Tragedy ✔️

Chapter 11

I wake up to the sound of a beeping monitor and the smell of latex gloves. My eyes flutter open, and I notice that I am sitting in a chair in a hospital room. I stretch my arms and rub my eyes, trying to make my vision focus and my mind process what is in front of me.

There is a big hospital bed with tubes supplying oxygen and blood to a figure laying unconscious in the bed. That person is Mandy. I have no idea how we even got to the hospital. Then I remember all the chaos that occurred in Mandy's residence. The gaping hole in the ground with flames springing out from it, and then Mandy and I falling into it.

Are we still in the living world, or are we in the dead world where I came from?

Just then, a doctor and a nurse enter the room and fear engulfs my body once I see the shade of their skin. Blood red. There is no doubt now that we reside in the dead world. Does that mean Mandy is...

"Mr. West," says the doctor, "How are you feeling?"

Not having the energy to stand up, I reply from the chair instead, "Doctor, I don't remember how I got here."

The doctor gives the clip board that he was holding to the nurse and motions her toward Mandy. Then he says, "You fell through a portal that brought you back to our world. I see that you also brought a guest."

The nurse finishes checking Mandy's tube and jotting down notes. She waves the doctor goodbye and heads out the door.

"A guest?" I question, "You mean she's not...dead?"

"Oh, no," chuckles the Doctor, "Your friend here is alive and well. That's why she is under all these contraptions I so long forgot about and used. We had to go to the basement to find these machines that the living use. We can't have your friend stay here. Not yet, anyway."

I shudder at his words.

"Not yet, anyway."

I clear my throat and stand up. I look at my arms and legs and see no injuries.

"You can't get hurt, Mr. West," says the Doctor, "The side effect of the portal is the feeling of actual flames burning you. They didn't actually cause any harm."

"Who exactly opened the portal?" I ask looking up at him.

Just then, the door slams open, and a figure who spreads an energy that sends chills through my spine walks in. He wears a long thick, white cape. He is tall in stature and has black medium hair and blue eyes. He isn't young but he isn't old either.

"I opened the portal," says the man.

I don't know why, but his voice is oddly familiar. The longer I keep staring at him, the realization of who he is explodes in my mind. I gasp and bow down.

"Your majesty," I say.

"Your majesty," says the doctor, bowing as well.

"No need for that, boy," he says and I am pulled up by a force. I am now standing straight and staring right into his snaky eyes.
"Let's get on with things. We have to be honest with each other if we plan to get things done. But you, doctor, you are no longer needed. I also can't risk you telling people about my visit or what I am about to discuss, so I will dispose of you now."

Before the doctor could react, the king raises his hand and a blast of fire engulfs the doctor. He screams in agony as the color in his skin starts to drain from him. He then bursts in a shot of red flames and all that is left of him is a pile of ashes. Then, those ashes fade away into nothing, leaving no trace of his existence. He is destroyed.

By now, I start to worry. Why would the king visit me in a hospital room? I must be in real trouble. I don't let my fear show and look up boldly at the king.

"You don't have to hide your fear from me," he says with a grin, "And I won't hide my motives. I am here because you did something that breaks my rules, Colin. You know that you had to finish your assigned duties in the amount of time that was assigned to you by protocol, but you refused to do that. Instead you hung around with this girl." He says motioning to Mandy in the bed. " And worst of all, you did the thing that is punishable by destruction; you spoke to the living."

I start to shrink back but stand up even straighter as he leans toward me and grabs my face with his hand. He gives me a menacing grin full of shiny white teeth and says, "I could destroy you, Colin, but I won't. I'm going to give you a chance to make up for the crime you committed."

He starts pacing around the room in circles as he speaks, "You see, Colin, for a long time, this world we are standing in was for redemption before going to a better place, but that changed when I arrived. I don't think people should get a second chance at something they failed. We don't get second chances at life in the world above, so why should we here. Plus, it ruins our economy. Believe it or not, we do have a fragile system down here. We have to have a constant supply of souls arriving to keep things turning. If that doesn't happen, the system could collapse, affecting not only this world, but others, too. Then I started thinking, why should the world above be one world, separate from every other. Why should the living have all the luxuries and the people down here not? Why should I not feel alive down here? And then it hit me. Why don't we just bring the living here? All of them."

I shiver at the thought. Could he really mean it? Does he really want to kill all the living people so he can be happy? What a selfish jerk.

"The only way for that to happen, though," he says, approaching Mandy's bed, "is for me to travel to the living world and do it myself. But I cannot leave this world because I am dead, of course. The only way I can do it is with the soul of a living person. And as luck would have it, there is one right here."

"No!" I shout as he clasps his hands on Mandy's temples and a gleam of light shines so bright that it blinds me for a minute. Mandy's soul starts to separate from her body and the king pushes it into his. His eyes widen and he smiles.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," he shouts. A Sender appears in his hand and he zaps it at the wall, opening a portal to the living world. "This girl is in a coma right now, and she will forever be as long as I have her soul. I suggest you don't test me and try to get it back. Now that I think about it, I was going to let you help me, but you already did by bringing me this lovely living soul. I can't have you running around trying to do anything that will stop me. Therefore, you are no longer of use. It was nice meeting you Colin."

He extends his arms and a similar blast a fire that destroyed the doctor is heading towards me. I jump to my left trying to dodge it, but I can feel it burn my right leg. I scream in pain and clutch my leg, trying to see the injury. So, I can get hurt in the dead world. I look up to see the king's cape go through the portal, just as it closes.

Still clutching my leg, I stand up and sit on Mandy's bed side. I hover my hand over my injury and I can feel warmth in my leg. New skin covers the wound and it looks like nothing ever happened.

This is all my fault. I dragged this girl here who had nothing to do with this place and ruined her life. But just because she doesn't have her soul doesn't mean she's gone. I can't let someone else's life be ruined because of me. Not again.

"Don't worry, Mandy," I whisper at her sleeping, soul-less body, "I will get your soul back if it is the last thing I do."

I stand up from the bed and walk toward the door. I can't do this alone. I will need all the manpower I can get to defeat the king. But I will also need someone to back me up and support me. Someone who's known me since I was born. The person who gave birth to me. I need my mother.