Always Been Forever Young

The Good. The Bad. And The Evil.

Wednesday 28th June-------

I have always been told to forgive and forget. To relax, think it through and that I would soon see the commotion just pass over. But nothing ever just 'passes over' in my world. Everything is forever. So why forgive, why forget? After what she has done. Not only to me, but to Karle. She doesn't deserve my forgiveness. She deserves my revenge....

----The Back Room-----

I laid there fidgeting, rolling my body across the bowed wooden floor still not being able to comprehend the fact that I was no longer actually in my own bed. I tried to reach out, grab my phone from of the bleach white plastic cabinet but it wasn't there. Then, later wriggling around I felt a breeze trickle up my spine and the shiver echoed through me from the open window, so leaning down I reached for my red silk duvet but it wasn't there. Finally I twigged something was wrong as I went to adjust the pillow behind me, I misjudged the size they were and dropped my head smashing it against the ground.

"Huh?" I gasped, startled and panicking I desperately searched for anything that might indicate I was at home and this was just a bad dream. But there was nothing. Gazing upwards I noticed the room was smothered head to toe in photographs, the ink still slowly sinking its way into the damp papers. A large clock was stamped into the center of the room, chiming out it's endless rhythm. Where am I? Why am I here? Where's Karle? The thoughts barricaded me from making any sense of the situation as they ran riot around my brain.
Then suddenly I felt a surge of pain rise up onto the side of my neck, I instantly gripped the spot with my hand trying to prevent it from hurting. It felt swollen and bruised, as though I had been stabbed there.
The silence felt wrong too. Something hung in the air. An uneasiness. I tried getting up, yet my body was too weak, it was yearning out to me for a break, each muscle relying solely on the next. I felt drained. Drained of all hope. Drained of all strength. My bones were brittle and my body was limp. I forced my legs out in front of me, kicking into the air in an effort to try to move. It was no good however. So I laid my head back down onto the dirt ridden ground and just waited. Waited for her.

I don't know how I knew. But I knew she was connected somehow. It was just by the way she walked, the way she talked and the way she glared into me. That didn't mean I was going to let her hurt me though, and as her footsteps drew closer to the door I struggled frantically burning any remaining energy to help me get away. But I couldn't. I felt numb, and cold. My body broken, bruised, bloody. I was helpless. I can only remember having one last thought at the time, 'I hope Karle is alright'.

She stood in my presence, bearing clothes in one arm and a green buckled box in the other. Her face was light, her mouth not drawn or creased, her whole appearance seemed well rather angelic. She moved closer sauntering near me, as if one would when they approached a baby deer not to scare them away.

"I shouldn't really be helping you. She will find out about me." She whispered close to my ear, trying to reassure me she was on my side. As I went to speak I chocked, my neck burning as I coughed.
"I don't understand." I tried to seem strong, confident but I didn't have it in me. My voice guttered, faded and lifeless. She looked down at me, the sympathy shone out through her eyes as she gently brushed back my hair.
"It's ok" She repeated. "It's all over now." What's going on? Why is she being nice? Is this a trap? I pushed her arm away from me, separating us as she jumped back a little, alarmed by what I had just done.

My senses had heightened, my vision was no longer fogged and steamy, sounds no longer murmurs in the distance and my brain seemed focused now. I was awake. I was confused. 

"Listen, tell me what's going on. I don't want your pity, I don't want your love. I want the truth. So stop petting me like I'm a five year old and start speaking." I demanded, my expression scornful and serious. I stared directly at her trying to cover my weakness.
She once again backed off, positioning herself on a chair in the back corner of the room. She rested her head in the palm of her hand, her elbow supporting it on the table as she faced the floor.

"There are three things you need to know. Who are the good, who are the bad and who are the evil." She paused gazing up at me, the sweetness still embellished in her eyes. "That is what you want to know, yes?" I pondered the thought for a second, the heat still burning through my neck.

"I want the short version of everything. Unless you haven't noticed I am injured. So let's cut the scenic route out. Why don't I remember you from school in 1925? Why don't I ever see you around? Why did you chase me the other day? And how can you speak to Karle?" She seemed overwhelmed, as if something had just hit her knocking her back into reality.

She scanned the room, walking over to the main door and bolting it. Checking it several times before returning swiftly to her seat.

"I can't help that your injured. I can't do anything more for you. The vice principle, I'm sure you know her. Well she hunts people like us. Normal people. She keeps us from ever escaping this world. I know it's a lot to expect you to understand but it will become clearer as you go along." She looked up warming me with a delicate smile.
"I mean you no harm. I was never around in 1925 because I just moved here 10 years ago after work. The vice accepted me, I guess she wanted me to get trapped here or something. Forever be in this loop. But I hid from her when I came, locked myself away so she could never hurt me. The Library is perfect. I can come closer to the truth by researching on the photos. That's why I was angry at you when you stole the year book from me. But I chased you to try and protect you." Her voice raised, as she tried to persuade me.
"If the vice ever saw you with that book she well- you know what would happen because it did happen to you. You got to close to the truth. She hunted you. She is the evil. I am the good." Lifting her head up from her hand she looked at me, as if she was trying to examine my face for traces that I didn't believe her. But she would have found none because I did. I trusted her.

"Why am I here then and what about Karle the other person who was lying on the floor, what happened to him? " I leaned forward trying to anticipate the answer.

"You are like me a normal, I couldn't leave you there. And as for the boy, Karle right. Well he is the bad." Karle is the bad? That's not right I kept repeating to myself. Karle is not part of this. 

"No, no. Not Karle, why is he the bad?" I was in denial I barely even wanted to hear the truth.

"Cause he played you. He fell to the ground purposely to distract you while they injected you with a sleeping drug." I touched the mark on my neck, it felt unwelcoming and foreign.

"The boy got up from the floor when you were carried away. That Karle he is a liar. "

Karle a liar! After everything we did together he would betray me. I've been used. I have no one to trust. I'm so stupid. Why would he ever love me? It all makes sense now....