Haunted

A continuation from Explosion.

At the edge of a precarious cliff, I stood, bathed in an unearthly mist, as the ghostly forms began to encircle me, appearing as pale and translucent as the air that surrounded them, their faces and bodies covered by shimmering robes, hiding their true identities. They moved as silent as the night, as if they were not so much walking as gliding towards me. 

The specters began to chant, softly, at first, their words muffled, as if spoken from a great distance. Then slowly, so slow that I barely noticed, their chant began to change, growing clear and sharp, like a knife slicing into my brain, I covered my ears, to no avail.  I realized I could now understand their words, or word as it would seem. They spoke one thing, and it chilled me to the bones. They were chanting my name.

I whimpered, drawing ever closer to the precipice, the forms were so close now that i could almost reach out and touch them, and they didn’t seem to be stopping. I drew a deep breath, ready to scream for help, when they ceased, ceased moving, ceased chanting, they stood completely still, they only sound I heard was the echo of my name in the starless night.

A figure stepped forward, closing the almost non existent distance between us. Standing directly in front of me, it raised its ghostly hands, as if to take my face its grasp, but it didn’t, instead, it grabbed the hood from its face and drew it back carefully. 

The breath I had been holding left my lungs in an amazed gasp, standing directly in front of me was my dead mother.

“Mum?” I whispered, afraid that I would scare her away. 

The ethereal form of my mother smiled mockingly at me, “Hello darling” she said, scorn thick in her wispy voice. “You didn’t keep your promise, did you?” 

“What?” I questioned with no idea what she was talking about. 

“Your sister, you promised me you would save her, you lied to me, you lied to me as I lay dying!” Her face began to change, contouring in rage, I was terrified. Her arm reached back, gesturing for another form to step forward, and one did, a small form, light and flimsy, like the smallest gust of wind would blow her away. 

“I didn’t... I haven’t yet! I’m on my way! I swear! I will try!” I pleaded, 

“Too late” The small figure brushed the hood away from her face. I was suddenly staring into the pale eyes of my sister. Her face was barely recognizable, beaten and bloody, even though translucent you could tell she had undergone horrible tortures. I fell to my knees.

“NO!” I screamed, “You can’t be... I really tried...” I began sobbing, my face in my hands. 

“Look at me, Kate,” I looked up, scared of what I would see, her clothes were torn and bloody, she was covered in cuts, her back a mess of lash marks. My throat closed in horror, I couldn’t breath. She spread her arms, motioning to the robed forms. 

 “Look at what you have done, look at who you have condemned to a horrible fate!”  Her voice was pure ice. One by one the figures showed their faces, and with each face my heart cracked a little more. Standing in a circle around me were the children who I couldn’t save, who, because of my selfishness, were taken away to die. 

Macy took a step towards me, her dark hair flowing, bright eyes haunted, piercing into my soul.

“I trusted you, Kate, you gave me hope, I believed in you, and this is how you repay me, by letting me die!” 

That was all it took, those words shattering my heart into a million peices. I fell to the ground, curling myself in a protective ball as the forms circling me began to speak all at once, 

“Murderer.”

“Liar.” 

“We trusted you.”

Tears began streaming down my face.

“You betrayed us.”

“You promised to save us.”

“I once loved you.”

They were close now, I could see their feet next to my face. I blinked the tears from my eyes, and slowly began to stand. Resolving myself, I looked directly into Luce’s hate filled eyes, “Luce, you can’t be dead. I swear I am going to do whatever it takes to save you,” I promised, 

“Macy, I am so sorry, I never meant for this to happen, I sung to you as you died, I hope that meant something to you,” the haunted look never left her face, she just stared at me, her expression unchanging. 

“You are too late, for any of us, and now, its going to be too late for you.” Luce spoke coldly, matter-of-factly. They all closed in on me, their arms reaching out, hate on their faces. I took a single step backwards, terrified of the faces surrounding me. My foot slipped, the earth falling into nothingness beneath me. Vertigo took a hold, my heart leaped into my throat and my hands tried to reach out for anything to stop the decent, I tried to grip my sisters arm, but she just smiled as my hand slid through her non corporeal form, as cold as ice inside.

I couldn’t stop myself and I began to fall, it felt like a hand had a hold of me and was forcing me down through the blackness. From below I could see the faces of the people I failed to save peering down, watching as I spiraled out of control into the unending abyss below.

I heard screaming, my own, my throat was raw and my body felt like someone had pounded me with a meat grinder. Something had a hold my arm in a vice tight grip as the fog drifted from my vision, “ouch” I complained, looking at my arm. 

“Sorry, I had to wake you, must have been a bad dream,”  Jake let go of my arm, 

“Ah, you could say that,”  I sat up gingerly, pain radiating through my left side. My head was bandaged, due to a deep cut above my left eye and I was covered in painful bruises and cuts. “How long have I been out?” 

“Two days, not bad considering you were in an explosion,” 

I gasped, remembering. I looked over at Jake, sympathy was thick on his strong features, “I am so sorry Kate,” he said, brushing a stray hair out of my eyes. He gathered me up into his arms as I began to cry, I tried to speak, but couldn’t get any words out. “Shh...” He spoke gently, “We will find Luce, and the people that did this to our families, we will get our revenge.” 

“I know,” I sobbed, “we will free the children, my sister, your brothers, all the captives, we have to.” My resolve was strengthening, “we will show the state that they cannot control us anymore, for everyone we have lost, for every innocent life lost for their pointless cause. We will, for Luce.” 

Author's Note

Hasn't been edited yet, but tell me what you think!