The Twilight Zone

Chapter 29

 "Figured what out?" Ellie repeated.

"If anything in him isn't right-if he's sick for a period of time, weak, Noah can..." She took a deep breath. "Noah can become the new Scratch, especially if the Scratch himself is nearby at any point in the process." Amelie said the words as if she had practiced them time and time again, explained to herself the horrors.

"What? How? Why?" Ellie's mind was filled with hallucinations, a clatter of thoughts overlapping and threatening to take her, distort her themselves before that rain even thought about taking over her Noah.

My Noah? What? She asked herself. What am I thinking? He isn't my Noah any more than the above world belongs to this one.

Amelie's face paled considerably.

"Oh, Gosh-Noah hasn't told you, has he?"

 "What?"

"He and I-He and I and Lily... The Scratch is our father. Rollo Kray." Amelie paused for it all to sink in, but not for long. "He had some kind of contagious disease-luckily most people can't catch it. Me and Lily were immune but, but Noah..."

"Isn't." Ellie finished Amelie's sentence.

"Yes," Amelie sighed, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "We need to go. Now."

Ellie went back to the cave. "Noah! I'll be back!"she called. Without waiting for a response, Ellie joined Amelie and the two hiked to the clearing of prickly red grass.

"What exactly are you showing me?" Ellie asked when the two reached the spot. She felt really bad for leaving Noah, but Amelie wouldn't have pulled her away if this was something important. She would just have to hope that nothing came into the cave while she was gone...

"It's up that tree," Amelie spoke, breaking the unusual silence.

"What is?" Ellie asked.

"A window. A portal. Something like that. It was just up there, showing a very nice town. We can escape this prison and start new—"

"But what about Noah?!" Ellie interrupted, "We can't just leave him!"

"Listen, Ellie," Amelie's voice grew softer, her eyes looking as if tears were about to spill out. "Noah is going to die. I love him, and I know you do too, but this is for the best. If we stay with him, we're just endangering ourselves. There is no cure, it's best to just move on."

"But—" Ellie began.

"Ellie! I'm sorry, but there is no way to save him. Let's get out of here and be glad we're not dead too."

"That can be arranged," Ellie and Amelie turned around to see a shadowy figure slowly walking towards them. And while Ellie didn't recognize the deep voice, Amelie did.

It was the voice of her father.

The Scratch.