Downfallers: Marcia Skirvin's Melancholy

Chapter Ten: The shrine

I woke up with a start. What a weird dream! That was so bizarre! I shook my head and stood up. I frowned as I looked at my right hand. It was lightly shaking, and I felt weird. I felt angry. I quickly walked down the stairs of the attic, then down to the living room. I opened the door wide and ran outside.

''Sara? What are you doing?''

I ignored my mom and thought about what my friend had said earlier. Niobe was right. Marcia had done the same thing to her. But why would Marcia wait so long to do it to me? Of course. She wanted to use me longer. I couldn't go talk to her unless I wanted to look dumb. I decided to trust the other downfaller. I sympathized with her and her own experience with Marcia. I knew what I would do. I was going to be even meaner to Marcia. I was going to use her too. She didn't know for sure that I knew, so I would go to her and act all innocent, then slowly use her more and more, than stab her in the back before she could return the favour. 

I walked towards the forest and stopped in front of the first tree. That was the forest where Allie became a downfaller. Maybe the beginning of everything, of Marcia's new life and attitude. I stepped over a tree root and entered the forest. It was also the forest where Marcia hid her spear and where I learned the existence of fireflies. The beginning of all the lies. 

For some reason, I was still mad. Really mad. I lept over a small stream crushing the leaves under my feet as I landed. The beginning of Niobe's suffering. My beginning as a puppet for Marcia Skirvin. I still couldn't believe that she tricked me, pretending to be all nice and friendly with me, to only ditch me when she wanted. The thing was that I didn't know why she needed me. I wasn't a downfaller nor an important person, neither a dangerous criminal. I wasn't unique in any sort, so why? Why couldn't she leave me alone? Did I really look like someone she knew before they died or was it also a lie?

I arrived at the clearing and grinned as I thought of something. Marcia needed that weapon to kill the monsters. What if I hid it? She would have to look everywhere for it and be chased by the firefly at the same time. I walked to the rock and rolled it over. I took the weapon and lifted it in the air. It was pretty heavy. I had seen the downfaller wield it like it was nothing. How strong was she really? 

I rolled the rock back on the hole and dragged the spear with me. I continued straight ahead and crossed a barrier of climbing plants. I kept walking straight. Something about this forest was familiar, and I didn't know what. After a while, I arrived in front of a steep hill. As I suspected, Allie's shrine was still there. However, it was all smashed up and broken in small pieces. I walked over to it and dropped the spear and put my hand on a white rock. What carnage. I was sure that it used to be pretty and imposing. Who could have damaged it that bad? I decided to rearrange it. I bent down and began to pick rocks and put them in line. I rolled the bigger ones and tried to stack them up over each other. In the end, it kind of looked like a temple, but not that much. 

There was a big rectangular plate on top that had been fractured in two that I assumed to be the place where you put stuff for rituals. On it, there were lines of red dots. It didn't know what they were, but they looked odd. They weren't naturally part of the shrine. Some had a darker colour and were almost covered in rock dust. The newest and redder one was the first one of a new line. I thought about everything for a second. 

This was a downfaller shrine where they prayed for something, and in exchange, they became saviours of the world. Were the red dots their mark? But... For this line, there was only one red dot. Allie had become a downfaller, but what about Marcia? Why wasn't her mark there? That was weird.

I took a deep breath in and suddenly realized that if I wanted, I could become a downfaller. Right now, I was in front of the shrine. I could wish for something and save the world from the creatures. I could see them and help Niobe kill them. I put my hands together and closed my eyes. What could I wish for? My life was normal; I was happy. I could wish for Allie's well-being, but that wasn't my business. I could wish for Marcia to suffer as much as she made Niobe and me suffer. I smiled wickedly. Oh, yes. I could make her pay. The thought of that filled me of joy. But I frowned and shook my head. It wasn't who I was. What was I thinking?

From afar, I heard the sound of snapping fingers. I opened my eyes. I knew what that meant. I walked away from the altar and up the hill to hide behind the climbing plants. In the clearing, Marcia was moving the rock and looking for her spear. She jumped away from the hole and rolled on the ground. She got up and snapped her fingers again. She ran back to the hole and dug in it. She looked around, desperate. She suddenly yelled and grabbed her leg. She punched the air over it many times. I wasn't far from her, and I saw her wound. It was biting marks that kept getting bigger and more profound. Little red dots were also all along her leg where the monster was probably hooked on.

Marcia managed to pick up the rock and threw it at the invisible firefly. She got up, limping. She looked around, trying to keep calm and breathing hard. Then, it looked like something had pushed her in the back because she fell forward and rolled on the ground. She lifted her hands over her, grabbing the firefly and trying to kick it with her uninjured leg. I didn't exactly know what fireflies looked like, but this one was probably bigger than the others. It looked like a big dog the way Marcia was holding it. It moved around and scratched her. Breathing fast, she winced then screamed!

''Where the hell is my spear? I could have killed you already, like always!''

I realized that I was just standing there, with her spear, as she was almost getting killed. It was a strange feeling. I didn't have to wish for her to suffer. She was doing it herself. She uttered a distress cry, and I saw a red mark on her shoulder. Blood was dripping to the ground, making a red puddle under her. I couldn't watch anymore. Her face was tense, and her eyes were almost rolling in her orbits. She was panting, a faint sound coming out of her mouth.

''I can't die now... Not now... It's too soon...''

She arched her back, and I saw a weird grey light come out of her. Was the firefly sucking out her aura? The phenomenon stopped, and she got dragged away like an animal was pulling her by the shoulder. A red stain followed them. The girl still had her eyes open and was trying to hit the beast. I couldn't let it kill Marcia. I grabbed the spear and swung it on my shoulder. I ran out of the bushes and yelled. I swung the weapon back on the spot behind Marcia and hit something. Marcia's body fell on the ground as I swung the weapon and hit the thing again. I yelled and raised it and stuck it in the monster. The spear moved around for a couple of seconds, then stopped and stayed still. I breathed hard and let the weapon fall to the ground. I looked at Marcia. Her eyes were closed, and her shirt was stained with blood.

''Sara?'' She whispered.

I didn't answer. I ripped her shirt, and examined the wound. Her skin was all torn and damaged, and blood was streaming out of it. I applied pressure with her shirt, and she yelped in pain. I didn't move. I knew enough about stuff to know how to stop a bleeding wound. She was fidgeting around, and I blocked her legs and arms from moving. Her eyes were shut tight, and she was begging me.

''Please, Sara, stop! I beg you; it just hurts more! Stop it!''

I felt bad. If I hadn't taken her spear, she wouldn't be in this state. Being mean wasn't the same thing as physical suffering. However, I couldn't let my guard down. She was a manipulative person. I stayed there, not talking, ignoring her complains and her cries. After a while, I had to move her or she would get sick and die there. I tied her shirt around her bite and gave her my jean jacket. I helped her get up and put her good arm around my shoulder. She was wincing, but she didn't say anything. We walked out of the clearing and into the forest.

0***0

I had made a mistake. A terrible mistake. If only I had been courageous enough to let her suffer or wish for something, maybe I wouldn't have suffered so much.