Gateway to Pandemonium [Open Novella Contest III] || Completed

VI

It had all happened so fast that I didn't have time to think as every light in the room turned a menacing red and everything in the dining room disappeared. The walls of the rooms became that of the mountain stained with glistening dark goo.

Within the blink of an eye the Devil was standing mere inches away from me, a hand around my throat. I gasped and wrapped my own hands around his. His grip wasn't tight, but it was unmoving. I could pull as hard as I wanted but he didn't move. But I was still able to breathe, although it was shallow. The Devil's eyes burned even brighter, glowing red and I could see real fire burning within them.

The Devil lifted his other hand. Squeezing my throat even so slightly made me gasp again. My mouth opened, but I didn't scream.

"Please hold still, girl. This will be over in a matter of seconds. But it will hurt." He said sinisterly and straight to the point. He opened his free hand wide and held it right in front of my mouth but not touching it. His fingers trembled as he strained the muscles with force. And then I started feeling it.

It was as if he was trying to pull a huge ball out of my chest. It was sitting right behind my breastbone, but so deep within me that it was a spot I had never known was there. The feeling was so uncomfortable I started squirming against his grip but the Devil held on tight. His magic kept pulling on that ball within me trying to wiggle it out. The sensation turned from uncomfortable to quick shots of a stabbing pain. I tried to gasp out again from the pain but his magic had locked up my airways and I couldn't breathe. As I felt the ball move pain exploded through my chest and head. My heart beat unnaturally fast and I was sure that I was going to die.

I had lost all focus, the pain completely consuming me. I didn't remember where I was or what was happening. All I knew was that everything was wrong. Everything was oh so wrong. It was like I was getting split into two. It was like I was on fire. Burning in the hottest fire of Hell. It was like I was drowning. I tried to breathe but I couldn't get any air into my lungs. I didn't have any control over my body.

And then it was over. Pain lingered in my head and body as I dropped to the floor, completely collapsing. I shivered in the heat, my body completely covered in ice cold sweat. I faintly heard the Devil say something to the boy by the door but I was still consumed by what had happened. Just before I fell to the ground I'd heard this ripping sound that filled my head, together with the most bone chilling shriek ever. It had been a scream of grief, so gut wrenchingly painful and heart-rending that I would never be able to forget it.

It had been my own scream. I knew this even as I hadn't registered screaming. I knew this because it matched the exact feeling I felt as that ball of energy within me was ripped out of me. I felt the loss of something so small yet so all consuming. It left a big black pit within me. I was completely filled with this void. All warmth had been drained from me and all light was gone. I knew I had just lost the most important thing of all. I had lost the thing that defined who I was. And I hadn't realised what kind of impact it could have on me.

"Take her home. We're done." Was all I heard from the deep voice far, far away before the void within devoured me.

I woke up with a groan. My head was throbbing and my throat felt like it was made from sandpaper. I turned over only to be hit with the most dizzying feeling, almost making me throw up. I dug deeper into my covers and waited for my head to stop spinning and throbbing. As the two feelings calmed down I noticed that the throbbing was also in my ears. No... It was a continuous banging. Someone was knocking on my bedroom door.

"Elisabeth Parker, you open this door right this second!" My mother's panicked voice drifted to me from behind the locked door. I stumbled out of bed, immediately falling to my knees. My body was so weak... I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my clothes from yesterday, ripped and all. One of my feet was bare and cold compared to the other. I examined my hands, which were completely healed, but two thick white scars ran across my palms. The only reminder of what I did last night. Was it last night? I had no indication as to what time it was or what day. For all I knew I could have been gone for days and slept for hours.