
tening to escape. The room was bare, aside from the uncleanliness of it, and I could only stand in the middle, too disgusted to sit on the floor. Slowly, I turned in a circle. I couldn’t stay in here. I had to escape and find Aiden.

  My mind raced with a blur of thoughts. A soft groan sounded from my throat, echoing throughout the room. My breathing grew heavy, and I was beginning to shake. I softly walked to the door. The silence was deafening, and I didn’t want to disturb it with heavy feet. I leaned closer, my ear pressing against the cold wood. I heard voices, muffled and in the distance, but there were voices! I trailed my fingers up my side, reaching out to touch the cool metal of the doorknob. Closing my eyes, I whispered, “Please open.” I gripped the knob, twisting it in my hand. To my complete and utter shock, it clicked. He didn’t lock me in…here was my chance.

  I eased it open, shushing the creaking. I grimaced with each inch, stopping the movements when it got too loud. It was almost open enough for me to slip out when I heard someone running towards the sound. Terrified, I slipped behind it, deciding to play dumb when Mr. Psycho questioned me. I hurried further down the wall, feeling the thickness of the dust on my fingers. “Ewww,” I sighed, wiping the gooey mess on my clothing. I stopped when I was no longer directly behind the door. Crossing my arms, I swayed a bit on my heels. I closed my eyes, anxious to get this over with. I lost my chance at getting away, and who knows what he would do once he saw I’d opened the door.

  My fingers traced the stone in the ring Scott gave me. It was my only connection to him. I may never see him or my friends again. My eyes grew misty, and I sniffled to hold back the full blown waterworks. I looked back at the door, surprised the captor hadn’t come in yet, when I heard a familiar voice. It sounded just like Juniper’s. “J?” I said just loud enough to carry through the opening in the door.

  “Liv?” she screamed back.

  I gasped, tears falling freely now. “Juniper!” I exclaimed, running towards the door. It flew open just before I reached it, and there stood Juniper, Mark, and Scott. My hand shook as it covered my mouth. I fell to my knees, scraping them on the hard floor. J’s arms were around my neck instantly, and I buried my face in her hair. I heard her breath catch, felt the wetness of her tears. I moved my head to the other side, and instinctively reached my hand out towards Scott, grasping the air for him. His rough hand held mine tightly. He, too, fell to his knees beside me. He looked ill, his face was thinner and his skin pale. His dark brown eyes looked lovingly into mine causing me to smile and squeeze his hand as tightly as I could muster. “Scott,” I said, barely audible.

  Juniper let go of me, luckily because her grip was much stronger than I recalled, and I fell into Scott’s muscular arms. My head rested on his chest, just above his heart. I could hear it beating, strong and fast. His warm skin covered me like a blanket. I inhaled his scent, and the memories of our last few moments spent together came flooding back. Snuggling closer, my hands fisted in his shirt, “Scott.”

  His hands laced through my hair, and he held me tightly. “Livvie, I’m so glad I found you. I’ve been searching since that morning. I don’t know how that happened, but I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

  I jerked back, looking straight into his saddened eyes. “Don’t. It was not your fault. In any way. This jackass that took me was working with The Crimson Calamitous.”

  He smiled half-heartedly, making my stomach knot up. He nodded, but I wasn’t convinced. He blamed himself, and the sinking I felt told me he would for a while. I leaned in again, resting my head on his shoulder, and remembered Mark standing near the door.

  “Mark! You’re here too?” I said joyfully.

  “Yeah, Liv, we couldn’t let anything happen to you. But…uh…I think we need to get out of here. I know everyone’s all happy and catching up, but what if this guy comes back?”

  I reluctantly lifted my body off of Scott’s. He stood, pulling me up after. Juniper wrapped herself in Mark’s arms, a delighted smile on her face. I smiled at her, happy that she was finally with Mark. I placed my hand into Scott’s and squeezed gently. He responded with a kiss on my forehead. “Let’s go.”

  Mark and Juniper left the room just as I remembered we had to save Aiden. “Wait!" I yelled after them. They stopped, looking at me with confusion in their eyes. Scott turned towards me, his face searching mine. Then understanding passed through his eyes.

  “You said there was someone else in your note.”

  “Yeah, about that…you guys probably won’t like this very much, but just trust me ok? He’s not who you think he is.”

  “Liv…what exactly does that mean?” Juniper said. Her voice was questioning, and her face showed a bit of fear about what situation I had myself in this time.

  “Just…we gotta find him. I just hope he’s still alive.”

  “Livvie…who? You hope who is still alive?” Scott pushed me for answers.

  I looked in each of their eyes, begging with mine for understanding and help. I pulled my hand from Scott’s and started down the hall. “Aiden,” I said, opening the next door I came to.

  Aiden

  The commotion I faintly heard held my interest. I had no way to find out what was going on, but I prayed it was something good. It had only been a few hours since Olivia was taken from the room, and I hadn’t seen the captor since he told me, “happy dying.” I doubted I would see him again.

  “Aiden,” I heard Olivia calling outside the door.

  “In here,” I replied back as loudly as I could. I heard shuffling and her trying to open the door. The knob jiggled violently, but didn’t open. I lifted up, feeling a sudden surge of energy. Before I could get all the way off the bed, the door cracked right down the middle. Wood splintered and flew everywhere, covering the floor and the dresser. I heard a male voice laughing as everything happened. Fear rose in my chest, strangling me and forcing me to cough. I quickly searched the room for something to help Olivia with but saw nothing.

  “Aiden,” she exclaimed, running to hug me.

  I wrapped my arm around her, loving the feel of her near me. Behind her, three people I’d never saw before stood with disgusted looks on their faces. There was a tall guy holding a crowbar that appeared to be particularly pissed off. The lovely girl with the weird eyes stared at us, throwing daggers with her expression. She whispered something to the guy with his arm around her, then was at Olivia’s side faster than humanly possible. I gasped, pulling back from Olivia and studying the girl.

  Olivia was comfortable with her and didn’t really acknowledge that she moved so incredibly fast. She looked at her exasperatedly. “What it is, J?”

  “I can’t believe you’re helping this psycho. He killed me! You’re the one that told me!” She flung her arms around in the air above her head.

  Olivia grabbed her, holding her arms still. “Look at his eyes, J. He’s different.”

  Weird eyes peered at me, and I got a good look at what made her eyes different. They were rimmed in red. Her pupils expanded when she saw my blue eyes. Her head snapped back to Olivia. “What the hell?”

  “I told you. I don’t know what exactly happened, but this isn’t the same Aiden. He doesn’t know any of you.”

  The guy with the crowbar stepped forward. He put an arm around Olivia’s waste, like he was claiming his territory. “He was a vessel. I read about it a couple of days ago. I can’t believe he survived what you did to him, Livvie.”

  Her face fell, and a tear escaped her beautiful green eyes. I wanted to punch this guy in the gut for bringing up the subject. He said it like he was proud of what she did, but couldn’t he see it hurt her?

  “I’m fine. But can we get out of this place? I need a doctor. And this guy wants me dead, so I’m guessing he will be back to check soon.”

  “You don’t need a doctor,” crowbar boy said.

  “Excuse me? Do you want me to die, too?” I questioned.

  He laughed. Olivia looked at him in horror. He placed a hand on my leg, and I attempte
d to jerk away from him but couldn’t. The captor didn’t kill me, but it seemed like this guy may just finish the job.

  Scott

  Seeing Aiden, even though I knew his body was only a vessel, majorly pissed me off. If Livvie wasn’t so dead-set on saving this guy, I’d leave him to rot. All I saw when I looked at his face was the night he tried to kill us all. But my Livvie wanted to save him, so I would help. He was hurt badly. I was going to heal him, but he kept trying to kick me.

  “Livvie…can you tell your friend I’m trying to help him and ask him to stop kicking me, please?”

  She nodded, edging closer to his face. She looked at him intently, and a spark of jealousy ignited in me. She seemed awfully comfortable with this guy. I didn’t like it at all.

  “Scott is a healer, Aiden. By the way, this is Scott--” she said, pointing at me, “—and this is my friend, Juniper, and my other friend, Mark. Scott got my note, and they found me from it. They just want to help,” she explained softly.

  He looked at me, and I noticed his eyes were different, but I still didn’t like the way he looked at Livvie. He nodded, so I placed my hand on his leg. My powers flowed through my body, swirling and connecting in order to heal him. Heat emitted from my palm, sending the healing to his bones. He grimaced and groaned. He would be healed in just a minute. Livvie placed her hand on his arm to comfort him. He relaxed and smiled at her. I pushed harder on his leg, making him yelp out in pain. “Oh, sorry. Too much pressure?” I asked innocently.

  “Yesss,” he hissed.

  “I’m almost finished, my love.” I reached my other hand out to her, taking her delicate fingers up to my lips for a kiss. She blushed, giggling as if it tickled. She slid her hand over my cheek, caressing my face. I sighed and saw Aiden watching us with an angered look. I smirked at him, lifting my other hand off his leg. “You should be healed enough to walk now. We have to leave.”