Heart and Soul

“What the hell have you done…?” I whispered through dry, cracked lips.

My body was still writhing in agony, my mind confused and disorientated.

I knew only one thing; something was missing and I wanted it back.

Anger echoed through my veins, my back arched and a gargled scream escaped my throat. Trying to ignore the pain I rolled to the right, my legs slipping off of the bed and hitting the floor with a thump.

Unable to gather myself together, I clumsily sunk backwards, head and spine hitting carpet. A groan slipped through my lips before I could stop it.

‘I’m going to kill him, the man with the dead eyes, I’m going to tear his head from his shoulder and magically reattach it to the back of a donkey. I’m going to deprive him of oxygen, increase his internal pressure until his eyes pop, I’m going to-‘ My thoughts turned to dust, as my eyes lulled into the back of my head. My vision darkened and I blacked out.

I felt better like this, hiding in the dark, away from the world. I was just floating, floating through the ever expanding darkness. Onwards and onwards I floated, until I saw it, a light. Another light.

Wait, did that mean that I am a light as well?

I could see it, gold, silver, bronze and red all twisted into a beautiful cacophony of colours. I moved nearer to it, its light shone through the darkness like a beacon.

It was busy, this light. Its tiny tendrils of light floated into the invisible wall that I knew was there. I knew this wall was important; it was familiar yet very different. I was different here, in this darkness.

I reached out a tiny tendril and felt it sink through the wall and into the light, and suddenly I could feel it, my leg. It was there, my left leg was there. I kicked it out into the ever expanding dark, but as soon as it appeared it went. Then, my right leg, there it was. Kicking it out, I felt myself smile at the return of control.

As quickly as it came, it went. I closed my eyes with a deep sigh, this place was odd, and I didn’t like it here. Shutting my eyes and wishing to wake up I remembered that I had something to remember, what was it? There was something. A weight lying on my forehead. Something was wrong, wasn’t it?

A window.

Don’t go out the window.

I whacked my arm up, stopping myself from falling any further. Below me, my legs dangled out of the window, my hand caught on a shard of glass in the window frame. For a second everything was silent as the wind whipped around me. The moment was shattered by the sharp ache of slicing skin.

Panic. Fear. Pain. Blood.

Then it was gone, all of it. The darkness, the floating, the tendrils of light, all of it gone and with a sharp intake of breath I was awake.

Breathing hard I placed a hand on my chest, clutching my heart as it slowed back to normal. I was sat up now, parched, tired and weary, but upright. Blood. I could feel it, warm on my skin as it soaked through my pyjamas, I looked down, and my palm was sliced open.

Carefully climbing to my feet I wobbled as I made my way across the room, Obilix wasn’t on my laptop, he was gone, probably out of my bedroom door that had been left open.

'Open door, shouldn’t that mean something?'

I made it into the bathroom and clutched the sink as my knees weakened, gritting my teeth I forced myself to stand, before failing and nearly slipping. Giving up, I sat on the edge of the bath and leaned forward, my elbow resting on the sink edge.

Turning on the tap I washed my palm off, the blood diluting in the water. Leaning to the left I grabbed the hand towel and held it against my palm and held my arm above my head. It was as my vaguely greasy hair parted, that I caught my reflection in the mirror.

Blood ran freely down my arm, but it was beginning to slow, my hair was matted and my brow, sweaty, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.

My skin was paler, almost grey but even that was not what stood out the most. It was my eyes, dead like that shark’s eyes and they’d changed colour. Their vibrant green was nothing more than a dull grey now, bags had formed under my eyes and I looked sick. Too sick.

'Shark, shouldn’t that mean something?'

I slowly lowered my arm, maybe I should heal it with magic, and either that or I was going to need medical treatment soon. I pulled the towel from my palm and with my left hand began channelling the healing energy that my brain only knew as ‘green’. I waited, with hitched breathing as my head still swam. My magic was taking longer than normal to channel, it wasn’t working, why wasn’t my magic working?

My eyes began blinking heavily, I didn’t have long, and I could feel the darkness calling. I didn’t want to go back there. With that light.

'What light? Back where?'

“Ajuta.” I whispered as I fell forward, only hoping that she’d have heard me in time.