Light as a Feather

Chapter Twenty-Six

        Almost as soon as Annabelle told Cornell she was in for the game, the scene began to change. The only thing she could hear as the room swirled around her was the sound of Tyler screaming her name. 

        The room's colors changed from black and gray to different shades of blue. When the room had stopped spinning, Annabelle was sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair, and she was staring at her parents being tied up with duct tape in their mouths. Annabelle started to get up, but she couldn't. It was as if there were invisible chains stopping her. She screamed. 

        Cornell's voice began to overtake the entire room. "Oh, no. This part of the game is that you can only sit and watch, my dear." His voice faded away, and Annabelle was forced to sit and basically watch her parents struggle against the ropes and the tape keeping back their words. 

        Her parents faded away, and then Esmie took their place. Annabelle felt a lump in her throat. She still didn't cry. Esmie was shown with an orange dress, walking down the road. She called Annabelle's name a few times before a person clad completely in black stood behind her with a knife. He even wore a black mask with only a rectangle for his eyes. The knife was brought up to Esmie's throat. Annabelle fought back the scream that wanted to escape from her lips. 

        Esmie was replaced by Tyler. Tyler was staring at her, looking physically pained. He started to walk towards her, but Annabelle soon realized that there were little strings pulling on his limbs. Before her eyes, he started to turn into a puppet. His eyes became buttons, his lips were thread, and his nose was just a cloth triangle. His clothes were small strips of fabric. She blinked. At first, she hadn't cared about what was happening in the picture with Tyler, but then she mentally cursed herself when she realized that she still did care about him. But she certainly didn't want to admit it. 

        From Tyler, it surprisingly changed to Charla. Her hair was mostly cut off, self-harm scars lined her arms, and she wore strips of black. She seemed to stare into Annabelle's soul. She said, "Annabelle. Why do you hate me?" She wouldn't stop saying that. It was like she was on repeat. After saying it for what must have been ten times, Cornell was there instead. 

        "This stage of the game is complete. Get ready for the next one." He smiled devilishly. He was suddenly rushing towards her chair, and Annabelle shut her eyes so tight that it hurt. She could feel his hands turning the chair behind her. When she opened them again, she was in an arena with dirt and people surrounding it. She had learned about the arenas like this. The Greeks used to use them for fights with slaves and animals for entertainment. The slaves usually died. Shortly after thinking about this, she realized that she was face to face with a tiger. The chair disappeared, and the millions of people surrounding her cheered. Cornell was seated at the very top of the huge arena. He pulled a microphone out and yelled, "Are you ready to defeat the monster?" He laughed over the mike. 

        The first challenge had been very painful, but in the emotional way. Annabelle had hated it, but she could deal with that one. This one, however, was a challenge she was doomed to fail. She had no magic. There was no way she could defeat a hungry tiger with absolutely nothing. It circled around her, snarling and growling. 

        Annabelle scanned the area for something, anything, that she could use. It was brutally hot outside, and she was already starting to sweat. She searched, but couldn't find anything. But then she saw something. Near the arena, there were a few seats that were closer to the bottom of where she was supposed to fight so that the people sitting there could get a better view. There was a rather large man who was cheering loudly whom was holding a giant piece of meat. It resembled mutton or something like that. Annabelle could most likely get to it, but the tricky thing would be holding up the tiger until then. She looked at the large, furry cat. He'd actually be pretty cute if he didn't want to eat her. 

        She slowly began to walk towards the man with the mutton, and the cheering began to get louder. The tiger followed her. She was about halfway to the man when it looked like it was ready to pounce. Annabelle paused, hoping and praying that the tiger wouldn't. However, it did, and she barely got away. It got close enough that it scratched her ankle and she yelped in pain, but Annabelle was running faster than she ever had. She felt high on adrenaline, and when she got to the mutton man, she plucked it right out of his hand and threw it, hoping the tiger would see it. It did, of course, and he forgot her and walked over to it after staring her down for a minute. Annabelle turned around for half of a second, and saw the man's face. He looked completely shocked, but the whole crowd was laughing. 

        Annabelle made sure the tiger wasn't following or looking at her, and then she ran to where the entrance was. She was only guessing that it was an entrance, but guessing was better than nothing, so she ran. Annabelle snuck a glance back at the tiger. He was still chewing on the meat. As she kept running, the scene changed again. Annabelle fell to the floor because the room was spinning so fast. 

        When she finally stood up, she was still dizzy, but she opened her eyes anyway. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she found Cornell's ugly face right in front of her. "This phase? Level three. You get the pleasure of fighting me."

        They were in an empty, white room. It seemed to be endless, and for all she knew, it was. "I don't get the pleasure," she said. "I get the responsibility." 

        He squinted at her before backing up a little. Annabelle had to think fast. What the heck did she have that she could use? He would be attacking her at any minute. All she had was the paper, her phone, and the eyeliner. 

        Wait. 

        That wasn't all she had. 

        She looked down at her neck. If the powers in her family were currently dead... that meant the feather was worthless. Which meant that it had no power, which also led her to believe that it could come off of her neck. Before she could second-guess everything and let Cornell have the first move, she reached for it. But Cornell had already had the same idea, and charged at her, pinning down her arms. He leaned over and hissed, "You do not have the right to that magic." 

        Annabelle thought of everything that anyone had ever told her. How her mom had said that she shouldn't have to bear the responsibility of the feather's power. How her dad rarely even talked to her, and hadn't really cared about her magic in the first place. How everything had changed for her when she got that feather. She could give it up right now. But then she thought about those fairies. How they had asked for her help, and she had vowed to help them. She managed to unpin one of her arms, and, like lighting, she reached for the necklace. "No, but neither do you." She yanked the feather off of her neck and struck him in the eye. He loosened his hold her and when he did, she kicked him hard in the crotch. He screamed, and while he was writhing in pain, Annabelle tried to think of what to do next. 

        She suddenly heard Tyler's voice. "Anna, if you can hear me... anything you draw will come to life. Even if you write a simple word, it will come become real." Annabelle grinned, and pulled out the eyeliner from her pocket. She wrote, "superhuman lion that wants to get Cornell" on the ground. Almost instantly, a huge lion was bounding towards him. Cornell's eyes widened, and Annabelle looked away. She didn't want to have to do it, but what else was she supposed to do? The odds were completely against her without the information Tyler had given her. She looked at the eyeliner in her hands and smiled a little. It was so ironic that what she had nearly forgotten eventually became her friend. The thing she had turned to for so long had also been the thing that saved her.        

        After thinking those things, and after Cornell's screams died down, and she knew he was dead, she fell to her knees, and the white melted away, giving way to the black and gray of the dungeon room. Uncle Leo was standing straight up under his cage, tearstains running down his face. Apparently, Tyler had let him out. After looking around, she noticed that Cornell was a bloody mess on the floor and the lion was gone. Annabelle dry heaved towards the floor. 

         "Anna!" Tyler yelled. She heard him running towards her and then felt herself in his arms. He smelled really good, actually. After thinking about that, she hated herself for thinking it. Through half-closed eyes, Annabelle saw Tyler gesture for her uncle to follow them. He was carrying her through the door bride-style. She tightened the hand that was on his chest into a fist to make sure he was real. Her hand got a handful of shirt. She smiled and let her eyes close while she was in his arms.