“Looks like someone is lovestruck…” Wes says laughingly, patting me on the shoulder, “I knew this would happen.”
“I don’t LOVE HIM!” I angrily punch Wes in the arm, and he jokingly staggers backwards.
“It’s okay, Mona,” he tries to comfort me, “you guys are fated to be together anyways. Why are you so opposed to the idea that you might be in love with him?”
I freeze, my mind hovering over that one question.
“Because I don’t like him,” I cross my arms, trying to hide my discomfort.
“Yes, you do,” he slings one handsome arm over my shoulder, “don’t lie to your best friend.”
“Who’s that?” I finally crack a smile, all the while pulling away from his friendly gesture. “I don’t have a best friend.”
“That hurts, Mona,” Wes holds his stomach as if I had stabbed him, “that hurts real bad.” He stumbles to the ground, groaning so strangely that it actually looks like he’s laughing…
I giggle along with him, pulling him up. We begin to walk again, this time a little more relaxed, my mind relieved of worrying about Xavier. Wes might as well be my best friend, because I have practically no one else. No girls want to talk to me, so many being envious, yet horrified over what they had seen today. A hole is in the pit of my stomach now as I realize I don’t have a single friend that is a girl.
Crawling onto Wes’s back, I hold on as he zooms into the forest. It is almost as if we disappear, only a whisper of reality as we whisk through the trees like a Shifter would. I feel weightless, as if I am flying as we travel. I will never forget this feeling… though it is not quite the same as the time when Xavier was the one beneath me. Whenever Xavier is the one carrying me, I can feel the pounding of his heartbeat, the warmness exploding between us like fire.
Suddenly we halt, and I find myself in the middle of a vast clearing in the forest. I soon recognize it to be the backyard at the mansion, one so large that it would easily swallow five football fields. The rich, enhanced air of the garden wafts to our nostrils, the sky clear and blue. I twist my head to look up at it, up at the sparse birds fluttering through the horizon like little, lost children.
But then, to contrast with the innocence, fiery hell was peering with eyes of red into my soul. This time the possessed one is a woman, beautiful and elegant with ebony hair and creamy white skin. However, she is writhing about in agony, and my heart suddenly aches for her. Just a few days before, I would have been jealous of her for being so beautiful. Now I know what a curse it can be.
Cuts stretch across her arms like veins, dark red blood oozing forth like lava from the depths of the earth. Both of them are being held down by Ray and Yi, her long nails scratching at their skin. It is quite strange to see, their arm constantly drawing forth blood then retreating as the wounds heal almost as quickly as they appear. But the pain is still there… every time she pierces their flesh, a wince comes forth on the corner of their lips. A smile stretches across her flushed cheeks, one corrupted by malice and mischief. Such a pretty m0nster.
I walk up to her, bending to look at her eyes closely. There is even more redness than the other boy I healed, so red that I am convinced she had been possessed for a very long time. “She was a bad one?” I ask them wonderingly.
“Terrible,” Wes groans, “She had already killed thirty people by the time we even reached her.”
“It might be better just to kill her,” Ray says softly, “she’s wanted everywhere. She will probably be on death row in a couple weeks.”
Anger builds up in me, combined with h0rror and pure disgust. “It’s not HER,” I say sharply, “it is the Shifter inside her. Why should we kill her for something that isn’t her fault?”
I lean over her, watching her form in the green grass. My finger trembles slightly as I place it on her forehead, shaking even more as I am immediately enveloped in voices. These voices are very weak and the boom of the overwhelming drum is drowning out everything. I can’t even hear her voice, only sense her tiny protest as it drowns in the depths of torture.
How can I help her, who is so lost?
Suddenly I feel a terrible pain in my hand, and I jerk it away. Red smears across the tip, a throb in my index finger growing. I gasp as I realize she had bitten me, a bit of her blood on the end of her tooth. She is staring at me with real hate, a cackle emitting from her lips. Quickly I wipe my hand on my shirt and with a newfound determination, plop my entire hand on her forehead. I will not lose to this.
I search for the presence, amplifying her with all my might. All my strength, all my hope is poured into her, trying to help the one oppressed. Funny how the one hateful action fuels my drive towards the Shifter’s demise.
A pair of hands seize me right before I fall into the darkness, no energy left. The draining of my force ceases, and I land into a warm embrace. Almost immediately the energy returns, fulfilled as peace comes. Quickly my eyes fly open, and I find myself to be near Wes, his eyes of concern. “You did it again,” he smiles weakly, “she is saved.”
I cannot move, for if I do, I will faint. Everything right now seems so dark, so weary. I hate this feeling I have right after helping the monsters, the feeling of complete and total helplessness. I always, at times like this, see my father with his eyes of red stare into my soul, cackling as he stabs a knife into my heart.
Reality dances a little further, a hairsbreadth away from my grasp. Everything becomes woozy, and I become aware that this is the end. Sleep has come to take me, and the death is on its heels. My father is chuckling as the blood seeps from my wound. This is what I get for trying to fight against the Shifters. I am too weak…
Maybe it would be best to close my eyes for a while.
****************
TO BE CONTINUED
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