Briarcliff

by Lorraine Beaumont

  “I wondered if you would find your way back here.”

  I jerked forward and sat up. Turning, I looked behind me and there was Adriane. He was standing behind me with an unreadable expression on his beautiful face.

  “Ohmigod!” Jumping to my feet, I ran over to him and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank God! You’re all right.” Relief washed over me as I checked to make sure he was okay. “How are you here? How am I here? How is this even possible?” I searched his face waiting for him to answer me but all he did was stand rigidly with his arms at his sides. He didn’t even hug me back. Confused, I loosened my hold.

  “How is it not?” he said simply, his expression still unreadable…strange.

  Okay, he had me there. “Where did you go?” His aloofness had me completely mystified.

  “I’m not sure what you are asking me.”

  I frowned and stepped back. “Earlier, when we were in the cavern, you know…” I left the statement open. Why was he acting so weird?

  “No. I don’t know. Not really.” He slid his hands in his pockets and looked straight ahead.

  “What do you mean…not really?” I followed his line of vision. The wind whispered by and the tall grass rustled as a gentle mist began to fall. It wet my skin and dampened my clothing.

  “You aren’t really here.” He brought his eyes to mine. “Neither am I for that matter.” He looked forward into the clearing.

  “You’re kidding right?” I stared at his profile.

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand.” I wrapped my arms around myself. I was trying to hold myself together for surely if I didn’t I would fall into a million pieces.

  He turned and smiled sadly. “I know.”

  I took a shaky breath. “Is this like a dream then?”

  “Yes, no…maybe.” He lifted his shoulders. “This could be a memory.”

  I looked around the clearing again, trying to remember seeing the like before. But I couldn’t recall ever being here, really. It was like a dream, one that seems so familiar when you are dreaming it, like you had visited it before in your mind, but never in real life. It was one of those messed up things your mind does when you are dreaming, taking you to places you never imagined possible. Like all the times I dreamt I could fly. I always awoke with the coolest, weightless feeling, until I fully woke up. Of course, I knew deep down I had never flown anywhere, especially by my own accord. And yet the sensation of having done the like stays. But I knew it was not real. I knew it was only a dream, one that would never come to fruition. “Um…not likely,” I told him with a hefty amount of disbelief.

  “Oh, but I am sure you have.” He sounded amused.

  “Really, when?” I asked for the hell of it.

  “It has been a while.” He looked around and surveyed the landscape. “Yes, you were here quite some time ago.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “You have.”

  “Okay fine, I’ll bite, how long ago?”

  “Too long to give you an actual date,” he answered evasively.

  “That does not make any sense at all.” I looked at him feeling uneasy.

  “Does any of this?” He gestured to everything around us, including himself.

  I froze. He was right. I had already seen so many unimaginable things. He was a freaking gargoyle, and he was not the only one. Then there were the monster gangs to consider, along with the Cragmire, pod-Hanna, not to mention the Cujo-looking dogs. Okay maybe it was possible, but I still didn’t understand any of it, or why it was happening to me of all people. I was no one special. I was just a girl that served coffee and booked bands at the local coffee house in our little town.

  Across the clearing, a lone figure standing under a tree and I recognized him immediately. “What is he doing here?”

  “Alistair is here,” he answered. It was a statement.

  “As in here, here, not the weird-dream, here?” My gaze drifted back over to him.

  “Yes.”

  “Ah…no, he’s not. I mean, I saw him in my peripheral, before I came here—if I’m even here.” Which I had my doubts about.

  Adriane turned towards me and narrowed his eyes. The look chilled me to my core. “How could you know that?”

  “It’s not hard.” I took a bracing breath. “I was just there, on that rock where pod-Hanna was, or is…still. I don’t know which.” I noticed his expression didn’t change. “Adriane, is this real, or is it an illusion, or was the other an illusion?

  “They both are kind of illusions.”

  “Oh-kay.” I pulled my jacket closer. “Now I am thoroughly confused.” A cool breeze picked up and lifted my hair. I brushed it away from my face. Why was he acting so strange? Something felt completely off and a feeling of dread swept over me. “So was that you…talking to me in my head before I came here?” I was hoping he would say yes.

  “No. It wasn’t me.”

  My body began to shake and I felt like I was going to be sick. “But I heard someone say….”

  “I don’t know what you heard, but it was not from me,” he cut me off and gave me a sharp look.

  “Oh-kay.” I pulled in a jagged breath and gripped my stomach tighter. “So okay, that wasn’t you.” I tried to sift through my memories. “Okay fine, maybe that wasn’t you.”

  He cut his eyes in my direction. “You should say sorry.”

  “What for?” Frustrated I kicked at the grass and stomped on it. A blue flower jutted up from the ground. Leaning down, I picked it up and the delicate petals instantly fell off and floated away in the breeze like hundreds of little butterflies.

  “You woke me up from a bad dream.” He turned toward me and once more, his face was an unreadable mask.

  “What?” I looked at his profile. He looked…lost. “Did I?”

  “Yes, you did.” He was adamant.

  “When did I do that?” His face blurred before my eyes, shifting like the blades of grass in the wind. I rubbed my eyes and did a double-take. Not that I minded. I was glad I woke him up but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember when that happened.

  “When you were in the foyer of Briarcliff,” he said.

  My heart jumped into double time. Something felt completely off.

  “You told me you wanted to start again.”

  “Um, no…I didn’t.” I shook my head.

  “You brought me back to life and now, you are going to leave me.”

  “Adriane…” My heart hurt. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I only remember what you said to me before…”

  “I can’t tell you what you heard, but I did not say it,” he interrupted me.

  “Fine.” Thoroughly confused, I took a deep, shaky breath and exhaled slowly. “So am I still there, at that place with the Cragmire or am I really here?”

  “No, you are still on the sacrificial stone.” He smiled a bit.

  The smile didn’t warm me, like before. Instead, it made my blood run cold, like someone had just danced across my grave and hocked a loogey on it for good measure. I swallowed hard. “Why am I there and not here with you?”

  “You are in both places,” he answered simply.

  “I don’t get any of this.” I struggled to take a breath but my chest tightened even more.

  He looked over at me casually. “I know it is hard to understand, but I think in time, you will remember.”

  “Should I, remember, I mean?”

  “Yes, if this is your destiny.”

  “My destiny?” I gaped at him. “Screw destiny! Hanna said it was my destiny to be sacrificed.”

  He laughed then. “Did she?”

  “Yeah.” What the hell was he laughing about? Nothing seemed right.

  A startled look came over his face but then he seemed to regain his stoic composure. “That is not surprising.” He leaned over, pulled a piece of grass from the ground, and twirled it between his fingers.

  “If it’s not surprising, why did you just sound so surprised?”
>
  “I was taken aback, that’s all.”

  I looked past Adriane, who was acting a hell of a lot like pod-Hanna. What had happened to him? Did something happen to him with Simon? He wasn’t acting anything like he was before or how I envisioned he should be acting. Instead, he merely stood there looking almost bored. Not able to help myself, I glared over at the lone figure. Even from this distance, I could see the smirk on his face, like he was laughing at me. I gritted my teeth. “Why is he staring at me?”

  “You mean Alistair?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He is watching.”

  “For what, me to implode or something?” I was half-joking at this point.

  “Yeah, he kind of is.” He shrugged indifferently. “He is waiting for your reaction.”

  “My reaction to what?” I was getting freaked-the-fuck-out, just like with pod-Hanna, like Adriane was messing with me head or something. “What’s about to happen? I don’t get it.”

  “You’re not supposed to.”

  “What?” My body trembled. “Why?”

  “You need to choose.”

  “Choose what?” I threw my hands in the air.

  “Your destiny,” he elaborated, looking bored again.

  “I can choose my destiny?”

  “Where did you hear that?” he demanded, clearly taken aback.

  The sharp tone of his voice made me flinch.

  “What are you talking about?” I felt like I was staring in another effed-up horror movie where only the whackos know what is going on but no one else does.

  “How did you know to say that?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.” This was the weirdest conversation. It was like he was talking in circles and the way he was watching me was freaking me out. I felt like an insect under a microscope.

  “Don’t worry…you’ll see…it will happen soon.”

  “Ohmigod!” I fisted my hands. “What will happen soon?”

  “Just wait.”

  “I am going to leave.” Anger was quickly overriding my fear.

  “Not likely.” Seemingly amused at my expense, he laughed.

  My nails cut into my skin as I fisted my hands tighter. He was right. I wanted to run away but I didn’t know where I was, so how the hell would I know where to go.

  “You know, Evie, everything happens for a reason, even if you don’t understand it all now,” he whispered.

  That was it. I was about to go bat-shit crazy-ballistic on him…but then something changed. I heard a loud thudding sound coming from the tree line. I turned and strange scene unfolded before my eyes. A gust of wind blew against me and even before I turned around I knew that Adriane had vanished. Just to be sure, I looked beside me. I was right. The spot where he had been standing was now empty. Surprisingly, I was not as upset as I thought I would be.

  The wind increased and shook the branches of the trees. The loud thumping became louder, accompanied by a crunching sound like someone was running. Then a pair of figures emerged into the clearing, laughing, playing a game, and running circles around each other.

  I looked up and saw that Alistair was watching them as well with a forlorn expression on his face.

  The pair headed right for me. I thought belatedly that I should probably move, get out of their way, but for some reason I couldn’t. It was as though I had to stay still. I had to watch. It was like I was a spectator in someone else’s dream.

  The ground vibrated under my feet as they drew closer. Bracing myself, I prepared to get flattened but when they were upon me, they didn’t, instead they ran right through my body. A strong gust of air followed. The feeling only lasted for a moment.

  What the hell? I patted my body. It felt solid. I turned back toward the girl and boy. They didn’t seem to notice I was even standing here. Why would they? Apparently I was a ghost or something comparable. I tried to move but I couldn’t. It must be shock, making me immobile. My legs felt heavy, like I was anchored to the ground. The girl was right behind me now. She looked familiar like I had seen her before.

  When I looked at the boy, I expected to see Adriane, but it wasn’t. It was someone who looked exactly like the boy named Alistair. The shock was great and I struggled not to have a full-on freak attack.

  Neither of them wore normal clothing, but different period attire. The clothes were butt-ass ugly. They were laughing with one another, the lilting sound stirred something akin to a memory in my mind. Like I had seen this in a movie or read it in a book.

  A wan smile crept over my face. They seemed so happy…so free.

  “Remember me always…” he whispered hotly to the girl and pressed his forehead against hers. He lifted his hands and cupped her face as he slowly lowered his lips to the girl’s.

  I could see and somehow feel the tenderness in that one kiss. His lips were soft, his tongue warm, as he delved deeper. The girl kissed him back, and I could feel his warm body pressing against my own. The girl eagerly pulled at his clothing and lifted his shirt above his head and pulled it completely off.

  He groaned, pulling her against him and tightening his hold. They tumbled backward onto the ground, tangled in one another’s embrace. His lips found hers again, suckling them, as his tongue delved deeper in her mouth.

  “Say we will be together forever…” He pushed. His excitement grew and his breath came out in rushed hitches. “You woke me from inside of a bad dream,” he whispered to the girl.

  Wait? Didn’t Adriane just say that to me?

  “You said you wanted to start again,” he whispered and kissed the girl’s neck.

  What the hell? I gaped at the pair.

  “Why won’t you tell me what I need to hear?”

  “Oh, Alistair,” she sighed and stared into his deep gray eyes. “Everything happens for a reason even if you don’t understand it, now.”

  I felt like I was stuck in a bad case of déjà- vu.

  He turned his head away. “I did not know…I did not know the love I have for you could hurt this bad,” his breath rushed against her face. “I can not let you go,” he breathed. “Say we will be together…forever. I…need…to hear you…tell me…” he whispered softly and began kissing her again, his lips soft, caressing. His hardened body draped over the top of hers as an intense heat emanated from him.

  At this point, I was barely breathing, afraid to move, afraid the vision would disintegrate before I found out what was going to happen. Somehow, I felt like I needed to know. Holding my breath, I waited to hear what the girl would say…and I waited…

  The minutes ticked by. Everything slowed…time barely moved and the pounding sound became louder, thumping in the distance. It grew even louder as he looked down into her eyes, awaiting her response…

  I could see/feel his body tense, his breathing slowing, even as the thumping grew louder. I wanted to scream at the girl…answer him…you freaking tease…I wanted to hit the girl too, knock some sense into her.

  The girl turned away from him, looking directly at me, and her expression chilled me to my core.

  In that one breathless moment, I watched his beautiful face crumple before my eyes as he began to pull away.

  “Why won’t you say it?” He sounded confused, deflated.

  I shuddered. I felt what it cost him to ask those words. His voice cracking, betraying the hurt he was feeling deep inside. On instinct, I wanted to tell him it would be okay. I wanted to take the pain away…my own heart breaking in pieces, watching, waiting…all the while hoping the girl would say something, anything to take the awful, bone-crushing pain away from him. And still the girl said nothing. My blood began to boil, hot and smoldering, coursing through my veins. I was so angry…I could have kicked the bitch across the clearing…

  The girl turned toward him finally. “I have to go.”

  “No.” He reached for her. “Don’t leave me alone.”

  “I have to,” she said and stood. “You will be all right.”

  “No. I won’t.” He sh
ook his head and his dark hair fell forward.

  “You will,” she whispered and then she disappeared.

  A sob tore from my throat as a crushing sadness closed in on me. The love he had for the girl was so strong, so intense. It was like I was watching Romeo and Juliet. And Romeo was dying in front of my eyes.

  “You brought me back …” he cried. “How could you turn on me?” he whispered in agony.

  I felt his pain, his agony, his suffering and just when I didn’t think I could stand a moment more…he too faded away into nothingness, like he had not even been here.

  I lifted my blurry eyes and looked across the clearing. Alistair was still standing there. For a brief moment, a look of utter agony was etched across his face, but then it faded and was replaced by something akin to hate and he was looking right at me, like he hated me. I trembled. Nothing made sense. Why was he looking at me like that? Thoroughly confused, I was fully prepared to get to the bottom of this weird dream crap and took a step forward.

  He waved his hands in the air. “NO!”

  It was too late. Instead of moving forward, I dropped. “Ho-shit!”

  61-AN ALTERNATE REALITY

  I was afraid to open my eyes this time. I kept them closed, waiting…but when I didn’t hear anything after a few minutes, I opened them.

  “What the…?”

  I was in my apartment. I had no idea how I got home but I was glad that somehow, someway I was in my messy apartment.

  “Okay, calm down Evie.” I took a shuddering breath. “There has to be a reasonable explanation for this.” My phone bleated. Stumbling over a pile of clothes I ran over to the counter and picked up my phone.

  “Evie,” a woman’s voice said.

  “Mom…is that you?”

  “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…happy birthday dear Evie, happy birthday to you,” her mother’s voice sang out to me. I squeezed my phone tighter as tears sprang to my eyes.

  “Are you having a good birthday?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” I had completely forgotten about my birthday.

  “Hold on, your dad wants to talk to you.”

  “Um,” I sniffed back the tears, “oh-kay.”