DUCHAS (The Drive Within, Book 2 in Baile series)

Chapter 13 Bad Things to Come

Isla

A slow, melodic strumming of cellos and violins combined with a piano echoed through the pavilion. I followed the source of the music, pausing before opening a door with a neon exit sign flicking above it.

'Down in the deep

Where the sirens sing

And hide in the muddy water.' A high, ethereal voice began singing as I entered an aquarium lit with dark blue lights.

'Blood on my hands

And the moonlit sand

But I'd die just to keep them under.' I followed the tunnel, the ceiling and walls giving way to water and fish.

'Ooo, ooo gonna bury me.' I looked down to notice the floor was slick with water and blood.

'Broke in the night

In the colourless light

And the cold of an empty bottle

Drunk on a song

Of a lie gone wrong

You only find when you hit the bottom.' The tunnel opened up to a dark cavernous space, revealing a rectangular tank with a figure floating inside.

'Ooo, ooo gonna bury me

Ooo, ooo gonna bury me.' I realised there was a girl inside, singing.

'A woman can't run

From the things she's done

When the weight's got her on her knees.' A ghost like face swam up to the glass and I flinched. It was Charlotte.

'Time don't know

Where the river flows

But I pray it's out to sea.' I stepped up to the glass tank pressing my palms against it; Charlotte did the same.

'Ooo, ooo gonna bury me

Ooo, ooo gonna bury me.' Her platinum blonde hair floated above her head, her eyes red and irritated.

'Keep them going down now

Let them drown

Keep them going down now

Let them drown

Keep them going down now

Let them down.' She chanted over and over. Just as I felt myself slipping away the tank shattered, water washing over me.

I woke gasping for air, my throat raw and eyes stinging. I fell onto the floor, my body wet and shivering. I looked up; meeting April's eyes to find them filled with tears, at a loss for words, a first for April.

I crawled my way into the bathroom, hauling myself up by gripping onto the sink. I was met with Charlotte's face. Sobs wracked the body I had shifted in, the body of the dead.

"It's okay." April pulled me into her arms.

It didn't take long for me to fall into the dark's embrace.

To say a dark cloud a fallen over the town would be an understatement. The schoolyard was empty and the birds were silent, as the day had come for the funeral of a girl gone too soon.