Chapter 8:elijah

Watching my father running back into the smoking and lit house I felt my stomach turn and curl up into a ball. I heard the house groaning and crying out its last goodbyes as it gave in to the flames that ate it. A smoky wave of cloud rushed out from beneath the tumbling rubble. I watched helpless as the wave of shock hit the crowd surrounding the house gasped. The last look he had given us was engraved with fear and sadness. He knew what was going to happen yet he ran into the danger to save the one he loved. Bellivia collapsed to her knees knowing the true reality of the moment. My heart felt as though it was about to burst, tears forming in my eyes. I fell to my knees screaming in rage feeling as though the lump in my throat was weakening my voice. A shadow lurked from behind us and whispered tempting words to my sister. She looked to me hoping I'd agree to the shadows temptation to but I felt that we could never trust it. That day I not only lost my parents, but my very own sister too. I felt alone and lost; somehow I was hurt and betrayed by her.

Days past and the feeling was not fading, I was alone and no one could ever understand why. Bellivia tried her best to get me to feel less alone but to me her existence and importance had faded away. The only thing left was a simple memory of how she used to be. She fogged her mind and erased her feelings becoming a sheep to mother Sagorian's every word, acting as though mother Sagorian didn't mean harm. I could feel her evil in her, the cruelty she hid behind a fake smile that could only appear in a person's worst nightmare. I learnt in solitude how to manipulate the smoke I made and noticed why it formed. I had learned to accept it, create with it and this made mother Sagorian's blood boil. She would look down on me and whisper lies to my sister, my sister eating it up as though she were a starving child with their first meal. Each day I hoped that my parents would magically knock on the door to take us away and each day they never did. I began to grow sick of hoping sitting in my room, waking each morning only to get heartbroken all over again. Tomorrow never came. I sat on my bed alone thinking about the way my life had changed, how many memories were filled with joy and the comfort of my family and now they were mostly of my room alone. A long fingered arm disturbed my thought as it grabbed my shoulder and dragged me out my room, throwing me to the ground. The hand had a voice that muttered under gritted teeth that this night would be my last. I looked to my sister but she had fogged herself over and forgotten me. I was that easy to forget, she couldn't care what happened she was just there looking into me her eyes foggy and her face expressionless. The door slammed shut and the body came towards me and began to drag me away, I tried to fight but couldn't get free. She dragged me down and down the stairs and threw me into a dark room. She laughed as she locked me away.

Each day I would count as I sat in there alone to my thoughts. Bellivia would leave a tray of food and leave, not doing anything else but following orders each day reassuring me that it was for our protection. I didn't hear her voice any more instead I began to hear mother Sagorian's words puppet through her the fog never lifting from her eyes. I woke looking around in hope that I wasn't still trapped. Coming to the sad realisation I was I marked on the wall day 1470...Just over four years? I sighed and looked to the door waiting patiently for something to happen. And something did.

Bellivia pushed a girl just younger than us into the room and slammed the door. The girl looked lost and confused, yet stunning from what I could see. She was small, her hair messily touching her neck in small little waves and curls. Her lips were dark in comparison to her pale skin. Her blue eyes wondered the room, almost glowing in the darkness. She suddenly fell to the floor the smoke too much for her lungs. Her embers formed as she woke and I knew if mother Sagorian saw we both would be dead. I heard her steps creaking above us and began to grow panicked as it came closer. I tried to warn the girl to stop but she only grew more confused, she didn't understand that she caused them herself. As mother Sagorian entered with her dirty little tail she walked past me and went straight to the girl. What she said triggered embers but mother Sagorian couldn't see. Bellivia saw them and looked me then to mother Sagorian, leaning up to her ear and being the proud witch's eyes. This was no new thing for the girl but to me I could only feel my heart break more as my sister just carelessly ratted on us. The girl looked to me, sadness in her eyes and down to the plate nodding and agreeing to mother Sagorian. Pleased with her victory mother Sagorian left the room. Bellivia placed the food down and took the girl away with her.

As the door closed I could hear just barely their conversation. I heard as she said; "It was a nightmare you had. Nothing more. No boy exists in that room. No embers were forming. For there is no fire", I could feel her push down every memory of me as she said it quickly leaving. Only one set of feet were heard going up the stairs, I knew the girl stood listening. She cared for me and somehow we had just met but I cared for her too. Her eyes stained in my memory, the way she looked at me I felt as though I had known her my entire life. In her company I finally didn't feel alone. I had forgotten any other feeling after that the feeling of being alone had infected my life and torn everything away from me. "It suits your eyes", the words slipped out my mouth quietly. I waited to hear what would happen, feet quickly pattering up the stairs. And as quickly as it all started it had ended.

I was all alone in the darkness again. Getting ready to count the days as they fade into a blur. My body crumpled up and tears began to trace down my cheeks, I didn't like the feeling that had taken over again. I reminded myself of how it felt to be in her company. How pretty she looked and how she was just like me, yet in her own way different. Her eyes reminded me of the distant memory, the one that has almost faded. The day the fire started, the day I had seen that beautiful blue flower and how the butterfly dancing around it. I could feel my smile grow beneath my tears and a small hope begin to ignite.

She fell through the floor her body landing hard. I wasn't sure what had caused it but I could see that she was struggling to stay alive. I pulled together my strings of courage and went up to her holding her tight and reassuring her that I was there through my embrace. Her body was cold and her mind was filled with worry and fear. I held her tight making sure she embraced the smoke and as she took a breath out her eyes grew to the vibrant blue they were when we met. I looked into her eyes and felt overcome with the same feeling I felt before, I had never felt it and wasn't sure how to react. I wanted to keep her in my arms forever. But nothing ever lasts forever, I heard a creak from above us and fear pushed every other feeling down or away as a woman passed above us. I knew the shadow that lurked and knew we still weren't safe. I knew we wouldn't be safe till we were out of this place. This hell that ate dreams and lives, destroying any hope a person could have. I gripped her body tighter as the fear in me grew, I didn't want her to get hurt. I wanted her safe. She gently touched my chest; I could feel my heart flutter and my throat close, not from fear but from being nervous. I smiled at the feelings I felt, they were so much better than the constant feeling of being alone. And I needed to make sure we lived. The door was no easy mission our struggles only made us grow weaker. I knew I needed to use my smoke, shock rose on her face as she watched the hands help move the heavy door.

I smiled as we walked out; I was finally out of there because of her. I hugged her tight. Little did she know how much the hug meant to me. It meant the world feeling my arms wrap her cold body, feeling free and finally as though I was never really alone.

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