Two

Chapter Three

"Well-" I start. "It's obvious why I'm here. I basically have a demon as my second half, and she's dangerous...very, dangerous." I pause for a second and begin again. Bryce's eyes are glued to me.

"My father was a drunk, and my mum worked as a Kindergarten teacher. He couldn't keep a job, and she didn't make much, but the three of us got by okay...that is, until my mother found out she was pregnant again." I say. I wait, and then begin once more.

"When she had the baby, everything changed. There was one more mouth to feed, more attention to be given to a child, more, more, more! But believe me when I tell you, Ethan was the best thing that ever happened to me. He was the best little brother I could have ever asked for, and it made me want to protect him, and keep him safe at all times." I stop again. It's been so long since I've spoken about him. I start again.

"When I was fourteen, he was eleven. Far too young to have to understand what I would become, and what would happen later on in that afternoon." I say. Bryce nods.

"We had gone for a walk one afternoon, when a n old tree decided it would be the best idea to screw up my life completely, and forever. One of it's big branches broke off, and fell; the object that stopped it...was me." Bryce's eyes widen, and her jaw drops. I continue.

"I remember hearing a ringing in my ears. My vision was a searing white light, and my head felt like it was going to explode. Ethan had stood over me, had tried to lift the branch off of me, but being eleven, he couldn't accomplish much. The branch overpowered him. He ran to go get our parents, with tears streaming down his cheeks."

"I had never wanted him to feel pain...and now knowing that I had caused him that pain, and I couldn't comfort him, was death in itself. Even if this branch hadn't killed me, his tears certainly had."

"When I was alone, I remember it suddenly became cold, and the skies turned grey above me. All of a sudden my breathing quickened, and turned into sharp, quick, spastic breaths. I was scared. Nobody could help me, I was dying, and there was nothing I could do about it...so, instead, I accepted it. I closed my eyes." Bryce still stares at me intently.

"I was ready. I had accepted the fact that I was practically dead in my head already; so when instead I felt a finger on my forehead, I felt confused." 

"I couldn't open my eyes, and I couldn't move either. I'm sure there were several different branches and splinters of sorts, embedded in my body, making me bleed. So, since vision, and mobility weren't an option, I decided to use the only thing I could; I spoke. 'Mum, is that you?' I asked. But all I received was a chuckle, and a harder press to my forehead...and then the owner spoke. His voice was evil, and wispy, and he told me this:

'No little girl, but someday you'll thank me for this. You'll see.' he laughed once more, and then said the words that changed my life, forever: as he laughed, he said 'And this, is really, going to hurt.' he cackled, and then pressed harder upon my forehead."

"I screamed. My head felt like a few thousand watts of electricity was surging through it. The finger, and the presence of the owner to it was gone, and I was left there again."

"The electricity that filled my head suddenly stopped, and something far worse festered in it. It was her. She laughed in my head, and for the first time in my life, I was truly terrified."

"'This is it.' I thought to myself. I thought I was gone...but then she stopped, and she vanished."

Bryce is still staring and listening.

"It took me several attempts, but finally, I was able to open my eyes. The sky above me had become even darker than when I had closed them before, than before the unknown man, before the horror I had just encountered. I was unaware of the branch that still held me down until I tried to move again-I couldn't."

"So, I waited for Ethan. I didn't feel like I was being crushed by a tree branch anymore. At the time, I thought it was the adrenaline that pumped through my veins tat allowed me to feel that way; but now that I look back on it..I'm not so sure it wasn't her that kept me alive."

"It was about that time when I head Ethan, and my mother running towards me...my father, strolling over towards me, got there eventually.

"'Oh my God!' my Mother had said, tears streaming down her face just as Ethan's had been, and still was. She tried to lift the branch off of me. She couldn't."

"Eventually, and with the help of Ethan and Father, they had successfully lifted the branch off of me after several failed attempts."

"I had cuts everywhere, and I couldn't move my legs for a while; but I wasn't dead. When we got me to a hospital all the doctors said it was a miracle, that God had really been watching over me. And the whole time, she cackled on and on inside my head."

Bryce looks at me, looks at me as if she is looking at someone completely different, someone new. Then she speaks,

"But, why are you here? They didn't know about Scarl- I mean, her. What happened to make them believe that it really wasn't miracle?" she asks confused.

I look at her.

" What happened was-" but I am cut off by Reggie and the other prison guards who tell us that it is time for us to eat.

I look at Bryce, and say "I'll tell you everything later on, I promise."

She nods. We stand. We move forward.

Together.