Warped, My Vision

Chapter Six

AN: This chapter is the second to last one (not counting the epilogue). I promise I'll go back and o some real edits once I figure out what I'm doing with Carrie's backstory. Sorry this is all so rough.

The road trip passes like sand in an hour glass; painfully slow, but not slow enough. I don't know how many times I'll have to keep chasing Aaron like this, but something tells me that this note marks the end of our search. We pull into the parking lot of another old, empty-looking home, and get out of the car.
    "Do you know where this barn is?" Carries asks Miss Light. She shakes her head forlornly.
    "I don't think we need to know," I say, taking a step down the road and staring into the distance.
    "Should we look in the house then?"
    "No. I'm sure whatever we're looking for is in the barn." Miss Light says, firmly.
    "Should we get back into the car and search for it?"
    "We need to look on foot," I say, pulling out my flashlight to chase away the darkness.  Carrie and Miss Light silently follow me further away from the car, and along the border of the woods without questioning why I'm so set on searching on foot. Time and sound blend together.
    I'm pulled out of my trance by a intense gust of wind, blowing into the forest. I let it push me in, and follow the direction it was blowing. Wordlessly, the others follow my lead. My sense of time perception seeps away from me.  We could have been walking a year, or we could have been walking for five minutes, but eventually, we find a clearing, and in the middle is a dilapidated barn with ivy-covered walls. It looks like it might collapse at any moment. Carries takes in a slow breath. I'm sure thoughts are storming inside her skull like a hurricane, but for the first time in a while, I can see the calm, collected, and determined young woman who's been my closest friend for years.
    "I don't know what's about to happen, but I have the feeling that it isn't going to end well. I'd like to take the opportunity here to tell you two that you mean more to me than you think, and that I love you," Carrie says. Silence. I've forgotten how to speak or to breathe. I want to cry. Aaron's mom looks at her with a sort of grim responsibility.
    "If I don't come out of there again, you should take the car keys." She holds out her hand, and suddenly it strikes me that it was shaking, and small, and frail, and so utterly human and mortal. Carrie silently accepts the car keys.
    "I love you guys, too," I manage to say, quietly. Carrie nods and hugs me momentarily, before pulling away and taking a preparatory breath.
    "Let's go."

xXx

We walk around the barn in circles looking for a way in before we find the original door, still hanging on by one hinge. The inside of the barn is almost a solid block of dusty twilight darkness, and my flashlight is nearly useless.
    The three of us stand there for a moment, looking around for something obvious.  Carrie begins walking towards something, but silently motions for Miss Light and I to stay where we are. By the time she reaches her destination, my eyes have adjusted to the gloom, and I can make out a humanoid figure lying in an unnatural position on the floor of the barn. She leans down, to check the pulse, I think.
    "It's Aaron," she says. My heart skips a beat and I begin running towards them.
    "His heart isn't beating," she says, pale face flashing in the darkness, stopping me in my tracks. "I'm sorry, Zachary."
    I can't move. It's like I'm underwater again, and I'm completely paralyzed by the cold liquid darkness curling itself around my body.
    "You're right. His heart isn't beating," an unfamiliar voice says, deep and with a slight growl. Carrie stands up, and faces the shadowy figure standing between Ambre Light and the exit of the barn.
    "I thought as much," Carrie says, coldly. Who is that figure? "It was you in the water."
    "Yes," the voice affirms. Something about the way the syllables unnaturally hiss out of its mouth reminds me of my nightmarish illusion of demon Aaron.
    Aaron's mom slowly turns around, and begins backing up when she sees the figure. It chuckles at her.
    "Your silly antics haven't changed at all..." It takes a single steps towards her, covering a surprising amount of distance. She continues taking shaking steps backwards, but then she falls to the ground. Instead of standing again, Ambre Light simply curls herself into as tight a ball as she can manage.
    "Wh-Who are you?" I manage to force the words out of my throat.
    "I am Aaron's father, I suppose--" the figure steps close enough that I can make out the features of an abnormally tall man clad in a black coat. He smiles, and slowly shifts in form. A moment passes, and before us stands a distinctly feminine demon still clad in the same black coat. She smiles, revealing gleaming, sharp, teeth as she curls her dark purple lips up into a predatory smirk. "--Although that title leaves me with the connotation of remaining in male form all of the time. I actually prefer my female form when needing to appear human. Naturally, however, it is most comfortable to simply reveal my true form--but poor Ambre here can barely stand to see my face as a man."
    "What do you want with us?" Carrie asks, grabbing my arm and protectively pulling me away from the demon. In response the demon chuckles.
    "Well..I did think that there was something familiar about you when I first saw your lovely corpse...That was indeed me who pulled you out of the welcoming embrace of death, by the way. It's strange..." The demon trailed off for a moment, pulling out an oval shaped, emerald, amulet from underneath the neckline of her coat. "The amulet really has felt heavier as I've drawn you closer to me. It's almost like fishing, and you just keeping struggling more and more as I pull you out of the water."
    The demon chuckled again, a dark sound that reminded strangely of death. "Perhaps I should have chosen a cave for this rendezvous, instead. I will admit, however, I rather enjoyed the poignant effect of using those song lyrics." Carrie narrowed her eyes at the demon and took a step closer to it. The demon's smile widened.
    "It's not like you truly remember any of the events surrounded the amulet. That wasn't truly you. Just another inhabitant of the same soul, if you will. In the end, this isn't even about you..." The demon crouched down next to the slightly shaking form of Aaron's mother, and gently caressed the side of her face. She flinched violently, trying to evade the hand. Instead, the demon cruelly strengthened her grip on Ambre's face, and forced her to make eye contact. Carrie ran another few steps and lashed out with her right arm. The demon easily caught her punch, and before I could even gasp in horror, Carrie was on her back on the ground, and the demon was on top of her. The same amused smirk playing across her cruel face as before.
    "You really never learn do you? Just like the you from before." The demon leaned down closer to Carrie and whispered something in her ear, voice seeping out like warm steam. Carries face turned red as she struggled against the impossible strength of the demon, eventually giving in and relaxing.
    "Much better...I do hope I meet you again, as you are one of the more entertaining mortals." The demon cupped her face idly, then stood up.
    "Well, here's where I reveal my grand master plan. Ambre Light, you're the one I'm after today, but you have a choice." Aaron's mother curled in on herself tighter. "Either leave with me, and let your son continue living, or leave with these mortals and bury him." I heard a muffled sob from Ambre, and I shook my head incredulously.
    "Well? Which life should be allowed to continue? One is considerably more poisoned than the other, so choosing carefully, my darling."
    Ambre light slowly sat up, took in a long, shuddering, breath, and stood, looking her demon in its red eyes. "Take me."
    Carrie sat up with a grim look in her eyes. What if Aaron doesn't want his life? Is Ambre throwing hers away for nothing? The demon smiled, and I heard a quiet, familiar, groan from behind me.
    "Aaron!" I nearly shouted, sprinted the last few steps toward his crumpled form and pulling him into my arms. He was breathing again. I could feel it. I sighed and pulled him closer to me, his half lidded eyes flickering in response.
    "Mon fils!" Ambre exclaimed, rushing towards us and kneeling on his other side, wrapping him in an embrace and sobbing quietly.
    "Maman?" he asked, shakily. "Maman!" He hugged her back, sobbing into her shoulder.
    "Beautiful, isn't it?" I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. "I have absolutely no regret for ruining such a glowing moment, but I'm afraid we have an agreement, Ambre Light. Goodbye Aaron. Pray that our paths cross nevermore."
Aaron and his mother break apart. Aaron looks so utterly terrified that I can't find the right combination of words to communicate what it was behind his eyes.
"No...Please, don't take her. Take me. I don't want this life."
"That's not your choice." The demon reaches out towards Ambre, but Aaron jumps in
between them. The demon bats him away like a ragdoll. He lands on the dusty barn floor, rolling a few feet, then struggling onto his knees, red eyes glowing in anguish. 
    "No!" he screams painfully, voice reaching a heart-wrenching volume. The demon cups Ambre's cheek, and the two disappear. Aaron stumbles to his feet and takes several sprinting steps forward, collapsing onto the spot where his mother had been standing a moment prior.
    Gingerly, I pull Aaron back into my arms and struggle to pull him out of the godforsaken barn, closely followed Carrie.
    We take a moment to look back, standing vacantly in the clearing. Aaron is leaning, catatonically, against my shoulder. He slowly stumbles along beside us. We stop, and when we look back, the barn collapses in on itself as if on cue with the end of a story, the end of a life.