Tragedy ✔️

Chapter 29

His eyes burn right through me. Right through my soul. My stomach turns at his sight and my palms get clammy. He inflicts fear even when he isn't trying to. The king is hell himself.

"Colin, West." he says my name slowly. We are in a wide room, the king in front of me with Starla behind him, her arms crossed and a sly grin on her face. Susan and Richard stand behind me, their guns drawn. Then I see her.

Charlotte is chained to a chair by a big window. Tape covers her mouth and her hair is a mess. She is filthy and her eyes are red. Probably because she's been crying.

Looking out the window behind Charlotte, I grow confused. The scene out the window is hell. In the distance, the burning city of New York can be seen, but water separates us from the city and I notice we are in high altitude.

"We had to check out of the Empire State Building," cackles the king, "So we booked the Statue of Liberty. Isn't the observatory fantastic?"

"You don't scare me," my voice echoes, "You don't scare any of us."

"Oh, really?" he chuckles, "Humanity is being vanquished the very moment we speak. Earth is ablaze in flames and soon nothing will remain but a giant black ball of rock. Despite all of this, you don't fear me?"

I feel my fingers curling in my hand to form fists. I want to knock that stupid grin off his stupid face. He is playing with me. With all of us.

"I thought so," he says, "You are scared of me. Scared that I will kill this little girl. You see, she isn't any use to us really. We just took her for leverage. We know you would walk right into the trap with her here. Now that you are here, we will get rid of your puny little army and there is nothing that will stop us."

"If you hurt her," I spit, "I will kill you. Yes, you know it is possible now. Your little trick that stripped us from our magic pulled us down in the fight, and then your move with the sun made us vulnerable to any kind of death, again. But that is where you went wrong. You can die as well now."

"You're right, Colin," he says, "But it all depends on who kills who first."

His hand is up in the air quicker than the speed of light. I feel the king's hands on my neck even though they are not really on me. I try to breathe from my nose, then from my mouth when that doesn't work. I can't breathe in any way and I begin to see dark spots in my vision.

I see Susan shoot at the king but Starla uses her magic to stop the bullets. It seems she still has her powers intact. I can hear Charlotte trying to scream behind the tape. I feel myself being lifted off the ground and look down to see I am levitating. I can't hold on much longer. I am being choked to death.

Richard pulls me to the ground and tries to help me but it's no use. As long as the king is alive he will not stop trying to kill me.

I'm laying on the ground, choking, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Susan run out of ammo. She catches Starla off guard and throws her heavy gun at her, knocking her unconscious. Susan runs across the room and tackles the king down, releasing me from his magical grip.

I gasp and take in big breaths of air. My lungs expand and retract at a high speed. My head hurts and I feel dizzy, so I stay put on the floor. Richard instructs me to breathe in and out slowly when Susan screams in pain.

The king and she are fist fighting and Susan took a big blow, but she is instantly on her feet again. She swings her arm at him but he catches it. She lifts her up by her arm from the ground and hauls her across the room, sending her to crash on the wall and fall on the ground in a heap. She doesn't move.

"Susan!" I shout. Richard leaves my side, picks up his gun, and points it at the king. He stands there, legs spread, gun ready.

"Shoot him!" I shout, "Richard, shoot him now!"

He doesn't move. In less than a second, Richard turns around and is now facing me, his gun pointing straight at my head. Ants crawl up my skin and I feel the hairs on my back lift.

"What the hell are you doing?" I whisper. Behind Richard, I see the king with his arms crossed and a big grin plastered on his face. "Tell me what the hell is going on, Richard!"

"There's nothing to say, Colin," says Richard, "Only that you are really stupid. You were our target form the beginning, and you never knew. You were so blinded that it was so easy to get all of this to play out on its own. We never needed Charlotte, we needed you. Without you, this world cannot be cleansed, and the new world cannot commence."

"To hell with you," I spit, "How could you do this? I trusted you, and so did everyone else. You were our leader. These are innocent people you are killing!"

"No one is innocent," he says blankly and turns around to face the king. He takes off his helmet and that is when I see it. On his neck is a tattoo of a skeleton key, and a heart with a keyhole.

"You..." tears fill my eyes and rage floods me. My voice cracks. "You killed her you son of a-"

"Yes," interrupts Richard, turning back to face me, "Yes, I did. I killed Margaret Pudge and I do not regret it because it was the right thing to do."

"I see you're a monster just like the one standing behind you, but you will suffer one day. You will be punished for you are damned."

Richard stares at me looks back to the king for a second. He turns back, gives me a small smile and says, "So be it."

"Colin," says the king, "As Richard said, we need you for our cause. We need your help."

"I will never help you," my voice trembles with anger.

The king smiles, which makes me shiver. He turns around and paces in a small circle for a bit. Is he trying to taunt me?

Just then, the king waves his hands and everything I see next is in slow motion. Charlotte goes flying out the window, chair and all. The glass window shatters and the force of the magic makes the tape rip off her mouth. She screams, a chilling scream, and I realize I am screaming too.

"No!" my voice roars as I sprint to the window. My hands get cut from the remaining shards of the glass-less window, but the pain is nothing compared to the fear I feel. Looking down, I see Charlotte is on the concrete, close to the edge of the water. Her neck is twisted to one side, her legs perpendicular to each other, and there is a red stain right underneath her head.

When I blink, she is no longer there. I blink. I see the king wave his hand. I blink. I see Charlotte in the room, chained to the chair with tape over her mouth. I blink again and the king is in front of me once more.

My hands are shaking and I am broken. Cries of relief escape me when I see Charlotte is safe and sound in the room, for now.

"Wha- what was that?" I whisper. My eyes are wide open, fixed on a spot on the floor while I try to comprehend what I saw.

"You see, Colin," says the king, "We need you for our plans to succeed, but in order for that to happen, you have to turn yourself in willingly."

I am in shock, broken down, and overall, terrified. I didn't even pay much attention to what he said but I know what he wants me to do.

"And if you don't," his voice creeps under my skin, "You know what will happen."

"Don't. Hurt. Anyone." I say under gritted teeth.

"Then you know what you must do."

I've never felt so much anger inside of me. Not when my mom didn't buy me that toy I wanted for my birthday. Not when a kid in kindergarten took my lunch. Not when Annie told me she was leaving me on my own to seek out her own life.

Despite my anger at the beast before me, I say under my breath, "Deal."