The Golden Creek

Dungeon Eavesdropping

   "CHARLIE, YOU USELESS CHILD!" a woman shouts out angrily. She wore a black cloak and held an emerald weapon, and she stomped towards him. "I'm sorry, S-!" "NO! Don't you dare say my name. I am queen to you. Just like Abaddon is king," She slapped him across the face. "Soon enough you will learn to obey me."

  Sometimes I wish I was back at my sad, groggy home on earth rather than here with you.. Charlie thought, rubbing the pain away from his cheek. He looked longingly out the window, pondering about whether Tabitha would really ever find him. 

  Meanwhile, Tabitha and Ann were having struggles of their own. They were walking through a dimly-lighted dungeon-like corridor with a forlorn hope of finding their chosen one. "How much longerrr.." Ann groaned as she stomped the grout off of her boot. "Shut up," Tabitha ordered, looking around with hyper-vigilance. "Umph! Rude!" Ann pouted and crossed her arms as she followed her. Tabitha stopped and turned to face Ann, "Seriously. Shut up! I hear something."  "Oh.." Ann whispered as she crouched lower into the shadow cast by a knight's armor stand. 

  Tabitha carefully took a dying torch from the wall and held it in front of her. She began to walk, and soon enough she could make out conversations of people above her. 

"Abaddon, I don't get it."

"What don't you get, my love?" He asked with his usual evil tone.

"Why did you make me kidnap the child, put my own life in danger to stow him away here, and then here you are- doing nothing?"

"What?" Tabitha wondered aloud, looking down for a moment to process her thoughts. "Ann! Come here!" she whispered. Ann got up and hesitantly tiptoed to Tabitha and began to listen too.

"Because, I am waiting for the-"

Suddenly, the sword the armor stand was holding fell onto the floor with a clash. 

"Sh!" The woman said. 

"What?"

"They are listening.."

"With all due respect.. Why did you put them in the dungeon??"

"SHHHH!" 

  Tabitha heard the loud footsteps of a person- or thing- leaving Abaddon's side. "Oh no.." Ann muttered. "Hide!" Tabitha commanded, and they both spread out. Tabitha dropped the torch where she was, and ran off to a pitch black room. Ann, on the other hand, went to a nearby room and hid under a large, short table, adorned with cobwebs and spiders. She hugged her knees close to her chest and slowed her breathing as much as she could. 

  Tabitha stood in the corner of her room and hid behind the tall but narrow bookcase which was empty. She listened closely as the eerie footsteps grew louder.

  The mysterious woman looked down slowly and stared at the torch. "Hm.. Kind of odd for the torch to be in the floor.." She said quietly.. Then she spoke up as if she was expecting one to answer,  "Correct?"  She picked up the torch and breathed fire onto it.  It was now much brighter and light filled the long hallway.

 "Oh Tabithaa..." She sneered. Tabitha gulped. How does she know my name?  She wondered. "Aaann.. Come on, precious. You don't want to make me mad, do you?"  She paused. Ann was silent as she feared for her and Tabitha's life. The woman began making her way down the hallway, completely ignoring the room that Ann was in because she thought, "What kind of idiot would hide in there?" She poked her head through every room until she reached Tabitha's.

  "I know you're in here, Tabitha." She smirked. She held the torch at an angle to show Tabitha's shadow behind the bookcase. Tabitha listened to the steps draw nearer and thought, "Can she see me??" She suddenly looked at the stone walls to realize: she can. The woman snatched her arm and grinned, "Don't fight me this time, Tabitha. Remember that you can't always get your way." Tabitha kicked the woman's ankle, "You can't either!" 

   Tabitha ran to find Ann. "ANN! COME ON!!" She sprinted down the hallway, sometimes looking back to check if she was already being taken by the evil lady. 

"Tabitha..?" Charlie asked himself from his cell as he heard screams from below. 

  Ann sheepishly walked out from the room and looked around. "Tabitha?" She whimpered. Tabitha spun around frantically, "Ann!" 

 "TABITHA!" Ann screamed as she ran towards her best friend. They collided into each other with a hug and Tabitha looked down at her. "What is it?" She asked, noticing something was wrong.

"H-he's here."