“I broke my leg,” the first one said.
“It’s bad,” said another.
“I wish we could hang out 2day.”
“Maybe u could come by the hospital?!?”
“Hello?”
“You there?”
“I really want u to come.”
“R u coming?”
That was weird Caroline hated begging people, and more than that she hated when people took pity on her. This was strange for Caroline, but it sounded like she needed me.
“Be right there,” I texted back.
CHAPTER 7
June 3, 2013
“Hey, Care, how you feeling?” I said as I stood in a blank white hospital room, with a single bed that had a young girl lying on it.
“I’m ok, but it hurts. A lot.” She responded with a voice that just screamed how much pain she was in.
“Alright, well, I’m going to leave you alone so you can get some rest. Okay?” I said as I placed some really nice looking flowers on the small night stand next to her.
“NO! DON’T LEAVE! I mean, I like having someone to talk to. Please stay.”
It was weird the way she asked me because she sounded somewhat needy, and Caroline always was the kind of person who did everything by herself.
“Okay, if you insist.”
“So, I’ve noticed you’ve been hanging out with Ms. Caster a lot lately. I hope you know she’s completely nuts.”
“She’s actually not that bad. She’s kind and really helpful to me.”
“Yah, but she lies about almost everything.”
“What are you talking about? Do you even know her, you don’t have her for anything, and I know that because you’re in my social studies class.”
Caroline wasn’t making any sense. How did she even know I was ever with her? What else wasn’t she telling me?
She just sat there with a blank look on her face, not knowing what to say.
“Care?” I said.
“You just can’t trust her, okay?”
“No not until you tell me what this is about.”
“YOU REALLY JUST CAN’T TRUST HER!”
“Whatever,” I said as I walked towards the door.
Then I felt a hand grab my arm, hard. How did she even get out of bed? I thought as I spun around only to see her lying in her hospital gown on the bed, whispering a spell under her breath. I knew the spell too, Eplornia Sultarni. You use the spell when you want to stop someone from getting away. That’s when I realized that was the important part of this situation. My best friend was a witch, like me, but her magic was dark and had a negative energy.
I just stood there in awe as the grasp of the spell started to tighten. I just couldn’t get passed it; my best friend was a dark witch. Wow, I really didn’t see that one coming.
ALEX! SNAP OUT OF IT!
It was Ms. Caster.
Are you here to save me?
No, I can’t help you with this one. You have to help yourself. Alex, use your powers. I’ve told you this before, but it’s clear you don’t understand it. You’re extremely powerful. You can do this. Use the force spell, the one that forces the people away, do you remember it?
I did, Ecrithem Soucratious, but I couldn’t say it. The grasp was getting to strong. I couldn’t, I just couldn’t.
ALEX NOW!!!!!
“Ecrtihem Soucratious,” I spat out as I breathed what I thought would be my last breath.
Then, Caroline screamed out in pain, the grip loosened, and I could finally breathe again. I gasped as I tried to catch my breath. I mustered up the strength to stand up again and I took one last look at Caroline. She was muttering some words in a language I didn’t understand. She looked so evil to me, like the devil himself. I walked over to her for the last time I ever would, for the last time I ever wanted to.
“I despise you Caroline Grace McKee.” I stood there for a second and watched her still shriveled up into a ball out of the pain I caused her. Good. I should have listened to Ms. Caster the first time she told me not to trust her. As I turned around I noticed the flowers I had bought her, and I pushed them off the edge of the night stand. “Goodbye, forever.”
CHAPTER 8
June 9, 2013
I woke up days later in the hospital in so much pain that I couldn’t even sit up. I started pushing the button on the little gray remote next to my bed. I didn’t know how long I was there or what happened, but I did know that something bad happened to me.
When the nurse walked in she seemed relieved. It had looked like a stack of books was just lifted off of her head; she suddenly stood up straighter and looked happier.
I asked her if I could use the restroom, I didn’t have to go but I just wanted to see what had happened to me. She put me in a wheelchair and pushed me there, she told me when I was finished to press the green button on the arm of the chair. Once I looked in the mirror I realized that I didn’t look as bad as I thought I would have. I didn’t know what I was expecting, a broken nose? A puffy black and blue cheek, my head shaved a broken arm?
All I ended up seeing was a badly bruised shoulder and a black eye. Everything else seemed normal, why did my head pound so hard then? I must have fallen down the stairs and hit my head on the wall at the bottom. Or maybe I just fell off of my bike and hit my head on the pole by the ice cream shop.
When I got back to my bed everyone was there, my parents, Ms. C, and about three doctors and nurses. Everyone at once is asking me millions of questions… Are you okay? How’s your head? What happened? Do you remember anything? Do you need help?
I didn’t want their help. They made it sound like I was a little kid again and I needed help from my mommy and daddy. To prove to them I was old enough to handle the situation I tried to stand up and walk to my bed by myself, and then it was black again.
I was back in the white world. Nothing seemed like it had changed, it did though feel different. I look to my left, then to my right, and then back to my left. Something smells. It’s bitter like a lemon, strong like skunk spray, and suddenly everywhere.
Behind me there was a scream; people were in a crowd looking at something.
Last time I was here everyone was orderly and were walking somewhere with a purpose, now everyone is stopped staring at something. I walked towards them and there was a giant black spot in the middle of a tree. It looked more like a tornado, but that couldn’t be possible, this world is only a dream.
I tried to ask the lady standing next to me, she had long blonde hair that was almost white, and she was wearing a white lace dress with white shoes and a lot of jewelry. Once I started talking to her though she started to cry and ran off. No one turned their heads and looked; they were all to focus on the spot I tried again. The man next to me was tall, he told me the information I wanted to know.
I found out the spot was like a black hole, everything it touches goes into it. Soon, the hole would get big enough that it takes over the whole world; he said I was my job to get rid of it.
“It was here only once before. The elders said it would eventually come back but we didn’t believe them.”
“Why not?” I asked
“We thought they were lying, they also said a lot of people died.”
Once again he said it was my job to save the world. All I remembered after that was waking up.
CHAPTER 9
June 10, 2013
I woke up and all I wanted to do was scream. And that is what I did. I was screaming in the middle of a crowd. In a place that only exists in my dreams. By people who seem real and knew who I was. What was going on, I just wanted to leave! Ms. Caster told me the darkness had trapped everyone in and no one could leave.
And then I slipped back out into dark blackness.
June 11, 2013
I stayed in the man’s house. I didn’t know why but he reminded me of my dad, caring, trustworthy, and smart. He had taken care of me for the night. After my little blow up, he asked me if I needed a place to stay for the
night. I said “yes, that would be very kind of you.” We had talked for most of the night so I didn’t get much sleep. He told me his name was Al and he was a spell-craftier.
“How did you know I had to be the one to fix the blackness?” I asked
“You were in the books, a short girl with long golden-blonde hair.”
“How did you know it was me? There could be many girls that are short with blonde hair.”
“I just knew.”
Those words “I just knew” They also didn’t help me sleep. How would he have known? There are more than millions of girls in the world (maybe not this one) that could look like me. He didn’t say anything about having side bangs, or blue eyes. I just wanted to know more. We didn’t do much during the day, we talked some more, ate lunch, talked a little more. I was distracted most of the time because I wanted to get home, to the real world.
The odd part happened during breakfast. I was bringing my plate to the sink when I dropped it to the floor. Blood trickled from my bare feet where a few shards of glass had broken skin. But I felt nothing. Why didn’t it hurt? Strange, after bandaging my wounds, I pinched myself to see if I could at least feel that. I couldn’t.
I was very confused, but what could I do? I would worry about it later. I moved on. I helped Al clean the dishes and most of his house. (It was a pigsty!)
Black, the white world is no longer white, it is almost pure black. Pure darkness, only some things look like they used to. I see Al walking by, I try to catch his attention but he looks at me and walks away. Next to me I see Ms. C. A man is walking towards her with an ax; I try to scream to her, I try to run to her. It was like I wasn’t even there, then he fell.
I tried to scream for help, and then she got back up.
CHAPTER 10
June 12, 2013
Mrs. Caster had told me earlier today day that I had to make a decision on what I was going to do, whether I was going to help these people or not. I didn’t even know if people wanted my help, and what was I even supposed to do? I knew I was the prophecy and all, but what did that even mean? My thoughts just became more and more jumbled up as I thought about the situation I had gotten myself into.
I have to help them, I thought. And I need to tell them before I change my mind. I stepped onto a podium that was towards the front of the crowd. “I need your attention please,” I shouted so everyone could hear me. “As many of you know, it was written that I will one day save your world. That day might be today. I wanted to let you know that I have decided to lead you in this fight against the dark. Thank you, that is all.” Silence was all I heard after that. Everyone’s faces staring at me in wonder and confusion. The next thing I knew, that silence erupted into applause and grateful shouts. I remember just feeling a great deal of relief. They wanted me to lead them, and that was a first for me.
I went back into the building that I was in when I fainted, and I tried to look for Mrs. Caster. After a while I didn’t find her, so I sat down on a comfortable couch that I never realized was there. A few moments later Mrs. Caster walked in.
“That was a brave choice you made out the Alex. The people love you. I even have some flowers for you.” She walked over and gently placed the bouquet of flowers in my hands. Lilies, my favorite.
“Thanks, but it was nothing.” I took the flowers out of plastic cover they were in, and placed them into a vase I found nearby.
“Alex, that was amazing, seriously.” Then Ms. Caster left the room and left me there alone in my thoughts.
The lilies that were sitting on the table to the right of me were actually really beautiful flowers. I walked over to them and played with the little petals in my hands. The smell of the flowers drifted through the air, but there was something off putting about the smell of them. They smelled as though they were rotting, but I knew they weren’t, I mean they looked like they had just bloomed.
And then I felt it. My body started getting weak; my knees were wobbling, struggling to hold me up. My head felt faint and my sight was blurry. I stumbled back and fell back on the couch I was laying on earlier. My senses started flooding back and a realization creped in to my mind. The flowers must have been poisoned.
I stormed out of the building and stood up in front of the crowd that was still there, surprisingly.
“SOMEONE HAS TRIED TO POISON ME AND I WANT TO KNOW WHO IT IS, NOW!”
“I was me.” I looked out in the crowd to see who had said that, man were they going to pay. As my eyes found the mysterious person who had attempted to kill me, I realized it could only be one person, Caroline.
“You. We will banish you from these lands and make you pay for everything you have done. There will be a war fought between us, and you will lose.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” Caroline argued.
…
In the hours that followed that, all hell broke loose. Spells and potions going off everywhere. Screams and cries for help struggled out of people’s mouths. I can still see the images of dead people when I close my eyes. The scariest part of the whole thing was when I battered Caroline one on one.
She attacked me with one of the most painful spells I have ever experienced. Agrotti frortisi, it creates the illusion of a bullet going through your heart.
I cried out in pain. It hurt so badly that I didn’t think I could make it. And then I heard the sweet honey voice of Ms. Caster.
Alex, come on stand up. The pain isn’t real, the spell just tricks your mind into thinking it is. Be the warrior I know you can be.
If that was true, and the pain wasn’t real, how could it have hurt so badly? But I stood up anyways, through the “pain”.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” I asked Caroline with my weak voice.
“Just getting started,” she responded with a smirk on her lips.
“Sadrink Capori,” I said, and Caroline was sent flying back, into a rather large metal pole.
Then we kept fighting back and forth with the worst spells we could think of. At the end of it all I came out on top, because I had knocked Caroline out cold. The people of the light side took her away in chains as the remaining few from the dark side staggered over to see what was happening.
The crowd erupted in a roar, cheering and shouting. But wait what? I don’t remember this happening. Why was I fighting? Where was I at? What? Huh?
CHAPTER 11
June 13, 2013
Ms. Caster walked over to me and tried to get my attention. How did I know her, I didn’t even have her as a teacher? Confusion was flooding my mind and questions raced in my mind. Ugh, I wish someone would have just explained all of this to me! My thoughts went to Ms. Caster. Maybe she could help!
“Ms. Caster? What’s going on, I don’t remember anything. Where am I? How do you know me? Why is everyone crowing around me?”
“Do you remember that you are a witch?” Ms. Caster asked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!?”
“I mean your powers, Alex.”
“WHAT?!?”
“Oh boy, this is going to take a while.”
With that said we scurried over to that building where I was told the battle was all started. I had a hard time believing that the whole thing started because of flowers, but then I was told someone tried to poison me with them. That just formed more questions that bounced around in my head.
“Wait who tried to poison me, and why?” I questioned.
“Well, I guess we're going to have to start from the beginning of it all, and not just from the battle,” Ms. Caster stated.
…
After that Ms. Caster explained everything, from my dreams to the battle. She handed me this diary that you are reading now, and told me everything that happened was in here.
But everything was already so clear to me. Although it was all overwhelming I knew it was over and that I would be home soon. And then I remembered what home actually meant. Now it felt like a tidal wave washed over my brain. What would my parents be thinking? What
happened to my grades? How long has it been since I’ve been in the real world? How was I going to explain this?
“Ms. Caster, and everyone else, I have to go. I hope you understand. I am glad that I could save your world for you, and I promise to visit now and then. Goodbye.”
And then, before anyone said something that would stop me, I closed my eyes and thought of my warm, comforting bed, and in a sudden movement I was in it
I launched myself out of my bed, ran down the stairs and found my parents. I threw my arms around them and gave them great big kisses. I couldn’t be happier to be home.
CHAPTER 12
June 14, 2013
With me in the embrace of my parent’s arms, the world seemed to literally stop. Everything that I thought my parents would ask and worry about faded away when I came down those steps, I could swear my mom was even crying. We just stood there holding each other, until my dad asked the first question.
“Where were you? We were so worried!” My dad’s question only triggered many more from my mom.
“Are you ok? What happened to you? Did someone take you?” My mom asked question after question, which was to be expected, but I was hoping that when they didn’t immediately ask these questions, that it meant they never would.
I realized that there was no way we could lie about what happened; I had to tell them the truth. The whole truth. I looked down at the diary, this diary that I was surprisingly still holding in my hands. This was the only thing that could explain every detail of everything that had happened, even the things I was still iffy on. I handed the book to my parents and told them to start on the first page, where everything started.
Following that I sat in a nearby chair as my parents read the words I had written over the past month. I watched their eyes go to me every time they learned something new. It seemed as though they kept inching away from me, but that was crazy, right? I mean they were my parents, and they were supposed to love me no matter what. I hoped so at least.
When they finally closed up my diary, their facial expressions were enough for me to tell that they were shocked.