by Senna Fisher
Rebecca screamed at the creature.
“Creature of darkness, Power of darkness. You are banished to the abyss of darkness. Be gone with you, there is nothing for you here. Be gone, never to return. You are banished to the abyss of darkness. Be gone. There is nothing for you here.”
It was not moving at all, its stillness contrasting the brilliant power of the light. It seemed an eternity, the stillness in the light. Rebecca was getting tired now. The light sucked her energy from within her and she fought to visualize herself strong and sure. Doubts crept in her mind. Is Clayton okay? Why is he in pain? Why have I put him through this? Will he survive? Oh God, what have I done to the man I love? Have I sent him to his death?
“Oh God, Clayton, I am losing my strength,” she whispered.
“I love you, Rebecca. That is your strength. I love you, now and forever.”
At those words there was a large explosion in the sky and pieces of light splashed across the sky in leaps and bounds, like a giant fireworks display. Then the shattering glass started. It was loud and persistent, piercing the pure mountain air. Fragments of light hit the ground and disappeared on impact. It was a dramatic scene and it went on and on, as if there had been many creatures in that light.
Suddenly it was quiet. Clayton directed the light around in the sky, but saw nothing. Slowly he removed his hand from Rebecca and the light stopped. Rebecca felt the last gasp of energy in her body, turned to him and collapsed onto his chest. He took her to the car and placed her on the seat and turned the lights on. Her face was white and drained and she was breathing slowly, faintly.
He lifted his head and felt a wave of dizzy nausea hit him from his belly. He moved away from the car to breathe and felt the first wave of nausea rise up in his chest. Unable to control his body, he puked. He was half bent on the ground and could not raise himself. He kept puking, a green bile rising from the depths of his body. He saw the images fly through his body, images of his pain, of his anger, of Suzanne, her father, their baby, the accident and her diary. His back was burning with pain and when the nausea stopped, he went back to the car, Rebecca was still breathing slowly. He sat down on the ground, enjoying the cool, soothing relief of the grass. He was breathing hard now, trying to fight the dizzy spells that threatened to engulf him. He fell to the ground, his hand grasping his stomach. He tried to move, but could not. His back felt raw and scourged. He needed to move. He was urging himself to get up off the ground to help Rebecca when he lost consciousness. That is how they remained. Rebecca was on the seat of his car, pale and lifeless, her legs dangling out and her Protector was unconscious on the ground, clutching his belly.
~ ~ ~ ~
Rebecca walked slowly through the long dark passage. There was faint light coming from the end and she wanted to get to it. She was lost. She did not know how she had got here. Where is Clayton? She moved further and further down the passage, her body feeling light as she moved. She saw that the light was coming from a closed door and she opened the door. She was shocked at what she saw. There was Malcolm still fourteen years old, crying and afraid.
“I love you Rebecca, so why do you want to hurt me?”
She tried to go to him, but as she touched his shoulder, he vanished. She was startled and backed out of the room. She opened another door further down the passage and it was the same. Here sat Reynolds, a boy she had met at eighteen. She had liked him so much and he had liked her too. He was also crying, asking her the same question. Rebecca left the room and hesitated. Should she open the next door? Would it be the same? She stood, confused and afraid. Tears were rolling down her face. What is happening to me? Where is Clayton? She moved to the next door, hoping Clayton was there. It was the same as the others and she was bitterly disappointed. She rushed down the passage, opening all the doors, hoping that Clayton would be there. Each time there was some man from her past and he was crying. Rebecca was hysterical. Oh no, I have lost Clayton.
“Clayton, Clayton!” she was screaming.
She opened the last door and saw her patient Carl, crying also.
“Rebecca, why did you leave me? Why did you leave me? I wanted to show you what happened. I wanted to tell you that it was my fault that James died. I hit the horse, we were playing. Did you leave because you knew? You also hate me? Rebecca, please come back, I am sorry. I did not mean it. It was an accident, I swear. Please come back.”
As she moved further into the room, he disappeared. Her frustration and pain engulfed her and she sat on the floor, her face in her hands and cried. It was hopeless and there was nothing to do. This had been the last door and Clayton was not there. She had lost him. She had known she would, like all the others. She had known. Why should she have his love? Rebecca just cried and cried.
“Please no more. I can’t take it. No more pain, please. Let the pain go away.”
She heard a movement, a slight movement as if someone else was in the room. She lifted her head and saw the butterfly.
“Oh beautiful butterfly, where is Clayton? Please, take me to Clayton.”
It flapped its wings and she noticed it still had the missing patch of color. It gently glided out of the room and Rebecca rushed onto her feet and followed it furiously. She was blinded by the darkness. There were no more doors, but she heard it move ahead of her and she followed the butterfly blindly. Suddenly, she was floating, and there was a faint light. She was flying like the butterfly. She looked down and there was Clayton, lying on the ground, clutching his belly.
“Clayton, Clayton, what are you doing? Clayton?”
He did not answer, or seem to hear her. He lay still on the ground. She looked around and saw her body, lying helplessly on the car seat. What had happened? Why was she floating above him? He was so still.
“Oh butterfly, take me to the place he has gone to, please. He is dead, isn’t he? Take me to him. I will not live without him.”
The butterfly went down to the car and inside and then she heard his cell phone ringing. Clayton did not move, but it rang and rang.
“Clayton!” She screamed. He started to move, feeling around for his cell phone. Rebecca smiled. He always kept it near him. Where does he think he was, in bed?
Clayton was moving out of the darkness. He could hear the sound of something familiar. He listened carefully and realized that it was his cell phone. It was ringing. Oh, go away, he thought. I am sleeping. The world must realize that I also need to sleep. It is probably some anxious client. Go away. But the ringing was insistent and he thought he had better answer it or switch it off, or he would get no peace to sleep. He felt around for it, but it was not there. He realized that he was not in his bed, because he could feel the grass and the soft moisture of the dew that was settling.
“Where am I...?”
Then he saw her, his beautiful Rebecca, floating above him, smiling. He suddenly remembered what had happened and tried to get to his feet. What is Rebecca doing up there, anyway?
“Rebecca! What are you doing? Come here, help me. Rebecca, stop smiling. This is not funny. It hurts like hell and I need you. Come, Princess, help me.”
He heard a flapping sound coming from his car and was horrified to see her body, lying exactly as he had left it.
“Rebecca, what is going on?”
Oh God, is she dead? Then he rose suddenly to his feet. Oh God, Rebecca is dying or dead. No, she is still here.
“Rebecca,” he spoke to her floating up there, smiling. “Rebecca, please, don’t go. Stay with me.”
She just smiled and he could see that she could not hear him. The butterfly was flapping furiously at him. He turned and looked at it. It was flapping on her body, urgently and wildly.
“What, what? What is happening to Rebecca?”
It flapped and flapped, moving up and down her body.
“God, what the fuck does this mean? I don’t have time for this. I want Rebecca. I want her to come down from there, back into her body.”
“Rebecca! Rebecca! Come down now.”
Then he realized what the butterfly was trying to say to him. Of course, he needed to focus on her body. Rebecca has told him that his right hand was soothing, cooling. Okay, this better work or somebody is going to pay.
Clayton rushed to her cold, pale body and rubbed her slowly. His back was still burning with pain, but he could think of nothing but getting Rebecca down from there, floating, alone in the air, smiling indulgently at him.
He was crying now.
“Rebecca, Princess, please, don’t leave me. I need you, please. Come to me, please. I promise you I will do anything you want. Just come down from there.”
He turned her body around and touched her butterfly. It was warm. He rubbed it a bit, but still nothing happened. Should he complete the butterfly again? What if the light came again? What if he invoked the creature again? But he had no other choice and he placed his hand tentatively on the spot and completed her butterfly. Nothing happened, but then he saw the butterfly, moving in front of him, for the first time complete. Its blue patch was not missing. He turned Rebecca around, laying his right, healing hand on her heart. Oh God, please, bring her back to me. He looked up and she was no longer floating. He looked down at her and she was still lifeless and pale. Then she moved suddenly, as if choking. He looked at her and her eyes were still closed.
“Rebecca? Princess? Are you back? Rebecca?”
He saw the tears spilling out of the sides of her eyes and he knew she was alive.
Clayton held her and cried, but Rebecca’s body was still. The tears just rolled from her eyes. He rubbed her all over and eventually, he felt the tingling sensation of her energy being restored. He sat for a long time, rubbing and rubbing, every inch of her body, crying as he felt her slowly coming back to him. It was getting light, the first rays of the sun peeking through mountains.
“Clayton, I am so tired. I want to sleep.”
Clayton shook her, excited and afraid of the sound of her voice.
“No! Not now Princess. Later, okay? Come on, talk to me. Hold me please.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him.
“Did you answer the phone? Who was it?”
He laughed and held her.
“Oh Rebecca, you are back. I love you, I love you!”
She moved slowly and hugged him and he winced at the pain as she touched his back.
“Clayton, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
She was wide awake now.
“It’s my back. It hurts like hell. But I am fine. Rebecca, listen to me. I love you and you are never to leave me again, understood?”
“Yes, Clayton, I love you too. But what is wrong with your back? Turn, let me see.”
He turned round and she lifted his t-shirt. She gasped in shock at what she saw. He had long bright red welts that looked like he had been whipped repeatedly.
“Oh Clayton, baby. What has happened to you? Oh Gosh, Clayton, are you okay?”
“Yes, I am okay. Really, it just hurts. Don’t cry, please. We are okay. Do you realize that we are okay? Princess, we have survived.”
He was smiling now, his azurite eyes beaming.
“Oh Clayton, I thought you were dead. You were lying there, curled up and not moving. Yes, we are alive. Yes! Yes! Yes! Clayton, smell the air, feel the breeze. We are alive.”
She got out of the car, raising her arms up to the sky.
“Thank you. Thank you, thank you!”
She turned to Clayton.
“Thank you for loving me so much! Thank you.”
Clayton smiled, his beautiful princess was back. He silently thanked the gods.
*****
Chapter 21
They both stopped when they realized his phone was ringing again. Clayton got up and answered.
“Jono, how are you?”
“Clayton! Clayton, thank God! Man, don’t you know to answer your phone? What the fuck do you mean, how am I? Clayton? Where is Rebecca?”
“Oh Jono, we are both fine. We did it! Can you believe it? We did it. Wait, let Rebecca say hello.”
“Jono, we are fine. It is a beautiful, beautiful day! Tell Jackie that we are fine.”
“Where are you?”
“We are at the top, where we had the picnic. We did not really get much opportunity to move and do some sightseeing, you know.”
Clayton was starting to get his sense of humour back.
“Clayton, this is not the time to be funny. Jackie and I are about fifteen minutes away. When you did not answer the phone, we came up. The guard at the gate gave us a hard time, said it was too early, but we insisted that we left something behind before and did not want anyone to get there first. He was sympathetic, especially when we asked if he would want go up and fetch it for us. He was still sleepy and didn’t fancy a trip up the mountain.”
“Thank you, Jono, you are a real star. Also, sorry about not answering before. I was a bit busy. I know you will forgive me when I tell you about it.”
“Okay, see you shortly.”
“Princess, we are having company. Double J will be here shortly. Are you okay? You look a bit worried.”
“Yes, I am, but I guess we can talk later. Your back looks terrible, Clayton. You look like you have been through hell.”
He thought, I have, especially when you tried to leave me. But he said nothing. Rebecca did not seem to be aware of what had happened. Maybe later, they would discuss it. For now, he wanted to hold her, know that she was real and alive. They sat huddled together, on the grass, watching the sun rise. There was nothing to say.
That is how they were when Jonathan and Jackie found them. The two of them were holding onto each other, watching the sun gliding into the sky. They looked like a couple having a quiet, romantic picnic.
“Jono, Jackie!”
Rebecca was on her feet. She hugged them as if she was seeing them for the first time. They hugged her tightly, as if they had lost her for a long time. They tried to hug Clayton, but he backed away and showed them his back. Jackie screamed and Jonathan’s eyes filled with tears. What had these two been through? She looked as pale as a ghost, and he, well, had been beaten to nothing. But, they looked happy.
“Thank you so much for coming. It is the most precious thing you could do for us. It was completely weird, Jackie. It was so weird.”
Rebecca was crying.
“If nothing else, I felt his love. It kept me going when I was tired and drained. He kept me going. Oh Jackie, it was so intense.”
Clayton smiled.
“Intense? It was the most painful experience of my life. But it is true, what your father said. It is the love that keeps you going. I could feel you, even though you did not talk to me. I could feel your thoughts and your doubts. I will definitely deal with those doubts later.”
Rebecca laughed.
“Oh Clayton, it is so good to hear you fight with me.”
They told Jonathan and Jackie everything that happened and not once, until they had finished, did Jonathan ask a single logical question. Jackie just cried the whole time. They sat there, for a long time in silence, before Jonathan got his wits back.
“That is the most awful thing I have ever heard. I don’t understand one thing, Rebecca. Why were you floating in the air, why were there two of you?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really realize it was happening. I just found myself in another place and then the butterfly took me to Clayton. I saw my body, but I didn’t register. It was the cell phone ringing that seemed to bring me back, slowly.”
“The cell phone, well that’s another thing. You see, we were up all night, waiting for you to call. Nothing happened and at about four, Jackie got the hysterics. She kept shouting, ‘we have to phone now, this minute.’ She was getting completely out of control. I did not know what to do. We had phoned your parents, Rebecca and they said we must not phone because it might break the power of the light. I didn’t know what to do, but Jackie went berserk, so we phoned.”
“Yes, it was the but
terfly. It was bringing me back to Clayton. I thought he was dead and then I saw him move. I couldn’t find my way back down the passage to him and then it came and guided me. It was really odd, though, because it was the first time I saw the full colour. The patch was not missing. It was so comforting. Then, I felt this soothing feeling as I was gliding along. I felt safe and tingly, and then I saw Clayton, looking at me. I just don’t know how all that happened. It was vague and dark.”
They were reluctant to leave the mountain and sat there for a long time. They phoned Rebecca’s parents and Rebecca cried all over again as they told her parents what had happened. Her father, however, laughed at them, at their foolishness of going up the mountain, not waiting for their help.
“Clayton my boy, I would have told you not to think angry thoughts, or have any negative feelings. It always turns your anger against you. Remember that it was created to work on your negative feelings, as a way to kill the love. We would have told you to affirm your love to each other, loudly, right at the beginning. It would have saved you all that pain. It hurts like hell, doesn’t it?”
He was laughing at Clayton and could hear his wife shouting at him to behave. He ignored her, because he was so relieved that his daughter and her somewhat rash Protector had survived the ordeal. He was too happy to be concerned about his wife’s angry tone.
“The bad news, my boy, is that the electric shocks have stopped. But, I will teach you how to summon that power when you are better. But don’t tell Rebecca I told you that, because she will kill me.”
Clayton laughed.
“Thank you. I don’t think I will need that for a while. It hurt like hell and I don’t want to remember.”
Rebecca’s mother cried and spoke for a long time to her daughter. She told Rebecca about her guilt and how she had not wanted her child to go through this. She spoke about her doubts and fears and the pain of watching her beautiful daughter, walking around the world ‘dazed in pain’ and cried for her daughter’s lost years.