True North

by S.M. Winter

brightness that was Chauncy, were dull and lifeless now. A ripping surrounded my heart as Valerie began a keening that tore at my chest.

  I looked up to see Moira smirking. She held Alexandar by the neck above the ground. His feet dangled lifelessly. I thought of Chauncy’s laughter. I thought about how he held me while I cried and made me feel like I was worthy of being his friend. The first to hug and accept me. A dark and terrible rage broke inside me. She would not be allowed to take another of my friends.

  An object dangling from her wrist caught my eye. It shone in the light around us, the shape familiar. My key warmed against my chest in response. It was another skeleton key. I drew my sword fully and knew my mark. Taking my stance, the wind blew hard within the room. I aimed for her wrist, attempting to cut free the chain that held the key.

  I put my weight into the swing and to my pleasure hit my target. But I hit the target harder than I anticipated and cleaved her wrist from her arm. The key went flying. Before I could follow its flight Moira turned her sights on me, releasing Alexandar. There was anger but no visible pain that she had just lost a hand. I was defiant as she bared down on me. Alexandar moved slightly, just enough to trip her. It was enough of a distraction.

  I crouched down and tried to pull Valerie away.

  “We need to leave,” I urged. “We have to regroup.”

  Valerie threw herself on top of Chauncy and began shaking.

  “I’m not leaving him,” she wailed.

  “Oh gosh,” came a now familiar voice. “Guess I still have some work to do.”

  I turned toward the sound to see that Moira had righted herself, with a foot heavily on her brother’s windpipe. I stood to protect Valerie, still sobbing in her grief.

  “You were right about one thing earlier,” she looked at Alexandar on the ground.

  “What’s that?” I could feel a tornado baring its ugly teeth down on us and I was ready to take her out with me.

  “He was in love with you,” she chuckled, releasing her foot and kicking his body. He didn’t move. “Though I’m not exactly sure what he saw in you.”

  My heart squeezed at her use of the past tense.

  I moved into my now practiced crouch but Moira easily knocked the sword out of my hand this time. She wrapped her good hand around my neck and lifted. A black ooze was be seeping from the stump on her left arm.

  “Don’t,” Moira warned. “Or I’ll snap her neck.”

  I gripped Moira’s hand, struggling to breathe.

  I heard the sword clatter to the ground. Her pale face seemed to glow in the low light. My shoulders hitched as I forced air into my lungs but there was no relief. I thought I saw a flash of white behind Moira, but that could have been my brain’s reaction to the lack of oxygen. Moira’s laughter was the last thing I heard before my vision dimmed completely.

  I woke to an incessant clanging. My head was fuzzy and the inside of my mouth felt like someone had installed shag carpet. I struggled to sit up but my wrists and ankles were bound to a bed. My heart began to pound and I thrashed wildly calling for Alexandar, then Valerie, then Chauncy. Anyone who would answer. My body was on fire, but I fought the bindings harder.

  The walls were covered in some kind of torn and stained padding. There was a single door that broke the four walls that surrounded me and a thin window that had reinforced bars. The stench of urine permeated the room and I hoped to all that was holy that it wasn’t me. The mattress I lay on was thin and dimpled. I was wearing a hospital gown. I began screaming in earnest. Tears ran from my eyes and my voice became hoarse. The clanging had finally ceased and in the quiet I heard footsteps. Tears were flowing freely down my cheeks when I heard the jingle of keys in my doorway.

  The door opened with a creak and three men with clip boards and lab coats entered the room.

  “Subject 24563,” one of them said. “Nineteen-year-old female, severe schizophrenia triggered by the trauma of her sister’s tragic death. Committed by her mother.”

  “It says here she’s never been lucid since she arrived. She has been on constant sedatives to counteract her rages when someone challenges her,” another one stated.

  As they spoke I looked desperately for any sign that I wasn't really here, that this wasn’t my reality.

  “That’s right,” the first nodded.

  “Then why is she lucid right now?” The second asked.

  “That’s impossible,” the first took a penlight from his coat pocket and shined it in my eyes. I blinked and tried to close my eyes at the brightness.

  “Can I have some water?” I asked.

  “Extraordinary,” the first gaped at me. “Has her drug regimen changed?”

  The third man flipped a couple of pages on the clipboard and shook his head to the negative. The first unbound my wrists and feet then handed me a cup of water. I gulped it greedily. My wrists itched and looked raw from the bindings. They bled lightly.

  “Do you know where you are?” The second man was taking quick notes and asking me questions.

  “No,” I frowned. “Where are my friends?”

  They looked at each other and nodded.

  “Which friends?” The first asked.

  “Alexandar, Chauncy and Valerie.” I stated, though I was dreading the answer.

  “We have no patients with those names at this facility,” the second replied after flipping pages again.

  “What facility?” I asked.

  “Healing Hand Psychiatric Hospital,” the first responded.

  Though I’d just had some water my throat was dry again. It was difficult to swallow around the lump forming in my throat. Had it all been a drugged out haze? I had been given everything I’d ever wanted. Adventure, power, confidence, attraction and friends.

  “None of it was real?” I was suddenly very tired.

  “No,” the first doctor said. “I’m sorry. We have more rounds to make but we will come back and talk some more.”

  He patted my knee encouragingly then left, locking the door behind him. I stared at my hands in my lap and then closed my eyes. I tried to find my Element. I tried to pick up the slack of the mystical link that bound me and my friends. Tried to find the anchor of the other Elementals. I came up empty. The loss of those things seemed a lot to bear at the moment, a heavy weight pressing against my chest. After a while I stood and wandered to the tiny window. My gown hung around me, wet with sweat, tears and blood.

  Outside the window there was a lonely oak tree in a sea of crabgrass and weeds. I breathed deep as I watched the breeze blow through the weeds. There seemed to be a lot of dandelions surrounding my side of the building and I took comfort in that even if it wasn’t real. I watched as the flowers began to seed. A breeze blew through them and lifted the tiny white fluffs into the air. There were so many that wind seemed to create a tangible cloud of seedlings.

  I wasn’t sure why but when I was finished watching the scene I felt better. When the doctors came back I smiled and made nice. I answered their questions. The third doctor never spoke a word through it all. I kept my eye on him while the other two spoke, that was the only reason I saw it when I did.

  As they were leaving I caught a hint of shark teeth. After the other two had left he closed the door behind him and curled his scarred lip at me. I smiled back and waved. I would bide my time. I knew that they would come for me. I still had my faith and I would never lose sight of what was real.