The Legend of the Savior

Chapter 16: Balance

Balance

In my dream I am running towards someone who doesn’t want me to catch them. They are trying to run away, but I knew if I let them get away then I have failed. I try to speed up, but the temperature is dropping fast. I am freezing with icicles forming around me but I continue to pursue. I am soon able to catch up with the figure but when I approach they keep their distance. I attempt to grab them. They wriggle out of my grasp and when I make skin contact my breath is taken away. I can feel something slither along my body. Leaving a trail of shivers along its wake. I can’t breathe as I feel the thing slither upwards and crawl along my face. I open my mouth and can feel as the thing slithers inside of it. Leaving a horrible taste in my mouth and all of a sudden pain explodes throughout my body. I look for somthing for me to cut it out with, and find a small mirror. I raise it ready to cut it out when something catches my eye.

It was my eyes. They were a blank, cold, malicious, murderous, black. demon black. I look in the mirror again and see myself smile as the thing slithers from inside my skin. I see the indentation of it and can feel the pain as it moves. I want to get rid of the pain and hear a slight voice talking to me. One that had me chilled through the bones, “Ember, give up. Let me give you power, I can help you. You want to know your birth parents. Know Cain’s secret. Kill George and get Cliff’s unconditional love. Give in and I can give you all that and more. Just let go of your shell, and let me give you riches, love, power. Give up let go of your painful life, and let me help you. Give in Ember. Give in” It pauses and lets me think. I can’t give in. I have to help my friends, “What friends? The roommate who hates your guts. The air bender who stole your best friend from you. The boy who tried to kill you, or maybe the one with one of the biggest secrets of all. You don’t have friends. All you have are people who you hate. You don’t owe them anything!”

What about Cliff? “I can get him for you. Just give in and both of you will live happily ever after” It’s purring now. Coaxing me to give in, and I am running out of reasons. I should just give in, “Yes just give in, and I will take care of you. No more problems. No more pain, stabs in the back, heartbreak, no more of anything that hurts you. Just let me help you” I look in the mirror and see the cold eyes, but have no objections and slowly give in. The pain numbing. The voice laughing, and then pain explodes throughout my body. Ten fold from what it was before. crippling me, can’t think, but I hear the voice again, “You stupid fool. Now I’m in control, and you are no longer anything. I will get rid of the pain. I will destroy you, and take you over. Goodbye ember” The pain stops. Numbness moving along my body. Losing my control. My mind goes blank  and then I am falling... falling.. towards darkness.

I wake to water crashing around me and filling my lungs. My eyes snap open and my hand is raised ready to barbecue whoever did that. I first make eye contact with Devon who is holding the bucket from yesterday. Ava is standing next to her; her eyebrows furrowed in worry. Devon seemed relieved that I woke up. I stare at both of them with a quizzical expression on my face. I then turn to look look at Devon and ask “What was that for?”

         She seemed to still be worried as she responded “You were screaming in your sleep. Something about catching someone and then you started to scream and flail your limbs around. You were having a nightmare. Ember what happened? Why were you screaming?”

         I can’t tell them the truth. I can’t show them how weak I was. How tempted I was. I’ll just tell them the edited truth.

         I shake my head and focus back on the present. Devon is still staring at me waiting for an answer. Ava was looking around her trying to extract the information with her eyes. I took a deep breath and explained what had happened, “I dreamt that I was chasing a figure through the forest. I knew that if I let them get away something bad would happen. Then when I grabbed them something tried to go into me. It was cold, slimy, and evil! I had no control of my actions. Then I felt like I was lost in my own mind. I was falling towards nothing” They were looking at me with their mouths wide open, and their jaws dropping towards the ground.