Between the Willow Trees [NaNoWriMo 2013] (Editing)

Chapter 21: The Ending

Chapter 21: The Ending

The next morning I let everyone fuss around me, doing my hair and makeup. Then I jump into my dress, shoes and jewellery. By the time I’m ready I hardly look like myself. My hair has been tamed into tidier curls, with parts braided and pinned back. A silver circlet is placed on my head, obviously decorated with diamonds and emeralds. I don’t get given a necklace to wear as I’ll clearly be wearing Thorne’s silver pocket watch, but I do get a pair of earrings and a few bracelets. My makeup is very simple, with most of the focus on my eyes.

All I can think of when I look at myself in the mirror is that I wish this were a normal wedding. I want to be marrying a normal guy and for my parents to be alive. I don’t want this fantasy world I longed for when I was younger. I just want to be normal. I shouldn’t be worrying about this now though. I don’t have to marry him anymore.

This is all going to be over soon though. I’ve read the book and I have my plan all worked out now. By the end of the day Thorne will be dead and I can go back to that normal life, whatever that may be.

At first I am going to go along with the wedding. I have got all dressed and ready. I’m going to grab my flowers and get ready to head down to the main hall where the wedding is going to take place and then I’m going to mysteriously disappear.

“Five minutes to go,” announces Ellen. Aywin does a quick last minute check of my whole appearance, fixing my dress and moving misplaced hairs on my head.

“I really need to go to the bathroom,” I state to the room. There’s a murmur of complaints from the maids that had helped get me ready and Aywin looks as though I’ve just told him that I enjoy murdering children.

“You can’t do that now, my dear. It’s far too late. You should have gone before we got you in the dress,” he says.

“I need to go otherwise I’ll end up having a very embarrassing accident as I walk down the aisle,” I insist.

“Okay, Ellen darling, will you help her hold her dress?” Aywin asks.

Ellen nods my head as I shake mine.

“I think I can handle this on my own,” I say, rushing to the bathroom before anyone can stop me from doing so. I lock the door behind me.

Whilst reading the book about Thorne last night I’ve discovered how his pocket watch really works. If I turn both hands to thirteen o’clock and recite the place I want to travel to in my head then I can use the watch to travel through space and time. I turn the hands to thirteen and recite the name of the place in my head over and over again. The Dark Mountains. The Dark Mountains. The Dark Mountains.

Suddenly I feel the familiar sensation of traveling through the time stream. I open my eyes and smile when that thought is confirmed by the rainbow fog I’m flying through. Then I begin to fall and land on the ground. I get up and glance around, taking in the setting.

I’m surrounded by black rock that glows red in places. It’s so unbearably hot and the sky is dark even though it’s still morning. I’m in some kind of cave with a big pit in the middle. Cautiously I take steps forward to peep down the hole. It’s a pit full of a fiery orange glow. I suppose it’s like a volcano, though I’ve never actually stood on the edge of one before.

 I walk away from it again and take a seat on a big rock as I wait for Thorne to arrive.

Last night I found out that the pocket watch is lot more complex than I had first thought. It’s really is a part of Thorne, the book described it as being a second heart. When he first gave me the pocket watch to keep he wasn’t simply giving me a time travelling device, he was giving me his heart. He trusted me with his heart, quite literally. Thorne is also able to watch the wearer of the pocket watch, which is how I know he will shortly be arriving here.

It’s easy to damage the pocket watch, though like Thorne the only way it can truly be destroyed is by throwing it into the fire in which it was created. Damaging the pocket watch will also injure Thorne, like a voodoo doll I guess.

Just a few minutes pass and then Thorne appears out of thin air.

“Why are you here?” he asks. His voice is full of emotion: anger, fear and confusion. He’s probably about to piece it all together.

“I can’t marry you Thorne,” I explain.

“That I can understand,” he says. “It is happening all too fast for you. It is no surprise that you are having second thoughts, but why are you here? Why bring me here, Astrid? What is going on?”

I stand up.

“You made me murder my parents and you made yourself king of Elethoria, killing anyone who got in your way. There have been many plots made to get you off of the throne, but my plan will be the only one to succeed.”

“You do not want to do this, Astrid, not really,” says Thorne sounding ever so worried.

“Actually, you’re right Thorne. Right now there is so much doubt in my mind. Mainly because, over the time I’ve spent with you in Elethoria, I think that I might’ve begun to really fall for you. Either that or it just got a lot easier to pretend. I don’t want to kill you, but unless I can convince you to stop all this nonsense then I’m afraid I’ll have to.”

Before he can disappear I smash the pocket watch on the ground. The glass on the front of it shatters and Thorne collapses on the ground, crying out in pain. The sound rushes straight through me and it take all of my strength to continue to go ahead with my plan. I put the pocket watch back around my neck for safe keeping and then run towards Thorne.

He’s still on the ground, suffering badly. When I reach him I grab onto his shirt and pull him onto his feet. Then, using all my strength I push him as hard as I can. He stumbles backwards until he tumbles over the edge, falling into the pit of fire.

“Astrid!” he yells as he falls. I lean over the edge and watch. Suddenly everything’s in slow motion. I see Thorne falling to his death and then seconds later he’s gone but he hasn’t yet reached the fire. I realise immediately that he’s disappeared into the time stream. I don’t have time to be angry that my plan didn’t work because the unexpected happens. Just seconds after he vanished, I vanish too.

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Yes, that really is the end of the story. No, I'm not going to just leave it there. I had to stop though because I wouldn't have been able to get everything written in a month otherwise. There will be some form of a sequel that I will write very soon because there's so many unresolved things that need resolving, obviously. Thank you so much for reading if you've bothered to stick with this story until the very end!