A Light in Darkness

Chapter Five

I opened my eyes, cleared of stars, and saw. I saw completely and wholly for the first time in my short life. I saw through my wind, through my trees. I saw through the luscious grass, the cold and sparkling snow. I saw through my brothers the short-haired deer; I saw through my sisters the beautiful blue jays, dipping and diving in my clear skies.

I also saw my dirty air on the Planet, my destructive mudslides. I saw my unstoppable hurricanes and gigantic tsunamis. It brought me waves of great pain and unstoppable power.

I opened my eyes and I saw everything I could see in the realms. I saw my shining golden trees on the Higher Earth, my precious flowers dotting my landscape, my golden rays warming hearts and faces of angels, humans, and demons alike. I spread my arms and saw. And loved.

I loved my nature, I loved my sky, I loved my plants, I loved my animals, I loved my moon, I loved my sun.

I loved Jenne.

I

loved

Jenne.

I could feel myself being roused from comatose state at the mention of the person hunting me, the person I still completely loved. I still loved my sister. The person who needed help. The person who needed me, no matter how desperately she thought she didn't.

I let the wind carry me to her cell on the Higher Earth, a small cube made of white plastic, soft white lights, and golden bars. I let the wind see more me as she said,

"I will find her. Master, I will. I can feel in my deepest part of myself she is near me, and I will break out of this cage and kill her."

Jenne looked down at the floor and smiled a wicked smile. "You know nothing will stop me. In the body of someone so young I have the combined power of thousands of those old. I can scent her; her stench of light is close to me." She cocked her head and started to shake again. Her already unkempt braids came undone even more as she started to vomit the black, thick liquid. I watched through my wind as it was dissolved into the floor. A sad look came over Jenne as she looked around the cell after her episode. She scratched her hair, taking in her surroundings. Then she started to cry.

"Oh Melli. What have I done."

She cried into her hands for awhile and then peeked through her pointer finger and middle finger. I could feel darkness closing in on the room as she smiled a wicked smile.

"Oh Melli, oh Melli. Whatever have I done. Ha ha ha. I will mercilessly slay you, Melli, wherever you are. My old soul is gone, and in place of it is something much newer, much more vibrant, much more ALIVE. You will see this when I find you. You will see this when you are floating in the abyss, dead."

No, no, no, I thought to myself. It looked like she was doing so well. It looked like she was turning back. Even after all the threats and degrading words Jenne had said, I still had believed she could change.

I could feel myself being roused from my state because of how distressed I was feeling. The wind sensed my discomfort and started to rush around the small cell Jenne was in, whipping up her hair and causing her to turn around in surprise. After a few small turns, a wicked gleam came into her eyes.

"You were here all along, weren't you sister?" she said, slowly cocking her head until it was horizontal to the ground. My wind still did its panicked turns around the creature inhabiting my little sister. Jenne stood completely still, and suddenly started to grab all around her, trying desperately to find my body. "Where are you sister?" she growled, pouncing around the cell. My wind swooped around the room a final time, and quickly passed out of the window to the sound of maniacal laughter. A guard, clad in all gold, walked over to the cell as my wind carried me up, up, up over the trees and into the sky, until I had an unobstructed view of the Higher Earth.