Through the Mirror - Chapter Two

That afternoon I slapped on my smudged up skater shoes, grabbed my flashlight, and hit the streets.  I hadn’t intended to go anywhere today, because I was growing quite lazy over the weeks, however the letter I had received just completely sketched me out and I needed to go to the scene where we had last seen Marc to rid myself of these nightmares once and for all.  

I was actually shaking as I walked the streets.  It wasn’t cold at all, and it was still light out, yet my vice-like grip on the flashlight was inseparable, and the blood had drained from them ages ago.  I was beginning to think maybe finding a ride would have been better.  I hadn’t been able to afford to upkeep my car lately, and the scene of the disappearance wasn’t too far from my apartment anyways.

While walking along I got flashbacks from that dreadful night, how we were just three friends out looking for a night of fun.  Marc had been acting odd that night; was it possible he really was fine, and he had just run away?  Was this just some sort of prank of his?  Did he know that I would go here first, or am I just thinking crazy?

Here it was.  It was less threatening in the semi-brightness, but this was the street.  The decrepit old building lye in vision at the end of the road, great portions of it crumbled and destroyed.  The mini flashbacks were getting greater here.  This is where the lightening had illuminated the looming sight of a beast not known to this planet.  I trembled under my lightweight jacket, nearly able to feel the ghostly feel of Amber clutching onto my side in her own fear.  I felt my side and looked to my left, but of course she was nowhere to be seen.

I stepped forward and flicked on the flashlight.  The sun was beginning to fall from the sky, and the trees surrounding the clearing had blocked out much of the light to begin with.  My body was on extra high alert, and I was beginning to think this was a dumb idea.  Screams began filling the evening, but I reassured myself that it was only trick or treaters, off to get an early start at the night’s fun.  

Acting mechanically, I put one foot in front of the other; simply walking in a direct path towards the building again.  This is where the beast had taken chase to us, and we had run within the cover of the building.  I picked up my pace, nearly running under the crumbling rooftop as I had the year before; my heart beat racing.

“I might have known.”  

The voice had startled me.  I stopped in my tracks and let out a short cry.  My blood racing, I looked around myself, using the freshly charged flashlight as a beacon of truth.

“It’s me bonehead…”  The voice spoke again.  I turned towards it and discovered a dark haired woman standing with her back to the wall, puffy eyed and red nosed.

“Amber?”  She had dyed her hair jet black, which brought out the blue of her eyes.

“You did this?”  She said, exposing the black letter which she held in her hand.  I knew what it was at once.  

“What?  No!”  I said, and seeing her raise an eyebrow as though she didn’t believe me, I held the flashlight with my armpit and reached in my back pocket for my own version of the letter.  

“But…”  She said, the confident angry stature she had held vanishing.  “It couldn’t have really been from him, could it?”

There was a moment where she stood, perplexed for a moment, and then she fell into my arms in a tired embrace, burying her face in my shoulder and letting out one sob after the other.  I tried hugging her back, but I didn’t know where to put my hands.  I had longed to be in her warm embrace for the entire year, but I never imagined it would be like this.  This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.  We were confused and scared, cracked hearts freshly sliced with this strange letter.

After a while we moved to the crumbling wall slid down it, so we were sitting side by side.  Both of our envelopes were laid in front of us one on top of the other, their haunting darkness enveloping a menacing conflict.  After a while Amber positioned herself in a way that allowed her to look at me.  She seemed to examine my face and made a little half frown, the type where somebody is thinking and only one side of their mouth is raised.

“I never stopped loving you Darren.  I don’t even know what to say…  There’s no way for me to make up for how I acted back then; it was just such a rough time.”

“I was going through the same ‘rough time’ though!  Marc was my friend too.”  My mind flashed with aggravation.  I couldn’t count how many nights I had spent awake trying to piece together why she had left me and how to make it all right.  I couldn’t believe time had passed me by the way it had, but I never had imagined to be sitting beside her again.

It was getting pretty dark out, and her flashlight had long since died.  We spent our time in an awkward silence while the sun began its rapid descent to begin a new day elsewhere.  Finally Amber broke the silence.

“Darren…  I’m really, really sorry about what I did.”  She said, looking genuinely apologetic.

“It’s okay Amber…  I forgave you a long time ago.”

No sooner had I finished saying these words there was a blinding flash, and the envelopes lying in front of us glowed radiantly.  When I shined the flashlight at them, they simply erupted into flame and were instantaneously disintegrated.

I heard amber gasp and she grabbed my hand; god, I hadn’t felt that for a long time.  The flame from the envelopes flickered and slowly began to rise above the ashes, growing brighter all the time.  The brighter the fire shone, the darker my flashlight seemed, until finally it flickered out.  We both sat there clutching each other lightly, staring at the unbelievable occurrence which had just taken place.  When it gained it peak height, it began to slowly levitate towards the doorway which stood opposite us.  It stopped in the doorway and hovered, as though beckoning us to follow.

We glanced at each other at that moment and I shrugged.  I then grasped my flashlight and stood on my cramped feet, going to help her up when I was through.  She looked at me with a concerned and confused face, perhaps hesitant to follow a levitating fireball (of which had just spontaneously appeared) into a collapsing building in the impending dark of Halloween night.  I persistently held my hand out to her and she finally relented, reaching for it and allowing me to pull her up.  We made a silent agreement; it was now the only form of light, so we were going to follow it.  Fear of being alone in the dark in a place which had terrorized us only the year before was slightly more terrifying than following a strange unexplained light source.

Leading her with my left hand which was reached out behind me, and holding the busted flashlight in my right, we slowly avoided the holes which were laid along the floor and followed the flame through the doorway.  On the other side of the opening were stairs, which lead down into a dark which was even thicker than the spot we had just been sitting.  The building was in such poor shape that the wall beyond the one we had seen was completely reduced to rubble, a shadow of the valor it once had been.  We could see the flame lowering down into the stairway, melting away the thick cobwebs which had lined the walls.  Just as I took my first step down the stairs, Amber yanked my hand.  I turned to her and shined the flashlight towards her face to see what the matter was.

There was a look of worry plastered on her face.  “Darren… I don’t know what is going on, or if this is even real… I just want to let you know how sorry I really am about what happened.”  

I looked deep into her eyes and knew she still cared about me.  It had been a rough time, and neither of us knew what to do at that point.  I had never hated her for what she had done, I only hurt more.  My heart lazily crept up in speed as I leaned in to give her a kiss.  The last time I had tried that she pulled away, and my insides were still in suspense.  The second our lips met, a small flame had met my behind.  I pulled back and let out a cry, but feeling around, I felt no damage whatsoever.  Both of us laughed and turned to look at the flame side by side.  It was glowing even brighter now, hovering in almost an aggravated fashion.  When I took her hand this time, I felt we were closer; almost connected once more.

The short stairwell ended with piles of rubble up to our waist, which were actually pieces of the floor above our heads and the surrounding walls.  In some spots where the walls had caved, dirt had spilled into the cellar in large piles, drastically increasing the creepy factor of the building.  The flame lead us around the basement, finally stopping in the middle of one of the more stable rooms and just hovering there.  After a moment, it stopped hovering and spun itself into a circular ball, growing brighter and more ominous all the while.  The room was as brightly lit as a hospital examination room now, and we could clearly see everything laid within the room.

The room which we had stopped in must have been used for storage when the building was fully functional.  There was old furniture and other objects, ranging from an extremely outdated bicycle to painting depicting battles long since resolved.  There was a fine layer of dust encasing everything, including the cobwebs themselves.  It appeared not even spiders had lived in this space for quite some time.  A fancy mirror was propped up in one corner, an old boot hanging off the top of it.  The mirror did not actually seem to reflect anything at the current moment; it was so dusted over and weathered.  
Finally, after spinning for what seemed like an eternity, the fireball stopped all motion and sped directly into a dusty old mirror.  The mirror, which had not held my attention for very long before our lifeless companion had just thrust itself within its depths, began to glow dully, slightly illuminating a small path towards it.  

I lead Amber to the mirror and let go of her hand, watching as the center of the mirror began to clarify, to reflect something.  There, sitting before us in a small cell devoid of light, was a very familiar face.

“Marc?”  Amber cried out, pushing past me to get a good look at the mirror.  He didn’t show any sign that he had heard her; he just stayed curled in the corner, staring off into a section the mirror didn’t show.  He looked almost completely lifeless, besides the fact he wasn’t pale at all, and his hair was much longer than I seemed to remember it being.  He looked to be in terrible shape though; he had no muscle mass at all, and looked as though he hadn’t eaten for the entire year.
Amber paused for a moment, and then slowly went to press her hand where the surface of the mirror would have been, as though testing it.  Instantly, there was a rippling effect as her hand fell beneath the surface.  The ripples erased the sight of our friend and all that remained was dark.  Amber gasped, and calmly went to remove her hand.  Suddenly there was a panic.  I could see her straining to remove her hand, but something seemed to be fighting over it with her.  She began screaming at me for help, followed by screams that could shatter the eardrums of a full grown elephant.  

Panicking, I thrust the busted flashlight into my right pocket and grabbed her around the waist, trying to pull her free.  The surface of the mirror clarified once more to show two red eye sockets, owned by the same shadow of a body which I had convinced myself I had not seen that very morning.    The barely visible lips pulled themselves back in a maniacal grin, revealing a set of surprisingly white razor sharp teeth.  The shade gave one final yank, and Amber fell within the depths of the mirror, with me trailing behind.

Suddenly I was falling.  The wind was rushing by my head at deafening speeds; the ground was far below but quickly approaching.  I was tumbling out of control at the moment, and I had lost track of Amber.  Looking above me the mirror stood, except it was in mid air...  I was beginning to get sick of everything hovering.  At that moment I caught sight of something horrific.  It was Amber, but there was something on her.  I realized with a start that it was the same creature which had attacked Marc last Halloween.  

Amber was unconscious, and the winged beast had her held tightly against its chest.  My screams of anguish did nothing to stop the animal as I plummeted past them, and soon I could see nothing but darkness.  The further I fell the darker it seemed to get, and the more frightened I was.  All I could see were sleuths of dark red eyes, and the glints of a thousand blades.  There must have been dozens of these beasts roaming the skies, it was impossible to count all of them.

One of them had apparently set its eyes on me, and I noticed its eyes getting closer and closer to me.  At this point I was in a complete panic mode.  I was surely going to die!  If I plummeted to the ground, I would be a splat on the earth, and if I was caught by these strange beasts, I would surely be mutilated beyond recognition, and then left for dead.  Suddenly I remembered; the flashlight was in my pocket.  It was my only form of a weapon.

I pulled it out of my pocket and switched it on just as the beast was about to put its bladed arms through me.  It had grabbed a hold of me, and slowed my descent, but something was wrong.  Its screeching cry was sure to be heard for miles in every direction.  I watched as the skin where the light hit melted and fell away in large clumps, exposing bone.  I cried out in surprise, and then in pain as it struck me again and again with the poisonous stinger at the end of its tail.  Its blades loosened as its life ended, and I was falling once more, but I was falling out of consciousness as well, and my grip on the flashlight loosened.

Reviews

[lAcEy_LoO's Poems Site]

Wounderful... very wounderful... more!!!! Must read on great job