Journey to Psitharis

Chapter 46

Forty-six

"The great usurper, come at last!" Myrtha announced, a voice that had plagued me for almost two decades with its constant criticism and abuse. But there was something different about it; it was confident, it was assured. She was my greatest tormentor, to be certain, but not like this; never like this. Confusion filled every pore in my body.

"Why...do you look like that?" I asked. "I don't know you. You are not my enemy."

I heard laughter, probably from the gymnasium. Surely I sounded like a mad person speaking to Jennifer in this manner. But they did not know who I was addressing. The princess did, however. And her look of triumph almost reminded me of the smile my mother had given me this morning as she announced her intentions; that small smirk I caught during dinner the night before. They were one and the same. "Oh, but I am. I am only one incarnation of the enemies you have made over your lifetime. We are many. It is how we were able to take over your pathetic little world and make it our own. And you created each and every one of us."

"We?" I asked. "There are more of you?"

"We all exist in this same body. The people you loved who betrayed you, the people who hated you, the people you hated; we are all one. I am the one you destroyed, the one you selfishly impaired through the act of being born. What could I have done, what could I have been, if a mistake such as yourself had not come to ruin me? I am the regret that hangs over you like a shroud. And your vile contempt for me only made me stronger over the years. The dreams I was forced to surrender for you became nightmares for the people of this land. And, of course, the blame lies squarely on your shoulders."

"But....the queen...." I stammered.

"The queen? Merely a figurehead. A representation of what you thought had prompted the evil in this land. Easily created, easily destroyed. We are the true power in your world. And you are only one. What hope do you have of defeating us?" She stepped closer, a hideous satisfaction spreading across her face, distorting it, making it frightening. There was laughter filling the palace that did not belong there. Childish voices who were reveling in whatever beating I was enduring on the other side. But I could not feel the blows, for they were too far removed from me.

As I watched her face distort, it seemed to be taking on a new form. Her skin tone changed from a pale white to an almond color. Her hair grew long and black. And I was amazed to see Sasha take her place. "We take on the form of the person who will give us the most power. This form, it was good for a while. We derived much power from it. We were able to block your mind with this form. We made you useless. But somehow, you fought back. You found your strength, though still limited. Yes, this form, it was limited." In a flash, she was transformed yet again. This time we were faced with the familiar blonde hair and the vindictive grin that was Jennifer Langston. "This form seems to be draining you of your power as we speak. It is fortunate to have her as an ally, beating you down to give us such an advantage. Such hatred for one individual. We have fed off your hatred. We have fed off hers. The doubts she placed in your mind, they had reduced you to nothing. We have truly liked this form. But perhaps, not quite as much as we have enjoyed..."

In a flash, my little sister stood before me. "...this one. Your hatred of her almost destroyed this world alone. The misery from all the missed birthdays, all the times she was treasured and you were not, all the sacrifices you had to make for one who did not deserve it, it was ecstasy to us. And see how superior I am to you. You have always been envious of me. I am everything you are not. You loved this form, out of necessity, but you did not like it. This was my form when you felt all those doubts about your place here creep in. I made you reject the role of queen, the role you were born to play. I have taken it away from you. I am queen. You are merely a pathetic nobody. How you wished to be me; to know one shred of kindness from the woman you called your mother. Your desires gave me strength. And that strength fueled me. And this world suffered. It suffered so much at your hands."

I felt my throat constrict with a sudden influx of remorse and grief. "It wasn't me! I never would have done this! This world would have been happy if..."

"If you hadn't abandoned it." Aurora's twin finished. "Yet, you did. You abandoned this place for the confines of a warm home, the love of a little sister and two doting grandparents, and a normal life. You could have come back, but necessity did not facilitate your return. And we invaded. Well, perhaps not me. I was not born until much later, when you returned to the house of your mother. It was my original form who took over this place once the destruction was complete. It was my original form who enslaved the people of Psitharis. It was my original form who killed your utopia, who murdered the innocent and darkened the very skies. It was that form who conquered Psitharis."

In that moment, one of the blows landed in the other world managed to affect me on that cold stone floor. Blood began to pour from my nose, and tears blurred my vision. "You're not the one? But it has to be you. It couldn't be anyone else. You and my mother were the oldest villains in my memory. Besides, the queen; she was my mother. She's your guardian. It had to be you." I tried very hard to hide my shock, but I knew I was failing miserably. I started to stand on my feet, but the sharp blades pressed into my flesh and threatened to sever my ability to speak.

"No, allow her to stand." Myrtha smiled sinisterly. I could hear the snickers and the taunts of the girls in the Otherworld, but they were growing fainter with every passing moment. I could see in flashes Jennifer laughing at me, throwing one of the towels at my face, demanding I cleaned myself up before the teacher showed up. I felt the towel hit my cheek, felt it bounce off my stomach and fall to the floor in the puddle I had created. Only there was no towel in this world. What was happening to me there was ceasing to be "their" reality. Worrying about keeping Jennifer out of trouble was the last thing on my mind. And perhaps she deserved to be found out for what she had done. Almost a year of torture, eighteen years of torment all told, and that version of me was too tired to fight anymore. And I couldn't help her either. I was facing my death; a slow, painful death at the hands of this conglomeration that taunted me as I tried to make sense of what had happened in the sixteen years I had departed from Psitharis.

"So," I said, going full-on smartass. "If you weren't the one my mother brought from a faraway shore, if you're not the one who destroyed Psitharis, then who was it?"

The other Aurora laughed, bringing herself up to her full height. "If you really want to know, I will show you. She has watched you, knowing your every step, matching your every move. She has the power to destroy you. And that is exactly what she intends to do." With that proclamation, Myrtha started to change. She seemed to be – shrinking. Her dress altered with the smaller frame, her hair darkened from a bright blonde to a dirty blonde to a deep brunette, the curls melting away, replaced by thin strands of dull brown. Her eyes changed, from an icy blue to the same color as her hair. They grew wide, yet strangely malicious. Her figure changed from that of a teenaged girl to that of a small child. And when she faced me again she was the size of a little girl. And the little girl was...me.