An eternity of lightning

Chapter 12

Miles searches his jean pocket for his cell phone. Yanking it out, he dials Chocolate’s number. Ring.. Ring.. Ring..

Pick up.. he pleads, as he runs toward the first tree, quickly dodging through the maze. 

“Hello?” Chocolate’s sweet voice rings out. 

“Chocolae!? God, I nee you. Righ now!” Miles pants, not having the time to annunciate properly. 

“Mile? What happened? Does it have to do with your sister?” Miles stops to catch his breath, using a tree behind him for stability. 

“Yes.” he almost chokes, afraid of what he’s dealing with. 

“Alright. Calm down. What happened?” 

“She’s gone, Choc, she’s gone.” 

“What do you mean gone?” 

“I mean I woke up today, and she was gone.” 

“I’ll be at your house in a half an hour.” 

“Thank you.” 

Astrild hovered over the child’s lifeless body, watching intently as her spirit left and the shell was unoccupied. She considered projecting herself and taking over the life, but soon realized that an eternity of wandering for the child would not be torturous enough. I want her to die slowly. She thinks, grinning to herself, planning every intricate detail of the banishment. 

Suddenly, Crystal’s eyes flutter open, and she chokes on her oxygen. Tears flood her eyes, and she bites back a sob. 

“My dear, what’s happened?” Astrild asked comfortingly, although completely aware of what had happened. 

“. . .They. Almost. .Got. Me.” And she choked back another sob, trying to comfort herself by hugging her knees and letting the tears escape. 

“You’ll be alright. What did you see?” Astrild asked, wondering if her spell had worked. 

“Hands. Faces. A lot of them. Bloody. Grabbing at me. Screaming.” She shuddered, her blonde curls moving swiftly with the movement of her head. 

Astrild held back a smirk; so the demonic demonstration had worked rather well.

The door burst open, and standing with the light to his back, was Miles. 

“Miles!” Crystal shouted, tears still streaking down her face. 

“Crys.” he says, gesturing to her as she runs to his side and he picks her up. 

“What happened?” he asks her, kissing her forehead, and trying to comfort her as she repeats her story. 

“What did you do?” he shoots a glare at Astrild. 

“I.. Didn’t do anything.” She shrugs, her ebony hair falling about her shoulders and low cleavage. 

“I thought I told you to stay away from her.” He says with a hurt tone in his voice, cracking in the back of his throat. 

“She wandered here. It was nearly five in the morning, and I wasn’t going to turn her away. I told her she could rest here. She... must’ve had a nightmare.” Astrild says, her green eyes clear, as if to cover the tracks of any (or all of the) lies she was telling. 

“Next time, you call me.” Miles grabs a receipt from his back pocket, scribbling his number on the back, he hands it to Astrild who ‘gratefully’ accepts it. 

“Come on, Crys.” he says, tugging on her hand. 

Harvey comes galloping from the opposite side of the shack, a terrifying, screeching noise coming from his mouth. He sniffs at the ground hungrily, looking for food. Astrild decides that hunting wouldn’t be such a bad idea. “Come, Harvey.” she says, gesturing to him, smiling as he trots to her side.