The Nightmare's Return

Chapter 14

Out from the darkness Rachel had quickly stepped out alone. As soon as the spotlight hit her she shined from head to toe. The top part of the dress she was wearing started just an inch from her underarms and was wrapped tightly around her chest and abdomen. From her waist draped a connected puffed out skirt that went down to stopping a few inches past her knees. The dress was in black and white, the top in horizontal stripes, the skirt in vertical ones, and all done up in sparkling sequins. Over the top of her dress and covering her shoulders and arms was a deep red velvet jacket that Rachel also wore that almost went down to her waist. On her hands she had on black lady's gloves, and on her feet she wore her black boots that were laced a couple of inches up her ankles. Her cheeks were tinted with a light rosy blush powder, her eyelids shimmered with a loose, glittery white eyeshadow. Her eyes were lined with black eyeliner, her lashes brushed up with a mascara of the same shade. Her lips were painted in a light red and her skin held a healthy glow under the bright spotlight. Her blonde hair was still pulled up in a black ribbon bow and hung down her back. On the top of her head sat the black derby hat that Louise had given to Rachel. Mr. Tophat was frozen in place, his mouth hanging open, surprised by Rachel's sudden appearance and astonishing new look. His eyes looked at her up and down half in bewilderment, and half in awe. Rachel looked at Mr. Tophat's hand that was on the lever still.

"Please move your hand away." Rachel spoke calmly. "I'm here now, Marcus. The one that you really want here, the only one that you really need."

Mr. Tophat kept his hand on the lever as his surprise over Rachel started to wane and his face started to relax, his jaw closing. He looked as if he was trying to figure out what Rachel in her almost exact look of him on her was saying, if she was trying to please him in some way, or if she was trying to play some big joke. Rachel continued to talk calmly as she walked slowly towards the platform.

"You were right Marcus. We are stronger together. All those separate times in our lives, being on our own even if there were always tons of people around us, we were always alone. It's something we have both known. For you it felt that way, for so long. And even if that loneliness had changed for me I still remember what all that lonesomeness felt like. I came here alone, to show you how much I realize that bond between us that's there. That tie we have to each other that time itself refuses to break and keeps showing up in our timelines, with my family and you. There's more than a spell, a curse, or any type of magic that brings us together, keeps us meeting over and over again even if it at first it was with my ancestors before I was born. It's more than an inevitable doomed payment that you finally had to face, or a grudge that you came back to fix along with trying to have your dream again. I have felt that spark between us that I know you must have when we have touched for even just a moment. That push that keeps us wondering about each other, that keeps us in each other's heads."

Rachel was at the steps to the platform now. She held out her right hand, keeping her other one open and down at her side as she continued to move slowly, trying to show no threat as she started to climb the steps. She kept direct eye contact with Mr. Tophat, letting him look as intensely as he wanted into her eyes, putting all of herself out to him, bearing all of her soul for him to see.

"I can be here for you Marcus. I can help you more than anyone ever has, I can bring you hope, I can give you support, I can help to stop both of our continuous nightmares for good."

Mr. Tophat continued to hesitate to talk, or move as he watched Rachel carefully, trying to catch any sort of a facade from her. But her face and eyes held all seriousness, and joked about nothing.

"All this time Marcus you've tried to fulfill and keep your dream. But it has been sustained by evil because of your desperation. And all this time all you had to do was just care enough about others around you, to save yourself. Your dream would be gone, but you wouldn't be facing damnation over and over again just like now still."