The Darkside

The Rift

"Melissa!" we screamed, rushing towards her.

A nurse rushed over and asked us to move away, taking her to the nearest bed. Aunt Cassie and John then came out of the ICU, hearing all the commotion.

"What happened?" Aunt Cassie asked.

"I don't know; she just fell," I replied.

Even with all that had transpired in that short time, Aunt Cassie and John were left with no time to grieve for Uncle Jack. We all watched from outside Melissa's hospital room as a doctor examined her. Brian reassured us that she'd be fine; he said the shock was probably too much for her in her fragile state.

The doctor came out of the room with a sad look on his face. He looked at Brian and asked: "Are you the boyfriend?"

"No, no, I'm just a family friend," he replied.

"How's she, doctor?" I asked.

"Well, it's not something I've ever seen before... Melissa's womb is torn. Does your family, by chance, have any rare hereditary health condition; or did Melissa, perhaps, have a miscarriage or abortion recently? It's hard to believe that the latter could cause this much damage, but I have to be thorough."

"No, there's no such disease that we know of, and Melissa didn't have any of the latter, either," Anastasia said.

After asking a few more questions, the doctor left; and all the while, I could only wonder what exactly happened. 'Was this a side-effect of the spell, or was it Orlando's doing? Either way, how exactly am I supposed to break this news to Melissa?'

We were told not to speak of anything that would add to her stress as she was in a very fragile state. The doctor said that it would be better to tell her that she's being treated for an infection. It was going to be a while before she would wake up, too, as she was given sedatives. Melissa regained consciousness again after a couple of hours and was confused.

"Why am I in a hospital bed?"

"You passed out, sis. The doctor said you've got an infection, and we think it's probably due to the spell," Anastasia said.

I didn't want to lie to Melissa, but I had no choice. And Melissa noticed my inner conflict show on my face.

"Octavia, what's wrong?" she asked, holding my hand.

I couldn't say anything...not a word. I could feel my eyes slowly well up with tears as my lips quivered.

"You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"No, sis... It's just that too many things happened today."

"I'll be going to take care of Dad's matters," John said, getting up to leave.

"Wait, I'm coming, too," Aunt Cassie said.

"No need! I'll handle Dad's matters, myself!" John replied.

Aunt Cassie was dumbfounded. "What?"

"Well, you were barely around us, anyway. So you needn't worry yourself now. You'd rather stay with your nieces than be there for your husband and son!"

With those angry words, John turned around and stormed out the door. Aunt Cassie just stood there, motionless. I put my hand on her shoulder and said: "Don't worry, Aunt Cassie... He'll come around. He's just too upset right now to know what he's saying."

"Thank you, honey... I guess, in a way, I have been neglecting him. I should talk to him once he calms down."

"I just hope he doesn't do something reckless, like I did," Anastasia said.

"He doesn't have any magical powers, so I don't have to worry about him going dark, at least."

Later, we left Melissa to rest at the hospital and left to meet John. We caught up with him just after he had met with an undertaker. Aunt Cassie tried to talk to him, but he ignored her and drove away in his car. We all left for her house as well. But, when we arrived at the house, there were sounds of things being shattered inside it. We stepped inside to find John sitting on the floor, in a corner. He was covering his face with his hands, sobbing heavily.

Aunt Cassie walked towards him and placed her hand on his shoulder, saying "I'm sorry, honey..."

"No, you're not!" he yelled, pushing her hand away. "For months now, you've only focused on Octavia and her sisters. Suddenly, you didn't care about Dad or me. You might as well move in with them now; I don't need you here!"

Tears filled Aunt Cassie's eyes as she tried to speak, but John got to his feet and walked away, slamming the door behind him. I knew he was angry, but I didn't expect him to act that way. I apologised to Aunt Cassie and said that from now on, she should focus more on John.

"There are four of us now, so you wouldn't need to worry as much, Aunt Cassie."

"Yeah, if there's any trouble, we can handle it. Your main focus should be John, now," Anastasia said."Thank you, girls... Thank you so much," she replied, smiling through the tears.I then asked Brian to follow John and make sure he doesn't hurt himself and he left immediately.