Victoria

Chapter 25

The light, so far away, stays where it is. What is it? I try to look at myself, my dress and hands, but everything is dark. When I look back to the light, it has moved. The light is bigger than before. How? I watched it for at least a minute and it did not move.

 Getting a strange feeling that someone is watching me, I scratch my neck and look behind me. Nothing is there. I turn back around, and the light is even bigger! I stare at the light, and the faintest thing inside the light I think I see movement. Not knowing what will happen, I step towards the light. The ground, or whatever this is, is keeping me upward. I look up from the darkness holding my feet and the light is bigger. Now I am for sure there is something in it.

 I step forward again towards the light, and the light comes closer. I begin taking more steps, and as I am walking and looking at the light, I look at down for an instant. I tremble and fall to my hands and knees. My first instinct is to move my hand to my abdomen. Everything is fine.

 I stand up and, this time, I keep my eyes on the light. It has gotten bigger since I have taken my eyes away. I walk again to the light. When I am up close to it, I try to see through it to the other side. I think I see people, but it is too blurry.

 I lift my hand to the light. Wondering what to do now that I have reached the light, I touch it. It is warm, but not what I expected. It feels warm, but almost as if it was a window in winter. In winter, if you were to touch a window it would be cold. That is how this light feels.

 With my hand still touching the light, I peer closer into the light. I gasp when my hand suddenly gets cold. I look at my hand and pull it back in shock. My hand was in the light! That brings a thought to my mind.

 Once again I lift my hand to the light. I push my hand through it. A wide smile flashes on my face. All at once, I step through the light. When I am through the light, I gawk in amazement where I am- and I understand why my hand was cold when I touched the light.

 As I stand where I am, I look at my surroundings. I am standing in the woods behind the manor my mother and father owned in England. This was the place I grew up at. But why am I here? And why is it winter? I wish I had a coat. It is freezing!

 “Victoria! Victoria!” I hear. I turn around in fear. How did the Destroyers find me here? I look frantically for them, but I do not see them. “Victoria!” I hear again. I know that voice. The voice is not slithery or shaky. It is not a destroyer. That, I know for sure, is Jane's voice.

 I walk around the woods until I am in the back courtyard. In front of me, I see everything I once lived.

 Sarah throws a snowball at Daniel. “Hey!” Daniel yells.

 “Wait for us!” Edward says, stopping to help Jane who had fallen.

 “Be careful, Jane. You wouldn’t want Mr. Henry yelling at you for making your dress all muddy.”

 “Victoria, why didn’t Sarah wait for Edward and me to play with snowballs?” Jane asks.

 I am standing in the snow watching the day that changed my life. As I watch, tears come up in my eyes. We were so young. Looking at the younger me, all dressed up in my winter clothes, I see the changes between the way I look now and the way I did then.

 “Ok, go and hide behind whatever, and I’ll yell ‘Go’ when two minutes are up.” Daniel says. Sarah looks at the younger me and the two of them run off into the woods. I follow them, stepping the same way I did before. I watch the younger me gather snowballs beside Sarah. When they are done, they put their backs to the tree.

 There is a noise out deeper in the woods. I and the younger me look to see what it is. I stare in shock at what I see. As I remember, the last time I looked when I was younger I saw nothing. But because I am older and my eyes are mature to see what Felix has trained me to see, I am looking at what made the noise.