After Forever

by Krystal McLaughlin

  That night, my dreams were less than enjoyable. They were nightmares. One by one, everyone I knew disappeared, even Rania. When I woke up, tears were streaming down my face.

  Rania was sitting up on the bed, looking at me. “What on earth?” she grumbled, clearly not amused that I had woke her up.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled through my tears. “It was just a nightmare. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go back to sleep.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice. Goodnight Crimson.”

  “Goodnight Rania.” This time when I fell asleep, I wasn’t plagued my nightmares. I was thankful for that. I woke up to the alarm clock blaring in my ear. It took me a while to realize where I was. Then everything that had happened came rushing back to me. I was silent as I got myself ready for school.

  “If you hurry up, I’ll drive you to school,” called Rania’s dad from the bottom of the stairs.

  We couldn’t say no to that. School seemed to drag on and on. I was there, but my mind wasn’t. I still didn’t know what I was going to do. If I should tell Rania’s parents the truth, if we should go to the police. I knew I had to do something though. Things weren’t going to get better on their own.

  It was lunch time, and Rania and I sat at our usual table, both silent though. I don’t think she knew what to say to me. I didn’t blame her for that. We were almost done eating when the principal approached us. It made me feel extremely uneasy. What on earth could he possibly want? I was hoping he would walk right past us, but no such luck. He stopped directly in front of us.

  “Rania, gather your things together. Your mother called. You need to go home right away,” he said calmly.

  We both stared at each other, but said nothing. I knew something had happened. I could feel it the moment the principal stepped into the lunch room. I kicked Rania under the table, urging her to say something, anything.

  “Umm, Mr. Russell, Crimson has been staying with us while her parents are away. Is it alright if she comes with me?” she finally asked.

  “Oh, well, umm, considering the circumstances, it’s best if she does.” With that, he turned and walked away.

  We were both still completely stunned. It was me who finally stood up, in an effort to get Rania to do the same. She looked at me standing there, shook her head, and followed suit. We dumped our trays and headed to our lockers to get our things.

  It ended up being a long, awkward walk back to Rania’s house. Her mom was standing on the porch when we got there. I’m sure she was waiting for us to get there. She held open the door for us and then followed us inside. Once the door was closed, Rania looked at her mom, “What’s going on? Why did you pull us out of school?”

  She looked at us, trying to fight back tears. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. Rania, your father was in a car accident this morning, on his way to work.”

  No, this isn’t happening. It can’t be happening. We got rid of the witch. My mind was racing.

  “Is…is he alright?” Rania asked. I’m not sure if she wanted to truly know the answer. I know I sure didn’t.

  “He’s in critical condition. They don’t know if he’s going to make it. I’d be at the hospital already, but I wanted to wait for you. We need to get there right away,” she said, still trying to fight back tears. She then turned to me, “Crimson, dear, I don’t expect you to come with us. But if you want to, you’re more than welcome to. Wyatt always thought of you as one of his own daughters,” she continued, with a slight smile.

  “Of course I’ll go,” I stated. There was nowhere else for me to go. I didn’t want to be alone.

  As we walked out of the house and to the car, I could have sworn I saw Cinder sitting in the hedges, staring at us. I blinked and he was gone. I must just be seeing things. There was no way he could have found his way here. I climbed in the car and didn’t think about it again.

  When we got to the hospital, they wouldn’t allow me back in the ICU, but Stella and Rania insisted that I was family, even if I wasn’t related. Eventually, they got sick of arguing with them and said I could go back to see Wyatt. He looked terrible. Most of his bones were broken; he was on life-support. More than likely he would have brain damage, that is, if he ever woke up. It was extremely hard to handle.

  Hell, it would have been hard to handle on its own, but on top of the fact that my parents were gone too, I just, I didn’t know how to cope. I started crying. Someone put their arms around me. When I finally looked up, it was Stella who was hugging me. That surprised me. It was comforting though. I tried to mutter an apology, but it was no use.

  It was late when Rania and I finally left. Stella stayed at the hospital. She said she wasn’t leaving until Wyatt was awake. She left it up to us whether or not we wanted to go to school in the morning. If we didn’t go, we could come back to the hospital. I knew what I would have done, but left the decision to Rania.

  We stopped at McDonalds on the way home and got something to eat. Luckily the drive-thru was always open. The food was a welcome thing. We couldn’t even wait until we got back to Rania’s house to eat it. I devoured mine within seconds and then helped Rania with her food. We were about a block away from the house. Rania was eating and not really paying attention to the road. I couldn’t say that I was either, but when I glanced up, I saw a small lump in the middle of our lane.

  “Rania, slow down, there’s something in the road!” I screamed at her.

  “What the hell!?” she shouted as she slammed on the brakes, stopping just in the nick of time. I was so afraid she was going to hit whatever it was. It wasn’t very big, but it was just sitting there in the road. “Go out and see what it is,” she demanded. “I’m not going out there.”

  “Just back up and go around it,” I countered, not wanting to find out what it was either. But curiosity got the best of me, or so I thought. I groaned and got out of the car, stepping in front of it. The headlights were glowing around me and it.

  I couldn’t believe my eyes. This isn’t happening. I rubbed my eyes and blinked rapidly, but he was still there. I slowly started backing up. Once I hit the car, I used my hands to guide me around the side to my door. I thrust it open with all my strength, trying not to fumble. I jumped in and pulled the door shut behind me.

  “What was all of that?” Rania demanded. “What’s out there?”

  I started shaking. “It’s…it’s…its Cinder.” That was all I could manage to get out.

  Rania stared at me, mouth open. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she scoffed. “Are you insane!? There’s no way that cat is out there.” I’m sure she rolled her eyes.

  “Go look for yourself if you don’t believe me,” I trembled, not really wanting her to go outside. I hoped she wouldn’t listen. She did.

  “Fine, I’m going to look for myself, just to prove to you that he isn’t out there.” She opened the car door and hopped out. When she stepped into the headlights, Cinder lunged at her. Rania screamed in agony, as he dug his claws into her skin. “Get him off me, get him off me now!” she yelled.

  I wanted to help, I really did. But my body was immobile. Cinder had taken control of me. I panicked. What was I going to do? I couldn’t sit there and let Cinder tear Rania apart, but I couldn’t move. I had to do something. Focus, Crimson, focus. You can do this. You can beat him. You are stronger than him. I closed my eyes and channeled all of my energy. I hoped if I put enough energy into it, that I could shatter the hold Cinder had over me. I didn’t know where the idea came from, but I just felt it was the right thing to do.

  I could feel energy radiating over me. Then something snapped. I opened my eyes and reached out my hand. I could move again! I leapt from the car and out into the darkness. Rania was still struggling to get Cinder off her. There was blood everywhere. It made me queasy, but I did my best not to let it get to me as I pulled the cat off her. Rania collapsed to the ground instantly.

  I stood there, holding Cinder by the scruff of his neck, not kn
owing what to do with him. Before I could even think, my arms hurled him across the street and into one of the lawns and immediately turned my attention to Rania. “Are you alright?” I asked bending down to help her up. “Can you walk? Do you need a doctor?”

  She took my hand and pulled herself off the ground. “I’m fine. That cat tore me up pretty good though. My poor skin, think of all the scars I’m going to have now.” Of course that’s what she would care about. “Let’s just go home. Can you drive?”

  I nodded, then helped Rania into the passenger seat. I was shocked she didn’t whine about getting blood all over the car, but was thankful that she wasn’t being her usual overly obnoxious self. Walking around the car, I slid into the driver’s seat. I was glad it wasn’t too far of a drive back to Rania’s house.

  Once we were there, I helped Rania clean up her cuts and scratches as best as I could, then we went to bed. As I fell asleep that night, I wondered what had become of Cinder. I knew in my heart that this wasn’t the last we’d see of him.

  “I had a terrible time sleeping last night,” Rania complained, waking me up.

  I sighed, but I understood. Everything had fallen apart. “I’m sorry. Does it hurt?”

  “Of course it hurts, like you wouldn’t believe! Tell me the truth, how bad do I look?”

  I looked her over, it wasn’t good. I looked away. I couldn’t meet her gaze.

  “That bad, huh? You know we have to tell my mom now, right?”

  I knew she wasn’t going to back down. I nodded, still not looking at her. “I know. I just hope she’ll be able to handle it, considering what happened with your dad.”

  “We have no choice now. She’s going to flip out when she sees me. It’s not like I can hide this from her. My body is covered in scabs.” She was right. We had no other choice.

  “Everything?” I asked. “Do we have to tell her everything?” I bit my lip. I already knew the answer.

  “Yes, everything. It’s time we get it all out in the open. We need help Crimson. We obviously can’t handle this on our own anymore.” She was staring at me. “Okay?”

  “Yes, okay. We’ll tell her everything. Maybe she’ll know what to do. I want to take a quick shower before we head back to the hospital. I’ll be ready in a few.”

  I took my time in the shower to gather my thoughts. How were we going to explain everything to Stella? Would she even believe us? She’d think we were mad. But then there were Rania’s injuries. They would be hard to dismiss. This had to be done. It had to. There was no other way.

  “Oh my god…what happened to you honey?” Stella stammered when we met her at the hospital. She looked so worried, even more so than before.

  Rania and I looked at each other, but neither of us could bring ourselves to say a word. I knew that it wasn’t going to be left at that though. There was no way we were going to be able to stay silent about last night, about the last few days.

  “Rania, honey, I only ask because I’m concerned, especially after what happened with your father. Please, don’t shut me out. Tell me what’s happened.”

  It was me who started talking first. “It’s kind of a long story, Stella. And most of it is my fault. Don’t get mad at Rania for any of this. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” I could feel tears welling up in my eyes again.

  “No Crimson, I could never blame you, no matter what. You’re family, never forget that.”

  I tried to smile. “Thank you, but you may change your mind after you hear everything.” I let the words come pouring out, every last detail, even the completely insane ones. Stella didn’t say a word through the entire thing. I’m sure she didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t blame her for that. Who in their right mind would believe half of what I was saying.

  After a few minutes of silence, she responded, and not in the way that I would have thought. “Why didn’t you tell me about this right away? I could have helped. It all makes sense now.”

  Rania and I stared at her wide-eyed. Neither of us knew quite how to respond to that. She understood…how could she understand?

  “What do you mean you could have helped?” Rania and I exclaimed, almost at the exact same time.

  She nodded. “Wyatt was like your mother, Crimson. I don’t know everything there is to know about it, but Wyatt has a lot of research and information on it in his study.”

  I was perplexed. I wondered if my mom had any information we could use at home. I knew what we needed to do though. “Would it be alright if I looked through Wyatt’s notes?” I needed to arm myself, so I could fight back against Cinder.

  “Absolutely, I know that he would want you to. He would have helped, if you had told us from the beginning. Though, I understand why you didn’t want to tell anyone. How were you to know that Wyatt was like you? I think that’s why he considered you one of his children. You had an unspoken connection.” She then changed her tone slightly. “You had better go and find a way to fix things. Wyatt won’t wake up until you’ve defeated Cinder.”

  Oh, great. The fate of my world, and my best friend’s world depended on me. Could I handle this? Could I actually defeat Cinder and put the world right again? I didn’t have any other choice, now did I?

  Rania accompanied me to my house, so we could look for any information my mom might have on the witches. I was hoping that she would have something we could use. I didn’t even know where to begin looking. I didn’t know where she would keep things like that. It wouldn’t be in plain sight, that’s for sure.

  We decided to split up. It would be easier to search the entire house if we did it that way. There was a lot of ground to cover. Rania took the downstairs, and I the upstairs. I started with my parents’ bedroom. It seemed like the logical place to look; under the bed, through every single dresser drawer, and lastly, the closet. It was there that I found what I thought was what we needed, a small, antique trunk. It was locked. Crap! Where could the key be?

  I didn’t even have time to process that thought fully. There was a knock on the door. Now who could that be? “Hey Rania, could you get the door please,” I called down the stairs. I quickly shoved the box back where I had found it and then headed downstairs to see who was at the door.

  “Are you Miss Ellis, Crimson Ellis?” the police officer asked when I appeared.

  I nodded. “Yes, I am.” This can’t be a good thing.

  “I have something I need to speak with you about, privately. Is there somewhere we can speak?”

  Yeah, this really can’t be good. I tried to stay calm. “Yes, of course, right this way.” I lead him into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?” I asked, trying to cut the tension.

  “No, but thank you,” he said as he took a seat at the kitchen table. He took no time getting straight to the point. “When was the last time you saw or spoke to your parents?”

  “Sunday evening, it was dinner time,” I whispered, it was almost inaudible.

  He nodded, and wrote it down. “Can you tell me what happened that night?”

  I was about to tell him the truth, but stopped myself. I couldn’t tell him the truth. It would sound crazy; it would sound like I did something stupid. The last thing that had happened was me screaming at them and storming out of the room. Instead, I said, “Why, what’s happened?” I had to know before I said anything else.

  “Please, just answer the question Miss Ellis,” it may be important. “What happened that night?”

  I was on the verge of tears yet again. “I got into a fight with them, over something silly. I brought a cat home, a stray cat that I had found. They were furious about it. I stormed out of the kitchen and locked myself in my room. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, they were gone. That’s all I know, honestly.” That was as much of the truth as he was going to believe. None of it was a lie.

  “You don’t know what happened after you locked yourself in your room?”

  “No, I have no idea. Like I said, I fell asleep. When I woke up, no one was her
e.”

  “You heard nothing?”

  I nodded. What was he getting at? What wasn’t he telling me? “What is this about?” I demanded. “Please tell me what’s going on?”

  After he had finished scribbling in his notebook again, he looked up at me, concern in his eyes. “I’m going to need you to come down to the station and make a formal identification.”

  “No…no! You’re lying. They can’t be…they can’t be dead.” I was sobbing.

  Rania, who had been hiding just outside the doorway the entire time, entered quickly coming to my side. “I’ll come with you. We’ll call my mom; she can meet us down at the station.”

  I couldn’t speak. I just nodded through my tears. Rania helped me up and out to the police car. Once I was in the car, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed her mom’s number. Stella picked up right away. Rania quickly explained what had happened. After she hung up, she climbed into the car next to me.

  “She said she’s on her way, and that we aren’t to do anything until she gets there.” I nodded again. Words failed me.

  Stella arrived at the station shortly after we did. She immediately hugged me. “I’m so sorry Crimson. You’ll stay with us indefinitely. We’ll get through this together.” It was nice for the reassurance. It was nice knowing that I’d have somewhere to stay, somewhere to go.”

  The officer interrupted us, “Are you ready? You can bring them with you, if you want” motioning to Stella and Rania. I was thankful for that. I wasn’t sure I could handle it on my own.

  The officer led us back, so I could make a formal identification. The coroner pulled back the sheets on the first table. It was my mom. Once she was covered again, the same was done for the second table. It was my dad. Once he was covered again, I nodded, fighting back my tears. “That’s them. Umm, is there a bathroom? I think I’m going to be sick.”

  The officer led me to the bathroom. “Do you need anything? Some water maybe?”