Madeline

Madeline: Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

[Madeline's Point of View] 

My hands trembled. Suddenly, I felt as if the air has been sucked out of my lungs. I moved forward, and tried to calm myself down. There was no way am I going to do this unharmed. I knew the consequences. But still, I have to save Jack. He's my brother. 

The plan made no sense at all. If you had some common sense, you'd think this plan was made for failure. The risks were high, but that's our only chance to get out of this jail. This was going to be either the most spectacular jailbreak, or the most epic fail of all jailbreaks. 

"You're sure about this?" Daniel scratched his head. "I don't know, but this sounds a little bit dangerous. Just making sure you, uh, know what you're doing." 

I took a deep breath. My heart was beating so fast, I felt it thumping loudly as I tried to reassure myself that everything's going to be fine (or not). Panic rushed through my body, but I shooed the feeling away. A very intelligent friend of mine told me that smiling releases endorphin (and that very intelligent friend of mine, was Google), and so I laughed. "Oh, sure it'll work. Just, trust me. I know what I'm doing." 

Each step I took became heavier and heavier. The closer I was to the bars, the faster my heart beat. I stretched my hands slowly. I hoped Daniel and Aaron didn't notice that my hand was shaking wildly. Exhaling deeply helped me calm myself down a little bit. 'This is it,' I thought. 'I'll either make it. Or break it.' 

"Before you try it, could you explain me how this 'Internal Magic' works? I'm just making sure," Aaron interrupted. "Just making sure."

I have been avoiding talking about the plan. The more I talked about it, the more I'm unsure myself. I sighed. "I've been reading books since I was 6 years old. I've heard about a thing or so called 'Internal Magic'. It happens when a person who has the magic, concentrates into his/her inner magic. It is told to be a rare occasion. If a person has managed to concentrate and unlock their inner magic, they could summon magic, even in the most spell-proof place." 

Daniel scratched his head. "Um, not to make you feel uncomfortable doing this extremely dangerous act that might cost your hands or even life, but, what do you exactly have to do?" 

Oh, wow. Daniel sure knows how to make people feel relaxed. "Okay, I'm going to repeat this for the fifth time, and I'm not repeating it again. I'm going to focus on my 'Internal Magic', and when I do, I'm going to concentrate myself on breaking those obnoxious bars. After some calculations, I assume that at least my hands would have a pretty painful burn."

"Okay, so we know that the best we could hope for is that you just get a pretty painful burn. What if the plan doesn't work out as you've planned it to be?" 

Ugh. I was left speechless. I didn't know what to answer, probably because I didn't really wanted to think about that. The question was left hanging in the air, filling me with doubt. "Well, if I want to break this bar, it should take ten minutes. If I do have an 'Inner Magic', I could heal myself. But if I don't have 'Inner Magic', and the plan fails... Well, I guess my pulse would have some major burn issues." 

Daniel nodded. "Okay then. Good luck, and we wish you all the best." 

Instantly, I inhaled deeply as I closed my eyes gently. The pressure weighing on my chest was indescribable, yet I ignored the feeling and continued concentrating. My heartbeat paced faster and faster as negative thoughts flowed through. I tried to fight off the fear haunting my head. After a minute, I felt myself tranquilized enough to take a deep breath, and slowly (yet steadily), move forward. 

My hands grabbed the iron bars, and I gritted my teeth as hard as I could. The heat accelerated through my hands, and into my arms. I gave all of my strength as I concentrate to break the bars. As I closed my eyes, my mouth started to chant some strange spells. The pain was unbearable, but I kept on grabbing the bars, tightening as time passed by. 

Adrenaline rushed through my body immediately. And as fast as it came, the adrenaline was gone. I could feel my hands starting to melt, my arms are getting numb, and my legs felt wobbly. Everything was blurry, and panic surged in.

An image rushed through my head. It was Jack, he was lying on a silver table made out of stone, his mouth was gagged, and his arms and legs are tied with magic. His head tilted to his right, and he's obviously unconscious. Suddenly, a man appeared. He was wearing a robe made out of silver. His face was hidden beneath the shadows, and so I couldn't really see him. Footsteps echoed through the room as the man began to step forward. His hands were covered by his robes. His movements were static, as if he was a robot. 

He stopped. The image became a bit blurry, but I tried to concentrate. He started to shuffle his hands, and unveiled it from the curtain of robes. I gasped as he unsheathed a knife from his hands. It was a beautifully made knife. It twinkled beneath the sunlight, as its silver surface glowed brightly. It has some emeralds in its handle. It's beautiful, sharp, and deadly. He started to move closer to Jack. As he raised his hands, my breathing became heavier, and heavier. He grabbed the knife with both of his hands. Raising his hands, he mumbled something incoherently. And stabs Jack in the heart. 

This isn't real. This couldn't be. It's just an image, right? Yet it all felt so realistic, my emotion started to change. I could feel my heart drop as my lungs shattered. My brain felt as if it wanted to pop. I wanted to get out of this stupid prison, and save him. I could've sworn that I started to feel as if I was about to go crazy. And that's when I realize it. 

The prison wasn't only chanted into high-tech security. It was made to be a life-ruining chamber. They're tricking me into going crazy. They're trying to feed me with horrible images that would make me suffer. They're playing with my emotion and my sanity. 

Anger boiled through my body. The adrenaline that was gone, was replaced with a new rush of energy. I could feel my heart starting to pump faster and faster. I clenched the bars as if they were some sticks, and broke them easily as you do when you break wooden sticks. And then again, I was left shocked with my new energy. The end. Nah, just kidding. 

Aaron left his mouth hanging wide opened. He stared at me as if I were a psycho-lunatic. "You, you did that. You, you broke the bars." He stared at Daniel, who was cleaning his teeth with his index finger casually. "Why aren't you surprised?" 

Daniel rolled his eyes, "believe me, she's done greater things than this." I ran towards Aaron's chamber and broke his cell and handcuffs. He was still in a daze, but I dragged him up. I grabbed his arms and immediately, my hands hurt so badly, that I shouted in a high-pitched note. "What?" Daniel asked. 

I looked at my hands to see it wounded pretty badly. My hands were toasted. I could see my flesh clearly in my right hand, and I could see bits of my flesh on my left hand. No wonder it hurts so bad. I suddenly regretted seeing my wounds, because it's definitely disgusting. "Oh, gross. Arrgh." I curled into a ball, as the pain began to thicken and thicken. 

"Quick, Madeline. Heal yourself," Aaron said soothingly. He sure knows how to assure people, not like Daniel. 

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes gently. "This might take a while." I tried to imagine calming things like the wind, and the meadows, and the fresh air of Amsterdam. I carefully clenched both of my hands, curling it up into a ball. When I had calm myself down, I started to concentrate on healing my hands. The moment went by so peacefully, no one even bothered to speak. 

Just as I was about to heal my hands, several footsteps were heard, and it was approaching faster and faster. "Going somewhere?" a deep and a cold voice interrupted, and in an instance time froze.