Light

by Adrienne Woods

  “Nice meeting you noodle, It was such a pleasure having you here, and please don’t be a stranger. It’s going to be so boring when Marge and Max leave the Compound.” Stacey grabbed me into a tight hug. “Stay safe and kick some ass okay? Don’t forget about me.” She pushed me away at arm’s length and I just blew out a breath.

  “Okay, Stacey,” I said and Ginny smiled.

  Elliot was last. “Give this to Selene when you meet her Chastity.” He handed me an envelope that had a crest pressed on top of a wax seal. “It’s my report on your test results.” He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  I took the envelope from him. It was thick and I put it into a backpack that Stacey had dropped off this morning with fresh clothes that were so not my style.

  “I will,” I said and smiled back at him. I walked past Fox and followed John down a couple of stairs opposite the front door. I could still hear Fox and Elliot speaking softly about me, saying that I would probably never forgive Elliot for what he put me through. To be honest, I didn’t care what the man thought. Leigh said he was paranoid and I disliked people who carried that feature. They made people’s lives unbearable and the other part was that I really just wanted to get away from the Outer.

  Tom opened a door that led down more steps. The basement jumped into my mind as we entered a dark room.

  A light close to John went on and there were four grey walls with a concrete floor.

  Tom handed me Henry and he sat on my arm. A long thin line formed on his beak and I knew that the owl was enjoying every moment of it.

  I glanced back at Tom and saw him drawing the same markings as he had on the mirror against the wall.

  When he was done, he stepped back and a door appeared.

  “Is this going to be the same as when we entered the Outer?” I was referring to the fog and Henry just hooted.

  Fox’s giggle came from behind me. “No, but it’s just as strange.” She widened her eyes once which made me smile and I watched how Elliot, and Tom opened the heavy door.

  colors streamed out of the opening. They were bright and blue, yellow, pink, all sorts of colors you could think of. It was everywhere around us.

  Tom took Henry from me and nodded his head once in Elliot’s direction and disappeared into the colors.

  Fox nudged me to go next.

  “See you soon Chas,” Max said.

  I looked at him and saw Ginny and Stacey with him. The first step I took was onto a floor that moved forward. It reminded me of an escalator I’d once seen in an airport when Mom and I went to pick up Tim after he returned from Afghanistan.

  The colors never faded and were all around me moving all over the place. I couldn’t stop looking around as they swirled everywhere as if a strong wind blew them in every direction. I lifted my hand up as orange came past us. I needed to know if I could touch it, to see what it felt like. A soft warm breeze blew over my skin and I pulled my hand back. It turned slightly orange and I lifted it back up when the yellow came past. My hand turned a brighter orange where the two colors collided but parts that hadn’t carried color before, were yellow.

  I did it with all the colors that passed by and found John and Fox just enjoying my little experience on our journey to Revera.

  Henry stared at me too, sitting firmly on Tom’s arm. The owl looked as if it was ready to take a nap and not as if it was surrounded by something out of this world, something that humans would only find in fairytales.

  The colors eventually started to fade as we moved along but didn’t disappear. A million doors rushed by so fast that it made my ponytail flip backwards. I felt Fox’s hand clutching mine and after a couple of seconds the doors slowed down.

  I gave Fox a look filled with horror as I knew what these doors were used for and I didn’t see any platforms appearing in front of them.

  “All of them lead to various parts of the world, just like the door we came from a couple of minutes ago.”

  “What, that door was moving just like those doors?”

  Fox nodded with a smile plastered on her face. I knew she found this new astonishment of mine fascinating and entertaining, but never in a million years did I think anything like this actually existed in the real world.

  A loud rushing noise appeared out of nowhere. I covered my ears, not knowing where it came from as nothing was remotely close to us that could make this sound. I felt Fox’s hand on my arm again and I turned my head slightly toward hers.

  “You see that door?” Fox pointed at a red one, standing right next to a green door.

  “Which one, the red or green?”

  “The yellow one, right there.” I followed the direction Fox pointed at and saw a tiny yellow door coming into view. It was right behind the red and green door. “We are going to run, as we near it and then jump when we pass it, the door will suck us in.”

  “What?!”

  “You’ll be fine, Chastity, just follow my lead.” Fox smiled again as my heartbeat felt as if it was running a race. I watched as Tom released Henry and the owl flew away in the door’s direction. It opened as he neared and swallowed the owl. When it closed again Tom started to run. John was next. He took off his hat, which hid a bald spot on his head and folded it into a long tube and clutched it firmly in his grasp. He ran too. I returned my gaze to Tom who was very close to the yellow door. He picked up his pace and when the door seemed as if it was going to pass Tom, he took a dive and disappeared through it. It felt as if my heart was going to stop.

  “Follow my lead, you’ll be fine,” Fox said again and started to run.

  I had no choice, not unless I wanted to stay behind, and who knew where I would end up then?

  It felt weird running on something that was moving in the same direction as the path you were taking. It made you feel extra fast.

  When Fox started to sprint, I did the same.

  This is a bad idea.

  I watched with horror as Fox dove for the door and my heart sounded as if it was inside my ear as the door came nearer. Then I took that leap of faith, or dive.

  The door swallowed Fox. Her feet were the last parts that vanished right in front of me.

  The door was going to open and swallow me next. I waited for it.

  The door opened but where I should have gone forward, turbulence grabbed me and blew me back. The door vanished, and the wind took me further down the colored doors.

  I found another door, it looked slightly blue, almost black. My insides twisted as the door came closer. It was cracked, old, and the surface looked like it was dripping sulphur. Then it opened and swallowed me inside.

  THE SOUND OF LOUD DRUMS FILLED MY EARS. IT mimicked my heartbeat and with my eyes shut it resembled the darkness that was manifesting inside of me. Wind blew in my face so hard that I struggled to breathe. Another horrible sound filled my core, and the fear emerging from deep within me made me want to scream out, wanting this to stop.

  I tumbled around in the air like a twig in a breeze.

  When I landed on something, it wasn’t a hard surface, the wind stopped and so did the sound. Air filled my lungs again, and I took deep breaths making sure that I got enough air to calm my beating heart. I opened my eyes and the only thing I could see was a soft golden glow shining from above. I looked up, but couldn’t see where the light came from. It was so bright that I had to look away, yet it only lit up such a small surface.

  I looked back down and couldn’t see anything past the glow. It was pitch black.

  I had absolutely no idea where I was or if I was going to ever get out of here. Then out of the darkness images of my life with Mom and Tim appeared. They emerged from blue, white and black dust, like I was watching a movie created by sand specks.

  The scene played out a fight I had with Tim a couple of years ago. It happened in the kitchen.

  “You’re not my father!” I yelled, as I rushed up the stairs and slammed the door so hard that the windows rumbled. The look on his face wasn’t anger or frustration, it resemb
led pain.

  It faded and right across from that one another scene started. It was of a snow day, which was a good day, and I was about ten years old.

  The scenes played for what seemed like hours. They showed me the good times and the not so good times when Tim lost his temper.

  It was strange seeing it through another perspective. It looked dark and nothing like the way I remembered it. My heart beat more as the sound of something evil came again. When I started to run the golden light followed me. It led to a wall, a dead end and I started running next to the wall. I hit another wall, another dead end. There was no escape and I slid down in the corner as the sound came nearer. I covered my ears with both hands and hid my face.

  Light flashing on the floor made me look up, and a scream left my mouth as a bright flaming hologram of a skull flew into me. The air vanished and I gasped frantically. Only when the skull vanished, could I breathe again.

  The shape of an evil dragon was next. It wasn’t on fire but I could make out a light around the darkness of it. Evil crept into my soul and I grunted and felt ice cold as the dragon hit me with force. It went straight through and all the darkness he brought with him flew through every organ inside of me.

  I experienced being set on fire, and heard screaming like I’d never experienced before. My heart felt as if it was going to explode.

  When the dragon vanished, it felt as if I was going to lose my sanity.

  The holograms of pure evil changed into more images of things, bad things.

  Men hurting women, women hurting children, children hurting animals. I didn’t want to watch anymore as their screams and cries made me want to lose my mind. I buried my head in my knees and started to pray, pray for this nightmare to end.

  “Please, I need your help,” a woman’s tired voice said.

  I looked up and saw a figure of a woman staring straight at me, created by blue and black sand. The woman looked oddly familiar but I couldn’t recall where I’d seen her.

  “I need to get out of here,” the woman started to beg. “You need to help me get out of here.”

  “I…I….I don’t know how,” I whispered back. My fear meant I couldn’t speak any louder. .

  The woman turned around as if something was behind her, or coming for her and she disappeared with a scream that jolted through my being. The scream faded after the image was gone and I could still hear it echoing off the walls into silence. All the hair on my arms and back of my neck stood straight.

  Another image appeared. It was a happy one. One that slightly resembled the images of my life with Mom and Tim. The woman inside of them was beautiful. Pure white blonde hair fell over her shoulders and bounced off her back as she was running and laughing. She was happy and I could feel happiness again. The emotion was that strong. The woman kept glancing over her shoulder back at me, as if I chased her.

  A small chuckle escaped my lips and then the woman stopped running. She was on alert.

  I felt fear again. Something was about to happen and neither of us liked it. The woman ran again, I followed, and then the image froze as the woman glanced around back at me.

  I stared at her face and waited for what evil it was going to bring. The woman’s face burned like a picture being lit with fire.

  A dead body lying on the grass, the same woman screaming in agony. Men, all dressed in some exquisite type of robe emerged from all around her. She tried to explain but they didn’t listen. They kept reading her some sort of law, judging her while she tried to explain. She saw a figure, I couldn’t see who that figure was, it was blocked by the men; the figure said something to her, but I didn’t hear a peep. I could tell by the woman’s face that someone was speaking to her, making this beautiful woman realize what was happening, realize her fate as she just sat there with tears rolling over her betrayed face. I knew that look, I still carried it myself, and struggled to deal with it.

  The emotion froze her face. I felt it too. She was innocent and these people weren’t going to listen. Darkness filled my gut and it occupied my entire core as if this woman and I were connected and that they were reading me my rights.

  I watched the woman standing up, as black sand emerged from her eyes, ears, mouth, and hands. It consumed me and I couldn’t breathe again. It felt as if it wanted to coax out my own darkness inside of me.

  I closed my eyes and remembered what Mom said about the darkness and what it was I had to do when I felt scared or angry. It was dark emotions that would make the black sand appear. Something I couldn’t let happen as it would mean they would chuck me in Oblivion and throw away the key.

  I was there once and if it hadn’t been for Leigh, I would have never found my way home, back to reality.

  “Breathe, Chastity!” Mom’s voice ordered me. The command was so clear and so loud, it felt like it was going to break my skull.

  The pain in my head made me scream again and I fell down onto my knees with my hands clutching my head.

  “Calm down, baby. You can do this.”

  I tried to listen to Mom’s soothing tone, a memory, as there was no way that Mom was inside this darkness.

  My scream turned into a grunt. I ground on my teeth hard, while praying for this stab in my mind to vanish.

  Everything suddenly stopped. I gasped as if the air in this darkness was gone. I tapped hard on my chest, with huge eyes, huge teary eyes and wondered when my life was going to flash by, or did that already happen?

  Was I busy dying, or worse, was I already dead?

  I fell over and hit my head hard on the surface.

  The darkness crept all around me, sound became hollow and then everything became quiet. If it hadn’t been clear a minute ago, it was crystal clear now. I was busy dying, this time for real and nobody was going to free me from this nightmare, I wasn’t going to wake up and find myself back in some grey room, not this time. My life of seventeen short years was over.

  The sound of footsteps rushed through the floor. They were far off but they were coming for me. Whether they were going to get to me in time, I doubted that. My heartbeat started to slow down, doom, doom, doom, doom, … doom …doom …doom …………doom…….doom ………doom.

  Everything went black.

  IF THERE WAS AN AFTERLIFE IT WAS DARK. IT WAS nothing and empty.

  I didn’t like this one bit, and the thought of Oblivion didn’t sound so bad anymore. At least there were hounds created by shadows wanting to kill me and a dilapidated world with a sick rotting smell lingering in the air. It meant that I was still alive, even if it was in Oblivion, but this, this was different.

  I wanted to go out of my mind, but couldn’t. I didn’t need air anymore, I couldn’t smell, see or even feel anything, and the worst of it was I couldn’t hear a sound.

  It was a sickening place and one I really didn’t want to be in for eternity.

  Hours of nothing ticked by, no thoughts, no memories, I tried but it seemed I couldn’t remember what memories or thoughts were. I’d never felt so invisible, never felt so unworthy.

  Then a jolt of pain hit my chest. It was extremely painful but I welcomed it. It was better than the nothingness I’d been experiencing. Another jolt and then a voice shouted in the distance. It became louder and louder until I sucked in breath. My lungs burned as I jolted up right.

  “Deep breaths, Chastity.”

  I looked at him crouching next to me. Tears were close as my stomach twisted and turned. I moved on all fours and a form of bile came from my mouth. It spilled on the floor. It was dark, and looked like tar.

  A pair of hands held my hair back and I closed my eyes as a strong sulphur smell filled my nostrils.

  “It’s going to be okay. What the hell happened?” Leigh asked. I glanced at him from underneath my eyelashes and before I could help myself I flung my arms around him.

  “Thank you.”

  Leigh’s arm folded over my body. Being this close to him, feeling his warmth made whatever had happened, bearable.

  “Ch
astity, what happened?” he asked again, using a gentle tone.

  “I don’t know,” I muttered into his chest as I broke the hug. “The door was there but something blocked my path and it took me straight through another.” My head turned sideways. We weren’t in the same dark place anymore, but it was just as bad. It was a small room, slightly lit and a feeling of needing to cry out emerged in my chest. Leigh was here, at least that was some sort of reassurance and I took a huge breath trying to push the horrible feeling of never escaping whatever this was to the back of my mind. I looked back at Leigh, and our eyes found each other. I really liked his dark brown eyes, I felt safe whenever I looked at them, I felt hope.

  He on the other hand, looked relieved and he blew out some air.

  I squinted. “How….did you find me?”

  “It’s a long story and one we don’t have time for right now. We’ve got to get you out of here.”

  I looked around again. There was no door or window. “Where are we?” My heart still beat fast but not as fast as it had been a couple of seconds ago.

  “It’s called the Guile. It’s a world where all the bad things in Revera’s history replay themselves. Some were unjust, where others, were simply horrifying. Usually Casters die, and Shadow Casters emerge from there stronger. You’re lucky you almost died and not the other way around. The only way a Caster gets out of there is if they are dark, powerful or inside a body bag.

  I remembered what Mom said about Leigh, needing to be powerful in order to appear inside my Initiation dream like he had. “We should leave, preferably now, if that is okay with you?”

  “Sure, so what do we do, say a magic word and “poof” we’re out of here? ‘Cause I hate to break it to you, there is no door.”

  Leigh chuckled softly. “Watch and learn.” He winked and cupped his hands in front of his chest. When he closed his eyes bright, golden dust emerged from his hands. It started to grow brighter and brighter, so much so that it hurt my eyes.

  Then it reached a peak and a bright bluish white light exploded from his hands and filled the entire room. Figures of white birds flew in the colored mist. A unicorn galloped past me, and stood on his hind legs. His mane flew backwards as if in the path of a strong wind, and it whinnied. I jumped as a pack of white wolves howled softly in the distance and ran past me. It was simply breathtakingly gorgeous and something I would never be able to put into words. Not that I wanted to because it would surely win me a straitjacket and a white room.