Wake Up

by Brooke De Lira

  This evil woman had taken my brother from me. Could this really be the truth I’ve been searching for all these months? Was the real-life Ruth truly a murderer, still walking free, living with a son she believed had committed a horrible sin?

  All this, just minutes after C had disappeared. The real Ruth would never see justice. My family would never know the truth. And what about me, trapped in a comatose body until my hair turns gray and everyone I love has passed on? Gone, just like Aiden.

  Movement in the window drew me out of my moment of angst. A white face with charcoal holes for eyes, but it wasn’t just any Intruder. It was the giant wolf. The same one I’d seen in the woods. He stared at me, jaw slightly agape. But he didn’t growl or snarl. He just watched me. As if he was waiting for something.

  In every window that surrounded the living room, human Intruders stood, waiting, in the same way. But for what? In that moment, the words of C came to my mind. They were never Intruders. They belong to you. They are you.

  “Belong. To me,” I mused under my breath. As I looked into the wolf’s eyes, I let all terror, indecision, and frailty slip away, my confidence building. I clenched my jaw, nearly burning the wolf with the intensity of my gaze. This whole time, I had run from the Intruders, feared them. Not anymore.

  “You are mine,” I whispered, cocking my head to one side. The wolf’s head tilted to match mine. I smiled.

  “Here, doggy, doggy.”

  With a crash, the massive canine burst through the window, the glass shattering across the floor. His paws landed softly on the ground while his massive head brushed against the ceiling. Streaks of blood tainted his face where glass had cut it, but he showed no pain. I stood before him, my posture firm and commanding.

  The wolf was still, letting out a low whine as I focused my aura.

  “She may not be real,” I whispered to myself, balling my fists behind me. “But if I can’t bring the real Ruth to justice,”

  I concentrated my energy, which strengthened by the second, into my chest.

  “At least I can free my world of this one.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The ropes burst into flames behind my back, freeing my wrists.

  “The door,” I commanded. I clenched and unclenched my fists, walking toward the entrance. With a low bark, my wolf crashed claws-first into the door, breaking the entire frame into splinters. Orange sparks of light flickered in my vision, swirling around me as I stepped forward. Hatred was brewing inside me, and I let it boil over.

  By the time I reached the front porch, the white wolf already bristled over Ruth. She trembled, wide-eyed, her hands frozen where they’d been securing a rope to an anchor. My anger fueled as I realized the anchor was meant for me.

  “You murdered Aiden,” I shouted.

  Her eyes swept to glare at me. She began mouthing Old-Testament verses of damnation under her breath.

  “You planned to kill me.” I psychically commanded the human Intruders around the house to circle around us. They obeyed.

  “But you’re the one who deserves death,” I shouted.

  I ground my teeth until they ached, watching as horror began to squeeze Ruth in its cold, merciless grip. She glanced wildly at all the monstrous beings that had surrounded us, fixing on the wolf, whose jagged teeth now dripped red saliva.

  With an empowering shout, I cast aside all the old, over-cautious restraint of my mind power. Maybe this was my end game. But if I was going to fade away, Ruth was going with me.

  I lifted one palm toward the frightened woman. My tensed fingers bent like claws as I let my will flow from my body. Sensing my signal, the wolf crept forward, forcing Ruth to back-step closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. When she pressed against the fence and the “Do Not Cross” sign, the beast threw its head back and let out a howl deep and deafening. The foghorn-like sound rumbled in my chest.

  As if on cue, the section of rock and grass holding Ruth broke away, the fence posts tumbling to the water below. But Ruth’s piece of rock still floated in the air. With a flick of my hand, I guided her rocky platform through the air until it hovered over the cold waves below. Ruth knelt on the levitating platform to keep from falling, clutching the weeds of the rock like they were all that rested between her and death itself.

  But when her eyes met mine, her fear gave way to a black hatred that scorched me from the backs of her eyes.

  “You will not cast me to the depths, demon! I am an upright woman who has earned no evil.”

  I tried to calm my muscles that now trembled with anger. My fists clenched at my sides, hot tears stinging my eyes but refusing to fall. The wolf and the other Intruders all paused, watching me, waiting.

  “No, you earned this punishment the moment you pushed Aiden to his death.”

  My feet lifted off the ground. Screams of rage erupted from my throat as my body flew from the edge of the cliff, hovering close to the levitating rock that supported Ruth’s frail figure. She prayed profusely in a harsh whisper, chest heaving as she glared daggers into me.

  “I did not push your evil brother. God did.”

  “Stop talking, you witch. This is my world, and you aren’t welcome here.”

  The shriek of an eagle called overhead. I focused my energy and lifted my hands. Rolling thunder boomed across the sky, and a torrential downpour fell on Shy Harbor. The storm had arrived.

  Funnels of dark clouds began swirling in the sky over Lake Superior, forming into twisters that threatened to touch down and suck the waves into their vortex. Gusts of freezing rain nearly knocked Ruth from the rock. Instead of huddling lower on her floating piece of earth, she stood tall, pointing an accusing finger in my direction.

  “You will rot in hell, Madelyn Clark. Just like your brother.”

  I closed my fists. The rock where Ruth stood began to crumble from the sides, the stones tumbling through the stormy abyss. But she didn’t cower. Didn’t even a blink. She still stood firm, glaring at me with all the will in her body.

  The rock continued to give way until just inches of ground surrounded her feet.

  “Do it then,” she shouted, her voice cracking.

  I stretched my hands in front of me, whipping up a new gust of wind. This was the end for her, and she knew it.

  “Mads!”

  I swung my head to see Luke bracing himself against the downpour on what remained of the cliff. One arm protected his eyes from the wind. The other held an object. A speck of purple stood out amid the gray. I squinted to see what rested in his outstretched hand.

  “It’s not possible,” I whispered, my whole body shaking even as it hovered in the air.

  It was a flower, an iris. Not like the silk flowers Gerald had. A real long-stemmed iris. And that could only mean…

  Luke shouted into the wind with all his breath, “This is no dream, Mads! This is the real world.”

  He smiled. “You’re awake!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  I sucked a breath of air into my lungs, my mind reeling. The rain ceded, the funnels retreated into the clouds, and the wind calmed to a light breeze. I looked back at Ruth, who still stood defiant on the little rock. I brought both of us back to the cliff, quickly remembering to instruct the Intruders to guard Ruth.

  Luke kept his eyes on me, so much pity, fear, and relief all rolled together in those brown eyes. The corner of his mouth lifted in a grin as he handed me the flower. I turned it over in my hand, touching the soft velvet of its natural petals. My chest tightened around my lungs, threatening to suffocate me with my own anxiety. I stared at Luke, shaking my head wildly.

  “No. It can’t be true. This is a dream.”

  He shrugged his shoulders, releasing the breath he’d been holding. “You gotta believe it. The evidence is in front of your eyes.”

  My mind paged through everything that had happened since the moment I found my agate necklace. I thought of the reality checks. Sure, the broken reflections in the mirrors might make sense. My mind was se
eing what it wanted to. But the rest…

  “My powers, the Intruders.”

  His face darkened. “All I know is that Jimmy’s messed up leg was no figment of your imagination. Maybe you awakened those crazy mind abilities while you dreamed, and those powers could have created the monsters, too.”

  I calmed my breathing, my eyes darting from the shivering Ruth to the Intruders and back to Luke.

  “But what about you? You’ve always been the biggest clue that I’m dreaming. You’re the only person here I’ve never met in the waking world, yet I dream about you every single night. Unless…”

  His eyes glassed over, his face gentle. “We have met, Mads. You just don’t remember.”

  “But I can’t…”

  The moment the words left my mouth, recognition struck me like a crashing wave.

  “No wait… Yes, I do remember.”

  Every moment surrounding my brother’s death was still unreachable, deep in the foggy depths of my brain. Every moment except one. A boy I’d never seen before struggled to swim to shore, dragging an unconscious Aiden onto the pebbled beach. I was gasping for air, as if I’d just sprinted down the hill with all the strength in my legs. But I don’t remember exactly how I got there. I tried to speak, but my words tumbled out in nonsensical ramblings.

  The boy’s eyes filled with alarm when his hand grazed the wound on my brother’s head. He pressed his finger against Aiden’s wrist to feel for a pulse. I could still hear him counting under his breath as his hands struck down on Aiden’s chest. I still saw him trying desperately to fill my brother’s lungs with the breath of life.

  The locals began to gather as the rain began to fall. The ambulance rolled onto the shore when the thunder began to rumble. And all that time, he was there. Trying. Hope began to drain from his face as Aiden continued to lay still and cold. But he still pressed on, until the paramedics intervened. Before I could tell what was happening, Deputy Hartcliff was asking me questions. And the boy, the very person who had tried to save Aiden, was gone.

  That boy was Luke.

  How could I have forgotten? Tears streamed down my cheeks freely. All this time, I thought he was the creation of my grieving mind. But in reality, he was the one person I should have remembered.

  “You pulled him out. You tried to revive him.”

  He clenched his eyes shut to hide tears of regret. “I didn’t recognize you at first, but when I did, I could tell you didn’t remember me. I was kind of glad. Because every time you looked at me, you would just see Luke. Not the guy who failed to save your brother.”

  I wrapped my arms around his back, holding him in the tightest embrace my tired arms could manage.

  “But you tried,” I whispered.

  All the tension in his muscles seemed to drain away, as if he’d finally dropped the weight he’d been dredging around all this time. Our eyes met, and it was like we were really seeing each other for the first time. But his gaze drifted to something behind me. Noticing his puzzled expression, I followed his eyes.

  The Intruder cat sat with tail curled neatly over its paws, glowing like a lighthouse beacon in the fog. I almost had to shield my eyes as I approached the feline, kneeling just inches from it.

  Its once-black eyes now shone with a beautiful pink light. I noticed a source of heat in my pocket, and reaching in, I pulled out the agate necklace. It glowed with the same pink light.

  “No way,” I mused. All this time, my unconscious was there, watching me. Helping me.

  Slowly, I opened the chain of the necklace. The cat bowed its head, and I tied the stone around its neck. The scene around me disappeared in a flash of pink light.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  I loosed my long hair from its ponytail as I marched toward the vacation house. I straightened my shorts, groaning when I saw the note on the screen door. Mom and Dad had taken Alice to the playground and would be back before dinner. That was just terrific. I needed help, and they were out pampering the baby of the family. I crumpled the note and tossed it on the ground, swinging the door open.

  “Aiden, you home? I need help! I can’t find my necklace.” My shouts were met with silence. I stepped inside, glancing around the living room.

  “Aiden?”

  The crackle and hiss of a fire reached my ears. I walked over to the fireplace, kneeling to see the little flame that was quickly scorching stacks of notebook papers. Curious, I picked one out, the heat singing the hairs of my hand. It was Aiden’s handwriting. When I read the first lines, my heart dropped. Panic rose in my chest.

  Aiden’s lyrics. In a rush, I snatched the wrought-iron poker above the stone hearth, salvaging all the papers I could from the coals and patting out the flames. Flecks of orange light and ashes rose around me, but when they settled, it was too late. The papers were completely illegible now. My hands trembled as I paged through the papers, tears stinging my eyes.

  “No, no, no!” As the ashen paper flaked under my touch, a song rose over the silence. Someone was humming. A melancholy tune that chilled me to the bones.

  Rushing outside, I looked around for the source. My eyes fell on Aiden, who stood on the overlook that dropped off in a sharp cliff to the lake below. He stared at the stormy horizon, humming the sad melody. It was unfamiliar. If it was his own, he’d never played it on the guitar.

  “Aiden? What are you doing out here?” I ran toward him, confusion racking my brain. “Someone burned your music in the fireplace. What’s going on?”

  When I reached him, he turned to me with a forced grin, but his eyes were hollow. Empty. His expression sadder than I’d ever seen.

  “You know, I once heard someone say ‘good things never last.’ I wanted to believe it wasn’t true. But we can’t escape the shadows around us.”

  Something didn’t feel right. I took a step closer.

  “What are you talking about? Tell me what’s eating you. Please.”

  His eyes drifted to the lake again.

  “I was in love, Maddie.”

  My heart skipped. “Love? With who?”

  “His name was Jimmy.”

  “A boy?” I squealed, sobering when I saw his expression.

  He paused as if dwelling on a sweet memory. “We were happy. The future seemed so bright.”

  His smile fell. “Until the day his mom followed us to our special place. I had never seen someone so angry before, Maddie. She told Jimmy he could never see me again, but I figured we’d find a way through it. Love has a way of overcoming anything, I thought. But when I went to work at the docks, Corey and the guys just glared at me, as if I had betrayed them.”

  He gulped. “They said that Ms. Olson had told them the truth about me. And when they pointed to that vandalized canoe, I couldn’t believe my eyes. At that moment, what was left of my soul cracked right in half.

  “The message written across the hull was so bitter. From a worried and furious mother, I might have understood. What I couldn’t wrap my head around was how Corey could say it was a ‘sign,’ a warning that I needed to change, or else. After all those summers of having each others’ backs, he threw it all away and said I was a disgrace. They called me horrible names and told me I wasn’t welcome anymore.

  “I realized then that I had lost it all. What I had with Jimmy, what I had with my friends. All gone for good. And the lifesaver that had been keeping me out of the darkness, out of the cold loneliness that I’d been drowning in for years, just sank.”

  I brushed away the wetness from my cheeks, my brother’s pain tearing through me as if it were my own.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I shouted in frustration, sobs rising to my throat.

  His eyes stared without seeing. “I tried. So many times. But you weren’t listening.”

  I stepped closer, reaching my hand toward him. “I’m listening.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry Maddie. It’s too late. Not a single person heard me drowning before.”

  He looked down to the still water below.
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  “Maybe they will now.”

  “Aiden, stop. You’re scaring me.”

  Adrenaline pulsed through my veins, but I kept my pace slow, steady. He teetered on the edge.

  “Please get back, Aiden. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I promise I’ll be a better sister, just like I used to be. But please, please.”

  “Bye, Maddie.”

  He fell.

  “Aiden!” I screamed, lurching forward, but I was too late.

  He was gone.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  I blinked my eyes open and screamed, releasing all the anguish, all the regret, all the pent-up grief that had been swimming deep in my soul. So deep, I was barely able to find it. I fell to my knees as Luke’s form wrapped around me. He held me as I cried harder than I’d ever cried in my life.

  When the wave had passed, I swallowed back my tears, eyes darting to the movement in my periphery. My heart stopped. It was C. She stood holding the white cat, whose eyes now shone a soft blue. Color had returned to the rest of the Intruders as well, their eyes restored, gleaming. Even the wolf now stood a dotted charcoal gray, his yellow eyes fixed on me with a look of pride. In the clouds just beyond the cliff, a giant bald eagle soared, vanishing into the sky with a shriek.

  I marveled at the expressions on the Intruders’ faces. They were smiling. And not in a creepy horror-movie kind of way. These smiles were genuine, peaceful. C giggled as the cat rubbed its head on her chin.

  “Didn’t I say you liked cats more than you realized?”

  I let go of Luke and ran to her. “You’re alive!”

  She held my hands. “Looks like we had it all backward. I wasn’t dying, It was our connection that was fading, ever since the moment you brought me into this big and beautiful world. I guess your subconscious,” she nodded at the Intruders, “And your unconscious followed you here as well.”

  “How did that happen?” I whispered.